#hurt chloe bourgeois

[galahadwilder]

No Miraculous, no classmates AU where Adrien in his 20s has been dating Chloé for 3 years. He's got no support network, no real friends, and he has nothing, really, to look forward to. Just another 60 years of Chloé and living a life that someone else chose for him. He can see himself turning into André Bourgeois and doesn't see any way out of it.

Then he starts speaking to one of the newer designers who's kind of cute and she honestly makes him almost feel good about himself to the point where she's the only thing that actually makes him want to get out of bed, but he can't go there because he and Chloé are engaged until Marinette finally asks him why, exactly, he chose to marry her, why is he living a life for someone else, and suddenly he finds he's quit his job, publicly dumped his fiancée, and started spending all his time at Marinette's parents' bakery

And he's finally something he never thought he would get to be--happy.

#no im not projecting what are you talking about #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #adrienette #adrinette #angst #hurt/comfort #chloe bourgeois #abuse #relationship abuse #no powers au #fic ideas #prompts #original content

[goggles-mcgee]

Ashes of Rage: Act 1 - Picking Through The Rubble

Chapter 2 of the story for @miner249er

AO3 Last Chapter

Summary:

Luka is having a very terrible, horrible, no good, time.

He had a bad feeling in his gut and to his utter dismay, it was right. Luka had encountered many disappointments in his life and many hurt, but this was his first time encountering heartbreak.

Picking Through The Rubble:

Luka couldn’t explain the way his heart had been beating in his chest ever since Ladybug left the team in order for their plan to start. It was like listening to a drummer in a rock band having a solo at a concert next to the speakers. Loud. Overwhelming. All-consuming. All those things, but on a day where all your senses felt overwhelmed and too big for your body. Again, it was hard to explain and maybe that’s why he didn’t mention it to Donryu, or anyone else on the team. He knew they would never look down on him if his words made no sense or if he had a hard time using his words, but this was such an important moment for them all so he bit his tongue. Maybe if he hadn’t he wouldn’t have been too late. As it were, they had been in their own locations surrounding the Agreste Mansion, Luka, i.e Viperion was stationed closest in case he was called on by Ladybug and in need of Second Chance. The second closest to the target was Bee-Witch who they all knew was having a hard time keeping her emotions calm. They all understood of course, to think a man you saw as an Uncle had been using you and your emotions more than most in Paris, was not something easily accepted. 

Honestly it had been a shock and yet at the same time perfectly reasonable when Ladybug, Donryu and Noc-Turtle had announced to the group their belief that Hawkmoth and Mayura were none other than Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sancoeur. A shock because you never want to believe that a parent of one of your friends could possibly be the madman terrorizing Paris, and yet a reasonably sound idea when you thought about it. And the more you thought about it, the more sound it was. He was a notorious hermit, that meant he had the time to pull off causing akumas. He had a motive, a missing wife that went missing months before the attacks started happening. He was rich, which meant he had the funds. He had a plausible partner in one Mlle Sancoer, someone who did everything for him and would arguably do anything for him. It didn’t take a genius nor a psychic to notice just how in love Mlle Sancoeur was with M Agreste and with what the team had seen from Mayura, how devoted she was, it was the most believable theory. 

So they planned. Ladybug and Chat Noir would take the plunge and hope to catch Agreste off guard by breaking into his secret lair to confront the man. Luka would be positioned on a building facing the back of the Agreste Mansion, where the lair was highly suspected to be while Bee-Witch was on a neighboring roof near the front in case someone tried to run, her Venom already poised and ready to strike. Donryu was further down the road on a roof with Noc-Turtle in case an akuma or senti-monster was let out, or even both. The two were going to hold them off or distract them for as long as the main battle went on. Fox-Tail was positioned near the back of the mansion, ready to lend a Mirage if it was needed. He already had plans on what illusions would work best on M Agreste and Mlle Sancoeur.  They were ready. They were prepared. Everything should have flowed as smooth as a symphony, but one missed note had made Luka feel off-center and on edge. Chat’s expression when the team had briefed him on the plan and overall who they thought was Hawkmoth had worried Luka.

 It was a blink and you miss it, but Luka hadn’t missed it, he hadn’t missed the anger nor the fear. The shock the hero used to mask it was believable enough but something about it all left a bad taste in Luka’s mouth. 

The more time that passed, the louder Luka’s heart seemed to beat and the drier his mouth became, he longed to do something, anything, but the fear of ruining the plan made him freeze in his place. He wished he wasn’t transformed, that way he could fidget with his rings like he tended to do when he was anxious, but he had to be at the ready. They all did. That didn’t make waiting any easier and Luka was usually a patient guy. “It’s quiet.” He murmured.

“Indeed.” Donryu’s voice made him jump, he forgot they had their comms on, everyone beside Ladybug and Chat Noir that is. They would turn their’s on, only if they were in danger or needed backup. 

“Do you think something’s…wrong?” Noc-Turtle asked softly. His voice was laced with worry. 

“Our plan is solid. Ladybug always plans for the unexpected.” Bee-Witch pitched in confidently, but Luka could hear the slight hesitation in her voice. He didn't know if it was due to finding out who was likely Hawkmoth and basically admitting her identity with her reaction to news or if it was just nerves because of how big this fight was and all that depended on it going well. Either was a valid excuse. Luka could admit, he too, was nervous. More so for Ladybug and Chat Noir than himself and the others but the way the nerves pulled at his stomach were anything but pleasant and were more than a little distracting. He tried not to linger on the 'what could go wrongs' and did his best to think how they would be coming forward from this, but even he had to admit defeat eventually as it had not been working. 

Luka licked his lips as his thoughts flooded with various way things could go wrong. They brought a cacophony of sour notes with him that made him wince to himself. "Maybe…"

"You have a thought Viperion?" Donryu asked, though her questions almost always came across as statements, so did this one. 

"It's been a long time," Luka began, "we haven't reached the time limit yet but…Maybe we should enter the mansion and check on Ladybug and Chat Noir. If something is wrong I'll use Second Chance, if not then we return to our positions unless it looks like they need our help."

"A solid plan." Donryu commented. "Though perhaps we should not all go. It would do no good to completely abandon Ladybug's plan."

"So what? We split up even more?" Bee-Witch huffed. 

"Yes." Donryu confirmed. 

"It makes sense." Luka agreed. "Okay, Donryu, you and I will go check on them while Bee-Witch, Noc-Turtle and Fox-Tail stay in position."

Before Bee-Witch could even protest, Donryu was fast with placating the girl. "It's the most logical split. If an akuma or sentimonster is formed to fight Foxtail can distract them with their illusions and if Hawkmoth or Mayura try to run, Bee-Witch, you will be ready to sting them." 

It was logical. Maybe that was why they got nothing more than an irritated sigh in response from Bee-Witch. Luka had honestly just suggested Donryu because he trusted her to keep her cool no matter what they came across. Well, no matter. He jumped from his spot and landed in the backyard of the Agreste Mansion, it had never seemed more foreboding. There was just this eerie air that squeezed at his lungs and made his heart pound like before. It was not a new feeling whatsoever but it was one that Luka rarely felt as he was not one to panic easily. With one more swallow of his built up saliva - why was his mouth somehow dry yet watering at the same time ? - Luka made his way to the front of the mansion so he could meet Donryu. He made sure to stay on the opposite side of the road as to not be caught on the front cameras of the mansion. The security should have also been a clue, though , Luka thought, it did just help the rich recluse vibe that Gabriel Agreste had been selling. 

Footsteps to his left signaled Donryu's arrival. Now that she was here, Luka's heart felt like a jackhammer or that of a hummingbird. "Ready?" He asked even though he was decidedly not. 

Donryu gave him a firm single nod and it was all the answer he needed before they both turned towards the mansion and what happened next seemed to happen in slow-motion. Luka hadn't even set his foot down in a step before the ground shook and a brilliant red light blinded him and Donryu. Right when it reached it's brightest moment all Hell broke loose. The mansion exploded and the force of it sent Luka and Donryu flying into the nearest building. The pain was instantaneous. The taste of copper danced on his tongue and the smell of smoke nearly drowned him if the pain wasn't doing a good job of that already. His ears rung and when he tried to open his eyes his vision was slightly blurry. Luka hated to think what his fate would have been if it weren't for his magical suit. 

The ringing and accompanied dizziness started to drift away slowly but when it did he could hear the frantic voices of Foxtail and Bee-Witch. He wanted to tell them he was fine, that he and Donryu were fine but as soon as the thought came to him he immediately looked for his teammate who had been blasted back by the explosion. His eyes were unfocused, blurry, and his ears were still ringing but he had to find Donryu. They were too close to the explosion, who knows what happened, sure they had magical suits that could protect them but they could still feel pain no matter how diluted.

"Don….ryu…." He called out as best he could, he had no idea if it was loud or not. 

He stumbled. There was rubble everywhere, smoke stained the sky and everything was overwhelming. But he pushed on, he had to find his teammate, Ladybug asked him to make sure everyone was okay. He had to make sure everyone was okay, that they were safe. So he ignored everything around him, he ignored the pain, the ringing in his ears and he steadfastly ignored the blurriness of his vision, it was clearing up anyways, no need to sit and wait for it to do so. Luka called out as much as he was able to, his panic rising each time his call went unanswered, but finally he heard a weak response. 

"Vip…Viperion…..over here…" It was Donryu and she was walking towards him. It looked like they both had the same idea. Once they reached each other they just stood there with Luka's hands on her shoulders and her hands on his elbows. They took the time to look each other over and just breathe.

"Are you okay?" It felt like a stupid question to ask seeing as he felt like his entire body was bruised so surely she felt the same but still, he had to know. 

"About as okay as you I imagine." Came her wry reply. 

“You feeling up to a search?” 

Donryu nodded firmly, “Yes. We need to find Ladybug and find out what went wrong. Have you heard from the others? Are they injured?”

Luka licked his lips as he looked over all the debris around them and over to the surrounding buildings that were affected by the explosion. “Looking at the damage…I think they were far away enough not to get blasted like us but probably did get slightly hit by something. We should make sure before we do anything else. We need someone to look for…for survivors and any one injured.” 

Donryu’s lips became a thin line at the word ‘survivors’ but they both knew it was true. The violence of the explosion wouldn’t have been merciful enough not to hurt any passersby and unlike the heroes, those people didn’t have magically enhanced suits. He prayed that no one had been hurt, he had never been one to be an optimist but meeting and being around Marinette had made him want to see the good in people, the good in bad situations like she did, but this was a situation where his prayers seemed silly and redundant. He was also someone who rarely, if ever, prayed, so he hoped it counted for something. He prayed to every higher being he could think of as his head swiveled this way and that as he took in all the damage. 

Luka took in a deep breath before he took out his communicator, “Bee, Fox, you guys okay?”

“Are we okay!? You idiot! We weren’t the ones so ridiculously close to that stupid house!” Bee-Witch’s voice cut in right away, loud and shrill as always but so full of worry that Luka felt bad for the wince he made at the sound of her voice. Donryu looked like she felt the same if the scrunching of her nose and the guilty look that followed were anything to go by. 

“I’m okay, a little shaken and maybe mild bruising from a fall but Bee is right, are you guys okay?” Noc-Turtle asked. 

“That’s not what I meant!” Bee grumbled but they all knew that’s exactly what she meant.

“I got blasted back a bit but I managed not to be hit by debris or anything.” Fox-Tail groaned. 

“So overall we could be better but we’re not bad.” Donryu concluded. “Plan is somewhat the same. Viperion and I shall go and look in the…what is left of The Agreste Mansion, Bee, Fox, Noc, you three check for anyone injured and ....”

“Survivors. That was a bad explosion. I know it’s not something we want to hear nor consider but it’s best we all brace ourselves now.” Luka said. He hoped his voice came out stronger and more sure than he felt. 

Nods were given in response and they all went their assigned ways. Luka’s heart was performing it’s very own drum solo, it was roaring in his ears and it muffled all other sounds, including their footsteps. He kept biting at his lips, a habit of his when things were getting to be too much, it was better than him picking at his cuticles which was also a habit of his. Thankfully he had a magical suit that came with gloves so that was something he couldn’t do, thus he resorted to biting the skin of his lips. It felt like he was simultaneously moving through molasses and yet somehow walking faster that he normally could in the suit. It was like how five minutes in class seemed to go so slow yet five minutes out with friends went by so fast, but both happening at the same time. No words were said between Donryu and him, it was a blessing as he felt like he had run out of his daily quota of words already. At the same time though, he could have used a distraction. Eventually though the two reached what seemed to be the inside of Gabriel’s study but shockingly the floor was caved in. 

The more Luka looked around, the more he noticed that it wasn’t just the study. Parts of the flooring were completely caved in, like there was room for it to fall, a lot of room by the looks of it. They weren’t aware of a basement, Ladybug had somehow gotten the house’s floor plans and they had all studied it thoroughly, so the sight of just how deep the floors had caved in was staggering. “Do you think…?” Donryu didn’t finish her question but Luka guessed it all the same. 

“It’s possible. They were supposed to be in the top room though, the one with the glass dome looking design. It used to be a garden.” Luka mechanically replied. 

“Getting hit by the explosion from there would have…” 

“It…” Luka didn’t want to think about it. “It depends where, the uh…the explosion originated. They could be down there or….” 

“Further away.” Donryu concluded for him. He just gave a weak nod.

It felt like years went by as they climbed up and down the debris to look for their teammates, Hawkmoth and Mayura. It felt like years left him when he and Donryu realized they hadn’t checked the caved in flooring yet and that’s where they made their way to. Down they went and the more it seemed to go on and on and on. It was shocking to think the mansion hid this large amount of underground rooming. It felt like something out of a movie, whether it be horror or superhero, both fit in Luka’s opinion. It felt wrong to talk or even breathe too loudly so the silence was expected yet suffocating. It felt like the moment in a horror film where the music was swelling with the tell-tale sign of a jump-scare or when the superhero finds or sees something they didn’t want to but it happened anyway. Something settled in his heart then, whatever they were going to see was something horrid and something he never wanted to. It was a sad conclusion to come to, but when all the signs are pointing that way there really was no other way to conclude what was going to happen even if he wasn’t sure of the specifics. 

