Fanfic / Leave for Mendeleiev

Marinette's Significant Wardrobe Shift. Art by zoee-oneesama

Leave for Mendeleiev is a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic written by imthepunchlord on tumblr. They co-created the AU along with zoe-oneesama and miraculouscontent.

Marinette is dreading the new school year, another year of having to share a class with her bully, Chloé Bourgeois. However, things look up when she finds out she's actually going to be in Ms. Mendeleiev's class, rather than Bustier's. Hence, no Chloé.

But Chloé is still attending the same school, and refuses to be left behind so easily. Her favorite victim may not be forced to be stuck around her all day anymore, but she's still going to strive to keep her tamped down and properly in her place. And then there's the whole 'suddenly a superhero' thing, with all the responsibilities that entails... and a partner that seems more interested in her than in heroism.

Still, there's new friends to be made, and Marinette's determined to not let anything — or anyone — drag her down anymore. After so long being stifled, it's finally her time to blossom and become more than Chloé's punching bag!

Note: Following a hiatus, the fic was rebooted and rewritten, with chapters slowly being uploaded to replace the original work. The new version is now complete.

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Leave for Mendeleiev provides examples of:

The Rewrite

• Acquired Situational Narcissism: Nino's behavior while working on his movie is outright appalling, with his complete lack of regard for anyone who's helping him work on the darned thing.
• Adaptational Badass: The heroes frequently receive a bevy of new powers that demolish the limits of their miraculouses in canon. (For instance, other kwami besides Tikki are able to purify akumas and clean up their damage). This makes a lot of akuma who were very challenging in the show much easier to defeat, since the heroes can simply bury them with all their new powers.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Adrien's worst personality traits, such as his irresponsibility, coddling of Chloé, and self-destructive obsession with romancing Ladybug, are brought to the forefront here.
  • Canon Nathaniel is generally a Nice Guy, and while he picks up the Jerkass Ball in "Reverser" he quickly realizes he was out of line and makes amends with Marc offscreen at the end of the episode. Here, he has gotten Jean thrown out of the art room, is never indicated to have apologized to Marc for destroying his notebook, and creepily fantasizes about Marinette after he is chewed out by Ladybug.
  • Nadja Chamack's portrayal here is far less sympathetic in canon; not only does she insist on Marinette's parents working on their anniversary to make her a cake, she shows up hours before she was supposed to pick it up and still gets upset when Marinette isn't there to give it to her. Later, during her live interview with Ladybug and Chat Noir, she keeps pushing about their relationship despite Ladybug's clear discomfort and Aurore's efforts to redirect the conversation.
  • Subverted by Nino. His first major appearance shows him suffering a serious case of Acquired Situational Narcissism, but he later has a Heel Realization and works to make amends for his behavior. Later still, he joins Team Miraculous and is the one who revives Emile from her coma using the repaired Peafowl Miraculous.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: In canon, Audrey Bourgeois is an unrepentant, emotionally abusive Hate Sink who is personally responsible in no small part for making Chloé the way she is today. Here, she's a Reasonable Authority Figure who approves of Marinette's talent, passion, and work ethic and openly acknowledges that Chloe is a Spoiled Brat who needs taking in hand.
• Adaptation Deviation:
  • In the canon version of "Timebreaker", Nadja's cake is scheduled for pickup 15 minutes after the race is due to start. In this story, it's due a couple of hours later.
  • "The Collector":
    • Canonically, the heroes take Gabriel's akumatization into The Collector as proof that he can't be Hawkmoth. Here, while it's still taken as a point of evidence of his innocence, Tikki and Marinette both remain suspicious.
    • In canon, Marinette and Master Fu take pictures of the Miraculous Grimoire on a smartphone before returning the book to Gabriel, getting Adrien's grounding lifted. Here, they refuse to return it to somebody potentially connected to Hawkmoth, and Chloé is the one responsible for getting the grounding reversed.
  • In canon "Syren", Ondine is akumatized over her inability to confess to Kim. In this story, they are better friends, and the akumatization instead occurs because Chloé threatens to shut down the pool unless he helps her lift something, deliberately ruining his plans with Ondine for the day.
  • In canon "Reverser", when Nathaniel destroys Marc's notebook, Marc himself is akumatized out of despair over the botched meeting. Here, Jean is the one who gets akumatized out of guilt over setting the whole thing up.
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • Downplayed by Kim's superhero name. The original French version of Miraculous Ladybug makes it Roi Singe, while the English dub changes it to King Monkey; this story uses Roi Singe, the original, undubbed name.
  • The Rabbit kwami, Fluff, is renamed Luuna.
• Adaptation Origin Connection:
  • Mime is the one who gets akumatized during Lila's introduction story.
  • Evilustrator gets akumatized for not being invited to Marinette's birthday party, along with jealousy over his crush spending time with others.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • Since she's not part of Bustier's class anymore, Marinette doesn't have particularly close connections to anyone in it and is building friendships with members of Mendeleiev's class like Aurore, Jean, and Ondine instead.
  • Chloé has developed a sort of Super-Persistent Predator attitude towards Marinette due to the transfer. Having gotten used to Marinette being readily accessible (and getting away with all her bullying due to Bustier's lax methods), she's determined to prove that Marinette can't get away from her so easily.
  • Marinette doesn't have any kind of crush on Adrien, and he in turn barely registers her existence. The reboot has this change during the film section, where Adrien suspects that she's Ladybug and starts focusing on her.
  • Rather than being an Ignored Enamored Underling, Nathalie is a Sassy Secretary willing to snark about Gabriel's more unreasonable or ridiculous demands. Gabriel makes a fatal error in overestimating Nathalie's loyalty to him and his plans after he sends her to be Style Queen's first victim, as she betrays his hideout to Team Miraculous the moment she's surrounded and leaves to contact her lawyer rather than fight for him.
• Adaptational Superpower Change:
  • All of the Miraculi are retooled, given multiple abilities in order to make them more versatile.
  • Several of the transformation phrases are altered — the Turtle's become "Guard Up/Down", the Fox's become "Showtime/Breaktime", while the Monkey (which originally had 'Showtime') switches to "Playtime".
  • The Rabbit Miraculous is completely retooled from Time Travel to teleportation and healing magic. Its kwami is renamed Luuna rather than Fluff, and their activation phrases are "Full Moon" and "New Moon".
• Adapted Out: The author has stated on their Tumblr account a handful of times when asked that Félix, Kagami, and Luka won't appear.
• Adults Are Useless: Zig-Zagged; it depends on the adult in question. Marinette is very used to the adults in her life not doing anything about Chloé's bullying, so she's shocked to learn that her parents arranged for her to get transferred into Ms. Mendeleiev's care, and even further taken aback when her new homeroom teacher actually stands up for her.
• All Love Is Unrequited:
  • Adrien/Chat Noir retains his crush on Ladybug, but she's completely uninterested...and he refuses to take any hints.
  • After the Weather Girl fiasco, Aurore decides to focus on pursuing her own crush: Adrien Agreste. However, he only expresses interest in her and Marinette after Ladybug gets name-dropped...
  • Kim still originally has a crush on Chloé, unaware that Ondine is secretly crushing on him.
• Alpha Bitch: Chloé, who isn't especially thrilled that her favorite victim isn't stuck in the same class as her and repeatedly attempts to reassert her power over her.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Though Chloé takes the credit for Aurore losing the Weather Girl competition, it's not quite clear whether her meddling was completely responsible for her loss.
  • When Jean attempts to 'cheer up' Aurore by hitting her with a barrage of weather puns, nobody can tell whether her expression is from trying to hold back laughter or frustration.
• Anti-Hero: Adrien/Chat Noir protects Paris from Hawk Moth and his akumas, but he's also rather obnoxious and self-centered.
