"seduce with caution" sounds interesting!
Ask is in reference to this WIP Title tag game. I have a whole tag just based around me gushing/raging/tearing my hair out over this project. 😅
To start, it's a fanfic within the Miraculous Ladybug fandom. For those not in the fandom, here's a quick primer: the show focuses on the teenage superhero Ladybug and her partner Chat Noir as they save Paris from supervillain Hawk Moth. Neither Ladybug nor Chat Noir knows their partner's secret identity, which makes things interesting since Ladybug is actually Marinette, classmate and friend to super model Adrien... aka Chat Noir. These secret identities have caused a bit of a complex romantic plotline the fandom has dubbed the Love Square*.
Now, the elevator pitch for Seduce With Caution is that, over the course of the 6 years since they've met, Chat Noir has developed the habit of visiting Marinette on a nearly-nightly basis. They have become best friends within these two personas - Chat Noir and Marinette - and one of their main topics of discussion is their failed love lives. One night Chat Noir proudly proclaims that he's sorted out how to get Ladybug to finally fall for him. Marinette playfully dismisses him. To prove his point, Chat Noir decides to try out his new flirting tactics on Marinette. Neither of them expected his new seduction moves to actually work. When they do, chaos ensues.
So now, 19yo Marinette is trying to sort out her newfound sexual attraction for 19yo Chat Noir and what that means for both her love for Adrien and her partnership with Chat Noir as Ladybug. Meanwhile, Adrien is also trying to figure out why Marinette swooning over him is such a huge turn-on. Is it just the swooning? Is it because it's swooning over his superhero persona instead of his model status? Is it because it's a friend of his instead of a random stranger? Is it because it's Marinette specifically? Can he get her just as hot-and-bothered as just plain old Adrien? Would it be as much of a turn-on if he could? What does ANY of this mean for his friendship with Marinette (both as Chat Noir and as Adrien) or his supposed undying love for Ladybug?
The story does progress into a MariChat (Marinette and Chat Noir) romance... aaaaand there's some smutty moments spliced in there.
Honestly? The story was originally going to be this crack smut one-shot. I had read the 4th and 5th chapters of Dressed to Confess by @zenmisery back in the summer of 2020. I was caught up in the MariChat make-out session, but also the fact that the two literally couldn't do much more than heavy petting due to Chat Noir's costume being magically incapable of being removed. He has a sort of magical chastity belt that he can't get around without detransforming and revealing who he is to Marinette. Well, my pervy brain had Marinette create a work-around, and I was simply going to write that scene: the two aged up and getting their little smut on thanks to Marinette's characteristic ingenuity.
My first attempts included Chat Noir doing a pole dance strip tease to get Marinette all riled up, and then she would reveal her master plan for him to actually disrobe without revealing who he was to her. I tried writing just that scene about 4x over the course of the next year. None of them worked.
Fast forward to August 2021 and I finally wrote a more subtle flirting/seduction scene. It was more sensual. It built up the tension better. It was accidental flirting. This was the scene I have been meaning to write! Huzzah! Eeeeeexcept... the whole point of Chat Noir "accidentally" flirting with Marinette was because he was practicing for Ladybug. I couldn't just have him and Marinette shack up! I had to have him get over Ladybug first... and Marinette get over Adrien.... and THEN get to the original smut scene!
It's the transition from regular Love Square to Reverse Love Square that has been holding me up since flippin' 2021! I have the first 3 chapters of this story pretty much locked in, I have a concept for the 4th chapter that I've been tweaking, and I have a few more scenes/chapters further along the plot that I have already sorted out/written. I'm excited for the bits I have actually put to paper (as it were), but it's the bridging moments that have been eluding me. I've attempted 9 different plotting strategies, and this final one seems to be working the best (especially if used in conjunction with a few of the other plotting tactics).
One of my New Years Resolutions was to have this story ready to publish by August... but it's not looking very likely. I HAVE been steadily** working on it, though... so there's that.
If you don't mind spoilers and want more info on this story, I have my latest plot outline attempt available here. Still needs lots of tweaks, but it's a start.
*For those who might not know what I mean when I say Love Square, here's the basic breakdown: Marinette is in love with Adrien, but he doesn't see her romantically because he's in love with Ladybug (but can only get the chance to tell her so as Chat Noir). Ladybug doesn't see Chat Noir romantically because of her love for Adrien, but she can't tell Chat Noir that because she fears it will somehow reveal her civilian identity. Ladybug also can't tell Adrien she loves him because she fears putting a civilian (Adrien) in danger if the Big Bad found out she liked him (think Mary Jane being targeted to get to Spider-Man). Adrien doesn't let Marinette (or really anyone) know he's in love with Ladybug because either (a) he fears people will pick on him for having a crush on a superhero, or (b) it might give away that he's Chat Noir.
Basically, the Love Square is this (complete with the couple names):
Reverse Love Square is exactly what it says on the tin.
**By "steadily"... well... I haven't really written MUCH at all the past three years. Depression is a beautiful thing, isn't it? I have kind of poked at it about once a month though... so... I guess that's steady. Right?
