#but yeah I feel like Marinette would be the same way

[zoe-oneesama]

Saw your post about Andre

What do u think about Zoe, then?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#it doesn't escape my notice that Vesperia seems to have more screen time than Zoe just saying #she's a tool she's a vessel so they can just use 'Venom' without having to bring in Queen Bee #WHO SHOULDN'T BE BROUGHT IN SO I'M NOT MAD ABOUT THAT PART #it's just like...try? Could they have tried? #Also it could've been a good way to confront Marinette's hatred of 'liars' to have Zoe pull off the 'Lila' thing #but doing so in order to protect herself instead of to gain favors and praise #zoe salt #writing salt #ml salt #my opinion #an essay by zoe

[mostmagical]

Chapters 1/1 (1,396 words) Rating: General Audiences Relationships: Emo Adrien Agreste/Emo Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Summary:

Spoilers for ML Paris Special. . . After meeting an alternate version of himself, Adrien decides to take the first steps towards making a new friend.

Takes place immediately after Paris Special!

Read on Ao3 or under the cut!!

.

She was holding his hand.

She was holding his hand.

After so long of being at each others’ throats, of feeling lost and lonely, the warmth of her hand in his felt like a dream. Like being pulled out of the ocean after so long drowning. Even after passing through the portal into their own world, she held on, and Adrien had trouble focussing on anything else around him. Hesperia was saying something, talking about their next moves to take down the Supreme, but the words simply passed through one ear and out the other as all he could do was stare down at where their hands were connected.

Why… Why hadn’t she let go?

His heart pounded in his chest, faster than he could ever remember it beating before. The pretty bakery girl was holding his hand, like she wanted to, as if he was more than just a stranger on the street to her. And, well, he supposed he was, considering they had been working together for months, albeit without liking each other or knowing one another at all. It was all new sensations and feelings, rushing through his body in a way that made his head swirl.

“...but we can reconvene later,” Hesperia said, on the tailend of some conversation that Adrien had missed entirely. “I think we could all use a little rest.”

Toxinelle— No, Ladybug stuck out her other hand, shaking with Hesperia as the fingers in the hand she held with Adrien’s squeezed just ever so slightly. Maybe that had been in his imagination though. “I agree,” she said. “I hope we can continue to work well together to take down the Supreme.”

“The feeling is mutual, Ladybug,” Hesperia replied. “And you, Griffe– uh…”

Adrien smiled. “I’m still working on it.”

Hesperia smiled back. “I wish you good luck figuring that out.” The butterfly hero folded his hands behind his back, regarding the both of them over his glasses. “I’d offer to show you both out, but I think you’ll find it’s the same way you came in the first time,” he supplied, a lilting tune to his voice.

Ladybug smiled wryly. “Yeah, sorry about that,” she said. “We’ll be going now! Good bye!”

She slipped her fingers from his hand, Adrien already feeling colder, to sling her yoyo through the exit.

“See ya!” he bid to Hesperia before following right after her. She headed towards the bakery– now he knew why— and Adrien couldn’t stop himself from following along. So what if his house was in the opposite direction. He wanted to spend just a few more minutes with her, if he could manage it.

She dropped down onto the bakery roof, quietly releasing her transformation and leaving behind Marinette, the bakery girl.

Adrien’s heart skipped a beat again at the sight of her.

He dodged behind the chimney stack on the end of her rooftop, suddenly nervous. He wasn’t sure how she would react to him being there. Everything was so new and their relationship was so… He wasn’t sure what. It was different.

“I saw you following me, fleabag,” she said, startling him. “No use hiding.”

Lithely, he jumped from his spot, landing in a crouch in front of her. He looked up at her through his bangs, watching her expression for that same old disdain he was used to. There was none.

“What is it?” she asked.

Adrien straightened, searching for the right words in his head. To be honest, he wasn’t sure what he wanted at all. All he knew was that he had been drawn to her, like a thread he had to chase. Other Adrien’s words rang through his head, and sudden clarity filled his being.

He wanted to make friends.

He couldn’t miss his chance.

An excited grin twitching on his lips, he let his transformation fall to match her, putting them both on equal footing. Keeping things neutral had always worked for the two of them in the past.

Marinette raised her eyebrow at him, and suddenly he was struck by how big and blue her eyes were. He had never seen them up so close before. She was so pretty.

“Well, I was thinking,” he said nervously, all his earlier bravado draining out of him now that she was looking at him with those eyes, “since I don’t have any friends, and you don’t have any friends—that I know of!” He glanced at her face, worrying he might find a glare, but instead she continued to just look at him with wide eyes. He cleared his throat, pushing through the rest of his request as he scratched at his cheek. “Maybe, if you want, we could be friends? With each other?”

Her mouth twitched into a small smile. Adrien had never seen her smile before. He found that it suited her quite nicely. His heart did a funny little flip in his chest.

“Okay.”

His jaw dropped. “I– uh– Okay?” he sputtered.

Her smile spread wider. “Yeah.”

“Even though I’m a rich jerk?”

“I guess I can let that go,” she teased. “This time.”

Unbridled happiness— is this what that other Adrien felt? All she did was say ‘okay’ and it was as though the heavens had opened. He was warm, starting in his chest and spreading from the inside out, a euphoria he had never felt before.

“Besides,” she continued, giving a small shrug of her shoulders, “I think you’ve grown on me a little in all this time.”

The delight only grew. “You mean, I’ve cat your attention?”

She shook her head, a frown on her face, but the corners twitched again, as if she was trying to hide a smile. “And you’re going to lose it if you keep up with your awful puns.”

“My claw-ful puns?”

“Watch it, whiskers,” she said, but, for once, there was no bite to her tone.

“Aw,” he cooed, loving the way her nose scrunched up at the sound. “You don’t mean that, buggy.”

“‘Buggy’?” she questioned. “What happened to ‘cockroach’?”

“Well, I’m not going to call my friend a cockroach, now am I?” he said. “Why? You don’t like it? I can workshop some more names.”

She laughed, and, wow, what a wonderful sound that was. “Maybe after you figure out your new name.”

“No, no, no.” He wagged a finger. “This is important.” He proceeded to stalk around her, acting as though he was appraising her like an art piece with a hand to his chin. Actually, he supposed, she was an art piece, not that he’d ever told her. Maybe he should. “What about…” he drawled, lengthening his vowels, “Scarab?”

She wrinkled her nose. “No.”

He hummed. “Buginette.”

A scoff.

“Spotify.”

“You’re joking.”

Her deadpan told him all he needed to know. Adrien stopped his stalking, once again standing in front of her. It had to be personal, something to tell her how much she meant to him, how happy he was to finally have someone he could call a friend in his life. Something to connect them. An idea lit up his brain.

“My lady.”

He could be wrong, but he thought she might have stuttered a breath. A dusting of pink settled on her cheeks. Oh! Oh, that was a good reaction, wasn’t it?

“You like that?” he asked. “My lady?”

She swallowed, eyes cast away from his face and down on his shoes. Her arms crossed over her chest. “I suppose that might be acceptable.”

He smiled. “My lady,” he repeated, the words rolling off his tongue as if they were always meant to. He bowed dramatically, smiling when he heard her soft chuckle. “I’m glad we could settle this.”

She snorted. “If you’re supposed to be a prince, we have some work to do.”

“Maybe not a prince, but I’ll happily be your knight.”

“I’ll hold you to it.”

His smile was practically bursting at the seams, stretching his cheeks wide enough for a dull ache to settle in. “I’ll let you enjoy your day. Until next time, my lady.” He called his transformation back, readying himself to head home.

“Until next time, Adrien,” she replied, another soft smile gracing her features.

He leapt from her roof, darting away as his heart beat a staccato against his ribcage. Next time he saw her, he would be seeing his new friend.

A friend.

#ml paris special #ml paris spoilers #ml fanfic #adrienette #shadyclaw #toxigriffe #miraculous ladybug #paris special #paris special spoilers #griffe noir #toxinelle #adrinette #miraculous #my writing #can you tell i've wanted to use this paramore lyric for ages?? no?? well i have #realistically i was supposed to be writing hamster fic this weekend but can you blame me #post reveal interactions call to me like a siren

[theerurishipper]

Personally I think there isn’t enough meta about Adricat being a girl coded character and you should make one too

Okay, so when I say "female coded," I mean that Adrien's character fulfils the role that female characters usually have done in media. He's the love interest, he's the emotional support. He's sensitive and he's emotional. He's the heart of the team. Marinette on the other hand is a "male coded" character. She's a leader, she comes up with strategies and plans, and she is the brains of the operation. I used to think that was really cool, the way they subverted gender roles and allowed the characters to shine as characters instead of putting them in a box. Marinette was a strong and determined person, but she also had moments of weakness and vulnerability. Adrien seemed like the usual trope of the damsel in distress, but he was also literally Chat Noir, who often escaped his own situation and whose arc was about him breaking of his father himself.

But then they leaned too far into it, and it just became a gender swapped version of the same tired tropes that we've all seen. Marinette became The Leader™ who can do no wrong and doesn't need to do that emotional support shit for her partner when he needs it. Adrien lost any and all agency in his own story, and effectively just became the damsel in distress who had to sit there and look pretty as he waited for Marinette the knight to come and save him. I mean, you can't get more on the nose than this.

(And yeah, this is supposed to be the class' fanfiction and not representative of what the show was building up to, but this is literally what ended up happening.)

His choices became more and more irrelevant, and his feelings became more and more unimportant, until the entire Ladynoir dynamic became Marinette being The Leader™ who doesn't need to tell Chat Noir anything and doesn't owe him anything, and Chat Noir became the emotional support who is always attentive and considerate of Ladybug's needs to the point of invalidating his own. His feelings of sadness at being left out of the loop and being pushed away by Ladybug ultimately did not matter.

