Fandom Specific Plot / Miraculous Ladybug

Salt Fics

The "salt fic" is essentially a catch-all term for Revenge/Accusation/Betrayal Fics. Many of these were inspired by "Chameleon", though they can cover a wider range of topics than that implies. There are so many of these that it's easy to pick out the tropes they share.

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Lila-related plots

• Lila is typically depicted as the smuggest of snakes, ramping up her behavior to utterly ridiculous levels and meeting no resistance due to being a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing and Villain with Good Publicity. Her claims become even more outlandish than what Canon already provides, yet nobody in Mme. Bustier's class aside from any of Marinette's allies seems inclined to question anything she says.
  • To mitigate this, people outside of Mme. Bustier's class often see right through her, expressing incredulity at the notion that anyone could take her tall tales seriously. This includes other students at Collège Françoise Dupont.
• Her Blatant Lies are often used against her by having others point out her In-Universe Factoid Failure. Particularly popular is having her claim that she can arrange for somebody to meet up with a famous figure who has passed away, or that she's the direct descendant of somebody who never had children (the person in question can range from any real-life deceased celebrity to one the author made up to someone who is deceased In-Universe).
  • In at least two fics, she claims to be in contact with the actress who starred in Solitude; namely, Emilie Agreste. Needless to say, this isn't taken kindly by Gabriel nor Adrien.
• In addition to smearing Marinette's good name, Lila may try the same tactics with Ladybug, especially if the heroine publicly denounces their supposed "friendship". This generally entails accusing Ladybug of being a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, and claiming that they had a falling out over something unsavory Ladybug supposedly did.
• One way of explaining her behavior (aside from simply labeling her a sociopath) is by having her sincerely believe that practically everyone is exactly the same as her. Everyone is Secretly Selfish Beneath the Mask; everyone has an angle, and the only ones who aren't are hopelessly naïve and the easiest of all to manipulate.
  • In keeping with this, she may be convinced that Marinette is just like her, and despises her because she's bringing an end to her own reign. Or perhaps Marinette falls into the "naïve" category, or is only just savvy enough to recognize her true nature, but not savvy enough to understand that "this is just how the world works".
• Lila's "relationship" with Adrien may be endorsed by Gabriel himself, in exchange for her agreeing to spy upon his son for him and/or stir up more drama which he can exploit for akumas.
  • On the flip side of this, some writers have Gabriel show some scruples by deciding that his son's happiness and peace of mind matters is worth more than whatever Lila can offer him.
  • If Adrien isn't getting the Ron the Death Eater treatment, he often gets to play a big role in taking her down. Several stories feature him taking initiative and taking her down all by himself. Otherwise, he tends to passively endure her affections, remaining an Extreme Doormat.
• Should Marinette have another Love Interest, Lila frequently pursues them for no reason other than to take away any source of joy she can. Said love interests typically No-Sell her efforts, much to her frustration.
  • Conversely, her machinations also tend to lead to other couples breaking up, either because one believes her and the other doesn't (Alya and Nino being the most common example of this) or because she can.
• She can delve into Politically Incorrect Villain, making snide comments about race, sexuality and the like. This tends to lead to her swift downfall in stories that depict the class as being inclusive, while in others, her influence instead encourages them to be just as cruelly biased.
  • Alternately, she can incorporate this into her Playing the Victim Card, setting others up to look like they're singling her out for such reasons.
  • Some stories go out of their way to clarify that she isn't bigoted (because she Hates Everyone Equally), but she's not afraid of taking advantage of the bigotry of other people to further her own goals — i.e. outing someone as gay to their homophobic friends/relatives.
• Given her claims of being involved with various charities, one trend has her tricking classmates like Rose or Alya into donating money to whatever cause she's supposedly championing, only to pocket the money and spend it on herself.
• If Marinette transfers to Mme. Mendeleiev's class or to another school entirely, Lila makes a point to gloat about her victory the next time they cross paths.
  • Depending on the Writer, she may go out of her way to continue harassing Marinette, or simply leave her be and bask in the fruits of her victory for as long as possible.
• In Crossover works, Lila inevitably claims to have connections with high-profile people from the other source materials involved; for example, claiming that she's personally acquainted with Bruce Wayne, Lois Lane or Tony Stark.
• Her mother may not be as high-ranking as Lila implies; a common alternative is that she works at the embassy as a secretary or some other, less impressive-sounding position.
  • Regardless of her precise position, Lila's mother is frequently depicted as a good, honest, hard-working woman who loves her daughter dearly and simply isn't aware of how deceptive, manipulative, and cruel she is.
  • Alternately, it may be revealed that one of the reasons they've had to move in the past had less to do with her job and more with Lila having pulled this before, with her mother having tried to give her daughter a clean break and a chance to start anew. She's never happy to learn that she simply continued her old tricks.
• One trend is to introduce a friend of Lila's who pretends to be Ladybug herself. This usually comes with a side of Adrien salt with him immediately taking an interest in the new girl, falling hook, line and sinker for her claims — possibly even revealing to his supposed "partner" that he's Cat Noir! Said new girl quickly finds herself being targeted by Hawk Moth, with Ladybug saving the day and calling out everyone involved.
  • However, if Adrien isn't given the Ron the Death Eater treatment, he would instead properly ask the real Ladybug to clear things up. This pushes him to help expose Lila.
  • Alternatively, the Ladybug impersonator would try to humiliate Marinette for 'bullying her best friend' only for Marinette to turn it around by pointing out that 'Ladybug' once trusted her enough to let her be Multimouse. This would inevitably cause Lila and the imposter to mess up their lies and out themselves.
• Another source for Original Characters are former victims who come back to haunt Lila, serving as prime akuma bait and coming after her guns blazing, eager for Revenge.
  • Some stories reveal that she previously drove somebody to take their own life after she ruined their reputation. Others will go so far as to have Lila being responsible for multiple suicides, with some versions having her being merely uncaring about her actions, while others have her actively try to get people to kill themselves.
• She's typically depicted as having no regrets or remorse regarding her actions whatsoever. The closest Lila is likely to come to expressing regret is over not being able to weedle even more out of her victims.
  • Another form of "remorse" is Lila lamenting that she wasn't aware of somebody's connections and couldn't take advantage of those. Particularly when it comes to Marinette, given her Canonical connections to figures like Jagged Stone and the tendency of Salt Fics to give her even more friends in high places.
• If confronted by any of her angry classmates, especially when only a few of them are involved (and the full weight of consequences hasn't yet come crashing down on her head), Lila will often gloat about how she isn't responsible for everything they did to hurt Marinette, pointing out how easily they turned upon her. Variations of her proclaiming that she did Marinette a favor by exposing them as fair weather friends, Secretly Selfish, or able to act just like her under certain circumstances, crop up often.
  • Marinette herself often agrees with that assessment, declaring that the whole affair has taught her who her real friends are.
  • She may also directly call out Adrien's naivete, laughing at the very notion that he expected her to change just because he wanted her to.
• Lila finally gets struck with some long-overdue Laser-Guided Karma, usually in the form of her lies being exposed. This naturally triggers a Villainous Breakdown, though it may be time-delayed — frequently, Lila expects that she'll get to skip town and start over somewhere else, only to learn that no, her days of escaping consequences are over.
  • Expect her fall from grace to happen when one of her classmates (often one of the quieter ones like Ivan) ends up Spotting the Thread and issuing a Wham Line Armor-Piercing Question that points out that she is contradicting herself. Eventually the entire façade crumbles like a jenga tower when the students all start to realize that the various lies she told them contradict each other and they go off like a powder keg.
  • Exposing her alliance with Hawk Moth and having her arrested for aiding and abetting a known terrorist is a popular outcome, either through footage surfacing of her chasing after or grabbing one of his butterflies, or by having her pull such a stunt in front of witnesses.
  • If Hawk Moth isn't going down at the same time, he's likely to pull a You Have Outlived Your Usefulness on her. If he is going down, he happily pulls a Taking You with Me by exposing her willing cooperation.
  • Facing libel charges is another popular punishment for both her and Alya, due to the latter providing a platform for her outrageous claims on the Ladyblog.
  • Similarly, nailing her for sexually harassing Adrien crops up a lot, especially in stories where he actually stands with Marinette rather than just silently standing by. He may, in fact, reveal the extent of the harassment himself, publicly denouncing her as his stalker.
  • Lila often attempts to claim Diplomatic Immunity, only to be informed that this has been revoked or never actually applied to her in the first place. The latter tends to come as a severe shock, with Lila having operated the whole time sincerely believing that she was protected by that.
    • Alternatively, she does have diplomatic immunity, but her mother is able to revoke it if she needs to.
  • Her mother is usually understandably furious with her, especially when her daughter's lies have an impact upon her position. For if they were doing all the things Lila claimed, that would be a massive misuse of government funds, leading to her mother getting hit with severe scrutiny.
• While Lila often does end up leaving Paris, it's not the elegant dodging of consequences she expects, where nobody at her new destination is aware of her past and she can build herself up anew. Instead, she finds herself Put on a Bus to Hell, shipped out of Hawk Moth's reach so that he can't akumatize her anymore... provided that he even wants to.
  • Military School is a popular destination, when she's not being outright arrested or shipped straight to juvie or an asylum.
  • Lila may find herself suddenly in the custody of extremely strict, no-nonsense relatives who effectively exist for the sole purpose of reassuring the audience that she will be utterly miserable in her new environment, cut off from everything she enjoyed and unable to weasel her way into their good graces.
• Another popular form of Laser-Guided Karma is sticking Lila in a situation where she's expected to deliver upon her extravagant promises, in a way that she can't wiggle her way out. This frequently doubles as karma for the requester as well; their faith in her is rewarded with bitter disappointment, along with the belated realization that they would have been better off handling it themselves or asking somebody more reliable for help.
  • For bonus points, chances are high that the story will hammer home that Marinette could have assisted them instead. And may have done so before in the past, or was willing to help them, only to be rejected in favor of Lila's more attractive-sounding offers.
  • A similar bit of karma — usually done while Lila still has the class in her sway — is that Lila will claim that she's going to some exotic location for an upcoming school break...only to realize too late that, in order to maintain the lie, she'll have to spend the entirety of the break stuck in her own home.
• In stories where Marinette finds fame and fortune, Lila is usually shown regretting her past cruelty, wishing that she had recognized her potential sooner and buddied up to her instead. She may make a move anyway, only to be rebuffed.
• Should Lila manage to evade consequences into adulthood, she may become a new superpowered villain, effectively replacing Hawk Moth. The reveal in "Timetagger" that a new villainous Butterfly Miraculous wielder would replace Hawk Moth at some point in the future, followed by the season 5 finale ending with the reveal that Lila was now in possession of it, only added fuel to the fire.
  • Stories set in the future/during their adulthood often have Lila in a loveless marriage, having gotten together for money and status. This may be with Adrien himself, particularly in works that paint him as an Extreme Doormat or naively clinging to the belief that he can change her.
• Occasionally, Lila will actually have standards, which are revealed when Alya, Adrien, and/or other classmates proceed to cross those very lines themselves without her involvement. Such stories use this to emphasize how awful the culprits are, with Lila frequently expressing shock and even horror at their actions — she never anticipated them taking things so far!
  • In the most extreme cases, this can even lead to Lila pulling a Heel–Face Turn akin to Chloé, fueled by similar reasoning: as awful as she is, she wasn't one of Marinette's "friends".
• In Fics where Marinette is a different class from the start, Lila usually never gets into conflict with Marinette or due to barely interacting with her, considers her not worth the effort of going after.

