Funny / Powers of Invisibility

• Much of the humour of this story comes from Juleka's First-Person Smartass reactions to Marinette and Adrien's strangely successful efforts to hide their double lives, including from each other. She starts putting the pieces together during chapter five: Adrien and Chat Noir both having feather allergies, Marinette and Ladybug both having, and losing, the same textbook, frequent disappearances from both of them coinciding with Akuma attacks, etc.
  Then there was also the fact that both of them talked to themselves an awful lot. She didn’t know if that was a superhero thing or what, but it certainly was suspicious.
  Looked at together and from afar, there were simply too many lines connecting teens and heroes, too many times one disappeared and the other surfaced, too many coincidences. Sure there were explanations, but a mountain of excuses was almost the same as evidence.
  Juleka was ninety percent sure that Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng were Paris’s superheroes. She just wasn’t quite-
  A scream pierced through Juleka’s music, dragging her gaze upwards. She looked up just in time to see a giant hairdryer materialize in front of Chloe and begin to chase her.
  Juleka’s day was getting better already.
  As Chloe ran out of view behind the bookshelves, another blonde came into view. Adrien was peeking around the shelf at what was happening. He turned away, his face set and determined. He didn’t even glance around as he held open his shirt. If he had, he might have seen Juleka in her dark corner watching his every move. Instead, he focused on a tiny black… something that had flown out of his shirt and was hovering in front of him.
  Adrien: Plagg, claws out.
  Juleka watched in fascination as the black thing was sucked into Adrien’s ring and green light flowed over him. Seconds later, Chat Noir dashed away.
  Juleka didn’t have time to process what she’d seen before Marinette ducked around the same bookshelf, also not looking around before opening her purse and speaking to the red thing that peeked out at her.
  Marinette: Time to transform. Tikki, spots on!
  Pink light passed over Marinette, leaving red and black in its wake. Then, Ladybug was tossing her yoyo and flying away.
  Juleka was one hundred percent sure that Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng were Paris’s superheroes.
  In fact, she wondered how everybody else wasn’t.
• During the Horrificator attack, Adrien "discreetly" sneaks away to transform.
  Nino: Yo, Adrien, where you goin’?
  Adrien: I left Officer Jones’ jacket back there. Should probably wear it in all the scenes.
  Juleka: (Oh yes, we just heard screaming and no fewer than three classmates have already gone missing, so what should I do? Go and get a jacket so that I’m in costume when we go looking for a possibly hostile monster. Don’t even worry about the fact that I don’t even have a costume. Seriously?)
  • Soon after this, Juleka seeing through Chat Noir's attempt to make it look like Adrien's been captured, and enjoying his reaction when an otherwise fooled Ladybug pokes a hole in it.
  • Another gem from the same chapter:
  Juleka watched Chat Noir and Ladybug do a roll call of the encapsulated victims. She didn’t think it was a smart move on their part. First of all, they didn’t know where the monster was, so moving into the clusters of capsules shouting at the top of their lungs was just begging for an ambush. Second of all, they couldn’t check to see if everyone was there because they couldn’t know who all was missing. Third of all, it was mostly an exercise in futility because if they just focused on purifying the akuma, all of these people would be safe anyways. Fourth of all, it was kind of dangerous for them because-
  Ladybug: Adrien? Adrien!
  They were both supposed to have been kidnapped by the monster. Juleka shook her head as she watched Chat flinch and duck behind a capsule.
  Chat Noir: (as Adrien, not sounding remotely different than he had a moment before) Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. (as Chat, possibly) What about Marinette?
  Ladybug: Yeah, we’ve got everyone.
  They really didn’t know. Juleka had already figured that out, but seeing it in action was just crazy. Adrien and Chat Noir literally had the same voice and Ladybug didn’t even notice.
• At the start of the Dark Cupid attack, Juleka's exasperation when Marinette transforms in front of her again, this time "hiding" behind a park bench. Even funnier when she calls Marinette on it in person later.
