A simple soul who likes writing fanfiction

Indeed I do! It’s BelleAmant ! 

Guardian Angel

All her life, Marinette needed a guardian angel. Someone to protect her. Someone to save her. Someone to let her have a normal life, to be safe from bullies and hatred.

But no matter how much she pleaded, how much she begged and prayed and wished upon every star she could see… no one came. No one helped her.

So she guarded herself. She guarded herself from Chloé, from the blonde’s torment and taunts. She guarded herself from prying eyes. She guarded herself, and caved in.

She was alone. Sure, she had friends, but they did nothing. They couldn’t, no one could. Chloé was unstoppable, Chloé was a force to be reckoned with.

Chloé was terrifying, and with her father’s power, her father’s influence, no one could take her down. And so Marinette was alone, with no help, no guardian angel, just her own thoughts.

But then everything changes, and Marinette does, too.

It’s the first day of school. It’s the first day of school, and Marinette is late. That’s nothing new, and neither is the anxiety that rushes through the bluenette as she races to get ready for the day. Her maman promises that all will be well, her papa sends her off with macarons to win the class over, and she’s on her way.

She sprints across the street. An old man watches her race by with amusement, then makes his way across slowly. There’s no car to hit him, no decision to be made in that moment.

Marinette darts into her classroom. Ms Bustier is her teacher once again, and Marinette appreciates the fact. Ms Bustier is kind, she is gentle.

But she is also a pushover, just like Marinette.

Marinette sits in her usual spot. She sets down her box of macarons.

‘Everything will be fine,’ Marinette tells herself.

She is lying, and Chloé proves her wrong.

“Dupain-Cheng,” the girl growls out. “Move out of my seat.”

“But it’s my seat,” she protests, but it’s weak, scared, just like her.

“New year, new seats,” Chloé says, then smirks. “Why don’t you sit up front, like the teacher’s pet you are? Hmm?”

In another time, Marinette would’ve been defended by a certain ombre-haired new girl. But that girl is still outside, currently helping a certain old man get up.

So Marinette just stutters and says, “But I, I-”

“What? Don’t understand basic words? Then maybe you shouldn’t even be in this class!” Chloé says, then laughs. It’s high pitched and cruel, and Marinette feels her stomach turn. “Maybe you should be back with the five year olds in primary school.” She laughs again, and Sabrina joins her. 

Marinette feels her face heat up, feels her eyes water, feels herself getting up.

She runs, and she can’t ignore the howling laughter that Chloé lets out, can’t ignore the deafening silence as nobody defends her, nobody goes to check up on her.

She runs past an ombre-haired girl who races to get to class, darts by a blond boy who helps up an old man who seems to keep falling today. She runs across the street, and keeps running, all the way to the park.

She trips on something. She collapses in the dirt.

She cries.

She cries for a long time, letting all of her frustration, all of her grief and anger out. And then she forces it all back in, knowing that she’ll be in trouble for missing too much class. As it stands, she’s likely missed the first twenty minutes.

She moves to get up, but a glint in the dirt makes her pause.

She spots a purple, butterfly themed brooch that seems to call to her. She picks it up.

A flash of light nearly blinds her, and when it fades, a large purple butterfly looks right back at her with wide eyes.

She screams. She screams, and throws the brooch on the ground. The butterfly disappears.

Huh?

Marinette picks up the brooch again, and the butterfly comes back.

“Please don’t scream!” The butterfly pleads, and Marinette gapes.

“You...you talk.”

“I do, yes.” The butterfly nods. 

“What are you?” Marinette asks softly, because she knows this can’t be a normal butterfly. It’s too large, and it has a face! A cute one, but a face nonetheless!

“I am Nooroo, a Kwami. Specifically the Kwami of Transmission,” Nooroo states calmly. “And you are?”

“Marinette,” she replies, then shakes her head. “What...what is a Kwami? And why are you only here when I hold this brooch?”

“Ah. A Kwami is well….a magical entity, I suppose. We are the physical embodiment of our titles, I suppose. And I am connected to my brooch through magic, so that you humans may see me.”

“So without the brooch, no one could see you?”

“Correct, Marinette!” Nooroo beams at her. “But now I can help you! With my brooch, you can transform into a superhero.”