• Armor-Piercing Question: During their interview, Nadja is caught off guard when Ladybug curtly asks "Do you have any more questions not related to our love life?"
• Ascended Extra: Several, thanks to the transfer.
  • Most notably, Aurore Beauréal. In canon, she was an akuma in two episodes, but otherwise remains in the background. Here, though, she becomes Marinette's new best friend, standing up to Chloé and Alya for her. She also models clothes and accessories for Marinette. Marinette, in return, supports her at the Weather Girl competition, designs clothes and accessories for her, and helps her try to win Adrien's affections.
  • Jean Duparc was originally a background character whose akuma was mentioned in Princess Fragrance. Now, he's one of Marinette's new friends, who's a bit of a trickster, and tends to get under Aurore's skin a lot. Despite that, he still tries to support her at the Weather Girl competition and also in trying to win over Adrien.
• Astral Projection: Astral Flight, one of the Peafowl's powers, grants the user this ability. Emilie got lost outside of her body; Tempavo is able to bring her back safely.
• Badass Boast:
  • When Chloé brags that she can easily get Ms. Mendeleiev fired, the teacher challenges her claims and sends her scurrying out of her classroom with one:
    Chloé: I-I'm the mayor's daughter!
    Mendeleiev: And I'm the meanest teacher in this school, and if I find you disrupting my class again, I'm going to see to it that you get suspended. Now out! Out!
  • Aurore tells off an akuma whom Hawkmoth may be speaking directly through:
    Frozer: I am the supervillain! You don't threaten me!
    Aurore: And you don't threaten me. Do you know who I was? What your employer made me? I was Stormy Weather, I commanded not only ice, but also rain, wind and lightning. You are but a snowflake in comparison.
• Bait-and-Switch: The chapter titled "Party Crasher" does not have the eponymous akuma in it, or any akuma at all.
• Big Damn Heroes: Pulled off by Wayzz in "Live on the Wild Side" when he uses Shellter by himself in order to protect Ondine.
• Bittersweet Ending: Not for the heroes, but for the Agrestes: Emilie is restored, but hospitalized, while Gabriel is publicly exposed as Hawk Moth and goes to jail. Adrien stays by his mother's side, refusing to see anyone but Chloé.
• Blaming the Victim:
  • Mme Bustier pressures the victims of Chloé's bullying to Turn the Other Cheek rather than resisting, and claims that she doesn't recall there being any problems when Marinette was one of her students.
  • Nino snaps at Marinette that she wouldn't have had to deal with Chloé's cruelty if she 'just stood up to her'. He also blames Mylène for being cowed by Chloé's badgering.
• Breather Episode: After "A Horrifying Time" puts Marinette through the emotional wringer, "On Ice" provides a humorous bit of downtime when Aurore does not appreciate having Frozer interrupt her attempt to help her best friend relax.
• Busman's Holiday:
  • Played for Laughs when Aurore takes Marinette to the ice rink, only for them to arrive while Mayor André is there harassing the owner. Neither is particularly surprised when this sparks an akuma.
  • Played With in "Live on the Wild Side". As it turns out, Marinette and her friends weren't the only ones eager to see the new panther; Plagg wanted to as well, leading to Master Fu and the kwami having a busman's holiday of their own when Animan shows up.
• Cassandra Truth: After Lady Wifi 'unmasks' Chloé as Ladybug, Chat Noir spends the whole battle harassing the real Ladybug, brushing off her insistence that she's not 'Chlohoney' as Implausible Deniability. It takes seeing Chloé with her father immediately after the battle for him to finally realize she was telling the truth... and even then, he continues insisting that she could have been Chloé.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  • Plagg sarcastically states that the incredibly self-centered Chloé could have been Ladybug 'when cheese is gross'. Adrien immediately protests that cheese is gross, underscoring how only his own opinion matters to him.
  • When Aurore laments that Adrien responded to her asking him out directly by asking her name, Marinette wonders whether they really forgot to introduce her.
• Compressed Adaptation: "The Mime" and "Volpina" are combined into one incident, with the former being the akuma victim.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: During the finale, when Tempavo expresses sympathy for Hawk Moth, Ladybug bluntly reminds them that he chose to terrorize Paris rather than seek help.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Frozer was comically curb-stomped by Aurore, of all people, calling him and Hawk Moth "terrible villains", before Ladybug interrupts and ambushes Frozer by tying him upside down before Frozer could snap and freeze Aurore.
  • In "Bee Gone, Wasp!", Chloé/Queen Bee turns out to be no match for Marigold and Pollen's teamwork.
  • The final battle against Hawk Moth lasts all of thirty seconds before the heroes have him incapacitated and at their mercy.
• Denied Food as Punishment
  • At one point, Adrien deliberately transforms before Plagg can finish eating, even though he knows that his kwami needs food in order to recharge. He then threatens to feed him nothing but mushrooms for a full month if he doesn't stop complaining about it.
  • Adrien does it again after he learns that Ladybug was approved for three powers when he only has one. He tries to bribe Plagg with extra Camembert, as well as threatening him with an all-mushroom diet, for information about who gave Ladybug permission for a third power and to be granted at least a second one himself. The notion that Ladybug earned her powers by being The Reliable One is totally lost on him; he just feels that since she's got more powers, he should too, despite treating his duties as a game.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Aurore has the might of a tornado for mocking not only an Akuma who just got through freezing Paris over, but Hawk Moth, a magical terrorist who would probably destroy the entire city if it got him the Miraculouses (and would probably have people killed for less than a few insults), through said Akuma. She also gives a minor dig to Chat Noir... who also has a superpower that lets him destroy anything he touches.
• Didn't Think This Through: Lila doesn't expect her claims to reach Ladybug's ears, much less so swiftly. Nor does she anticipate anyone finding out about her revealing her 'secret identity' to Adrien, whom she asks to keep it quiet...so Chat Noir boldly reassuring Ladybug that she can save herself from Mime catches her completely flat-footed.
• Disappointed by the Motive: Ondine and Kim think the zookeeper is pettier than Chloé for getting akumatized over some kid making fun of a panther.
• Disappointed in You: Adrien attempts to guilt-trip Marinette and Nino for being happy over Chloé's humiliation this way, giving them both disappointed stares and chiding them. It doesn't work.
• Discontinuity Nod:
  • Rather than Adrien guilt-tripping Marinette into throwing a party for Chloé when it looks like she's going to transfer out, Chloé throws a party for Adrien after convincing Gabriel to let him return to school. Adrien proves to be just as ungrateful for her efforts as she was towards Marinette, ditching her for Kim's pool party.
  • After seeing Daylily in action, Gabriel contemplates the possibility of somebody using multiple Miraculi at once, but is unable to use the Peafowl Pin to turn into Shadow Moth, since it was already liberated from his safe.
• Does Not Like Spam: Adrien's stubborn insistence that 'Cheese is gross' underscores his reluctance/refusal to consider anyone else's point of view as valid, as he keeps saying this to Plagg, knowing full well that it's his kwami's Trademark Favorite Food.
• Dramatic Irony: Adrien tries to exploit the Horrificator situation in hopes of learning Ladybug's secret identity. The incident instead leads Marinette to conclude that Chat Noir is part of Bustier's class.
• Dramatically Missing the Point:
  • Adrien completely fails to understand how dangerous it would be for him to know Ladybug's Secret Identity. All he cares about is that he wants to know because he believes that he "loves" her.
  • After the Lady Wifi incident, Chat completely ignores all of the completely valid reasons why Ladybug is so annoyed by the prospect of anyone thinking she has anything in common with Chloé — along with her concerns over Alya pursuing her secret identity — in favor of focusing on the idea that she knows Chloé well enough to be familiar with all her flaws.
  • When Lila enters the picture, he blithely 'reassures' Ladybug that she's got her Miraculous with her, completely oblivious to how much worse he just made the situation.