Alya-related plots

• Alya frequently goes from being Marinette's best friend to Lila's Dragon, if not The Heavy amongst her devoted followers. Chances are high that if Lila isn't depicted as the one coming up with all the ideas about how to make Marinette miserable, Alya is more than happy to provide, using her insight as Mari's former friend to hurt her as much as possible.
• Her villainization almost always comes with a heaping dose of Never My Fault in regards to her own wrongdoings. She frequently accuses Marinette of "tricking" her, convinced that she was a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who used and manipulated her in the very way that Lila is currently using her.
  • In more sympathetic takes, Alya learning the truth about Lila will cause her to have a massive My God, What Have I Done? moment. Less sympathetic takes have her either denying the truth, Moving the Goalposts, or turning on Lila just as violently as she did Marinette and blaming her for everything, including the consequences of her own actions. Or all three, in roughly that order.
• Alya's declaration that "A good journalist always verifies their sources!" is often subjected to an Ironic or Meaningful Echo, frequently while it's being highlighted that she hasn't followed that creed and most definitely has become an Immoral Journalist.
• The Ladyblog tends to go from a well-respected source for all things Ladybug to a trashy, barely-respected gossip column/tabloid, or a place for her to post hit pieces based on Lila's lies... or her own. The latter comes packaged with Moral Myopia; expect her to insist that she's championing the truth while filling her blog with Blatant Lies.
  • Other blogs are often introduced as alternative/superior sources of information. These may be run by one of Marinette's new friends or Marinette herself, and are usually given a boost through official endorsement, with Ladybug openly condemning the Ladyblog.
  • If a salt fic doesn't introduce another blog, its reputation still takes a massive hit due to condemnation by either a more well-known reporter (usually Nadja Chamack, or — if it's a crossover — Lois Lane or some other famous fictional reporter), Ladybug herself, or Ladybug doing an interview with the aforementioned reporter. Alya can also do it to herself by accidentally livestreaming Ladybug denouncing her relationship with Lila and/or Cat Noir or condemning the Ladyblog for other reasons.
  • Chances are high for Alya to have a Small Name, Big Ego attitude about her blog, touting it as the best of the best and dismissing the existence of other blogs... and lashing out at Ladybug for supposedly betraying her.
  • Lila may take advantage of this to ingratiate herself further with Alya by claiming that she has fought with Ladybug about this; that she disagreed with her and sides with the Ladyblog over her supposed friend. This can have the added benefit of giving her a ready-made excuse if Ladybug declares they were never friends.
• Her tendency to put herself In Harm's Way for the sake of getting prime footage gets picked apart. Family and friends alike express discomfort over her rushing in, expecting Ladybug to save her, and this can lead to her parents attempting to forbid her from continuing the Ladyblog, temporarily or permanently.
  • Ladybug or other heroes can call her out on making herself a liability, with how many akumas have powers that allow them to either turn victims into their Mooks or inflict serious harm.
  • Some stories have her outright abandoning her younger sisters and/or Nino's younger brother, Chris, to rush off and get her precious footage, or even deliberately attempting to upset someone enough to get them akumatized so that she can be first on the scene.
• In the wake of episodes like "Oblivio" and "Feast", Salt Fics increasingly depict Alya as somebody who refuses to consider the potential fallout of her actions, and who will gleefully expose a 'big scoop' like Ladybug's Secret Identity or other Miraculous-related secrets for the sake of boosting her blog's traffic.
  • Should she learn that Marinette is Ladybug, one of the first lines out of her mouth is almost always a demand to know why she never told her, complaining about her efforts to keep her in the dark. Note that this can be combined with her revealing said identity to the world, with Alya failing to understand that her own actions effectively answer that question. Marinette has to spell it out for her.
• If any of the class are presented as ungrateful or entitled jerks, chances are high that Alya will be the most entitled of them all. Expect her to cite her supposed status as Marinette's "bestie" as a reason for her to still get everything she wants from her, even after explicitly disowning and declaring that they were no longer friends.
  • A prime example of this sort of mentality: Alya pawning off her babysitting responsibilities onto Marinette, expecting her to look after the twins (and/or Nino's brother Chris) so she and Nino can go off on dates. Alya never compensates Marinette for this, pocketing any money for herself, leaving Marinette with all of the responsibility and none of the reward. Unsurprisingly, the parents are never pleased to learn of this.
• This entitlement extends to the Fox Miraculous. Rena Rouge's "retirement" hits her hard, and she's often the most openly resentful of her replacement. This can lead to her exposing her own Secret Identity.
  • If Lila learns that Alya used to be Rena Rouge, she often claims that she had a falling out with Ladybug, and that Rena was either a victim of Revenge by Proxy or part of the reason she's no longer friends with Ladybug.
  • Alternately, Lila will sometimes claim that she was Rena Rouge, unaware that she's making that claim around people that would obviously know otherwise.
• Her relationship with Nino is a common casualty of Salt Fics. Her boyfriend is commonly played as a Foil to her, proving far more likely to realize his mistakes and switch sides... which usually involves him breaking things off with Alya. This leads to her becoming a Woman Scorned.
  • This is often reflected in their reactions to their respective replacements. While Alya is typically furious over a new Fox appearing, Nino, while surprised and a bit hurt, tends to take it with more grace.
  • Another potential trigger for them breaking up is Lila claiming that he's cheating on her with someone else. This may be because Lila suspects he's starting to figure her out, but more often than not, happens for no real reason at all. Other than, perhaps, personal amusement, or demonstrating how Alya accepts her word at face value and refuses to look into things herself.
  • Some writers go as far as to have Alya abuse him, either due to flimsy "relationship advice" from Lila or on her own. The degree of abuse depends on how dramatic the writer wants to make the story.
• Chloé frequently serves as her Foil as well, especially in stories where they effectively switch places, with Chloé becoming one of Marinette's new friends. Whether she's befriended Marinette or not, Chloé often gets to taunt Alya about their similarities, complimenting her on her bullying tactics.
• In Salt Fics focused on dealing with Cat Noir's entitled behavior, Alya is frequently painted as a Shipper on Deck who supports the idea of them getting together, and is just as prone to ignoring Ladybug's feelings on the matter.
  • Alya's Shipper on Deck tendencies towards Marinette and Adrien also get deconstructed in some fics, with Marinette calling her out for constantly pushing her to confess to Adrien while disregarding how she feels. She might also get called out on fueling (or at least simply not discouraging) Marinette's Stalker with a Crush habits.
  • The events of the New York Special have provided ample fuel for Salt Fics, with her frequently getting called out on her utter lack of regard for Marinette's explicitly stated wishes or her safety.
• One reoccurring plot involves Alya attempting to out Marinette and/or her allies as the "real" liars by trying to prove that they don't have a specific allergy or don't actually follow a vegetarian/vegan diet by sneaking the allergen/meat into their foods. Naturally, this has serious consequences: the people she targeted go to the hospital, her mom gets fired from her job as a chef (since Alya's plot usually involves tampering with one of the meals she serves), she'll face severe legal repercussions, and Lila (who is almost always written as having standards in this situation) realizes she's Eviler than Thou and ditches her in favor of the victims.
• She tends to suffer the most Laser-Guided Karma aside from Lila, due to becoming her Dragon and eagerly harassing her former friend.
  • Losing the Ladyblog is a common consequence, with her parents grounding her and forbidding her from continuing. She may also find that the Ladyblog has gotten her into a lot of legal trouble due to what she's posted there.
  • Alya's prospects of becoming a real reporter are often dunked in the toilet alongside her reputation. Nadja or some other figure she admires frequently delivers the news that not only is she not getting a job/internship with them, she has been outright blacklisted due to her unprofessional behavior.
  • The more severe the consequences, the higher the chances of one attempting to throw the other under the bus and insist their "friend" was responsible for everything. Alya is just as likely to make that claim as Lila is; it's generally a matter of who starts crying foul first.
  • In Salt Fics that involve a Time Skip, with Lila having somehow dodged complete exposure in the intervening years, Alya is often shown to still be taking Lila's words as gospel truths, even if the rest of the class has wised up to her ways. This naturally pairs with Lila giving her incredibly poor advice that has ensured that Alya hasn't achieved much of anything of note over the years, disillusioned and blaming everyone else for her struggles.
• Alya frequently proves to be prime butterfly bait in Salt Fics, especially when the inevitable consequences of her behavior come rolling in. She may even "pull a Lila" and actively go after a butterfly, wanting to be akumatized in order to "punish" those she believes have wronged her.
• Alya, and to a lesser extent with others, in a few stories will hijack the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous in a selfish attempt to 'fix' things with the wish to stop Hawk Moth. Whatever reality Alya gets will almost certainly screw over her in the result.

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• On rare occasions, Alya won't get the Ron the Death Eater treatment. This tends to have its own tropes attached to it.
  • Her sticking with Marinette almost always comes about because she finally decides to check her sources, which naturally leads to her learning that Lila was lying about everything. This will be followed by her having a My God, What Have I Done? moment and seeking to apologize to Marinette as soon as possible.
  • Alternatively, she may witness something that flips her understanding the situation on its head while Going for the Big Scoop. Such as seeing Marinette transform/detransform and realizing that Lila's claims of their friendship were complete bunk, or spying Lila going after and grabbing a butterfly so she could be akumatized.
  • Another common trigger is the Ladyblog's reputation nosediving after she posts the interview with Lila, as her readers ravage her for providing a platform for such obvious lies.
    • In some fics, before she finds out the truth about Lila, she might be convinced to take down the videos she posted of Lila claiming to be Ladybug's bestie when someone (either her friends or random commenters) point out that said videos could lead to Hawk Moth using Lila against Ladybug somehow. Lila never takes the revelation well, ultimately sowing the seeds for Alya to figure out just how bad the liar is.
  • Her redemption may be kickstarted by Trixx sneaking out and confronting her directly, challenging her to actually investigate Lila and/or Marinette's claims and find out the truth for herself. This is often coupled with declarations that Foxes should be able not just to create illusions, but to see through them.
  • She's often given a Vitriolic Best Buds relationship with a redeemed Chloé. This usually occurs because, while the two are working towards a common goal and bond over that, there's still a history of animosity between the two that won't just go away because of that.
  • Alya also commonly gets a taste of what it's like to be The Cassandra, having trouble convincing others that Lila is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing. This usually folds into her apologizing for Marinette specifically about that, wondering how she dealt with knowing the truth but getting dismissed.
  • Naturally, the Ladyblog will remain the most popular source of all things Ladybug in these variants. If Marinette befriends any other superheroes, Alya will likely get an interview with them for the blog. She might also use it to arrange an Engineered Public Confession in regards to Lila's manipulations, Cat Noir's entitled behavior, or someone else's unsavory actions.

Adrien-related plots

• Adrien may be presented as having Skewed Priorities, placing the idea of maintaining an illusion of harmony in their classroom over revealing the truth. He may also take a Holier Than Thou attitude towards Marinette, scolding her for wanting to expose Lila.
  • If Adrien is not seemingly oblivious to how Marinette is being singled out, he may tell her that it's her own fault: that Lila's lies weren't hurting anyone before, and that she deserves to be hurt for persisting in trying to expose her. In the more extreme cases, he'll even join his classmates in harassing her to treat Lila better, despite knowing the truth.
  • Another common reason for Adrien to balk at trying to expose Lila is that he fears nobody will believe him either. Depending on the Writer, this may be treated as a sympathetic reason for his hesitance, or used to paint him as a Dirty Coward, willing to let Marinette suffer alone rather than standing beside her.
  • He may be presented as an Extreme Doormat, with this being blamed on his strict upbringing. Again, whether or not this excuses him is up to the author's preference.
  • Fear of Lila being akumatized is another frequent excuse. He may also express some concern about her victims getting akumatized if they learn the Awful Truth; however, that hinges on him considering their feelings in the first place, which isn't always the case. Either way, he fails to factor in how much worse they're likely to feel the longer things go on before her exposure.
  • Whether he's concerned about Lila and/or their classmates getting akumatized due to a reveal or not, Adrien almost never considers the possibility of Marinette being akumatized instead. Plagg pointing this out to him practically always gets dismissed, with Adrien insisting that she is too strong to let that get to her.
  • Adrien may show disappointment towards Marinette when she stops being his "Everyday Ladybug", meaning she is no longer being an Extreme Doormat, or she doesn't immediately forgives her classmates after Lila's lies were exposed.
• His desire to avoid exposing Lila is commonly combined with and compared to his defending Chloé, pointing out how in both cases, he seems keen to ignore the harm they have done/are doing and blame the victims instead, putting the onus on them to make amends with their abusers.
  • Not only will Adrien frequently advise Marinette (and potentially others) to 'take the high road' with Lila, Chloé and others, he will maintain this position after they get exposed, telling Marinette that he's disappointed in her for standing up to herself and not doing as he asked. He also commonly scolds her for being happy that her antagonist suffered actual consequences for their actions.
• Much like Alya, his words to Marinette near the end of "Chameleon" are often subject to Ironic Echo, as it's made clear that he's not actually standing with or supporting her, and his words of support were effectively meaningless.
  • This is particularly common in fics where Marinette gets akumatized, with her throwing his words back in his face — with this doubling as an Internal Reveal to any classmates present.
• Plagg often calls him out, sarcastically snarking at any confusion Adrien expresses over Marinette growing distant or otherwise treating him differently, and pointing out that it's hardly surprising for her feelings to change after he claimed to have her back, only to abandon her.
  • Plagg also commonly complains about having to try and be "the responsible one" in these sort of scenarios.
• Adrien may be portrayed as no better than Chloé or Lila by virtue of having a very self-centered attitude. Or from his father, in that while Gabriel is a Control Freak who micromanages his son's life, Adrien attempts to compensate for this by making his school and superhero lives go precisely the way he wants them. And if that means throwing Marinette to the wolves or forcing Ladybug to accept his affections, then so be it.
• A frequent consequence of his inaction is that Adrien finds that others support the idea of him getting together with Lila. This usually includes Alya (switching gears from helping Marinette to her new, "better" friend), Nino, or his own father — with Gabriel naturally having the most ability to force the issue, as well as ulterior motives for shoving them together. Unsurprisingly, this tends to make Adrien more keen on abandoning the "high road" and exposing her.
• Marinette's crush often gets revealed to him. Alya is frequently responsible for this, exposing her former friend's feelings in order to openly accuse her of only disliking Lila because she's jealous of her being closer to Adrien, paint her as a Stalker with a Crush, or just generally humiliate her.
  • This can trigger a moment of revelation for Adrien. Whether or not this comes in time for him to atone and salvage any potential relationship depends upon the writer.
  • Adrien may also respond by rejecting Marinette. This can go hand-in-hand with her being "exposed" as a Stalker with a Crush, or can fold into the Holier Than Thou route, with Adrien declaring that she's been too mean in her efforts to expose Lila.
• Despite being aware of Lila's true nature, Adrien may end up buying into some of her lies anyway. Especially if accepting those claims as true allows him to dodge responsibility and blame someone else for his problems.
• His "do nothing and don't warn anyone else" approach tends to bite him in the butt once others learn about it, with them calling him out for not letting them know. Nino often gets the honors of doing so, by virtue of being Adrien's best friend.
  • This often leads to Adrien finding himself rejected and isolated by his angry classmates, with their friendships being severely strained or broken off entirely. It's often pointed out that it's easier for them to blame him for everything than acknowledge their own fault in the matter.
  • In some cases, news of Adrien's mishandling of the Lila situation will reach Gabriel's ears. The elder Agreste will never be happy to find out how his son's been acting and promptly punish him — in more extreme cases, he might just pull Adrien out of school altogether, reasoning that going to public school has clearly been a negative influence on him.