“A superhero?” Not her, surely. She’s just Marinette, a normal girl with a normal life. She’s nothing special, nothing important.

Nooroo thinks otherwise. “Yes! Just say ‘Nooroo, wings rise’ and you will be transformed. With me, you can be stronger and faster than any normal human. You will have more agility, more flexibility, you’ll be able to jump higher than any of these buildings around you!”

She would? But why would she need that, why would she be a hero?

“And you could grant others powers, too. You can make Champions, and let their dreams come true!”

She could? “How would I do that?”

Nooroo flutters, pleased to see Marinette’s interest. “Butterflies will sense my Miraculous, and will want to approach you. You can give them power through your cane- you get that when you transform- and they’ll work to transmit the power to anyone you choose. You can also use your hands to transmit power to them, if you want!”

“How do I know who to choose, who to help?”

“You’ll feel their energy, and you’ll know how everyone is feeling. Here, put on my brooch.” Marinette does. “Now listen to the world around you, to the people nearby. What do you feel?”

She listens to the world, lets her heart soar.

She feels pain. A child cries in a nearby house, it hurts. She wants to help them, to relieve their pain.

She feels joy. A girl found out that her best friend is in the same class as her, and is ecstatic. She wants to nurture that feeling, let it grow stronger.

She feels anger. A boy is being ridiculed for his crush...wait.

“Ivan?” She whispers to herself, and feels herself walking back to her school. With every step, his frustration growing stronger and stronger. She can almost see it, see the way Kim laughs, the way he makes jokes about how Ivan will never be courageous enough, will never be a man and tell Mylène how he feels.

“You can help him,” Nooroo whispers in her ear, now tucked behind one of her pigtails. “You can give him courage, you can make him a Champion.”

She can. She can be his helper, his savior-

She can be the Guardian Angel that she never had.

Marinette slips away, hiding from sight.

“Nooroo, wings rise,” she whispers, and a flash of light covers her.

When it falls, she’s left looking like an angel. Gone is her usual outfit, her pinks and grays, now she wears light purple (nearly a light mauve, the fashionista in her claims) and white. She looks almost ethereal, donning a light purple dress that falls to her feet, hiding white leggings and light purple boots underneath. White gloves climb up her arms, hiding away any skin that could show from underneath the long sleeves of her dress. Behind her, a white cape falls, split up the center to resemble wings. With a light purple mask to cover her face, and her blue hair coming loose from her pigtails, Marinette feels like so much more than a normal girl.

She takes her cane and turns it over in her hands. It’s the same purpls as her outfit, but has a translucent gem on top made from a darker, richer purple, more like a lavender tone. She taps it once, twice.

She hears wings fluttering. A little white butterfly is drawn to her.

“My little angel,” she coos, and it comes as if beckoned. It lands on her waiting hand, and she smiles.

Setting the cane down, she rests her newly free hand over the little creature. “My angel,” she whispers, “become a source of power for Ivan, a sense of courage so that he may rise up and reach his heart’s desire.” She feels something change, and opens her hands. The butterfly sparkles, covered in purple and white. It flutters away, slipping into the classroom.

She watches through its eyes as it flies to Ivan, who is now outside the principal’s office. It lands on a note that he holds, and Ivan freezes.

“Stoneheart,” she says sweetly. “You are in love, but you are frozen with fear. I am here to give you power, to let you show your beloved how much she means to you. When you have won her over, I will take back your power. Do you understand?”

Ivan’s anger lessens as he smiles. “I accept...what’s your name?”

“Guardian Angel, just call me your Guardian Angel,” she states, and Ivan nods.

“I accept, Guardian Angel.” And power washes over him. And everything changes.

-----

Part Fifteen (An Explanation and Summary)

So, as I recently posted, I don’t plan to continue this story any longer. As much as I loved writing it, I also...fell out of love, I suppose. I just don’t have the time, passion, or motivation to try forcing myself to write it anymore, and it’s unfair to you guys to have to accept a sloppy second, something thrown onto a document for the sake of a word count and an update. I want to write stuff I’m proud of, and that just wasn’t happening with this story.

