Fanfic / Thanks, but no

On the day that her classmate Ivan got turned into a stone monster, Marinette finds a strange box with a pair of earrings and a mythical creature named Tikki saying that she’s been chosen to be the next wielder of the Ladybug Miraculous. That means being the sole hero and defense against a supervillain abusing the power of the Butterfly Miraculous.

Marinette, not seeing herself as hero material and already having enough on her plate as a student and an aspiring designer, firmly refuses and decides to secretly pass it to her new classmate Alya, who she knows will be much more interested. She thinks that it will be the end of it. She soon finds out that it isn’t.

Thanks, but no is a Miraculous Ladybug fic where Marinette is trying to avoid becoming a superhero while Master Fu is insistent that she’s the next Guardian and keeps sending Miraculous down her way. It concluded on January 10, 2023.

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Crimson and Noire provides contains examples of:

• Accidental Truth: Played With when Lila makes a fit about Kim bringing her a plate of garlic pasta, claiming that she was allergic to garlic and that he could have poisoned her. While she is evidently not allergic to garlic and nothing in the pasta would have caused a reaction, Marinette suspects that Kim had added chili powder to the pasta as part of a hazing prank suggested by Alix^note Which is actually payback for lying about being a reserve hero.
• Actually Pretty Funny: When Marinette rejects Plagg despite his attempts at mind control and reverse psychology, he starts laughing at how she's still the best thing he's encountered in a while for saying "No" and screwing up plans. He's still laughing when Adrien opens the box, much later.
• Adaptational Superpower Change: With the exception of Adrien, all of the chosen heroes have different powers than in canon due to the circumstances in which Marinette picks them.
  • Alya gets the Ladybug Miraculous instead of the Fox to become Scarabella.
  • Nino gets the Bee Miraculous instead of the Turtle to become Melliferna.
  • Alix gets the Fox Miraculous instead of the Rabbit to become Fennec.
  • Max gets the Snake Miraculous instead of the Horse, with him and Markov becoming the hero unit King Cobra.
  • Kagami gets the Mouse Miraculous instead of the Dragon to become Nezumi.
  • In the final chapter, Marinette dons the Turtle Miraculous rather than the Ladybug.
• Adapted Out: The Ladyblog (or any equivalent) doesn't exist since Alya is focusing more efforts on being Scarabella.
• And the Adventure Continues: The story ends by saying that it's the end of Marinette the Miraculous Distributor, and the beginning of the seventh member of the miraculous heroes.
• Big Damn Heroes: Nezumi's debut features her managing to save the rest of the heroes from Puppeteer, all of whom were put under her spell before she arrived.
• The Chooser of the One: A Decon-Recon Switch of this trope. Master Fu sees Marinette as both a potential hero and a future Guardian, and constantly sends Miraculouses her way, despite the fact that Marinette doesn't want the stress of being a hero added to her life. On the opposite end, Marinette ends up passing them to heroes that will either make the best use of them^note Alya, Alix, and Max, who would benefit from the freedom brought by their Miraculous^note Adrien and Kagami or help set up a healthy hero romance^note Nino to set him up with Adrien.
• Contrived Coincidence: After Kagami was nearly akumatized, the heroes decide they need a civilian contact to warn them about new akumas. Without telling each other, they all pick Marinette.
  • When the group meets Turtle, they are distrustful because they all debuted when there was a difficult Akuma to beat, while they appeared to fight Mr. Pigeon. Marinette privately notes that she didn't intend for that to happen, as she was just giving the Miraculous out as she got them.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • Nino gets annoyed by Marinette’s blatant attempts to set him up with Adrien, especially since as Melliferna he’s been dating Chat Noir… who is Adrien.
  • Hawkmoth’s growing hatred of the teen heroes makes him plan to use the wish to make sure that their parents never had them, unaware that one of them is his son.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: Fu sees Marinette's refusal to accept the Miraculous as the ability to resist the temptation of their power and thus a suitable guardian, instead of the blatant sign that she isn’t interested in being a superhero.
• The Dividual: The Snake Miraculous turns both Max and Markov into the superhero unit King Cobra, with Markov as King and Max as Cobra.
• Dude, Not Funny!: In the final chapter, Fennec jokes how funny it be if, after Turtle's reveal to the others and Chat's repeated freak out, Gabriel Agreste turns out not to be Hawkmoth. Mel gives her a sharp look and tells her not to jinx it for them.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Played for Laughs. When Marinette tries to talk Nino into trying out for the fencing team despite the fact he isn’t an athlete, he recognizes it as an attempt to get him closer to Adrien. Nino decides to agree but gets Marinette to come by saying that since she suggested that Nino go and support him, then it makes sense for Adrien’s other friends like Marinette and Alya to also come. He finds her expression of exasperation hilarious.
• Hypocrisy Nod: Marinette notes that Max and Markov might have some co-dependency issues if they were able to transform together, but decides not to judge as she knows she has plenty of issues of her own.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Adrien still ends up with Plagg and becomes Chat Noir.
  • Lady WiFi still appears even with Alya as the Ladybug holder, but to Marinette's relief, she turns out to be an entirely different girl that got akumatized
  • Adrien's Love Interest (in the story being Nino) getting told by D'Argencourt to pick the winner of Adrien and Kagami's match without a clear understanding of what happened.
• It's Personal: Hawkmoth gets continuously frustrated by the influx of new heroes and foiling his akumas. He decides that once he defeats them and takes their Miraculous, he’ll use the Wish to make a world where they never exist.
• Liar Revealed: After Lila is defeated as Jadeite, she’s not only revealed to be an Akuma to the public, but Scarabella exposes her on the news about her lying about being a reserve hero and her best friend.
