#soft ml fandom critical

[m3nt4llyr4v3d]

It honestly kind of baffles me how some fans (mostly the narrative itself) used to say that Chloe was acting “exactly the same” in Seasons 4-5.

Like… wha?

You can say she’s been a bad person for about the whole series, I get that, but huh??

Chloe, in Seasons 1-3, wasn’t great (understatement). She was a bully, furthered insecurities of her classmates (Juleka and Mylene come to mind), Sabrina was her lapdog, she used her dad’s power to get anything she wanted, etc. She’s not good.

But.

Seasons 4-5 have her act like a straight up Saturday morning cartoon villain.

I’ll be in the camp to say that I was disappointed she wouldn’t get a redemption, but eventually came around to a proper damnation arc (or an arc like Zuko’s where he fell from grace before becoming good again). But the way the show treated her after the season 3 finale was so???

She didn’t have a graceful fall or a plummet down, she was teleported to the bottom and the show acts like she was there the entire time. One thing I remembered was in season 4 where she broke off her friendship with Adrien and a few episodes later brags about him being caged up in his house by his father?? Because she didn’t want the classmate’s fantasy of Marinette swooping Adrien’s off his feet to come true (pls tell me I’m remembering this right)??? Or when she got akumatized because she… didn’t wanna play soccer? She doesn’t even care about Sabrina in the slightest and is keeping her in her closet (where is her father!?) Then in season 5 she’s being a dictator??? And she caused Marinette trauma before all of this happened??? Like, cmon!

Even if you think she was bad the whole time, the show literally goes out of its way to show her being the spawn of Satan! The characters, even when they were being bullied, didn’t take her that seriously in the earlier seasons! They could even joke at her expense!

But honestly, this is how I viewed the show’s treatment of her character from season 4 onwards.

#ml writing salt #ml writing critical #soft ml fandom critical #honestly I don’t blame them for this #the show and the narrative did try to convince them #chloe bourgeois #chloe salt #Just a pinch

[chatonnoir]

hi i wanted to let you know i have been into miraculous literally since PV days but have strayed from the fandom since around season 2-3 when "salt" stuff started getting really popular. i was tired of seeing my favorites being mangled beyond recognition to fit some weird revenge fantasy, so i just stopped. recently though i missed the blorbos. its people like you who genuinely love the show and the characters that have made my more recent experiences incredibly lovely and fulfilling. thank u :]

Aw thank you honey :’) truly as someone who got a little in to ML in 2016 and enjoyed the cute fan content and saw how much fans praised it but didn't keep up with it, only to come back to it a couple of seasons later and see how insane the fandom had become over those few years .... it is truly exhausting and baffling to see what people do to the show now. Ig this is the danger of too much self-projection and a lack of critical thinking. Even people who claimed to be done with the show in season 4 continue to run blogs obsessed with """criticizing""" the show for the stupidest and most petty things possible on a daily basis, instead of just ... walking away from it if it doesn’t appeal to them anymore. It can really give you a headache.

But it all makes me think of that one quote from the end of Ratatouille (the movie which is indisputably Pixar Animation Studios' magnum opus): "the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so." ML as a show means so much to so many people of all age groups and backgrounds across the world. ML is far more meaningful and loved and contributes far more to the world than any random schmuck's salt post/fic/comic/video essay about it on the internet. ML is a sweet show! It's a cute and fun show! It's a kind show about emotions and relationships (platonic and romantic) and the power of love but isn’t designated as a Girls Show(TM), as shows with these themes often are, so boys are watching it too! And it shows us a male superhero being soft and sensitive and a hopeless romantic and in touch with his emotions without shame and a female superhero who loves him for it! Which is so important!

Similar kids cartoons when I was growing up, things like Danny Phantom, always had the romance as not an A or B or even a C plot but basically a Z plot. Literally on the back burner. An afterthought. Not something that was created out of passion and a belief that the characters would love each other and rather just thrown in because a main heterosexual relationship for the protagonist Has to be there, for some reason. Romantic moments would be limited to The Romance Episode(TM), wherein the "romantic development" is just like ... the characters accidentally held hands or kissed or something, and would often boil down to "this boy and girl are friends so OBVIOUSLY they have to like each other," without ever really showing me why they actually love each other. And don't get me started on allll the pieces of media with a forced heterosexual romance that is little more than "this male and female character have romantic and sexual tension because they're a male and female character." Or all the pieces of animated kids media where the main male character immediately likes the main female character because she's The Pretty One (As much as I love ATLA and k/ataang, even ATLA did this in the first episode). This all always felt so lacking to me as someone who was so enamored by love even as a kid.