That said, one reader asked for a summary, so that they could get some closure. Luckily, I have some notes that I took as I planned the story and started writing it, and I thought you’d like to see some of them. This includes three things: 1. The schedules for most of the main characters 2. The heroes I was planning on bringing in and 3. All of the ideas I had for “Who on Earth will Marinette end up with?” (This was a doozy.) Along with this, I want to talk about other pairings I had in mind. 

With that all said, let’s hop right in!

The Schedules:

I really planned out their schedules, just so I could start figuring out who the Quantic Kids would be. I had a general idea in mind: Each student at Collège des Arts would have to take their four core classes (History, Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science), a language, and then their last period would be a two hour block that focused on their artistic talent. I set it up this way so that I could integrate the Quantic Kids into Marinette’s life. (Along with this, I made it so the whole school had lunch after fourth hour, so that the morning had four hours of classes, and the afternoon had three. I note this, because some schools separate lunches based on fourth hour, so that there is an A, B, and C lunch. I...did not feel like dealing with that, and I wasn’t sure how French schools do it but I doubt it’s like that.) 

Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s schedule: 

1. History (right next to Félix, later on stuck between him and Adrien) The original plan never had Adrien’s arrival, it was supposed to be a moment of comic relief where Marinette and Félix were just kind of half awake and barely conscious at any given time during first hour. This is why their history teacher, Mr. Marcel, was either wide awake or dead asleep. I thought it’d be a cute moment to show off the dynamics of their exhaustion or energy, depending on the day. I didn’t show this off nearly as much as planned, however, because I shifted my focus soon after.

2. Language Arts (with Allegra). A nice, calmer class seemed perfect for Marinette, who’d probably still be waking up. Allegra is calm and classy, so it only made sense to pair the two up for the second hour.

3. Science (Claude’s here!) Loud and exciting, just like their class seems to be, it was a perfect pairing. 

4. Math (with Allegra and Claude) I wanted to show off Allegra and Claude’s...chaotic dynamic. 

5. English (with Allan) Marinette wants to be a fashion designer, and she had to take a language, so she thought “hey, fashion is pretty big in America, let’s learn English”. (It was also the only class I could think of that she and Allan would take...more on that later.)

6. Fashion Design. Pretty self-explanatory.

Allegra: 

1. German. Allegra likes opera music, and wanted to mimic the sound of some German singers accurately. 

2. Language Arts (with Marinette, as mentioned above)

3. Science (a different teacher than Marinette and Claude, though. What a pity) (Also I apparently called it ‘physics’ in my notes and I just noticed.) 

4. Math (With Marinette and Claude)

5. History

6. Choir (She’s a singer.)

Claude Mercury:

1. English (It was for the theatre, but also for Shakespeare, but more accurately….for Shakespeare’s more inappropriate humor.) (and memes)

2. History

3. Science (with Marinette) (Lots of explosions and fires were planned)

4. Math (With Allegra and Marinette) 

5. Language Arts

6. Drama. He was just a simple thespian lad who wanted to have fun and make friends, what can I say?

Allan:

1. Math

2. Science

3. Language Arts

4. History

5. English (with Marinette) He likes hip hop and rap, and wanted to learn English rap, too. He, like Claude, also loves their memes, and I planned to have a few moments where he explained some to Marinette. 

6. Dance. Mainly hip hop, although the boy can break dance a little bit

Félix Agreste: 

1. History (with Marinette) He’s tired in the morning, but good at reciting dates. Again, had a lot more planned for this.

2. Math

3. Spanish. (“Come on, guys, it’s logical. It’s one of the most spoken languages in the world.” -Félix, probably.) I also planned for Félix to already know English. I wanted a cute chapter where he tutored Marinette, only for Claude to start dramatically monologuing because ‘why do you help her but never help me? The betrayal, Fe, the betrayal!’ 

4. Language Arts

5. Science

6. Music (he’s a piano boy in my heart) (maybe also good at violin) (a classy young man) 

Adrien Agreste:

1. History (with Marinette)

2. Language Arts (with Marinette)

3. Science (with Marinette)

4. Math (with Marinette)

5. Chinese (with Marin- oh, wait, we’re done with that!) This class, along with his next, is another reason Adrien relaxed so quickly at the school. By taking Chinese at school, he was able to convince his father to stop the at-home lessons, clearing up some of his schedule.

