After saving somebody from being hit by a car, Marinette Dupain-Cheng makes it to school to find that nothing has changed, save for something she couldn't possibly have been aware of. For when the New Transfer Student steps in to defend her from Chloe's usual cruelties, it's not Alya Césaire that speaks up, but Lila Rossi, who declares her intention to become the new queen of their school.
Awed by her confidence, her poise, her connections, Marinette becomes convinced that whatever 'destiny' chose her to become a superheroine, they must have gotten it wrong. Surely Paris would be better off with somebody like Lila protecting it...
So begins Dodged A Beetle
, a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic by imthepunchlord that explores a world where Alya and Lila switch places, with the latter arriving at Francoise Dupont right at the start of the new school year. As a result, after her debut goes sideways, Marinette secretly slips the Earrings to her, leading to the debut of Bella Stella.
This fanfic includes instances of:
- Adaptational Protagonist: Because Marinette gives Lila the Ladybug earrings, it's Lila who becomes Paris' beloved hero, Bella Stella, working alongside Chat Noir and being mentored by Tikki. While the narrative occasionally flashes to Marinette's Point of View, she is a Decoy Protagonist and most of the story is about Lila's superheroing exploits and attempts to make Adrien fall in love with her.
- All Take and No Give: Lila's behavior throughout "Celebrate?" causes Tikki to realize that this is one of her new holder's biggest issues, as she manipulates Marinette and Nino into 'helping her' arrange a birthday party for Adrien... by having them do all the work while she attempts to hog all the credit.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: When Lila witnesses the footage of Ladybug and Chat Noir's big debut, she's immediately envious, wondering why she couldn't have been one of them. She soon gets her chance... and promptly learns just how stressful the superhero lifestyle is.
- Because Destiny Says So: Tikki insisted to Marinette that she was fated to become Ladybug. As that didn't actually reassure or comfort Marinette at all, she decided to Screw Destiny and pass the Earrings over to somebody she believed deserved them: Lila Rossi.
- A Birthday, Not a Break: "Celebrate?" establishes that Adrien isn't used to celebrating his birthday, as he states he's never had a party before. Said party also gets interrupted by Gorizilla kidnapping him.
- Blaming the Victim: During "Fair's Fair?", Mayor Bourgeois tries to get Marinette and Lila arrested after the latter calls out Chloé for tripping the former during Parent Career Day.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Tikki brushes up against this by virtue of being so singularly focused upon her ideas of 'perfection' that she seems utterly incapable of recognizing where, how and why she's failing to connect with her holders.
- Both Sides Have a Point: In "Fair's Fair", Marinette and Lila run into this. While Lila acknowledges Marinette is right that an innocent man shouldn't lose his job just because they were calling Chloé out, she also counters that Chloé has gotten away with her bullying for far too long.
- Brutal Honesty: Tikki tells Marinette outright that she considers her to be a liability, showing No Sympathy for her panicking at the immense amount of pressure she's placing upon her.
- Bullying a Dragon: Lila silently notes the sheer bullheaded stupidity of Chloé harassing Ivan after he was turned into Stoneheart the day before, noting that if he transforms again and attacks her, it will be entirely her own fault.
- Didn't Think This Through: Lila skips class in order to visit the Agreste Manor and ask Gabriel to let her throw a birthday party for Adrien. Gabriel asks her outright why she's not at school, taking her blithe attempt to brush it off as further evidence that she's a poor influence.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Lila isn't exactly thrilled when Tikki responds to her self-summary about how she gets attention and love from others by softly replying "That's not love, Lila."
- Dramatic Irony: The day after Stoneheart's initial assault, Lila sees how shaken Marinette is and tries to reassure her by declaring that the new heroes will keep them safe, unaware that her words aren't helping settle Mari's nerves since she was one of those heroes.
- Establishing Character Moment: Gabriel's very first scene has him ripping Lila's fashion sense to shreds, followed by attempting to akumatize her.
- Exact Words: When Lila demands to know where Tikki slipped off to, she tells her that she visited her "coworker", letting Lila assume that she meant Plagg rather than somebody she didn't yet know about.
- Failed a Spot Check:
- Downplayed; when Marinette slips the box into Lila's bag, she does notice the movement, but mistakes it for Marinette putting something into her own bag.