Then comes along ML. Chat Noir didn't fall for Ladybug because he saw her and was taken with how she was Pretty. We know he thinks she's beautiful but he was completely unaffected by this fact when he first met her!!! It wasn't until he saw her stand up to evil that he fell for her! A male character falling for a female character not because Wow She Pretty but because of her bravery and cleverness and determination to stand up to evil and do good? That shouldn't be groundbreaking but it is!!! And it's beautiful!!! And Marinette didn't fall for Adrien because he was The Hot Guy or The Cool Hero or just because he's the male character and she's the female character so she just Has To. She fell for him when she saw his vulnerability and kindness!!! I would've LOVED to have grown up with a show like ML.

God the romance? I’ve never seen so much delicious Yearning in any other western kid’s cartoon. The door scene? Hoowee.... The way each of them so desperately wants the other to see both sides of them. The ending scene of Glaciator, when Ladybug is supposed to be “rejecting” Chat Noir and Chat Noir is supposed to be giving her a platonic cheek kiss, and yet it’s one of the sweetest and most utterly romantic scenes in the show. The sad undertone of Ladynoir, of being best friends but not being able to know a single thing about each other’s lives. The pure romance of the umbrella scene. The coup de foudre.

And it doesn't matter if the episode is romance-centric or not because ML has given us a male and female hero duo with so much genuine love and affection for each other that it's palpable in every episode from the very first season (especially if you’re watching in French lmao). Just... the sweet way they talk to each other, where you can hear their fondness for each other in their voices. The way they tease and roast each other. The petnames. The way they support and protect and take care of each other in and out of battles (specific moments like Ladybug looking after and reassuring Scaredy-cat Chat Noir in Reverser and Chat Noir putting Ladybug’s yo-yo over her mouth for her so she could breathe underwater in Truth make me so insane). The whole concept of “them against the world.” The way that even while loving Ladybug, Chat Noir has no problem telling her when he disagrees with her. The way they will have disagreements/conflicts that are completely in line with their established character traits and weaknesses, but aren’t able to stay mad at each other for more than a minute because of their softness for each other, and always come back from it because above all else they care about and love each other. It’s so unmatched. That’s love bitch

Speaking of how their conflicts are completely in line with their established character traits and weaknesses - the characters are incredibly deep and human and consistently written with motivations and personalities and flaws that all make so much sense! And they’ve developed so much since the start of the show! And the two protagonists mean so much to and resonate with so many people, kids and adults alike. Plenty of people have gone in to the depth of Adrien’s character and why he’s meaningful to people for paragraphs on end so I won’t repeat that, but I rarely see people talking about the beauty of Marinette’s character so I just have to point out like... A female superhero who is not a Strong Flawless Girlboss Who Needs No Man but one who is basically a female Peter Parker? A female superhero who is awkward around her crush and kind of Ridiculous and a hopeless romantic who makes stupid lovestruck faces at pictures of said crush and likes girly things and the color pink and wants to hold her boy’s hand and barely has her shit together and sometimes makes bad choices but is ultimately trying her best to balance her Great Power and Great Responsibility with her civilian life and relationships? Like, I’m not in to comics so sorry if this is inaccurate because I’m only pulling from Spider-Verse, but even Marvel’s attempt at making a girl Spider-Man through Spider-Gwen made her this cool badass with an undercut. I don’t want another Black Widow or Captain Marvel or whatever!!!! I love that ML basically gave us a female Spider-Man who is just as much of a complete disaster as Peter Parker was (talking specifically about Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield versions). I love the way both Peter and Marinette fuck up and make mistakes and bad choices and struggle to balance their two lives and accidentally end up hurting or pushing away the people who are close to them while they’re trying so hard to do what they think is right and protect the people they love with no real guidance. The loneliness of keeping their identities a secret through all that knowing that one slip up could put everyone they love in grave danger. Not to mention Marinette’s very blatant neurodivergent coding that is so clear in everything she does? Seeing her ADHD brain basically become her strength when she’s Ladybug through the bizarre connections she can make with random objects in a split second, just like how someone with ADHD would go on seemingly bizarre and random tangents mid-conversation because their brain latched on to something and quickly made a whole bunch of connections in a short amount of time while the other person was talking? Chef’s fucking kiss baby.