• In chapter 11, Juleka pulls Chat Noir into her hiding place during an Akuma attack right when he's about to change back. As he realises what's happening, he says "Oh sh-", only to finish as "Shoot", causing Juleka to burst out laughing.
  Adrien: Um, I guess we should… talk about this?
  Juleka: Sure, Adrien. But first, you should probably get back out there and help Ladybug with that akuma.
  Adrien: Oh, shoot. Right. (pulls out a wrapped-up cheese wedge) Plagg? (Plagg comes out, floats up to the wedge and starts eating it.) I have to go back out there, so… you just… stay here and I’ll come back when we’ve taken care of the akuma.
  Juleka: And if it takes hours to take care of it?
  Plagg: You’ll have to excuse him, he’s not great at thinking.
  • Later, at Juleka's apartment, after she says that Plagg can come out if he wants:
  Juleka: So, um, what exactly are you?
  Adrien: He’s a-
  Plagg: I’m a kwami. A mystical being of great power of which you should be very afraid.
  Juleka: Awesome.
  • Shortly after this, Plagg casually rejoins Adrien and Juleka's conversation after raiding her fridge without asking, while holding the evidence.
  Adrien: Plagg, did you steal cheese from Juleka?
  Plagg: You guys were taking forever and I was hungry. It was only one cube. (Adrien and Juleka look at Plagg.) Okay, okay. It was two. (Adrien raises an eyebrow.) Three? (Juleka tilts her head.) You might need more cheese.
• From Chapter 13, Mrs. Lavillant complaining about her garden getting overrun with aphids.
  Mrs. Lavillant: I need to see if I can get some ladybugs to take care of it. I really don't like using pesticides.
  Juleka: (I'll ask Marinette if she's available.)
• In Chapter 15, Adrien and Marinette both ask to go to the bathroom just after the start of an Akuma attack. About twenty minutes later, Juleka volunteers to go look for them to make sure no one else does before they can get back, so that no one else will catch them transforming.
  She made a mental note to talk to Adrien about finding better excuses. Maybe she could find some way to mention it to Marinette too without being too suspicious. There were only so many times they could go to the bathroom before someone else figured it out. Juleka could still hardly believe that neither of them had figured it out. How could they not find it strange that they always needed to go to the bathroom at the same time? What, did they think they had some sort of bladder telepathy or something?
  How could two such smart people be so, so dumb?
  • Sure enough, soon after she goes into the bathroom, not actually intending to look for them, Chat jumps in the window and de-transforms.
  Adrien: Hey, Jules. What are you doing here?
  Juleka: Covering. You know, literally anyone could have been standing here, just waiting to learn who Chat Noir really is.
  Adrien: I checked before I came in. It’s not like I would just, pft, de-transform without making sure there was no one in here. Please, Jules, give me some-
  Juleka: I saw you jump.
  Adrien: Okay, fine, you’re right.
  Plagg: Did Adrien just admit someone else was right? Please tell me someone got that on tape.
  • Almost immediately after Adrien leaves to return to class, Ladybug comes in the same window and changes back to Marinette, again without looking.
  Marinette: Juleka! Oh god, um, d-did you… you saw… how- um… hi? (Her face twists into a "don’t-take-me-to-Vegas grin")
  Juleka: Hi.
  Marinette: (deflating) I don’t suppose there’s any way you didn’t just see that?
  Juleka: See what?
  Marinette: (perking up) Wait, really?
  Juleka: No. (snorts as Marinette deflates again) We can talk about this later.
  • After Marinette leaves:
  Juleka shook her head yet again.
  She couldn’t believe it.
  Two superheroes had come from the same place, entered the same building through the same window, neither of them checking to see if, oh, some random girl was standing right in front of the window before releasing their transformations, had been caught by the same girl on the way to the same classroom, and yet:
  They still had absolutely no idea.
  None at all.
  Zip.
  How?
