love square trash || old enough to know better || sucker for identity reveals and pining || jennagrins on ao3 || one of 2grinninggirls as my main tumblr
Irresistible (4.8k, T, PRPR, pining, flirting, sexual tension, making out)
La Soeur de Mon Coeur (3.8k, T, adrienette, humour)
Lucky I'm in Love with My Best Friend (3.2k, G, adrienette/ladynoir, pining, identity reveal, glaciator 2 spoilers)
On Bended Knee (2.6k, T, adrienette, marriage proposal, identity reveal, angst with a happy ending)
She's (Not) Just a Friend (1.3k, G, PRPR, pining, love confession) Now with this cute art by @saytr!
You Can Run From Love (3.5k, M, PRPR, friends with benefits, Chat Blanc fallout, angst with a happy ending, aged up, mild sexual content)
Multichapters/Series:
A Fatherâs Love (4k, 4/?, T, WIP, good dad Gabriel AU)
The Closest Thing to Love (60k, 8/8 chapters, T, PRPR, fake relationship, aged up) Now with gorgeous art commissioned from @yunyin and this sweet art from @thelibraryloser!
Love is Blind: France series:
Love is Blind (26.7k, 7/7 chapters, T, love square, reality TV AU, aged up, identity reveal) Written for the @mlbigbang with this beautiful art by @ayoitsabi, and these sweet "doodles" (spoilers for chapter 6) and this gorgeous art (spoilers for the last chapter) by @tvailu. Also this great art from @toughtinkart!
Learning to See (26k, 5/?, WIP, T, post-reveal adrienette with prpr vibes, reality TV AU, aged up, developing relationship, insecurity, sexual tension) Sweet art by @toughtinkart!
Love Without Series:Â Â
Love Without Weakness (3.6k, M, ladynoir, UST, angst) Gorgeous art by @emi-fanarts
Love Without Lies (9.1k, 2/2 chapters, M, ladynoir, identity reveal, UST, sexual content)
Love Without Limits (6.4k, E, post-reveal adrienette, explicit sexual content)
You Know Where My Heart Is (16.2k, 12/12 chapters, T, marichat, half reveal, identity reveal) Now with sweet art commissioned from @sweetjupiterr!
Note: I do not accept requests to add my fic to collections on AO3. (Hereâs my post about it. Also not mine, but hereâs a good post about why not.)
Rec Lists
Ladynoir (hidden gems)
Ladynoir 2
Ladynoir 3
Adrienette (hidden gems)
Ladrien (hidden gems)
Marichat (hidden gems)
Marichat 2 (hidden gems)
Love Square/Hectagon/Octagon (hidden gems)
Reverse Love Square
Identity Reveals (hidden gems)
AUs (hidden gems)
Episode-based (hidden gems)
Angst (hidden gems)
Fluff (hidden gems)
Enemies to Lovers
Buff Marinette
Oblivious Adrien
SADrien
SADinette
Bed Sharing
Group Chat/Social Media
Public Identity Reveals
Alpha/beta/omega dynamics
Flirty Ladybug/Marinette
Funny Ladrien
Post-Chat Blanc Fallout
Pre-reveal Married Lovesquare
Chloe redemption
NY Special Adrienette
Season 4 Angst
Season 4
Kwami Swap
Secret/Fake relationship Ladrien
Shy/Flustered Adrien
Established Adrienette
Marinette tells Chat the boy is Adrien
Marinette confesses to Adrien pre-reveal
Newer Soulmate Fics
Featuring Kim
Ladrien Fake Masks
Identity Shenanigans
Post-reveal pre-relationship
Rewrites
Glaciator 2/Buttercup
Adrien Never Went to Public School AUs
Reconnection Fics
Establised Ladynoir
Established Adrienette with Identity Reveal
E-rated Fics (with bonus rant in favour of smut lol)
Must Reads
Chat Blanc Episode Fics
Funny Ladrien
Long Fics 1
Long Fics 2
Christmas Fics
Cat Walker
Platonic Adrino
Time Travel
Iâve also added onto other peopleâs rec lists a few times. Check out my #jennarecsml tag for more!
