I've read so many fics that I have lost track of them, so I've decided to compile my favourites of different tropes I have read. I'm a sucker for the loversquare so most recs will be lovesquare centric. If you have any recs that aren't on this list, let me know! I always love reading new ones. Also, if any of these are your fics and you have a tumblr let me know and I'll tag you!
We are starting off with a fun one: sport AUs!
Come What May [M] by fettucine (LFA)
This is one of my absolute favourites that I always think about. It's a figure skating AU (No Miraculous) and adrienette childhood best friends to enemies to lovers. The writing for the figure skating scenes is amazing I felt like I was actually watching them skate. I don't want to spoil too much, but their last performance genuinely made me so emotional. It is rated M, but if i remember correctly the spicy scenes are easily skippable.
tangled ribbons [G] by demistories
Fun fact about me i've done ballet ever since I was three years old, I am no pro, but it has been a big part of my life, so I had to include this one. Once again, this is a no miraculous AU, but this time make it ballet. It's a cute story that takes place over a summer ballet intensive with wholesome adrienette scenes. Highly recommend!
Chorégraphie [T] by courtneyjjigae and KellBell39
What can I say, another ballet AU! Similar to the last, expect they attend a full-time arts school. In this fic, Adrien and Marinette start off on the wrong foot (similar to the show). One of the author also has some amazing artwork for this fic on their Instagram!
Served! An Adrienette AU! [T] by ArtlessMaroon
If you are looking for a shorter read this ones for you! Another no miraculous AU where Adrien and Marinette are on opposing volleyball teams. Its very fast paced and has some funny flustered marinette moments :)
Bonus:
Tandem [G] by BullySquadess
This is a very old and popular reveal fic. It's not really sports AU, but Adrien and Marinette are playing dogeball at school, and their ladybug and chat noir sides start showing. I figure I would include it here since I have so many accidental reveal fics, but I still want to give this one a shoutout.
I’ve read a ton of MLB salt fics because they honestly feed my soul, but one of the things many of them have in common is Marinette becoming the target of bullying from her friends. Even I have written my own stories that follow that path, but I’ve been thinking of it more recently, and I honestly don’t see it. People get pissed at Adrien for being a pacifist but he is just the character we can assign verbal proof to support that idea. All of the other classmates are just as guilty of that sort of behavior. Chloe was a bully for years and to our knowledge not a single classmate of Marinette’s did anything about that. Even the ones who seem confrontational yet have no reason to fear her father’s position as mayor such as Alix or Kim. Kim we know had a crush on Chloe, so that could be a reason he would let her be a bitch, but Alix would have no reason to just sit by and let Chloe’s behavior slide. But no one seemed to do anything until Marinette finally stood up to her in the first episode. If, for whatever reason, Lila managed to turn everyone against Marinette, I think the worst they would do is just not invite her places and maybe make snide comments if she said something mean, which would literally be never. If Lila were to complain about bullying they would all probably wax poetry about how horrible that is for her, but when the time came they would just watch. Like, they would literally do absolutely nothing but stand there if Marinette were going to do anything mean.
When Marinette was a kid, she’d once heard someone say that having a boyfriend is just like having a best friend, but with added perks.
And while she couldn’t relate with the statement (at the moment), she could see that, in a similar sense, there was a fine line between things you do with someone because they’re your best friend and you’re just that close; and things you do with someone because you like them and want to get closer… and them showing the same interest in doing those things miiight mean they could like you, too.
Marinette was beginning to think she’d been using this fine line as a jump rope these past few weeks.
In theory, she should have no problem doing best-friend-stuff.
Chatting till early in the morning? Daily routine for her and Alya, especially when the latter got her hands on the latest scoop.
Video calls while doing homework? Marinette forgot what it was like to work without the face of her best friend, her face mirroring Marinette’s own tiredness.
Movie nights with the full package: face masks, popcorn, and 5 different types of candy? Every Saturday, starting at 9pm sharp.
But for some reason, when it came to doing those things with Adrien Agreste, she would just… freeze up and start overthinking every little thing. She has no idea why.
(Absolutely a lie. She knows exactly why.)
She was not one to deny her obvious crush on the blond-haired boy. Most times, her day is made by just one smile sent her way. But other times, when she’s actually able to hold a conversation with him (over chat, of course; she could never not stutter if it were face-to-face), it feels… normal. The talks are casual, like they’ve known each other forever. The butterflies in her stomach are quieter than usual, and she can say, with absolute certainty, that the famous model feels nothing special for the simple baker’s daughter, because Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste are destined to be the best of friends and nothing more. (Sadly, in her opinion.)