And I love the episodic adventures format!!!! Lots of people do!!!! The rewatch value of every episode is so good!!! Not everything has to be a 10-ep-per-season HBO drama where each 1 hour long episode is solely focused on moving the plot? People who ask for which episodes are important and which ones are “filler” that they can skip when starting ML are so weird. The fun of ML is watching all of Ladybug and Chat Noir’s fun adventures together in every episode? I love watching them just Being Ladybug and Chat Noir while they fight bad guys and have their banter. Episodes can just be Fun!!! Episodes can just exist to BE fun and silly or to explore a specific friendship or relationship rather than being focused on the main villain plot and that’s not a flaw!!!!

tl;dr: ML is a fun and cute show with very relatable, human characters and shows a beautiful, deep, powerful loving relationship between its male and female superhero leads that a lot of similar cartoons and even movies aimed at adults can’t pull off and a lot of people genuinely love this show because of it.

#answers #ml sugar #miraculous ladybug

[walks-the-ages]

Hi, I saw your post about Marinette's whitewashing and I totally agree the show whitewashed her and have no reason to do so. But I did want to point out that there are other ways to describe a person's physical features without referring them as exotic. I can tell you were trying to use it loosely, but still the usage of the word when referring to people can be very dehumanizing.

Thank you, if you have some suggestions for other words to use, feel free to send me another abon and I can edit them in to the post, I mainly used "exotic" because that's how the Miraculous Writers view it with their character designs: that only the girls that are antagonists have ethnic features even when they're fully white (Chloe), while Marienette, the main protagonist, has been completely white washed, taking her Chinese heritage completely out of her design, changing her hair from black to blue and her eyes from dark to unnatural bright blue, even though literally none of her relatives have blue eyes.

Kagami is allowed to have brown eyes .... But she's also an obstacle for the main endgame ship, and about half the fandom hates her guts purely for that reason.

Lila, also known as Chloe 2.0, is given darker skin than any of the non-Black characters, and again, the "main female antagonist" (when the writers aren't forgetting her entire existence,) looks more mixed race than our mixed race protagonist, purely because the ML Writers view non-white features as signs of villainy, when they're not going out of their way to use gross stereotypes as the basis of their character design for brownie points, such as Jess from the New York special, or Fei in the Shanghai special; Jess has received plenty of criticism on her offensive stereotyped design from plenty of Native ml fans, so I'll leave that up to them, and I think my post about Fei got eaten, but she's literally the stereotype of the "Magical Pickpocket Who Preys On Helpless Tourists" except we're supposed to like her "So It's Okay and Not Racist We Swear". But, at least her design showed that Miraculous Ladybug is completely capable of giving their Asian female characters actual black hair and natural eye colors... They just refuse to.

Ml could very well have a soft reboot with a season premiere just changing Marinette's hair from blue to black, and just literally not mention it -- her hair is canonically black, but they made it blue to "show" her asian heritage because they already erased her original concept design that actually showed she was only half white, instead of the show itself only remembering that little fact when it's relevant to an Adrien plot and telling us that.

The absolutely disgusting way they have Marienette behave in the Shanghai special should be evidence enough of how they really view non-white and mixed race people; they have Marinette completely out of character and manipulating her parents into spending their life savings on sending her to china on her own so she can follow Adrien, which is just completely racist and probably their attempt to cover their own asses because once the synopsis for the ML Shanghai special leaked they were already being bombarded with the correct criticism of how racist and gross this depiction of a mixed race character is, but now, because they have Marinette being the one to grossly manipulate her parents into it, people will see it as a bashable character flaw instead of a disgusting writing choice, because literally the entire Shanghai special exists just to make Adrien look good and Marinette look bad, and poor attempt to launch a spinoff with Fei.