  • When Ladybug calls him out for feeding into Nadja's prying questions about their romantic prospects, he accuses her of being intimidated by their status as 'soulmates', and completely ignores her insistence about how love takes time, effort, and mutual investment.
    Ladybug: Soulmates aren't made, Chat, they're built. Love takes time and work, and those that want to put in the work are the ones that will last.
    Chat Noir: [takes her hand] Good thing we're already there.
  • When Plagg comments that the Cat Ring isn't really necessary, as other Miraculi could fill the same role, Adrien misinterprets this as Plagg saying that he's replaceable.
  • Bustier sees Marinette learning how to stand up to her as a horrible development and a sign that she's turning to delinquency, refusing to see how miserable she was before transferring out of her class.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Marinette finds her confidence, is surrounded by people she trusts, takes down Hawk Moth and is able to retire her Ladybug persona in favor of Marigold, with Oudragon/Aurore by her side.
• Empowered Badass Normal: Aurore gets to be this, when she is loaned the Dragon Miraculous and gets to help Ladybug defeat Syren as Oudragon.
• Entitled Bastard:
  • Chloé believes that she should get to harass her favorite victim as much as she wants, and is determined to try and strip away Marinette's growing sense of safety by any means necessary.
  • On top of enabling Chloé's entitled attitude, Bustier expects Marinette to continue catering to her every 'suggestion' despite not having her as a student anymore. She sees absolutely nothing wrong with attempting to strongarm her into tutoring her longtime bully and is horrified when she finally stands up to her.
  • Adrien feels entitled to Ladybug. Not just as a partner in the romantic sense but to know all of her secrets — despite how dangerous that is with Hawk Moth around.
  • Alya wants to expose Ladybug's Secret Identity, feeling that she should be fine with it because other superheroes have revealed who they are. Note that her main argument is that 'most American heroes' are fine with it — most, but not ALL. Yet Alya brushes over that because SHE wants to know who Ladybug is; the rest is just details.
  • Zig-Zagged with Nino. While he initially promises Marinette that Chloé isn't involved with the movie he's making, he doesn't warn her when that changes, and insists that the promise she made to help is more binding than the one he made. He also forced Mylène into the lead role in his movie and wrote a kissing scene into the script without the permission of anyone involved.
  • Nadja pushed for Sabine and Tom to make a special order for her on their anniversary, then arrives at the bakery two hours early and throws a fit when she's not instantly catered to. She later spends an exclusive interview with Ladybug and Chat Noir asking prying and leading questions about their relationship, ignoring Ladybug's clear discomfort.
  • Upon learning that Ladybug has gained a third power in Lucky Break, Adrien starts nagging Plagg about when he's going to get other abilities and grouses about how he thought the two of them were supposed to be a team...despite constantly proving to be The Load during akuma battles.
  • During the events of "Ace Up the Sleeve", it's revealed that Adrien still considers the Ring HIS even after losing it. He also expects to receive a temporary Miraculous of his own when Nino gets one, and sulks when he's refused.
• Every Man Has His Price:
  • When Ladybug gets a new power from Tikki, Adrien tries to convince Plagg to give him more power by bribing him with five months' worth of camembert, then threatens to take away his cheese entirely and replace it with mushrooms.
  • Mme Bustier tells Ms. Mendeleiev's class that they'll get extra credit if they attend Chloé's party.
• Evil Is Petty:
  • Chloé continues harassing Marinette despite the increased difficulty in doing so purely because she likes tormenting her, and doesn't want her favorite victim to feel any kind of safety or security.
  • She also rigs the Weather Contest by buying a bunch of extra votes for Mireille just to get back at Aurore for standing up to her, rubbing in her face that she lost because of her.
  • After Plagg chastises him for creating Copycat, Adrien transforms before the kwami can finish eating, and later threatens to feed him nothing but mushrooms for a month if he doesn't stop complaining about it.
  • When Aurore stands up to both him and Frozer, Hawkmoth decides that he's going to spite her by never akumatizing her into Stormy Weather again. Take that, random child! He also asks Nathalie for an ego stroke, offering her a raise to do so.
  • Chloé forces Kim to accompany her and do menial tasks ferrying stuff around, threatening to have her father shut down the public pools if he doesn't comply. She does this mostly because she blames him for 'ruining her party'.
  • Both Ondine and Kim, who caused the Akuma, agree that Animan was shockingly petty- no one should get Akumatized because a kid makes fun of a panther.
  • During the finale, Hawk Moth gloats over the notion that Tempavo will fall into a coma just like Emilie, only to lose his smirk upon learning that the Peafowl Pin was repaired.
• Exact Words: When Chat Noir demands to know how Ladybug gained her Lucky Break, she replies that she got approval, and affirms that it was "Kwami approval". Tikki did vouch for it, after all... to the Guardian.
• Failed a Spot Check: In "A Storm's a Brewing", Chloé is so absorbed in bragging to Aurore about how she ensured she'd lose that she completely fails to notice the black butterfly fluttering their way, or when Aurore's face starts glowing from the telltale outline.
• Flat "What": Ivan practically growls one out upon learning about the kiss scene Nino added to the script.
• Foil:
  • Mme Bustier and Ms. Mendeleiev: Bustier coddles and enables Chloé at the expense of all her other students, caring more about maintaining her 'nice' reputation than actually dealing with problems herself. Ms. Mendeleiev embraces being 'the meanest teacher' at the school, intervening against both Chloé and her coworker when they attempt to meddle with her students.
  • Audrey Bourgeois to Mme Bustier. Both want Chloé to reform and think that Marinette would be a good role model, but their methods of dealing with the Spoiled Brat are vastly different. Bustier constantly coddled Chloé and enabled her bullying by pressuring her favorite victim to Turn the Other Cheek and "set a good example" for her, only realizing this is wrong after Ladybug personally spells it out to her. Audrey flatly refuses to tolerate Chloé's bad behavior and recognizes that the responsibility of keeping Chloé in line lies with an adult, not the teenager she's been victimizing, reassuring Marinette that she doesn't have to put up with Chloé if she doesn't want to.
  • Aurore and Chloé: Aurore is just as Prideful and stubborn as Chloé, but isn't compelled to tear others down to prop herself up (or for her own amusement). While she develops a resentful streak towards Mireille, she strives to avoid taking it out directly on her rival, whereas Chloé wants nothing more than to tear Marinette down simply because she wants to.
  • Jean and Adrien: Both have a deeply mischievous streak, with Jean playing The Gadfly while Adrien goofs around as Chat Noir. Yet Jean is far more attuned to the thoughts and feelings of others; ultimately, Adrien only cares about himself.
  • Adrien and Chloé: Both are Spoiled Brats from wealthy backgrounds; Chloé is openly cruel and spiteful, while Adrien acts pleasant for the sake of his image and tries to manipulate others into doing what he wants through guilt-trips and Playing the Victim Card.
  • Nino and Kim: Two of Marinette's Childhood Friends, though their bond was strained by Kim getting more into the competitive scene and both failing to help with Chloé. Kim has his Jerkass Realization and starts striving to make up for past mistakes while Nino grabs the Jerkass Ball firmly enough to make her seriously reevaluate their relationship.
  • Adrien and Nino: While Nino disagrees with Adrien's defense of Chloé, both are willing to stand up for their respective Childhood Friends... provided it doesn't personally inconvenience them. Both display manipulative streaks and expect others to go along with their demands, dismissing the impact of their actions as 'no big deal'. However, when confronted with the consequences of their mistakes, Adrien digs his heels in and refuses to admit he was in the wrong while Nino has a Jerkass Realization and begins working to make up for his actions.