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• If Adrien isn't getting presented in a bad light, then he usually has a My God, What Have I Done? moment very early on and strives to make amends, apologizing profusely to Marinette for giving her such poor advice.
  • One popular method of revelation has Marinette confide in Cat Noir about her recent troubles. Upon learning the full extent of Lila's cruelty, he's typically quick to counter his own advice, directly calling out his civilian counterpart as wrong.
  • Often, the lack of salt towards Adrien will be more than made up for with salt towards his father, with several pro-Adrien plots involving him rebelling against his dad's strict parenting in some form.
  • If the author still wants Marinette to hook up with someone else, then an allied Adrien and Marinette will decide that they're Better as Friends, with Adrien hooking up with Kagami, Luka, or someone else.

Cat Noir-related plots

A common topic for non-Lila-related Salt Fics (and even a few Lila-related ones) is addressing (and sometimes exaggerating) Adrien's entitled behavior as Cat Noir. Frequent points involved in such stories include:

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• Adrien commonly insists that they are meant to be together Because Destiny Says So. That because the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous are a matched set, their holders are fated to be lovers, regardless of her feelings on the matter.
• The Moral Myopia inherit in Adrien failing to recognize that he annoys Ladybug as much as his own unwanted admirers bother him is frequently pointed out. More sympathetic takes fold this into his Jerkass Realization, while less generous ones have him staunchly insist that it's completely different, due to his firm belief that they're destined lovers... or simply because he's the one who wants this.
• Much like the above, expect Cat Salt to highlight how he complains about Ladybug not treating him like a real partner, and how he's much guiltier of all the things he accuses her of. Especially when it comes to "not listening". If she's not telling him whatever he wants to hear, he'll blow her off without a second thought, while accusing her of disregarding whatever he's got to say.
  • Her keeping secrets tends to be a sticking point as well. Never mind all the valid reasons for doing so, or the fact that he keeps secrets as well — ones that aren't related to protecting the Miraculous and their secret identities, like his lies in "Copycat".
• Cat refusing to help against akuma unless Ladybug "admits" that she loves him/agrees to a Relationship Upgrade. This often leads to another hero being brought into the fray. Somehow, Cat rarely, if ever, considered that as a potential outcome.
  • Civilians witnessing this are likely to confront him about it. His behavior can also be Caught on Tape and posted online, even making the news.
• Cat getting jealous of other heroes, especially if they happen to be male or he otherwise sees them as a threat to his relationship with Ladybug. Often combines with the above — the hero is chosen and/or made permanent in response to him proving himself unreliable, and he blames them for this.
  • There's some salt fics out there where Cat is depicted as being so jealous of any other superhero that Ladybug brings in that he entertains the idea of Cataclysming them, if he doesn't attempt it outright. This was a minor trend before the airings of "Hack-San", "Jubilation", and "Derision" (all of which saw him attempt to Cataclysm relatively innocent humans), but those episodes naturally made it a bit more common to come across.
• His threat to quit during "Syren" can backfire. If he doesn't lose the ring in that moment, this usually sees him getting called out on his Skewed Priorities.
• Ladybug learning about how he lied about how Théo was akumatized in "Copycat", and that he was responsible for causing it rather than her.
• Cat's tendency to joke around and not take akuma attacks quite as seriously as his partner tends to be cast in a harsher light as well, showing that he expects Ladybug to pick up his slack and save the day.
  • The amount of times that he sacrifices himself may be deconstructed. Rather than treated as always necessary or "romantic", it can be pointed out that some of said sacrifices could have been avoided or are otherwise senseless, placing even more pressure upon Ladybug to win without her partner as backup. It's also often highlighted that seeing her partner die, temporarily or not, is likely to be quite traumatic... all the more so with the knowledge that if she doesn't win/can't use her World-Healing Wave, he and everyone else will be gone for good. On the other hand, few stories explore the idea that repeatedly dying or being brainwashed is traumatic for him.
  • Cat frequently treats the existence of her World-Healing Wave as a way to excuse his joking around and focus on flirting over fighting. After all, what does it matter if he makes a few missteps here or there if Ladybug's always going to carry the day and restore everything back to normal with a swarm of magical ladybugs? The notion that this only restores the physical damage and doesn't erase the memory or other consequences of his actions is generally lost upon him until it's too late.
• If he hears Cat Noir being criticized, Adrien will typically speak up to defend his alter ego, insisting that he was in the right. Rather than convincing anyone, he tends to dig himself deeper in the process, as others are generally less than impressed by his arguments and shocked (and disgusted) that he would find what Cat does defendable in the first place.
• If his Secret Identity is revealed, Marinette is often dismayed, disgusted or horrified to realize that she was Loving a Shadow, and that the boy she fawned after was so pushy and refused to take "no" for an answer. (This is frequently coupled with a Heel Realization about her own stalkery behavior, if she hasn't already had one and dialed it back/given up on her crush.)
  • On the flip side, such Salt Fics often treat Adrien learning her Secret Identity as his main (or only) reason for taking any interest in her. This is commonly accompanied by an Unrequited Love Switcheroo, with Marinette having fallen out of love with him after taking a harder look at his behavior.
  • If the above happens as a mutual reveal, Adrien is almost always ecstatic, openly declaring that there's now nothing in the way of them getting together. He doesn't understand Marinette's horrified reaction, or why she would reject him after learning the truth; isn't this just proof of their destiny?
  • Should Adrien learn Ladybug's identity without her realizing, he may go for an immediate reveal, or keep that knowledge to himself while pursuing Marinette. This can involve him becoming a Stalker with a Crush, using his capabilities as Cat Noir to keep a closer eye on her without her knowledge.
• Some stories have Adrien mistakenly believe that somebody else is Ladybug, such as Kagami, and pursue a relationship with them as a result. Ladybug/Marinette is never pleased to learn about this, taking it as proof that he only "loves" Ladybug and not the girl behind the mask.
• Plagg normally tries to curtail and call out Adrien's behavior. It's rare for Adrien to pay his warnings any mind.
• Should he lose the ring — which is a very common outcome — Adrien is typically very slow to recognize how his own actions led to this. The first words out of his mouth are almost always about how being Cat Noir is his only source of freedom, begging for another chance.
  • Master Fu frequently expresses regret over selecting him in the first place. He may apologize to Adrien, being sincerely remorseful about taking away his outlet, but also holding firm that he has proven himself unworthy, and that his sympathy for his situation blinded him to that. He almost certainly apologizes to Marinette for not acting sooner.
  • Adrien almost always gets akumatized in the wake of losing the Ring. This may come immediately, or after seeing that a new Cat has been chosen, driving home for him the unlikeliness of ever getting it back.
  • If Adrien ever realizes the error of his ways, it's generally a bittersweet affair: he won't ever become Cat Noir again, but at least has the ability to work on his issues and become a better person, potentially repairing his relationships to some extent in the process.
  • And if he loses the ring because of an accident he could have otherwise avoided, having it stolen by the villain(s), or because he gets cocky and ends up making a fatal mistake, expect him to still blame everyone but himself (mainly Plagg) for what has happened. Bonus points if he recovers the ring, but Master Fu/Ladybug/whoever's the current guardian strips him of it anyways, or they recover the ring themselves and refuse to give it back for any of the aforementioned reasons.
• Depending on the Writer, after Adrien is stripped of the ring, it may wind up going to Marinette's Love Interest for a bit of Dramatic Irony. Should this be the case, it's often emphasized that she and her partner are not "destined lovers" like how Cat frequently romanticized their relationship, and that their relationship works due to mutual respect.
  • The new Black Cat is typically seen as a Superior Successor, with Adrien having to sit and seethe through listening to others gush about his replacement, unaware that the previous holder is right there hearing every criticism they have of Cat Noir.
  • It's also not uncommon to see stories where the new Black Cat ends up confronting Adrien and proceeding to lay into him for his actions for any of the above reasons. Reactions may range from a flat-out Heel Realization to many an Ignored Epiphany, depending on the level of salt.
• Gabriel normally finds out that his son was Cat Noir after he has lost the Ring. While this may leave him somewhat shaken, he normally ignores any epiphanies that might spring from that, blaming his son for unknowingly getting in his way in the first place. He's also naturally annoyed at not realizing this sooner, as it would have made securing the Ring much easier. In some cases, he may even take advantage of Adrien's resentment over this turn of events to akumatize him.
• Some stories have Cat Noir betray Ladybug in order to make a wish with the Earrings and Ring, creating an Alternate Universe where his family is intact while somebody else's happiness is sacrificed. Tikki and Plagg typically have Ripple-Proof Memory in such tales, and are understandably furious with his selfishness.
  • This betrayal tends to happen in one of two fashions: Cat pulls a Face–Heel Turn and joins forces with Hawk Moth, or he backstabs her immediately after they've defeated Hawk Moth, ripping any hope of peace right out of her hands.
  • Adrien usually expects to have the relationship he dreamed about with "his Lady" in the new reality. If he's the one making the wish rather than Hawk Moth, having her love him may be included in the wish itself; however, it's just as likely that he assumes she'll fall for him, simply because he's convinced that they're destined to be together.
  • Once the new reality turns out to be less than the perfection he anticipated, Adrien typically wants to try and fix things with another wish, showing that he's learned absolutely nothing from the whole experience.
• Interestingly, while many writers are willing to call out Cat's entitled behavior in canon, few tend to bring up that Marinette acted similarly around Adrien. Some fans have explained this as a natural consequence of Marinette constantly being hit with Informed Wrongness in the show proper, with writers unwilling to call her out for her legitimately negative actions in their fanfics because of it. Either way, the fanfics that do bring it up tend to have Marinette undergo a Heel Realization about it when she realizes that's exactly how Cat has been treating her.

Chloé-related plots

Chloé stands in an interesting position. While there is a high chance of her being one of Marinette's allies, she may also go unredeemed, with the writer taking her to task for all of her unpleasant actions in Canon.

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• A redeemed Chloé often switches narrative positions with Alya, becoming Marinette's best friend (or at least her closest friend among Bustier's students), while Alya serves as Lila's Draconic bestie and a massive bully.
  • Alya tends to be especially upset by this. If she's not hurling accusations and abuse at Marinette, or sniping about how they're both awful people, she goes after Chloé for daring to get anywhere near her "bestie". Occasionally both reactions will crop up in the same story, with the "Don't get near my bestie" part either cropping up first, or coming up after Lila is exposed and Alya's attempting to reset the status quo to how things were before.
• Unlike her Canon counterpart, she generally regrets her actions... but only to a point. When it comes to how she treated her classmates, she typically refuses to apologize or take any steps to make amends with them until and unless they recognize the error of their own ways. She's not interested in making nice with Hypocrites.
  • Making amends with those she wronged who aren't wronging her and/or Marinette is another matter entirely, and is commonly used to show that she's dedicated to changing her ways.
  • Mme. Bustier may suddenly be willing to punish her for "misbehaving" in class — which more often than not means "defending Marinette from Lila, Alya and anyone else trying to bully her".
• She tends towards Reformed, but Not Tamed, using her skills as a Lovable Alpha Bitch to help Marinette out. This often includes using her family's money and influence to the benefit of her newfound friends.
  • This can be coupled with Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work, with a heroic/neutral Chloé dealing with Lila herself through judicious use of said resources and cunning.
  • Chloé also often takes it upon herself to teach Marinette how to be "mean". This generally means being more assertive when dealing with their classmates/her former friends; Depending on the Writer, however, this can entail Marinette becoming a queen bee herself.
• A common justification that crops up whenever Alya or one of Marinette's former friends points out her past as an Alpha Bitch is that Marinette was used to dealing with her attitude. They, on the other hand, were supposed to be trustworthy, only to stab her in the back once Lila returned. Chloé also frequently counters by noting that she's gotten better, whereas they have gotten worse/show no signs of wanting to change or atone for their own bad behavior. In more extreme cases, this may lead to Chloé's own bad behavior getting Easily Forgiven by Marinette/the narrative, while the other members of Bustier's class are pushed hard into Ron the Death Eater territory and given no such opportunities to redeem themselves.
• She's commonly noted to have started doing her own schoolwork rather than pawning it off on Sabrina or somebody else. Expect her to express frustration over having to spend her own time and effort on homework, but stick to it as another sign of her dedication to self-improvement.
• Most fics usually tackle the issue with her being publicly known as Queen Bee in one of three ways:
  • She switches to using another Miraculous, letting another character take up the Bee;
  • She re-introduces herself as the "new" hero Honeybee/Reine Abeille/whatever name the writer decides on, often getting help from whoever the Fox wielder is by using an illusion to make it seem like she's interacting with herself^note amusingly, this method would later show up in canon, only with Alya using it instead of Chloé, or;
  • The issue isn't brought up at all, and she continues being Queen Bee with little to no consequence.
• Sabrina may or may not join her as part of Marinette's new friend group. If not, Chloé is usually shown to miss having her around, and sincerely upset at seeing her still under Lila's sway; rarely, she may even acknowledge that it was likely her past harsh treatment of Sabrina that drove her into the clutches of someone worse.
• A popular plotline is Chloé figuring out Ladybug and/or Cat Noir's secret identities and becoming a Secret Secret-Keeper, hiding what she's learned from them while sorting out how she feels about these revelations. This frequently leads into her attempting to support them by running interference/providing excuses so they can slip away and transform.
• A Chloé that's on the path to redemption often gets to enjoy being a Badass Bystander, doing something heroic while untransformed/having no access to any Miraculous. While this is commonly used by the narrative to prove that she's worthy of becoming a superheroine, this is rarely her motive; instead, she acts because it's the right thing to do.
• Much like with Marinette, if a story focuses on Adrien/Cat's entitled behavior, Chloé's own entitled behavior towards Adrien is almost never brought up. If it is, it's almost always in the form of a "The Reason You Suck" Speech towards him; if Adrien was always uncomfortable with Chloé's behavior towards him, then why is he actively engaging in/supporting Cat Noir when he's engaging in the same behavior? Whether said behavior is acknowledged or not, her crush on Adrien will be long gone.