I used "exotic" the way I did in that post not because I am trying to dehumanize people, but because that's exactly what the creators themselves view it as. I will gladly edit that point into the post itself, and if you have suggestions of better wording, feel free to send another non.

#undescribed images #long post #sorry bit of a rant now that i remembeed the shangai special exists and hoe disgusting it is #Miraculous Ladybug #ml #miraculous ladybug racism

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

To be fair, despite the atrocious writing of Chloe (being even worse than before) and Zoe (being a Mary-sue),...Zoe only really appeared in two episodes (three if you count Optigami). Believe me, I understand and agree that Zoe is a Mary-Sue, but honestly? There’s still part of me that has grown a soft spot for her and wants to give her a chance to develop as a character. However, in NO WAY that means that I don’t agree with Chloe’s character assignation.

I really was hoping for Chloe’s character development, redemption and more Queen Bee, but as much as we all dislike it, seems like that’s not happening at all anytime soon. I personally have a soft spot for both Zoe and Chloe and PRAY for their characters to get better, but I understand the hate for both. However, people seem to forget the mastermind behind them that’s making them like this: Thomas ASStruc 🙄

Thomas expects us to try to see things his way ALL THE TIME and expects constant praise for DOING HIS JOB, but then not only acts like this, but isn’t “blocking out negativity”, but “blocking out anyone who disagrees with his line of thinking instead of trying to understand where WE are coming from”. I don’t hate Thomas nor the show (I think it’s decent), but I don’t agree with some of his ways of thinking or some of the ways he handles the show in writing. He promotes forgiveness...only for a grown man and a psychopathic lair but not for the FOURTEEN spoiled rich girl with redeemable qualities and with the mom issues? He appears to care about Sabrina’s mistreatment by Chloe, but then does NOTHING about it or give her more screentime? He wants people to AUTOMATICALLY like Zoe, but doesn’t give her more purpose other than replacing Chloe???

People say “ReSPEct the creators or don’t watch the show”, but how can you really respect someone if they don’t do the same for you OR their characters? Also, I find it pretty unfair that anyone who complains about the show is looked down upon instead of people AT Least TRYING to understand. Hate and criticism are completely different things and people have the right to not be ok with the writing of ML, even if it’s something they like. You CAN criticize something you love you know.

It’s clear that like a lot of things in this show, Zoe is an interesting character conceptually. I like the idea of a more down to earth sibling to contrast with the more high-maintenance Chloe. I seriously want to like Zoe, but from what I’ve seen in “Sole Crusher” and “Queen Banana”, I really don’t see her as much of a character and more as a way for Astruc to rub in the fact that Chloe is most likely never getting a redemption arc and that he’s such a smart writer for wasting everyone’s time.

I don’t hate Astruc either. I have defended him from more unfair criticism at times like with the Brazil hero controversy and even called out people who send death threats to him or his family. At the end of the day, Astruc’s biggest crime is being kind of a jerk on Twitter.

It is entirely possible to separate the art from the artist. Everyone hates Butch Hartman for multiple reasons, but nobody really hates the shows he’s worked on like Danny Phantom or The Fairy OddParents. So many fandoms nowadays treat any form of criticism as an attack to their show. Go on the RWBY Subreddit and make a post criticizing Robyn Hill. I guarantee you’ll get some kind of backlash within minutes.

Yes, there are some takes on Miraculous Ladybug that I disagree with, but people have the right to express different opinions like that. I simply want to criticize problems I personally have with the show, and I don’t want to tell anyone that they are factually wrong for liking it. I simply want to explain why I feel the show does certain things wrong

#immaturity of thomas astruc #iota #thomas astruc #thomas astruc salt #zoe lee #vesperia #chloe bourgeois #queen bee #queen b

[perditaalottachocolate-blog]

The Mistletoe Ball - ML Winter Week Day 6

Let me wish you all a very happy holiday period and only the best things coming your way in year 2018!