And then. He goes and surprises her with a, “Hey, are you free Friday night? I was wondering if you wanted to go to the movie theater with me. They’re playing reruns of episodes from that show we were talking about the other week.”
Marinette collapsed on her bed with a groan. She checked the clock on her wall: 6:19pm. She’s supposed to meet Adrien in front of the bakery in a little over half an hour, but she still has no idea what to wear. Curse that beautiful, gorgeous boy. He never told her what the occasion was. Should she wear something casual, like a nice sweater and jeans? Something more dressy, like a cute skirt and flats? She gasps to herself. He doesn’t expect her to be fancy and show up in a cocktail dress and heels, right? He’s a model after all, that might be what he’s used too… what if it’s something even fancier than that-- how can she pull together an outfit like that at the drop of a hat--
You’re spiraling, she chided herself. She was tempted to call her best friend, but she knew what the brunette would say.
“Obviously, dress to impress! The knee-length dress you bought for my birthday party, I can lend you pearl earrings and a necklace, a little bit of lip gloss, and a purse to match. Pair it with flats so you don't look too eager.”
Marinette laughed quietly, imagining Alya giving that whole spiel.
Maybe she could just text Adrien to ask what he’s wearing.
The thought of him replying, “Just a shirt and jeans. This is just a chill movie-with-a-friend date after all. Why, did you think it meant anything more?” was enough to make her chicken out (even though he’d never actually say that), so she decided to just wear a shirt, skirt, sneakers, and the cardigan he made for her.
If he asks, I can just say I always dress like this going out with my friends!
This was going to be a disaster.
.
.
.
“Oh. Wow. You look.” Adrien cleared his throat. “You look very nice, Marinette.”
At 7:05pm, she found him standing outside their bakery, as discussed. She waved shyly as she pulled the door shut, trying to ignore the not-so-subtle spying her parents were trying to from behind the bakery’s counter.
“You look quite nice yourself,” she managed to say. Even though her brain wanted to scream how beautiful he looked in his black polo and jeans. (At least she’d been right to dress half-dressy half-casual.)
“Shall we?” he said jokingly, holding out his arm expectantly. She laughed nervously, and looped her arm through his after a pause..
Best friends definitely link arms as they walk to the theater...right?
“Hm, it’s a little chilly, isn’t it?” she said as they made their way down the street. In truth, though, her cheeks were burning from the close contact.
“Yeah, good thing you wore a cardigan. Should we get popcorn?”
“For sure. Butter at the bottom, in the middle, and on top is the way to go.”
“No way! Cheese is totally better. Whoever thought of putting it on popcorn was brie-lliant.”
Marinette groaned. “That was even cornier than popcorn,” she complained.
“Well, I’m no Swiss master,” Adrien quipped, “sorry if my jokes are full of holes. Is it enough to make you feel bleu?”
There it is again, Marinette thought, as the friendly banter continued until they were in their seats. While she found his puns unusually endearing, the butterflies were quiet and her heart wasn't racing like she’d thought it would be.
Annoyingly, they came right back as she sat back, studying his profile while the show’s theme song played in the background.
Miraculous, the luckiest!
Her heart gave a little squeeze as he mouthed the words, bouncing in his seat excitedly, all his attention on the big screen.
Damn, he’s so cute. The thought flew through her head before she could stop it, and that was when she knew for sure.
The power of love, always so strong!
What started out as a little crush had leveled up into something waaay more, though it was too early -- far too early -- to call it love.
After the reruns, they decided to grab ice cream and sit at one of the park benches before heading back.
“What did you think of that last episode?” Adrien asked, licking the mint gelato on a cone.
Marinette looked down at her own strawberry-flavored one. “I think… the main characters were too dumb. I mean, they just… fit so well, you know? Why prolong getting together?” She grinned at him and pointed the cone in his direction. “The ending made up for it though. They were so berry cute in that last scene.”
Adrien was unable to respond for a second, shocked that Marinette had made a pun.
(She thought she could see a blush starting to form, too, but she told herself it was just the lighting of the park.)
He recovered in a heartbeat, though. “You’re right. They were definitely mint to be.”
“Okay, that was probably the corniest one this entire night,” she giggled, playfully rolling her eyes. (It was actually cute and surprisingly funny, though, and she had to bite her lip to suppress a smile.)
Adrien held a hand to his heart. “I’m offended! That wasn’t very cool of you.”
Marinette frowned, though she knew he was joking. She opened her mouth to protest but the sound of his laugh stopped her. Her retort died in her throat as her heart did a little skip.