And then Season 5 spent its time setting up a rivalry between Marinette and Gabriel over what's best for Adrien. The fight wasn't Ladybug and Chat Noir against Monarch, but Marinette vs. Gabriel, and whoever won got to take Adrien home as a prize. Adrien's agency was diminished throughout Season 5 and annihilated entirely in the Season 5 finale, where he spends the confrontation with his father locked away in a white room while Marinette has to take the fight to Gabriel and confront him on Adrien's behalf. And he is sound asleep far away from the conflict while Marinette and Gabriel fight over what's best for Adrien instead of him, you know, deciding that himself.

I mean, the finale could not have been clearer about it.

At least he's there in the dream lmao

And the end of Recreation reveals that Marinette is lying to Adrien about his father so as to protect him. Because apparently Adrien won't be able to control his emotions and needs someone else to make his decisions for him. Because clearly, he would be too emotional and wouldn't be able to make his own informed choices. And it's quite common for women to be told that they are too emotional and so the big strong man should make the decisions for them. So the female coded character is treated like his emotions are a weakness and a burden and like he requires other people to make his choices for him.

And so, Marinette the knight defeats the evil Gabriel, saves the helpless Adrien from his evil father, and they kiss in the sunset, and all is well. Except Adrien isn't being allowed to make informed choices about his own life and everyone around him is denying his autonomy, but he only exists to be the trophy for whoever won in the Marinette-Gabriel rivalry (which Marinette only won because Gabriel forfeited anyway), so he doesn't get to make choices and have any of those inconvenient emotions like anger or sadness, and all really is well.

Thomas Astruc even mentioned on Twitter that Chat Blanc was the reason why Adrien could not participate in the finale. And the implication is that he couldn't be there because he would be too emotional and would destroy the world. So Marinette had to do it for him, and Adrien had to be removed from his own story and put away in London with nightmares so that he wouldn't get in the way with his emotions. So yeah. The female coded character was reduced into being a damsel in distress and was told his emotions rendered him incapable of making his own choices because he wouldn't be able to control them.

Anyway, that's my take on it. Here are some other posts that discuss this.

Thank you for your ask!

#MLB #ML Salt #ML Writing Salt #ML Writers Salt #Meta #My meta #Asks #Marinette Salt #Not really but just in case #Sexism in ML

[aspiringwriter1111]

In a way I feel like if Marinette had the miraculous of destruction, it could have been such a valuable learning curve/lesson? Because what if Plagg saw her tripping over nothing and stumbling and dropping things, and then her apologizing and feeling bad about it and just being like... "No???"

Like imagine if he taught her that the confidence he has, isn't because he's not clumsy or awkward, but because he IS??? He's the kwami of destruction, how could he not have accidentally caused problems in the past?

He tells her about the dinosaurs and the leaning tower of Pisa, and how he caused the destruction of so many important monuments, on accident.

He tells her the confidence is because he knows it could happen anyways, and there's a good chance it will, so why spend all your time stressing about it?

The confidence only grows when it sticks through all the fumbles.

Think about it, the more you make mistakes, the more you know that no matter what happens, you can still be confident.

You don't need to be more careful or make extra plans. You can't control the world around you, or the circumstances, no matter how you try. Like

Everyone makes mistakes and all that yeah, but the level of bonding over learning to be comfortable with your own destruction??? The mistakes you make only add to the solidity of your own confidence??? It's completely okay to mess up, and if that causes a huge mess, then so be it??? It doesn't make you a lesser person, or a mistake????

And over time, Marinette gets more confident. No matter how she trips or falls, musses her words, she knows her mistakes don't make her, that that without them she would never learn and grow. Her clumsiness is still there, but the embarrassment isn't.

And that's freeing in a way she's never felt???

Not afraid of mistakes anymore, she lets out her creative side in a way like she's never done before. Patterns, scribbles, and colors that she would never have put together before! Her fashion becoming a true expression of her boldness.

She's joining art club, and speaking up, not afraid of making a mistake or who sees it.

Comfort in her own skin, brings comfort to her life, and suddenly she's speaking with her seat mate easily???

Not necessarily speaking up to Chloe, but simply not being bothered?? There's gum on my chair, so what, I'll just move over.

She's taking Adrien's umbrella with ease, and returning it to him with a SIGNED note and macarons???

Sure, she still feels all warm and melty with him, but she's not nervous.

She leaves him homemade gifts when she feels like it, instead of plotting for his next seventy birthdays. She compliments his kindness and bravery. Encourages him, and supports him unabashedly.

She tells off Gabriel in season 1, and gives Adrien advice. About how he deserves better, because SHE KNOWS she deserves good things, so why shouldn't he deserve them too???

Adrien starts seeing her as an idol, much like he originally does with ladybug, and like the later seasons.

We get the same (or better) effect, and that just tickles me.

Because there's nothing to be embarrassed about.

You're safe in your own mistakes.

I could go into Adrien/Misterbug too

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #mlb marinette #miraculous #plagg #ladynoir #adriennette #miraculous au #mlb #adrein agreste

[frostedpuffs]

I want to know every little thing about the mlp au please it’s so interesting I wanna know so much

absolutely i'd love to share whatever you wanna know! i haven't thought too in depth about it but everything is pretty much the same except it's literally set in the mlp universe lol

some random ideas i've had:

fencing still exists except it's mostly a unicorn sport where they use their horns! yes it is more dangerous this way lol. watch ur eyes. (like im sure they actually wear fencing gear and whatnot like maybe the same fencing helmets but with just the horn exposed???) anyway here's a quick sketch i threw together for the idea with a unicorn kagami and adrien

marinette is just slightly more chaotic now that she can fly. her clumsiness levels are higher. she will fly into things or fly too fast to the point where it's hard for her to stop. she is VERY fast. she's almost never on the ground ksdfsdfl lol and while i love the idea of her having tiny wings, the first concept of her i drew had normal sized wings that she would often hide her face behind when flustered/embarrassed/shy. here is the original sketch!

the ladybug/black cat are the only miraculous that grant alicorn powers

kwamis are still kwamis!

you know how in mlp there are some unicorns/ponies that have a different taller model (ex. fleur de lis)? yeah that's the model that would be used for adrien and adrien's family if they were animated in the mlp style. fancy tall boy

adrien is a decently skilled magic user though not amazing because it isn't his passion and his heart isn't in it. however, one of his favorite spells is teleportation, which he uses to his advantage a lot as chat noir

ladybug and chat noir are still the same levels of adorable stupid. example

anyway this is all the thoughts i can come up with at the moment but if anyone has any specific questions please feel free to shoot them my way!!

#ash answers #mlp au #mlp fim #miraculous #ladynoir #adrinette #adrienette #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ponybug #(thats what im going to tag this as) #doodle #sketch #adrien agreste #chat noir #marinette dupain cheng #ash art

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Why the "True Selves" Theory is Insulting

Image for a second that you have a friend who's a bit of a ditz. She's also fun, creative, and sweet. You enjoy being around her, but you've never seen her as more than a friend. Then, one day, a fire breaks out at an event that you and your friend are attending. Your lives are suddenly in mortal peril and the same goes for everyone around you because you can't find the exit. You think that you're going to die.

Then, suddenly, your friend transforms. Not in a magical way, it's just a personality shift, but it might as well be magical because it's like nothing you've ever seen! The ditziness is gone, replaced by laser focus and a take-charge attitude that has everyone following your friend without question. When all is said and done, everyone lives because of you friend. As it turns out, her tendency to get easily distracted means that she's a fantastic in-the-moment problem solver.

Going through that completely changes how you see this girl. You no longer just like her, no, you're now deeply in love with her. You tell a mutual friend about this and they laugh at you, then say, "Don't be silly, that wasn't really her! Her true self isn't that brave girl who saved your life! That was special circumstances that don't count. All that counts is the way she acts when there isn't a crisis going on. It doesn't matter that you've always liked her and enjoyed her company, if you didn't fall in love with based solely on her ditzy self, then you don't really love her."

Most people would call this mutual friend insane because of course going through crazy experiences changes the way we view people! Imagine if you had an allergic reaction and your significant other's reaction was to panic and run away, leaving you to die. You only live because you manage to grab your phone and call '911.' That would understandably lead many people to reassess if this is the person they want to spend their life with just like the opposite experience might make you see a person as a good life partner.

Marinette is Ladybug. She gets full credit for everything she's done in the suit and it's perfectly fine for Adrien to become attracted to her after he sees her in action. It doesn't mean that he only values her Ladybug side. He quite clearly cares for Marinette, he just hasn't seen her in the right light for him to fall in love. (And, if we're being frank, Marinette acts like Ladybug all the time when he's not around or when he is around, but a crisis is going on. She's really not that different from her alter ego.)

Along similar lines, Marinette isn't wrong for being drawn to Adrien's sweeter side more than his over-the-top jokey side. There's a reason why Glaciator ended with her blushing. Compare the end of Glaciator to the end of Origins and, yeah, same energy because - in that moment - Chat Noir was letting his Adrien side out by being more sincere and vulnerable, which are the things that Marinette values most in a romance and the things that he rarely shows while in the mask. It doesn't mean that she hates his jokey side, it's just not going to win her heart when Adrien's right there being sweet and sincere while Chat Noir hides his feelings behind a smile and a laugh.

In fact, it's pretty insulting to Adrien to say that someone shouldn't be attracted to his more vulnerable side. That his sincerity is worth less than his jokes. Almost as insulting as telling Marinette that her Ladybug side doesn't count and she should get no credit for being brave as that's not really her. Loving her only counts if a person falls in love while she's behaving in her most over-the-top, cringe, embarrassing way.

I don't know about you, but I would never want someone to hold me to that standard nor would I hold my significant other to that standard! It's perfectly normal to have things that you don't love about your significant other. In fact, I'd argue that part of the magic of a real, lasting romance is having someone who loves you even though you're not perfect. If you are looking for a partner who never annoys you or does something wrong, then you will never find happiness because that person does not exist.

Now that I've said all of that, I want to add that I do think that marichat, "love both sides" stories can be cute. It's just not One True Path to Real Love. It's totally fine if the square starts dating based on the things that they find attractive about each other and then just continue to be in love as they learn about the other side. If anything, that's normal. Learning about a person is what dating is all about! A good relationship is no different than a good friendship, you just get some bonus perks if you're into that kind of thing.