They had to grapple down because that is how far the ground actually was in this underground room that surprisingly had foliage in it, but it was when they had their feet firmly planted that Luka saw the thing he never wanted to. His vision seemed to skip over the coffin with a blonde woman in it, it skipped right over the three bodies on the floor that looked…well to put it lightly, it looked like they had been hit by a car or two and then some. No those sights didn’t catch his attention, though maybe they should have, no, it was the lone pair of pink flats with black bows on them. A very familiar pair of pink flats that he had seen many times, especially when their owner visited his family’s houseboat. No.

No. 

No, please.

Please not her. 

Not. Her .

Luka didn’t blink, he didn’t think, he screamed and his hand immediately went to his wrist. He pushed the snake head on his bracelet back harshly as he continued screaming and all he wished, all he could think of was going back and saving her. Going back and preventing whatever happened. He knew that too much time had passed but he didn’t care, he would push his Miraculous to its limits if he had to. He would push himself to his limits if it meant she was safe. It worked but it left him disoriented, it took a couple seconds for his eyes to adjust but even then he staggered as he got up on his feet, he could taste the metallic tang of blood. All of it was ignored as his head was full of thoughts all centered around her and the explosion. He ran as fast as he could, he didn’t even warn his team, he just ran. As he ran he heard a high pitched whistle and something in him told him it was the cause of the explosion. His lungs hurt as though he hadn’t taken a breath in ages but it didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered but her so he looked around for the source of the whistle and saw something red plummeting towards the mansion. 

He cried when he realized he wouldn’t reach the mansion before the object, whatever it was, would hit. He never hated being right so much, though he was closer to the explosion this time so he had to act fast and reset time before he ended up a stain on the street or something. Luka failed again, though he did try and warn his team the second go around. They had all been too confused by his yelling to really do anything. They all watched the mansion explode. The third go around went the same way but this time Luka got a closer look at the red thing hurling towards the mansion, it was small, deceptively so. Fourth round he managed to record the object, when he zoomed in on it he saw that it was a ring. How could a ring bring such destruction ? Many resets passed and all of them failed. Luka was exhausted but he had to keep trying, he needed to, but he had lost count of how many times he reset and moving felt like his blood had been replaced by molasses. He could feel it in his bones that this would be the last reset, his body couldn’t handle anymore and yet he cursed himself for not being stronger, for being too weak to continue. 

This reset started eerily the same as the original timeline had, though this time he put more urgency in his demands that the team stick to the plan, he hoped they started early enough but the familiar whistle was getting closer and Luka just knew it wasn’t enough. They wouldn’t be successful and that tore Luka apart, even if he knew they didn’t have a chance to save her , he still tried to push his body to be faster. It was all for naught, the ring made violent contact with the mansion once more and triggered the explosion. He was closer to the explosion this time, along with Donryu and they were thrown farther than they had been the first time and the pain was so much worse but it didn’t matter. He had to get to her , or what remained but he hated himself for thinking that. Instead of thinking, Luka just ran. 

_________________________

Kagami was running on adrenaline after being blasted back by the force of what seemed to be an explosion. She had turned to ask Viperion what that was, as she had a feeling he knew by the urgency he had had while getting the team to act. Whatever happened that had him acting like that could never be good so the team just followed his commands no questions asked. The questions seemed more than justified now and all she wanted was answers, but as she searched for her teammate she saw him running towards the remains of the mansion. Her heart stopped beating for a moment when it dawned on her that Ladybug had been in that house, so had Chat Noir, so she followed after Viperion as best she could. Despite them both being blasted into buildings Viperion was moving like it hadn't happened which worried Kagami even more than she already was. He moved like he had one thing on his mind and Kagami was reluctant to find out what it was, because whatever it was, wasn’t good and she knew it. 

She tried not to think of how she had followed him down in the mansion of her former crush, how it just kept going down , she may not be thinking about it but it did alarm her for the few seconds she let herself realize where they were going. She tried to ignore the feeling of doom that twisted in her gut, but the more they went down and seemed to still keep going, the more the feeling of doom overcame her. After what felt like a lifetime, they slowed down and Kagami felt a small bit of relief before it was completely squashed by the scream Viperion let out and the way he fell to his knees. It was awful, like something described in books and the one her own mother let out when her father had died. It was a scream born and full of grief. She wasn’t the best “people” person but her teammate was in pain and she wanted to help however she could but when she got closer she saw him cradling something familiar. Scarily familiar. She didn’t even register herself falling to her knees at the sight. Her eyes were too busy staring at the pink purse lying innocently in Viperion's hands. 

It was Marinette’s. 

Why was it there? 

Where was Marinette?

Questions zoomed around her head so fast it left her feeling dizzy. Then she spotted a pair of familiar shoes next to what had to be blood, charred blood. After that, there was no holding back a scream just as pain-filled as Viperion’s. She didn’t even notice her other teammates approaching the two of them. All she could do was scream as tears fell from her eyes, her eyes that were locked on the pink flats speckled with blood.

Next Chapter

#ml salt fic #ml x dc #mldc crossover #mldccrossover #ml red lantern au #red lantern Marinette #mldccrossover Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug #mldccrossover Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir #mldccrossover Luka Couffaine | Viperion #mldccrossover Kagami Tsurugi | Donryu #mldccrossover Nathaniel Kurtzberg | Fox-Tail #mldccrossover Marc Anciel | Noc-Turtle #mldccrossover Chloe Bourgeois | Bee-Witch #mldccrossover Gabriel Agreste | Hawkmoth #mldccrossover Nathalie Sancoeur | Mayura #adrien agreste salt #mldccrossover Tikki and Plagg #angst #hurt no comfort #like not even a crumb of comfort #tw blood mention #tw description of explosion

[tiredfloridianbutverygay]

Marinette doesn't like Chloe, hates her even and the feeling's quite mutual.

That being said, she's still a part of her class so when she finds Chloe crying in a bathroom, well Marinette admits she can't just leave her there. Especially not with Hawk Moth taking every chance he gets to akumatize someone. The thing is, usually Chloe's not the victim in most situations.

This time though, well, this time's different. And to Marinette's surprise, the blonde's achingly lonely and longing for a parent who never pays attention to her. And doesn't that situation sound achingly familiar, she thinks with a sigh.

#chlonette #femslash february #femslash feb 2024 #chloenette #chloe bourgeois #marinette dupain cheng #Femslash Feb supports women of color #angst and hurt/comfort #hurt/comfort #mlbfemslashfebruary

[bugoutreviewgirlie]

it's so hard to write about Chloe because you can see the seeds of a redemption, but then she turns around and does something selfish. It's always her pride at the forefront of her actions, but even then, there are so many moments where you see the person she could be. She does despicable things to stroke her ego, but most the time, I just feel a sort of pity for her and her fate in the story. Her mom didn't want her, her dad didn't father her correctly, her hero Ladybug doesn't trust her, what's a girl supposed to do.

That's why I don't agree with people who think Chloe was never meant to be redeemed. It looks like she was, but her role in the story is to be the narcissistic mean girl and this is ultimately Thomas Astruc's brain child so he gets final say. Hence, Chloe is a comically evil mean girl who occasionally engages in hijinks. Doesn't make it right, though. Girlie is straight up trapped by the narrative.

Imagine if she were allowed to use her powers of evil for good tho 😭 Chloe would kill Gabriel with her own two hands if she learned what he'd been doing to Adrien. Wars would be fought if Sabrina cried. She would appoint herself godmother to Ms. Bustier's baby and be THEE rich auntie.

#chloe bourgeois #I don't think all villains need redemption and I'm chill with Chloe remaining the school yard bully #but hah...not after a season's worth of build up to her learning to accept others' help and appreciate her father #that shiz hurted #miraculous ladybug

[dessarious]

Reclaiming Their Future Part 2

So... yeah, I tried to leave it alone, then I thought, why not do a sequel, then it just turned into a continuation, and yeah. I officially can’t do one shots.

Beginning

Chloe woke with a pounding headache, and a body wrapped around her. The only thing she felt was self loathing. She must have gotten so trashed she imagined Mari coming back and fell into bed with someone that looked like her. It had happened a few times before she got clean, but she’d thought she’d made it past that. However, the fact that it felt like both of them were still clothed was different. Maybe she hadn’t been completely stupid. That or she’d passed out before things had gotten too far. Given her history, probably the second. God, she was so stupid. 

The person behind her started to shift, and Chloe felt her internal cursing pick up steam. Whoever this was didn’t deserve to deal with her issues, and now she’d have to find a way to let them down gently. They didn’t deserve to suffer because she couldn’t control herself. When they dropped a kiss on the back of her neck and hugged her tighter, Chloe felt tears well up. She couldn’t remember the last time someone just held her. 

"We should probably get up soon if you want to tour around Athens today." She even sounded like Mari. This was a disaster. She was so busy telling herself off in her head the actual words didn’t even register at first. When they did, she just got confused. Athens? Oh… oh god. She was out of the bed and turned towards it before her mind could catch up with her actions and the sight that met her stopped her thoughts completely until it felt like a damn burst in her mind.

It wasn’t a dream. Holy shit, it wasn’t a dream! She was in Greece, with Mari. They’d passed out as soon as they made it to the hotel because it had taken Mari longer than she thought to get a private plane ready. Her headache had to be dehydration from crying so much the day before, not a hangover. Her mother was going to put out a hit on her when she found out what they’d done. A hysterical giggle made it out before she could stop it, and Mari’s confused look turned into concern.

"Chloe, what’s wrong?" How was she even supposed to answer that? Everything was wrong, and nothing was. Her entire world had changed in the span of a few hours, and she hadn’t been able to catch up. She couldn’t speak, so she ended up collapsing back into the bed, pulling Mari to her and burying her head in the crook of her neck. "Hey, it’s okay. I’ve got you and I’m not going anywhere." A sound somewhere between an amused snort and a sob left her. Of course, Mari would know what the problem was. 

"I’m sorry… I just can’t believe this is really happening." How many times had she wished for this? How many times had she woken up sure that Mari had come back only to realize it was just a drunken fantasy? "I doubt I’ll be able to wrap my head around it anytime soon, so this will happen again." 

"Then I guess I’ll have to make sure I’m always here when you wake up." Chloe just hugged her tighter, knowing how desperate and pathetic she must seem, but Mari just let her and ran fingers through her hair to help her calm down. "Why don’t we stay in today? We can explore anytime and we really should talk." 

"Okay." Mari was right, and she knew it. She just couldn’t shake the feeling that it would end badly. She had screwed up everything in her life and couldn’t help feeling like there was a ticking clock just waiting for her to mess this up, too. Not to mention how afraid she was of Mari’s reaction to some of the things she’d done.

"How about you jump in the shower and I’ll order breakfast?" She knew that Mari wasn’t trying to get rid of her, but she still instinctively tightened her hold. There was a part of her that was still certain this wasn’t real. "When you’re ready."

"Sorry." She could practically feel Mari roll her eyes.

"You don’t have to apologize for anything, and I mean anything. Mistakes were made and we need to talk about them, so nothing like that can happen again, but the past is done and over with."

"That’s easy to say when you don’t regret every decision you’ve made." Oh, that definitely shouldn’t have made it out of her mouth. It was true for her, but she had no idea how Mari felt about her life. Why did she always say the worst thing possible? 

"So you regret going to rehab? Getting clean?" The question was soft, and she was still running her fingers through Chloe’s hair. 

"I don’t know if those were decisions, more just a matter of survival. Not to mention I had both of my parents screaming at me and threatening to disown me. I never would have made it on my own." She likely still wouldn’t. She’d never been completely alone without at least money to fall back on. Now she was dependent on Marinette for everything. God, she really didn’t think this through. 

"You still made the choice to survive. I get how easy it is to only see the bad things, but you’re the one that did the work. Not your parents, and not anyone else. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for." That was one of the biggest reasons she fell in love with Marinette. She was the only person who had ever tried to build her up. Moreover, she actually meant it. Unfortunately, Chloe knew she didn’t deserve it. 

"Is it really strength if you fear dying more than what you know?" As bad as things had gotten, it was the fear of the unknown that made her decision for her. "When I woke up in the hospital, all I could remember was darkness and cold. Given my history, the best I could hope for is that there is nothing after this. If any of the major religions are right, it would be so much worse." 

"I think we all live through fear to some extent. Any time someone makes the decision to do what’s safe instead of what they really want, it’s a fear response. It doesn’t make the decision any less valid. Whatever the reason behind it, I’m glad you’re still here."

"How are you so perfect?" Chloe didn’t even realize the words came out until she felt Marinette stiffen. When she looked up, Mari wore a pained expression.

"I’m not perfect Chloe. No one is. If you had any idea…" She began tearing up, and Chloe panicked. 

"Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it." The last thing she wanted was to make Mari cry. Not again. 

"You deserve to know. I don’t want you to think that I’m better than you somehow, and I don’t want to start this with secrets between us." She was working herself up to an anxiety attack. 

"Hey, I’ll listen to whatever you want to tell me, but you need to breathe." She scooted up so that she could put Mari's head on her chest. Hearing a heartbeat calmed her down for some reason. It was the only thing that was guaranteed to pull her out of a panic attack once it started. "If this is about your dating habits, you really don’t need to worry about it."

"You knew?" She sounded so small, so ashamed. Honestly, Chloe thought it made perfect sense.

"That you were dating people specifically because you thought it would piss me off? Even without my mother sending me pictures and articles about it, I would have guessed. It was actually a bit comforting."

