If a character or idea would’ve been helpful to Marinette or made her life easier, it’ll be used to benefit Adrien in some way. (Or if it’s something that negatively affected Marinette, it’ll positively affect Adrien.)
- Kaalki would’ve enabled Marinette to escape off the train and back to Paris in “Hack-San” and thus no replacement Ladybug would be necessary and thus there would be no Adrichat shilling scene where she promises to never abandon him. (Also could’ve avoided Scarabella being nearly cataclysmed or Marinette could’ve showed up with the Horse to catch him in the act of doing so).
Meanwhile Kaalki and the use of voyage is immediately remembered in “Strike Back” to retrieve and recruit “Adrien” for the fight, and Maribug was going to use it to bring him back to Paris before Strike Back showed up anyways.
- Completely changing the name and look for a hero to pretend they’re a different person entirely/that they got replaced would’ve been SO helpful for literally ANY of the compromised temp heroes to avoid being targeted (Optygami), especially Alya (especially since she still chose to go by Rena and got only a recolor for a design change) and maybe with their safety insured Marinette would’ve potentially let them keep their miraculous instead (which would lessen the blow of the finale).
The idea however IS used for Adrien in “Kuro Neko”, but instead of doing so to deceive Shadow Moth, he’s deceiving Ladybug to keep the miraculous even after he impulsively quit.
- Risk’s powers affecting Marinette leads to her ‘making a mistake’ (that she would’ve had to be psychic to avoid) which ends up with Gabriel getting ALL the other miraculous.
Risk’s powers affecting Adrien got him to vent to Marinette about his feelings and got him to go along with the plan to switch places with Felix, keeping him in Paris completely (the trip gets cancelled anyways after Strike Back is defeated, and since Chat Noir was not neededin the fight, Adrien would’ve gotten to stay in Paris regardless even if he sat out the fight on the train).
- Su-Han and Alya’s absence in “Kuro Neko” prevent Marinette from having someone that could find a replacement for the cat instead, or at the very least call out Plagg’s blatant lies (Su-Han in particular would have), instead of having her stress out over it and be manipulated.
On the flip side, their absence means there’s nobody to find a replacement or call out Plagg’s lies, meaning there’s no one to stop Plagg’s plan to give the ring back to Adrien (since Tikki just goes along with it), meaning Adrien gets the ring back, no issue.
- Marinette is lamenting her breakup with Luka in “Gang of Secrets”, is at an emotional rock bottom, her upset is directly tied to her duties as Ladybug/Guardian and her identity. She can’t ask anyone for help without compromising herself, she directly asks for help and receives nothing from Tikki/the Kwami. Her friends then barge into her room and mess with her things, giving her no room to breathe or process.
Adrien is at an emotional low in “Glaciator 2” after a firm rejection from Ladybug, but his problems are about his heartbreak, it isn’t a problem completely hinged on his identity and it’s something that could be talked about without compromising himself/his identity as Chat. Kagami offers him help directly without him even asking for it, and unlike Marinette who’s despair was made worse by her friends trying to pry and force her to talk with little regard to her feelings, Adrien is instantly comforted by Marinette attempting to give him a gift and Gabriel calling off the akuma and bringing him home with an offer to talk about it, no invasive attempts to get him to talk are made and his feelings aren’t disregarded.
- Luka finding out Marinette’s identity in Truth would’ve not only given her a more reliable confidant than Alya, but Lukanette’s relationship would’ve stayed intact and thereby avoided a lot of the things that went wrong for Marinette throughout the season. (Truth could’ve been avoided altogether, GOS wouldn’t have happened, Sentibubbler wouldn’t have happened, etc). See this post for a full breakdown: here.
Luka finding out Adrien’s identity (along with Marinette’s) makes it so not only can Luka be used to support the square (as well as a writing excuse to keep him away since his presence would break the paper thin plots the writers present us with), but him finding out the way he did and not telling Marinette about it ONLY serves to protect Adrien (if Luka was made to divulge how he found out their identities, Chat would be painted in a bad light to Maribug, Luka keeping quiet effectively shields Adrien from consequences).