I'll also note that I'm not criticizing stories where Marinette feels like she's the "real" version and Ladybug is the fake because that's a really understandable thing to be nervous about. Tikki saying that shit? Hard no. Terrible mentoring.

#ml fandom critical #ml fandom salt #adrien deserves better #marinette deserves better #Any time this comes up in a fanfic I cringe a little so I needed to rant a bit after I saw it again #No I will not tell you the fic #I'm only making this post because the issue is so common that I can talk about it without feeling like I'm calling someone out #This is a discussion of a widespread issue not one person's flawed POV

[fleursroses]

Of boys and boxes

Holy shit I reached 250 followers yesterday!! Genuinely I want to thank you so much. So, in honour of that here's finally the fic I said I'd write back in like October (whoops). It's inspired by this post by @ggomos-maribat​, so if you're wondering why you got tagged in this, it's because you asked to in case anyone wrote something for it. I hope it lives up to your expectations!!! I will also post this on AO3 and reblog with the link. But for now, enjoy <333

However Marinette thought it would be to be the Guardian of the Miracle Box, she couldn't exactly say it would even come close to reality. Sure, the whole thing surrounding Hawkmoth that got her in the situation in the first place generally sucked a lot, but in a way she knew what she could expect. Then Shadowmoth happened, and Monarch, who eventually all turned out to be Gabriel Agreste, the fucking dad of her longtime crush and partner Chat Noir. Yeah, talk about killing the mood. 

Okay, if she was being honest, at that point the feelings for either had been fading for a while, mainly due to all the stress being Guardian put on her life. Sometimes she couldn't help but resent Fu for all that he, although not necessarily on purpose, had forced her to go through, from losing her childhood so early without any guidance, to making her feel like she wasn't allowed to have feelings without putting the world that was laid upon her thin shoulders at risk. It never felt fair though, because she knew Fu had had to go through the same thing. At least she still had some sort of support network. 

Still, the whole thing left her too traumatised to really want to pursue Adrien any further, or anyone else for that matter. This was fine by her, and although he was a bit disappointed, Adrien understood and respected her feelings on this matter. She was glad she could still have him by her side, despite it not being the future they had both dreamed of. 

However, being left with a bit too much time on her hands, Marinette had decided to focus more on her duties as guardian, wanting to fully uncover its secrets without the threat of having all the kwamis being stolen from her again hanging over her head. And as much as she wished Fu had trained her more, she didn't think he had known about... certain connections the miracle box had to various organisations either. Wasn't that just her luck?

It had been 3 years since Hawkmoth had been defeated, and Marinette had spent most of that time travelling all over the world. Every so often she would return to Paris again though, to meet up with her old friends. They would go out for drinks and Marinette would tell all about the classes she followed online to get a business degree, as well as tell about where she had been and what she had done as Guardian. She had to admit, it was nice to finally be able to talk about being Ladybug, even if the group who knew was still only really small. Or rather, it was nice to have the possibility. In reality, she was so used to being secretive, out of sheer habit she sometimes forgot to mention things other people would undoubtedly have told their friends. 

It would go like this: One of the times she was back after a particularly long 5 months away, Marinette invited Adrien, Alya, Nino, Kagami and Chloé to hang out at the bakery with her. Just as she was telling a story about the crazy commission she had gotten from one of Jagged's friends, something she occasionally did to help keep her afloat while she was abroad, she got a call from an, to her friends, unfamiliar name. Apologizing to the group, who assured her it was fine, she answered. Her and the guy on the other end held a short civil conversation, ending with Marinette promising she would drop something of his by his place at her earliest convenience and then ended it just as quickly. When asked about the other guy, she just said "Oh that's just Damian, I met him in Tunisia," and then immediately went back to her story again, as if nothing had really happened.

Yet, this Damian continued to show up in conversations after that. Over time her friends gathered that although they had met in Tunisia, he was apparently American, had a big family and a preference for the same martial arts Marinette did. She didn't talk about him all that much, mostly just mentioned him every so often, like when Alya accompanied her to her favourite fabric store while she was still in the neighbourhood. 

"And so this creep comes up to me all macho like I didn't just pepperspray one of his friends right in front of him- Wait Mari check this green satin out, don't you think it would look nice on Adrien?"

Marinette came over and inspected the fabric, and while picking up the roll noted "I think it's a bit too dark for him, but I think it would look really good on Damian instead. He has this weird thing about green as a family colour or whatever, maybe I can make him something?"

Alya looked curiously as Marinette whipped out her sketchpad and sketched out a whole suit while lost in thought. She didn't take it personally, she knew this was just how the other girl could sometimes get when particularly inspired. Interested, she noted that it had been the thought of Damian that did it this time. But then again, Marinette's mind sometimes worked in the strangest ways, and Alya knew better than to pry or interrupt her. So, she just picked up the story where she had left it, knowing it would eventually find its way into Marinette's brain.

"Anyway, at the end the dude was totally crying and I hadn't even done much yet, you'd totally be proud of me girl-"

In the end, Alya couldn't shake her curiosity. Trying to google the guy didn't help much when she didn't have a surname, and look, she just wanted to know the guy was alright. Not that she didn't trust Marinette's judgement, on the contrary, but it would be nice to have a bit more to go off on. Asking Marinette straight up didn't help much either, only getting her vague answers. But as she offhandedly mentioned it to her friends when Marinette was away again, she found they were also eager to bring up their curiosity. 

"We don't even know what he looks like! But she likes him enough that she makes him fancy clothes of her own volition!" Chloé lamented dramatically. Although she would never admit it, she was a bit miffed she couldn't find out anything about Damian either. Even her sources couldn't tell her anything, and they usually never failed her. 

"I think we should just be happy she is designing again, no matter the reason."

 They all fell silent at Kagami's words, remembering how bad the period after Hawkmoth's defeat had been. It was only then Marinete's cracks had visibly begun to show to all of them, partly through several months void of the usual creative outlets and other emotions in general. It had been... rough, to say at the least.

"Still though. I don't think she has designed this much for one person since, disregarding Jagged's commissions. And she doesn't even talk about him! I mean, when I'm alone with her she always talks about all of you like you hung up the moon. I don't think she has talked about one person she likes as little as... as Luka."

Nino looked at his girlfriend incredulously. "Are you seriously suggesting Marinette has a crush on Damian? She barely ever even sees him."  

Alya simply shrugs. "I mean, probably not, but it can't hurt to think of all bases, right? But okay, what do you think about this: he is a secret assassin and Marinette made him normal by the power of friendship and now she has to constantly like, check up on him to make sure he doesn't go back to the darkside. No, listen, hear me out-"

Somehow, although they didn't know it, reality had been even stranger. Or well, if they had met years ago Alya could maybe even have been right, but as it was Damian hadn't been part of the "dark side" for a very long time, nor was he in danger of going back. Maybe that would have been sort of preferable to Marinette, but she still supposed her situation wasn't that bad, even though, yes, she was technically speaking kind of stuck. Trying to explain this to her friends was... a feat. 

This is all to say they had found out. It happened when she had invited all her friends over to New York to attend a fashion show she had been allowed to design a small piece for when accidentally gaining attention from yet another designer. When afterwards they were just taking a stroll through the city, all talking excitedly, a beautiful woman had come up to Marinette and taken her aside to talk without paying any heed to her friends. For some reason, they started talking in Mandarin. It wasn't a very long conversation, which ended by the woman patting Marinette on the head and walking away again. 

When she turned around, she found all her friends staring at her, dumbfounded. 

"What?"

"How the hell do you know Talia Head?" Chloé demanded. 

Somehow, Marinette only looked at them blankly, like she had never heard that name in her life. Like she hadn't literally just been talking to the actual CEO of LexCorps. When Chloé told her this, recognition slowly dawned on the other girl.

"Right, Talia. I forgot she's doing that now. Hm. I wonder who she has designing for her, I should ask her..." 

This time, she pulled out a notebook the others hadn't ever seen before, filling it with the strangest characters. There seemed to be some structure to it, possibly making it a language, but it wasn't one any of them had ever seen before.

Later, Marinette would chalk it up to her unfortunately being distracted, but when Alya asked her how she knew Talia then, if it apparently wasn't for her currently being one of the most well known business persons in the world, she just replied "She's my mother-in-law?" like this was a known fact. 

As several voices shrieked "YOU'RE MARRIED??" Marinette suddenly remembered she had not, in fact, told her friends about her marriage yet. 

"I mean, yes, more or less? It happened when I went to China again, and I met this League of uh. League of Assassins. But their leader knew a lot about the Miracle Box and he told me he would share everything with me if I married his grandson. Also that I would probably die if I didn't, but honestly I had hit a dead end so I really needed his knowledge, you know? It's fine though, I don't even know if it's like, legally binding. Also we didn't have to do anything besides be married, so. Pretty good deal actually!"

"HE WHAT-" "ASSASSINS?" "MARINETTE"

It took a lot of time for her friends to settle down, and to accept that she was fine and not under constant threat of being assassinated. It was a whole ordeal. Eventually though, it was Adrien who settled it by quietly asking her whether her husband at least treated her well. 

"I mean, sure, I guess? He's chill. Also, I am provided with so much more knowledge now, I feel like you're not properly considering that pa-." 

She was interrupted by a strange noise coming from her phone. She glanced down, fully prepared to ignore it for the more pressing matters at hand, but upon seeing who had texted her she decided to reply anyway. 

"Hang on, he's texting me, I need to answer this."

Random American dude???

My family just found out that I got married. They're being really annoying about it.

Snorting, she texted back, knowing her friends were still watching her every move.

Vous

Funny how that works, my friends did too just now

I blame your mother tho

She then showed her phone to her friends. "See? Damian and I are fine." 

It was Alya who made the connection first.

"Wait, if you've actually been married to Damian all along, and your mother in law is Talia Head…"

"MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG DID YOU MARRY DAMIAN FUCKING WAYNE?"