  • Adrien and Nathaniel: Both act pettily entitled to Ladybug and take out their frustrations on others when reality doesn't conform to their desires. Neither learns anything from being called out on this, instead sulking over others getting 'unfairly' upset at them for their Lack of Empathy. Both also take an interest in Marinette — Adrien thinking that she might hold the key to Ladybug's secrets, while Nathaniel figures that she's a 'safer' crush since she's not a superheroine.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Adrien only accepts the notion that Lady Wifi was wrong about Chloé being Ladybug when he witnesses her outside the hotel, knowing that the real Ladybug is still inside. Later on, a similar situation arises when he sees the Ladybug who hitched a ride with Timebreaker with Marinette and Ondine, convincing him that his suspicions about her were wrong.
  • Adrien's abrupt attitude shift towards Chloé when he thinks she's Ladybug also foreshadows his later behavior. Just like how he only cared about his Childhood Friend's crush on him when it suited his needs, he completely snubs Marinette and Aurore once he's convinced she can't be Ladybug.
  • Adrien completely dismisses the notion that they need to be careful with their secret identities, casually calling the supposedly outed Ladybug 'Chlohoney' and offering to reveal himself in exchange. His complete lack of regard for secrecy later bites Lila in the butt; she 'reveals' herself as Volpina and asks him not to tell anyone, but he thinks nothing of casually outing her in front of Mime.
  • After learning that Adrien sees the Miraculous Cure as a magical Reset Button, Marinette considers discussing the matter with Tikki to see if there's any way of working around that power in order to make people less reliant upon Ladybug. Following the finale, she decides to retire Ladybug and continue leading the team as Marigold, protecting the Earrings and taking them out of the public eye.
• Heartbreak and Ice Cream: After the Stormy Weather incident, Marinette takes Aurore back to the bakery to binge on cookies and watch movies together in her room.
• His Story Repeats Itself: Adrien willfully ignores Chloé's crush on him, but is willing to reciprocate it when he mistakenly thinks that she's been exposed as Ladybug. Once it's proven otherwise, he goes back to ignoring her. He proceeds to do the same thing with Marinette and Aurore, played out over a longer period of time; seeing the Future!Ladybug with Marinette convinces him he was on the wrong track, and he promptly ignores them the next time they see each other.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard:
  • Chloé perfectly recreates Marinette's bowler hat for the contest... including the hidden signature she incorporates into her work, disguised as embroidery. This proves to the judges who the real design thief is, resulting in her disqualification.
  • Lila falsely claims that she is best friends with Ladybug and that she is a fox superheroine named Volpina. This bites her in the ass when Mime takes her hostage to get Ladybug's Miraculous and Chat Noir assumes she can bust herself out when she can't, forcing her to confess her lie.
  • At her big gala, Chloé's attempt to single out and bully Marinette just gets countered by Aurore calling her out. She snaps "Then why don't you just leave!", and the pair happily oblige... as do all her other guests, Adrien included.
  • During Syren's attack, Adrien threatens to quit if Plagg doesn't tell him everything he wants to know. His preoccupation with learning all of Ladybug's secrets causes him to miss Syren's approach, and she knocks the Ring right out of his hands.
  • Adrien's overreliance upon his partner doing all the work and fixing everything with Miraculous Cure also works against him after losing the Ring, as he hopes for the Cure to set things back to normal. Instead, the Cure delivers the Ring back to the guardian, and Plagg informs Master Fu and Wayzz of Adrien's abuses.
• Hurricane of Puns:
  • Jean unleashes a series of weather-related ones in an effort to cheer Aurore up after the Stormy Weather incident. It's unclear whether this actually helps or just irritates her more.
  • Marinette slips into a spate of bakery puns after several attempts to help Aurore reveal her crush on Adrien to him through various baked goods all fail.
• Identity Impersonator: A variation; during the Timebreaker incident, seeing the Future!Ladybug alongside Marinette is enough to throw Adrien completely off her trail.
• Idiot Ball: More attention is brought towards how dumb Nathaniel would have to be in order to think Ladybug personally gave him her diary.
• I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder: When Alya tries to convince Ladybug to reveal her identity by pointing out "Most American heroes are fine sharing their identities!", Ladybug says she's "French, not American".
• Imagination-Based Superpower: With Ladybug's new Lucky Break power, in the words of the author, "...the yo-yo will become any tool she wants to use. The yo-yo 'breaks' to become these tools." She was able to create a tool with magical properties, that was able to completely No-Sell the magic item of an akuma. This looks like a game-changer.
• Improbable Weapon User: Oudragon uses a Parasol of Pain, which completely catches Hawk Moth off guard when he grabs her weapon to use himself, only for it to pop open, distracting him as he angrily declares that it should be a sword.
• I Never Said It Was Poison: In Chapter 23, Gabriel Agreste calls the akuma "Simon Says" in front of the heroes before any of them mentioned the name in front of him. That and the Butterfly Miraculous being found inside his manor at the end of the chapter erase any remaining doubts the heroes had about Gabriel being Hawkmoth.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Marinette still gets the Ladybug Miraculous, and Adrien still gets the Cat Miraculous. Chat Noir still feels entitled to his partner's 'love' and her secrets.
  • The 'umbrella scene' from "Origins" still happens; however, while Adrien notices Marinette's plight, he offers her nothing more than an apologetic smile before running off. It's Aurore who helps her out instead.
  • Alya still creates the Ladyblog and still tries to figure out Ladybug's Secret Identity despite the superheroine being much less tolerant of her antics.
  • Aurore still loses the Weather Girl competition; however, the circumstances surrounding her loss are different, with Chloé taking the credit.
  • Adrien is still completely oblivious about a pigtailed girl crushing on him. It's just Aurore who finds herself in that unfortunate position instead of Marinette.
  • Chat Noir still lies to Ladybug about why Théo was akumatized, blaming her for not knowing about the ceremony.
  • Alix's pocket watch is still broken during the race, leading to her akumatization into Timebreaker and Ladybug unintentionally throwing Chat Noir off her trail via Time Travel.
  • Lila still lies about her supposed 'connections', swipes Adrien's book, and gets a fox-tail pendant to help support her claims.
  • Adrien still gets fed up with being Locked Out of the Loop and threatens to quit in the middle of the Syren crisis. Unfortunately for him, Syren accidentally takes the threat right out of his hands.
  • Chloé still feels entitled to the Bee Miraculous, despite never laying hands on it.
  • Marinette still falls for a blond classmate, only it's Aurore instead of Adrien.
• Innocently Insensitive: While praising Marinette's work, Audrey mentions in passing that "My daughter could learn a lot from you." Marinette reflexively flinches, reminded of how much she's been pressured to 'set a good example' for her long-time bully. To her credit, Audrey does notice this and clarifies what she meant by that.
• Insecure Protagonist, Arrogant Antagonist: Marinette, a girl who has been systematically bullied for years and still isn't fully confident standing up against her long-time tormentors, must deal with both Chloé and Hawkmoth.
• Internal Reveal: Downplayed in Chapter 9; Marinette realizes that Chat Noir must be a member of Mme Bustier's class, though Tikki warns her from pursuing that line of thought any further.
• Intrepid Reporter: During the interview that causes the Prime Queen akumatization, when Nadja shows she is firmly obsessed with prying into Ladybug's love life, Aurore senses Ladybug's discomfort and directs the interview towards preventing akumatizations and other such useful info. She later comforts Ladybug backstage and rips Chat Noir a new one for feeding into Nadja.
• Irony: At the end of Chapter 16, Nathaniel no longer has a crush on Ladybug. He develops a crush on Marinette, deciding it'll be easier since she's not a hero at all.
• I Warned You: Ladybug tries to convince Lila that it's unwise to go around falsely claiming connections to others, but Lila blows her off... until she experiences those consequences firsthand thanks to Mime. After saving her, Ladybug calmly reminds her of what she said while Lila pulls a face.