• During Chapter 17, Ladybug finally tells Chat Noir that someone at her school has found out who she is, and that it's the same person who figured out who he is, causing him to realise they go the same school. As a result, the following day is hilariously awkward for Juleka: as she describes it to Master Fu later, "This morning we show up at school and she’s freaking out because she told him part of the secret and he’s freaking out because he knows part of the secret, but they don’t… It’s a weird secret so they don’t actually talk about it to each other? So they both are constantly bugging me, which I don’t really understand, but it seems to make them happy." It gets to the point where she ends up hiding from them in the locker room, but on the way back, she walks in on Nino and Alya making out. After they notice her, Juleka bluntly tells them she's not getting involved and tries to walk out.
  Juleka did not need another heart to heart. She didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to deal with another dumb secret. She didn’t want to know why Nino and Alya were making out in the bathroom and not telling anyone. She wasn’t reviewing all of the times she’d seen them whispering. She wasn’t thinking about how they always seemed to be standing just a little too close. She wasn’t going to allow her mind to think up questions about this. She didn’t want to know. She didn’t.
  …
  Juleka opened the locker room door as loudly as possible, making sure to heave her loudest sigh as she entered. She heard the distinct pop of lips parting (a sound Juleka was certain was going to haunt her for the rest of her days) before she rounded the corner and came face to face with Nino and Alya’s surprised expressions. Again.
  • In the ensuing conversation, she finds out that Nino and Alya are hiding their relationship from Marinette and Adrien, because they don't want it to get back to Nino's parents. Juleka agrees to keep it to herself, which she quickly regrets not two hours later:
  Juleka really should have known better than to accept a lunch invitation from the four people that she was keeping secrets for.
  In her defense, they had ambushed her. (“Hey, Jules.” “Jules, wait up!” “Jules, dude.” “Jules! Hey, girl.”) And it wasn’t like Juleka had Rose as a quick and handy excuse because she’d been called out of class for a doctor’s appointment. She couldn’t say her parents expected her because Adrien knew her parents were in Egypt (or maybe China). She couldn’t even say it was a money thing because Adrien had offered to pay for them all in a disgustingly generous move that had Marinette starry eyed for a good five minutes. So, in the end, Juleka had reluctantly accepted a free lunch at a nice restaurant with a bunch of really cool people who all seemed to be on a mission to kill Juleka with a potent mixture of kindness, small talk, and the worst secret keeping that poor restaurant had ever seen.
  • The result is that Juleka gets bombarded with text messages in response to innocuous comments before finally walking out without explanation, before even ordering.
• In chapter 20, Juleka is panicking over her first official date with Rose in a couple of hours, and sends both Marinette and Adrien a text message reading "SOS". This predictably backfires:
  Marinette's phone: Omg are u ok?? Are u in danger??
  Adrien's phone: What’s wrong!?
  Marinette: There isn’t any news of an akuma attack. Where are you???
  Adrien: I’m coming.
  Marinette: I’m heading for ur house I hope ur there. Just hold on
  Unknown Number: This is CN. I need to know where you are. I’m going to check your house first, please respond as soon as you get this
  Juleka (After realising they're both about to show up in costume, she frantically sends a message to Chat's phone): There is no akuma! I’m fine! I just needed regular, CIVILIAN help. CN does not need to show up at my apartment in THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY.
  Unknown Number: Oh. Sorry. I’ll de-transform, be there in a sec.

  • Of course, this only solves half the problem, because Juleka doesn't have a mobile number for Ladybug. So when Adrien turns up as himself soon after, Juleka has to distract him and Plagg so she can head off Ladybug at her window and explain that she only needed Marinette.
  • After Adrien and Marinette find out what's going on, they work together to pick out an outfit for her, with Marinette being unusually calm around him. Once they're done, Adrien excitedly tells Juleka to try it on, taking a moment to realise that she might want some privacy. When they see the apparently cute results, Marinette says that they did a good job (a "Bien Joué!", no doubt). Adrien agrees and holds out his fist for her to bump, which she does after a moment's hesitation. And they still don't make the connection, leaving Juleka to marvel at their obliviousness.
• When Juleka brings Rose to La Tortue de Guérison for lunch:
  Master Fu: Ah, Juleka. I had a feeling I’d be seeing you today.