It's been a little over a year since I've discovered Miraculous Ladybug, and a bit less since I've stumbled into this fandom. During this year I've met some fantastic people here and for that I am very grateful. @their-destinys-writer  @freedom-shamrock  @seasonofthegeek   @youcancallmecirce  @enberlight , Remasa, to name just a few, and thank you my wonderful followers - you really make my day, my week, my month!

Thank you all for being so amazing! Treat this story as my gift to you :)

The Mistletoe Ball

Summary: December weather doesn’t make things easier for Chat, as he wants to spend some time with his Lady. Marinette finds snowballs falling all around her, courtesy of a certain feline hero. It’s a busy time for Adrien because of an upcoming charity event and Ladybug has her own ideas of how to contribute. Who will Marinette meet at the ball, standing under the mistletoe? Four drabbles on four sides of the love square.

Read it on AO3 / fanfiction.net

Chat knew it had been a bad decision even before he slipped. The rooftops of Paris were covered in a thin coat of ice from the freezing rain. The rain itself was the reason they came up with the idea of the tag game in the first place. Otherwise they were risking some serious butt frostbite.

That's why the feline hero was chasing the wet red blur ahead of him in the rising darkness of December afternoon. His hectic schedule barely made it possible to get some well deserved time for personal enjoyment. So really, patrols were the only time he could spare and he'd be damned if he wasted it because of a bit of drizzle. Well, more of a sleet right now, but he chose to ignore it in favor of the pleasant flutter of his heart as he ran after Ladybug.

The city was slowly lighting up with bright decorations prepared for the festive period. He always loved those lights and was thrilled to get to watch them this way - leaping over the roofs and admiring the subtle pattern from high up, like no one else could.

He should have minded where he put his feet instead of watching the lights. His boot caught up in a loose tile and lost traction. The other leg wasn't ready to compensate and Chat suddenly found himself free-falling. He was already prepared for a rough impact when Ladybug slammed into him, her momentum sending them to the side, rather than down. They still ended up tumbling over the street like two wet bowling balls, but it was definitely less painful than a direct meeting with the ground after a horizontal flight.

Ladybug slowed down and gracefully finished the roll by leaping to her feet. Chat wasn't that lucky. There was an open truck loaded with evergreens and mistletoe down the road and of course Chat rolled into it and got buried under hollies to the tips of his cat ears. His landing was anything but soft. Some of those twigs had very pointy needles.

'Ow, ow, ow, ow-' he complained trying to break free from the green trap.

Somewhere above him he heard the melodious laughter of the love of his life.

'Hand,' she demanded and he blindly obeyed, raising his clawed arm up. He felt fingers closing over his wrist and in a blink he was pulled out and deposited on the ground.

Chat kept his eyes closed, partly out of embarrassment and partly for protection, as he began to shake himself from the needles and twigs to Ladybug's amused chuckle. It was quickly replaced with a gasp and then silence.

The feline hero decided to open his eyes only to find her sapphires boring into him mere inches from his face. Now it was his turn to gasp in surprise, but Ladybug took care of it by grabbing him by the bell and pressing a heated kiss to his lips.

To say Chat was dumbfounded was to say the half of it. His eyes opened wide, pupils dilated and he would have inhaled sharply if his mouth hadn't been occupied. When his brain finally restarted and supplied his limbs with instructions how to reciprocate it was already over. Ladybug giggled once again, a delicious coat of pink adorning her cheeks. With a subtle wave and a whispered 'See you next patrol' she was gone.

Chat stared for a moment after her, trying to determine if it was a dream or if he hurt his head in the fall after all. He raised a hand to his hair to scratch an annoying itch and he felt a sprig tangled there. Carefully he patted his head in a few other places and came up with more twigs.

Ow. Getting rid of this mess would take a while, he thought absentmindedly pulling more random pieces out of his hair. It turned out to be a sprig of mistletoe. He pulled another one, and another. His hands quickly filled with more sprigs and he ended up with a mistletoe bouquet.

Green eyes flared at the sight and his trademark grin found its way to his face. He could work with that.

*******

Marinette wrapped herself tighter in the shawls she threw over her winter coat. The sleet from the previous evening was replaced with snow sometime during the night and now Paris was covered in a white blanket, unusually thick this early in December, but no one complained. It would be nice to have a truly white Christmas for once.