- During the second Stoneheart fight, nobody notices when Marinette manages to grab his dropped paper.
- Foil:
- Plagg, like Tikki, is shown to be dismissive and derisive of his partner's emotional state. At the same time, he's more acutely aware of what drives him, such as immediately pegging that Adrien has abandonment issues, and slightly adjusts his approach in an attempt to compensate, whereas Tikki gives no shits and shows no sympathy whatsosever.
- Wayzz is shown to be far more attuned and understanding, and immediately criticizes Tikki on her Lack of Empathy, warning her that she can't simply expect humans to turn off their emotions.
- Framing the Guilty Party: While Lila didn't actually see Chloé trip Marinette, she insists otherwise, letting the Rich Bitch's own reputation for constantly bullying the baker's daughter sink her.
- Freudian Excuse Denial: Lila really doesn't like Tikki suggesting that her various lies and manipulations can be traced back to her issues with parental betrayal, abandonment and alienation.
- Glory Hound: Lila becomes Bella Stella for the sake of basking in the admiration and adulation heroes earn through their service. She's not so keen on the having to earn it part, mind you...
- Hoist by His Own Petard: By sneaking out of school early in order to go meet with Gabriel, claiming to be one of Adrien's friends, Lila only succeeded in making him more suspicious of her, with him insulting her attire and ordering her to stay away from his son.
- Horrible Judge of Character:
- Due to a mixture of her crippling anxiety and Lila's kindness towards her, Marinette swiftly becomes convinced that she'd make a far better hero. She also tends to gloss over little 'hiccups' in the other girl's behavior, offering the leeway she refused to give herself.
- Downplayed with Tikki, who shoves her suspicions about Lila aside and brutally tells Marinette that she was right to pass the Earrings on to her.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every chapter ends with a question mark, underscoring Lila's deceptive nature.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Marinette still makes a scarf for Adrien's birthday, which is then passed off as a gift from somebody else.
- Internal Reveal: During "Celebrate?", Tikki cottons on to Lila's true nature, and Lila offers her a brief summation of her past.
- It's All My Fault:
- Marinette blames herself for how badly the first battle with Stoneheart went. After giving the lyrics sheet to Mylene, she muses that if he manifests again for the third day in a row, it'll be due to her bad luck, and that she'll have to leave Paris just to spare everyone.
- After the switch is made, Adrien wonders whether Ladybug left because of him.
- Lack of Empathy: Tikki is so focused on molding others into being 'their best possible selves' that she fails to see how much her methods hurt Marinette, making her anxiety spike higher and higher with every callous comment and reminder that she has to make things work.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- Lila gets hit hard with this during "Celebrate?" Not only does her Taking Advantage of Generosity cause Tikki to realize that her new holder is a Manipulative Bitch, but her scheme also inadvertently helps break the ice between Adrien and the rest of the class, helping him grow closer to them while her own relationship with him remains strained. On top of this, she accidentally put herself on Gabriel's radar as somebody trying to cozy up to his son, getting summarily insulted and ordered to stay away from Adrien.
- More Insulting than Intended: Tikki's 'pep talks' to Marinette tend to have the polar opposite effect, due to her not particularly caring about the impact of her words.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Not only did Tikki completely and utterly fail to convince Marinette that she was capable of rising to the challenge of protecting Paris, she puts further pressure on her former bearer by telling her that she must keep Lila safe and ensure her happiness, giving Marinette further motivation to smooth over any concerns she has over her friend's behavior.
- No Listening Skills:
- Bella Stella immediately gets this impression of Chat Noir after he responds to one of her sarcastic quips by eschewing any sense of strategy and bum-rushing Stoneheart.
- After the switch is made, Adrien asks Plagg if he might have been responsible for Ladybug's decision to quit. Despite his kwami listing off several other possibilities, he latches onto the passing acknowledgement that she might have decided she didn't like him, refusing to acknowledge the other options offered.
- Opportunistic Bastard: Not only is Gabriel more than happy to exploit anyone's Moment of Weakness to akumatize them, he takes advantage of the birthday party debacle by informing Adrien that he won't be attending the Parent Career Day, "as punishment" for Adrien's failure to communicate with his father. Gabriel never actually intended on going in the first place, and simply uses the incident as an excuse while guilt-tripping his son.
