Crimson Beetle and Chartreux Noire
also known as the Feral Jocks Au is a Miraculous Ladybug Series Fic and AU by Symphonic Scream on Archive of Our Own.
The premise is that instead of the canon choice of Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste as the series protagonists and holders of the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses, Kim le Chien and Alix Kubdel, two background characters in canon, are placed in the spotlight instead. It deepens the universe of Miraculous beyond just Marinette and Adrien's world revolving story in Canon, with a mostly light-hearted tone that takes dips into more serious and intimate moments of deep and understanding emotions.
It has 43 chapters as of now.
This fanfic contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents/Parental Abandonment: Chloé acknowledges her abusive mother in canon who treats her like trash and made her treat others like trash in an attempt to copy her.
- Adaptational Heroism: Chloé becomes a more heroic and kinder character compared to her canon counterpart. Along with Lila who becomes a hero in Season Four, according to the author’s blog.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Alix is written to be much smarter than she normally perceived in canon, with grades equal to or better than Max, The Smart Guy of the class, due to her historian family background.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Multiple characters are confirmed in the story to be LGBTQ+, a few being:
- Kim is bisexual.
- Alix, Juleka, and Chloé are lesbians.
- Max is gay.
- Cliffhanger: After Antibeetle, it's revealed that Sabrina watched the entire event occurring, spawning the next chapter Vanisher.
- Darker and Edgier: Some backstories entail more darker elements than implied in canon. Most apparent in Troublemaker which reveals the grueling fate of Kagami's father Hisao Tsurugi, who died via lung stab from two men attempting to kidnap her at age eight.
- Dead All Along: The author led Hisao Tsurugi on as alive, by having Kagami use present tense words for his existence and implying that he was maybe even divorced from Tomoe Tsurugi, but it turns out, he is not alive at all anymore.
- Everyone Can See It:
- For much of the fic, until Princess Fragrance, Juleka is teased for her apparent crush on her best friend and future girlfriend Rose.
- Hilariously, the same characters who tease her are also teased by Juleka for their own romantic plots of their own, as she sees through them as well.
- In Spite of a Nail: Many of the akumas still happen and events during those attacks as well. Like Chartreux being hit by Dark Cupid’s arrow, Copycat trying to steal her identity, or Chloé becoming the bee holder.
- Jerkass Realization: Chloé realizes she was an Alpha Bitch to many people due to her issues with her mother and decides wants to be better.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Alix, as Chartreux Noire, beats up Dark Blade like this.
- Parental Substitute: Caline Bustier, the class’s teacher, becomes a mother-like figure to Chloé
- Point of Divergence:
- Because Kim and Alix have taken the roles of the main protagonists, many things change due to them and their less strategic and careful way of life in comparison to Ladybug and Chat Noir. Like akumas or choices or heroes.
- Hero example being Kagami as the fox hero instead of Rena Rouge.
- The Poorly Chosen One: Master Fu quickly comes to view Kim and Alix as this, despite being the one who picked them, due to their recklessness and general attitude. He attempts to rectify this by giving Kagami the Fox Miraculous, hoping she’ll balance out the other two.
- Running Gag: Chartreux Noire always seems to break through windows no matter what for a Dramatic Entrance.
- Secret-Keeper: According to the blog, Chloé discovers the identities of her hero teammates and keeps it a secret to herself.
- Shout-Out:
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Vanisher delivers this during her angry rant against Chloé. Venting about how she was treated in a Blinded by Rage moment.