Read about my process here
Note: I do accept requests for rec lists but I get A LOT of these, so it may take me a while to get to your request. If youâre asking for something Iâve already recced above (or something really similar), Iâll probably just link you to the previous list. Also, if what youâre looking for isnât to my tastes, Iâll probably just ask my followers to offer suggestions.
Spoiler Policy
This blog is NOT spoiler free. I am no longer tagging season 4 spoilers.
I will tag season 5 stuff as #ml season 5 with spoilery stuff being tagged #ml spoilers and the episode name, if applicable. I also sometimes use #ml leaks for when something big drops early.
I try to ensure that everything is tagged until after the episode is out in English. If I miss something, please let me know.
So those are the tags to block if you donât want to see spoilers!
A few comments on the last update said they could already swap back, and I'm like, umm... we haven't even explore the Ladynoir dynamic yet.
...
Context: Marinette as Chat Noir just sacrificed herself in battle for Ladybug.
Chat Noir felt the ladybugs buzzing across her skin as she came back to herself. She looked herself up and down - it looked like everything was in place.
It was almost surreal. Â
She grunted when Ladybug tackled her in a hug.Â
âDonât ever do that again!â he cried.Â
She pulled away. âAre you serious right now?âÂ
âYes! I canât! I donât know what Iâm doing! I need you! YouâreâŠâÂ
âMore important?â she filled in.Â
âYes!â he snapped.Â
âBecause?â she prompted when he didnât elaborate.Â
âBecause youâreâŠâ he trailed off, his eyes suddenly wide.Â
âBecause Iâm Ladybug?â she filled in.Â
He dropped his head.Â
âBecause Iâm not Ladybug right now,â she whispered gently. She of course knew exactly what he was feeling right now.Â
âYouâre more important to me,â he whispered, still not meeting her eyes.
So Iâve been going through and adding particularly good fics Iâve read throughout the year. Only Complete fics, of course. Enjoy!
Chat Noir and Marinette decide to fake date in order to get Buttercup jealous enough to confess. Why wonât that boy make a move on such a wonderful girl as Marinette? And why is he beginning to hope that Buttercup stays blind?
Adrien wakes up in Ninoâs arms. Neither of them have any explanation for this, considering they were nowhere near each other the night before.Â
Marinette and Zoe uncover a ring stashed away in a closet. Why does it have an unusual effect on Chloe?
Felix isnât careful enough when he goes snooping around the Agreste Mansion. Gabriel decides that he canât let him roam free.
Kim bets Alix that she wonât be able to attend all of her friendsâ weddings in a row. She has never been one to turn down a challenge.
miraculous ladybug is a hotbed of whiplash between extremely hard-hitting show-don't-tell writing and expositing-the-point-directly-into-the-camera writing. like the show is constructed so the basic plot can be understood by 6 year olds but then you'll randomly have a scene during a timeskip that shows adrien's room in a depression-induced mess after he quits modelling and it will never be addressed as such but it will neatly convey the disruption to his mental state that a lack of routine causes him. and u just have to deal with both of those things side by side constantlyđ
CN: Speaking of partners...do you remember how you told your best friend that you're ladybug?
LB: You know at first I said it was really risky but it's really helped me out. You can tell someone too, remember? I assumed you already did.
CN: I never did, actually. I always thought the person I fell in love with would know. BUT my civilian identity is hard to date. So I haven't really met anyone who's fully stuck--which is why I had a BRILLIANT idea. I'll date people as my HERO persona.
LB: Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean your civilian identity is "hard to date"? Aren't you a total casanova?
CN: I think you mean...cat-sanova. Heh.
LB: oh my god.
CN: I guess you could say I'm sooort of in the public eye?
LB: Like...famous?
CN: Well...
LB: Chat. On a scale of one to ten, 1 being some averaje joe and ten being darling of Paris, Adrien Agreste.
CN: [nervously] Uh...seven?
LB: Oh, so pretty famous, huh. Well, I trust you, minou. Just don;t do anything stupid and make me look bad. Anyways, it's kind of a good idea.
CN: Really?
LB: Yeah.