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• If Chloé isn't redeemed in a fic, she and Sabrina are usually made the neutral faction in the conflict between Marinette and Lila, usually because Chloé hates both sides equally.
  • It's also not unusual for a neutral/unredeemed Chloé to give a "The Reason You Suck" Speech where she gleefully upbraids her classmates for turning so easily upon their "Everyday Ladybug". This usually happens right after The Reveal, though it may come beforehand... and lead to an I Warned You moment after Lila is exposed.
• An unredeemed Chloé usually doesn't work directly with Lila, seeing her as a threat to her own status as the class's reigning Alpha Bitch. She simply continues to act the same way she always has, stewing over being 'usurped' and lashing out at anyone unfortunate enough to cross her path.
  • She also might be brought down as a side note, with the main focus of the story being on Lila's downfall and Chloé getting her karmic punishment as a natural effect of the situation in Mme. Bustier's class/at their school coming under closer scrutiny.
• As with sodium-laced Alya and Adrien/Cat Noir, she commonly displays a Never My Fault attitude towards her actions, refusing to acknowledge that she's done anything wrong or that her actions should have consequences.
• Such fics usually point out the fact that her attempt at Engineered Heroics during her debut as Queen Bee could have gotten a lot of people killed. Including Marinette and her parents.
  • That last point is commonly used to blindside Adrien/Cat Noir, making the situation more personal by causing him to realize that people he knows could have died. He may get called out on the notion that he needed that personal touch to start caring about her potential victims.
• Her father often loses influence as a direct result of her actions, due to public outcry over her behavior as Queen Bee or her betrayal of Ladybug and the other heroes during the Season 3 finale being publicly exposed. He may step down or be booted out of his office entirely.
• If she learns Ladybug's secret identity, it usually leads to an Ignored Epiphany as she struggles to reconcile her favorite target being the heroine she once adored, coming up with some excuse to dismiss any lessons she might learn from this.

Mme. Bustier-related plots

• Mme. Bustier's teaching methods often end up Deconstructed (pointing out that they let the bad students get off scot-free for their actions and made her class a fertile breeding ground for akumas), and she'll often lose her Cool Teacher status among students who know what's going on.
• She may be depicted as hopelessly naïve, sincerely believing that her methods are helping bullies like Chloé change for the better.
  • Alternately, Mme. Bustier may be more aware of what's going on than she acts, and opts not to intervene because she's used to shunting the responsibility of solving problems onto "the Marinettes of the world".
  • It may be specifically stated that the real reason she avoids punishing Chloé is because she doesn't want to risk her father's wrath (or that of Principal Damocles). Same goes for Adrien, thanks to Gabriel. Lila can be lumped into this; even if her mother isn't the sort to abuse her power, Bustier would rather err on the side of caution. Marinette suffers because her parents aren't seen as anyone important enough to avoid crossing. (Bustier having this mentality is usually combined with the Dupain-Chengs being protective parents and helping to bring her down.)
  • She may also be a former Alpha Bitch who believes herself to be a Reformed Bully, dismissing the notion that her actions had any sort of long-term impact. This justifies her preferential treatment of Chloé by having her see a lot of herself in the blonde.
  • More extreme variants may paint her as a Manipulative Bastard (and possibly a Control Freak) who's deliberately grooming Marinette to be an Extreme Doormat, often so she doesn't have to do anything to control the class on her own.
• Bustier can display a lot of Pride in her supposed reputation, feigning modesty while parading her accolades around, or citing it as justification for her actions — or inaction.
  • Her reputation among her peers is often revealed to be spottier than she thinks it is. Chances are high that she's dismissed any attempts to discuss the downsides of her methods as poor attempts to hide their envy.
• It's not unusual for Mme. Bustier to engage in the bullying herself. For instance, if her students want to exclude Marinette (and any of her allies) from school trips, Bustier will allow this without batting a lash. If Marinette is framed for anything, Bustier will often confront her in front of the whole class, humiliating her.
  • Selective Enforcement is key here. Bustier goes from useless to actively working against Marinette, declaring that she's disappointed in her for being so "disruptive".
  • If Marinette is asserting herself and setting boundaries, no longer allowing others to exploit her kindness, Bustier will lecture and punish her for not remaining an Extreme Doormat. All the more so if she dares standing up to her teacher herself.
  • On a related note, Bustier tends to be depicted as trying to enforce her authority in circumstances where she has none at all, creating a bitterly ironic contrast with her reluctance to use it during other, more appropriate situations.
• She's shown to be an Unreliable Expositor, offering Marinette's parents a biased perspective of what's happening in her classroom. (i.e. claiming that their daughter is causing problems/developing an "attitude problem".) Depending on the Writer, Sabine and Tom may believe her entirely and punish Marinette, or look into the matter themselves, learning what's happening and becoming understandably furious with her.
• Mme. Mendeleiev is often presented as a much better teacher who refuses to permit any bullying or bad behavior. If Marinette and her friends don't transfer to a different school, it's not unusual for them to migrate to Mendeleiev's class instead. Mendeleiev also often gets to lecture her fellow educator about her methods, frequently noting that she warned her about this before.
• Often, it will be revealed that she's used her current teaching tactics on her previous classes (either never learning anything from how those turned out or doing it deliberately). Expect one mention of a manchild who still throws tantrums over the slightest things (much like Chloé), several mentions of people being Driven to Suicide or in therapy, and a previous student (often the Marinette counterpart) showing up and being none too happy that Bustier is still using the same tactics.
• She tends to be an Obstructive Bureaucrat alongside Damocles whenever it comes to Marinette's school-related paperwork. In egregious cases, she may demand parental signatures from Marinette if she wants to transfer out of her class or something similar, even if her biological parents are out of the picture (e.g. she emancipated herself or they're dead), never accepting the signatures of whatever parental substitute Marinette has (if she has any).
• In the most extreme cases, this leads to Bustier losing her job, even finding herself blacklisted. Principal Damocles may or may not go down alongside her. If so, Mendeleiev usually steps up to fill the now-vacant position, or a new teacher and/or principal is brought in, and immediately shown to take their duties much more seriously.
  • If Lila is still present/hasn't been exposed yet, expect the new teacher/principal to comment on her lack of any doctor's notes for her claimed conditions, often specifically citing the notion that Mme. Bustier should have ensured that herself.

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• A few stories take a more sympathetic view towards Mme. Bustier, having her change her ways and become a significantly better teacher after discovering that Lila has been deceiving her. Such stories usually kickstart the shift by having her doing her job in the first place; for instance, a popular avenue is her looking into Lila's medical history so that she can better accommodate her, only to learn she doesn't actually have any of the conditions she claims.
• Another common plotline is Bustier figuring out Ladybug and/or Cat Noir's Secret Identity and dramatically improving as a teacher while trying to assist them as a Secret-Keeper. Apparently realizing that the local superheroes are a bunch of teenagers who happen to be under your care does wonders for your sense of personal responsibility.

Bustier's class-related plots

While the class is generally treated as a single, pro-Lila anti-Marinette entity in most salt fics, individual classmates also have their own specific characterizations attached to them.

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• Sometimes a fic won't immediately make every member of the class Lila's minions. Some of them might start to cast doubt on Lila's stories by themselves, and either silently suffer for fear of the class turning against them as well or actively support Marinette throughout the story. If it's the former, once Lila gets exposed, they're the most likely to accept that Marinette needs some time to heal and give her space instead of trying to force her to forgive them.
  • Out of all the classmates, Nino is the most likely to have a Heel Realization and return to Marinette's side, apologizing profusely for his mistake and accepting that it will take time for him to earn back her trust. This also typically involves him breaking up with Alya.
  • The members of Kitty Section (Juleka, Rose, and Ivan) are also popular allies, usually saved through association with Luka, who's almost always on Marinette's side; however, they may also find out about Lila separately.
    • Juleka is particularly prone to being caught in the middle. She may quietly serve as a "girl on the inside", keeping Marinette and Luka abreast of what Lila, Alya and the rest of their posse are plotting, take a stand against the bullies (often alongside Rose), or go along with it all, much to her brother's deep disappointment.
    • Rose usually finds out thanks to her connections to Prince Ali, contacting him and discovering that he's never met the amazing girl who claims to be involved in charity work with him. More sympathetic takes may leave it at that; less sympathetic ones will have Ali sever all ties with Rose for being so gullible.
  • Nathaniel's Ensemble Dark Horse status means he's also a popular classmate to put on the track to redemption. This tends to go hand-in-hand with Marinette finding allies in Mme. Mendeleiev's class — more specifically, Nathaniel's Implied Love Interest Marc.
  • Much like in canon, Sabrina's role in salt fics tends to revolve entirely around her relationship with Chloé; if Chloé has a Heel–Face Turn and joins Marinette, she'll follow suit, and if Chloé doesn't, she'll remain by her side. Some fics do have her leave Chloé's side, only to end up in an equally (if not more so) toxic friendship with Lila; if these fics also redeem Chloé, then she'll probably lament the loss of Sabrina and maybe even acknowledge that her own poor treatment of the girl drove her into Lila's clutches. If a salt fic targets Chloé as well as Lila, then Sabrina will cut ties with her for good, usually after she does something that not even Sabrina can go along with (with her getting Sabrina's dad fired in "Rogercop" or siding with Hawk Moth in the season 3 finale usually being used as breaking points); afterwards, Depending on the Writer she may end up punished for going along with Chloé's schemes and/or in therapy.
• Besides Alya, the two classmates most likely to be depicted as physically bullying Marinette are Kim and Alix, as they're the class' resident jocks.
• Alix — or rather, her future hero self Bunnyx — is generally depicted as abusing her time-traveling abilities in some way. Best case scenario, she's using it to improve her younger self's life in various ways; worst case scenario, she'll try and railroad Status Quo Is God as hard as possible for her own selfish purposes, not caring one bit about how much Marinette has to suffer in order for the timeline to stay identical to her own.
  • Alix is also often depicted as believing that Ladybug has to give her the Rabbit Miraculous, no matter how badly she acts or what she does, in order to avoid temporal paradoxes. This belief just feeds her entitlement and misbehavior, making her even less worthy of being a hero and wielding a Miraculous than before. Salt fics thus often have Ladybug find some kind of loophole in order to confiscate Alix's Miraculous without causing a paradox, usually involving Tricked Out Time of some sort.
• There are several plot points that tend to come up in relation to Max:
  • Whether or not he ends up joining Marinette's side, the scene in "Chameleon" where Lila manages to convince him that she saved his eyes from major damage by catching a napkin thrown by Marinette tends to become a Once Done, Never Forgotten moment for him. If he's unredeemed, then Marinette or someone else will bring it up in a "The Reason You Suck" Speech over how the class fell for Lila's lies, and if he's redeemed then his friends will bring it up as a way to tease him (much to his embarrassment).
  • Markov will often get brought up as an easy way to disprove Lila's lies, since he can quickly verify the facts behind them. Some stories will reveal that he already has, but didn't bring them up to Max for one reason or another.

Marinette-related plots

While the vast majority of Salt Fic is written to bash other characters and show Marinette in a good light, there's a growing genre of fics in which she gets targeted instead.

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• Arguably the most common plot is one where her stalker behavior towards Adrien gets called out on. Much like sodium-laced Cat Noir, this version of Marinette will act Entitled to Have You towards Adrien, having a disturbing knowledge of his personal schedule and harassing any character that he might be attracted to (and if it's a male character, expect her to display a homophobic side, too).
  • If she's dating Luka, expect her to treat him as a temporary replacement and/or tool to make Adrien jealous. Luka is obviously never happy with this, and he usually breaks up with her by the end in favor of someone else (possibly Adrien himself).
  • The character most likely to call her out on this is Adrien himself, usually in the form of him rejecting her love confession and detailing exactly why he won't reciprocate her feelings. This naturally devastates her, but whether or not she learns anything from it is dependent on the writer.
  • Alya's role in this tends to vary by writer as well. Sometimes, she acts as Marinette's sidekick, falling into the same toxic Shipper on Deck mentality she does in several Cat Noir salt fics; other times, she may be creeped out by and/or fed up with Marinette's behavior and be the one to call her out instead.
• Another common plot is to target her questionable actions as Ladybug. These usually treat her as a hypocritical Control Freak who abuses Cat Noir regularly and expects him to follow all the rules she keeps breaking. Often, this is served up with a side of Master Fu salt, with him being depicted as favoring Ladybug over Cat Noir to the point of negligence.
  • A major component in fics that target both Ladybug and Master Fu this way is to bring up how Adrien is Locked Out of the Loop in regards to certain things, like the identities of the temporary Miraculous wielders or the potion upgrades. Expect Adrien to angst about not being treated as their equal despite being just as important to the team as Ladybug is, and expect someone to call Fu and Ladybug out on how much they exclude him.
• There's a growing genre of fics where, instead of Marinette's canon self, her typical salt fic self gets targeted for bashing and deconstruction. "Saltinette" is usually depicted as an Alpha Bitch in her own right, having a massive With Us or Against Us mentality in regards to her conflict with Lila, and plotting revenge schemes on her former friends that rival The Count of Monte Cristo in complexity and scope (usually involving building up her own web of connections and rubbing it in the class' face). Expect her to be on the receiving end of a call-out speech pointing out that her schemes have hit Karmic Overkill levels compared to what happened to her and that she's become just as much of a monster as Lila is, if not worse.