6. Music. Same as above, playing piano at school meant he didn’t have to do it at home so much.

The Heroes:

“But salthaven, you already introduced the heroes! Envision and Viperion, remember?” Haha, as if those were the only guys I had planned?

Yeah, I had more. Four more.

I wanted the Quantic Kids to be heroes. I had three of them for sure chosen, names and Miraculi assigned to them. (Allegra was my only problem child, but I’ll explain that below.)

The first was supposed to be Allegra. I was going to make her the Fox, with the name Mélodie. I’m pretty sure that was her original hero name, back during the PV stage of this show, and I wanted to pay an homage to her inspiration. But then Félix got it, because I didn’t end up giving him the Cat (yeah, I was really salty when I started this, and I was planning to go the same route that I do in my ao3 fic, Of Patience and Pettiness, and take away the Cat from Adrien to give to Félix.), as Adrien learned from his mistakes. So Allegra waits, and Envision springs to life with Viperion.

Next would be Allan. Miraculous: Bee. Name: Mellifury, based on Mellifura (aka the Africanized Killer Bee) + Fury. He was supposed to be an unexpected storm. A dancer, he uses rhythm in a way that throws off opponents. Uses the spinning top like it's another limb, throws the game way off when first introduced. 

Then we’d have Allegra. After a while, I decided that the Rabbit would be best suited for her. Messing with timelines is a tricky business, but Allegra has a knack for details and organization that would leave her cruising through her tasks with some practice. While it’s nothing musical, it would be fun to see. Name: Cottontail. 

Finally, after an interesting fight that would cause Nathalie to lose the Peacock...Claude would step in. Bold and flashy, the thespian knows how to strut his stuff. But again, he’s a thespian, and theatre kids know when it’s time to hide in the shadows and stay unseen and unheard. With dark blues that can hide in the name and stand out in the daylight, Claude would become Le Paon, turning the tide and becoming a major help for the team. [At first, he dealt with some sickness, but after a talk with Ladybug, who in turn talked to Fu, the Miraculous was fixed and Le Paon could fight as easily as the rest.] He’d use sentimentals wisely, although he’d have a bad habit of monologuing as he created them. 

The Ships:

The moment we’ve all been waiting for. Our first question: Who the hell was Marinette going to end up with? Well, that answer changed throughout the story.

The first choice: Félix. I wanted Marinette to move on from Agreste...and fall in love with Agreste. It humored me, and I was in love with a bunch of Felinette one shots at the time. (And, again, very salty towards Adrien at the moment.) 

But then I redeemed Adrien. No problem, I thought. Marinette could choose between one of the boys...and the other would date Luka! (I mean, did you see the Instagram picture of Luka and Adrien. Luka with either Agreste would be cute, just imagine the musical moments they could have together)

But then I Akumatized Juleka, and Luka was right there...and I made Marinette fall for all three guys. So I decided “Hey, she can just date all three!” And so that’s the final choice, because I’m apparently a sucker for poly ships. 

But I mentioned other ships, didn’t I? So let’s talk about those!

First: Luka with an OC. Yep, I was going to bring in a new girl. It was actually going to be one of my friends, due to a conversation we had that went as follows:

S.H. (Salthaven): So I’m thinking that I’m going to pair up Félix and Marinette. Thoughts?

F. (Friend): Okay, but what about Luka?

S.H.:  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

F.: Well then pair me up with him!

So I did. Or I was going to...but then poly ship idea happened. 

As mentioned above, I also considered Luka with either of the Agreste boys. Whoever Marinette didn’t date. Again, couldn’t happen because I went for that sweet poly route. 

Finally: Claude and Allegra. What can I say, they act like an old married couple in my mind!

And that’s everything! Once all the heroes were chosen, and romantic confessions set aside, the Miraculous Team was going to gear up and take down Hawkmoth once and for all. Fun times, the end, we all get a happy ending.

Hey loves! So for a while now, I’ve been slowly updating my one story, Make a Change, but it’s probably been obvious that my updates were taking longer and longer to arrive...I’m going to be honest, I kind of lost track of where I wanted the story to go...and then I lost motivation for it, too.