"What?" The disbelief in her voice caused Chloe to smile. Of course, she wouldn’t understand.

"It was proof." Mari looked up at her in confusion. "You are one of the nicest people in existence. There’s no way you could have worked up that much spite if I didn’t mean something to you." Mari let out a huff, half amused, half relief, before burying her head back under Chloe’s chin.

"You’ve always meant something to me, and you always will. Was Audrey really sending you crap about my personal life?" 

"Of course she did. She wanted to make sure I knew how well you were doing without me. Granted she let up a bit after rehab. Having her daughter OD would have been terrible press if it got out." Mari’s grip tightened.

"I’m going to destroy that woman even if it’s the last thing I do." Mari’s voice came out in a growl and Chloe let out a laugh.

"Your parents have probably called her by now. I would have loved to see her face when she found out her up-and-coming star defected." The temper tantrum that followed had to have been explosive. Chloe winced when she thought of the fallout. She had to wonder how many people got fired.

"I’ll have to call her secretary and get the rundown. See if I can offer jobs to whoever she decided was to blame for this. I should be able to assimilate them into one of my brands, even if I have to do the same for the employees of my public brand when she goes after it." Same old Mari. Protecting everyone she could. 

"There might be a way to stop her from coming after you." The thought hadn’t even fully formed before it was out of her mouth. It wasn’t something she wanted to do, but she owed Mari, even if she weren’t in love with her she’d want to protect her. 

"What do you mean?" She must have sounded off because Mari began rubbing soothing circles on her stomach. 

"We could threaten to go public with everything. Our break up, my issues. Can you imagine the stories that would circulate? ‘Style Queen drives daughter to suicide attempt’, and that’s likely the tamest version. There’s no way she’ll want that getting out." It actually might be cathartic to confront her about it too, even if it was through a lawyer. No way in hell was she meeting that woman face to face if it wasn’t necessary. 

"You shouldn’t have to make your private life public. I know how uncomfortable it makes you." 

"I doubt it will get that far. The threat should be enough to get Audrey to back off. If it’s not… I’m not going to let her get away with slandering you or your designs. I don’t care what anyone else thinks about it as long as you’re okay with what happened." Mari pulled back and Chloe found herself on the receiving end of a stern look.

"I’m not okay with it." She felt her heart stop. "I’m not okay with the fact that my parents lied to me. I’m not okay with the fact that the people closest to me thought it was okay to decide what my life should look like. I’m not okay with the fact that I didn’t notice what was really going on and I’m definitely not okay with the fact that you almost died. I’m accepting that it happened, yes. But if you think I’m going to watch your name get dragged through the tabloids just to save a brand I don’t even like designing for, you’ve got another thing coming. I’m not about to let you do something that’s all but guaranteed to be detrimental to your mental health. I wasn’t kidding when I said I could put people in jobs at one of my other brands. Not to mention I’ll have more time to work on them without spending so much time in the public for the one your mother knows about." She got an evil smirk on her face. "In fact, I could just shut it down with a press release saying how stressful it is to work with Audrey and how I feel I need to step away from the fashion world for my mental health. It wouldn’t even be a lie." 

"You know if you do that, she’s going to drag me into it anyway. Say it was my bad influence that made you sabotage your career. As much as I appreciate it, I think it would be better to get our side of it public before she has a chance to if you want to go that route." 

Mari’s face scrunched up in annoyance, and Chloe could see the gears turning in her head. If anyone could figure out how to fix this, it was her. Chloe had always been in awe of Mari’s mind. It was one of the reasons she’d been so intimidated by her when they were younger. Mari looked at problems from angles most people couldn’t even fathom. 

"We may have to take the offensive, but if we can get enough other people to talk publicly about how Audrey is, even if she does blame you, no one will believe it. Or I could quietly shut down my public brand and we could just disappear. Then it won’t matter what she says or does." 

"I can’t ask you to do that for me. I’ve been dealing with the bullshit she throws my way my entire life, I can handle whatever she does now."

"It’s not just for you." God, she hated when Mari sounded so small. She was even curling in on herself. Chloe pulled her closer, running soothing hands along her back. "I like my designs being praised and worn, but I hate being in the public eye. I don’t want to be recognized and chased by tabloids. Why can’t we just be us and ignore everything else?" 

Chloe didn’t have an answer, so she just hugged her tighter. She’d never been herself, didn’t even know how to go about it at this point. Mari was genuine. She acted based on who she was. Chloe had always been taught to act based on others. That how she was perceived was more important than anything else. It was why she’d tried to act like her mother as a child. Once she realized that didn’t work, she’d tried other personalities before settling into her current ‘responsible’ roll. It was yet another reason she was afraid of what would happen when Mari spent more time with her. She was a fake.

"You should do what you want to do. Forget my mother, forget the rest of the world. Figure out what you want and do that." It was the best advice she could give. Really, the only advice that made any sense. 

"What about what you want?" 

"I want to be with you. But I want you to be happy more." Mari started to move, and Chloe loosened her grip. Before she could try to explain herself, Mari’s lips fused to hers and it was all she could do to keep up and breathe properly. Mari pulled back with the softest look she’d ever seen.

"That’s good to know, and very sweet, but not what I meant. I don’t want everything to be about me. You’ve spent your whole life being what other people expect, and it’s time you figured out who you want to be." Chloe felt herself tearing up and Mari lifted a hand to her cheek. "I’m not expecting you to have all the answers now, or for you to make a decision and never change your mind. But you deserve to have a say in your life." 

Chloe was too choked up to speak, so she turned to press a kiss in Mari’s palm. She had no idea what she could say, even if she wasn't. The last time anyone had cared what she wanted was when they were together before. At least then it had seemed like things were possible. Now... what could she possibly do? What could she even offer Mari? God, she really didn't think any of this through.

"I don't want you to have to be financially responsible for me." Mari just looked at her funny. She didn't know what that expression was.

"You don't have any savings?" 

"No, well, not if your parents called mine at least. When I went into rehab, my father put himself on all my accounts due to my mental issues. After... I was resigned to that being my life so it never seemed necessary to change things. I'm sure they cleaned everything out by now. Or just took my name off everything." Mari looked guilty.

"Oh Chloe, you should have told me. We could have waited so you could get things set up. I just was worried you'd change your mind about leaving if we'd waited. Well, that and I didn't want to risk being in Paris when Audrey got there." 

"It's not your fault. I wasn't exactly thinking about money, either. I should have, since I'm basically forcing you to take care of me. God, I'm an idiot." 

"No, you're not. You saw a chance for freedom and you took it. We'll figure the rest out. I mean, you could work for one of my brands if you want. At least, until you decide on what you want. Or just not work at all. I don't have a problem with it if you don't." Chloe let out a huff and leaned her forehead against Mari's.

"That's not fair to you." She couldn't just let Mari do everything... could she?

"I'm offering; fair isn't the issue. I want to do this for you, whatever you decide. If it makes you feel better to keep track and pay me back for anything later, you can." 

"Mari, there's no chance you're going to let me pay you back." Chloe's dry tone just earned a pout. "I'm pretty sure there's still people who owe you favors from school."

"Well, if you insist, I'm sure I can think of some other ways you can pay me back." Mari's suggestive tone made her stop breathing. Oh god, this was really happening. She couldn't do this. "Chloe? Chloe, what's wrong?" 

"I... I can't...." What was wrong with her? She'd been dreaming of this her entire adult life.

"It's okay, just try to calm down." It wasn't okay. She wasn't okay. "Hey, just breathe."

"I'm sorry." Mari just took her hands and started rubbing circles on the backs.

"Everything will be fine." Mari waited for her breathing to even out. "Do you want to talk about it?" No, absolutely not, but she didn't really have a choice. Mari was going to hate her.

"I've never.... never..." This shouldn't be this hard. But having Mari stare at her with so much concern when she knew she didn't deserve it just made everything worse. Chloe ended up closing her eyes so she wouldn't have to see her reaction. "I've never slept with anyone when I was sober." She also couldn't remember anything about at least half the encounters except the morning after, but she was far too scared to say that out loud.

"Why not?" Her tone was neutral, and she had no idea if that was good or bad. The question posed its own problems, regardless. "You don't have to answer."

"I only slept with people when I was drunk enough to think, or at least pretend, that they were you." Her voice just kept getting quieter as she spoke, but she couldn't help it. It was creepy. To Mari, it had to seem especially bad. Why couldn't she just be normal? She was expecting to be pushed away, or for Mari to leave, so when she just hugged tighter, Chloe didn't know what to do.

"We don't have to rush anything you're not ready for." 

"That's not fair to you." 

"This isn't about fair, it's about boundaries. Your parents have trampled over you your entire life, so I get that you don't have a good grasp on the concept, but you deserve to feel safe and comfortable. You deserve to have someone that respects your wants and needs. Who respects you, period." Mari started running fingers through Chloe's hair again. "I want you to be comfortable telling me no, and knowing that I'll listen. I want you to be able to talk to me, and tell me when you don't like something I say or do. You should expect the same from me." 

"So you're comfortable that I just had sex with people as proxies for you?" Chloe finally opened her eyes to see Mari's confused frown. 

"I see why it could upset the people you slept with, and I feel sad you felt you needed to do that, but it doesn't make me uncomfortable with you." 

"How can it not?" Honestly, now that she looked back at it, it felt like it was on the same level as stalking. Granted, she hadn't needed to do that with her mother bragging about Mari constantly. 

"You were hurting. And you've been sober for at least six years, so it's not like this happened yesterday. You said that me dating people to make you jealous was flattering, and I definitely think that's worse. You weren't actively trying to hurt me like I was you." 

"I deserved it." 

"No, you didn't. Even if you had broken up with me to hurt me, you wouldn't have. I don't even know why I did it, to be honest." 

"You were hurting." Chloe had to smile at the dry look she got for throwing Mari's words back at her. "And I'm sure my mother was in your ear giving you ideas." That got a scowl.

"I'm taking her down, and I don't care if I go down with her at this point."

"You're too smart to let that happen."

"Maybe." Mari moved back a bit. "But right now, it's probably a good idea to start dealing with the fallout of our absconding. I don't want any of Audrey's employees to suffer more than getting fired."

"I suppose you're right, but I think the ones she doesn't fire have things worse." Mari sat up and stretched. "Is there anything I can do?" 

"I'm not sure yet. I'll have to go through all the messages I'm sure are on my phone, and call around to see how bad things are first." 

Chloe was happy that she hadn't brought her phone with her. Unlike Mari she'd had no reason to keep it. She could only smile at the thought that her parents were sending all their abuse to a device she'd never see again. She sat up as Mari got out of the bed to go dig through her suitcase. Notifications started sounding as soon as she turned on her phone. Chloe got up to go hug her from behind as Mari's entire body started tensing up.

"How about I order breakfast and you jump in the shower to relax before we start in on the bullshit?" 

Beginning

#miraculous ladybug #chlonette #hurt/comfort #marinette dupain cheng #chloe bourgeois #Chloe redemption

[star-the-gremlin]

When skull practice turns into fanart

(This is how I force myself to interact with Cap because I physically cannot text them like a normal person)

The miraculous au belong to: @justanotherpersonsuniverse

#other magic au #miraculous au #sabrina raincomprix #juleka couffaine #kagami tsuguri #aurore beauréal #chloe bourgeois #alix kubdel #alya cesaire #fanart #my hand hurts so much

[i-like-anything-water]

just so you know 'Rock N Roll' by Avril Lavigne is Emonette and Chloé and I will not be swayed into believing otherwise.

#chloe bourgeois #marinette dupain cheng #but she's emo #or goth #can someone explain the difference though #just listen #they're they're just perfect for each other to hurt and to love #i will explain more in an essay #in thi essay -

[mochinek0]

Daminette December 2023: 18-Hiding in the Shadows

Marinette looked around her pent house in Paris. She had everything she wanted as a teenager. Well, almost everything. She was a well-known fashion designer, to the people that were aware of her. She kept her business a secret and used an alias. Her clients all came from judgement on her other clients. Others designers knew her as 'Passion' after her store's brand. Very few knew her as Marinette Dupain-Cheng: Gabriel Agreste, Audrey Bourgeois, and Jagged Stone.

Marinette had enough money to pay her rent, her fabric, all of her equipment, anything a business woman could need. Marinette herself, not so much. She missed being able to walk out and go sit at a café for a bit. When she saw Wayne Enterprise opened a section in Paris, she came up with an idea.

'Wayne Enterprises is a place that usually pays big. Even a part time job should be fine. A little play money couldn't hurt. A few extra euros so I could eat out, get some comfy clothes so I'm not rushing between orders and messing up wouldn't hurt.'

Damian Wayne sat at his desk, looking through potential applicants. Many of them were attached to big names or had one of their own. As he rang background checks, he could see they were all connected to each other in one way or another. He smirked at his idea.

'Let's put on a show. I want to see what kind of people these applicants are around each other. Would they out themselves?'

Mari was escorted to a waiting room as Damian Wayne got through other interviews. When the door opened, the last thing she expected was to see some familiar faces: Chloe, Adrien, and Lila.

"I don't know why you're even here, Dupain-Cheng." Chloe snarled, after the door was closed, "This is a big company that would love to work with our families. You have nothing going for you."

Marinette sat down and smiled, "Is that right? I guess I must have sent the wrong order to your mother and that's why she wore my design down the red carpet at the MET Gala."

Chloe tensed up and refused to meet her gaze. She could tell Adrien and Lila were surprised as well.

Chloe cleared her throat, "You're lying."

"Call your mother and ask." Marinette shrugged, "Oh, that's right! She doesn't like you; she prefers your half sister, who can actually work and living on her own, instead of leeching off of her Daddy."

"This isn't you, Dupain-Cheng." Chloe declared.