Taglist:

@nerd-nowandforever @prettykittytanjiro @toughluna @meira-3919 @taewinterbear95 @maanae @hammalammadamdam @swaggermcjagger @countessdragon @starscreamlover @snorlaxly-tired @illusionwolfwriter24r8 @kaitense1 @wildcardjoey @dramatic-squirrel @leftguard66 @mimblizzy @mikami1992 @tinybrie @theg0ddesspersephone @psychicdelusionwerewolf​ @folk-ever-lore​  

#maribat #daminette #maridami #mlb x dc #maribat fic #fleur writes

[mochinek0]

Love Ballads-3

'It's almost been a week since I've seen Marinette and I can't get her out of my head. Why? Sure, her appearance has change a bit since College, but it's not like seeing her was a surprise. Marinette has always been best frineds with Alya, but I don't really remember her dating anyone, besides Luka. It's great that she wears her hair down now; she always looked better that way. Her hair was almost down to her waist. She's curvier and the way she dresses changed too. That's probably why seeing her was so different. Did she always have those freckles?'

But that wasn't what was bothering the young model. It was her voice.

'Why is it that every time I close my eyes, all I can see is her? All I can see are her bright bluebell eyes staring at me, begging me to answer her. Every time it's the same question: 'Why don't you love me?'

That's all she ever repeated to him. How could a simple sentence haunt his every thought, every dream? Adrien sighed again. The model was broken out of his thoughts by a knock on the door.

"Adrien, your father would like me to remind you that you have a previous engagement in two hours time. Be ready to leave in one hour." announced Natalie.

"Yes, Natalie. Thank you." he answered, deviating his thoughts. Adrien quickly showered and got ready, leaving him once more to his rampant thoughts about his old friend.

'Why does it hurt to hear those words escape her pink lips? Why does it feel like Marinette was waiting for me to answer her? Why do I suddenly feel this way?'

"You are to be presentable at all times. You must remember that there are people who will take what you say out of context. You represent more then yourself, Adrien; you represent the Gabriel brand." announced Gabriel, setting his rules in place.

"Yes, Father. I understand." Adrien stated, waiting to be dismissed.

Gabriel left shortly after and Adrien was ushered into the car to Nino's new place.

It wasn't until he arrived at Guy's Night that things were suddenly becoming clearer in his mind. He was slowly getting a crush on his old friend, Marinette. Her singing voice had been a siren call and his doom.

'I can't feel this way about Marinette! I need to stop. '

He took a sip of his drink and glanced at the other side of the room. There stood the reason why: Nathaniel. He was dating Marinette and he was forcibly stuck with Lila.

'Why couldn't I have figured this out before? Why couldn't I have noticed her in College? Why did we lose touch? If I had just ran into her five months ago, maybe I'd be happy. Maybe I'd be her boyfriend.'

As the night wore on, he found himself thinking of the petite designer more and more. Adrien started lying to himself: I don't like her. Yeah, we just lost touch and I really just want to talk with her. We have so much to catch up on! I just want to get to know her better. I want to know what classes she's taking and how she's doing with it all. I just want to-

Adrien covered his face with his pillow, once he was home. No matter how much he tried to convince himself he only wanted to get to know her again, he knew they were lies.

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

#adrien agreste #new crush #adrien crushes on marinette #questions #no answers #marinette dupain cheng #natalie sancoeur #gabriel agreste #nathaniel kurtzberg #lust #attraction #mochinek0

[miabrown007]

Felonies and Other Love Languages

Adrien Agreste: rich, lonely, freshly aware of the fact that he's expected to take over not a fashion, but a drug empire. Marinette Dupain-Cheng: broke, angry, freshly aware of the fact that bringing down drug empires is a blast. But where would she be without her team, Alya and Nino, and her very good friend, Luka? Not to mention the team’s newest addition, the kind, the funny, the ultra charming Chat Noir. If Marinette likes him, that’s alright, though. It isn’t like she’s dating Adrien Agreste for real. It’s all just part of her ten-step plan to make the Agrestes meet their demise.

Chapter 3 - Pandora’s Box (12,708 words, 3/32 chapters)

Adrien would like to walk along the edge of the curb with his arms outstretched. Like he used to when his mother was there, her palm hovering a breath away from his, ready to catch him anytime.

Instead, he scurries between patches of light on the crushed stone path of Place des Vosges. He doesn't understand why being late fazes him.

He shouldn’t even be here.

He should be up at the office, checking the CCTV footage with Kim to notify the police about the break-in. Or he should be at dinner, informing his father about today’s mishap. He shouldn’t be sneaking out under the disguise of meeting Chloé for drinks. And he definitely shouldn’t, under any circumstances, be searching for Carapace’s hooded figure in the shadows of the park.

In his head, Adrien knows that. But he follows his heart. And his heart rounds a corner with a leap, only to come to a halt in front of a well-lit fountain.

“I thought you wouldn’t come,” Carapace says, his eyes shining brightly over his green facemask. He has his arms crossed over his chest in what seems to be a futile attempt at keeping himself warm in the spring chill, dressed in nothing but a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirt.

Adrien doesn’t hold back his grin. With his own mask in place, it’s not like Carapace can see it. “You know what they say about curiosity and the cat.”

It’s a stupid joke, but if he made up a cat-themed persona for himself, he intends to commit to the bit. Plagg would surely be proud of him. (Even if, realistically speaking, Adrien knows that house cats, much like fathers, are never actually proud. Still, he likes to pretend that what they share is special and goes beyond owning a Blue Ribbon pedigree.)

“You expect you’re walking into your doom and still show up? Admirable,” Carapace chuckles, unaware of the truth those words actually hold. “Now come on, the others are waiting for us. I promise we don’t bite.” He starts on one of the paths leading out of the park, muttering under his nose, “Well, most of us.”

Adrien decides he doesn't actually want to know what Carapace means by that. In his hurry to catch up, the gravel almost slips out from under Adrien’s sneakers, but by some miracle—or years and years of athletic training—he keeps himself upright. “What did you say, who are these people we are meeting?”

The light of a street lamp glinting in Carapace’s glasses as he spares Adrien a glance. “I didn’t.”

It’s more than fair to receive the same non-answer to his question as Adrien had given earlier that day. Still, his chuckle is nervous. He fights the fidgety feeling that urges him to double check that the GPS on his phone is switched on.

“Don’t stress about it, they are friends,” Carapace adds in a softer tone as they exit the park on the northern side and stop in the shadow of the arcades. “We’re almost there, so I’ll have to ask you to put this on,” he says, handing Adrien a baby blue knitted scarf.

“There’s a dress code? This place must be really fancy,” Adrien laughs as he takes the piece of fabric and wraps it around his neck.

Carapace blinks at him, twice, before a chuckle leaves him too. “No, it’s— It’s for your eyes, actually. Just a precaution until we know we can trust you.”

Thank god it’s pitch dark and he can’t see the way Adrien flushes.

“Yeah, I— I knew that. Obviously!”

With much more reluctant motions, he re-ties the scarf around his eyes. He had considered swapping his contacts for glasses—for the sake of an even less Adrien Agreste™-looking disguise—but now he’s glad he’d dropped the idea. Blindfolding himself with them on would be a pain. Actually, merely existing with glasses and a facemask on is a pain, as Adrien was forced to discover this afternoon after much experimenting with the concept.

So, contacts, and anxiety over being only fashionably late it was.

“Sorry, it’s part of the protocol. Let me spin you right round here for a second,” Carapace says, his voice lighthearted. He grabs Adrien by the shoulders and turns him around a few times, until he has no idea what is up and what is down. “Thank you for choosing the Rena Rouge entertainment park, we hope you had a good time,” he says, in the worst imitation of a carnival pitchman.

Still, it somewhat eases the knot in Adrien’s stomach that’s as tight as Nathalie’s hairdo on any given day.

“And now, this way. We’re almost there,” Carapace says, grabbing his upper arm and guiding him forward.

The irony of their first meeting going almost exactly like this—only with their roles reversed—isn’t lost on Adrien, but at this point, he just follows the instructions. He's pretty good at that.

Losing his sight serves to draw his attention to his other senses. He’s acutely aware of the silence stretching between them, the noises of cars and buzzing electric advertisements on shops’ façades.

The pavement under his feet takes a sharp turn, and the city’s noises melt into the background, signalling their approaching arrival. Adrien can’t decide if that or his still spinning head is the reason he feels like he’s going to throw up his supper.

“Who is Rena Rouge?” he asks, despite his nausea.

The beam is evident in Carapace’s voice, even over the sound of a door opening and closing behind them. “Oh, Rena Rouge? Just the most amazing, passionate, talented girl in the whole wide world, who, coincidentally, also makes the best colombo.”

"Your girlfriend?" Adrien guesses.

"For the time being," a cheeky voice slices through the vanilla and pastry-flavoured air.

Carapace comes to a sudden halt. "Hey, what‘s that supposed to mean?"

"Well,” presumably-Rena Rouge says, “we are getting married sometime in the future, aren't we?"

"That's like, the worst way to put that, babe," he argues but laughs along nevertheless.

There’s another giggle, one that eases the trembling of Adrien’s stomach. "Um, guys. The plan."

"Right, the plan!" Rena Rouge confirms, as if she has completely forgotten they are, indeed, in the middle of something that is starting to feel suspiciously like a hostage situation.

Adrien, who at this point would really like to see his surroundings, shifts on his feet. "So, what's the plan?"

Suddenly, someone removes his scarf, two bluebell eyes staring into his soul. "You are the plan, Chat Noir!"

[read the whole chapter on AO3]

#miraculous ladybug #ladynoir #ladybug #ml fanfic #chat noir #miaraculous writing #heist au #faoll #felonies and other love languages #enemies au #in which Chat Noir joins the team dead set on terminating the Agrestes. nothing goes wrong

[jennagrinsoverml]

HI i love your fic recs! This is gonna sound really specific but do you have any good fics about time? I'm thinking Bunnix-involved, time loops, alternate universes... it's been on my mind lately. thank you so much!