I love writing, don’t get me wrong! And I’m definitely sticking around to post one shots and little ideas that pop into my head in the middle of the night!! But I can’t force the words onto my screen, because I can’t give you guys (and girls) a project that I didn’t put my heart into. When people read my works, I want them to see how much I love what I’ve created. I just...can’t throw whatever onto a page and call it good. That feels like I’m cheating you guys out of something good.

So, as of right now, Make a Change isn’t going to continue. Maybe I’ll get a really good idea months from now, or even tomorrow at 3 in the morning! Who knows? 

I don’t. I don’t know when I’ll be interested in writing this story, and so I won’t. I want to give you guys works that I want to write, that I have passion for. So those will keep coming, but if you were waiting for the next chapter of M.a.C...my sincerest apologies, because I’m letting you down.

That said, if anyone gets any ideas, or wants to try branching off of what I’ve created? That’s perfectly fine by me! I loved it in the beginning, and I want the story to continue, and if that means handing it over to another...

Well, I suppose someone else can ‘make a change’, too? ;)

Part Fourteen

It’s a normal day for Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Get up, go to school, inevitably have to sneak off to transform and take down an Akuma-

Yeah, it’s one of those days. Fun.

Ladybug wishes she could catch the damn villain by now, because really, she can’t keep missing so much school.

“At least it was at school,” Ladybug mutters to herself as she races down the quickly emptying hallway. “So I won’t be marked absent for saving their asses.” She leaps over a boy when he freezes before her, eyes searching for the Akuma.

Her gaze locks onto bright green, and she smirks. Gotcha.

He, too, spots her, and his bright purple eyes light up. “Ladybug,” his voice comes out, sharp and bitter. He slinks forward, drips of green falling off of him.

Faintly, a buzzing sound reaches Ladybug’s ears. Odd.

“No witty explanation?” Chat Noir asks, the only voice in the now deserted hall. “I at least expected an ‘I’ll steal your Miraculous’ comment, man.” He does his best to sound disappointed, but his face is perfectly clear of emotion. 

“I suppose I failed that, too,” the Akuma bites out. Droplets of green shoot out of his mouth, hitting the ground before him. The buzzing comes back, louder.

“Failed a test? I’m sure there’s some great tutors here,” Ladybug consoles, but the Akuma just growls, fists clenching.

“Oh, tests are fine. Perfect.” He chuckles. “No, if you want to know so badly, it was a science lab.”

Ladybug doesn’t respond, eyes trained on the dripping neon boy. Chat Noir just tilts his head.

“But aren’t you able to redeem points by pointing out what went wrong in the experiment?” Chat Noir asks. “I know a few schools like to do that.”

He laughs, neon drops flying further and buzzing increasing. “Oh, they gave us a chance to redeem points, alright. And you know what? I explained every little thing that might have been wrong. You know what my dear old professor said, though?”

Even Chat Noir doesn’t respond now.

“He said it was a human error. That I was a human error.” Another laugh. “I’ll show him what Human Erreur looks like. I’ll show him!” And then he lifts his hand, unclenching it. “And if you want to get in my way, I’ll just have to delete some data!” Green sprays out of his hand, and Ladybug and Chat Noir dive out of the way.

The buzzing increases tenfold, and Ladybug glances back to the source.

The liquid eats away at the ground, leaving behind a hole.

“Acid,” Ladybug realizes, and looks to Chat Noir. “Chat, that’s acid. Don’t let him hit you!”

“Got it, my Lady!” Chat shouts, dodging another blast, and wow Ladybug has never felt so warm from that nickname before-

Not the time.

Human Erreur looks back to Ladybug, eyes narrowed and shaking with rage. “You! You should understand why I’m doing this!”

“I should?” Ladybug asks, leaping on top of some lockers to avoid his acidic spray.

“You live to remove problems! Every week, you’re out defeating Akumas- deleting incorrect data! You should be on my side.”

“But you’re an Akuma, so doesn’t that mean she should defeat you?” Chat questions, then yelps as Human Erreur shoots more acid his way.

The dripping boy looks close to tears as he looks at Ladybug once more. “Please. Together, we can get rid of our problems.”