Later, at home.
Marinette: Alya. Chat just had the WORST idea I've ever heard. And GUESS WHAT--
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Summary: âMarinette. My bestie. My platonic soulmate. You are a kleptomaniac.â
In which Marinette is forced to confront her habit of thievery
Word count: 2k
Rating: G
A/N: Written for the pre-reveal, pre-relationship section of the @adrinettezine!
Marinette, Kleptomaniac
âGirl. You canât be serious.â
âWhat?â Marinette asked defensively. She attempted to shield the open trunk from view, but this appeared to have no effect on Alya.
âAll this junk is stuff youâve taken from Adrien?â
âItâs not junk!â Marinette said. âTheyâre my treasures. My Adrien treasures.â
âRight. Your stolen treasures.â
Alya was giving her the âBestie, this is simply not itâ lookâpursed lips, arched brows, arms folded in a very judgmental way that Marinette did not like.
âI didnâtâ theyâre not stolen,â she said. âThey were gifts. Like⊠this! He gave it to me on the first day we met.â
Marinette pulled the black umbrella from the depths of the trunk. She ran a finger over the curved handle, remembering how Adrienâs hand had brushed hers, and couldnât stop a dreamy little sigh from escaping her lips.
âUh-huh. And what about this?â Alya wrinkled her nose as she held up a sock, pinching the cuff between her fingers. âYouâre telling me Adrien gave you this as a gift?â
Marinette looked down, blushing. âSome of the gifts were⊠unintentional.â
âWhere did you even get this? Did you sneak into his house and raid his laundry basket?â
âOf course not.â Marinette snatched the sock away. âIt just fell out of his locker after fencing class one day. And I just, you know, happened to be passing by. And I figuredâ â
ââ âhey, Adrien probably left this stinky sock just for me! Because he saw me creeping around his locker and he was like, âAw, there goes my Very Good Friend Marinette. I know how much she loves sweaty socks and other soiled clothing items. Maybe next time Iâll leave her my dirty underwear.âââ
Marinetteâs face burned. âAlya!â she hissed. âYou canât talk about peopleâs⊠you-know-what.â
âWhy? Because now youâre thinking of his cute little tushie?â Alya grinned. âWonder if heâs a boxers guy or a briefs guy. Maybe you should ask him. When you return his stinky sock.â
Marinette opened her mouth, but she really couldnât form a coherent thought once Adrienâs butt had entered the equation. She stared down at the sock instead.
âItâs not stinky,â she said finally. âI washed it.â
(At first she had decided that she wasnât going to wash it, because how could she eliminate Adrienâs natural scent, which came from his own perfect skin? But it turned out that even Adrienâs perfect skin had working sweat glands, and soon she had no choice but to put the sock in the wash and douse the remaining contents of the treasure trunk in his new fragrance, Pure.)
âOh my gosh. Is this⊠?â Alya turned over a small box in her hands. âThe constipation meds? Really? I thought you were going to burn them after how embarrassed you were about the whole thing.â
âYeah, butâ he got them for me!â Marinette said. âThatâs kind of like a gift, right?â
âYou have a very strange concept of gift giving.â
âWhatever.â
âWhat else do you have in here?â Alya started pulling item after item from the trunkâthe jacket Adrien had left at her house after a group study session, the crumpled love note he had thrown in the trash on Valentineâs Day, a manga box set he had lent her after her enthusiastic response to his summary of Fruits Basket.
Alya inspected a small drawstring pouch. âWhatâ â
âNo!â Marinette lunged for the pouch, but Alya had already opened it and peered inside.
âMarinette,â she said, âis this hair? Like, actual human hair?â
âItâs not real! I mean, it is real, butâ â
âWhat did you do? Just pluck it right off his head?â
Marinette bit her lip.
âOh my gosh, you just plucked it right off his head.â
Marinette let out a huff. âWell, in my defense, I thought he was a wax statue at the time.â
Alya closed her eyes and let out a sigh, the way Papa did when she dropped a plate of pastries for the third time in one day. Marinette squirmed.