There was a pause as she felt the blush spread across her cheeks. It was long enough for Adrien to turn to her, an eyebrow raised, silently wondering about the sudden silence.
For half a second, Marinette considered saying something crazy.
‘You’re cute’? ‘I love how your eyes sparkle when you laugh’?
“Sorry for dissing your pun,” she muttered lamely instead, turning away.
He chuckled lightly and stood. “Let’s head back,” he suggested, smiling.
She simply nodded, thinking of a million things she wants to say.
They made their way back to the bakery silently, breathing in the night air, gazing up at the stars. Once back at her door, Marinette faced Adrien and stuck her hand out for a friendly shake. “Thank you for tonight,” she said, back to her awkward self somewhat.
He smiled, remembering how their second meeting went something like this. He took her hand, but instead of shaking it, he chose to press a kiss to the back of it. “Thank you for tonight,” he echoed. “I had a lot of fun.” He waved, and walked to his car.
He turned back for a final wave, and then entered the back. The car pulled away, leaving Marinette all alone in front of the bakery, still reeling from the kiss.
Marinette wanted to scream. The fine line she’d been jump roping with was now blurred together completely, and she wasn’t sure the butterflies in her stomach would ever go away.
And surprisingly, she found that she was completely okay with that.
the whole class has a crush on Marinette, maybe even the whole damn school, and everyone lowkey treats her like royalty but Marinette is oblivious to everything.
then Adrien shows up.
and the gum incident doesn't happen but something else does causing Marinette to have a crush on Adrien.
and everyone is so. salty.
because this new guy had the attention of the most amazing girl they knew and he doesn't know
(say this is before mari -> ladybug, adrien -> chat)
and Adrien is kinda aware that everyone treats him a little stand off ish but they're all nice, so he's happy to have friends.
then he says something like "oh, i haven't seen my father in days."
"really?"
"yeah, he's been so busy with work."
"where's his office?"
"...at home."
"he doesn't eat meals with you?"
"no... he's rather be productive than waste time eating away from his desk.
or something and everyone's like... O.O
Nino quickly pulls out his phone and 'CODE RED, THIS IS AN EMERGENCY'
Because Adrien nhas been deemed someone worthy of protection and by golly, if there's one thing Bustier's homeroom class was good at it was defending each other.
And Adrien noticed how everyone was friendly and even overprotective. He doesn't know what happened but dang, he loved his class.
and now the whole school has ganged up to make sure mari and adrien get together and adrien gets the love he deserves.
I think I’m going to have to split “The Miraculous Job”, my Leverage inspired AU, into two parts to efficiently tell the story. Should I do that or go ahead with one long oneshot?
How could two people go from comfortable banter to awkward silence in a span of two days? She’d heard of going from 0 to 100 real quick, but she’d never thought it’d happen to her.
More accurately -- to her and Adrien.
She stared at the back of his head, wondering where she’d gone wrong, as Mme. Bustier droned on with her lesson.
Marinette had really thought she’d finally gotten over the shy-awkward-start phase after the whole movie “date” last Friday. (She still wasn’t sure if that had been meant as an actual date, or as a chill friend hangout. And frankly, she was too scared to ask.)
But then the weekend came and they’d barely talked. (Though she’d been secretly hoping for a random good morning from him or something -- even just once.) She’d been busy baking and cramming assignments and random projects, and just like that the weekend was over.
It was now Monday, and she was sad to think all her efforts to become closer had gone down the drain. They’d exchanged greetings as she made her way to her seat that morning, but it was now 2 periods after lunch, and he hadn’t spoken to her at all. There weren’t even any of the corny memes he used to send when they were both bored in class.
Not that he’d been ignoring her, though. It just seemed like… he’d forgotten about her or had nothing more to say to her.
She probably could have reached out herself… but every time she was about to approach him, she felt like she was walking on eggshells. One wrong step, one wrong word, and something would crack.
She groaned, painfully aware that she was probably overthinking things too much. She checked her phone for the 10th time that period -- no new messages.
Marinette let out a sigh.
One apparently much louder than she’d intended.
“Anything to share with the class, Marinette?” Mme. Bustier’s voice broke through her thoughts.
She bit her lip, her ears red. “No, Mme. Bustier. Sorry,” she murmured, embarrassed.
She thought it was absolutely worth it though, because just then Adrien offered her a small smile in sympathy before turning back to face the front. So there was hope for them yet.
She sat back in her seat, deep in thought again. On impulse, she leaned forward and tapped Adrien’s shoulder while Mme. Bustier was facing the blackboard.