The girl quickened her pace. The air was pleasantly crispy, but still cold. She was thankful the delivery didn't take much time and she was already on her way to the comfortable warmth of her house. That was when she heard the quiet creaking of feet on snow. The pavements were clear so the sound must have been coming from the park she was walking by. Plenty of people there. Marinette shrugged. It was probably some kid enjoying the fluffy whiteness. She resumed her stroll towards home but the creaking steps followed her. Something was up.

A snowball landed a few meters ahead of her, but she ignored it. Then a second one hit the pavement less than a few steps from her. A third one followed, hitting even closer. Either someone had an extremely bad aim or they were trying to catch her attention.

Marinette huffed and turned around to see what was going on and she instantly got a face full of snow.

'Oh, god, Princess!' she heard Chat's terrified squeal. 'I'm so so so so sorry! I didn't think you'd turn around!'

The girl wiped the fluffy cold slush from her eyes and cheeks. It was a loose snow ball, and it had fallen apart at the impact, so she wasn't really hurt, just a bit wet. Nevertheless she shot her attacker a murderous glare. 'What do you want, Chat?'

Seeing that she was mostly okay, Chat put on his easy grin and strutted nonchalantly her way with the swagger of a very tipsy sailor in a storm. It didn't even take Marinette's acquaintance with him to see he was up to no good.

'Nuffin,' he murmured nearing her. His teeth were now fully visible with the width of his grin.

'So you just felt like throwing snow at me?' She raised a brow in disbelief.

'Ah, I may have wanted to show you something,' he replied slyly, invading her personal space. At her questioning gaze he only pointed a clawed finger up, above their heads.

Marinette automatically followed it to where a bunch of mistletoe sprigs dangled from the end of Chat's own tail. Before she even understood what she was looking at, she felt his lips brushing her cheek.

The girl gasped and spluttered but all she was left with was Chat's snicker echoing in her ears as the feline hero was already leaping to the rooftop. Once safely above her, he turned around and shot her a brief salute. 'See ya, Princess!' he yelled and disappeared among the chimneys.

Marinette felt the blush creeping its way to her cheeks. Her scowl dissolved into a tender smile as soon as he turned around. She giggled happily, her hand tracing the slightly damp patch of smooched skin. When she reached to her pocket for her mittens, she found an envelope loosely tucked in there. The sneaky mangy tomcat!

The girl opened the envelope. Inside, she found a tiny sprig of mistletoe tied with pink ribbon and a heavy piece of handmade paper. Her jaw dropped immediately as she read the stylish, round letters of the invitation.

************

Adrien was having another one of those days when everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. At the moment he was stepping from one foot to the other and rubbing his hands together in vain attempt to warm himself up as he waited for his father to get to the set. The photoshoot for the Mistletoe Ball advertisements was scheduled to be over an hour ago but it didn't look like they'd be finished any time soon. The boy sighed. Chat was supposed to be meeting Ladybug for patrol around this time. It was clear that wouldn't happen today. He was hoping his partner wouldn't worry too much.

The idea was to get some tasteful picture of the two Agrestes, as the hosts of the first Mistletoe Ball, a charity event Adrien convinced his father to throw just before Christmas. The idea was supposed to be sound and simple. What Adrien forgot to take into consideration, was that nothing was simple in case of Gabriel Agreste. First, the man showed up late because of an unexpected crisis that needed his attention. Then he criticized the outfits prepared for them and demanded substantial changes. While they waited for the new clothes to be delivered he inspected the decorative arc made of hollies that was supposed to be their background, and discovered the lack of their theme plant. Finding no mistletoe he barked another order and Nathalie rushed to organize some fresh sprigs. And finally when everything was ready, he got attacked by a pigeon, the poor creature possibly thinking he was some sort of huge candy cane, and the man's hair got severely ruffled. A hairdresser had to be called as Gabriel didn't trust the stylist present on the set enough to let him touch his precious hair.