Non-character specific plots

• Marinette is frequently forced to try and weather the harsh environment that Lila's sociopathic manipulations and her gullible peers end up creating for her, with her being Loved by All as their "Everyday Ladybug" being unfairly questioned or revoked. Her classmates' treatment of her ranges from simply ignoring her without drawing any particular attention to their neglect, to going out of their way to ensure she knows she's being shunned, to more blatant, outright bullying.
  • Lila may cement the rift by painting Marinette as a Secretly Selfish Bitch in Sheep's Clothing — in other words, making her out to be everything that Lila actually is. Sometimes, Lila actually believes this herself: that everyone else is just like her, whether they admit it to themselves or not.
  • Alternatively, some stories have Lila doing very little, with her followers turning upon Marinette and ratcheting up the bullying effectively of their own accord, without her encouraging it. This is especially common in stories which paint the classmates as wanting to get in good with Lila so that she'll use her supposed connections to help them out, making them Secretly Selfish opportunists.
  • The rest tend to be painted as complicit through their silence; potentially uncomfortable with what's happening, but choosing not to speak up against it. Alternately, they prefer more passive-aggressive techniques like ignoring Marinette, effectively acting like she doesn't exist/isn't worth their time or attention.
• One alternate explanation some Salt Fics run with is the idea that Marinette's classmates are secretly jealous of her success. Whether or not they realize that Lila is lying to them about her own accomplishments varies; key to these stories is that they support her partly because it gives them an excuse to tear Marinette down and "make her realize that she's not so great/better than us after all."
• The people on Marinette's side vary, but usually consist of Luka, Kagami, Chloé, and even Aurore.
  • Félix is another popular choice, specifically the PV version or common fan interpretations thereof. His appearance in Season 3 as Adrien's Jerkass cousin has done little to impede this.
  • Jagged Stone and his assistant Penny are popular candidates to get involved, thanks to Marinette being well acquainted with them and Lila's especially audacious claims about "saving his kitten". He's frequently depicted as an Honorary Uncle who's utterly furious to learn about Mari being bullied; that said, it's not unusual for him to unknowingly shred Lila's claims by simply answering honestly when somebody asks him about them. In fics where Marinette is abandoned by Tom and Sabine, expect him to step up as her new parental figure — or get into a custody battle (usually of the verbal, Played for Laughs kind) with whoever her new parental figures are.
  • While Tikki is obviously one of her allies, she typically gets at least one scene where she apologizes to Marinette for being too harsh, realizing that she was holding her to impossibly high standards and adding to the pressure she's been under.
  • Another option is to have a new character, either an OC or a Crossover character, come in and help fight against Lila (romance with Marinette optional). The Maribat AU is a well-known example of the latter variant.
  • Gina Dupain is another popular character to use. If any allies from another work have an elderly member among their ranks, she'll be good friends with them and use this connection to introduce Marinette to them. If Marinette's parents turn against her, she'll likely be the one to help the poor girl get away from Paris and to whatever superior parental figures the writer introduces.
• Several characters also have a split chance of being on either side, Depending on the Writer's preferences:
  • Sabine and Tom may be depicted as Good Parents who support and trust Marinette... or, in angstier fare, inattentive and unhelpful. They may be completely taken in by Lila, or believe Mme. Bustier's biased accounts, refusing to believe their own daughter when she tells them the truth about what's going on and handing down unfair punishments. This can even involve disowning her — which usually opens the door for somebody else stepping in to become a superior parental figure in their place. Writers who want them out of the way but don't want to villainize them usually A) reveal that one or both of them isn't actually biologically related to Marinette and have them support her trip to meet her biological mom/dad/parents, B) have them realize how stressed Marinette is in Paris and offer to send her to live with a friend so she can recover, or C) unceremoniously kill them off.
  • Master Fu is in a similar position. While he's often depicted as a source of guidance and advice, some stories have him prove less than helpful, holding Marinette to impossibly high standards while piling on the responsibilities and stress. He may take Cat's side in Cat Salt, showing a sexist streak and advising her to cater to her partner's whims. Such stories typically see him stripped of his Guardian role by Tikki, Plagg, and/or the other kwamis, with Marinette or another ally taking over that duty. Writers who want him out of the way but don't want to resort to Ron the Death Eater tactics either A) set the story after the season 3 finale (where he gives up his memories of being a guardian and is Put on a Bus) or B) kill him off (usually in a Heroic Sacrifice; bonus points if it's said that the reason he had to sacrifice himself was because Cat Noir was being irresponsible/refusing to help Ladybug outright).
    • There are also stories decrying his blatant lack of favoritism towards Adrien, with him being called out for giving him the proverbial shaft and being vocally distrusted and giving Marinette all of the secrets. He also gets chewed out for never telling Marinette until it was too late to back out that by taking the role of the Guardian of the Miraculous, he also forced onto her the magical Leonine Contract that if she ever went and quit, she would get Laser-Guided Amnesia of anything involving the Miraculous, which of course would be a tremendous amount of memories considering how much of her life currently revolves around them.
  • Some stories give her a rather unusual ally in Gabriel Agreste. This is typically justified by him being sincerely impressed by her talent and creativity, as well as having personal standards.
  • Along the same lines, some stories have her developing a rapport with Hawk Moth, using the akumatizing butterflies as an opportunity to vent. Suffice to say, in such stories, Lila's secret alliance with Hawk Moth either doesn't last long or never comes about at all.
  • Following the events of "Feast", the Guardians from the restored Miraculous Temple serve as a potential Wild Card. They may prove a valuable source of outside aid, or haughtily look down upon her and her allies. Or split the difference, judging her to be worthy, but disliking Cat Noir and/or Master Fu.
  • Audrey Bourgeois is an interesting case. She usually doesn't have any prominence in salt fics, but if she does get acknowledged, then her actions — either positive or negative — always seem to benefit Marinette in some way, even if they aren't directly allied. Usually, she either provides Marinette's burgeoning fashion line with a boost in publicity thanks to a glowing review, or her abuse of Chloé cements the girl's Heel–Face Turn, resulting in Chloé becoming an ally to Marinette.
  • Nadja Chamack's role in salt fics tends to depend on the writer. Sometimes, Ladybug will use her show to publicly air out her grievances towards everyone, and similar to Jagged Stone Nadja will be happy to do it to get some revenge on her honorary niece's bullies; sometimes, her actions in "Prime Queen" and other episodes will get her show lumped into the "tabloid fodder to avoid" category alongside Alya, and Ladybug will find a completely different news show/website to ally with instead.
  • Plagg's status as an ally in salt fics usually depends on Adrien's role. If Adrien is getting demonized, then Plagg will either be portrayed as trying fruitlessly to act as the voice of reason to his wielder or as actively going along with Adriens's negative behavior (to the point he might try and call Ladybug out for not going along with Adrien's whims). If Adrien isn't getting demonized, Plagg is automatically made an ally by proxy.
• Marinette getting akumatized due to Lila. Getting Marinette akumatized was already a popular plot beforehand, but her near-akumatizations in "Chameleon" and "Ladybug" (both because of Lila) only made it even more popular.
  • The events of "Chameleon" getting Mari akumatized is practically a genre of its own by now! The 'salt' level varies (did her friends just not understand how they'd hurt her and everyone lives happily ever after, or are we in full-on Revenge Fic territory?) One thing's for sure: the canon "everyone is Easily Forgiven and learns nothing" ending to that episode has satisfied no one.
• Once they've turned on her, Marinette naturally drifts away from her "core" friend group (Adrien, Alya, and Nino) and makes a new group of friends (with popular choices including the members of Kitty Section, the students in Mme. Mendeliev's homeroom class, characters from the show's original concept, or original characters).
• With Bustier and Damocles either unable or unwilling to stop the bullying, Marinette often chooses to transfer to a new school entirely. The quality of the school she ends up transferring to varies from fic to fic (is it a Cool School that will help her fulfill her wildest dreams, or just a normal school whose teachers have a better grasp on dealing with bullies?), but it's always depicted as being superior to Collège Françoise Dupont.
• Naturally, any classmates who have served as temporary heroes (or were chosen as such after "Chameleon") typically don't get their Miraculous again (or ever, in the latter cases). This leads to a new roster of heroes, which may or may not include Queen Bee and/or Cat Noir being replaced, depending on how Chloé and Adrien are being handled.
  • Their kwami are frequently noted to be disappointed by their former bearers' actions, and rarely have any issues with their new partners. More often than not, they quickly bond with the newbies, encouraging them to see themselves as superior successors.
  • Some stories have one (or more) of the kwami sneak out and confront their former holder directly, calling them out on their behavior. Trixx is a common choice for this sort of plot.
  • Likewise, it's not uncommon for the new bearer (transformed or not) to engage in at least one "The Reason You Suck" Speech that also calls the old bearer out on their actions.
  • Marinette will sometimes hint that she's connected to Ladybug, implying that she was the one to recommend her former friends as heroes, and kept her informed of everything going on at school. This often involves her reminding Alya that she helped arrange her first interview with Ladybug, or revealing her brief stint as Multimouse.
  • Expect the new bearers to become permanent heroes almost immediately, compared to their predecessors remaining temporary heroes during their time as wielders. This usually gets a Hand Wave attached to it to explain why they became permanent heroes so quickly — most commonly, if one of the new heroes is a replacement Black Cat, expect to hear something along the lines of "the Black Cat has to remain active alongside the Ladybug to keep things in balance".
  • In crossover fics, expect at least one of the new bearers to be a character from the non-Miraculous half of the crossover, usually a civilian or a Badass Normal character. For example, a crossover with the Marvel Cinematic Universe might see Ned and MJ become new wielders.
• Redesigning Ladybug's outfit is a pretty popular way to underscore her growth, with Marinette applying her skill as a fashion designer to give her super suit more protection and personality.
  • This might also be applied to her everyday casual wear, which almost always involves her ditching her pigtails.
• Marinette becomes famous through some means (usually becoming a popular fashion designer, though other variants include becoming a pop star or being related to/dating someone famous) after she gets ostracized. Inevitably, Alya demands to know why Marinette never told her despite them being friends, and Marinette usually gives a response along the lines of "I told my real friends, and you're not one of them".
  • If she becomes a famous fashion designer, she will work under a pseudonym, usually her intials, MDC. There would be little to no information about MDC like their gender, age, etc. She created the pseudonym because of her ostracization and didn't want her classmates to try to ruin her professional reputation. Another reason is because of her age and the fact that she didn't want to face such public scrutiny and was planning to reveal herself as an adult. Lila would try to claim that she knows or is dating MDC, only to be exposed as a liar when Marinette reveals herself to be MDC.
  • Additionally, Marinette's friends realizing that they lost the chance to potentially meet their idols (who have now become acquainted with Marinette thanks to her fame), and Marinette knowing this and subtly rubbing it in as a part of her revenge.
    • Usually, the class finds out that Marinette knows said idols thanks to her attending and/or hosting a party of some sort. If she's attending the party, the class inevitably spots her and/or her allies schmoozing with celebrities on the red carpet live feed; if she's hosting the party (usually her birthday), then she'll try to invite the class for some reason and they'll refuse due to her Hero with Bad Publicity status among them...only to find out after the party exactly what they missed out on.
  • On the "related to someone famous" route, some writers like the idea of revealing that Marinette is really someone else's daughter, either because her parents adopted her or Sabine had her before marrying Tom. Her blue eyes are usually used as evidence towards this, as no one else in her family has them.
• Speaking of lost chances, some salt fics have a classmate pass up a valuable opportunity because they're convinced Lila will help them score something bigger. Typically, said opportunity involves a contest, competition, or applying for an internship, and they believe Lila's influence will effectively land them whatever they want without them really having to work for it. Especially if a potential internship is involved — why make an honest bid for that slot when she's got an "in" that supposedly guarantees they'll get what they want? By the time they realize otherwise, it's too late: the window for that actual opportunity has closed while Lila was busy giving them the runaround.
• Easily Forgiven is frequently Averted, with Marinette deciding that she won't immediately accept her classmates' apologies after Lila's exposure. Her willingness to do so generally hinges on how genuinely contrite they act; if anyone acts entitled to being immediately forgiven, that's commonly a sign that their relationship will not be repaired anytime soon.
  • Alya tends to be the most likely to take offense, insisting that she and Marinette are still "best friends"... regardless of how badly she neglected, ignored, or turned upon her.
  • Adrien commonly responds to this by telling Marinette that he's disappointed in her for not letting bygones be bygones. She usually fires back, calling him out for not really having her back despite knowing the truth about Lila. If this happens in front of others, it often doubles as an unpleasant Internal Reveal for the witnesses.
  • Should Lila be around to witness Marinette rejecting their attempt at mass reconciliation, she typically smirks and sneers about it, drawing pleasure from the knowledge that she's not the only one being blamed or punished for their actions.
• A common trend is for the class to collectively cross the Moral Event Horizon by tearing up Marinette's sketchbook, which is often the catalyst for several of the above plots to occur. At least one story takes it a step further by showing that property destruction is a line Lila won't cross, and she actively works to prevent it.
• Marinette getting kicked out of her position as the Class Representative (usually replaced by Alya or Lila), only for the class to realize that she was the best one they had due to her organization skills and subsequently undergoing a Humiliation Conga. Losing the role is often a devastating blow for Marinette, though at least one prompt has her immediately realizing that they just took a load of weight off of her shoulders and happily surrendering the role. The replacement's incompetence tends to range from "events are less spectacular than before" to "how did they even screw up this badly?!" The episode "Revelation" ended up using this plot, with Lila usurping Marinette as Class Representative.
  • In some stories this even includes her being kicked out of being Ladybug and the Miraculous being given to someone else... and obviously the new Ladybug is The Poorly Chosen One. Best case scenario is Marinette returning to be a superheroine in some fashion to save everybody else's rear ends. Worst case scenario is her walking through the post-apocalyptic wasteland that is left from the colossal screw-up her former friends caused and regretting that everybody who she should be telling "I Told You So" is now dead.
• Ms. Bustier's class going on a trip is a popular subject for Salt Fics.
  • Said trip can be used as grounds for a Crossover, and/or for Marinette finding allies outside of her classmates. For bonus points, Lila may claim to be secretly dating a potential Love Interest local to the area, who naturally ends up falling for Marinette instead.
  • Another common variation is Marinette getting excluded from the school trip, frequently being informed of this well beforehand. She responds by refusing to help with the fundraising, often devoting her effort towards making her own plans for how to spend that vacation period. Whatever her classmates end up doing, her trip turns out to be far more impressive.
  • The above is frequently paired with Chloé being one of Marinette's allies. She gets excluded from the trip as well, and naturally responds by having her father refuse any financial support for it, cheerfully reminding Mme. Bustier that he normally foots the bulk of the bill.
• Related to all of the above: Marinette stops being their "Everyday Ladybug" and doing everyone favors. This is commonly met with confusion, as they have grown so used to having her help that they expect it to continue, even in cases where they've started actively bullying and belittling her.
  • The question of payment — of how much the things Marinette does for them would cost if she was being properly commissioned — gets brought up fairly often. In such scenarios, Marinette tends to declare that any future projects they wish for her to work on require them to hire her, as she refuses to provide any more freebies. Good classmates may be set apart from the rest by revealing that they were already paying her properly, or by having them agree without argument, showing that they value her time and talent more than others.
  • Conversely, in order to drive home how awful and ungrateful some of her former friends are, it may come out that they effectively forced Marinette to do those "favors" for free in the first place, coming to her whining, offering sob stories, and refusing to entertain even the notion of recompensing her.
  • Tom and Sabine also commonly cut off the classmates, informing them that they no longer qualify for the "Friends and Family" discount at their bakery, and often kicking them out of the building outright.
• Ms. Bustier's class often has a reputation for being "the akuma class", due to the sheer amount of akuma spawned from its roster. This is commonly used to render the whole class (sans Marinette and any of her allies) as socially isolated, with their peers aware of their reputation and wary of getting involved with them, for fear of being dragged into any incidents.
  • Salt Fic can underscore this further by having it go both ways, with Bustier's students ignoring or outright shunning "outsiders" and sticking to their preferred, insular social groups. This is often combined with them latching onto the notion that Lila's support is all they'll need to get ahead in life, only to learn otherwise.
  • Along similar lines, Collège Françoise Dupont can have a reputation as "the akuma school", which naturally tends to crop up in stories where Marinette has transferred out.
• Another popular plot is one where it's revealed that Marinette, along with some followers/partners (their identities vary, but Chloé is a common choice, usually coming with the reveal that her bullying of Marinette is an inside joke and/or a way to weed out incompetent teachers, as is a shyer student such as Nathaniel or Juleka, who was often the group's spy), used to basically rule the school. Using their connections, they could get people expelled or fired with ease, their usual targets being Asshole Victims. Stories featuring this plot reveal at the beginning that they stepped down for some reason (usually because there's no need for them anymore and/or because they wanted to be normal students), but they end up re-taking their "thrones" at Marinette's request once Lila and/or someone else goes too far in trying to bully her.
  • In these stories, one of the members frequently has ties to some form of organized crime, with said organization head being a serious Papa Wolf/Mama Bear towards the student they have connections too.
• There's a few salt fics that toss around the idea that there are "true wielders" of the Miraculouses, usually wielders who end up the most attuned to their particular Miraculous and subsequently end up either getting a massive magical boost or just end up being perfect Guardian material. This usually comes up as yet another way to show that Marinette is better than the classmates that betrayed her; she'll get touted as the "true wielder" of the Ladybug Miraculous (or all the Miraculouses), while anyone who's against her that wielded a Miraculous in canon (especially Cat Noir) will be revealed to not be a "true wielder" and have their Miraculous stripped from them, and naturally, their replacements will end up being "true wielders" to further rub salt in the wound. Some stories will also reveal that non-"true wielders" that wield a Miraculous will suffer from some nasty side effects, usually degrading health and/or Sanity Slippage with a side of Ax-Crazy. This tends not to be explored outside of giving the author a ready-made excuse as to why they're applying Ron the Death Eater to Adrien. It should be noted that Hawk Moth, whom in canon is shown to be the last person who should have a Miraculous and thus would be the biggest non-"true wielder", is never affected by this development, with this exception being rarely, if ever, explained or even acknowledged.
• No matter what, Marinette always gets a happy ending in salt fics. Exactly how happy it is often depends on the writer, with the more extreme variants essentially giving her precisely the sort of life Lila claimed to have. The irony of this is usually remarked upon.