“Do you, uh, can I borrow a pen?” Marinette whispered in his ear.
If she didn’t know any better, she would’ve thought Adrien was blushing slightly from the sudden interaction. “Here you go,” he replied in the same quiet voice.
Her fingers tingled when they brushed his during the exchange, but she thanked him anyway. She really had no intention of using the pen (she’d never leave home without her beloved pencil case, with all the colorful pens and markers, please) so she decided to wait until class ended to return it and use it as an excuse to start a conversation.
Brilliant! This must be what Alya feels when she comes up with one of her schemes.
.
.
.
An hour later, as Adrien began packing his bag to go home, Marinette tapped him on the shoulder nervously. Her brilliant-a-period-ago plan was starting to not feel brilliant at all.
Nevertheless, she held out the pen to him, smiling. “Thanks for lending me this a while ago. You’re a lifesaver.”
He chuckled easily. “No problem. You looked like you needed some life-saving,” he joked.
Marinette couldn’t help but scoff at that. “I can save myself, thanks,” she muttered, in a tone sharper than she intended.
“Of course,” the blond backtracked hastily. “I didn’t mean to assume, I just--”
“Is… that a Jagged wallpaper?” Marinette asked suddenly, immediately forgetting the earlier offense.
“Uh, yeah. You listen to Jagged Stone?”
“Listen to Jagged? Get out, I practically breathe Jagged! Wow, I can’t believe he didn’t come up once in our conversations…”
“Well, I… didn’t really peg you to be a Jagged girl, honestly. No offense, though, I really don’t know why it didn’t occur to me. I mean, now it seems obvious. You’re nearly as cool as him.”
“Shut up,” Marinette laughed, waving away the compliment. “No one is as cool as Jagged. And it’s okay, I didn’t peg you to be a Jagged fan either.”
“You’re kidding. How could I not? A great singer, and a great player too. Piano, guitar, you name it! Heck, I bet he could even play, like, a lyre or something.”
Marinette scrunched her nose and raised an eyebrow. “A liar and a player at once? Can’t say that’s exactly my type. I’ve met too many of those, thanks.”
Red spots bloomed in Adrien’s cheeks as he sputtered, “No, I’m not-- that’s not what I--”
“I’m joking,” she interrupted, honestly surprised at his reaction. So annoyingly endearing.
“Oh.” Adrien sighed in relief, as Marinette bit back a smile.
There was an awkward pause as she thought of what else to add.
She had just opened her mouth when Adrien blurted, “There’s actually a Jagged show tomorrow.”
“Yeah, part of the Jagged Worldwide tour, right? I’ve got my room all set up with 3 flavors of popcorn to eat while I stream it.”
“Actually,” Adrien said somewhat nervously, “I may or may not have an extra ticket to the show, thanks to the Agreste brand and all.”
“Get out,” Marinette deadpanned, in shock.
(Adrien noted that that was the second time she’d said that in the last five minutes, and chuckled internally. How cute.)
“So, you wanna go?”
There it was again. That… awkward is-this-a-friend-thing situation. Marinette’s conscience told her no, don’t fall for his trap! He definitely only sees you as a friend, you’ll just get hurt if you hope for more! Which, true… but then again. This was Jagged. How could she say no?
“I’m in.” She beamed, bouncing on the soles of her feet. Even though the concert was on a school night, she was fairly sure her parents would let her go once they found out it was another ‘date’ with Adrien.
“Hey, Nino! Marinette said she’s game to come with us to the concert tomorrow,” Adrien called over his shoulder at his best friend.
“Sweet! See you there, my dude! I’ll pass the news on to Alya.” He gave a last wave before leaving.
Ah. So definitely not a date. At least she was aware.
Unless… a double date? Marinette groaned inwardly. Why did things have to be so complicated? She could almost feel the headache she was going to get from all this. (Especially now knowing that Alya would be involved.)
.
.
.
Marinette had never seen so many people in her life.
If she thought her bakery’s end-of-the-month sales were insanely crowded, that was nothing compared to the mass of people at the concert grounds, tightly packed and eagerly awaiting the arrival of their favorite singer.
As usual, something went wrong right off the bat. Their little group of four had gathered outside the grounds at 4:30pm sharp, but it hadn’t even been five minutes since they’d entered and already Alya and Nino were nowhere to be seen.
Marinette panicked immediately, obviously, frantically searching for the telltale brown-red-tipped hair of her best friend.
Adrien calmed her down immediately, saying that the lovebirds probably wanted to ‘spend some alone time together.’
