soc_puppet: Words "Creative Process" in purple (Creative Process)
Socchan ([personal profile] soc_puppet) wrote2019-08-18 10:06 pm

May as well stick this here for completion's sake...

This is the one that started out as a prompt for [personal profile] alexseanchai:

LB & CN discussing their Problem Children, particularly the two who have yet to be akumatized; the akumatization rate for their class is ridiculous, and those two have got to be targeted by butterflies eventually, right? LB is about to volunteer to keep an eye on Marinette, when CN beats her to it: “I’ll watch out for Marinette if you can look in on Adrien from time to time?”


And [tumblr.com profile] kasienda added:

Ooh! I love this idea! Can I upvote [profile] art_deco_shrimp​‘s prompt?

Because Adrien’s a little turd! He’s making out like a bandit with both scenarios! I love it! Because he needs it!


And then I started thinking about it at work today, and yeah, [profile] kasienda​ is 100% correct, Adrien wins in all directions with this. All he has to do is pay a little more attention to Marinette in school, maybe drop in on her from time to time as CN, and he gets free Ladybug visits out of the deal! Win-win-win!

And it’s working pretty well, too. He’s learning to tell when Marinette is having a bad day at school, and makes sure to be extra kinda and attentive as Adrien on those days. And when that doesn’t work, he tries to fit in a visit as CN. And something amazing happens.

Marinette likes his jokes. Like, all of them! Half of his visits to her dissolve into pun-offs, that she frequently wins! CN is blown away. And also deeply confused? He thought Marinette didn’t like his sense of humor. So he starts trying to spend more time with her, both as CN and as Adrien, to try and figure out the mystery. (And maybe he’ll try and ask Ladybug what the heck is up on one of her visits…)

Meanwhile, Marinette is pretty close to living her best life. It would totally be her best life if she were less anxious about spending time with Adrien? But she’s got an actual excuse to watch him, now, and a professional reason to visit him outside of school, and even in costume! She is totally taking advantage of that.

Maybe a bit too much, even. Just like her partner, she’s keeping a close eye on her civilian charge, learning not just to recognize when he’s having a bad day (because she already had a decent handle on that), but how to make it better for him. And apparently, one of the easiest ways to make him happy is a visit from Ladybug. Or hell, just acknowledgement from Ladybug!

And, well, it’s easy to visit him in costume. Easier than interacting with him as Marinette, at any rate. She doesn’t know exactly how the suit boosts her confidence, but she knows it works, and is fully prepared to take advantage of that. Only she can’t exactly go visiting him all the time; that would be inconvenient on any number of levels! Maybe she can finally take CN up on his suggestion of figuring out “work phones” to use? She’s pretty sure that even a text from Ladybug would help cheer Adrien up when he’s feeling gloomy…

And then there are the days when both of them are feeling worn down and end up meeting each other as they cross the skyline to make sure their civilian charge is okay, only to end up running interference for themselves—only that works out okay, too, because their partner is currently looking a little distressed, and maybe they can help each other out?

Ends in A) a reveal, and/or B) two-person polyamory between four identities, as CN realizes he’s falling in love with Marinette and probably has been for a while, and Marinette figures out that she can’t just turn her feelings for CN off like a faucet or a light switch, etc. (Both are welcome.) How they get there is anyone else’s guess, but definitely not mine.
alexseanchai: Katsuki Yuuri wearing a blue jacket and his glasses and holding a poodle, in front of the asexual pride flag with a rainbow heart inset. (Default)

[personal profile] alexseanchai 2019-08-21 06:02 am (UTC)(link)
seen on tumblr earlier today, but my brain did not present me this thing till now, and therefore fuck if I know where the thing got to: a comparison of a couple Marinette faces in Papa-Garou. she is annoyed at Chat, right up until he says it's the friendliest dinner he's had in a while.

therefore: Marinette drags Chat to family dinners. and Ladybug pushes him into going.

and possibly Marinette notices Adrien being sad on the same theme, and therefore Marinette conspires to get Adrien invited to not!parties involving various configurations of classmates. (not her own family dinners, unless Alya or Nino or somebody is also invited, because hell if she's going through the Adrien edition of Papa-Garou. the Chat Noir edition was enough fun.) and also Ladybug sneaks Adrien out of the house for—well, they don't start as dinner dates. neither do any meals Ladybug and Chat Noir happen to eat together at around that time of day.

does Gabriel notice Adrien isn't eating dinner at home anymore? only if Nathalie notices. does Nathalie notice? maybe, but if he consistently shows up for the first few minutes he's scheduled to be eating dinner at home, then probably she won't. does Gorilla notice? probably! but Adrien is a lot happier this way, so Gorilla has no objection to this plan!

the point at which the polycule waveform collapses is probably about when it occurs to Marinette to try to get Adrien and Chat Noir to a Dupain-Cheng family dinner at the same time.
Edited 2019-08-21 06:02 (UTC)
alexseanchai: Katsuki Yuuri wearing a blue jacket and his glasses and holding a poodle, in front of the asexual pride flag with a rainbow heart inset. (Default)

[personal profile] alexseanchai 2019-08-21 03:56 pm (UTC)(link)
ACCURATE

so maybe not then

maybe when he notices the friends Marinette invites to dinner—they don't always show up, but he and her parents always know when somebody else has been invited, and typically he knows who—never include Ladybug
Edited 2019-08-21 15:58 (UTC)