Salt Fic Deconstructions/Sugar Fics

Given how widespread Salt Fics are, it was inevitable that some writers decided to poke some holes in their logic.

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• Most deconstructions tend to address the same issues that Salt Fics were born to answer, chief among them Adrien being a spineless Extreme Doormat regarding Lila and Chloé, and Alya's poor journalistic skills and being a disloyal friend to Marinette. These stories will often have Marinette confront one or the other, and express their disappointment in them at some point of the story. And while in Salt Fics they would claim Never My Fault and double down on their jerkassery, in these fics they often react with various degrees of mortification over how much their actions had hurt Marinette (as well as other people).
• Related to the above: while Easily Forgiven is also averted on a general note, rather than staying mad at them forever and cutting them from her life, Marinette will be gracious enough to give them the chance to work for her forgiveness if she thinks they are really sorry, pointing out that, while she isn't nor shouldn't be a doormat, Marinette isn't a spiteful person either.
• Adrien’s Extreme Doormat personality and over-willingness to Turn the Other Cheek is deconstructed in many fics.
  • The series explicitly shows that Adrien is emotionally abused by his father, who is always shown to want to control every aspect of Adrien’s life, restricts his freedom whenever possible, and expects perfection and a happy public image from him at all times over his personal happiness and well-being. Hence, many fics that portray him more positively are quick to remind readers of this, stating that Adrien’s plan to not directly confront anyone who shows a mean streak and willingness to ignore any wrongdoings in the fear that the bullies will just strike back harder is common among victims of emotional abuse.
  • Less commonly used to defend Adrien is the fact that he has been isolated for most of his life, having only only been allowed to go to public school at thirteen after years of constantly being locked away in his father’s house. Defenders say this stunted his emotional growth, meaning he doesn’t have enough real-world experience to know how to handle bullies and tough social experiences to give proper advice. Plus, his only friend up until that point was Rich Bitch Chloé, so he didn’t really have an ideal model for healthy friendships and social dynamics.
  • One of the strongest points to defend Adrien’s character after his "high road" advice in Chameleon is the fact that Marinette left out the part where Lila threatened her in private to turn everyone against Marinette. In addition, he has no way of knowing Lila stole from him since Marinette claimed to be responsible for losing Gabriel's book in "Volpina", meaning he has no reason at that point to believe she's engaging in anything more than petty but harmless attention-seeking. As stated above, many pro-Adrien have him finding out about her malicious actions, possibly as Cat Noir, or even catching Lila in the act of threatening Marinette again. After seeing how badly he misjudged Lila, he gets off the high road and works to take Lila down, whether with Marinette or by himself.
• Deconstructions tend to give the class a proper justification as for why they eat out of Lila's hand so thoroughly and refuse to believe Marinette other than being Gullible Lemmings:
  • Some fics point out that Marinette herself used to believe Lila's lies at first, and was only tipped off about Lila's true nature when she claimed to be Ladybug's bestie. This is usually followed by some of her classmates also reaching the same conclusion when Lila lies about something they're knowledgeable about.
  • Other fics also point out that Marinette's record when it comes to judging character is far from spotless: she initially pegged Adrien as just another Chloé out of a misunderstanding, and even warned Nino not to befriend Adrien, so it's not uncommon for the rest of the class to think that this might be a similar situation.
  • Related to the previous point, Marinette can be quite the Clingy Jealous Girl when it comes to other girls getting close to Adrien, with Kagami being a prime example, since before "Ikari Gozen", Marinette made no effort to conceal how much she disliked Kagami explicitly because she was afraid Kagami steal Adrien from her.
  • Another point is that it simply isn't their job to verify Lila's claims of disabilities or epic trips - it's the school staff's. The fact that Lila can claim to have tinnitus and such in front of Ms. Bustier and get away with it strongly indicates she's being honest. Extending from this, they could easily assume everyone else has done their fact checking, resulting in no fact checking actually getting done.
  • Yet another point is that Lila's celebrity claims are a lot less unbelievable when they themselves have rubbed elbows with the likes of Jagged Stone, Gabriel Agreste, Prince Ali, and the Ladyblog.
  • And some fics take a completely different tack, giving Lila access to some form of magic - either by virtue of being a long-term akuma or from some non-Miraculous source - that allows her to make people believe anything she says. Usually, having absolutely iron-clad proof that she has lied on one thing breaks this power on all subsequent interactions, explaining why Adrien and Marinette are not affected.
• Some fics like to use a Hourglass Plot and have a certain character (usually Alya) finding about Lila's true nature and trying to warn the rest of the class about her, only for their warnings to be ignored as well. On top that, this makes Lila set her sights on them, and will pull the same Wounded Gazelle Gambit she pulled on Marinette to make it appear like they were bullying her in order to turn the rest of the class on them and try to get them expelled. This will usually be followed by the character lamenting if this is how Marinette felt.
• A popular idea is to have a character either meet their Salt Fic versions, or being sent to a Salt Fic AU (usually thanks to the power of an Akumatized villain) and react in disgust towards their counterparts and/or that world. Alya is usually the main choice once again, closely followed by Adrien, though Marinette herself might be chosen if the author wants to go for a "Marinette vs Saltinette" scenario.
• Related to the above, several common plots and points about Marinette in Salt Fics tend to be deconstructed as well:
  • Many Salt Fics point out how Marinette works tirelessly and thanklessly for the rest of her classmates making them free costumes, purses, hats, etc... or sewing/repairing them. In these fics, another character will point out that while Marinette might indeed do that, she only makes gifts from time to time and mostly on special occasions, but definitely not on a regular basis, simply because it would be physically impossible for her to work on so many things at once.
  • Another concept that's usually smashed to bits is the popular plot of Marinette being kicked out as Class Representative, only for her replacement to do a much worse job, and the class realizing too late how efficient Marinette was organizing fundraisers, arranging field trips and so on. These fics point out how much of a gross exaggeration of her duties as Class Rep this is, since planning for such things is the job of the teachers, the principal and/or the school board, not a fourteen year old student.
  • Regarding her friends and relationships, Saltinette is portrayed as demanding unquestionable loyalty from them, and for her word to be taken as the absolute truth no matter what, quickly turning on them if they dare to disagree with her, basically making their friendship something similar to Sabrina's relationship with Chloé.
  • It's common for Saltinette to be at the receiving end of a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, claiming how she might look like Marinette but doesn't behave like her in the slightest, pointing out how spiteful, vindictive and hateful she is, finishing with something along the lines of "you're not the real Marinette".
  • Even in stories where there is no alternate universe/crossover approach, it's not unusual for the story to focus on one member of the cast that, in a moment of sanity (and standards, if they were one of those to blame), takes one step back and sees that "Saltinette"'s new "life's a bitch, and so am I" approach has turned her into something worse than the people who torment her - at least with them there is Ladybug to stop them.
• One popular method of deconstructing Salt Fics is by having Lila try and pull off a scheme that usually works out for her in that genre, only to be foiled by her targets having common sense and pointing out flaws in the story (even if this doesn't automatically reveal her true nature to them) — e.g. pulling a Wounded Gazelle Gambit to frame someone, only for the class to realize that it would be OOC of whoever Lila's accusing to act that way or question that, if Lila was supposedly pushed down a flight of stairs, where's the bruising?
• Some stories such as Jerk in Sheep's Clothing take a sledgehammer to the plot of "Marinette walks away from her old friends, finds new ones, Lila's house of cards immediately starts to tumble" by either showing that Marinette is becoming no better from her bullies via turning into a Fair-Weather Friend, showing that just because Marinette got herself a new coterie Lila and Chloé are no less a threat, showing that Mari's friends became worse because Mari (from their point of view) just up and ditched them, or that Marinette traded a bunch of misguided but still close friends for people who wish her ill but she is too blind to see.
  • On a similar note, a small number of stories show that Marinette isn't as infallible against Lila as she seems in canon. These stories include her wanting to give Lila a second chance if the latter's lies were exposed in between "Volpina" and "Chameleon" or, as seen in Crimson and Noire and Dodged a Beetle, never finding out that Lila was a liar simply because she never lied about something Marinette knows is false, such as being a hero's Muggle Best Friend. In a good amount of these stories, Lila's goals are shifted to having Marinette for herself due to the latter's nice girl tendencies.
• A few fics that want to acknowledge Lila's lies as being effective without treating those around her as idiots have been known to attribute a certain level of magical or superhuman effect to Lila's lies. While some fics will only jokingly imply this idea and treat it as just a theory or joke in-universe, others will lean into this concept as an actual fact in a variety of forms as a means of explaining Lila's influence without falling into the more negative qualities of 'salt' fics.