- Point of Divergence:
- Lila Rossi effectively swaps places with Alya as the New Transfer Student who arrives at the start of the year, and winds up with the Ladybug Earrings, becoming Bella Stella.
- Marinette is naturally warier of Adrien, seeing him as Chloé's friend first and foremost. Rather than the 'Umbrella Scene' from canon, Master Fu walks her home.
- Instead of Nino, Adrien's bodyguard is the one who gets akumatized on Adrien's birthday, thanks to Lila convincing Nino and Marinette to host a party in the park for him.
- Poor Communication Kills:
- Discussed during "Fair's Fair?": Adrien explains to his father that he honestly thought he'd given him permission to attend the birthday party his friends were throwing, showing him Lila's text where she claimed as much. While Gabriel acknowledges that he was lied to, he still punishes his son for not contacting him directly.
- This also comes into play when Lila irritably snaps at Tikki to "Stay away from me" when the latter won't stop prodding at her parental issues, unaware that the kwami is bound to follow her orders.
- And again during the same chapter during the battle with Rogercop. Bella Stella orders Chat Noir to use Cataclysm; he complies, but since he's not a mind reader, doesn't use his power directly on the akuma like she wanted.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder:
- When Bella Stella responds to Chat Noir asking her for a plan by asking "Aren't you capable of thinking of something on your own?", he promptly decides to charge right in, much to her horror.
- When she sarcastically asks Chloé if she'd like to put on the suit herself, Chloé immediately declares that to be a great idea, only to ask if it comes in yellow.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Mayor Bourgeois declares as much while arguing with Officer Raincromprix, countering his declaration that "Nobody is above the law" with "I am the law!"
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Lila responds to Stoneheart's first assault by making a break back to the safety of her home, and intends to convince her mother to get them out of Paris ASAP. She runs away from the second attack as well... at least, until she discovers the Earrings.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Marinette becomes one for Lila, who isn't aware that she was the original Ladybug or that she chose her as her successor.
- Shout-Out: When Tikki is trying to convince Lila that her perspective is terribly skewed, we get this exchange:Tikki:: You have this... idea of what friendship is. And it isn't you telling people what they want to hear so they can adore a fake perception of you! Real friendship is—
Lila: (sneering derisively) Is magic?
Tikki: Is powerful. - Skewed Priorities: Lila accuses Tikki of this in order to avoid one of her lectures:Lila: You really want to discuss this and not handle the akuma? (Tikki grimaces) Spots on.
- Spanner in the Works: Lila's scheme to manipulate Nino and Marinette into doing all the work to set up a party for Adrien goes sideways when Adrien mentions that he's never had a party before, spurring Nino to take him under his wing and sweep him off to ensure he has fun.
- Stealing the Credit: During Adrien's birthday, Lila tries to avoid giving Marinette any credit for the scarf she knitted for him at her request. She also manipulates her and Nino into setting up a party while trying to ensure Adrien knows she helped arrange it, though she offers them some acknowledgement.
- Tempting Fate: When facing Stormy Weather, Lila immediately identifies her umbrella as her akumatized item and thinks that it will be easy to snatch... right before Chat Noir ruins their chance to surprise her with a baton thwack.
- Turn Out Like His Father: Lila's mother dislikes seeing her daughter acting like her father, not wanting her to follow in his footsteps. Lila is aware of this, and tries to adjust her behavior around her accordingly to put her mind at ease.
- Twitchy Eye: Bella Stella develops one during the Stormy Weather fight, unamused by Chat Noir's recklessness and blithe dismissal of the danger they're facing.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Chloé shrieks at Bella Stella when the heroine dodges an attack that nearly crushes the heiress: "You left me to die!"
- Wayzz sums up one of Tikki's Fatal Flaws when he tells her outright that "You can't just tell a human to never get upset."
- Tikki isn't impressed by Lila's attempt to strongarm her way into Adrien's fashion shoot in the park, scolding her for interrupting their work.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Lila's mother is constantly busy with work, leading to a lot of lengthy absences and broken promises. Lila insists that this has nothing to do with her manipulative, attention-seeking behavior.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
- Played With through Tikki, who illustrates what happens when you deliver these sort of speeches with a jarring Lack of Empathy for your target, insisting that they must live up to your lofty expectations.
- Master Fu, meanwhile, offers a straighter example when he walks Marinette home in the rain and thanks her for saving him before.