I had a lot of fun with this list! I feel like this one has been anxiously awaited since I posted about it a while back haha

Remember That Time When... by @mostlovedgirl

Twenty-two-year-old Marinette Agreste was looking forward to the anniversary trip she would be taking with her husband Adrien that weekend. Those plans are derailed when she wakes up in her old bedroom... and she’s seventeen again.

Multi-chapter. This fic is so fun, and I love the way it plays with both sides of the time travel trope. On the one hand you’ve got Adrien and Marinette suddenly transported to a future where they’re married, while in their time, they’re not together (though Marinette’s crazy in love with him of course). And on the other hand, you’ve got married Adrienette back in the past needing to pretend they’re not even together! It’s sweet and fun, and I loved seeing both how Adrienette got there, as well as what they’re like as an established couple at the same time.

A Hundred Thursdays by Midnight Musume (Peas)

Marinette is stuck repeating the same day over and over. Her friends (and especially Chat Noir) help her cope.

Two-shot. Groundhog day type fic where Marinette’s stuck in a time loop. (In the second chapter, Adrien’s the one who is stuck.) It’s extremely well executed, and I really enjoyed the Marichat dynamic, especially with how it was influenced by the interactions Marinette had (or did not have) with Adrien earlier in the day.

Clairvoyance by @whatarubberchicken

Being hit by an akuma is not usually this delightful. Or bright. Or completely eye-opening.

One-shot. This fic hits me right in the feels, with Chat Noir being transported to a perfect future where he’s married with children and so, so happy, and it’s just so beautiful. Before, of course, the akuma’s power is ended and it’s over.

Eight Years Overnight by @coffeebanana

All Adrien wanted was to finish grading papers and have a relaxing weekend with his family. He most definitely did NOT expect Bunnyx to show up and drag him eight years into the future. When Ladybug followed her husband into the future, she didn't expect to see him playing the part of the villain. She didn't expect fourteen-year-old Emma to follow her through, either. And Chat Noir from the future was wrong to think that saving his kidnapped wife would be a piece of cake the second time around.

OR: Ladynoir July with a time-travelling twist.

Multi-chapter. This fic is exactly the kind of fic I’m usually thinking of when I think of a time travel fic. It’s a little bit confusing in the way that such stories always are, but the confusion is really kept to a minimum. It’s so interesting because the love square get together is not a component of this fic, they’re married in both times! But it works so well, and the trust they have in each other in both times is a recurring theme and it’s beautiful. This is plotty and well constructed. 

Why Are You Like This? by @carpisuns

An older Chat Noir shows up in the middle of a class field trip with a special mission for his younger self.

Two-shot. This is sweet, hilarious, and utterly perfect. Chat Noir meddles in the love square and it cracks me up.

A Sound of Thunder by Tempomental

“Bye-bye, little… actually, that’s your line, isn’t it? Sorry.”

Ladybug stared at the man in front of her. Tall. Shaggy, but not unkempt blond hair. Oh yeah, and he was wearing a Ladybug costume.

“Who - who are you?”

“Oh, right, sorry.” He drew himself up to his full height and proudly announced, “My name is Adrien Agreste, and I’ve come from the future to rescue you!”

Multi-chapter. Adrien also comes back from the future to help out with the ladybug miraculous. It’s extremely intense and well written and every time I thought I had spotted a problem in the writing, it turned out to be a plot element but holy shit I thought I was going to die with how intense this is. If you like plot, you will absolutely LOVE this fic.

when you weren’t mine to lose by @bugsandchatons

Change is a scary thing, especially when it feels like nothing has stayed the same.

It’s been a year since Marinette became the Guardian of the Miracle Box - a year of struggling beneath a burden she never asked for, a weight that has her leaning on her partner more and more as the hours fly by, of letting him come to her, too, when he needs a soft place to land. A year of falling for the boy who takes on the world by her side with a smile made of sunlight, and fighting the growing urge to tell him what he means to her.

After all, they’ll have time enough for that when Paris is safe.

But when the unthinkable happens, Marinette learns the tragedy of loving someone quietly, and the lines she’ll cross to save him.

Multi-chapter. This is what happens when Ladybug loses Chat Noir: she uses Hawkmoth to go back in time to save him. It hurts in all the best ways and the writing is absolutely gorgeous and somehow we still get a happy ending!

#ml #miraculous ladybug #ml fic recs #adrienette #marichat #adrinette #ladynoir #ml love square #time travel #time travel fics #ml fanfic #jennarecsml

[jacquesthepigeon]

If you don't mind me asking, why do you hate the miracuclass?

This ancient ask came up while I was trying to find a post! So!

1) I’m not a fan of the dozen kids determined to be worthy of great power all “coincidentally” being in the same class. Sure, maybe two or three might have it in them, but not every single one. And, sure, there is a good message about how everyone could be a hero in there, but I personally think that it could be worked out in a more organic way, particularly as a one-time special event. If everyone in the class had been brought together because they’re a hero, then it would be a different story entirely.

2) It saturates the importance of the role and the powers. ML has a problem with trying to introduce more than its ready to and then doing nothing with it. It’s clear that half of the powers aren’t thought out and introducing even more miraculous beyond that box makes them feel common and unimpressive. The way some of the characters “earn” their miraculous is also ridiculous and lacking. Like, we have Marinette running into moving traffic to save an old man and meanwhile Sabrina gets hers for ?? liking soccer/football???? Talk about underwhelming. It just made it too obvious that they were trying to cram as many classmates as they could into the team without any consideration for whether they actually suited the role.

3) Too much, too soon, too gimmicky. There’re too many characters trying to have their time in the spotlight at the same time, none of them have been given a heroic journey, and the combination of these factors makes them unenjoyable to me. We’ve seen other franchises pull off big groups before, but they’re usually almost always divided into smaller groups and dynamics so everyone gets attention and development and don’t get lost in all the moving parts. I’ve seen it suggested that they could’ve been organized into smaller teams like in Naruto, with each team facing their own villain compatible with their individual powers and occasionally working with other teams. I love that. That could’ve worked. But alas, we’re only allowed one supervillain, one uncohesive superhero group, all stuffed in one class.

I hope this made sense but yeah. I think the miracuclass could’ve worked as a one-time thing where they all come together to help LB and CN during a particularly dire situation or as smaller groups from different schools that work independently but cooperatively.

#anon #ask #ml

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

Biodad! Bruce Wayne

Realised I haven't posted anything Maribat related in a while. Also realised that it's Biodad! Bruce Wayne month.

I am currently on break from fic writing until October. This happened because the wifi was out for a while and I lacked motivation to study.

-----

Marinette is a Wayne and everyone knows except for the new kids aka Alya, Adrien and Lila.

Mari doesn't flaunt her wealth or tried to hide it but everyone just sort of forgets when she is as down to earth as the rest of them.

Except for the certain times she shows it and everyone is violently reminded that she is richer than Chloe Bourgeosis (who can't stand that fact.)

Picture this, Set season 3-ish, Spring Break is over and everyone is coming back from their vacation.

Chloe comes in a limo and bragging about her vacation in the Carribean or something.

Adrien looks around and is like, "Where's Marinette?"

Marinette hasn't been heard from all break and Alya is only aware that she is visiting family in the States.

Anyways, bell rings to signal classes and still no sign of Marinette.

Then, the chopping sounds of a helicopter is heard and everyone looks up to the sky and sees one.

Everyone moved out of the way as they realised that it was going to land in the courtyard (Or the sake of crack and the magic of imagination and fiction, let's pretend this is allowed and possible)

"I wonder if that is a new student." Adrien wondered.

"Ooh, I hope they aren't another Chloe. They seem rich if they are coming to school by helicopter." Alya said.

"That's Marinette." Nino explained.

"Where?" Adrien looked around for his very good friend.

"The helicopter. It's hers. Well, it belongs to her family. See?" Nino pointed out the Wayne logo to his friends.

"No freaking way." Alya exclaimed, "Marinette's not…" She stopped upon seeing a familiar girl exit the helicopter, arguing with a man in English.

"B, I am not going back out on this. I am staying in Paris and that is final." Marinette yelled.

"Sweetheart, but think of the akumas. They are dangerous." The man tried to appeal to her.

"It's fine and I am not dead yet. Plus I don't want you bubble wrapping me to 'protect' me if I stay in Gotham."

"I am not that bad."

"It's that Bruce Wayne? That's Bruce Wayne." Alya pointed and turned to Nino, "Why is Bruce Wayne here and why does Marinette know him?"

"You don't know?"

"Of course, I don't." Alya feels like there is a story here and Nino is not telling her what it is.

Adrien raised his hands, "Same here."

"How do you not know?" Nino waved towards the pair, "Mari's father is Bruce Wayne."

"What?" Alya and Adrien exclaimed. Brain.exe has stopped working.

"Everybody knew that."

"We didn't. What do you mean my girl's father is one of the richest man on the planet?" Alya demanded as she shook her boyfriend for more answers.

"I know it sounds hard to believe but yeah. Marinette is Bruce Wayne's daughter."

Alya walked away in disbelief and muttering on her phone, trying to see if it was true. She screamed, "Oh my God" when she found Marinette's Wikipedia page.

Adrien is just looking like a lost puppy.

"Dude, you okay?" Nino asked.

"Why didn't Marinette tell me? I thought we were friends."

"Adrien, I think she forgot that you didn't know since all of us already knew and plus I thought you would have known before this. Don't you rich kids hang out in the same circles or something?"

"If my father lets me go out and that is rarely. So no."

"Oh right, your old man. Look, Mme. Mendeleeve is coming. We better get to class. You can ask Marinette why she didn't tell you then."

In the Meantime, Marinette and Bruce had stopped yelling at each other and were angrily doing ASL to communicate hero business.

The helicopter had flew away after dropping off its passengers.

"Mme. Marinette and M. Wayne, it's time for Mademoiselle's class to start so I hope you can continue this fight after school." Mme. Mendeleeve interuppted them.