Other Plots

Identity Reveal fics

Considering the premise, it's to be expected that this is common. Fics wherein Marinette and Adrien learn each other's identities, either together or separately, almost always leading to a Relationship Upgrade are very, very common. Based on Archive of Our Own's numbers, over thirteen percent of all fics include an identity reveal, and it's the second most common tag under Fluff (in fact, in the general tag Identity Reveal, forty-eight percent of all identity reveal fics on the entire site are Miraculous fics). It's likely got to the point that if the reveal does happen in canon, it will be hard to come up with a scenario that hasn't been done. It's common enough that the plot itself has its own popular variations:

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• First and foremost, the viewpoint character (whether they're one of the two mains, a classmate, an adult, and especially an OC) is basically guaranteed to discover their identities by the end.
• Marinette or Adrien figuring it out due to exchanging phone numbers and seeing the other get a text at the exact moment they send one.
• The kids playing dodgeball at school and Marinette and Adrien realizing they recognize each other's moves is common.
• In fics where Miraculous users get some animal traits, Adrien will eventually notice that Marinette and Ladybug smell the same. Of course, sometimes this just means he thinks they have the same shampoo.
• If Adrien starts punning, Marinette will realize he's Cat Noir instantly.
• It's not uncommon for the identity reveal to be followed up by Alya and Nino revealing that they knew all along.
• A common comedy plot involves the entire class figuring out their secret identities, immediately getting frustrated by the duo's obliviousness, and scheming to get them to learn each other's identities and hook up.
• As of "Cat Blanc", a number of reveal fics have been written where the couple keeps their relationship and any moments of affection secret from others, as the episode's plot revolved around showing exactly why having a reveal while Hawk Moth's still around would be a bad idea.
• When the reveal involves detransforming, it is common to have the two Kwamis making the decision to Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone... or rather, Tikki making the decision and Plagg being dragged along by force.
• Fics where only one of the pair has figured out the other's identity are common, as are fics where each of them knows the other's identity but neither knows the other knows.
• After being forced to fight against an Akuma late at night, Adrien and Marinette are so exhausted that there are two plots that authors like to follow:
  • One, Adrien is extremely protective of Marinette while exhausted, while an exhausted Marinette has absolutely no brain to mouth filter. They end up taking Lila down, and reveal their identities to each other in the process.
  • Two, Adrien and Marinette are so exhausted that they show up for school while still transformed, revealing to the whole class who they are.
• Once one of the pair knows the other's identity, they typically tell the other within five minutes. The pseudo-reveal episode "Ephemeral" was therefore surprising in that it didn't do that. Ladybug discovered Cat Noir's identity, and Cat Noir knew she knew, but it still took her a few days to reveal herself.
• Post-"Rocketear", after Cat Noir learns that Ladybug has told a friend her identity, she decides that to be fair, he can tell his identity to one of his friends. Predictably to everyone except Ladybug, he picks Marinette.

Episode Rewrites

Whether it's a Role Swap AU, a "series with an Original Character added" fic, or just a series rewrite, there's a number of fics out there that like to add extra details to pre-existing episodes, either by expanding on their plots with fanon ideas or adding what are quickly becoming stock tropes in their own right.

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• "Stormy Weather": The contest being rigged so that Mireille could win for whatever reason (the most common idea being that the resulting drama between her and Aurore would make for great ratings). While this doesn't generally impact her friendship with Aurore (Mireille usually isn't made aware of the sabotage), expect Alec to be called out on it or targeted by Stormy Weather later.
• "Copycat":
  • The fact that Théo looks like an adult but has a crush on an underage character tends to get pointed out in episode rewrites. Usually it turns out that either A) Théo genuinely had no idea how old Ladybug was thanks to the Miraculous' Glamour, leading to him ditching the crush when he finds out, or B) that he's actually around the same age as Ladybug but Younger Than They Look (supported by Word of God claiming the same).
  • In fics where she isn't getting called out on it, the fact that Marinette has Adrien's schedule usually gets hand waved with the reveal that she has the schedules of everyone in her class in a similar manner.
• "Pharaoh":
  • Since Alix is Jalil's sister, some writers like to have her make an appearance when they rewrite the episode — usually so she can roast his more inaccurate statements.
  • Jalil usually gets given an extra motive for wanting to try out the resurrection ritual; sometimes it's because he wants to resurrect his and Alix's Missing Mom, sometimes he just wants to see if it works since there's already magic at play in Paris (namely, its heroes).
• "Rogercop":
  • Since it's considered one of the biggest Idiot Ball moments in the series by fans, the cops in rewrites of this episode will refuse to acknowledge Rogercop's authority when the Akuma ousts André as Mayor through coercion, not only refusing to attack Ladybug and Cat Noir, but actively helping them reach the Town Hall.
  • Rewrites are also less likely to treat Marinette saying Everyone Is a Suspect when trying to look for Chloé's bracelet as the same as Chloé's baseless accusations towards her. Often, the class will band together to try and figure out what happened to it and refute anyone who tries to claim what the episode did.
  • While not as common as the above two points, some fanfics explain that the reason Adrien had to pull Plagg out of Chloé bracelet the old fashioned way instead of simply have Plagg phase through it as he had done many times before was due the bracelet being a magical artifact.
• "Gamer":
  • Max's decision to solely target Marinette and not Adrien even though he lost to both of them gets highlighted often, with I Was Beaten by a Girl getting tossed around as a reason behind it. Whatever his reasoning, he'll usually end up having a Heel Realization and apologizing to Marinette post-akuma.
  • In some cases, it's revealed that Marinette and Max have been gaming partners for years. Thus, he sees her new partnership with Adrien as a 'betrayal'.
• "Kung Food":
  • Similar to the entry in "Other Frequent Plots" below, a lot of fans don't like the fact that Marinette doesn't speak a word of Chinese despite being half-Chinese herself. So many fanworks tend to change it to either knowing Chinese but getting too nervous when speaking it (like in Scarlet Lady), speaking a different dialect from Wang Cheng (like in Lady Luck), not being too fluent due to lack of practice, etc, to justify creating a language barrier between her and her uncle.
  • Rewrites of the episode in stories designed to make Chloé nicer (and even some that don't) usually remove her Compressed Vice racism; if she still makes her "just make sushi" comment, it'll be quickly clarified that she just wants to have sushi over soup and doesn't realize the implications of her comment (helped by the fact that she's been repeatedly shown to like sushi outside of this episode).
• "Princess Fragrance": Characters wondering why Rose/Princess Fragrance is going after Prince Ali when she already has a girlfriend (Juleka). Reasons vary from "akumatization makes people crazy" to "Juleka is okay with it/open to a three-way relationship".
• "Glaciator": André the ice cream man being portrayed as having a rather narrow-minded idea of what soulmates are supposed to be — at best, he'll simply be confused at the idea of same-sex couples, aromantics, and polyamorous relationships, while at worst he can get turned into a flat-out Heteronormative Crusader.
• "Gorizilla": While Adrien's Perfume Commercial is known by most of Paris, we don't get to see how his friends react to it besides Marinette, leading to fanfics filling in the blanks. Usually, they end up teasing him about it.
• "Animaestro": Details on the in-universe Ladybug movie will often get added — usually by turning it into a Take That! against Miraculous' own flaws. Expect the characters to serve as the author's collective mouthpiece when discussing it and for Thomas Astruc's Creator Cameo character to be treated far less sympathetically.