Adrien shivered under the heavy blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He was wearing a smart suit underneath, coupled with a white and green striped tie, to match his father's favorite white and red one. By no means a winter outfit. Left to himself he wandered over to the decorative arc where he could be alone for a while. He nearly missed the characteristic swoosh of a yoyo and light steps approaching him from behind the hollies.

The boy turned around just in time to see Ladybug marching up to him with a mischievous smirk. Her eyes gleamed and her lips sparkled, as red as the berries on the branches of the hollies.

'Hey, handsome,' she practically purred, halting to a stop in front of him and effectively rendering him speechless. 'I'm glad to be at the right place at the right time,' she chuckled, casting a quick glance to the top of the arc where an impressive bunch of mistletoe sprigs spinned happily in the wind. Then without further ado she grabbed his face and pressed her red lips to his cheek. The heroine quickly pulled out and shot him a saucy wink while the crew caught onto her presence and started cheering and hooting at the sight of the two of them.

Ladybug silently pointed to the mistletoe as if explaining her prank, and then with a self satisfied smirk she was gone, leaving the stunned blond model behind. Adrien felt the blush blooming on his cheeks and slowly crawling up to his ears. He wasn't sure if the thick layer of foundation would be enough to conceal it.

Gabriel chose that moment to appear on the set again and to Adrien's utmost horror got instantly not only briefed with the heroine's occurrence, but also presented with visual evidence, as the photographer turned out to be quick with his cell phone. A mysterious smile danced across the designer's lips as he watched the viciously red imprint of Ladybug's lips on Adrien's cheek bone. And if Adrien thought he couldn't be more embarrassed, he clearly underestimated his father once again, as Gabriel insisted on leaving the imprint for the session as a clear addition to their theme plant.

**********

Marinette arrived at the Mistletoe Ball fashionably late. Of course she never intended it this way. Faithful to her style she just fell asleep in the afternoon after pulling a few all-nighters to get the dress ready. Now she was standing at the foyer, waiting for the official part to be over. From behind the heavy doors to the ballroom she could hear strong voices of Gabriel and Adrien, making their welcome speech and answering journalists' questions. Nothing really interesting in that part, she just needed it to be over so that she could slip inside.

The girl inspected her reflection in a large gold-framed mirror. The evening dress turned out really nicely - the deep magenta an unorthodox choice of color for a Christmas themed ball, but it complemented her hair and skin tone perfectly. A tight bodice nicely hugged her figure, leading down to where the skirt flared from her waist. For a festive sparkle Marinette added some Swarovski crystals along the boat neckline and in an asymmetric triangle inset on the skirt, giving the garment a princessy vibe, without making it overwhelming.

The speeches dragged on, so the girl moved to look at the posters for the gala, displayed prominently on the stands down the corridor. A small smile appeared on her face as she admired her alter ego's lipwork on Adrien's cheek, captured for posterity in the pictures from the eventful photoshoot. She had to hand it to the boy; he was a professional. She could spot the embarrassment in his eyes only because she knew it was there. For everyone else he looked every bit the confident host of the Mistletoe Ball he should be. Next to him, Gabriel Agreste was wearing a shameless smirk and not even trying to hide his amusement. The result was one of the funniest photos of the Agrestes, and it did a marvelous job in advertising the event. It was already obvious that Adrien's first initiative resulted in great success and there were rumors spreading of turning it into an annual thing.

Marinette hadn't noticed when the monotonous oration turned into delicate music and the susurrations of the party getting started. She realized it just as strong hands snaked their way around her waist and closed over her tummy. She felt the characteristic cool of the silver ring on her skin, even through the layers of her dress. Light breath warmed her earlobe.

'You look gorgeous in this dress, my Lady,' Marinette heard a whisper by her ear and felt Adrien nuzzling the hair at the base of her neck, where a few strands slipped from the high bun. She hummed happily and turned around only to snort when she saw an impressive sprig of mistletoe tucked behind his ear, decorated with a green bow.

'What?' he asked feigning confusion.

Marinette gave the sprig a playful tug. 'I guess now I have to kiss you, Minou,' she sighed in mock complain.

