So, I've been thinking about the most simple, but classic, kind of AU in Miraculous: Mr. Bug and Lady Noire. A straight Kwami swap between the main cast. First off I just think it's good clean fun as far as AU's go, but also, it's started to hit me that I'm not a super big fan of how the general move with these AU's is to mirror cannon very closely, and really only swap whose in what role of the love square.
I most commonly see Adrien basically just being ladybug, even insisting on secret identities and all that, and Marinette taking chat noires role basically blow for blow, without adding much from her own character to it as a twist.
Or the reverse is true and mr. Bug is just cat noire with a different miraculous, and vice versa.
Don't get me wrong, there are also many bangers based in this idea, I've just been picking at a few pet peeves in my head and can't shake them.
As such, you are now getting Mr. Bug and Lady Noire my style! Because it's stuck in my head and needs to get out.
First things first, I actually think Adrien and Marinette might mesh better with their partners miraculous than their own, at least in some ways.
Adrien is a young man who has never had control over his life, never been in charge, and never had any kind of freedom. But he has an intensely strong moral compass and a desire to do what's right, he's got a pretty quintessential hero style personality.
Cat Noire gave Adrien freedom to be silly and goofy and learn who he was outside his father's control. The Chaos of destruction basically being freeing for him. But Mr. Bug could also easily be that for the kid, and then some. Because yes, Adrien as the ladybug holder would have more responsibility as he'd be in charge of the team, but that's a kind of freedom all its own. Adrien is for the first time in his life being trusted to be in charge of something. Not being watched over like a hawk, not being micromanaged, someone has put their faith in him to lead.
That pressure is strong, yes, but it's also the kind of thing that builds self esteem, teaches you how to think for yourself, and how to stand up for yourself. Adrien has been a follower his whole life, learning to be a leader, to embrace the creativity and the ultimate freedom that creation is that has been strategically crushed out of him, would do so much good for the poor guy.
I think he'd be nervous, but also take his role so seriously. He'd train, he'd study strategy, he'd throw himself into this life with just as much joy as he did Chat Noire, embracing the challenge and the pressure because it's finally something that Adrien is doing that isn't for his father. Every day he wakes up and puts on his suit is a choice he makes. Every moment spent as Mr. Bug is a moment where he's in control of his life and is actually listened to and respected. When he can be confident instead of meek. Brave and strong instead of terrified to face his father.
I think the big thing he wouldn't be able to keep up though is the secret identity thing. I can't see Adrien insisting on it as Mr. Bug, and I can't see a non-leader Marinette ever really caring as much as she does as ladybug. Doubly so for reasons I'm about to explain.
See, as much as I like Mr. Bug for Adrien, Lady Noire is honestly the reason I wanted to write this AU, because Marinette with the black cat is solid gold for so many reasons.
First off, Mari was always going to be a better second in command and advisor than a straight up leader. She's brilliant, creative, and her brain makes great connections no one else does, sure. But she's also a spastic, disorganized, hyperactive and impulsive mess. Speaking as one of those myself I'm not throwing shade here, but I know from experience that this kind of person nearly always works better as an "idea guy". Mari has the ideas, but somebody else is probably always going to be able to streamline them into something more workable, and actually implement them better.
As for taking orders and serving as the actor/soldier to Mr. Bugs leader/more backline role, Marinette is naturally like that. When she first meets Alya you literally see her defaulting to the girls ideas and plans. Yes, she absolutely has a mind of her own and is more than capable of independent action, but Mari is most comfortable and effective when either following someone else's vision, or when having her vision being guided and tempered by another person.
Mari is chaos, Adrien is order. In cannon this is why they get the opposite miraculous, to balance them. But honestly I think it just stresses the kids out. I mean, just look at the Kwami interactions. Adrien could really use the up front love and very obvious and unconditional affection that Tikki has for her wielders, considering how little of that he gets normally, and Marinette could really use someone who gets her brand of chaos and instead of pushing her to contain it, helps her express it positively.
Jumping back to Lady Noire, mari's overly dedicated nature and tendency to obsess over a task is also something that makes her a better Cat. Why? Because one of the cat holders main jobs is keeping their Bug safe no matter what. They fill a bodyguard role that we see Adrien take time and time again. And yes, he's good at it.