  Juleka: (raising an eyebrow) That wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that I asked you yesterday if we could have lunch with you, would it?
  Master Fu: No, I’m simply mysterious and all-knowing.
• Chapter 21 has yet another shining example of Ladybug and Chat Noir's obliviousness: When Juleka and Rose's date is interrupted by an Akuma attack (a giant snowman with the eyeroll-inducing name of Frosty), Ladybug saves Juleka and brings her to a rooftop, where she and Chat briefly talk with her before getting back to the fight. When Juleka thanks Chat for saving Rose, Ladybug replies "Of course, What are friends for?" and Chat adds, "Yeah. Anything for you Jules." Almost word for word what Marinette and Adrien said mere hours earlier when she thanked them for helping with her outfit.
  Juleka saw the moment the two began to think. She saw the moment the two began to wonder. She could practically read their thoughts on their faces. She could read the unsettling sense of déjà vu, the questions, the realization that this was really weird.
  They were superheroes. They were superheroes that didn’t know each other’s identities, but they both knew Juleka and they called her the same nickname and they knew she was on a date and they both went to her school and she knew who they were and that was really, really weird.
  Juleka wondered if they even knew why those sentences made them feel so weird. She wondered if they remembered. She wondered if they’d finally figure it out.
  Chat looked away from Ladybug, shifting those weird green eyes to Juleka, opening his mouth to say something, breathing in like he had something important to say, like something was going to change.
  Chat Noir: You know, that outfit is really cute, Jules.
  Ladybug: Chat’s right, it is a really cute outfit.
  forcing Juleka to watch as two smug, ridiculous, idiotic, oblivious teenaged superheroes both puffed up like roosters during mating season at the compliment they were unwittingly paying one another whilst secretly paying it to themselves whilst pretending to pay it to Juleka.
  Juleka hated them just a little bit. Just for a moment.
  Because how, how could two of the smartest people in their grade be so completely, thoroughly, absurdly, ridiculously oblivious? How?
  • And just in case that wasn't bad enough, Ladybug returns to the fight with the words, "See you tonight, Jules," again, almost exactly what Marinette said when she and Adrien were leaving the apartment, and Chat still doesn't make the connection!
• When Juleka arrives at the bakery for Christmas Eve, visibly exhausted:
  Mainette: You’ve certainly been through a lot today, haven’t you?
  Juleka: Yeah, you’ll never believe it. I got rescued by Ladybug and Chat Noir.
  Marinette: No way. You actually got to meet Ladybug and Chat Noir? What were they like? I bet they were amazing.
  Juleka: Eh, they were alright. (Marinette pouts at her.) They stranded me on the roof of a building.
  Marinette: Oh no, Jules! I’m so sorry. I didn’t think- Did you get down okay?
  Juleka: No, I’m still up there, waiting for you to rescue me.
  • When Sabine asks if Marinette, Adrien and Juleka hang out together a lot, Marinette finally starts to notice that yes, they have been, and that Adrien and Juleka suddenly became close friends not long before she and Juleka did. Juleka sees where this is going and, despite all the frustration detailed above, apparently doesn't want her to have this epiphany in front of her parents, so she distracts her from her train of thought by faking a loud yawn.
• In chapter 23, Juleka shuts Ladybug and Chat Noir in her room to deal with the secret identity issue, only to realise she's left all forms of entertainment in there with them. She opts to go to the kitchen and make dinner - lasagne for the three of them, and an improvised chocolate-camembert-orange cookie recipe for the Kwamis. When Tikki and Plagg join her in the kitchen, they both enjoy the cookies, while ribbing each other over their respective tastes:
  Plagg: These aren’t bad. I guess if you have to eat cookies, Spots, proper cheese ones are okay.
  Tikki: If you have to eat smelly mold, Kitten, I suppose it’s okay when in a delectable cookie.
  • Soon after, Adrien and Marinette join them, now out of costume, and Adrien asks about the cookies.
  Adrien: How’d you talk her into putting camembert into cookies?
  Plagg: I’m innocent. She made camembert cookies all on her own and the world is a better place for it.