"No. This is me." Marinette shrugged off the concerned looks, "I'm just not being forced to coddle you to make Caline Bustier's life easier. 'Oh, just show Chloe some love, so she'll know what it's like and she'll get better eventually. You'll see.' Even she knew you were a horrible person. She basically thought you were The Grinch. That with enough love, your heart would grow three sizes and you wouldn't be such a bitch anymore."

Everyone was speechless at Marinette's attitude. This wasn't the Marinette that they grew up with.

"Chloe Bourgeois." a security voice called.

Chloe held her head high as she walked into the office.

"Damian Wayne." Chloe stated.

"Sit!" he demanded.

Chloe was shocked by his attitude.

'Doesn't he know who I am?'

"Do you know who I am?" she shouted.

"A spoiled brat; Ive read the articles on the internet." Damian stated, "You are known for crying for your father when you don't get what you want. Even though you are the oldest, your half-sister is who your mother relies on to bring customers for Style Queen in New York."

"My father-" Chloe snarled.

"Isn't the mayor anymore. He hasn't been the mayor in three years." the Wayne heir spoke, "If you're thinking of blackmailing me, you chose the wrong person. Spread whatever lies you want or cry to your father, the hotel owner. I could make one post about how horrid his hotel is and he would go out of business. Could you live with that?"

Chloe stood there, speechless. The only person who talked to her like this was her mother.

"I'm in charge, here, and if it came down to it, your job would be scrubbing toilets all day." Damian declared.

Tears formed in Chloe's eyes.

'He's glaring at me, just like Mommy. He doesn't look happy. He looks at me like he wishes I was gone or someone else.'

"We're done here." Damian stated.

Chloe quickly rushed out of the office. The three saw her rushing away, crying.

'I knew she wouldn't last.'

"Marinette, I can't understand why you're like this." Lila spoke, as she took her seat.

'He made that Daddy's Girl cry. I better go at this carefully.'

"Oh, shove it, Lila." Marinette sighed, "All three of us, here, know you're a lying manipulative bitch. You don't have to fake it."

"I don't know-" Lila continued.

"Adrien already told me years ago that he made a deal with you. He made one with me, too. Did he ever tell you that?" Mari questioned.

Lila glanced towards Adrien, who kept his head down.

"Oh, he didn't." she giggled, "You see, I was already designing for Jagged Stone when you arrived to our school. Adrien even had me autograph things I designed for him."

The model had turned towards Adrien and was now glaring at him.

"I could have made your whole 'tinnitus-kitten bullshit' story go up in flames since day one." Mari smiled, "I could have video called him and you would have been labeled as delusional."

"I took all our friends away!" Lila cried out, in victory.

"No." Mari answered, "You took away people, who were finally talking to me. Chleo ensured that for seven years, I had no friends. Those 'friends' just went back to not talking to me. You didn't actually do anything. If anything, you helped me. You took away the class president duties from me and I had more free time. You turned Alya and Nino away, so I couldn't babysit. I designed more clothes and got more clients. You didn't make my life worse, Lila, you made it better."

Lila fumed. Adrien had played peace maker between the both of them. From what Marinette was saying, she could have won the war in an instant! She thought she had chased Marinette Duapin-Cheng out of school all those years ago and here she was smiling, practially laughing at her, saying it wasn't true. She had thanked her and said she made her life better.

'I need this job so I can rub it in her face! I need to win against her!'

"I do hope you at least did some research into Damian Wayne." Marinette stated.

"I've known Damian Wayne since we were children!" Lila announced.

"Is that what it told you, you should say when you looked up how rich his family is?" Mari inquired.

Lila stood up, in rage.

'How dare she!'

"Lila Rossi." security called out.

Lila smirked, "I'm coming."

"She really should have done her research." Marinette spoke out loud.

"Why do you say that?" Adrine asked.

"Lila likes to play off her tears and looks." Mari declared, "Damian Wayne hates going to galas because of girls that try to attach themselves to him."

"And?" Adrien questioned.

"He broke an Italian model's arm two months ago, for lying to him." the designer stated.

Adrien paled at her words. Marinette merely smiled and pulled out her phone and dialed emergency services.

"Hello, what is your emergency?" the voice asked.

"I think we need an ambulance at Wayne Enterprise." Marinette stated, "I think someone's arm is broken."

"Are you with this person?" the voice questioned.

"No." the designer answered.

"I have sent medical to your location." the voice declared, before hanging up.

"That was pretty extreme, Marinette. I have faith in Lila!" Adrien shouted, "I don't think he would do that! The Waynes have an imagine to uphold!"

"Maybe, you should have done your research." Mari shrugged, "You still have time. Maybe five minutes."

Lila sauntered her way into the office.

"Hello, Mr. Wayne." She spoke, calmly.

"Sit." He demanded, not looking up.

Lila waved off his decleration. She moved past the chair in front of his desk and walked her way to his side.

"Can I sit on your lap?" She asked, "You see, I have tinnitus and-"

"There is nothing in here that would activate your tinnitus. Tinnitus is when you can't here anything for a brief amount of time, but a loud ringing. It's usually followed after hearing an extremely loud sound. I should know; I went to medical school." Damian stated.

'Shit. My usual tactics won't work here.'

Lila nodded and made her way back to the seat.

"Why shoud I hire you?" The Wayne heir questioned.

Lila fluttered her lashes, "I'm a model for Gabriel Agreste."

"Former model." Damian interjected, "You now model on Instagram and Only Fans."

Lila turned red. She didn't expect them to aware of her new lifestyle.

"Now, Miss Lerouch-" he continued.

Lila paled, "Wh-What did you call me?"

"Cerise Lerouch." Damian stated, "Did you think I would not delve into your background? I have to know who I am working with."

Cerise quickly leaped up from her seat and rushed around the desk.

"Don't touch me." Damian demanded.

"I'll do anything." Cerise cried out, grabbing onto his arm.

The Wayne heir growled, "Let go."

"I can help you relieve stress in other ways, you know." Cerise pleaded.

Damian grabbed her wrist and twisted it behind her back, harshly. Cerise screamed in pain.

"I have no need for whores." Damian spoke.

He grabbed the back of her shirt, arm still twisted, and walked her to his office door. He grabbed the knob and threw her out, in front of his security team.

"Drag this whore out by the hair, if you have too, but I want her off Wayne Enterprise grounds and blacklisted!" Damian shouted.

"Yes, Mr. Wayne." they spoke simultaneously, as he slammed his door shut.

"Shit, I think her arm is broken." the one on the left declared.

"She would call an ambulance?" the one on the right asked.

"Please, help me! It hurts so much!" Cerise begged, cradling her arm.

"You shouldn't have pissed him off." the one on the right declared, "Damian Wayne isn't one to mess around."

A man rushed towards them with medical workers.

"Did you guys call for an ambulance and someone with a broken arm?" the new guy asked.

"No, but perfect timing." the one on the left stated, "Girl with broken arm right here."

Cerise was walked by the waiting room. Inside, she could see Adrien looked horrified before turning to Marinette. She was smiling at her. Then, the baker's daughter flipped her off.

'She knew! That bitch knew how this would end!'

Cerise burst into tears as she was carted off.

"I guess that just leaves you and me, Agreste." Marinette stated.

Adrien began to feel uncomfortable.

"I do hope you do better than they did." She spoke, "For your Father's sake."

"Huh?" Adrien asked, confused.

"Damian Wayne isn't one to back down, not even to his father. He can make his father bow down to him. You have no idea how......attractive that is to a woman, Adrien." Mari smiled, "A man with a spine."

The model gulped, watching Marinette lick her lips.

"You should grow a spine." she declared, "Maybe then your father won't force you to model for him. I' sure that's why Kagami chose Felix over you. Your cousin has a spine. It looks good on him. Maybe, that's why Kagami didn't take my advice on how to get back with you after the break up."

Adrien only looked at her in shocked.

"Alya told me you broke up and I went to see her." Marinette continued, "I tried to help, but she didn't want to. She said it was better that way and well, Felix and you did look alike as teens. The same face with a spine; kind of hard to resist. They're so happy and their twins are adorable."

"Adrien Agreste, Mr. Wayne will see you now." the voice spoke over the intercom.

The model looked over at the designer. She waved at him, but said nothing. Adrien stood up and stood tall.

Adrien walked into Damian's office. It was intimidating; Marinette was right. He was scarier than his father.

"Why should I hire you, Adrien Agreste?" Damian questioned.

"I hate modeling. I prefer computers and science. I want to break free of Gabriel." Adiren admitted, "You don't have to worry about me telling him anything because I never learned anything about fashion. I couldn't even tell you the names of two different shades of fabric. If anyting, you should hire Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Marinette has always been an amazing designer. She was recognized by Father and Style Queen when she was only thirteen. She's the one who would know everything about fashion."

Damian hid his smirk behind his hand and looked down at the papers about Adrien again.

'What a miracle worker you are, Miss Dupain-Cheng. Agreste grew a spine.'

"We may have an internship available in our science department." Damian spoke, "Do you still live with your father?"

"Yes." Adrien spoke.

"We have a company home we prefer our interns reside in." Damian continued.

He noticed Adrien seemed relieved about that.

"The internship isn't a guarantee." The Wayne heir continued, "We need to see you commitment and dedication first hand. If you can't keep up, we'll put you in a different department. If you keep failing to meet our expectations, you'll have no choice but to keep modeling for your father."

"Tell him we'll work with him for one year, as a test." Damian continued, "You have one year to get your affairs in order. You'll need to move in one month from now and if not, consider the contract cancelled. I will inform them you are expected."

"Thank you." Adrien smiled.

Damian waved him off and Adrine walked out of the office, happy.

Marinette stood up when her name was called. As she walked towards the office, she saw Adrien smiling at a paper. She entered the office and closed the door.

"Please sit Miss Dupain-Cheng." Damian ordered.

Marinette immediately took a seat in front of him.

"Why should I hire you?" He questioned.

Mari shrugged, "You don't really have to."

"Oh?" Damian pushed.

"I'm only here for a part time job." the designer answered, "You know, helping out on the floor, coffee grabber, secretary gig. That sort of thing."

"Excuse me?" he asked, shocked, " Aren't you a fashion designer."

"With my own clients and I can pay for my own things." She smiled.

"Then why are you here?" Damian questioned.

Marinette sat back further in the chair and got comfortable, "Play money. I spend my own on my deisgns, fabrics, equipment, rent. Why not have a little extra to treat myself to a night out or a night in, for once?"

That was not the answer he had been expecting.

Damian laughed, "What if I decide to keep you?"

"Keep me as in?" Marinette pushed.

"I decide I want to become one of your clients." he offered.

"Are you offering?" the designer asked, "I've seen some of those suits you wear to galas and it doesn't bring you out to your full potential."

"And that would be?" he asked.

"You're outshined by your father, your older brothers, and the company." She spoke, "You can stand out, but maybe you want to fade into the back, less people to grope you."

Damian chuckled and stood up from his seat. He made his way around the desk and rested on it.

"What would you dress me in, right now?" Damian questioned.

"Depends." Marinette smiled, "Do you always wear a suit to work or are you interested in a change?"

"Tell me about this hypothetical change." He demanded.

"Ever heard of quick change wear?" She asked.

"No." he replied.

"It mainly takes woman into factor. Clothes that can go from working at the office to going out on a date or partying." Mari answered, "Just a few adjustments and possibly a new shade of makeup and usually people tend to think they took all day to get ready."

Damian took what she said into account, "And for men?"

"Most don't really have the option." Marinette shrugged, "Shame, but on you.....your figure. Well, there's nothing sluttier than a man wearing a sleeveless turtleneck."

The Wayne heir couldn't help but think of his old League of Assassin's outfits.

"No one at work would know if you have a blazer on and buttoned." She continued, "It is your office so you can always install a closet here and keep an extra pair of clothes. Jeans, if you prefer. Who is to say that this whole time, you weren't wearing sweatpants and just dressed from the waist up."

He chuckled ather way of thinking.

'Effective, but true not the less. I could kick out anyone who entered my office, should I choose to dress comfortably, and there was a closet hidden behind the cabinets.'

"Another thing most people tend to do is incorporate their culture into their clothing, as well." Marinette spoke, "Personally, I use apple blossoms in most of my designs for myself."

"Miss Dupain-Cheng, you are not what I was expecting." Damian declared, "I like to expect everything."

Mari smiled, "I've been known to be...unpredictable."

"You want to work part time in the fashion section." The Wayne heir stated, "Even if it's just grabbing coffee or lunch for others."

"Correct." she answered.

"Fine." Damian spoke, "You can work here, part time, at least three days a week. I f you have a big comission, I want to know about it. You can keep the details to yourself, but I want a time frame."

Marinette nodded, happily.

"I also want you to make me something to relax in the office that could pass for office wear." he suggested, "I'll pay for fabric of course. I can send you the details of my heritage via email, later."

Marinette stood up, "I'll start on that and bring it by Friday."

Damian grabbed her hand and kissed it, "I'll see you Monday morning, at 9AM, for work. We can go over your schedule then."

Marinette felt her face flush as his lips connected with her hand. His gaze was piercing.

"Yes, Mr. Wayne." She answered, flustered.

Damian waved his hand, dismissing her, but he still followed her to the door.

"You know, Miss Dupain-Cheng." He whispered, pressing himself to her back, "They may not be able to see it, but I see what lurks in the shadows. I can see what you hide there. I can wait a bit longer for the side of you that wants to come out and play."

"Is that so?" Marinette whispered back.

"I'll enjoy getting to know you, in the future." Damian spoke, before opening the door.

Marinette took a breath before she walked out the door.

"Marinette, did you get the job?" Adrien asked.

"Yes." she answered.

The model sighed in relief, "I told him you were good. I told him about Father and Audrey."

"Did you think I wouldn't be able to get it on my own?" Mari questioned.

"That's not what I meant!" Adrien cried, surprised at the question.