- Speaking of Luka, him specifically being in the finale would’ve probably saved the miraculous from getting taken, as well as minimizing any collateral damage from Strike Back. There’s little-to-no chance SB could absorb his Second Chance ability (especially since doing so seems to require direct contact going by the other times it absorbed any abilities) so he could reverse damage as well as be able to warn the other heroes about Strike Back. Then he would’ve immediately caught onto the fact that Flairmidable was an imposter, with how Maribug was fawning over him Luka would likely put two and two together and realize she thinks it’s Adrien when he knows it can’t be. He’d have to come clean to her about his knowledge of their identities, but that would enable them to put a stop to Felix before he pulled what he did with the Dog miraculous. Meaning Gabriel doesn’t get all the miraculous.
Luka not being present in the finale makes the fight more dire, more collateral damage happens, and with no one to call out Felix, Felix runs off, hands Gabriel all the miraculous, and gives Adrien exactly what he wants: Ladybug having him and only him to rely on, with no backup. No more having to “feel replaced” and no more sharing her with the others. He is made her “most important partner” by being made her ONLY OPTION.
This is alljustfrom season 4, and even then I’m sure there’s ones I’ve forgotten.
summary: “i mean,” marinette says frustratedly, ready to tear her hair out - you will never believe the number of rants she has told chloe and kagami and the nights she has spent obsessing over it, “i’m in love with both of you!”
Marinette Dupain-Cheng is unaware of her surroundings as she sketches into her book.
Unfortunately, this is what causes her to trip over a stray root in the ground.
Preparing herself for the hard ground, Marinette is surprised when she feels a pair of arms wrapping around her. “I’ve got you!” A bright voice says.
Looking up, Marinette’s cheeks pink in embarrassment. “Thank you! And sorry for falling into you,”
A dark-haired boy next to the one who caught her snorts.. “You didn’t. He just hadto catch you.”
Frowning, Marinette stares at him. Rude.
The blonde-haired boy who caught her, notices her look and laughs. “Don’t worry about him. Damian’s always grumpy.” He smiles at her and holds out his hand. “I’m Jonathan Kent - call me Jon - and this one here,” he gestures to Damian. “Is Damian Wayne.”
Damian looks at her as if he’s expecting a reaction from her but Marinette just shakes Jon’s hand and says, “I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Nice to meet you.”
Jon looks surprised too, as if he was expecting something from her. Weird.But Damian’s name doesseem familiar…
Shrugging it off, Marinette asks them, “Do you both live in Gotham?”
Shaking his head, Jon says, “I don’t but Damian does.”
Again, Damian looks like he’s expecting a reaction.
“What about you?” Jon asks. “I haven’t seen you around before.”
“Oh, I’m on vacation.”
“Here?” Damian asks her skeptically. “Most people go to New York.”
“Weweregoing to go to New York,” Marinette says, remembering all the plans she and her family had made, “But then, when we were boarding, the attendant said myticket said I was supposed to go to Gotham. So my parents booked a hotel room for me and took off for New York while I came to Gotham.”
Even Jon looks surprised now. “Your parents just leftyou?” he asks, as if he can’t fathom the idea.
“Yes?” Marinette says, even though it sounds more like a question than a statement. “They trust me too because it’s been like this for most of my life, anyway. It’s not new.”
Both the boys stare at her like she’s insane.
“But that’s not how it’s supposed to-” Jon is cut off when Damian elbows him in the side.
“You can join us for the rest of your trip, if you want,” he offers.
Marinette eyes him suspiciously. On one hand, this trip wouldbe more fun with some friends (she didn’t really interact with hers ever since Lie-la appeared) but this was Gotham. She did her research on the plane and it wasthe most crime-ridden city in the world.
Hesitating, Marinette nods her head. “Okay.”
***
“You say her parents took off to New York and let her come to Gotham on her own?”
Bruce and Clark are both looking at Jon and Damian with shock.
Nodding firmly, Damian answers, “Yes. Apparently, there was some mix-up in the tickets.”
“But who doesthat?” Bruce asks with more than a little bit of disgust.
Jonathan shrugs. “Neglectful parents, obviously. But that’s not why we’re here. Damian asked Marinette to hang out with us for the rest of her trip so-”
Clark interrupts. “Damianasked her?”