"Yes, Ma'am/miss"

"And Marinette," Bruce called, "We will negotiate this for a compromise over lunch."

"Fine." Marinette groaned and walked away with the teacher.

Bruce ignored Damocles, who had hurriedly changed out of his Owl Knight costume to greet the billionaire, as he made his way to the expensive-looking car parked in front of the school.

"Oh, wait. Principal Damocles." Bruce said as if he remembered something before opening the door, "Marinette had been complaining about another girl in her class who had been threatening her and apparently framing her for cheating on test and theft. I was also told that she was expelled because of it. Why was I not aware about this?"

Damocles paled and stuttered out a poor excuse.

"I also hear that the Bourgeosis girl is still having her way with everything and picking fights with my daughter."

"About that. Chloe insists on being in the same class as Marinette and the Mayor intervene everytime we try to do something about it."

"I see. I am already considering pulling her out since Hawkmoth is making a big mess of the city. At least back at home, there are protocols in school for attacks but I don't see any in your school policies for akuma attacks."

"Um. We- er are working on it. You see Hawkmoth is a recent thing and um-" Blah. blah. blah. Bruce just hears more excuses.

"Hn." and Bruce gets into his car and drove away.

Damocles made a note to tell Bustier to take Marinette's side for a while.

In the class, Lila was eagerly bristling with excitement. There was a new student in school who arrived by helicopter and it had the Wayne logo. One of the richest children in the world was attending the school. Forget Agreste, this was a bigger fish to fry. She was far away to see who the student was and Mme. Mendeleeve prevented her from getting a closer look but she could recognise them by the red clothes they wore to school. Hopefully, they were in the same class as hers. Lila prayed hard to see a new face as people trickled in. She even got Nathaniel to sit with Ivan so there is an empty seat next to her.

However, she had no luck when Marinette, usually the last one to class, arrived and there was still no new student.

That is until Adrien asked loud enough for everyone to hear, "Marinette, why didn't you tell me that your father is Bruce Wayne?"

Lila nearly crack her neck by turning her head so fast to stare at Marinette who answered, "I thought you already knew." in a confused tone.

Sure enough, Marinette was wearing the same clothes the supposed Wayne child had. Lila has a crisis since one of the best golden ticket to fame and fortune already knew she was a liar.

"Is he really your father?" Alya grabbed Marinette.

"Yes." Marinette looked between Adrien and Alya who both looked betrayed, "Why do you look so confused about it? Everybody knew."

"Everybody. Except us."

Lila picked that moment to chimed in, "Marinette, how could you not tell me that you are a Wayne? I thought that we were friends." Hoping she could salvage something.

Marinette made a face and it was gone as she replied, "It's not like I hid the fact that I am a Wayne. Maybe I wasn't as obvious about my wealth like Chloe and most people assumed that my last name is Dupain-Cheng because she called me that. I kinda forgot you didn't know because everyone already knew. So no hard feelings?"

Alya sighed, "I can't get mad when I know how scattered you get. I mean some things are now obvious now that I think about it and it explains some things."

The rest of the day, Lila tries to act all buddy-buddy with Marinette and Marinette ignores her.

#maribat #biodad! bruce wayne #this time #ml x dc #mlb x dc #everyone knows marinette is a wayne #adrien is oblivious enough to not know something like that #as for the rest #Marinette has a Tony Hawk problem where unless she is wearing formal wear like a evening gown or a suit #People don't know she is a Wayne #that is why most people is so chilled about her being famous

[princess-of-the-corner]

considering the fact that one of Lila's lies was thar she rescued Jagged Stone's cat... I wonder what Chloe's reaction to was that was... She seems to love that gator or be indifferent to it, but she seems to hate Lila

Honestly it's fuckin.

It's so weird that Chloé and Lila had barely any interaction until late season 4/season 5. Like their only conversation was in Miraculer.

like like like

Like Chameleon itself! Yeah you have the 'Jagged's cat' lie thing, wouldn't Chloé have a feeling on that?

And then just. Swinging back to the 'Chloé being jealous over Adrien' thing: Chloé is 100% perfectly fine with Lila sitting next to Adrien? She doesn't weigh in at all when Mari and Lila are fighting over the seat next to him?

That would've been a great way to accidentally discredit Marinette and make her look like a jealous asshole! Marinette is against Lila because she knows she's a liar, but hammering it in by having Chloé do/say the same things while believing Lila but just being jealous would have the class be like 'girl you three are getting catty over a guy and you are /taking Chloé's side/ PLEASE re-evaluate this situation!!'

[abyssal-ali]

'tis the damn season

Pairing: Luka Couffaine x Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Rating: T | Ao3 | Masterlist

WC: 3.8k

A/N: For my wonderful Twinsie @wildbookcat 💜 Beta'd by @sneksnacc

Tiny flakes of powdery snow danced through the air, carried around by the whims of the wind. Luka envied their carelessness. Somehow, he had ended up at the Charles de Gaulle International Airport, waiting for his high school ex-girlfriend, who was also his little sister’s best friend, and thus someone he couldn’t avoid.

It wasn’t even that he was still heartbroken about the end of their ill-fated relationship (lie), or that they had ended on bad terms (was both parties being broken-hearted and depressed for the next several months ‘bad terms’?), the issue was that he didn’t know how Marinette was going to react.

They were now both adults, had a collective handful of ended relationships under their belts, and were mature enough to look past that summer, right?

Another gust of wind blew through the man-made wind tunnel–aka the main doors exiting the airport–and caused a shiver to go down Luka’s back. He was still affected by his reptilian Miraculous, though he’d returned it after Hawkmoth had been defeated seven years ago. He wondered how Marinette would deal with the snow and chill when she arrived, since she was even more attuned to her Miraculous than he had been, and she continued to wield the gems occasionally. Ladybugs didn’t like the cold either.

The doors slid open, another batch of travellers entering the snowy grey afternoon with a shiver.

A pink pom-pom caught his eye, and Luka stepped out of the car to wave at its owner.

“Marinette!”

Her head turned to him, surprise overtaking her features, before being replaced by a smile. “Luka!”

Her cheeks were already flushing pink, matching her coat and hat, Luka noticed when she stepped back from la bise. He picked up her suitcase, slung her bag over his arm, and motioned towards his blue VW Golf.

“Your parents were busy with the holiday rush, so they asked me to come get you when I was over there saying hi yesterday,” Luka explained, getting into the driver’s seat once he’d stored her things in the hatch.

“Couldn’t stay away from their pain au chocolat, huh?” Marinette teased him easily.

Luka exhaled soundlessly as he pulled away. Maybe this would go okay, after all.

“You know it. So, how long are you here for?”

Marinette settled back in her seat. “I’m not actually sure. I want something new, but old…no, familiar, at the same time.”

Luka hummed. “I hope you find it.”

“Thanks. So, why are you here? It’s been a while since either of us were in Paris,” she commented, blowing hot air on the window and doodling hearts and smiles with her fingertip.

“I thought it was time. Haven’t seen Ma and Juleka in a while, and I have friends here I wanted to catch up with. I’m currently on a break from producing, so I figured now was as good a time as any.”

“Right,” Marinette agreed. “It’s nice to see you again.”

And now the awkwardness was seeping through the car.

“You too; it’s been awhile,” he said softly. “I’m always happy to see you.”

Even if it hurts when I don’t.

Her gaze darted down to her mittenless hands, fidgeting with her short, buffed nails. Luka could see the calluses from being constantly pricked on the pads of her fingers; a thin red scrape on the side of her hand likely came from brushing against a pincushion the wrong way.

The snowflakes had gradually become larger and more frequent, so Luka turned on the wipers.

“So, I saw you snagged the honour of designing Clara’s outfit for the Grammys next year,” he commented to break the silence.

Usually, he was fine with silence, especially around Marinette, who often needed it, but right now he was acting very unlike himself. Coming back to Paris had stirred up all these old feelings and actions, and he cursed it in his mind.

“Yeah. I’m hoping coming back here will provide some inspiration. I want to pay homage to her roots,” Marinette explained. “We could go for a drive around all our old haunts, maybe. Oh, but you’ll probably be busy, sorry. I can drive around.”

“I’m not that busy.” He blurted the words before he thought. “You still don’t have a license, right? I don’t mind being your chauffeur.”

The snowflakes appeared to have come from Marinette’s sparkling eyes. “Thank you, Luka!” She watched him drive in silence for a while. “You haven’t really changed, even though you’re famous.”

He flicked a glance at her, slowing down for a red light. “You think so?”

She nodded. “You look older now, because you are, obviously, and your image-controlling people have changed your appearance somewhat, but at your core you’re still the same Luka I know from seven years ago.”

The light turned green, and Luka wondered if it was a sign for one delusional second before he pressed the gas again.

“Is that a compliment or not, Mari?” he asked, settling for a teasing inquisition instead.

‘It’s a good thing!” she insisted. “Okay, you’ve matured, but your essence is the same. You’re like…like a nice red wine! Aging improves a good thing!”

“Oh, so you’re calling me old now?”

Mari sputtered. “That’s not what I said at all! And men say women take things too seriously! Pfft!”

Luka couldn’t hold back his laugh as Marinette crossed her arms, her puffy jacket turning her into  a cocoon of pink.

“I know what you meant, Mari; thank you for the compliment.”

She sniffed at the traces of humour in his penitent tone, but uncurled her arms.

“There’s the bakery. We should just have missed the closing rush,” Luka glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “Have a good time, Marinette.”

“Thank you, you too! Oh, you can text me when you want to go for a drive. I still use the same number.”

“0-474-152-772?”

A wave of pink coated her cheeks. “You still remember it?”

I stare at it for a good half hour every week debating calling you or not. Of course I know it; it’s seared into my memory.

“Yep. I kept my old number too.” He popped the trunk and lifted her bags out.

“0-516-352-772?”

“Yep. Say hi to your parents for me!” 