âMarinette. My bestie. My platonic soulmate. You are a kleptomaniac.â
âI am not!â
âGirl, listen to me.â Alya put her hands on Marinetteâs shoulders. âYou know I love you, right?â
Her lips slid into a pout. âRight.â
âYou know that I think you are good and wonderful and smart and hot and totally worthy of any person you want to date, right?â
âRight.â
âAnd you know that I am the number one Adrinette shipper, right?â
âRight.â
Alya straightened. âWell, I regret to inform you that this is officially an intervention. No more stealing from Adrien Agreste.â
âButâ â
Alya held up a hand. âNope. Everything in this treasure box has to be something Adrien actually gave you. On purpose. Weâre gonna go through it right now, and anything that you shouldnât have, youâre going to give back. Youâre supposed to be stealing his heart, not his stuff. Okay?â
Marinetteâs shoulders slumped. âOkay.â
It took them nearly an hour to go through the box (mostly because Alya insisted on hearing the backstory of every item). Finally, the trunk was empty, and the items were sorted into two pilesâa âkeepâ pile and a âgive back to Adrienâ pile.
The âkeepâ pile was relatively smallâthe umbrella, her lucky charm, the empty constipation pill box, and various wrappers and scraps of paper that Alya deemed unworthy of returning, because âthis is literally a piece of trash, Marinette.â
But the âback to Adrienâ pileâwell, that one was much bigger.
âI canât give all this back!â Marinette wailed, draping herself dramatically over the edge of the chaise.
âWe talked about this,â Alya said. âItâs not right for you to keep what was never given to you.â
âNo, I mean, how am I supposed to give all of this back to him? Itâs so much.â She tugged at her pigtails. âHeâs gonna think Iâm some sort of freak, or creep, orâ â
ââ kleptomaniac?â
Marinette groaned, burying her face in her hands.
âRelax.â Alya slung an arm around her shoulder. âWeâll come up with a plan for you to return them one by one. Weâll keep it casual. Heâll never know about the junk hoard.â
Marinette shot her a glare.
âTreasure box,â Alya corrected. âOkay, so which of these items was stolâ acquired most recently?â
Marinette looked over the pile. âUm, the pen.â
âRight. Thatâs the one he dropped in Mendeleievâs class yesterday and it conveniently rolled directly under your chair.â
âIt did!â
âOkay, okay.â Alya picked up the pen and handed it to Marinette. âTomorrow morning, you walk up to him and say, âHey, Adrien, is this yours? I think you dropped it.â Say it with me.â
âHey, Adrien, is this yours? I think you dropped it.â
Marinette crouched behind the stairs with Alya, watching Adrien and Nino across the courtyard.
âGirl, get that out of your mouth,â Alya said. âItâs not even yours.â
Marinette jolted, slipping the pen out from between her teeth. She inspected the cap. There were a few telltale scratches and dents in it, but maybe that was because Adrien had the same bad pen-chewing habit that she did.
A blush crept over her face. If Adrien had chewed on this pen too, then her lips had touched the same spot as his. An indirect kiss, just like the one she had not-exactly-shared with him a few weeks ago at the movies when he accidentally took a sip of her drink. Alya had almost thrown away that straw, but after an impassioned speech from Marinette about the preservation of cherished memories (and the trace amounts of Adrienâs cellular tissue that come with them), Alya had sighed and agreed that she could keep it.
âWhat are we still waiting for? Itâs time.â Alya yanked Marinette out from behind the stairs and dragged her toward Adrien and Nino. Marinette tried to tug away, but she tripped and tumbled forward.
She braced for impact, but it never came. Instead, she was met with something warm and soft that smelled just like her treasure boxâclean linen and citrus.
Her eyes snapped open, and she jumped out of his arms. âYar! I mean, yeah! Iâmâ itâsâ itâs all grood. Good.â A too-wide grin stretched across her face, her neck growing hot under her collar.
Adrien smiled. She fixed her gaze on his nose to avoid his unfairly beautiful eyes. Unfortunately, his nose was just as beautiful, and it was even closer to his lips, which made her heart hammer like that weird construction-themed akuma from last week (Bob le Builder, a name which she found both tacky and lazy, but which Chat Noir loved, of course).