“I don’t-”

“Think about it!” He cuts her off, holding one arm out to face her, the other in Chat’s direction, keeping them both still. “If I’m Akumatized, no one else can be! I’ll- I’ll call a truce! I won’t attack you, you won’t attack me! We both get what we want, and, and-” A purple mask outlines his face, and he freezes. “You never said I couldn’t!” He starts to shout. “You said I-” His body shakes, and he falls to the ground. “You said-” more shaking, and the tears fall, burning the ground around him. “You said-” the poor boy starts to throw up, curling in on himself as acid flies from his mouth. 

Ladybug feels her breath catch as he sobs. She jumps down from the lockers, heading over to him. ‘He’s hurting,’ she thinks. ‘He’s fighting Hawkmoth, and the damn man is hurting him.’

She’s going to kill Hawkmoth when she finally sees him. 

Human Erreur jolts back as Ladybug approaches. “He said-” Human Erreur mutters, and then he jolts forwards, launching himself at Ladybug and grabbing at her ears.

Ladybug screams the second his hands touch her skin. No, that’s not it.

She shrieks, a bloodcurdling cry that rips from her throat unprompted the very moment his acidic hands make contact. All she can feel is the burning, the way her skin buzzes, no, sizzles under the heat and-

Cool air reaches her quickly, and Human Erreur flies back, knocking into a row of lockers. Before her stands Chat Noir, baton at the ready.

“Don’t touch her,” he growls, and then he pounces on Human Erreur, knocking him back further and further, over and over as he beats the boy down until the Akuma falls back, falls down, and Chat Noir grabs the first thing he sees- a small pin- and crushes it, releasing the Akuma.

“Ladybug!” Chat Noir cries, and that snaps Ladybug back to reality. In seconds, she captures the Akuma and purifies it, then casts her cure. She feels the magic’s effect, how it cools her skin and takes away all of the pain. She sees how it returns the school to normal, leaving behind a deserted hallway and sobbing boy.

Her heart breaks at how scared he looks, at the worried, open stare Chat gives her, at how she tenses up ever so slightly before heading over to the boy, to her peer, to check on him.

“Are you okay?” She asks. 

“Y-yeah,” he responds.

“I-” her earrings beep, even though she didn’t use Lucky Charm. Ladybug doesn’t question it, though. “I have to go. Chat?”

His ring beeps, too, and he smiles sadly. “I’ll see you. Patrol tonight?”

“Yeah.” Patrol sounds good.

The two part, leaving behind the startled boy. Alone, Marinette looks to Tikki.

“I’m sorry,” Tikki says. “I took some of the pain, but I had to detransform.” She’s shaking, and Marinette quickly cups her Kwami. 

“It’s fine, Tikki. Are you better now?” 

Tikki nods. “Yes, just a bit tired.”

“That’s good.” Marinette stares off, then frowns.

“What’s the matter?”

“He fought Hawkmoth’s control.”

“That’s good!”

“Hawkmoth started hurting him…” Marinette looks down at Tikki. “Who knows if this is the first time he’s hurt his Akuma? How long do you think he’s been so, so...awful?”

Tikki frowns, a saddened shrug coming from the Kwami. “I guess we can’t ever be sure, Marinette.”

And Marinette knows that’s the end of the conversation, so she sighs and places the little goddess in her purse before heading back to her quickly returning class.

“Chapter Six”: Evillustrator

So I wanted to come back to this story idea, but I didn’t want to write a full chapter (one part laziness, one part lack of motivation, one part lack of time)...so instead, here’s a rough outline of what I would do if I was writing the full thing out! :D (And if I ever get motivation back, maybe I will write it out, haha!) 

The chapter opens much like the actual episode. Nathaniel is caught drawing his fan comic, where he saves Marinette with the help of the Miraculous team. Chloé is an asshole like usual, and makes fun of Nathaniel for his crush.

We get the first divergence from canon when we look to Nino, and dang is he upset. (Note: This is pre La Paonne, so Lila isn’t here yet.) 

Alya sees the glare Nino shoots at Nathaniel and has to hold back a laugh. ‘Normally,’ she thinks to herself with a small smile, ‘I’d want to help him win her heart.’ He seems like a good match for her best friend, Alya can see it, but… ‘Her heart has already been taken by Carapace, and there’s no competing with a real superhero.’ What a shame that Nino isn’t secretly the turtle-themed hero, right? Sucks for him, they can’t all be masked saviors like Alya is.