He placed her bags just inside the door, and then beat a hasty retreat. Why do you still remember my number? 

~~~

How could she forget his number, when it spelled out her name?

Marinette sighed, waved goodbye at Luka’s car, then shut the door, ready to greet her parents.

“Maman! Papa! Guess who’s home!”

“Marinette! Sweetie, you made it!” Once the overwhelming hugs and bises had been exchanged, her parents looked curiously at the empty space behind her. “Luka got you here safely?” asked Sabine.

Mari nodded. “He was waiting for me at the airport; he asked me to say hi to you for him. He said you were busy with the holiday rush.”

Tom agreed. “We were sorry to miss picking you up, but our seasonal helper was sick, so we weren’t able to close and get you after all. Luka coming by and being free was fortunate.”

“It was nice to catch up with him,” Mari agreed. “I’ll just bring my bags up to my room and then we can catch up while we make dinner?”

“That sounds good,” agreed Sabine. Tom brought the luggage up, then left Mari to settle in after one more hug.

Looking around her room, Mari smiled at the remembrance of all the memories she had made in the pink space. Pictures clothespinned to her wall of fairy lights danced in the breeze as she twirled, releasing a deep breath and closing her eyes at the peace of being home again.

She could feel the ideas coming for Clara’s outfits.

It was a brilliant idea to come back to Paris.

~~~

It was a horrible idea to come back to Paris.

Why had he said yes to picking Marinette up?

Why had he said yes to driving Marinette around?

Why had he answered her text as soon as she sent it, at 2:08 am?

Why had he showed up at her door at 7:30 am, why had he let Tom drag him to the kitchen and feed him pastries (okay, that one was self-explanatory), why had he lingered and chatted, why why why.

The answer to all his questions was sitting in the passenger seat of the car he was borrowing from a friend, looking devastatingly beautiful and chattering away about how things had changed since she had left, a year before he had, and contrasting it to Los Angeles.

If he’d wanted to hear about her failed relationships after she defeated Hawkmoth, broke up with him, and moved away, he would have asked.

Luka was well aware that he was sulking, but he didn’t care at this moment. They were driving by College Francois Dupont, and the memories of that time weren’t the most pleasant.

“Ooh, I have an idea! Can you park here? I want to walk around for a bit.”

Luka dutifully pulled over, parking in an empty space between the school and the Methodist church down the block.

Marinette strolled around the quiet street, the fluffy flakes floating down muffling her footsteps and muttered monologue. 

She returned to him eventually, scribbling away at her sketchbook.

Luka’s hand raised before he realised what he was doing. 

“Luka? What are you doing?”

He blinked down at her, his hand frozen as she glanced up at him from under her bangs.

“You, um, snow-”

Why was he making this awkward? Biting the bullet, he gently brushed the accumulated snow off the top of Marinette’s ponytail.

She flashed him a smile and climbed back into her seat.

“Where to next, Mari?”

~~~

“So, any plans for your break?” Mari clutched a mug of cocoa in her hands, careful not to drop it over the edge of her balcony on the head of some unsuspecting passersby out admiring the lights.

Luka leaned his back against the balcony, blowing on his own mug. “I haven’t made anything firm yet, but I expect my schedule will fill up rather quickly.”

Mari hummed. “I guess I should book our hangouts while you’ve still got room for me then, Mr. Hot-Demand.”

“I’ll always have room for you, Mari.”

She smiled at him before turning back to the cityscape. “I’ve missed this view.”

The real view nudged her shoulder. “Old memories coming back, huh? I’m glad you’re able to miss it, Mar.”

“Did you miss it?” She turned on her back to be companionably side-to-side with him.

“The city? Not so much. The people in it? Yeah, I missed them a lot.”

She nodded in understanding. “Did you miss the people who weren’t in it, too?”

He sipped his cocoa. “Everyday.”

~~~

Marinette opened her eyes, breathing deeply. There was nothing like a full ten hours of sleep in your childhood room, warm and cozy under blankets as the snow drifted by the window hypnotizingly, your secret love snuggled up beside you-

Oh yeah, she’d made Luka stay the night, saying it was too cold to walk back home as her excuse to have him sleep here. Her fingers brushed a teal lock back from his forehead as she took in his peaceful features. Honestly, they weren’t much different from his usual everyday expressions. She envied his calm, never being able to stay still for long. 

Luka shifted, blinking sleepily at her, a sleepy smile curving his lips. “Morning, Mari.”

His arm raised to trace a feather-light path down her cheek to cup her neck and pull her towards him.

She let him guide her closer, her breath catching in her throat.

“Mari, if you’re up, could you help out at the register for a bit?” called Sabine through the door.

Luka jerked away and Mari rolled out of bed with a thump. “Be there in a minute, Maman!”

“Are you okay?” he peeked over the edge of her mattress.

“Just fine,” she rubbed her behind. Luckily, the duvet had cushioned her fall.

“Er, sorry about that,” Luka ran his fingers through his messy locks.

“It’s fine,” she shrugged off the hurt, grabbing a pair of jeans and a flower-embroidered sweater off the back of her chaise. “Want me to save you anything for breakfast when I go down?”

“A quince pastry would be nice.”

“Got it. See you!” She fled down the stairs to the secondary powder room to change and twist her hair into a braid. Ready to suppress the feelings stoked by Luka’s earlier actions, she washed her hands and prepared to face the public.

Luka wandered downstairs a while later, looking neat and as if he hadn’t slept in her bed and almost greeted her with a kiss before they were interrupted and then ignored it. 

She could feel Sabine and Tom pause in their work as they took in the situation and incorrectly interpreted it.

“Oh, I thought we missed you leaving last night, Luka,” smiled Sabine. “Are you-”

“Here’s your pastry,” interrupted Marinette, thrusting the napkin-wrapped goods into Luka’s hand. “You’re lucky I saved you the last one.”

“Er, lucky, yeah. About that. Can I talk to you? Later, I guess, when you’re not busy,” he cast a glance at the blatantly listening bakers. 

“Sure. We can go for another drive in about an hour? Around one?”

“Sounds good, I’ll see you then. Bye, Tom, Sabine.” With a wave, he ducked out the door, leaving a bill in Marinette’s now-empty hands for the pastry.

She turned to her parents. “It’s not what it looks like. It was late and cold and I didn’t want him walking home in the snow-”

“Mhm,” Sabine raised a knowing brow. “Would you like to talk about it?”

Marinette shook her head. “Not yet.”

~~~

Luka shook his head, sending accumulated flurries flying off his hair. He’d had the most lovely dream, waking up to Marinette cosying up to him in his bed, smiling at him lovingly. Except it hadn’t been a dream, and he’d almost kissed her.

He was not going to go down the path they’d travelled in school, with the secrets and barriers between them. She still didn’t know he knew she was Ladybug and the Guardian, and she hadn’t told him. He wasn’t going to lie to himself; it hurt a little.

Realistically, he knew there were several reasons why she wouldn’t bring it up (not the least of which because she didn’t want to dredge up those traumas again) but emotionally, he was simply hurt by her still not trusting him with her identity even though she’d entrusted Sass and literal timelines to him.

Still, his therapist in the States had done him good. 

He was going to tell Marinette he knew on their drive this afternoon, get everything off his chest, and then leave it in her hands while he returned to LA and broke his heart over her for the last time. Yep, sounded like a good plan.

~~~

Marinette climbed into the car. Luka closed her door, crossed the front, and slid into the driver’s seat. 

“Where to?”

“I thought maybe we could just drive around this time, unless there’s somewhere you wanted to go?”

“No, that sounds fine.” He took a sip from the mocha she had supplied them with, humming appreciatively. “This is perfect; thanks, Mari.”

“You’re welcome.”

He started the car and pulled away. 

They drove in silence for a while, occasionally pointing out some place they and their friends had adventures at. 

Luka pointed at the tip of the Eiffel Tower. “That thing was destroyed more times than I can count.”

She made an agreeing noise, thinking back to some of the battles the Tower had seen. 

“Marinette, I need to talk about something with you.”

She nodded, looking at the un-Luka-like tension in his body language. “Okay.”

“I was Viperion, on the Miraculous team. I reset so many timelines. It was impossible not to know who my allies were, with all the mishaps occurring. I’ve known you were Ladybug for years.”

She stilled, breathing stuttering as old trauma resurfaced. Someone knew she was Ladybug, something bad happened.

Reminding herself that Hawkmoth was gone, she wasn’t Ladybug anymore, and she was safe, she regulated her breathing and thoughts. 

“I knew you were Ladybug when we were dating, and that your identity was why you were so hesitant to open up. I thought now would be a good time to tell you that you don’t have to keep that secret alone anymore.”

“Luka, I-”

“It’s okay, Mari. I didn’t hold it against you. After all, we were all kids. Just thought I could even the score before I leave, since we both know each other’s secret,” he muttered. 

“I- you-” she stuttered, falling silent as her thoughts whirled.

“I’m flying out tomorrow afternoon,” he broke the silence after a few minutes. “Don’t worry, I haven’t told another soul and I never will. But, if you ever want to talk about it…you have my number.”

She nodded, still processing. “Thank you, Luka. For- well, everything. I’m sorry for what I put you through.”

He gave her a smile meant to be reassuring and forgiving, but she knew it was fake. “Have a happy new year, Marinette.”

Strangely feeling like she’d been broken up with, she closed the car door and walked into the bakery, where her parents met her.

“Everything okay, sweetie?”

She shook her head. “I think I need to take you up on your offer to talk about it.”

~~~

Luka packed his suitcase methodically, thoughts with one person miles away.

He wasn’t quite sure what he’d expected when he’d told her he knew. 

Maybe for her to ask him out again since they had no secrets between them anymore? Okay, that was his wildest dream, but he supposed she hadn’t changed that much, still taking her time to process things. Not that he blamed her–having a magical emotional terrorist attacking your city didn’t exactly inspire impulsive actions regarding your feelings.

His therapist had told him that there were seasons in one’s life, and sometimes people were only meant to be with you for a season, like a flower. Others were like trees, there no matter the weather. He wanted her to be a tree, but maybe she was only a flower. Whatever she was, he’d always remember the beauty of her blooms and the sweetness of her perfume. 

“‘Tis the damn season,” he mumbled, slinging his guitar case over his back and picking up his suitcase.

He’d left her with a reminder of his phone number. Hoping she’d call him one day, he drove to the airport. He only realised he’d chosen the route that took him by the bakery as he passed it, peering in the window to catch a glimpse of Marinette working the register. 