'Not if I kiss you first,' Adrien murmured closing the distance between them and claiming her lips. The kiss was lazy and gentle, with just a hint of spice that sent a pleasant shiver down her spine to where his hands rested at the small of her back. Marinette could hear the purr starting deep in his throat and she gave in to the temptation to set it free. Just as she ran her tongue over the seam of his lips as a signal to deepen the kiss, she heard someone clearing their throat.

The pair slowly broke from the kiss and turned to the source of the sound.

Gabriel Agreste was standing at the now closed door to the ballroom, a tall blonde woman wrapped in a dazzling blue gown at his side. Her green eyes warmed as she nodded to Marinette.

The man shook his head in disbelief, composing his features into a mild frown. 'Adrien, do you really need a social cue to kiss your own girlfriend?' he asked, eyeing the mistletoe behind his son's ear. He kept his voice stern, although there was a mirthful lilt to it.

Adrien shrugged and winked at the girl. 'No, not really. Just, you know, a little inside joke.'

'Then you better take it off, dear,' Madame Agreste smiled wickedly, 'I think I saw Chloe heading this way, and you know how she is when she sees mistletoe.'

As Adrien tried to untagle the sprig from his hair, Marinette wondered if the look of pure horror and disgust in his eyes matched her own. She felt her facial muscles stiffened at the reminder of the last time Queen Bee assaulted her under the mistletoe. The girl made a mental note to avoid their friend and mistletoe traps. Speaking of traps…

'Funny you should say that, Madame Agreste,' Marinette giggled and pointed over the woman's head.

Gabriel and Emilie raised their eyes to the ceiling and they chuckled when they saw a generous bunch of mistletoe hanging there, covered in golden ribbons. They both pursed their lips to keep the outburst of laughter inside, but then the man's eyes darkened and a delicate pink brushed his wife's cheeks. Gabriel lifted his hand to Emilie's face and tenderly stroked his thumb over the blush. She took a step closer and splayed her palms on his chest. His icy blue eyes softened when they locked onto the warm green fringed with long dark lashes. They gazed at each other for a moment and then gave in to the mistletoe call.

Whoops, I guess I forgot to mention this is post-reveal and established relationship? My bad :D

If you are one of those people who need to know what is Mrs. Agreste doing there, and how come they are all on such good terms, I suggest you read a possible scenario that could lead to this. It's a story by my miraculous friend Remasa: "No One Mourns a Villain" posted on fanfiction.net .

Once again, Merry Christmas!

#ml winter week #day 6: mistletoe #ladynoir #marichat #ladrien #adrinette #mistletoe #kissing #mistletoe ball #miraculous christmas #gabriel agreste #mrs. agreste #emilie agreste #gabrielie

[m3nt4llyr4v3d]

Something that bugs me deeply about the argument of “Adrien can’t know cause he’d get all sad!” are specifically the people who say that Adrien can never know.

The people saying “Oh well he can’t know now, it’ll payoff in season 6!” I can at least understand where they’re coming from, even if I personally disagree

But never??

Some people think he should never know??

You’re asking the writers to literally never resolve this?? They deliberately make one of the main characters related to the main villain, have his entire family drama be the entire reason this story exists in the first place, and you want them to turn around and say it straight up doesn’t matter? Cause that’s what will happen if no one tells him, that part of the story is complete moot now. Might as well not even make Adrien related to any of the villains at that point

And you’re wanting the rest of the characters to be okay with this? You’re fine with Adrien’s family, his girlfriend, and his friend to lie to him for the rest of his life? You don’t think that’s going to make all of them look awful for holding something so vital and personal to him to themselves for years??

And if he ever finds out from an outside source, he’s going to be upset anyways! Especially if he finds out they kept it from him! The longer they don’t tell him (which in this case would be forever), the more it’s going to hurt him when he eventually does find out. This isn’t preventing him from being hurt, this is only delaying the inevitable and arguably making it worse.

Whether or not I feel like the characters unanimously agreeing to keep it from him and let him believe Gabe is a hero (let’s be real Felix would throw up at the thought) is stupid or not is a different post. But the fact that some of the fans are genuinely hoping that one of the main points of drama for the series goes nowhere???? Baffling

#ml salt #ml fandom salt #soft ml fandom critical #ml adrien #adrien deserves better #dont know how well that fits but im putting it there anyway