"Then, don't belittle me and my work." Marinette declared, "He already knew who I was. The Wayne keep a check on everyone and everything. Did you seriously not expect him to know about our families? He was probably listening to us in the waiting room."

Adrien gulped in response.

"Besides, I wasn't apart of whatever you three were fighting over." Marinette smiled, walking away.

'What did she mean by that?'

Adrien turned to see Damian Wayne leaning against the door, wearing a smirk on his face. Damian took notice of the model and hardened his gaze. Adrien gulped as Damian stood tall and closed his door again.

'What was he staring at?'

Adrien turned his head back down the corridor and saw Marinette speaking to the receptionist.

'He was after Marinette the whole time!'

'He already knew who I was.'

'He was probably listening to us in the waiting room.'

'Besides, I wasn't apart of whatever you three were fighting over.'

TAGLIST: @maribat-calendar-events @animeweebgirl@a-star-with-a-human-name@meme991001@vixen-uchiha@abrx2002@alysrose-starchild@fandom-trapped-03@dood-space@moonlightstar64@saltymiraculer@marveldcedits20@09shell-sea09@icerosecrystal@animegirlweeb@insane-fangirl-of-everything@blueblossombliss@nickristus-dreamer@megawhitleycalderonpaganus@missmadwoman@meira-3919@princessdaisysolosyourfaves@blep-23@fangirlingfanatic@darkhinauniverse@ravenr22@im-a-satanic-ritual@ravennm84@bianca-hooks123@a-slytherinish-gryffindor@starling218

#daminette december 2023 #daminette #marinette dupain cheng #wayne enterprise #damian wayne #chloe bourgeois #adrien agreste #lila rossi #chloe salt #adrien salt #lila salt #mommy issues #cerise miraculous #daddy issues #mlb x dc #dc x mlb #hinding in the shadows #mochinek0

[tumblingxelian]

Chloe & Heroism

Chloe Bourgeois as a hero early on is a premise that often evokes either questions, like "How" and "Why". Or expectations that she is either already on a path to self improvement, or will be forced onto within a short timeframe.

These are not bad questions and the former definitely are necessary to consider for a story. However the expectations I tend to feel a bit murkier and while I have no issue with how some authors handle this topic.

I want to outline why I think you could do a good "Hero Chloe" story before she gets character development, but first, house cleaning!

1: I have not watched and largely ignore everything post season 3, so don't bother bringing up Derision. Remember, season 1 Kim was afraid of spiders.

2: In canon. Chloe only revealed her ID publicly because her abusive mother she is obsessed with pleasing (who killed her the day before) chose a girl other than her to take to New York & then tore her to shreds in front of everyone. 

With all that in mind let's examine where Chloe's values and understanding of the world comes from and how she perceives them! 

1 - Media/Social Media 

This would be a mixed bag, because on one hand they have Mighty Majesta comics that try to instill good values, but also shows built around lying to and humiliating people are evidently popular television and the internet seems similar in regards to pranking VS trying not to be terrible. So she's gonna get mixed signals at best. 

2 - Her family & Circle 

This is where 90% of the problems come from. Of the important adults in her life, her father, mother, Gabriel and Nathalie are all varying shades of corrupt, abusive, cruel and ruthless, while the lesser evils like Jean and Emilie are largely consigned to the role of enablers. 

Worse still, even if we ignore the emotional abuse, neglect and other elements that led to her both having trauma and her trauma response manifesting in aggression. We still have issues like Andre, during the brief periods he bothered to parent, explicitly teaching Chloe that, Stealing, extortion and threats are all appropriate ways to succeed in life.

IE, she isn't compromising her morality when she does these things, she is very much doing what she is taught was right at least consciously. This isn't helped by a 24/7 Audrey impression as Audrey deems being in her vicinity as reason enough to hurt people unless she deems them useful. 

Long story short, the values and people she was brought up around are all explicitly some shade of bad, or enabler, or outright teaching her to harm others. 

3 - Societies & Class 

However, we know from season 2 that Chloe is not entirely unaware that there are issues with this. Because while she spends much time boasting of how she's beloved and brilliant, when stripped of that and exposed to someone she trusts she is entirely willing to confess that she knows everyone hates her and that she feels she has no worth. She may not be able to articulate why or how this came about but she knows something is wrong. 

Despite this, school is not the best place to figure this out, especially for someone who obviously struggles with social cues and the like. The teachers run the gamut from indifferent and unpleasant, to extremely gentle and accommodating, to simply not wanting any form of drama and usually caving to whoever makes the most noise and none of them have the authority to do much outside of class hours. 

The class is not significantly better, because students like Kim and Alix can and do casually throw around snark or do pranks and at worst only get brief bursts of anger while Chloe's garner a more intense response. This is because her relationship with the class and motives are varying shades of different, but for someone with issues reading social cues, it's just going to seem like a confusing double standard. 

We can also see all this demonstrated in her relationship with Adrien, as Chloe clearly takes the lead in their relationship in Origins and outlines her logic behind the pranks, but is then surprised when Adrien seems to turn against her. What's more, it seems Chloe is aware that Adrien is more gentle/naive than her given she tried to educate him on these matters & turns to him for comfort and protection at times, while seeing no inherent contradiction between her expectations for their relationship and how she treats others.

Adrien does not help matters with seeming indifference to how she treats staff. 

Thus, while she knows 'something' is terribly wrong, actually being able to understand it and work through it is another matter. 

4 - Chloe's Conclusion 

So, what is the conclusion Chloe comes to in order to square all of these circles when she isn't just in full denial mode? The answer is quite simple and even demonstrated in the show itself, playing one's role. 

IE, Chloe the mayor and style queen's daughter is different to Chloe the hotel owner's daughter and we see this in her being able to stamp down on her usual instincts and slap on a customer service role when Jagged Stone enters the hotel and guide her father into doing the same. VS how she conducts herself during a class election, IE explicitly threatening and extorting people, to how she conducts herself day by day with her Audrey impersonation. 

A separate example and way she'd view this for others would be that Marinette the baker's daughter of course has to be nice and sweet and giving because that is how customer service roles work, while Marinette the aspiring fashion designer or would be class president is sneakier and will lay traps so people trying to steal from her are sabotaged. This isn't wrong, this is how she expects people to behave when in these circumstances and roles. 

Final Conclusion 

Which is why Chloe could easily play the role of a successful hero, because she would not be "Chloe Bourgeois, mayor's daughter, hotel heiress and Style Queen's daughter" as Queen Bee, she would just be Queen Bee, a superhero.

They have wonderfully defined roles that would be easy for her to pick up & follow through on: assure the public, save people from danger, protect allies, defeat monsters, all things Chloe was shown doing very well when chosen as a Miraculous Holder. 

I think that eventually the contrast in how she is received as Queen Bee VS Chloe Bourgeois would start grinding on each other and bleeding through both sides of the mask. 

But the infectious nature of empathy and a larger support network that don't have the worst impression of her would give Chloe the room she needs to explore and grow.

If she is too snippy as a hero, or shows a ruthless side, these won't be taken in the context of "Chloe that person I dislike" but "Queen Bee my ally" and can allow for more honest and even handed reactions that give her the necessary breathing room to grow and change. 

So yeah, I think season 1 Chloe could have, under the right circumstances, done a great job as a hero be it Queen Bee or another hero even before any outside circumstances or internal changes might have forced her to chart a new course in life.

Provided the role of Chloe and the role of hero do not intersect and become one almost immediately, because in that case it gets a lot harder for her. 

#chloe bourgeois #miraculous ladybug #Meta #Analysis #Text Post #My thoughts #No shade on anyone who does things differently #Queen Bee #Though it could be any means of being a hero or any Kwami #Miraculous Holder Chloe

[maspers]

Ranking the Miracucast by good they are at playing UNO

Marinette: She has a strategy. She plays to win. Her family has been playing UNO since before Marinette was in nursery school. She is ruthless and takes no chances. There are no allies in UNO. ...She still ends up losing more often than not because that's just how UNO is. 7/10

Alya: She's mostly just at the table for fun, and really enjoys how into it her friends get. 4/10

Adrien: Yes. 10/10

Nino: You would not expect this man to be good at UNO. But everyone just kind of... ignores him? He just casually goes along causing no drama, until he's the first person to call "UNO!" and everyone wheels around in their seats to face him with shocked looks on their faces. Adrien, however, can see right through Nino's facade and the moment Nino says "UNO!" both of them know that it's on like Donkey Kong. 9/10

Chloe: She has no idea whatsoever how to play, but she refuses to lose to Marinette. There is drama. There is house rules. There is drama about house rules. But they keep inviting Chloe back to the table because when she plays she also *hosts* the game at Le Grand Paris, and while they may not be good at much the Bourgeois family DOES know how to host events better than anyone else. 5/10

Sabrina: Initially didn't participate and was just there to act as Chloe's valet. Then one day she joined the table and curbstomped everyone, then went back to helping set up the snacks like it never happened. This has happened a couple times since then, and nobody understands it. Adrien and Nino have begged her to teach them, and she acts like she doesn't know what they're talking about. The only person to ever match Sabrina in a game of UNO was Marinette's mother Sabine, and all the players that were involved in that game signed an NDA stating they can't reveal who won. I have no justification for any of this, but I can feel it in my bones. 11/10

Mylene: Surprisingly vicious, but experienced players have no difficulty dispatching her. 6/10

Ivan: Unfortunately he is not very good at this game. There was one time he actually won though, with a pretty good strategy, and his smile was brighter than the sun. Since then everyone has wanted him to win again, but none of them are willing to sacrifice their own chances of victory for it. Ivan doesn't mind. He's just happy to be included. 2/10

Rose: Everyone expects her to be secretly good at this game for some reason. She doesn't understand why. She's pretty average at the game, but enjoys when she plays a card normally and everyone else glances around in a panic. This is fun! 4/10

Juleka: By herself she's a little better than average, but she's a real menace when Luka is also in the room. She knows all his tells and micro-expressions, and since Luka is Luka (see below) that means she knows everything. There have been talks of banning the Couffaine Twins from playing in the same round as each other, but such a ban was pretty impossible to enforce. 8/10 by proxy

Kim: In regular UNO he's a complete failure, but when the group is playing with large amounts of house rules he starts doing really really well. Not on purpose. Most of the time, however, he just shows up to eat snacks and arm wrestle with Ivan in the background while everyone else plays. 3/10

Max: Like with every game he's played, he knows ALL the strategies. Card percentages, color probabilities, the works. He should, by all accounts, be an expert at this game. But he does not understand the Heart Of The Cards and so he keeps losing. 6/10

Alix: Is definitely cheating. All the time. Everyone knows it. And it hurts, because Alix is legitimately good at the game too. Her classmates are begging for a regular game, but she just loves seeing what weird stuff she can get away with. Alix/10

Nathaniel: He wasn't particularly interested in the game originally, but then someone (Chloe maybe?) commissioned him to make a massive custom deck with original art based on the superheroes. Since he makes the cards, he somehow also became the judge on what can and cannot become a permanent house rule, since that often leads to new cards being made. He's still really awful at the game itself, but everyone showers him with praise and view his title as Deck Keeper as worthy of unparalleled respect. And since he made the cards, he's the only one capable of countering Heart Of The Cards bullcrap. 5/10

Lila: Has literally never played UNO before, though she will never admit it. 0/10

Luka: The jury's still out on whether or not his inner music hyper-empathy counts counts as cheating or not. Since they can't prove he's using it to know what everyone is feeling about their cards and plays, he's still permitted at the table. But the fact remains that he's very good at this the game. 8/10

Kagami: She has absolutely no idea what she is doing. The amount of cards in her hand sometimes gets so large Felix or Adrien has to provide one of their hands to help hold them. But she is also having the most fun she's had in a long, long time. So let's focus on the positives, shall we? -10/10

Marc: He swears the deck is not rigged in his favor. Nathaniel asserts there's no way he COULD rig the deck in Marc's favor, and Max ran the numbers to prove it. But somehow every time the group starts a new round Marc draws his cards and yup full of wild cards again. 6/10

Ondine: This was Kim's idea of a date. Ondine was not impressed. But she did stay for the snacks, and at least gave it the old college try. UNO just isn't her vibe, and that's okay. 1/10

Aurore: Doesn't usually play with everyone else, but she DOES know how to play, and one time she was asked to join a game when most of the group was unavailable and they needed more players. It was a bit awkward because she's a big Adrien fangirl and is used to playing with a different set of house rules, but they made it work, and fun was had. 4/10

Felix: He tries. He tries so hard. Everyone was wary when he joined the table, but there fears were unfounded because Felix is absolutely pathetic at UNO. He has the rules memorized. He keeps track of all the house rules meticulously, which interestingly means he's very good at keeping the game running smoothly. Everyone turns to him when there's uncertainty about a particular situation. But he just can not win. Ever. He doesn't even get close. He's managed to call "UNO" a grand total of once in his lifetime, and that was because the rest of his cards ended up in Kagami's hand instead somehow. It's awful. It's mortifying. He's a chess prodigy, an expert tactician, how has he been reduced to this? 1/10

Zoe: Was really excited to play, and let out a squeal of joy when she saw Nath's custom cards. She knows how to play really well, and was really quick on the uptake when it came to all the house rules, too. Since she's around technically the group no longer needs Chloe to host, but Chloe took that as a challenge to be an EVEN. BETTER. HOST. Zoe is not complaining, less work for her. And she still beats he sister most of the time, so it's all good. 7/10

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #marinette dupain cheng #alya cesaire #adrien agreste #nino lahiffe #chloe bourgeois #sabrina raincomprix #mylene haprele #ivan bruel #rose lavillant #juleka couffaine #kim le chien #max kante #alix kubdel #nathaniel kurtzberg #lila rossi #luka couffaine #kagami tsurugi #marc anciel #ondine #aurore beaureal #felix fathom #zoe lee #uno #uno game #rankings #playing uno #card game #MORE RANKINGS

[flightfoot]

The word "fanon" doesn't mean a lot to me. Fandoms are big and diverse. No one has the full picture.