• Jerkass Ball: Nino picks it up in "Horrificator", being more concerned about his film than the feelings of his friends or the akuma attack.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Played With; after learning that Adrien was Chat Noir, Gabriel calmly dresses him down, pointing out how he refused to take things seriously and wasted the opportunity he was given, and that Ladybug has every right not to trust him. Of course, part of the reason he's saying all of this is in order to exploit his son's emotional state and akumatize him into Chat Blanc.
• Jerkass Realization: After being humiliatingly rejected by Chloé, Kim reflects that he should have taken the way she treated Marinette as a warning sign. He also recognizes that he effectively betrayed her by never trying to help, and vows to be better about having her back.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Jean Duparc is The Gadfly, but he's also a loyal friend who steps right up when Marinette needs him.
• Karma Houdini: Nathalie, primarily because she voluntarily gives up her boss and leaves to contact her lawyer, either gets no punishment for working with Gabriel or gets a lighter sentence.
• Last-Second Chance: Despite all of Chat Noir's obnoxious and irresponsible behavior, Ladybug still considers warning him that Master Fu is contemplating taking away the Ring, giving him one last chance to shape up or ship out. Ultimately, she decides against it, and Adrien's subsequent attempt to blackmail Plagg into spilling the beans leads to him losing the Ring when Syren attacks.
• Like Father, Like Son: Adrien shares a lot of his father's worst traits, particularly his desire to always get his way regardless of how it impacts others. Gabriel also highlights his own childish streak when he's so upset by Aurore calling him out that he tells Natalie he needs his ego stroked. In those words.
• Literalist Snarking: Plagg gets a nonverbal example in "Horrificator". When he tries to tell Adrien to transform so he can stop the akuma, Adrien insists on waiting to try to find out Ladybug's identity and eventually snidely says "Oh, bite me." Plagg obliges.
• Loophole Abuse: When Chloé throws a party and expects everybody at Françoise Dupont to attend, Ms. Mendeleiev states that everybody in her class should attend... but they don't have to stay for the duration.
• Love Confession: In chapter 22, Aurore finally tells Marinette that she loves her. Marinette returns her love and gives her a kiss.
• Manipulative Bitch: Though she generally prefers more straightforward approaches, Chloé can be more underhanded when it suits her, such as telling Ms. Bustier that she's having trouble focusing without Marinette around so that her teacher will pressure her to come back.
• Mirror Character: Chloé and Adrien are both self-absorbed Spoiled Brats who expect the world to bend around their every whim. Chloé is simply far more overt about this, whereas Adrien acts nicer than he really is, showing his entitlement more openly while transformed into Chat Noir.
• Mundane Utility: Downplayed; Marinette uses her Earrings to help her avoid many of Chloé's attempts to catch her outside of Mendeleiev's classroom.
• Mythology Gag: Chloé tries to make the heroes give her the Bee Miraculous.
• Never My Fault:
  • Adrien lies to Théo, falsely claiming that he and Ladybug are already in a relationship and riling him up enough to attract Hawkmoth's attention. He then proceeds to blame Ladybug, chiding her for not attending the ceremony and making her apologize to Théo while he slinks off to keep feeling sorry for himself.
  • When Nadja is akumatized following their disastrous interview, he makes a snarky comment implying that he sees Ladybug as completely responsible for causing it.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands:
  • In Chapter 13, Master Fu grants Marinette access to a new power, "Lucky Break", which is based on her concept power, allowing her to break her yo-yo in order to transform it into any tool she wants to use. This comes in handy against The Collector, letting her sacrifice part of her yo-yo by getting it absorbed into the book.
  • In Chapter 15, Ladybug gets one more power, "Elytron", allowing her to transform the costumes of herself and her hero comrades for new environments. In the case of Syren she creates underwater suits, bypassing the need for things like the Aqua-Tikki power-up formula.
  • The Turtle Hero starts with two powers: Shelter and Turn Turtle, the latter of which allows the user to disarm their opponent. There's also Shell Shock, which Wayzz uses to protect Ondine.
  • Chapter 21 has a flood of new powers. With Tikki sick, Master Fu reveals that Pollen can do a "Beehest" that cures akuma damage, with a plant growth side effect. Pollen can also do "Pollenate" for magical plant growth and plant control, and "Healing Honey" which is not described. The "Shellter" power of Wayzz can also cleanse akumas, though it costs him a lot of energy. Also, Trixx has Fauxfire for summoning nine flaming wisps, and another undescribed power called "Foxglove".
  • In Chapter 23, Luuna the Rabbit has "Burrow", a teleportation power like the Horse, and "White Magic" which heals and removes influences from living things. The Rooster Orikko has "True Colors" which reveals things that have been hidden away.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • When they hear that Kim's planning on confessing, Marinette and Aurore encourage him to do so, only to learn a little too late that he's not confessing to Ondine like they presumed, but to Chloé.
  • When facing off against Mime, who's holding Lila hostage, Chat Noir loudly reassures Ladybug that everything will be fine because Lila has her own Miraculous. This forces her to confess that she lied about being Volpina, as the alternative is getting murdered for a power she doesn't have.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Gabriel deliberately antagonizing Simon, going out of his way to insult and belittle the hypnotist in order to ensure he's upset enough to be vulnerable to akumatization, provides Ladybug with the perfect opportunity to investigate her suspicions and confirm his identity as Hawk Moth.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
  • After the Gorilla incident, Marinette feels sorry for Adrien and approaches him with Aurore and Ondine, stating that 'Ladybug mentioned' that he'd like some company watching a movie. Adrien immediately latches onto the notion that there might be more to this than Ladybug simply passing by and pointing the girls his way.
  • Marinette's willingness to help Nino with his movie turns into a very long and exhausting ordeal for her when he repays her kindness by browbeating her into keeping her promise to help despite breaking his own about Chloé not being involved, acting entitled, controlling, and generally awful throughout the whole production.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: During the denouncement of "Don't Kiss and Tell", Ladybug decides to pull Bustier aside and spell out for her why Marinette won't 'volunteer' to help Chloé. Sadly, we don't get to see it, but it's effective enough that Bustier has a Heel Realization and starts readjusting her teaching methods.
• Oh, Crap!: When Marinette and Aurore learn that Kim intends to confess his love to Chloé, Aurore immediately bolts for the bakery to take cover while Marinette immediately transforms into Ladybug, both expecting an akuma attack to happen.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Chat Noir warns Ladybug when she's about to detransform after the Stormy Weather fight, rather than taking advantage of her distraction to learn who she is. Justified, because he wasn't as entitled to her as in the later chapters.
  • When Chloé declares her intention to enter her mother's contest, Audrey actually smiles and states she looks forward to seeing what she'll design.
  • Chloé has a couple of moments:
    • When she learns that Gabriel has grounded Adrien for losing his book, she bullies him into letting him come back to school.
    • When she finds Adrien bitter for reasons unknown to her, she throws him a party and acquiesces to his demand to invite the whole school.
• Plot Parallel: During "Undining Love", Chloé and Adrien both resort to Blackmail in hopes of getting their way. Chloé forces Kim to perform manual labor for her under threat of having her father shut down the public pool he and Ondine are using, while Adrien threatens Plagg's food supply, then ups the stakes to letting all of Paris drown in Syren's rising waters if he doesn't get let in on all the Miraculous secrets.
• Poor Communication Kills:
  • Marinette and Aurore originally assume that Kim intends to confess to Ondine, and are horrified to learn that he's planning to confess to Chloé instead.
  • Nathaniel assumes that because Marc's sketchbook is labeled 'Diary of Ladybug', it actually IS Ladybug's diary. Upon seeing Marc waiting to meet up with him instead, he accuses Jean of setting everything up to prank him and rips the book apart.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Played for Laughs when Aurore tells off both Frozer and Hawkmoth by proxy, chastising the latter for being such an incompetent villain.