Other Frequent Plots

• A common fanfic plot involves either Marinette/Ladybug or Adrien/Cat Noir getting akumatized. In the latter case, his akumatized form is almost always a Palette Swap of Cat Noir named Cat Blanc (which eventually became a case of Ascended Fanon), and in the former case (as of season 3), it's almost always due to something relating to Lila.
  • As of "Ladybug", fans now have a potential name for an akumatized Marinette: Princess Justice. However, as the form was never shown, only named, they can still go wild designing it.
• Thanks to a brief scene in "Stormy Weather" in which Marinette describes her plans for a potential future with Adrien, future fics that involve them forming a family always give them children named Emma, Louis and Hugo.
• Félix, Marinette's prototypical Love Interest prior to being replaced, being Adrien's elder brother. For what it's worth, when he shows up, they downplay his cold and jerkish tendencies to be a somewhat nicer brother. To go along with that, the beta version of Marinette, who fans have decided to nickname "Bridgette" for mostly unknown reasons, also pops up in this kind of fanon, more often than not as Marinette's sister. Or to use those names for Alternate Universe versions of Adrien and Marinette. Félix was finally brought into the show as Adrien's cousin in season 3, but a lot of fans still prefer to write their own versions of the character, or give the canon version a new personality — in part because he was originally written as an antagonist.
  • Bringing in versions of the other prototype heroes (Mercury, Melodie, Sparrow, and Kid Mime) is also a popular plot in fanfics, to the point there are widely-accepted civilian names for most of them (Mercury is Allan/Alan, Melodie is Allegra, and Kid Mime is Claude). Sparrow would eventually debut as a major character in Miraculous New York, with Mercury as a background hero.
• Stories involving one or more of the remaining Miraculous being given to new holders. Typical candidates include Nino becoming the holder of the Turtle Miraculous (usually being mentored by a retiring Master Fu, and also the ultimate canon outcome), Chloé getting the Bee Miraculous (also canon), and the Fox Miraculous going to Lila, Nathaniel or Alya (the last of which was canonized). The Peacock Miraculous doesn't show up as often (due to it currently being in the hands of Gabriel Agreste) and has become more of a wildcard, though Alya has received it in a few fics (usually written before the announcement of her becoming the Fox holder), and Nathalie is becoming a popular choice (one which was also ultimately canonized). There are also a number of Role Swap AU fics (dubbed Kwami Swap fics by the fandom) where the Ladybug and/or Black Cat Miraculous go to different people and Marinette and/or Adrien get different ones — Adrien as the Ladybug and Marinette as the Black Cat is especially common (and yet another one we eventually got to see onscreen), though naturally anyone is fair game.
• After the twelve Chinese zodiac-based Miraculous were revealed, people started creating fanfics and AUs where these get granted to various members of Marinette and Adrien's class. This is slowly becoming canon – Alix (well, a future version of her) got the Bunny Miraculous in "Timetagger", while Kim and Max got the Monkey and Horse, respectively, in "Party Crasher".
  • After the introductions of Luka and Kagami, people have also been lumping them into this plot in some way or another. Usually, Kagami ends up getting the Dragon Miraculous (which ended up being confirmed on Thomas Astruc's Instagram), while Luka's varies from story to story, though fics that give him the Snake Miraculous began rising in popularity after he ended up getting it in canon.
  • Fics where characters wield different Miraculous than in canon (dubbed "kwami swap" fics) are a dime a dozen. These can range from a different Ladybug/Black Cat duo (or just one member of the duo getting switched out), to just switching around which temp wielders get what Miraculous, to characters who have yet to be wielders in canon getting a Miraculous.
• Stories in which Adrien and Marinette have learnt each other's true identities and are publicly dating/married in their civilian personae (being publicly involved in their Miraculous identities optional), only to be caught making out while one of them is transformed (i.e. Adrien is caught kissing Ladybug, or Marinette kissing Cat Noir).
• Stories involving the heroes being forced to separate in the aftermath of Hawk Moth's defeat without getting to reveal their identities, before being brought back together years later. This can be played in a number of ways depending on whether or not the two still have their Miraculous, or whether or not Gabriel Agreste is Hawk Moth.
• AU stories which don't involve superheroics but do find other reasons for Marinette and Adrien to adopt aliases and sometimes costumes, thus preserving the Love Square. Especially common are the two becoming texting buddies resulting from a wrong number.
• Adrien being lonely during the holidays (usually Christmas, but his birthday is common too) due to his father being busy, and bonding with Marinette due to her efforts to cheer him up is common enough.
• In fics featuring Adrien and Marinette's kids, it is common for them to try and use Tikki and Plagg as chew toys. Or for the kwamis to mention it was common with past heroes.
• There are fics where the entirety of Miss Bustier's class will watch their own show. Of course, this would result in them finding out who Ladybug and Cat Noir are. Additional characters such as Marinette's parents, Nadja Chamack, and even Gabriel Agreste can join in watching the show.
• Cat Noir joining forces with Hawk Moth to get Ladybug's Miraculous, upon learning his true identity and motives. This is distinct from Salt Fics as they, to some extent, will treat Cat's conflicting priorities with some level of sympathy, though the end result will depend on the fic in question if Cat Noir is forgivable for this or is seen as having crossed an unforgiveable line even for a good or understandable reason.
• In a similar vein, Cat Noir going crazy, becoming a mad vigilante who attacks civilians and/or criminals (unhealthy obsession with Marinette optional).
• When a fic has Marinette and Adrien hooking up while still at school, it often turns out the whole class was betting on when it will happen. Sometimes Mari's parents are in as well.
• Aged-up fics tend to have Marinette working at Gabriel's company, often being groomed as his successor. He also sometimes plays the matchmaker for her and Adrien, for the sake of keeping her designer genes in the family. This died down a bit after season 2 revealed that Gabriel is Hawk Moth, but other variants have also cropped up, usually either as an Evil Parents Want Good Kids (including in-laws) situation or as Gabriel keeping Marinette close as part of some grander scheme (usually because he suspects she's Ladybug). Sometimes, whether working for Gabriel or not, he would try to draw Adrien's attention to her so that he won't pine after Ladybug.
  • If she's not working under Gabriel, she's launching her own brand, usually under the name MDC. The brand is almost always successful thanks to endorsement by the aforementioned Gabriel, Jagged Stone, and/or Clara Nightingale.
• Fics where everyone has one destined soulmate, and there is some magical way of finding/recognizing your soulmate. Marinette/Ladybug and Cat/Adrien will always be soulmates, but it's not uncommon for each of them to have two separate iterations of whatever that particular fic's Red String of Fate is, one for their partner's civilian identity and one for their heroic identity. Another popular twist is to have Marinette's Red String of Fate trigger on Cat Noir, and Cat's trigger on Marinette, leading them to have to deal with (apparently) being in love with someone other than their bonded soulmate.
• Fics where Ladybug and Cat Noir find a way to communicate while out of costume without having to reveal their identities. Burner phones or anonymous messaging services are common choices.
• If you're reading a crossover fic between Miraculous Ladybug and...well, anything, there's a high chance that one of the non-Miraculous Ladybug characters will end up akumatized.
  • If a crossover character getting akumatized already has superpowers, what happens to those powers is heavily dependent on the writer. Sometimes they'll keep their pre-existing powers, sometimes they'll get a new variation or outright upgrade to them, and sometimes they'll get hit with Discard and Draw (losing their original power set in exchange for whatever powers they get as an akuma).
  • Another popular crossover plot (which always involves the above) is to take the Miraculous themselves and put them in another series, leading to two characters from that series (almost always the author's preferred ship thanks to the canon Love Square) becoming the Ladybug and Cat heroes and an antagonist from the same series becoming the Butterfly villain.
• In stories where Marinette has to leave Paris for some reason or another while Hawk Moth is still an active threat, she'll usually bring Kaalki with her so she can continue to fight akumas that pop up in her home. (Again, the fandom proves quite prescient, as the same thing happens in "Startrain," though the Horse Miraculous ended up being used to fight an akuma on the train rather than Mari needing to get back to Paris in a hurry.)
• In Crossovers with The DCU and other superhero series, Ladybug and her allies will commonly attempt to call in more experienced heroes to help with Hawk Moth, only to go ignored (usually justified by having their efforts dismissed as a prank). This is mainly used to deconstruct and/or justify Superman Stays Out of Gotham; by the time the older heroes realize that something is going on in Paris and investigate, the Miraculous Team have been embittered by their experiences and aren't keen to be dismissed as just kids — especially not after being ignored for so long.
  • In some variants, the other heroes do believe them and want to help with the situation, but can't intervene because they don't want to risk some of the world's most powerful heroes getting akumatized and/or can't be certain that Ladybug's World-Healing Wave will reverse third-party damage as effectively as it does damage from the Miraculous themselves. This is not only used to justify Superman Stays Out of Gotham, but to make the other hero team more sympathetic than if they just dismissed it as a prank.
• Another popular crossover plot point involves revealing that an older character in the non-Miraculous series was a previous Miraculous wielder. For example, there are plenty of crossover fics with the DC universe that reveal that Alfred Pennyworth was a previous Peacock wielder (who usually remembers his time with Duusu quite fondly) and/or that Wonder Woman's mother Hippolyta was the same Hippolyta that previously wielded the Ladybug Miraculous.
• A headcanon that's slowly gaining ground in the fandom is that Marinette and Marc are cousins, usually as an explanation for Marc's Remember the New Guy? status. Their similarities help in this regard (same hair color, same creative streak in different areas, same flustered, panicky reactions whenever they're around their crushes...). Him being a Kid from the Future is also not unheard of.
• Some fans have a tendency to change up the powers of the Miraculous from what they were in canon, usually to balance them out a bit (since the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous are supposed to be the most powerful). The most frequent target is the Snake Miraculous, as its canon power (essentially an infinite Reset Button comparable to Save Scumming) is considered a Story-Breaker Power; it usually gets changed to some form of Mind Control (since snakes are heavily associated with it in popular culture, and it could make better use of the lyre that the wielder is given).
• There are a few common trends regarding Original Character-focused fics:
  • Superheroes with fanmade Miraculous are a dime a dozen (and incredibly easy to make; just pick an animal, a piece of jewelry, a weapon, and a power). With the introduction of the Zodiac Miraculous, more OCs are getting a canon Miraculous instead, although the fanmade ones are still common.
    • If a fanmade Miraculous is being used, expect this to be a part of an entire set of original Miraculous separate from the Chinese set.
  • The OC usually ends up a New Transfer Student in Marinette and Adrien's class...and from there, they figure out that they're actually Ladybug and Cat Noir. This in turn can lead to a mutual reveal between the three heroes, as well as Marinette and Adrien automatically getting a Relationship Upgrade if that's the author's preferred ship.
    • Related to this, if the OC is paired with either Marinette and/or Adrien, the other one will usually become jealous of the OC. Saltier fare will just leave them stewing in their jealousy; lighter fare usually has them move on and hook up with someone else.
  • More often than not, the OC's Love Interest will end up discovering their secret identity. They also usually end up getting a Miraculous themselves (whether or not they got one in canon).
• Fics that otherwise aren't OC-centric may still include multiple OCs of varying importance, usually so the author has a cache of potential akumatization victims they can use. This is also a common method of sneaking in an Author Avatar (e.g. Zoe Rapporte/The Enchanted Florist in Scarlet Lady or Kiva/Rider Brave in Miraculous Alliance).
  • Mendeleiev's homeroom class is pretty much ripe for use as a group of OC Stand Ins. While several established characters are already a part of the class (namely Aurore, Mireille, Marc, Jean, and Zoé), the rest are Recurring Extra background characters with no established personalities, meaning it's easy for writers to either replace them with other established characters (usually Kagami, Ondine, and/or Wayhem) or original characters.
• In stories where somebody other than Hawk Moth gets the Butterfly Miraculous, unlike Hawk Moth, their costume will always come with a pair of butterfly wings that allows them to fly.
• In fics where the heroes learn about Hawk Moth's motivation, it often turns out that the Miraculous lore allows the objective to be achieved without such extreme measures.
• Even outside of Salt fics, Chloé redemption fics are pretty common, either as the centerpiece of the fic or even just a background detail. Having Pollen and/or Ladybug be the one to drag her kicking and screaming into being a better person are common.
• A common joke that pops up in fanfic — whether or not the story focuses on it — involves the heroes making fun of Hawk Moth for his love of gaudily-dressed akumas. Expect Gabriel to be insulted if he's within hearing range, and expect Nino in particular to loudly complain about how bad — usually making special note of being even worse than other akumas — he looked as the Bubbler.
• A popular plot involves Hawk Moth giving Lila the Peacock Miraculous once Nathalie becomes too ill to use it. Whether or not it's still broken when he gives it to her, and how effectively she ends up using it, are dependent on the writer.
• They are a couple of fics out there that portray Marinette, Nino, and Kim as Childhood Friends. Many of them will, however, not alter the status quo of the series, having Kim come off as a former childhood friend at the start of the series due to his behavior in Season 1 as well as 'Derision'.
• Prior to the full establishment of the show's lore involving the Miraculous, the most common origin for the heroes was the Miraculous Jewels being hidden and found by chance by Marinette and Adrien and the implication that the name Ladybug and Cat Noir were legacy titles who shared their names throughout history, instead of each hero taking a different name. With later seasons establishing the lore of the Guardians this idea has faded, though callbacks to the idea are not unheard of.
• Ever since "Guiltrip" established that Rose has a chronic illness, many fanfics that want to pair Juleka with anyone else will often be set after Rose succumbs to the illness.
• Many fanfic writers get around the show's "if your identity is compromised, you have to leave the team" rule by having characters affected by this (starting with Chloé and eventually extending to all the pre-season 4 temp heroes sans Bunnyx) either take up a different Miraculous or use a different hero identity while retaining their old Miraculous, all while publicly getting "retired" by Ladybug to keep up the ruse. Canon itself has largely had those with their identities compromised stick with their old Miraculous and identities, though Alya did end up using the latter strategy (going from being Rena Rouge to Rena Furtive).
• In canon Marinette is not particularly in touch with her Chinese heritage, and while Lady Dragon did explore the topic a bit many fans tend to go farther into it than canon does. Typically this takes the form of having Marinette being fluent in at least a Chinese dialect and being a bit more familiar with Chinese concepts via her mother.
• After the reveal that Emilie Agreste used the Peacock Miraculous, plus a few hints in canon, there have been many stories where Adrien turns out to be a Sentimonster, with his amok being hidden in one of his parents' wedding rings. On a similar topic, many stories have other wealthy children like Félix, Chloé, and/or Kagami be Sentimonsters as well, usually brought into existence via an alliance between their parents. Canon would begin to explore this topic outright in late Season 5 — Félix and Kagami were both confirmed to be Sentibeings, and while Adrien still hasn't been outright confirmed as one it has been strongly hinted.
• If a fanfic wants to shed more light on Rose and Juleka's relationship, it's usually revealed that Rose has a Heteronormative Crusader parent who doesn't want her to date another girl. This is typically presented as having happened in the past, with Rose having since cut contact with them somehow (usually by being under the guardianship of another relative). Giving Juleka such parents was also not unheard of early in the show's run, but her parents were eventually introduced — and since neither of them have given any indication that they would object to the relationship given their personalities, the idea of using them for such a plot was quickly dropped (while Rose's parents, who have never been seen, are still fair game).
  • A few fics explore the idea of Juleka and Rose already being in a relationship, but Juleka is completely unaware that Rose likes her romantically, much less that they're even dating.
• Stories where Marinette is either injured due to non-hero related reasons or ill where she needs to send an emergency substitute, which tends to end up being her mother. Many of these stories predate either the canon backup Ladybug establishing episode, Hack-San, or are set before it and Gang of Secrets, before which Marinette would not have a Secret-Keeper to appoint in this scenario, and these recruitments of her mother are always a case of desperation on Marinette's part. On occasion it will overlap with the reveal of Sabine being a Secret Secret-Keeper who intervenes when Marinette tries to do heroism when running a fever or with a broken leg. Naturally these fics also have Cat Noir reacting in surprise to having Ladybug be substituted by her mother and her will act on his best behavior to try and impress his crush's mother.
• Many fanfics will have Ladybug and Cat Noir's status as Legacy Heroes be explored with the idea that the two's previous identities have always been together as either partners or romantic interests. The two are always sent out at the same time, often with the express reason of balancing out their powers as creation and destruction. In canon this seems to not be the case, as the only known overlap between a previous Ladybug and previous Cat Miraculous holder had the two on opposite sides of a war.
  • In the above, Cat Miraculous users have often gotten the short end of the stick, frequently suffering, falling to evil, going crazy, being mistreated, or otherwise falling into misfortune that renders Plagg particularly overprotective of them. This will often lead to Plagg being very wary and suspicious of others. In canon there is pretty much no hint of this, with no indication that Cat Miraculous users are treated any worse than any other Miraculous user.
• Since Ladybug's Miraculous Ladybug undoes all the damage done by the villains, there's no shortage of stories where the power is made weaker by not fixing everything that happened, allowing the villains and their destructive behavior to have more impact. This is also a common concept in crossover fanfics where the healing power of the Ladybug Miraculous will often either not work with the crossover part at all, or only work if Ladybug is directly involved. In official comics of dubious canonicity the Miraculous Ladybug did work on a non-akuma based problem for clean up while Ladybug has also never had problem cleaning up after non-Miraculous related incidents like zoo animal breakouts and dinosaur rampages, so the latter would be the closest to a canon interpretation.
• In canon, an akumatized villain and their base form, unless akumatized willingly, are identified as different people and the latter won't remember whatever they did while they were acting as the former. Naturally, there's plenty of fanfics where Alternate Identity Amnesia is removed, if not mostly then entirely, exploring what sort of effect getting akumatized has on one's psyches — especially if they hurt a loved one during their rampage.
  • Related, there's no shortage of fics that explore whether or not the general public can separate someone from what they did while they were akumatized, with the ramifications ranging from comedic (e.g. the character getting a cut of the royalties if someone makes toys based on their akumatized form) to dramatic (e.g. the character suffers Cartesian Karma and is distrusted for what they did while akumatized).
• Unification involves fusing two Miraculous together, which is simply ripe for mix and matching different Miraculous to create an array of bizarre, yet powerful fusion heroes. Canon, however, primarily has Marinette and sometimes Adrien use it, making the other Miraculous wielders fair game for crazy fusions.
• A common expansion of canon is to expand the known students of Dupointe, filling in the other classes as well as history the main characters have with them. This is commonly used to create more bullying characters, sometimes with the intent of either expanding on Marinette's backstory a bit more (a concept that would be done in Season 5 with episodes like Jubilation and Derision), or to create new bullies to replace or upstage Chloé if the writers wants nothing to do with Lila in the role or wants a different type of bully than either of them.
• Non-salt versions of "true wielders" of the Miraculous come up in fanfics sometimes where the idea of people being compatible with certain Miraculous over others comes up, with side effects for poor matchups ranging from discoloration to more severe issues. In canon while it is certainly shown that certain characters mesh better with types of Miraculouses than others (Rose for example has the empathy and kindness for the Pig Miraculous, while Luka's mindset meshed better with the Snake Miraculous than Adrien was able to), any canonicity to this idea is minor at best and limited just to the mindset for using the specific powers than any personal synchronicity.

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