Had Marinette been in a normal state of mind, she might’ve noticed that this practically reeked of another of Alya’s schemes. As it is, she simply allowed herself to be led by the blond-haired boy.
“Let’s go this way so we’re closer to the stage,” Adrien said gently, steering her one way. “Here, you can… hold my hand so we don’t get separated,” he added softly, taking her hand in his.
Soft. She was surprised to find that his hands were smooth and uncalloused. Well… she didn’t know what she had expected, but she thought they were absolutely fine as they were.
They finally made their way to the front as the singer stepped onto the stage to an eruption of cheers. She had to bite back a pout as Adrien dropped her hand to clap his own. She was about to suggest they link hands for the entirety of the concert, but all thoughts disappeared once the music started playing. She let herself get lost in the song, letting go of all her fears and doubts just this once, dancing to the tune, jumping to the beat.
A few minutes in, Adrien leaned in close. “I love this song,” he said, speaking directly into her ear to be heard over the crowd’s screams.
“Me too!” she shouted in reply, hoping in her heart it were actually words of endearment he’d said.
Once the first five songs ended, Jagged Stone stepped up to the mic, and a quiet hush spread through the crowd, waiting with bated breath for what he would say.
“I just want to thank everyone here for coming,” he started, pausing when the crowd roared their approval. He laughed heartily. “Never in my life would I imagine I’d be getting crowds like this, especially right here in Paris. Not many people know this, but I didn’t always like the name Jagged Stone. I mean, as is, it’s really nothing, right? It is what it is: a stone that is jagged. That means cut different from the rest, sort of sharp around the edges, prone to hurting others. Who would want that, right? Growing up, I was told I’d probably amount to nothing, so maybe I should choose a safer, more secure path. But then-- and here’s the key-- I grew up. And look where I am now.”
Marinette whooped along with the other concert goers, wanting her support to be evident.
“See, that’s the thing,”Jagged continued, on a roll. “These things take time. I came to love the name Jagged Stone. Because over the years, stones that are jagged smoothen around the edges. They become toned, weathered. They become the kind of precious stone you see being used in jewelry, maybe. Suddenly they’re something beautiful, valuable. Meaningful. Are they different from what they were before? Of course. But are they still themselves? Absolutely. Was that greatness there all along, right from the start? Without a doubt.
So to everyone out there: don’t rush it. Everything moves at its own pace. You may seem sharp around the edges, but that’s just how we are. Other people might not know how to approach those edges, afraid of getting hurt. But give it time. The ride will smoothen out. I want you to remember that there is already something valuable in each of you, even at this very moment. It’ll just take time for you to get used to that something, to hone it into the best version of you.
And speaking of time, I’d like to thank you all for the time you’ve given to be here! With that I’ll be performing my last song of the concert, my brand new single: Miraculous!”
.
.
.
“That. Was. Amazing.”
Ten minutes later, Adrien and Marinette had navigated their way out of the thick of the crowd, and were making their way to the meet-up spot as previously discussed.
“Definitely,” Marinette agreed, taking a bite of the cotton candy she’d bought. “That speech before the last song? That was my favorite part.”
“Really? He played six songs and not one of them classifies as your favorite part?”
“Oh, be quiet,” Marinette scoffed, shoving his shoulder lightly. “Stop judging. It just… hit close to home, I guess.”
“Oh… Well, uh, I don’t really know any of the context, but you do know you’re pretty amazing, right? As you are right now.”
Marinette took another bite to hide the blush spreading across her cheeks. “Thanks,” she said meekly, unsure of how else to respond.
“There you are!” a voice called. Marinette suddenly found herself enveloped in a tight hug. “I can’t believe we got separated right at the start! Nino here wouldn’t even let me go look for you because we’d found a great spot, he said.”
“Hey!” her boyfriend protested. “You were the one who said let the two lov-- oof, did you have to step on me foot?”
“Oops, accident,” Alya said lightly. “So anyway, how did you two find the concert?”
“It was fun,” Marinette replied softly, wrapping her arms around her best friend’s waist.
“Yeah? Something interesting happen?”
Marinette laughed. “No, I guess not. It was just… I don’t know, it seemed pretty--”
“-- miraculous,” Adrien finished, and they all had to agree.
As they headed back, Marinette reflected that maybe it wasn’t so bad she’d been treading on eggshells just the other day. Maybe her relationship with Adrien was just like what Jagged had said in his speech. At the moment rough at the edges, either party cautious of how to proceed in fear of hurting the other or getting hurt. And that was okay.
Because eventually, it would smoothen out.
And eventually, maybe, just maybe, it would bloom into something beautiful-- something hopefully more than friendship.