But YOU are the exception. You seam to know every aspect of the MLB fandom. Or at least most of it.

So when you reblog a post about disliking a fanon Verizon of a character I noticed.

Do you want to elaborate on that?

Honestly I was mostly thinking about Chloe Bourgeois. I was gonna elaborate in the tags, but well... honestly, even in this case, it's not really the fanon version of CHLOE that's the problem. Which is why I didn't elaborate on it at the time, because it didn't totally fit.

Thing is, I do like Chloe, and I especially like versions of Chloe that follow off of the earlier seasons of ML, when it looked like there was going to be more to her, when there are hints of her having these insecurities because of her awful parents and just wanting to be recognized. With her being a mean bully, but beneath all of that being deeply hurt and trying to fill in the holes left behind by her parents' neglect or disdain. With her desperately trying to earn Ladybug's approval, approval that she couldn't get from her own mother. With her not thinking much of most other people, but going far to help the few people she cares about. So stories where she's still recognizably herself and still can function as a classic mean girl bully if the story calls for it, but with more to her, where she's treated as a person beneath it all still.

I'm not so fond of stories just giving her a straight-up personality replacement, where she's Chloe in-name-only, and she turns into a nice person off-screen with little explanation. I don't hate it, but it also doesn't feel like Chloe, and takes away what could be a really interesting character development arc. It's okay, but not my jam.

The stories I hate are the ones that do either of these types of things (especially the second one where she just gets a straight-up personality replacement) and then the other, canonically nicer kids are made worse, with Chloe and Alya basically swapping personalities. Everyone knows how much I hate Alya, Adrien, and the rest of the class being bashed, and Chloe and Alya having swapped roles just showcases the intense double standards of the writer, and is incredibly frustrating for me since it makes me leery of Good!Chloe and makes me want to vent about people making Chloe into a nicer person when that's not actually my central problem with the trope. So I have to try and take great pains to convey that I like Chloe being good, but doing it at other characters' expense, especially with how Alya in particular ends up getting targeted in these cases, is not cool.

I still remember when I briefly filtered out "Chloe Bourgeois Redemption" on AO3 because of a fic that started demonizing Alya out of nowhere by making her be mean to Chloe, and that was the only tag the fic had at the time that was even remotely associated with salt. I took out that filter soon afterwards because I do really like fics that redeem her, but dammit, BECAUSE of how those good and redeemed versions of Chloe are used, I'm often leery when I see her treated too positively and it sucks to have that knee-jerk reaction.

#ask #ml fandom salt #chloe bourgeois

[redefinemyworld]

I take a break from Miraculous Ladybug for like half a year and miss the bestepisode that have ever been put out ever?????

What do you mean they confessed their love for each other???

What do you mean Luka was WRITTEN OUT of the story (is that even legal? He's out best boi)???

What do you mean Zoe has a crush on marinette (LOVED THIS)???

What do you mean they can indefinitely hold on to their powers???

What do you mean sabrina stood up against chloe???

What do you mean Mayor Bourgeois quit??

What do you mean they go on a bunch of cute dates and we learn the backstory of Marinette's anxiety????

What do you mean Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie are dying??

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT LILA IS A LITERAL PSYCHOPATH WHOS NAME MIGHT NOT EVEN BE LILA BECAUSE SHE HAS LIKE 5 DIFFERENT IDENTITIES???

What do you mean Felix comes back???

What do you mean Chloe took over Paris???

What do you mean Marinette absolutely drags Gabriel Agreste through the mud on his pancakes??? (Queen shit right there)

And what do you meannnnn Felix is a sentimonster???

And what do you mean that Felix and Kagami make the cutest ship (cause they do)???

And what do YOU MEAN THAT ADRIWN AND MARINETTE FINALLY KISS BUT ARE SEPARATES JUST FOR ADRIEN TO BE PUT IN JAIL???? IN LONDON????

My head hurts. Mr Zag, you aint that bitch or nothing but you ate that little one thing right there.

#miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #ml spoilers #adrien agreste #mlb #miraculous ladybug spoiler #mlb season five

[toxinellebug]

Shadybug/Claw Noir Christmas PART 1

HEAD CANON TIME!

You know that Xmas in Paris with those two on the loose wouldn’t be a Silent Night.

I imagine the nightly curfew to be indoors would still be in effect, even during the holidays, but that wouldn’t stop people from having holiday parties provided their guests stay overnight… And what better party could there be than the Bourgeois Christmas Gala, held at the Le Grand Paris Hotel? An extravagant and EXCLUSIVE black tie event for the richest/most influential people and Celebrities in Paris! There’s dancing and dining and only the BEST decorations money can buy! And THIS year, Chloe plans to make it an unforgettable event where she will kiss her Adrikins under the mistletoe, and she even had her daddy invite news photographers to document the whole thing so she can rub it in the smug face of that Lila Rossi who had the AUDACITY to suggest that she and Adrien should spend time together over winter break since this year she wouldn’t be going to her Uncle’s ski-lodge in the Swiss Alps, due to re-modeling.

This will prove once and for all that Adrien is HERS, and the riff-raff should all back off!

Chloe was sooo nice, she even made Daddy hire Adrien’s favorite bakery to cater all the baked goods for the party… Provided that loser Dupain-Cheng doesn’t step foot inside and infect the place with her lameness.

It’s a brilliant, fool-proof plan to make this THE. BEST. CHRISTMAS. EVER!

…Adrien is convinced this is the WORST Christmas ever. Scratch that, CHRISTMAS is the worst ever!

It’s the first winter without his mom, and the Bourgeois’ had the nerve to invite him to a PARTY? For WHAT? So he can force himself to laugh at celebrities’ lame jokes, and begrudgingly waltz with rich people’s daughters who can barely avoid stepping on the hem of their gaudy, sparkly dresses, drink sparkling cider and play hokey, out-dated party games and pretend he’s having fun?!

His mother is GONE, and he’s supposed to just act like everything is Merry and Bright?? Thankfully, his father has already turned down the invitation. He’ll probably be chewed out by Audrey for missing this golden opportunity to show off his new formal winter collection though.

Gabriel promised him that they didn’t have to do any sort of Holiday appearance or event. Which is perfect because Adrien doesn’t think he could manage to smile for any cameras right now… But he still can’t believe his father wants to celebrate at all?? What is there to celebrate?? His father actually put up a tree! And asked him to help him put on the ornaments… Just like they did with mom every year. Does he seriously expect them to just decorate the tree like nothing has changed? What’s next? They watch cheesy old xmas movies while snacking on cinnamon cookies and Les Papillotes and then eat Father’s greasy fried cooking for dinner at Midnight? Were they just going to pretend everything was fine and just the same as always???

How could it be christmas without Mom to tie lopsided red ribbons just to tease father before adding way too much Cheveux d’ange to the tree? How is it christmas without mom’s cheeks turning pink from too much vin chaud while watching “L'assassinat du Père Noël”? How is it christmas without her singing along to the carols on her vinyl record player as they set the table while Father is so focused on the Amandine and the fried bugnes that he lets the Turkey burn?

It WON’T be the same, and he doesn’t want it! He just wants to lock himself in his room and wait for this miserable day to be over!

Gabriel is hurt, but Nooru suggests that Adrien needs his space so he shouldn’t insist- it will only push him farther away. Gabriel knows the holidays will never be the same, but he has hope that they could still be special even if it’s just the two of them now… But, only when Adrien is ready.

But Adrien isn’t going to be ready… In fact, Adrien had an idea- an AWFUL idea. Adrien had a wonderful, awful idea: Why should HE be the only one who is miserable?

Claw Noir would turn this Holy Night into a Massacre! He’d smash every window full of holly, and each and every wreath he could find would serve as kindling when he burned the giant tree in the center of Place de la Concorde to the ground! He wouldn’t be satisfied until everyone in Paris was as miserable as him!!!

…There was no one in Paris more miserable than Marinette.

Christmas was always a busy time for the bakery; Bûche de Noël, Biscuits de Noël, Pain d'épices, Pompe à l'huile, Oreillettes, sables au cumin, and SO. MANY. CINNAMON. COOKIES.

But THIS year, in addition to the usual amount of fare for regular customers, they had been given a huge order to fill for the Bourgeois Christmas Gala; they wanted EVERYTHING, and despite their exclusive guest list, they seemed to want enough to feed all of Paris! Which meant that most of it would end up going to waste in the trash once the party was over.

The party that her PARENTS would have to attend in order to deliver and serve the guests, which meant that they would be spending all of Christmas Eve and into Christmas morning at the Hotel, while Marinette stayed at home…. Alone.

All because of that selfish, vile Chloe Bourgeois- even if they are no longer in the same class, that witch STILL finds a way to take EVERYTHING from Marinette, now even her own parents??? …No, not just Chloe. It’s also the fault of that spoiled Adrien Agreste! Apparently Mr. Super Model is an extremely picky eater, which meant it HAD to be her parent’s bakery that catered the Gala, because whatever Agreste wants, Agreste GETS. Those two truly were a perfect pair.

After being forced to help bake and run the register all day, Marinette is now alone on her rooftop balcony, freezing cold but at least she can finally escape the oppressive odor of cinnamon that has saturated her whole house. She hates cinnamon. She hates Chloe Bourgeois and Adrien Agreste. But most of all, she HATES CHRISTMAS!

Thanks to Enforcers patrolling the streets to make sure Parisians are inside after dark, the city is silent, save for the tinkling of glass being smashed.

Windows are broken, snowmen are toppled, and wreaths are snatched as Claw Noir makes his way towards the main public square; Chestnuts roasting on an open fire? How about a raging inferno instead?!

An old man watches from his window- he is alone on the Holidays, as always. No family to spend festivities with, no Christmas feasts with 13 desserts to distract him. All he has is nostalgia and memories of the christmases of his youth, back when he was still just a boy, back when this holiday was still about GIVING, back when people still told stories of Santa Claus before it was considered fanatical socialist propaganda, back before… The Supreme.

Christmas these days is nothing like the old days. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t still precious!

He can’t get a clear view of whatever miscreant is causing the damage from his window, but he can see the path of destruction left behind. And he knows that even though the Enforcers will no doubt hunt down and punish that ne'er-do-wel, they will not bother to clean up or repair the damage.

Who would do such an awful thing? If only there was SOMETHING he could do to help…

He doesn’t notice the faerie white butterfly that passes through his window, unfettered by the glass, and lands on his knitted hat.

But he DOES hear the voice; soothing and gentle inside his head, emphasizing with his concern over the wanton destruction, sharing his desire to bring back the true meaning of Christmas. The Voice offers him a gift- one that will allow him to bring peace and joy back to those affected by the vandal, and prove that this night is still one of hope. The voice asks, very politely, if the man will accept this gift in the name of the greater good?

The man accepts, and the voice grants him a new name… “Father Christmas.”

Claw Noir is whistling a casual tune, twirling a candy cane he stole from a window display in his fingers in one hand, and flicking away the remains of shredded ribbon from his claws in the other, when he hears the sound of sobbing.

His route of mayhem has lead him to “Tom and Sabine’s Bakery/Boulangerie” the place where that pretty girl with the dark hair in pigtails works.

Said pretty girl is on the roof, completely unaware of his presence, too busy crying her eyes out.

Once more, he feels that this girl is probably the only one in all of Paris who he can relate to. Alone and miserable… he doesn’t know what pain she’s going through to leave her out on a snow-covered rooftop where no one (but him) can witness her tears, but somehow it is oddly comforting to know that he isn’t the only one… that they are kindred spirits in a way. Having someone else hate Christmas as much as him makes the pain somehow more bearable…

Are those sleigh-bells?? Where the heck is the sound of sleigh-bells coming from?!

Something catches his eye, and Claw Noir can’t believe what he sees… He can’t even figure out WHAT he sees…

Some old fat guy in a tacky red suit is flying- ACTUALLY FLYING- in a sleigh being pulled by reindeer for some reason?! What is that even supposed to BE?? Just how much mulled wine has the butterfly man had???

Weirdness aside, that fat freak is ruining all of Claw Noir’s work! As the sleigh flies over houses, broken windows vanish and are replaced with shiny new glass adorned with bright red bows. New Wreaths with sparkling gold and silver berries seem to actually sprout on doors, and tiny, wrapped gift boxes seem to rain down to rest at each door mat.

And the geezer is headed straight towards the Place de la Concorde!

Oh NO he doesn’t! Claw Noir has a good pile of stolen kindling going around that tree and NOTHING is going to stop him from torching that sucker! He gives chase.

The sound of bells and old man laughter makes Marinette wipe away her tears and look up just in time to catch a tiny wrapped box. Opening it, she finds a smiling gingerbread cookie holding a peppermint stick. She scowls before snapping off the cookie’s head.

Betterfly… that tears it!

Marinette transforms into Shadybug, crunches the peppermint stick HARD between her teeth before summoning her Lucky Charm- a shoulder mounter missile launcher, just right for blowing magic sleighs out of the sky!

The butterfly miraculous will make the perfect christmas gift for The Supreme.

But first, she’s gonna annihilate that bearded tub of lard who mocked her with friggin’ cookies!!!

Obviously Betterfly can’t let his new ally who laughs like a bowl full of jelly be blown to smithereens or be torn to shreds. He must help fend off Shadybug and Claw Noir to save Christmas and return home before Adrien comes down from his room (or that suspicious bodyguard notices something is up)

Meanwhile, Chloe is miserable! She has a brand new golden ballgown, diamond covered shoes, her hair is even MORE amazing than usual, and Adrikins isn’t here to tell her how gorgeous she is! CHRISTMAS IS RUINED! This is all her Daddy’s fault! Audrey agrees; the invitations SHOULD have been engraved, not embossed, and gold foil borders on linen paper? What is this, the 90’s?? Anything but glitter infused envelopes is just tacky! And WHERE are the solid crystal champagne flutes she requested?! No wonder Gabriel and Agreste Junior didn’t show- this whole Gala is turning out to be ridiculous, utterly ridiculous! Andre has no wish list, but as for New Year’s resolutions, he plans to take up drinking.