âUm,â she said intelligently. What was she supposed to tell him again? Her mind had melted into goo. It was probably spilling out of her ears at this point. Oh noâwhat if Adrien saw her disgusting brain goo??
Alya was miming something behind Adrienâs back. Paper? Writing?
Oh. Right.
Marinette lifted the pen and let the well-rehearsed words spill out. âAdrien, is this yours? I think Iâm in love with you.â
She froze. Adrienâs eyebrows shot up, perfect lips forming a tiny o of surprise. Behind him, Alya slapped her hand to her forehead.
âIt!â Marinette blurted, much too loudly. âThe pen. Thatâs what Iâm in love with. Itâs like a pencil, but more darker and, um, smeary-er. I mean, it has such a great⊠writingâ smoothâ ink⊠ness. W-where did you get it?â
Adrien blinked. Then a laugh bubbled out of him.
âItâs just a pen, Marinette. If you like it that much, you can keep it.â
âR-really?â
âOf course! Iâve got a bunch more.â He smiled warmly, sending a golden shimmer all the way down to her toes.
âWell, how about a trade? You can have one of mine!â She shrugged off her backpack and pulled out her pack of pink gel pens. âUm, unless you donât like pink?â
âHow could I not like pink? Itâs your signature color.â He grinned, taking one of the pens. âThanks! And, by the way, you might want to disinfect that other pen. I have kind of a bad habit of chewing on the cap. Sorry. Would you rather have a new one? Iâd be happy toââ
âNo!â she said quickly. âNo, thatâs fine. Thanks.â
âOkay, then. See you in class!â Adrien waved, and then she watched him walk away with Nino, slipping the gel pen in his pocket.
âWell, that was⊠interesting,â Alya said. âBut I guess it was technically a success. Nice work, klepto.â
Marinette smiled down at the pen in her hand.
Maybe Operation Kleptomaniac wouldnât be so bad after all.
Adrien sat in his desk chair, rolling the pink gel pen between his fingers.
âMan, that Pigtails is so weird,â Plagg commented through a mouthful of cheese.
âSheâs not weird,â Adrien said. âSheâs just⊠â
He paused. He didnât quite have the words for what Marinette was. Smart, definitely. Kind. Funny. Passionate. Brave. Talented. A good person. A good friend.
â⊠sheâs Marinette,â he finished.
Adrien pulled open his desk drawer and took out a little box. Inside were various items heâd collected since he started school. An old CD from Nino. A sparkly invitation to Roseâs birthday party. A spoon from an ice cream cone heâd shared with Kagami. The wrapper from the piece of gum Alya had offered him on his second day. The ticket stubs from the movies heâd seen with Marinette last month.
Now that he thought of it, most of the things in the box came from Marinette. There were ribbons from bags of homemade pastries, knicknacks sheâd made for all her friends, a dozen handwritten notes (always signed âYour friend, Marinetteâ).
âI donât get why you keep all this stuff,â Plagg said. âItâs just a bunch of junk.â
Adrien carefully placed the pink gel pen in the box, between his Kitty Section mask and the pair of fake glasses âMarinoâ had left behind.
âTheyâre not junk.â He smiled. âTheyâre treasures.â
If showrunners were going to have Gabriel escape consequences like this, then they shouldn't have killed him.
Gabriel dying is emotionally satisfying if he fails at his aim and is completely lost to his self-destruction. It is not satisfying if he performs the heroic sacrifice to get what he wants.
Heroic sacrifices can absolutely be satisfying, but Gabriel's repentance is incongruent with his characterisation up to that point.
It works in the film, because Gabriel in the film is clearly dooming himself the very first time he uses the miraculous for evil (end of the battle has him passed out on the floor). When he discovers Cat Noir's identity, he acts the opposite of his show counterpart in "Cat Blanc" and "Ephemeral", and because he was continually questioning his choices throughout the film, we believe it when he makes the turnaround here.
In the show? Man was coldly ignoring his son while submitting him to white torture two episodes ago. Not buying the tears here, bro.
losing my mind over these stupid kids @jennagrinsoverml - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag