5. feinette

coming at #5 we have fei and marinette! i think this is a very unique rarepair and their relationship and dynamic in the shanghai special is adorable! the only reason they're so low is because i just prefer the others with marinette. i think we really need more of them together, as they were the highlight of the entire special for me. overall, very cute, just not my favorite!

4. zoenette

first off, i just want to say, I LOVE THEM SO MUCH?? zoe's crush on marinette is so so cute and i REALLY like how they handled it in adoration. zoe's confession was so heartwarming and marinette's reaction and reassurance was wonderful.

zoe, who had practically NO ONE when she moved to paris, is automatically befriended by marinette, who didn't even know who she was and was so welcoming to her. marinette cares so much about zoe and worries for her because she doesn't want her to be a doormat to chloe and wants her to stand up for herself.

eventually, once zoe does, marinette is so proud of her and it really reminds me of the time when tohru congratulated yuki for standing up to akito, but i digress. she can see just how far zoe has come since she first arrived and her growth is everything. their relationship is built on support and trust and that's what makes their dynamic so compelling and sweet.

3. marigami

i think their relationship and dynamic is so amazing. the "sunshine x grumpy" dynamic is always something i enjoy (hence why i love tohrin for the same reason). aside from surface level stuff, marinette really shows just how much she cares for kagami. she's her first friend, so naturally, marinette wouldn't want kagami to be left lonely with no one. and knowing marinette, she'd do everything in her power to make kagami feel comfortable and happy when they're together (see mr. pigeon 72).

at first, kagami needed time to warm up to marinette, but she really made a strong impact on her life (gee, i wonder who that reminds me of). i especially like how marinette wanted to get adrigami back together, when that probably wouldn't have even crossed s3 marinette's mind. her willingness to be there for kagami is why i love these girls so much. and kagami actually appreciating marinette's friendship is so wholesome. don't ask me about s5 i like to pretend that season doesn't exist, especially with regard to kagami and how her character was handled.

2. alyanette

MY BABIES. i am a sucker for the “best friends to lovers” trope and this is basically that, just without the “lovers” part. they support each other so much. their level of trust is put to the test in s4 when maribug tells alya her identity. alya, in return, helps marinette out even more than she already has. marinette needed to tell someone of the burden and heavy weight that's been put on her shoulders, and i think alya is the perfect candidate.

contrary to popular belief, alya is an AMAZING friend. she's the one who gets marinette out of sticky situations and doesn't get upset easily if she slips up (see the mime). despite not knowing what marinette is up to at times, alya still puts her full trust in her because she knows that, at the end of the day, marinette will make the right decisions.

i could ramble on and on about these two, but you get my point. also, i can't be the only one who could just FEEL the tension in the air rising during their oh so very intimate scene towards the end of the reverse special. no, just me?

1. adrienette

to no one's surprise, adrienette comes crashing down in first place. i love these two SO MUCH. they care about and love one another in different ways. marinette shows her love through gift-giving and grand gestures. adrien shows his love through words of affirmation and quality time. they would go above and beyond for the other. adrien confronted AND blackmailed lila about marinette's expulsion and her treatment of her in order for marinette to come back to school. (honestly kinda reminds me of haru when he went and confronted akito about what she did to rin). marinette went to adrien's house numerous times to save him from a possible dangerous situation, i.e. oni-chan, gabriel agreste.

in oni-chan, lila sneakily made her way inside the agreste mansion and lied to nathalie about adrien needing to get some extra homework done to bring his grade up. obviously, she has an ulterior motive: to get close to adrien. marinette, hoping to prevent this, follows them. unfortunately, with no luck, she wasn't able to get inside. this does, however, showcase the lengths she's willing to go to for his safety.

another instance of this is in gabriel agreste, after chloe maliciously recorded a video of marinette and her friends talking about gabriel being a bad parent. knowing what this would do to adrien, chloe was planning on showing the video to his father to get him out of school, DESPITE the fact that chloe would never see him again (it's very telling that chloe does not care about adrien or what he wants in the slightest, and would rather fulfill her satisfaction of revenge for shits and giggles).

in contrast, marinette, despite sneaking into the mansion uninvited, comes up a plan with her friends to ensure chloe does not show the video. note that her goal was not to hurt adrien but to save him from chloe's clutches. this was not out of jealousy in the slightest. the video ends up not getting shown, much to chloe's determination, and adrien is safe, which was marinette's goal from the start.