    Ladybug: Please don't plant ideas in his head. The only thing that makes this stalemate tolerable is that he's an idiot.
  • Jean calls out Bustier for trying to force Marinette to tutor Chloé, pointing out that it's her job to take care of her students, not to foist that responsibility off on others. Especially somebody who never volunteered for the role.
  • Combined with Breaking Speech in the finale, when Gabriel bluntly calls out his son for 'having the time of his life' as Chat Noir rather than being a reliable partner, all so he can akumatize him.
• Relationship Upgrade:
  • Deconstructed with Adrien, who takes it for granted that Ladybug will eventually wind up with him regardless of her feelings on the matter. Since he feels it's inevitable, he doesn't put any work into building up a real connection with her, ignoring her complaints about his shallow flirting and generally dismissive behavior.
  • One eventually happens between Marinette and Aurore, who get together near the end of "Bee Gone, Wasp!"
• Reset Button:
  • Deconstructed. Knowing about Miraculous Cure makes Adrien complacent, as he latches onto it to excuse his misbehavior; since Ladybug's going to fix everything anyway, it doesn't matter how much he screws around and goofs off, right? When Nino uses similar logic to excuse his plan to exploit Mylène's akumatization, Adrien leaps to back him up, much to Marinette's horror.
  • In "Race Against Time", this is implied to cause a Hoist by His Own Petard moment for Chat Noir. Since he sees nothing wrong with pointlessly sacrificing himself and leaving Ladybug to solve problems on her own, he misses out on seeing both Ladybugs in action, throwing him completely off Marinette's trail.
• The Rest Shall Pass: In the finale, Fauxy splits off from the group to distract Chat Blanc with his illusions. Also Played With in that Oudragon lets the rest of the team take the elevator down while she splits off and attacks Hawk Moth directly.
• Saying Too Much:
  • Chat questions why Ladybug finds the notion of Chloé being a heroine so odd, then comments after her ranting that she seems to know her well.
  • During Adrien's argument with Plagg about giving the former new powers, Plagg blurts out that he doesn't have permission to do so. This hints towards the existence of the Guardian to Adrien.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Nathalie combines this with Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal. After Gabriel sends her to deliberately set Audrey off, she loses all loyalty to him. She immediately surrenders when surrounded by Team Miraculous, volunteers Hawk Moth's location and goes to lawyer up so she either doesn't go down when Hawk Moth does or gets a lighter sentence.
• Ship Tease: The chapter "Party Crasher" gives us two of them. Jean brings Marc Anciel out of his shell at Chloé's party; also Marinette and Aurore dance together, hold hands, and go on a private date together after the party.
• Shout-Out:
  • Aurore suggests that Ladybug should give Marinette the Bee Miraculous. The two authors are actually fond of each other and will alert their own readers when their fellow updates.
  • When Marinette takes the Bee Miraculous temporarily in the fight against Princess Fragrance, she takes the name "Marigold", a direct reference to Scarlet Lady.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: Marinette starts upgrading her appearance after Syren, transitioning away from the familiar spotted onesie into more padded and armored attire.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • Adrien is more concerned with flirting with 'his lady' and figuring out her secrets than actually protecting Paris like they're supposed to.
  • When she sees Lady Wifi's broadcast, Marinette is initially more upset by the akuma's mistaken belief that Chloé is Ladybug than she is by the attack itself.
  • During the same incident, Chat Noir is more interested in rubbing in Ladybug's face the idea that he knows who she is now than he is with actually dealing with Lady Wifi.
  • When his bodyguard is akumatized into a gorilla, Adrien convinces Ladybug that they should hide out in a movie theater, seeing it as a date. The fact that his bodyguard and a mob of hypnotized fans are rampaging through Paris trying to find him simply does not matter to him. Neither does Ladybug's clear discomfort.
  • Caline Bustier also has severely skewed priorities when it comes to Chloé, to the point that she tries to convince Marinette to transfer back so she can 'help' with her lifelong bully again.
  • Nino cares more about making his movie than the comfort of anyone involved with its production; this escalates to the point that he wants to exploit Mylène's akumatization for his own ends.
  • When everyone discovers that they've been sealed inside the school by Horrificator, Chloé immediately complains that she's got a hair appointment at four.
  • During Horrificator's attack, Adrien is far more invested in exploiting the situation to try and learn Ladybug's identity than in actually dealing with the akuma.
  • Chat Noir doesn't get why Ladybug won't return the book so that Adrien can get ungrounded, seeing that as far more important than ensuring that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
  • Nadja sees the interview with Ladybug and Chat Noir as a chance to interrogate them about their love life, prying for 'juicy details'.
  • During Frozer's attack, Aurore starts chewing the villain—and, by extension, Hawkmoth—out rather than try to take shelter. When Ladybug shows up, she's less worried about Hawkmoth trying to take vengeance for the insults than about him actually listening to Aurore's advice and doing something competent for once.
  • Following the previous confrontation, Gabriel is more concerned about his bruised ego than trying to glean any useful ideas from Aurore's rant.
  • In the penultimate chapter, it's made clear that Adrien has learned nothing from his experiences, as he's more concerned with sulking over Ladybug refusing to give him a temporary Miraculous than he is with the fact that his father is being threatened by Simon Says.
• Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: Both Adrien and Chloé are shocked and personally offended upon learning that Marinette isn't one of his many fangirls, and attempt to badger her into 'taking it back'.
• Sore Loser: Zig-Zagged. Aurore has good reason to be upset after Chloé brags about rigging the Weather Girl competition, but she can't help feeling sore towards Mirielle, having a lot of uncharitable thoughts about how the other girl never should have entered in the first place because she should have known she would lose. At the same time, Aurore recognizes that this is being unfair.
• Spotting the Thread: Downplayed; when faced with Trixx disguised as Marinette, Jean picks up on the fact that something is wrong with their body language and behavior, but can't quite put a finger on it. Still, it's enough to impress Trixx, leading to him seeking him out during a later akuma to become Fauxy.
• Streisand Effect: In-Universe; after the hat contest leads to Chloé being utterly humiliated, Mme Bustier actually bans her students from discussing what happened. Since they can't get it out of their system in class, they just talk about it outside instead, fanning the flames and ensuring the gossip spreads farther and faster.
• Stupid Sacrifice: Discussed in "Race Against Time". The original Chat Noir is implied to have pointlessly sacrificed himself against Timebreaker, and Future!Ladybug predicts the current Chat will do the same thing.
• Suicide Mission: Audrey's akumatization is one for Nathalie, who has the misfortune of having to be the one to deliver the news that drives her berserk and is thus the first one in the line of fire when she falls under Hawk Moth's sway.
• Talking the Monster to Death: Aurore pulls this off against Frozer when she rips into both him and Hawkmoth for their incompetence.
• Tears of Joy: Marinette sheds these after Mendeleiev boots Chloé out of her classroom, realizing that for the first time in her life, she has a teacher who is actually on her side and won't just let Chloé do as she pleases.
• Truer to the Text: Part of the intent behind the reboot, cutting out Amber and several other characters and plotlines.
• Un-Evil Laugh: After learning about the hat designing contest, Chloé starts sniggering to herself, only to stop short when she promptly chokes on her own spittle.
• The Unishment: After Aurore chews out Frozer, Hawkmoth resolves to punish her by ensuring that she never becomes Stormy Weather again.
• The Unmasking: When Oudragon meets the "new temporary" hero Marigold, she calls her "Mari" and it's clear she has guessed her identity as Marinette. (Aurore has recommended Marinette for a Miraculous before, not knowing about her other heroic role.) A little later, she figures out she is also Ladybug.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: When Chloé sees that Bustier has transformed, she casually asks "So, you're an akuma now?", and is actually excited to hear them declare their intention to force Marinette down 'the right path'.
• We Need a Distraction:
  • When Ladybug says as much while facing off against Mime, Chat Noir dramatically declares that "My time has come."