PART 2

#miraculous paris #miraculous ladybug #miraculous fandom #shadybug #claw noir #toxinelle #griffe noire #adrien agreste #mlb s5 #miraculous world #Miraculous Christmas #Christmas #Santa Claus #Betterfly #Hesperia #Emelie Agreste #Gabriel Agreste #Adrien Agreste #marinette dupain cheng #chloe bourgeois #paris special

[soulmate-game]

I guess I have to make up for AO3’s crash by dipping into my google docs and uploading every chapter of The Heroes’ Game on here for you guys. Once I run out of reruns of The Heroes’ Game, I’ll just have to start cranking out new chapters/fics/one shots.

Sigh. Look what I do for my your boredom.

—*—*—*—*—*

Chapter 1

Soulmates. That gooey, gushy, over-sentimentalized, overly relied-upon concept that was unfortunately (or fortunately, for romantics) very real. But unlike stories or movies, it was not uniform. There was not one universal soulmark or set type of soul bond. There were romantic soulmates, platonic soulmates, even familial soulmates (a subdivision of the above platonic, more specific yet stronger due to the distinction). But not only were the types of soul bonds broken into three separate categories, but the variety of types of soulmarks that a pair (or triad, in some rare cases) could end up with was still being discovered. Already, there were almost a hundred different catalogued forms that a soul bond could come in. All of them studied and confirmed by both science and magic as being valid. Even the timing that a soul bond chose to reveal itself could vary individual to individual.

Which led to the current dilemma.

A certain half-Asian girl with her blue-black hair up in pigtails was forced to watch as a blond boy and Japanese girl gaped at one another. As everyone present watched, bright spiraling designs that seemed to be made of light itself etched themselves on one arm of both teens, starting from where their hands gripped one another. The blond had tripped down the stairs, only for his hand to be caught by the smaller Asian girl and bright light to erupt from their palms.

The half-Asian, half-French girl at the bottom of the stairs could only observe in mute dismay as a swirling foil of pulsing maroon light sank itself into the right arm of Adrian Agreste, bright neon green markings adding detail to the stylized weapon. A matching symbol, orientation flipped and colors inverted, etched itself in glowing light on the right arm of Kagami Tsurugi.

They were soulmates.

The only person in Marinette’s class other than herself without a visible soul mark or completed bond (until now), the only person Marinette had believed herself capable of being with, had a soul mate. And by the way they stared into each other’s eyes even as Adrien continued to dangle perilously over the concrete steps, it wasn’t platonic.

Marinette felt cold, as if someone had stuffed a funnel down her throat just to dump ice directly into her stomach.

When Chat Noir immediately stopped hitting on Ladybug only to apologize in private and reveal he had met his soulmate, Marinette connected the dots. The magic of the Miraculous helped protect the identities of the wielders, but could not hold up against significant hard proof. That, and Marinette was getting more and more immune to the lesser Miraculous magic as she trained to become the next Guardian.

On the rooftops, Chat was still her partner. Despite showing up less often during Akuma attacks or nightly patrols due to having dates, he was still reliable whenever he showed up. But as Adrien Agreste, he and Marinette had never been further apart.

—*—*—*—*—*

“Still sulking?” The all-too-familiar voice of Chloe Bourgeois cut through Marinette’s intrusive thoughts, the usually haughty tone surprisingly gentle. After quite a bit of time, introspection, and character development, Chloe had become a good friend of Marinette’s. Still incredibly hard to tolerate at times, but dependable.

The black haired girl just groaned, dropping her face into her hands. “He was my first real crush, Chloe,” the girl complained, clearly still hurt. “I loved him. Or I thought I did, anyway. You can’t expect me to heal from it all that quickly.”

“Of course not,” The blond heiress agreed easily, shrugging even as she put a forkful of food in her mouth. Maybe trying to have girl talk with Marinette on the fourth floor of a five-star hotel wasn’t the best idea, her short friend being incredibly uncomfortable in the atmosphere despite her personally made clothing being more than acceptable for the environment. “But it’s been two months, Mari. It’s time to straighten your spine, and get out there looking again! You don’t need Adrien, just like you don’t need Alya or sausage-hair or any of the idiots that flock with them in our class,” the girl reasoned. “Adri-kins is sweet, but he has the entirely wrong approach to Lila, you know. Convincing you to stay quiet was the worst advice he could have given. Staying quiet would never have allowed me to change or see that what I was doing was wrong,” Chloe pointed out. “Why would it work for her?”

“Adrien is just being careful,” Marinette defended weakly, pushing her salad around her plate disinterestedly. Knowing he was Chat just made her sympathize with his motives even more. He didn’t know Ladybug was in his class to back him up instantly, after all. But still, Marinette knew Chloe was right. Adrien might have good intentions, but his execution of them left a lot to be desired. “He doesn’t want another Akuma.”

“We get Akumas every week, he should just suck it up. We get even more Akumas from her lies than we would if everyone knew what she was doing,” the blond girl continued easily, not giving in to her friend’s weak excuses. “Besides, telling you to be quiet just puts you at the most risk of Akumatization. He should know that. It’s a miracle it hasn’t happened to you yet,” Chloe’s perfect babydoll-pink lips thinned as she stabbed a piece of chicken on her plate. “Lucky for all of us, not that he knows that.”

Marinette just sighed in agreement. “Can we just, you know, stop talking about this?” The meeker of the two asked gently, finally managing a mouthful of greens. “This is supposed to be our girl time. Ever since you transferred schools, we’ve had less and less time to just hang out.”

Chloe frowned, but gave in with a nod. “Sure, sure. Oh! Daddy told me about how you won that Wayne Enterprises competition for your class!” Chloé suddenly perked up, leaning over the table in newfound enthusiasm, her suddenly exclamation making the rich crowd around them side-eye the two teenage girls. Marinette flailed her arms in an attempt to get her friend to calm down and be quiet, an attempt that she should have known would be futile. All Chloe did was lean slightly back towards her own chair. “Well?! Are you excited to be going to Gotham?”

“Of course I am,” Marinette finally stopped trying to calm down her excitable friend. “Being able to travel to America, study the fashion of Gotham City, be inspired by the foreign landscape—“ Marinette sighed dreamily, not unlike the way she used to sigh over Adrien. Her hands even cradled her cheeks as she lost herself momentarily to her daydreams. Her hands dropped as the illusion was ruined by the memory that— “The whole class is going though, so it’s going to be an uphill battle to avoid Liar Rossi spoiling the whole trip.”

“Nope, you said you didn’t want to talk about her. This conversation will be sausage-hair free until dinner is over, at the least,” Chloe chided lightly. “I heard Bruce Wayne himself is inviting your class to a charity gala at the end of the trip, and that you will be presenting a speech as an honored guest and owner of the winning submission!” Chloé gasped suddenly, dropping her fork onto her plate with a cacophonous clatter. “Oh. Em. Gee. You’re designing your own dress, aren’t you? Who am I kidding, of course you are!” Chloé squealed in delight. “MDC, strutting her skills overseas, it’s glorious!”

“Shh, Chloe!” Marinette went right back to flailing her arms uselessly. “There’s a reason I haven’t publicly come out as MDC yet! Someone will hear you!” The short blue-eyed girl was looking around the room frantically. The waiters wouldn’t dare kick out the mayor’s daughter, but other patrons were already leaving early or requesting a different floor in order to escape the infamous Chloe Bourgeois Chaos. On the bright side, none of them seemed to be paying any attention to what the young rich girl had actually said.

“Oooh,” Chloe leaned over the table again with a wide, mischievous grin. “What if you finally meet your soulmate?” Her smile widened impossibly. “Of course you’d have an American soulmate. Someone blunt, maybe, to combat your constant worrying. He’d have to always tell you upfront exactly how he feels or else you’d constantly be worried about misinterpreting them,” the girl mused, completely ignoring Marinette’s groaning and moaning about how embarrassing she was being. “And everyone knows that nobody does Blunt quite as well as Americans. Ooh, I wonder what your mark is gonna be!”

“Hopefully something invisible,” Marinette finally spoke up, her remark a mere grumble as her nose scrunched up. “It would kind of ruin the whole secret identity thing if it was noticeable, right? Do soul bonds even care about secret identities? Oh no,” Marinette blanched, spiraling in true Marinette Dupain-Cheng fashion. “What if it’s on my face? The magic can’t hide something that identifiable! Everyone will know who I am, and then Hawk Moth will attack my family and isolate me and attack me out of costume or akumatize me, and then he’ll make his wish, and then world war three will actually happen, and—“ The ramble was thankfully stopped by perfectly manicured hands slapping over Marinette’s mouth, one blond eyebrow raised at her as Chloe kept the word vomit from continuing stubbornly.

“No. Stop catastrophizing, the worst-case scenario doesn’t always happen, girl. La—“ Chloe glances around the suddenly half-empty room and lowered her voice. “You know who is such a deep part of you that there’s no way your soul bond will ignore that. I seriously doubt it will cause your identity to come out.”

Marinette’s shoulders slumped in relief. She waited until Chloe removed her hands and sat back down before saying softly; “I just wish you could come with me. Then it would be bearable.”

Chloé gave one of her oh-so-rare soft smiles to the smaller girl, nodding. “I know. I wish I could go too, but I can’t miss a whole month of school. But you’ll have Alix with you, which is better than nothing. And besides, everyone in Paris knows I’m Queen Bee,” Chloe flipped her hair haughtily, making Marinette grin. “I wouldn’t want to intimidate Gotham’s heroes.”

“In other words,” Marinette started slyly, a teasing grin overtaking her lips as she avoided Chloe’s gaze playfully. “You don’t want to risk attracting the attention of Gotham’s rogues because you couldn’t handle them, right?”

Chloe spluttered in denial, tossing her napkin at Marinette in false anger. “How dare you! The Queen Bee can handle any villain!” Chloe became serious again. “Be careful while you’re over there, yeah? Me, Ryuuko, and Viperion can keep Paris safe while you’re gone but you will only have Alix.”

And Chat, Marinette thought to herself, but Chloe doesn’t need to know that.

“It’s better if Ladybug doesn’t appear in Gotham at all,” Marinette agreed, “So I’ll be as careful as possible. The less evidence anyone has to connect me and Ladybug, the better.”

Chloe nodded. “Of course. Now, did you see Clara’s last music video?” The blond heiress/superhero was turned into a common teenager again as she squealed in delight. “It. Was. Fabulous. And the dress you made her for it? I want one.”

—*—*—*—*—*

Of course this would happen. Marinette stood in the lobby of the hotel where her and her class were staying while in Gotham, with no classmates or teachers in sight and the bus she was supposed to board already gone. At least I’m fluent in English, or else I’d be screwed, she thought to herself. Resigned to the fact that she wouldn’t be able to catch up to the bus, Marinette instead went over to the hotel information desk and asked for directions to the Gotham Museum of History, where her class had left to visit.

At least she had money for a cab.

A cab that apparently decided to kick her out two blocks from her destination in favor of picking up a couple that were positively dripping in expensive jewelry. Marinette dusted herself off, adjusting her purse on her shoulder with a frown. She couldn’t blame him for looking after his own finances, but he didn’t have to chase after tips that blatantly. The girl didn’t even bother arguing with the man, simply handing over the cash she owed him before turning in what she thought was the right direction, if she was reading the map on her phone correctly. It was already dark out, not surprising considering how their plane had arrived in the afternoon and they only got a few hours to rest before visiting the museum as their first activity of the trip.

Quickly memorizing what she thought was the right route, Marinette tucked her phone back into her purse and smiled at Tikki, who hid inside it. “Alright,” Marinette whispered to her Kwami. “I hope I haven’t missed too much!”

Quickly closing her bag, the girl started off towards her destination.

And promptly got lost.

“I thought I saw it this way…” she groaned to herself when she realized she didn’t recognize anything around her, and it had only gotten darker in the past half hour she had been walking. At least being Ladybug keeps me in shape.

Marinette straightened her shoulders, resigning herself to retracing her steps for the twentieth time. She turned on her heel, walking forward as her bright blue eyes scanned her surroundings for anything that might lead her to the museum.

Until she realized the street was oddly empty, and a soft crunch of glass sounded from behind her. Marinette had prepared for this, at least. I’m being followed. Careful to remain calm and keep on walking as if nothing was wrong, Marinette strained her ears and eyes. She managed to catch a glimpse of her tail in a window— tall, broad shouldered, biceps like hams. The girl frowned. She could easily outmaneuver someone twice her size, but it would draw a lot of attention.

Firmly in Ladybug Mode, Marinette slowed down just enough to let the guy come a bit closer, before she veered sharply into an alley. Risky? Yeah, but it would be much less likely to make a spectacle of herself when she handed the guy his ass.

Sure enough, it didn’t take long for the guy to attempt to grab her. As soon as she felt his hand reaching for her though, Marinette easily clamped onto his wrist and used her momentum to hurl the assailant over her shoulder. The large body hit the gravel roughly on his back, letting out a moan that was half pain and half anger. Marinette backed up just enough to stay out of the man’s immediate range, her eyes continuing to dart around.

He hadn’t been alone.

His boots are good quality, so are his cargo pants. No gun, but several knives on his belt. Professional, not out to kill. Capture? As soon as Marinette saw two other guys dressed identically to the man now pulling himself back up to a standing position come out to surround her in the alley, she put it all together. Each newcomer had a tranq gun trained on her. Traffickers.