But Marinette would take it to another level. Because the moment she's told by Plagg "it's our job to keep him safe." She is going to throw herself into that harder than anything we've seen in cannon. Because at her core, through all her faults, the reason she meddles with her friends lives so much is that Mari is a protector and a fixer at heart. She fixes problems and guards from danger. She's like a livestock guardian dog with no job to do, she makes trouble trying to protect people who might not need it because she lacks a current job/charge. So if she actually had one? Mari would be both a lot healthier, and also so freaking dedicated to that specific charge and whatever it took to keep them safe.
So the moment Marinette is shown this sweet sunshine boy who's brilliant, but nervous and unsure, and is told "This is your boss, you gotta keep him safe both from the badguy and himself. Careful, he has anxiety." so much would happen to quick.
First off, she would probably start insisting she needed to know Mr. Bugs identity basically from the jump, for the sole reason that she can't actually keep him safe if she doesn't know where he is 70% of the time. Because what if something happens to him in real life? When Lady Noire isn't their to keep him safe? What if he gets mugged and it goes wrong? Or he's someone important in real life and he gets kidnapped? Or he trips down the stairs and breaks his neck because their isn't anyone their who is constantly ready to catch him?
And Adrien being Adrien and thus not at all prepared for someone to care this much about him, would absolutely not be able to hold out against the very gorgeous woman in the leather catsuit demanding to know who he was so she can make sure he gets home safe every night.
Cue protective Lady Noire, in a way that absolutely bleeds over into Adrien and Marinette that is funny in the extreme. Since I imagine that this happens very early on in their partnership, it probably happens before Adrien realizes how awful Chloe is and before he ends their friendship. So Marinette is now 1000% dedicated to protecting Adrien, physically, mentally, and emotionally. And she is now very aware that his only friend is Chloe, and she can’t justify separating them because as much as she hates Chloe, she very much is Adrien’s friend in a life where he has basically no one else. A life she now very much needs to be a part of herself to protect her partner and Paris’s most important hero.
So instead of all the stuff we see in cannon unfolding with Adrien gradually ending up with Marinette and her friend group, Mari just starts showing up at Chloe’s table with Adrien. And at first Chloe tries her usual BS to Mari to try and drive her off, but is thrown for a loop when Adrien says he doesn’t want his two very good friends to fight, and introduces Marinette as “a friend I forgot to tell you about” or something to that effect. Chloe very quickly realizes that she can’t just bully Mari away or dismiss her the way she normally would without upsetting Adrien, and Marinette can’t go after Chloe like Plagg encourages her(and she wants) too, because so long as she’s a more positive than negative force in Adrien’s life, her new black cat protective instincts tell her to keep the girl around. Because lord knows her poor bug needs all the love and friendship he can get.
For awhile it is very much just “and Marinette is here” and Chloe is clearly bugged by it, but if anyone asks questions about it she has to act like it’s actually her idea or else she will look like she’s not in control like she wants to be, which will challenge the iron grip of control she has on the school. And if anybody actually bullies Marinette, Chloe needs to step in and shut that shit down immediately, because whether she likes it or not, Mari is now hanging out with her, and if she lets other people bully Mari and call her a dork, they might start seeing her as a dork by association.
Their first bonding experience is the moment that they both realize they absolutely despise Gabriel Agreste and the way he treats Adrien with enough passion to commit a murder. This, more than anything, mends a lot of bridges.
Speaking of hating Gabriel, Lady Noire is way more in tune with, and susceptible to, Plagg and his ideas/ideals. She’s more impulsive, more violent, and more decisive than Chat is in cannon. It would only take so much of hearing and seeing the way that Gabriel treats Adrien before she gets pissed off, and it would only take one vent session with Plagg that ends in Plagg suggesting they put the fear of death in the man to actually have Lady Noire breaking into Gabriel’s room at 3 AM and threatening to melt his face if he doesn’t shape the fuck up.
I also love the idea that it’s actually marinette’s idea to give Chloe the bee, specifically coming from a day where Adrien puts himself in harm's way to keep Marinette safe. And when he suggests they might need more miraculous holders to make sure it doesn’t happen again, Chloe appears in Mari’s head as the one other person who she trusts to do everything in their power to keep her idiot hero safe on the battlefield. Queen Bee would take a bullet for Adrien, so if she knows Adrien is Mister bug, she’ll do the same for him. And Mari can get behind someone willing to die for her boy. Even if they’re only kinda sorta friends in real life right now.
This is more or less all I have on this for now. It might be all I ever write on it IDK. But is was fun, so there's that.
Also.... a lot. I wrote a lot. More than I thought. Huh.