  • Aurore recruits Jean to serve as one while she works on setting up a surprise birthday party for Marinette.
• We Used to Be Friends:
  • Downplayed; when she goes to visit the Lê Chiếns, Marinette privately reflects on how her old friend group of Nino, Alix, and Kim drifted apart as the latter two got into competitive sports. Kim's mother also embraces her while commenting on how long it's been since her last visit.
  • Played straighter with Nino; his incredibly self-centered behavior while working on his movie leaves a bitter taste in Marinette's mouth, and she's taken aback by his callousness. As of chapter 17, Nino is trying to be better, personally apologizing to Marinette for everything that happened. She tells him that it's forgiven, but not to do it again.
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 15. Adrien loses the Cat Miraculous during Syren's attack and Miraculous Cure returns it to Master Fu, spelling doom for his tenure as Chat Noir. The wham continues in the next episode when Plagg is retired to the Miracle Box and Marinette is asked to make a list of trusted people so that one of them can become her new regular partner.
  • In Chapter 19, Trixx selects Jean as his permanent holder, informing Ladybug that he's got "Set orders" and is not the only one. This is followed by Aurore and Ondine finding Longg and Wayzz waiting for them in their bedrooms, taking Team Miraculous up to four members.
  • Chapter 22 features the Miraculous team figuring out who Hawk Moth is, followed by Marinette realizing Chat Noir's Secret Identity. Marinette gets another vital power-up when Fu connects the Miracle Box to her yo-yo, Kim gets to debut as Roi Singe, and finally, Aurore figures out Marinette's Secret Identity and confesses her feelings to her, finding them to be reciprocated.
• Wham Line: Chapter 22 has Tikki declare that "Gabriel Agreste is Hawk Moth", revealing that she and Master Fu have been grilling Plagg and figured out the truth.
• What If?: The central premise of the fic: What if Marinette started the new school year reassigned to Mendeleiev's class rather than staying in Bustier's?
  • Since she's not one of his classmates, and he's not trying to make up for a nonexistent gum incident, Adrien doesn't offer Marinette any help when she's caught without an umbrella and leaves her stranded. As a result, she doesn't develop a crush on him, and regards him with suspicion since all she really knows about him is that he's friends with Chloé.
  • Since they aren't friends, Ladybug sees Alya as reckless and a potential threat to her Secret Identity, repeatedly warning her off.
  • Certain akumas don't happen due to the altered circumstances. For instance, without Marinette around encouraging her to stand up for herself, and with Mme Bustier unwilling to do anything, Juleka numbly allows Chloé to exclude her from the class picture.
  • When Alix and Kim want Marinette to make a banner for their race, Alix commissions her rather than simply expecting her to do it for free. After all, they aren't classmates anymore. Marinette turns down her payment, however, telling her to consider it a birthday gift.
  • Instead of akumatizing Lila into Volpina, Hawkmoth learns about her supposedly being 'Ladybug's best friend' when he akumatizes Mylène's father into the Mime and promptly sends him after her. This effectively ensures that she's not interested in working with him in the future; why would she be, when he nearly killed her?
  • After "The Collector", the book stays with Master Fu, and Adrien only returns to school because of Chloé's intervention.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Alya and Ivan are furious with Nino when he rewrites her script in order to insert a kiss scene without warning anyone, expecting Mylène and Adrien to just roll with it because he decided on a whim that 'people like romance'.
  • Nino gets another one when he declares that the newly akumatized Mylène could become the monster in his film, justifying his lackadaisical attitude by claiming that Ladybug will just fix everything anyway.
  • Both Ladybug and Aurore call Chat Noir out over his attempts to talk over his 'partner' during their interview, repeatedly dismissing her insistence that their relationship is strictly platonic and ignoring her clear discomfort.
  • Tikki is coldly furious at Plagg upon learning that he had plenty of evidence that Gabriel Agreste was Hawk Moth but didn't share it with them immediately upon his return to the Guardian.
• With Us or Against Us: Stormy Weather puts this very succinctly when she declares "You can either ride along this breeze, or be swept up by the storm." Yet despite saying this to Marinette, she doesn't go on to hurt her, patting her head and apologizing for scaring her before heading off.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Marinette's reaction to seeing Chloé's entry to the hat contest.
  • Kim and Ondine have this reaction when they learn the reason Animan is targeting Kim, calling it "Chloé-level pettiness."
  • Played for Laughs during "Evil is Straighter", when Aurore fumes over Ladybug's plan to use Marinette as bait for Evillustrator.
• You Just Told Me: When Chloé attempts to exhort the heroes by refusing to share what she knows about the latest akuma unless they compensate her in some way, she gets baited into revealing the information by Fauxy declaring she doesn't know anything.

Exclusive to the original

• Adaptational Intelligence: In this fic, when Marinette has her first face-to-face conversation with Master Fu (during the events of "Princess Fragrance"), she immediately recognizes him and figures out he has some connection to the Miraculouses.
• Armor-Piercing Response:
  • This exchange between Chloé and Ms. Mendeleiev when the teacher catches her cornering Marinette:
    Chloé: Do you know who I am?
    Mendeleiev: Do you know who I am? I am the meanest teacher in this school, and if I find you disrupting my class again, I'm going to see to it that you get suspended. Now, out!
  • When Chat attempts to play off Ladybug's anger post-interview and insists that the two of them are meant to be together, Ladybug throws him for a loop with four little words: "I don't love you."
  • After the Ladyblog gets some serious backlash following the Face to Face incident, Marinette tries to help Alya calm down, leading to this exchange:
    Marinette: I think it's for the best. Ladybug doesn't want her identity revealed, and—
    Alya: American heroes don't mind!
    Marinette: A lot of those American heroes revealed themselves of their own consent. Has Ladybug ever consented to revealing herself?
• Ascended Extra:
  • Félix and Amber are based on characters from the earliest concepts for Miraculous Ladybug, with the latter being based on Chloé's concept art.
  • Ondine. As of season three, she's only made major appearances in "Syren" and the Heroes' Day two-parter, not even interacting with Marinette in their civilian identities. Here, she commissions Marinette for the banner for Alix and Kim's race, swaps stories about their love woes, and gives Marinette her stuff back when Alya takes it.
• Because You Can Cope: Adrien sees no reason to help Marinette when Chloé is targeting her because she's used to being bullied, whereas Chloé is so used to getting her way that she can't handle being told no.
• Breaking Speech: Chloé starts giving one to Marinette at her half-birthday party, aiming to tear down her self-confidence once and for all. Aurore and Amber intervene and put a stop to that.
• Bribe Backfire: Minor example when Adrien snatches a piece of Camembert from Plagg, declaring that he won't get it back unless he spills the beans. Plagg tells him that it's 'extra melty' from being left out, right before it drips on his hand, grossing him out.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Adrien loses Aurore's regard for good when he attempts to prevent her from intervening in Chloé's bullying, declaring that it's better to let Chloé harass them than risk the Alpha Bitch turning into an akuma.
  • Chat loses Ladybug's respect after he lies about what caused Copycat, making it seem like it was all Ladybug's fault. She's not happy when she finds the truth.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Downplayed. Ms. Mendeleiev wears her reputation as "the meanest teacher in this school" on her sleeve, although in practice she's more of a Stern Teacher.
• Demoted to Extra: Characters in Bustier's class, while relevant for the akuma of the week plots, are out of focus.
• The Dreaded: Marinette views Bustier's class as this. Not only does it have Chloé, but the class has an abnormally large number of Akumatizations. She's visibly more nervous when she's in close proximity to them for too long.