“Yes, I did,” Damian says, rolling his eyes. What was the big deal?
“Believe me, I was shocked too,” Jon whispers loudly. “But anyway, we’re going to ask her to stay in the Manor so that she’s safe.”
“Yes,” Bruce says thoughtfully. “I think that would be a good idea. We’ll just have to be a little more careful about our nightly activities.”
“Then it’s settled.”
***
Jon rolls his eyes playfully as everyone fights over who gets to call Marinette for dinner.
It was actually kind of disturbing to see how she managed to get everyone wrapped around her fingers.
“It’smyturn-” Stephanie was shouting.
Tim scoffs and interrupts her. “You alwayssay that, Steph. I’mgoing to go.” He stands up but immediately Jason lunges towards the door to run to Marinette’s room.
Almost everyone starts protesting when Tim does that because he’salways the one to say that and he knows it too.
Jon snickers when he sees the expression on Bruce’s face. It’s the I’m-going-to-adopt-this-childexpression.
“Oh, no, B,” says Dick, having noticed the expression too, “Don’t you dareadopt Marinette.”
Everyone goes silent and stares at Bruce - who freezes with the expression on his face.
And then two seconds later, everyone is listing the reasons why he can’t adopt her ( “She already has parents!” “ Neglectfulones-” “You don’t know that!” ) and then Damian and Jon are out of the room.
“I can’t believeFather is considering adopting Angel.” Damian grumbles as they walk up the stairs.
You’re saying that because then you won’t be able to date her, Jon wants to say but he stops himself just in time.
Though none of them had said it outright, it was clear both of them were completely smitten by Marinette.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Jon knocks and opens the door to Marinette’s room just as she’s walking out from a portal as the French superheroine Ladybug?
Jesus Christ, things just got a lotcomplicated.
***
Marinetteswearsshe never meant for this to happen. Honest.
She didn’t know Chat Noir wouldn’t show up to Style Queen and so she had to fight against the akuma herself - making her late.
She was distracted the whole time, her thoughts ultimately going to the email she received from the Style Queen herself. Come with me to New York, and I’ll make all your fashion dreams come true.
Needless to say, she was exhausted when she portaled into her room into Wayne Manor - she was pretty sure she burst Damian and Jon’s eardrums when she figured out who Damian was - and thus didn’t realize her friends were in the room until one of them made some kind of noise.
“Oops?” she says when Marinette sees them standing at her door.
Tikki snorts, devouring her cookie while Kaalki sniffs haughtily.
Ultimately, the first thing they say is, “ What are those?” pointing at Tikki and Kaalki.
Oh right. She forgot about them.
***
“So you’re telling me, you’re a superhero with magical kwamis?” Jon asks and Damian winces at the high pitch.
“Also,” says the horse-like one. “This one,” it says pointing at Jon. “Is not a human.”
Dear god, why? Why did this have to happen?
After the explanation, the first thing she says is:
“I can’t believe this.” Marinette has this glazed expression on her face.
“Can’t believe what?” asks Jason, leaning against the door.
Jon opens his mouth to tell some flimsy lie (for someone who can detect lies, he’s terrible at lying himself) but Marinette points at Jason and glaresat him.
“You,” she hisses and Damian shudders - reminding himself to never piss off Marinette. “Have a terriblefashion sense. Like seriously, whowears a tin can on their head and calls themselves Red Hood? ”
Jason only gapes at her.
***
By the end of the summer, Marinette can guarantee that she knows who Hawkmoth is. The only thing she needs to do now is to catch him and Mayura and strip them of their miraculous.
“Promise you’ll message us?” Jon asks with those puppy eyes she can’t resist.
Hugging him, Marinette laughs. “Yes, Jon. I promiseto message you.”
“You better,” Damian mutters as he leans in for his own hug.
Marinette snickers at the shocked expression on his brothers’ faces.
“Don’t forget about us, Pixie,” Jason yells as if he’s miles away from her.
Giggling, Marinette waves at her friends as she walks to the limousine. “I won’t!”
Present time…
“Hello?” Marinette asks into the phone, hoping the offer is still around.