So the day continues. Marinette is a bit flustered because wow someone likes her, Nino is a bit upset because now he has competition (and yet he also feels bad because he knows that it’s practically impossible to not like Nette, but come on), and Alya is a bit amused because of course she is.

And then the group projects are formed. Marinette is, of course, upset. She’s partnered with Chloé and Sabrina, after all. But it’s fine, right?

Hint: It’s not fine. Chloé pulls a Chloé and expects Marinette to help Sabrina, and Chloé is going to just go have fun. Marinette tries to tell Chloé off like she does in canon, and it ends the same way- with Evillustrator sending a hairdryer after Chloé.

Blah blah blah get to the point where Marinette loses her wall.

Evillustrator asks her on a date. He’s all sweet and blushy and Marinette can’t help but feel bad because wow. He’s so sweet, he’s even promising to leave Chloé alone if she’ll go out with him. That goes against his wants as an Akuma. What even, how much does he like her?!?! 

Marinette agrees to the date, because who is she to say no and anger him? It’s the least she can do.

Cut to a few minutes later. Marinette is now transformed into Ladybug, and she makes a call to the rest of the Miraculous team… who are currently patrolling around Chloé’s room to make sure that Evillustrator isn’t coming back to attack.

“What’s up, bugaboo?” Chat asks, always happy to hear from Ladybug. “Find the guy?”

Ladybug sighs. “So we may have a slight change of plans,” she starts, and that gets all eyes on her. (Except Chloé, she’s been locked into her room by Rena Rouge for a long time by now.)

“What’s up?” Rena asks, looking away to glance around quickly. She doesn’t want to be caught off guard, but this seems serious.

“I need you guys to protect this girl. Her name is Marinette.” Ladybug sends a picture of the bluenette. “Evillustrator asked her out, she agreed.”

“What?” Carapace shouts. “Who goes on a date with an Akuma?!” 

“He said that he would leave Chloé alone if she did,” Ladybug explains. “I have to go on a mission, my Kwami thinks she spotted some suspicious activity and thinks it may be related to the Miraculous. I’ll try to keep an eye on everything, but I may have to stay detransformed for a while. Think you guys can handle it?”

Looking at the fuming Carapace, Chat nods. “Yeah, I think… I think we’ll be alright without you, just this once.”

The call ends.

A few hours later, Marinette is trying to ward off an upset Sabrina. The redhead believes that Marinette is just making excuses, and is ‘just like Chloé’, but luckily for Marinette a certain turtle boy pops up.

“Sorry, little lady,” Carapace says to Sabrina, “but we really need to be borrowing Marinette for this battle.”

“Oh!” Sabrina says, face quickly reddening from embarrassment. “Of course! Sorry, Marinette! I just thought-”

“It’s fine,” Marinette assures the girl. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“See ya!” And then Sabrina runs off. 

Then there’s a little awkward flirting between Carapace and Marinette. It’s cute, fluffy, but I have no brain cells right now so we’ll just pretend it happened. Then Rena Rouge and Chat Noir show up, and it’s a bit chaotic because Marinette tries to act casual but not too casual because she’s supposed to be a normal girl, not a fellow superhero, but also she doesn’t want to make a fool of herself in front of Carapace.

It’s a bit of a hot mess. 

Finally, Marinette goes to the date spot. It’s so romantic. Evillustrator went all out, just like last time. There’s the boat, the romantic candlelight, it’s so adorable that Marinette can’t help but feel flattered. 

‘Maybe,’ Marinette thinks as she looks around, ‘it’d be a good idea to move on from Carapace. It’s not like he’d ever fall for a girl like me, and Nathaniel is a sweetheart.’ She knows she could fall for the artist, if only she could push her feelings for Carapace aside.

Meanwhile, Carapace is fuming on the roof of the boathouse. This is awful. The worst. Why did Evillustrator have to be so, so romantic about it! 

Yeah, he’s jealous. 

So everything is going fine. Rena and Chat are both on nearby land, staying close in case they need to intervene. Carapace is on the roof, just silently stewing in anger.