~~~

Marinette wasn’t having a good day. She’d taken forever to fall asleep, tossing and turning as she stewed over Luka and her parents’ advice.

They’d understandably been surprised by her explanation of the inner workings of her and Luka’s short-lived relationship, but provided some valuable outside-perspective commentary.

After a fitful sleep, she’d been working the register while her parents worked on a rush-order of pastries, her mind consumed by thoughts of Luka.

“Here’s your change, ma’am. Have a happy new year!” Handing the coins over, she wiped her hands on her apron and tidied up the counter space.

Clean up complete, she ran upstairs to change into jeans, boots with Ladybug pom-poms, a turtleneck, and her favourite Viperion hoodie she’d worn thin.

She tossed a quick goodbye over her shoulder to her parents and ran out the door, waving her hand at an approaching taxi. 

“International airport, please,” she huffed, buckling her belt.

“Hope you’re not late for your flight, mademoiselle. The snow is slowing traffic,” said the driver.

Marinette clasped her hands to stop her nervous fidgeting, calling on all of Tikki’s luck that she’d arrive before Luka’s flight left. 

~~~ Luka wasn’t having a good day. He’d slept off and on, was leaving his first love behind, and now he couldn’t even do that because of the sudden snowstorm. All flights were postponed or cancelled for the time being.

So far his flight was only cancelled, so he found a comfortable piece of carpet to claim and began strumming an imaginary guitar while he waited for updates.

Snippets of lyrics floated through his brain as he composed a piece containing his feelings in the moment. 

“I won’t ask you to wait…if you don’t ask me to stay…” He hummed softly.

The sound of running feet made him look up, curious who thought they were late for a flight that wasn’t taking off.

“Marinette?” “Luka?”

She paused in front of him, catching her breath.

“Why are you here?” he asked cautiously, getting to his feet.

“To see you,” she panted. “Didn’t want you to go.”

His heart picked up pace as if he’d been the one running through the airport. “Really?” “Really. I want you. I have for years. Is there any way you can stay?” she asked softly.

“I’ll stay any way I can if you ask, Ma-ma-marinette,” he grinned. “I love you. I never stopped.”

She tiptoed to be face-to-face with him. “I love you too,” she whispered in his ear before greeting him with a soft kiss. It felt like home and the beginning of everything and the end of everything and the past and future all wrapped up into one amazing kiss in the present.

He cupped her face in his hands, resting his forehead on hers.

~~~

Luka drove them back to the bakery, keeping her hand entwined with his. They stepped into the entry, stomping snow off their boots. Sabine and Tom greeted them as if it was an everyday occurrence, though Marinette saw the happy spark in their eyes.

“Just in time for the party!” boomed Tom. “Dinner is ready; let’s sit!”

After a festive new year’s eve dinner and delicious buche, Luka and Marinette carried their flutes of champagne up to Marinette’s balcony to watch the firecrackers and revellers beneath them.

Chanting filled the air, little sparks in the distance showing where firecrackers had been set off.

“10! 9!” The countdown to the new year had begun.

“My new year’s resolution is to have the woman I love become my girlfriend. Will you be my girlfriend?” Luka asked.

“4!”

Marinette nodded vigorously. “Yes!”

“3! 2! 1!” 

Horns sounded, firecrackers popped, and hollers filled the air, but Marinette and Luka heard none of it, too wrapped up in each other. 

“Joyeuse annee, Luka.”

“Bonne annee, Marinette.”

#ali writes #Lukanette #Fic #Marinette dupain cheng x Luka Couffaine

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I just realize you're the only person who point out that Felix and Kagami would be just as in the wrong for hiding the truth from Adrien. Most people I know puts the blame entirely on Marinette and like yeah, I get it it's really bad she would keep something like that a secret from her boyfriend but at the same time how do you deal with that big of a burden?

If it were up to me, I'd make her deal with it the same way like in the Dragon Prince with how Rayla tries to tell Callum and Ezran about their dad being dead but idk, maybe it's not the same with Adrien so it's unfair.

I'm just irritated at people who blame Marinette just cuz she's her gf and not at the adults like Nathalie or Amelie, Marinette's a child, what about Felix and Kagami? They care about Adrien too right?

Yep, it's somehow all Marinette's fault even though Felix knew for all of season five. He knew before then, too, but at least you could argue that he was fearing for his life in previous seasons. As soon as he got the peacock? No excuse. Especially since he got the peacock by trading away Adrien's freedom. A thing he arguably didn't even need to do since I don't think anyone believes that Gabriel would have said, "No" to only getting all of the miraculous. Felix just offers up the ring without even waiting for Gabriel to ask for it. A master negotiator this boy is not.

To add even more insult to injury, season five gives Felix a subplot about informing freaking Kagami and faking her amok. A girl he literally just met gets the treatment that Felix arguably owes to Adrien after all the shit Felix has put him through. You can't even argue that Felix did it because Tomoe isn't a threat on the scale of Gabriel. She's literally a co-conspirator in season five and Felix knows that because Kagami wouldn't be a sentimonster if Tomoe wasn't involved. And Tomoe has always been written as far more hands-on than Gabriel when it comes to controlling her kid, so this isn't even a case of Felix picking the easier target. He doesn't care about easy targets or subterfuge since he, you know, kidnaps Kagami in front of her mother?

But does anyone in the fandom seem to acknowledge that? No and I really don't get it. If hate must be assigned to a character and not the writers, then Felix deserves so much more hate than Marinette.

Kagami isn't innocent either. She knew the truth for about half of the season and yet she doesn't seem to care about telling Adrien. At the same time, she's fine outing Ladybug's secret identity and fine telling Marinette everything, none of which is done in the name of justice. Kagami does it all for purely selfish reasons. To me, this was as much of a character assassination as the whole Kagami believing Lila thing even though Kagami should know the truth about Lila after the Oni-chan incident (Lila faking the kissing picture and texting it to Adrien's contacts).

Then there's Nathalie. In my opinion, Nathalie's redemption is a joke and one of the key reasons for that is how little she cares about actually saving Adrien. At no point does she tell him the truth even though she knows she's dying. She could have very easily died much sooner than the final, leaving Adrien to obey Gabriel's commands, never knowing that he was being controlled. She doesn't even try to find someone else to guard Adrien's ring. She just maintains the status quo and pretends that everything is fine while occasionally asking Gabriel to pretty please change his mind and think of Adrien? Please?

Lady, you literally pinned this man to a table at the start of the season and you are his second in command. You know all his secrets. You have access to everything. You have the power to take him down. You have the power to save Adrien. You are an awful, awful mother figure who put Gabriel's wants above Adrien's needs right up to the very end. Did you even think you had a chance to fire that cross bow or was this just another, "I'm totally helping" feel good moment to assuage your guilty conscious before you died?

And Amelie. Oh, Amelie. If you hate what Colt did to your son, then why are you idly standing by while Gabriel does the same thing to your nephew? You know that Felix has the peacock, so he's safe from being snapped. Why aren't you encouraging him to help Adrien? Or, if you want to keep protecting Felix, then why don't YOU go to Ladybug and Chat Noir and tell them that Gabriel is behind everything? Surely you have to know that Felix isn't safe as long as Gabriel has all those miraculous, right? Gabriel knows that you and your son know everything. A terrorist knows that you're a chink in his armor. Why aren't you terrified by that?

In summary: yeah, Marinette should tell Adrien. It's totally fair to be mad at her. But dear God, she should never have been put in a position where she needed to tell him because one of these four should have done it long before the end of season five! The fact that Marinette was put in this position in the first place is terrible, nonsensical, illogical writing. So go ahead and be mad at Marinette, but you sure as shit better be just as mad at the people who knew everything and did nothing, leaving a teenage girl to face it all alone while bearing the safety of the world on her shoulders.

#ml writing salt #ml writing critical #ml season 5 salt #adrien deserves better #marinette deserves better #ml fandom critical #Wow I got pretty heated there didn't I? #You can probably tell that I feel pretty passionate about this one #Marinette has many faults but at least she's actively trying to do the right thing! #Unlike these other four #To be fair it's really a writing problem and I blame none of these characters except maybe Nathalie #I really hated Nathalie in season five she was such a self-righteous hypocrite

[d1g1k1tty]

I’ve been binging season 4 all day and I can’t stop myself from thinking “oh my god can’t you all date each other???” I know polyamory isn’t for everyone, but it could definitely be for them /hj

Obviously, Marinette loves Adrien, Luka loves Marinette, and Kagami loves Adrien. But also Marinette cares deeply for Kagami and she’s helped her through a lot of her own issues with her mother and forming connections with other people (I’m mainly thinking of the Heart Hunter episode). And despite not having a lot of on-screen interactions in their civilian forms, Adrien and Luka have a good understanding of each other (but then again, Luka kind of has a good understanding of everyone. But I digress). I’m in the middle of the Wishmaker episode, and right now Luka, Marinette, and Adrien are sitting in the Career Expo thing. I just feel like Luka almost flawlessly understands Adrien. They’re kind of opposites in the way that Luka has a lot of fluidity in his life while Adrien is strictly confined (at least as a civilian). And of course, Adrien and Kagami had their thing go on for a little bit. Oh yeah, and (I haven’t actually gotten to this part yet, but) Luka and Kagami practically know the same amount of knowledge about Marinette and Adrien’s feelings for each other, and they can bond over that. 

I’m just saying, it would make things way easier for everyone if they all just started to date each other.

#miraculous ladybug #mlb #adriennette #ladynoir #lukanette #kagaminette #lukadrien #lukami #adrigami