“What?” Audrey Bourgeois snaps into the phone. “Whoever you are, you better hurry. I’m a busy woman, you know. Who gave you my number anyway? Zara! Zayna, Zara, whatever. Did you give my number to anyone-”
Tikki smiles at her holder fondly. “At least she won’t have to deal with parents who don’t care about her anymore.”
Almost immediately, Kagami’s face darkens. “I can’t believe they just kickedyou out like that.”
Shrugging, Marinette says, “Eh. It doesn’t really matter anymore. I’m over it. It’s not like they spent much time with me anyway.”
Seeing as the topic was spoiling everyone’s mood, Marinette’s eyes light up. “So, what’s New York like?”
“Oh my kwami, you will never believe it but it’s like no one ever restshere-”
Marinette couldn’t wait to get to New York.
“Marinette!” Audrey calls.
Banging her head on the table, Marinette groans. Will Audrey never leave her alone for 10 minutes? She hasn’t even gotten round to designingyet.
“Yes?” she says, exasperated.
“Come here, young lady,” Audrey claps her hands together. “I have an appointment and I want you to attend it.”
Why did she have to deal with this now?
“Well?” Audrey taps her foot impatiently waiting for a response. “You know, if you don’t want to do it-”
Hurriedly, Marinette answers. “Of course, I want to do it. I was just getting my stuff.”
“Good,” Audrey says with satisfaction and Marinette trades an eye roll with Tikki.
***
Marinette is ridiculously relieved she didn’t turn down Audrey’s offer to attend the appointment. Because like some of the most famouspeople in the world were there - Tony Stark and Steve Rogers with their son Peter Parker.
“So, what can Style Queen do for you?” Audrey asks professionally.
Steve Rogers clears his throat. “We need suits for the Wayne Gala. Preferably formal ones with a personal flair.”
Audrey shoots Marinette a pointed look she doesn’t miss. It was common knowledge that thiswas Marinette’s specialty.
“Well, then, I suppose you’re looking for a designer such as Marinette, here,” and Tony Stark - Tony Stark! - smiles at her. Audrey continues, “Her specialty is adding a personal addition to clothes.”
“You’re Jagged Stone’s personal designer!” Peter says with enthusiasm. “Wow! Your designs are amazing!”
Feeling her cheeks warm with embarrassment at the praise, Marinette responds with a “Thank you,”
By the end of the meeting, Marinette has been tasked with designing New York’s power couple and son’s suits for the Wayne Gala.
***
2 weeks later…
Honestly, Marinette doesn’t even know how it happened.
‘It’ being her getting adopted by Tony Stark and Steve Rogers.
◇─◇──◇─◇
Because she was designing for them, Marinette often had to go to their tower for measurements and such.
And somehow, the trio had managed to weasel the story out of Marinette, as shown below:
“So Marinette,” Tony asks casually as she measures Peter. “How did you end up in New York? I highly doubt your parents would have let you come here alone with only a few friends without much argument.”
“Well,” Marinette says absent-mindedly. “They actually kicked me out.”
Steve chokes on the water he was drinking. “What?” he asked while coughing.
“Yeah,” Marinette still doesn’t realize what she’s saying because she’s so focused and as a result, misses Tikki’s urgent stare. “It all started because of some liar in my school. She turned all of my friends against me using her lies and then it started spiralling from there.”
By the time she’s done measuring all three of them, Marinette has narrated the whole story and only realized once she was done. “So my mom gave me an ultimatum - either stop bullying her or leave - and I chose the second option because clearly they didn’t trust me and-”
Marinette suddenly claps a hand over her mouth.
“And what?” Tony encourages her, already thinking of pulling a ‘Brucie’ as they referred to it and adopt her.
Slapping a hand on her forehead, Marinette groans. “Why am I even telling you this?”
“Because Tony asked,” Peter says oh-so-helpfully.
“Come on,” Steve urges, “Finish the story!”
“But I’m not supposed to be telling you this,” Marinette protests because isn’t there a rule about professionality or something?
Tony groans and says, “You can’t just stop there!”
Seeing as they weren’t going to take no for an answer, Marinette finished the so-called story. “I had an offer from Audrey about 3 years ago so I called her up, and voila,” she says, “here I am.”
2 days later, Tony and Steve are asking her how she would feel if they adopted her.