• Mundane Utility: Kagami uses the mouse Miraculous to create two versions of herself, one to play her mother’s perfect daughter and the other to hang out with her new friends.
• Mythology Gag: When holding the Bee and Snake Miraculous, Marinette briefly sees Chloe and Zoe as potential users for the former and Luka for the latter.
• No Ontological Inertia: Despite the assumptions of many people that the Miraculous's powers are temporary thanks to the Miraculous Cure, this is only when the Ladybug Miraculous is charged with enough power (like from purifying an akuma butterfly), and that in normal cases the effects of a Miraculous's power will last even after the user detransfotms. Mullo explains this to Kagami so can use clones to spend time with her new friends and still complete her duties to her mother.
• Not Me This Time: Marinette thought that Alya inviting her to the museum was Tikki's idea as part of a ploy to get Marinette interested in Miraculous. When they meet each other again, Tikki reveals she has no involvement and that Alya really wants to share a part of her hero life with her best friend. Tikki actually tried to talk Alya out of it beforehand.
• Only the Knowledgable May Pass: When the group is distrustful of her, Turtle reveals she was the one to give out the Miraculous by revealing as much information she knows without spilling identities. First she reveals what she remembers about the Kwami, before revealing how she gave them their Miraculous. Fennec is the first to believe her, as her Miraculous was thrown at her when no one else would have been around.
• Overly Long Gag: In chapter 10, Chat Noir lets out several Big "WHAT?!" and shouts other questions repeatedly when Turtle tells them about how she suspects Hawkmoth is Gabriel Agreste and the events leading to her discovery.
  Alix: Hey Chat? Are you going to keep making these exclamations for the entire conversation? Because if you are, I should get some popcorn
• Point of Divergence: The nail is that Master Fu, correctly guessing that Hawkmoth is after both the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous, only chooses to send out the Ladybug Miraculous. This plays a part in Marinette’s not wanting to become a superhero.
  • Since she failed to purify Stoneheart’s akuma the first time as Scarabella, Alya is heavily focused on her duties as a superhero. As such, she never launches the Ladyblog or an equivalent.
  • Marinette doesn’t develop a crush on Adrien with the umbrella incident since she’s caught up about getting another Miraculous sent to her. Instead, she tries to match him with Nino instead.
  • Since they were heroes and shared how they were chosen Alya, Adrien, Nino, Alix, and Max are immediately aware that Lila is lying about being Scarabella’s best friend and being a reserve hero.
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Nino's hair grows from a buzzcut to long dreadlocks as Melliferna, mainly because otherwise he wouldn't be able to actually wear the Bee Miraculous, as it is a hair comb.
• Refusal of the Call: The premise of the story, with Marinette not wanting to deal with the stress of becoming a hero and passing the Miraculous to other candidates. She ultimately becomest the new Turtle hero in the final chapter.
• Reverse Psychology: When Plagg is given to Marinette, he tries to act nonchalant and act like he doesn’t care if innocent people get killed by Hawkmoth to goad Marinette into accepting his power. It almost works until she realizes what’s he up to.
• Shipper on Deck: When she isn’t worried about ending up with another Miraculous, Marinette is working to get Adrien and Nino together.
• Space Whale Aesop: In-universe. After the akuma Jadeite is defeated and exposed as Lila, she is further exposed by Scarabella for lying about being her best friend and a reserved Miraculous hero. Nadja ends the report by telling kids not to lie unless they want Hawkmoth to come after them.
• Take a Third Option: Tired of Fu constantly sending Marinette new Miraculous in hopes that she’ll accept, Wayzz convinces him to pass him instead. When the Turtle Kwami gets to Marinette, he tells her that if she doesn’t pass his Miraculous to anyone else, then she won’t have to worry about another Miraculous sent her way and he can get some peace of mind.
• The Trickster: Marinette picks Alix for the Fox Miraculous due to a long history of pulling pranks, from tricking a ten-year-old Chloe into thinking glue was hair gel to being one of the class’ tricksters. When Lila comes and claims to be Scarabella’s best friend and a reserve hero, Alix convinces Kim to plot a prank on the transfer student under the guise of her hazing, but really it’s to make her pay for her lies.
• True Love's Kiss: During the events of Dark Cupid, Marinette uses a platonic version of this trope to free Alya from the akuma's Hate Plague by kissing her on the cheeks. Later, Nino/Melliferna kisses Chat Noir on the lips to do the same, albeit with more romantic undertones between the two that later leads to their Relationship Upgrade.
• What You Are in the Dark: When Marinette argues that she isn’t even suited to hold Wayzz’s Miraculous, let alone be its holder since she lacks a protective nature, Wayzz argues that she does. He points out that she could have easily left the Miraculous box to gather dust in the corner and leave Paris to fend for itself against Hawkmoth, but instead she passes them to suitable candidates to protect the city in a rather roundabout way of protection.
• Won't Take "Yes" for an Answer: Upon realizing Lila is a liar, Alya promptly warns Marinette, going through all the reasons she has only to realize Marinette said she already believes her about halfway through.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: A benevolent case. Chat Noir is initially worried that like in many anime when a new hero joins, Scarabella will either think he's a new villain or be mad that he wasn't there to help her against Stoneheart the day before and that it will take time for them to get along. He is quite surprised when Scarabella pulls him into a hug in relief that she won't be facing the akumas alone, which he admits to himself is much better.
• You Remind Me of X: When he meets Kagami, Nino picks up the same Lonely Rich Kid and Knight Templar Parent issues he sees in Adrien. Marinette also picks it up, which is why she immediately invites Kagami into their friend group.

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