Marinette does the stylus trick.

It works. She tosses the pen to Carapace, who snaps it quickly.

Problem: By snapping the object, the Akuma was let out. This means that 1. Evillustrator reverts back to Nathaniel and 2. The Akuma’s creations disappear...including the boat.

Cue Carapace and Chat Noir having to pull Marinette and Nathaniel out of the river. They’re all freezing, shivering, and… where’s the Akuma?

“Hey boys!” Rena calls out, giggling as her flute lets out a few offkey notes. “Did you know that we can use our weapons as Akuma holders?” She shakes her flute around, and they hear a few thumping noises.

Odd. 

Marinette sneezes a few times, and just like that Carapace is taking her home. He apologizes for getting her cold, and she brushes it off. It’s fine, she just needs to warm up a bit.

The moment he’s gone, she transforms and races over to Rena. The cure is cast, and, luckily, her magic somehow takes away the effect of falling into the river. (Which is good, because Marinette was not looking forward to trying to get the smell of the water out of her hair.) 

Jump to the next day. Nathaniel apologizes to Marinette for the whole Akuma date thing, but Marinette giggles, saying it was fine and that she had fun. 

Nathaniel blushes, not expecting this response.

“If that’s the case…” Nathaniel starts, face red as his hair, “do you, maybe, want to go on a real date? We could go to the movies?”

A part of Marinette screams yes, that she should agree. That she could have fun, and move on.

But then she remembers how Carapace carried her home, and her heart races. 

“I’m sorry, but I… I like someone else,” Marinette admits. “It wouldn’t be fair to you to say yes, and have feelings for another.”

He understands, although he’s still upset. (which makes sense, rejections suck) Class starts, and although Marinette feels a little bad for turning him down, she knows in her heart that it’s the right thing to do.

And the episode ends here. 

Because I’m realizing how disorganized/bad at tags I am. One Shot Works: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/610893687539564544/an-odd-day-for-a-normal-girl (Description: Marinette is a normal girl. No Miraculous, nothing unusual in her life...except she’s in love with the Ladybug holder and is best friends with Chat Noir. Oh, and she’s being thrown into some dumb fake dating situation. Great.)

https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/190458693897/a-ladys-scout-and-the-salt-within-her-soul (Description: Marinette is assumed to be a hero scout for Ladybug, and shows her salt by...making gifts?)

https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/189729234197/what-do-you-think-of-this-marinette-is-with-both (Description: Marinette just wanted a break, and so she created an illusion. A fake fight, fake Akuma, to get everyone off of her back. She didn’t expect it to lead to Hawkmoth’s defeat.) (An Ask)

https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/189536099637/not-too-much-salt-alya-and-nino-get-lila-to (Description: Alya gets Lila to babysit so she and Nino can go on a date. However, an angry ex-babysitter gets Akumatized and decides to create an army of children...and Lila values herself over Alya’s siblings.) (An Ask)

https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/189336564692/from-white-to-purple-she-leans-into-him-eyes (From White to Purple...a ‘what if’, where Chat Blanc!Adrien didn’t get left in his own world, but came to Marinette’s. Spoilers for Chat Blanc!) (Based on a prompt I saw) Stupid and in Love:

Part One: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/188416406372/stupid-and-in-love-origins 

Part Two: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/188544944147/stupid-and-in-love-origins-part-two

Part Three: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/188616423957/stupid-and-in-love-origins-part-three 

Part Four: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/189108091812/stupid-and-in-love-p4

Part One: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/187632539317/make-a-change-p1 

Part Two: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/187733021387/make-a-change-p2

Part Three: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/187787813752/make-a-change-p3 

Part Four: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/187911133227/make-a-change-p4

Part Five: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/188012159482/make-a-change-p5 

Part Six: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/188155242782/make-a-change-p6

Part Seven: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/188245262267/make-a-change-p7 

Part Eight: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/188795065992/make-a-change-p8 

Part Nine: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/189461647642/make-a-change-p9

Part Ten: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/189828102132/make-a-change-part-10 

Part Eleven: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/190150565512/make-a-change-part-11 

Part Twelve: https://salthaven.tumblr.com/post/190461628627/make-a-change-part-12