Let’s just say:
Someone’s eardrums hadto have burst that day and that there was a lot of blood.
(Not in thatsense! She was sewing and she pricked herself hardwith the pin!)
◇─◇──◇─◇
But yes, that was how she ended up here - signing the papers legally binding her to Tony Stark and Steve Rogers with Bucky Barnes being her surrogate guardian.
“You know,” Tony says casually and Marinette feels an eerie sense of deja vu. “We have to introduce you to the press before someone gets wind of this.”
Sheknewthis was coming and yet she flops onto the couch. “Do we haveto?” she whines.
Peter pats her head condescendingly, much as an older brother would do. “Yes, you haveto,” he emphasizes and Marinette whacks him on the shoulder.
“Ouch!” He glares at her, rubbing his injured limb.
Ignoring their bickering, Steve continues and says, “So we were thinking…”
Damian huffed as he checked his suit for wrinkles. “Do we haveto come?” he grumbles.
“Yes, you do,” Father says sternly. “But you might want to stay till the end,” he continues, eyes twinkling in a way that distrubed Damian. “There’s a surprise for both of you.”
And promptly, he walks out.
“What kind of surprise do you think it will be?” Jon asks, running a hand through his slicked back hair.
“If I knew, wouldn’t I be telling you?” Damian answers, still annoyed he has to come.
Satisfied with his hair, Jon nods. “Point.”
***
When Father said there was surprise, Damian thought, thiswas not what he had in mind.
Thisbeing his good, good friend (and Jon’s), Marinette Dupain-Cheng - who looked verybeautiful - being adopted by Tony Stark and Steve Rogers.
While the press is eating it up, Damian and Jon turn accusingly on Father and Clark.
“Youknewabout this,” Damian says.
“And you didn’t think to tellus?” Jon finishes.
Rolling his eyes, Jason adds his (unwanted) smartass comment. “That’s what a surprisemeans, you know.”
“Shut up, Todd,” Damian bites.
Anything else he was going to say was cut off when a blue-haired girl threw her arms around Damian and Jon.
“Damian! Jon!” she said brightly, hugging them. “I haven’t seen you in so long!”
Hugging her back, Damian is unable to stop himself when his lips tug up into a small smile. “You couldn’t be bothered to tellus you were getting adopted?”
Her smile turning mischievous, Marinette says, “I wanted it to be a surprise. So I told everyone except for you.”
“I figured,” Jon mumbled, his face still buried in Marinette’s neck.
Over her head, they exchange a look, they were going to tell her tonight.
And Marinette would make her choice.
“Wait,” Marinette stares at both Damian and Jon. “You bothare in love with me?”
“Yes,” Damian says seriously. “And we need you to make a choice so that the other can try and move on.”
Marinette bites her lip. What if she didn’t want to choose?
Dammit, why did shealways make the hard decisions in life? She was in love with bothof them, she couldn’t just say yes to one and no to the other!
“Well?” Jon shifts uncomfortably, waiting for her answer.
“I don’t…I don’t know-?” she whispers, examining her hand. “I don’t know who to choose!”
They both gape at her with open mouths. “What do you mean?” Damian finally asks.
“I mean,” she says frustratedly, ready to tear her hair out - you will never believe the number of rants she has told Chloe and Kagami and the nights she has spent obsessing over it, “I’m in love with both of you !”
When she finishes saying that, she is breathing hard while Damian and Jon look like someone threw a brick on their face.
“What?” Jon breathes.
Cheeks warming now, Marinette repeats, “I’m in love with both of you.”
They exchange a look - one Marinette doesn’t understand.
The next second, Damian is kissing her and then Jon is.
Smiling shyly at her, Jon says, “Maybe we could try-”
“-a poly relationship?” Damian finishes.
In response, she kisses both of them again.
By the time he, Damian and Marinette return to the party, Tony, Steve and Bucky are looking at Jon and Damian with vaguely threatening eyes.
“Damian, Jon,” Tony says, not-at-all threateningly. “Would you mind coming in private for a second?”
marinette’s parents are literally the cutest couple I’ve ever seen. They’re just so cute and Sabine is actually superwoman and deserves more recognition