• Did You Think I Can't Feel?: Marinette effectively asks Adrien as much when she points out that, contrary to his beliefs, Chloé's bullying was hurting her, enough that she could have been akumatized if nobody stepped in to stop it.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: When Ladybug finds out what really caused Copycat and confronts Chat about it, Chat attempts to change the subject. At no point during the confrontation does he actually bother apologizing for how he lied, more focused on asserting that their relationship is inevitable.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Or 'Frustratingly', rather: Bustier sincerely thinks that Marinette is suffering in Mendeleiev's class, spending much of her POV section mentally lamenting about how she used to be one of the 'best examples' she had for Chloé (read: Bustier pressured her into being a Stepford Smiler who endured Chloé's bullying rather than 'rocking the boat' by asserting herself). The notion that Mendeleiev might be better for her by virtue of actually stepping in, addressing and preventing the bullying is completely lost upon her. The reason Marinette seems more tense around Bustier's class is because a) Chloé is in that class and b) The class is known for getting Akumatized and she's afraid one might appear.
• Flat "What": Aurore's initial reaction to being offered the Dragon Miraculous.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Bourgeois twins dynamic. Chloé's penchant for self-centered dramatics and spoiled, petty behavior makes her the Foolish sister, while Amber is a Responsible, hard worker who rejects her father's attempts to earn her affection through bribery.
• Heroic Bystander: When Despair Bear attacks Chloé and Amber's half-birthday party, Amber grabs the akuma outright, and is immediately startled by her own action. Jean trips it up with a card later, and Aurore helps pin it down.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Chloé still gets her hands on Marinette's design and enters the hat contest in Chapter 9. Despite her efforts, Marinette still wins.
  • Adrien still threatens to quit in the middle of Syren's assault on Paris, deciding that his desire to know what Ladybug is hiding outweighs saving the city from flooding. Then Syren pops up, and he takes a dorsal fin to the face, knocking the loosened ring right off his hand.
• Internal Reveal: Ladybug learns the truth about the Copycat incident when Nadja brings Théo onto her show as a surprise guest in an attempt to ambush her and Chat with 'proof' of their relationship. This does not go over well.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • After rigging the Weather Girl contest, Chloé gloats to Aurore about it, rubbing it in her face... and triggering the birth of Stormy Weather.
  • When Chloé is caught cheating in the hat-making contest, she's not only disqualified but banned from entering any further fashion competitions. By her own mother.
  • Chat Noir lying to Ladybug and making her think she was responsible for Théo becoming Copycat blows up in his face after she finds out what really happened.
  • Nadja also finds herself facing considerable backlash when her tactics on Face to Face lead to her losing her 'exclusive interview' and getting into serious trouble with her boss.
  • Alya also faces fallout from that interview courtesy of Nadja bringing up the Ladyblog only for Ladybug to declare that she doesn't support it, specifically pointing out the importance of keeping their secret identities secret. This causes the blog to get some backlash until she deletes it.
• Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher: Ms.Bustier is seen as this because she is an overly permissive teacher who encourages her other students to Turn the Other Cheek while never punishing her and other bad students' bad behavior.
• Mood Whiplash: After their victory over Syren, Marinette returns to Master Fu bursting with excitement and eager to report how the fight went. Then she sees that Plagg is with him, bearing grim tidings about what happened to the Black Cat Miraculous.
• Not a Game: Part of Ladybug's call-out to Chat after the failed interview:
  Ladybug: We're not celebrities. We're heroes, Chat. We're not out here saving the day for a big show to please the public; this isn't some big act! This is real! There's a terrorist out there, taking advantage of people, doing some real harm!
  • It's made clear that Ladybug takes her role very seriously, and it's part of why she cancelled the interview with Nadja partway through, as it was focusing more on the love life between the two heroes rather than important topics.
• Oblivious to Love: Adrien doesn't seem to notice the huge crush Aurore has on him. Even when she drops hints via the pastries she brings to him or flat out tells him to his face. His reaction? He asks her for her name.
• Orwellian Retcon: After a hiatus, the author began a rewrite of the fic which eliminated the characters of Amber and held off on debuting Félix, in favour of introducing a Truer to the Text version later on.
• Personality Powers: Played with. The moment Marinette hears what the Dragon Miraculous can do, Aurore immediately leaps to mind as the perfect temporary holder.
• Point of Divergence:
  • Marinette does not develop a crush on Adrien. In fact, she barely knows who he is until Aurore points him out.
  • It's Adrien who gives up his spot in the gaming competition so Max could enter. Unlike canon!Marinette, Adrien just uses Max as an excuse so he doesn't have to tell Plagg he lost interest in the competition after being convinced Marinette isn't Ladybug.
• Polar Opposite Twins: Chloé and Amber; Chloé's a Spoiled Brat who expects everything to go her way, while Amber is much nicer and regards Marinette as a Worthy Opponent and potential rival.
• Pungeon Master: Aurore tends to pepper everything she says with weather-puns.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Master Fu, as demonstrated when Marinette mistakenly thinks that she needs to accept his previous offer of apprenticeship to secure his help with Syren.
• Reset Button: After Syren makes Adrien lose his Miraculous, he hopes Ladybug's Miraculous Cure will bring it back after Syren is defeated. It doesn't work.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Chloé's so used to this working in her favor that she's caught completely off guard when Mendeleiev doesn't back down. She also rigs the Weather Girl contest against Aurore in order to 'punish' her for standing up to her and defending Marinette, and is utterly aghast when Audrey reacts to her cheating in the hat-making contest by disqualifying and banning her from future competitions.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!:
  • Another one of Chloé's favorite M.O.s: exploiting her family's wealth to get what she wants.
  • Adrien invokes this when he offers to buy Plagg 'the biggest wheel of Camembert ever made' in exchange for being let in on Ladybug's secrets. Plagg gives him a Deer in the Headlights look but refuses the offer.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Ladybug storms out of the Face to Face interview after Théo's brought in.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • When Chloé corners Marinette at her half-birthday party, Adrien is more concerned by Aurore wanting to stop her than the bullying itself, claiming that Marinette can handle the bullying better than Chloé can handle being called out. This decisively destroys Aurore's crush on him.
  • This is part of why Ladybug walks out on Nadja in the Face to Face interview. Ladybug thinks the important thing is for people to know their heroes are ready and there for them, as well as information about Akuma, but Nadja derails the whole interview into a discussion on the duo's love life.
  • When Ladybug gives him a friendly heads-up that they might get another teammate soon, Chat/Adrien is more immediately concerned by the notion that she's keeping secrets from him. He starts trying to blackmail Plagg into telling him, culminating in a threat to quit outright. And when he sees her first chosen partner in action, he's nearly overcome with jealousy despite having more important things to be concerned with. Like the fact he'd accidentally lost his ring in the flood waters.
• Stern Teacher: Ms. Mendeleiev, naturally.
• Turn the Other Cheek: Miss Bustier believes she has been teaching her students this by encouraging them to 'lead by example' when it comes to Chloé. However, since she hasn't paired this with any punishment for her bullying, Chloé has no reason to change — why should she, when she's already getting what she wants?
• Twin Threesome Fantasy: Chat hints at wanting a variation of this when Ladybug floats the idea of them getting another teammate. Asking if she intends to split the earrings, then declaring that if she does so, the other Ladybug needs to be a cute girl in order to qualify.
• Wham Episode: The Syren arc has Tikki enthusiastically recommending Marinette as an apprentice guardian, Fu entrusting her to start choosing temporary bearers for other Miraculous, and Adrien losing the Black Cat into the flood waters, with the ring being picked up by a random passerby who finds it on the street afterwards.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Ladybug is livid when she learns what really sparked the creation of Copycat, and calls Chat out on lying to her, as well as how he's been brushing off her repeatedly stated disinterest in him and encouraging the speculation over their 'relationship status'.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Invoked In-Universe: Chat Noir is so convinced that the Ladybug and Cat are 'destined partners' that he tells Ladybug flat-out that they're going to be together someday and that she should stop denying it.

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