Ever the improviser, Marinette quickly rolled out of the way of the first few darts shot at her and grabbed a misshapen hunk of wood from the ground to block the next two projectiles like a warped shield. Lunging to her feet, she whipped the chunk of wood at one man with deadly precision, the plank hitting him square across the forehead hard and fast enough to knock him out.

One down. The guy she had initially thrown over her shoulder took advantage of her distraction to wrap his large arms around her, trapping her own against her torso. Not one to be trapped for long, Marinette jumped up and flipped herself upside down so that her legs wrapped around the guy’s neck, and twisted so that her body weight unbalanced him. Combined with his sudden lack of oxygen and field of view, the guy stumbled just enough for Marinette to get one arm free and slam her elbow into his most sensitive area. The guy released her with a howl, and Marinette twisted into a three-point landing. She paused only long enough to slam the side of her arm into a pressure point on howling man’s neck that knocked him out before springing up to face the—

Marinette paused. The last attacker was already tied up, a much different muscular form holding the cursing man a few inches above the ground.

Batman.

“You know, you shouldn’t walk around Gotham at night,” a casual voice sounded from behind her, making Marinette swing around to face Nightwing. The blue vigilante was leaned against the wall, with the first guy Marinette had knocked out already tied up at his feet. “But that was pretty good fighting. You made a few unnecessary moves, but overall not half bad.”

A third figure dropped down from a nearby roof, making Marinette whip her head to the side for a third time. Ugh, I’ll get whiplash at this rate. How are they able to move so noiselessly? The last figure was Robin, who made short work of tying up the last guy before standing and staring straight at Marinette. He crossed his arms, and the French girl suddenly had the feeling she was about to be scolded.

“What were you thinking, leading them into an alley? Are you an idiot?” Were the first words Robin said, instantly making Marinette puff her cheeks out in indignation. How dare he?!

“Robin,” Batman interrupted whatever retort Marinette had been about to make. “Ducking into the alley made it less likely that anyone else would be caught in the fight. It was not necessarily bad a move. That being said,” the most experienced hero in the alley turned to the girl in pigtails. Marinette gulped. It was really intimidating, having Batman’s state focused solely on her. She forced herself to stand as straight as possible. “It was still incredibly reckless. You had no idea how many people were following you, or what their skill level was. I highly suggest you act with much more caution next time. Or better yet, don’t travel Gotham alone even during the day.”

“I’ll be careful,” Marinette agreed, the three heroes instantly picking up on her French accent. “This wasn’t exactly my choice. First, my class left the hotel without me even though I’m the one who applied for the contest that even allowed us to come here in the first place. Then, my cab driver kicks me out a few blocks from where I asked him to take me, and then I got lost. Merde!” Marinette threw her hands up. “It’s not my fault I have bad luck. And you,” she turned and pointed to Robin, about to give him her two cents about his critique of her. That is, until when fingertip actually made contact with his chest and both teens visibly jumped.

It was like static the moment they made contact, but nothing visual happened. Marinette was about to shrug it off as nothing when—

Her vision split in half, like a TV screen when someone was playing a two-player game. Suddenly she could see her normal perspective, with Batman to her left, Nightwing to her right, and her finger straight ahead pushing into Robin’s chest, but she could also see a second perspective.

A perspective where she stared straight at herself.

She watched as her own blue eyes widened in disbelief. She watched as she stumbled back a few shocked steps, and as Robin did the same in front of her.

“Mon dieu,” Marinette cursed breathily, unable to move her eyes from Robin or acknowledge the frantic questions being posed to both of them from Batman and Nightwing. The teens just stared at one another. “Of course my soulmate would be a vigilante.”

“Shit,” Marinette had no idea which of the three heroes said that, but they all seemed to share the sentiment. Shit, indeed.

Nightwing shifted and said; “At least all the traffickers are knocked out.”

—*—*—*—*—*

#maribat #mlb x dc #ml x dc #dc x mlb #dc x miraculous #damimari #marinette x damian #platonic jasonette #damian x marinette #daminette #romantic daminette #soulmate au #ao3 stuff #ao3 fanfic #ao3 author #ao3 writer

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

CHLOE BOURGEOIS (MIRACULOUS LADYBUG) (CW: Child Abuse)

1.) Girl was done so dirty… She was starting to develop and could've had a redemption arc and then they made her even more one-dimensional than she was at the start, dumbed her down, and the creator on twitter claimed she was never abused and that she never cared about her childhood friend, only his status. And in a scene that thankfully got cut by editors, her father was going to disown her, adopt her sister instead (who is like a "nicer" replacement for her) and pass Chloe onto her abusive mother.

And then a male character gets introduced who is also at first an antagonist with a backstory that gets revealed later, also a childhood friend of the same character, but it's acknowledged that he got abused by his parent and he gets a redemption arc and a romantic subplot and a spot on the hero team (which Chloe was excluded from because she was irresponsible with her power and revealed her identity publicly… Except he also did that)

This show is about girl power btw.

2.) Chloe was done so fucking dirty. So basically, the creator of the show (Thomas Astruc) created the character in the first place as a stand-in for his childhood bully (red flag no.1) Because of this, any development that she as a character got from the other writers (and it was a lot) got retconned, just because he hated her. Other, objectively much more evil, (male) characters (the main villain!) were portrayed as more sympathetic than her, because god forbid a hurt, abused, emotionally immature, unloved little girl be portrayed as anything other than an unlovable, unforgiveable unchangeable demon. Also she's obsessed with clothes, shoes and handbags, because she's a mean girl, don't you see, so obviously the nice girls (who don't wear makeup while Chloe does) are better than her.

3.) Stuck up spoiled rich girl is treated as worse than the actual villains of the show. At some point we get a glimpse into her awful traumatizing home life and she starts to be redeemed, but the second something doesn't go her way she backslides and is suddenly even more evil and dumb. Also her father is incredibly neglectful but it's portrayed as her somehow abusing him into doing what she wants and he's so sad about his awful evil daughter. He gets a redemption arc but never actually becomes a better father. She's seen as unfixable.

MILLA MAXWELL (TALES OF XILLIA) (CW: Inappropriate Age Gaps)

1.) Milla was the first female MC in a Tales game. Xillia actually has dual protagonists; Milla is a female demigod on a mission to stop global warming, while the other one, Jude, is a male med student who gets dragged into her quest. The game says that you can play as Jude or Milla… except it’s extremely obvious you are meant to play Jude’s route, and play it first. Why? Because Milla dies at the end of act 2. The plot continues in Jude’s route. If you’re on Milla’s route, you do not get to see it. Instead, you wander around heaven for a while until you’re booted back into the world of the living as a deus ex machina. It is impossible to follow. Milla doesn’t get to reckon with her own death, while her friends all get to reckon with it offscreen. All of this character drama is conveyed to her through two skippable conversations. Playing this was completely infuriating, not to mention confusing. Even in her own route she’s written as the cool, mysterious hyper-competent woman.

I have a lot of issues with the plot of this game (it’s bad!) but that’s the bitterest.

2.) 1.) If you decide to play Milla’s route, and not Jude’s route, there is a part of the game where Milla has her spine broken by the villain, and you are forced to play as Jude anyway. Her paralysis is resolved with little fanfare (the important part of this life-altering injury was Jude fighting to defend her honour, of course).

2.) (CW: inappropriate age gaps) Milla is 20, but she’s teased as a ship with the other PC Jude, who is 15 (despite being a university student? I have no idea why they did this; most Tales protagonists are 17-21). You might say “hey wait, it would be extremely inappropriate for her to be interested in him, as he is a teenager and she is an adult!” Well, first of all, it never actually seems like she is interested in him, like at all. This plot is solely about the fantasy of having a hot older woman attracted to you, presented for the presumed male audience, presumed to be playing as Jude. If you’re playing as Milla it is a totally bizarre informed plot that comes out of nowhere. Also, I guess to get around any objections to the age gap, the game pulls a “born sexy yesterday” type dynamic with Milla, where she might be a 20-year-old demigod but really she knows nothing about human society and Jude the prodigy has to teach her. Everything about this is extremely terrible from every angle—I don’t think the writers even thought of “teenage boy shipped with adult woman” as much of a problem because of the genders. And from Milla’s end the relationship is totally incomprehensible. They didn’t think about why she would be interested in Jude, because what’s important is that Jude has women who are interested in him (she’s one of 3+).

In the sequel, there’s an alternate universe version of Milla whose love interest is the PC of that game, a guy the same age as her. I was so relieved! They actually “are both adults” and “have anything in common”! Unfortunately this hint of a relationship ends when the alternate Milla is sent to super hell (not only dead but her soul erased from existence) for contrived plot reasons. We are supposed to be okay with this, because she believes she deserves to die. Why? Because her actions in this universe apparently indirectly caused Jude’s death as a baby. Even though she barely knows Jude, he is, of course, the most important person in the universe, and so the only moral option is for her to die by suicide. ARGH.

Again, I can’t emphasize this enough: she was presented as the groundbreaking first female PC of a Tales game. And we were let down SO BAD.

3.) Since you’re looking for propaganda, Milla Maxwell. Very skimpy outfit. Their justification? She has a handmaid that designed and created her clothes. But the handmaid is a 16 year old boy who’s in love with her. And she has no idea about human society, so she’s just like. Ivar put in so much effort, I’ve been assured this is fashionable. She spends a 2 hour section of the game in another plane of existence, in a skin tight white body suit with cut outs at the boobs and inner thighs

In the sequel, her outfit is almost as bad, but this time she chose it and they don’t even discuss it 🙃

#polls #round 1 #week 1 #new #cw inappropriate age gaps #cw child abuse

[greentrickster]

(Same setting as my previous ML: Paris Special thread, but breaking it into individual posts from now on because that was getting Huge.)

Given that we have secret identities and a very mixed bag of who knows whose within the current group, quick breakdown on that:

Gabriel: everyone knows he's Hesperia - Alya found out on her own, Nino found out via Alya, Adrien and Marinette found out by overhearing him detransform, and Chloe was told out of necessity

Alya and Nino: everyone knows them, as they don't have secret identities

Marinette and Adrien: only they know each others' civilian identities

Chloe: everyone knows because Gabriel brought her to the hideout immediately after the first battle she was in because she needed a place to safely detransform after all that.

Also, none of the kids are thrilled to have Chloe there - Nino, Alya, and Marinette all know her as the school bully and Adrien knows her as the Bourgeois Brat, no one is happy to see her when she first arrives. And for her part Chloe can sense that hostility and sure as heck isn't going to show an inch more weakness than she absolutely has to!

This intent lasts right up until Gabriel teaches her how to free Pollen, Pollen's first words are, "Thank-you, my Queen," and Chloe breaks down crying. Because she's had A Night, on top of having A Month, on top of having A Life, and she's fourteen and she just Can't anymore, okay? Everything's a mess and she's accidentally put herself in a world of fear and danger by trying to get her parents' approval, but also she has this little creature who seems to like her, for no reason that Chloe can figure out, and she just called Chloe her queen and Chloe can't right now, she really can't, what is she supposed to do in this situation, not hug Pollen (as best she can, given the size difference) and cry her eyes out?! That's not how life works.

Which is not to say that Chloe's fixed or knows how to be a good friend or person at this point, but she is open to changing and becoming better. And that's at least partially because, for the first time in her life, she's had someone else whose safety depended on her and whose approval she not only wants but seems to actually get. She's had a whole month of that, which is enough time to get some new routines and patterns started, and as starting places go, she could have way worse.

It's going to be interesting when Chloe eventually starts opening up more about her home life and it becomes easier to see how it's shaped her into the person she is. Because Marinette's own parents aren't physically abusive in this universe or even as bad as the Bourgeois-s, but they're far more strict and cold towards her than in canon. Both she and Chloe are actually very affection-starved and lonely, and acting out as a result, just in different ways due to their different circumstances. Chloe is loud and obnoxious and demands the attention that isn't being given to her, whereas Marinette has retreated into herself in a more quiet, sullen bubble of self-protection (because if she doesn't care, then it won't hurt that they don't care the way she needs them to).

However, Chloe's way more desperate for affection and approval in this setting even than she is in canon, because there at least her father gives a facade of caring when he's really just placating. All of which means that once she gets a source of freely-given (within reason) approval and affection from Pollen and Hesperia, she latches onto it hard and is willing to do a lot to keep ahold of it. Meanwhile Marinette is salty as heck in contrast to her sweet canon counterpart, and she is absolutely down to talk crap about people she dislikes, and Adrien's right there with her, meaning they both do find elements of Chloe's brattiness pretty entertaining when not aimed at them. Which is to say, they're going to get along surprisingly well once they've all had a chance to do some growing and get to know each other better. It's going to take all of Hesperia and Alya's powers of being the voice of reason and good influences to stop those three from going full mean girls on their enemies, just saying.

(Note: Nino gives the impression that he would be a good influence, but he is secretly a calm, quiet agent of chaos and isn't even a little bit above egging the three of them on if he thinks they're being funny or the person they're targeting deserves it. He's a very firmly good-aligned agent of chaos and an excellent friend, and he's good at knowing when the situation requires a serious approach, but still. Chaos.)

In contrast to canon. Chloe and Adrien don't have a history in this world beyond vaguely seeing each other at social events for 'important people,' but Chloe's parents do approve of her making a connection with Adrien Agreste.

Audrey: Oh yes, the Agrestes are a much more feasible level for you to reach for, definitely go spend time with them, Coraline. (Said fully in the mindset that Gabriel and Emilie were just barely important enough to be in on the miraculous secret before Emilie died, and that Gabriel's only dropped in importance since his wife's death.)

Also it gets her out of the hotel and out from under her parents' feet and makes her someone else's problem for awhile. This makes things very exciting for Adrien in regards to having to make sure his relationships with Chloe as himself and as Claw Noir don't overlap.

#Tales of Miraculous Hesperia #chloe bourgeois #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #ml paris spoilers #ml paris special #miraculous ladybug #nino lahiffe #alya cesaire