  Adrien: You’re not exactly an objective critic, Plagg.
  (Marinette takes one, tries it and clearly enjoys it.)
  Marinette: As the daughter of a baker, I give these cookies an A+ (looks at Adrien, just barely managing to compose herself). That objective enough for you?
  Adrien: Of course, my Lady. (grins, winks at her and turns to get a cookie. Marinette looks over at Juleka with dazed eyes, her face flushed bright red.)
  • During the conversation over dinner, the reveal that Marinette and Adrien already know about Nino and Alya's relationship, and their reaction when she admits she knew as well. The exchange following this is golden:
  Juleka: Seriously, it’s not like Nino and Alya were particularly subtle. Not if you guys could figure it out.
  Adrien: (pouting) What do you mean?
  Juleka: Do you want me to give you a rundown of all of the times you two were the most oblivious messes on the planet?
  Marinette: We're not that oblivious.
  Juleka: I’ve caught both of you transforming seven times and you only noticed half of them. During the Horrificator attack, you guys spent hours working together as civilians and never noticed. After you learned that you went to the same school, you both freaked out about it to me at the same time and in the same place, both actively searching for someone else that was freaking out and completely missing each other. My date with Rose-
  Adrien: Okay, we get it. You’re right. We were blind. We had a whole conversation about this in your room.

  • Admittedly, this isn't entirely fair, as Juleka had just been told about the glamour protecting their identities, including the reason why she was partially immune to it. But in the same conversation, when Juleka told Tikki that she thought Adrien and Marinette were just really oblivious, she giggled and admitted that's still pretty much the case and that the glamour is weaker on Miraculous holders, perhaps implying that other holders, faced with the same evidence, would have figured it out earlier.
• Adrien and Marinette's complete lack of subtlety about how their relationship has changed post-reveal: not only is Marinette talking to him normally enough to arouse Alya, Nino and Rose's suspicions, but Adrien keeps making Chat Noir-style puns and even calls Marinette "My lady" out of habit at one point.
  Rose: Isn’t that what Chat Noir calls Ladybug?
  Adrien and Marinette both froze, looking down at Rose like really ridiculous deer caught in really adorable headlights.
• Marinette provides some comic relief to the tense situation with Rose's parents, offering up her parents as parental substitutes to Rose, Juleka and Adrien, "since nobody else’s parents seem to be able to get it together." She then invites the three of them to move into her house, pointing out that she has a big room. Juleka immediately calls the bed, getting laughs from everyone.
  • After Rose leaves with her parents, Juleka returns to her room ready to crash, only to remember Adrien and Marinette are still there.
  Adrien: How’d it go?
  Juleka: It was… okay. They both apologized. Rose went home with them. She’ll be at school tomorrow.
  Marinette: Good. I was afraid that I was going to have to beat her father up.
  Adrien: (grinning) Ladybug gets to keep her reputation then.
  Marinette: Oh, I wasn’t going to do it as Ladybug. He was going to get a beating Dupain-Cheng style. (throws a punch at an imaginary target.) Besides, I still have to beat up Juleka’s parents. And your dad. (Adrien's smile widens as he watches her beat up an imaginary negligent father.)
• After Nino finds out Adrien's secret, he is completely unable to figure out Adrien's hints at Ladybug's identity. It's probably another effect of the glamour, but it's still as hilarious as any of the Adrien or Marinette scenes above.
  Nino: Why didn’t you just tell her (Alya) at the same time? Would have been so much more convenient.
  Adrien: (exchanging a glance with Juleka) Oh, Marinette wanted to be the one to tell her.
  Nino: Marinette knows too? Aw, come on, man. Why am I the last one?
  Adrien: Well, I had to ask Ladybug before I told anyone else.
  Nino: Yeah, I get that. But I’m better bros with you than Marinette.
  Adrien: (blinks, then looks at Juleka, who shrugs, before looking back at Nino) I had to ask Ladybug.
  Nino: Yeah, dude, you said. And then you told Marinette before telling me.
  Adrien: No, I told Ladybug.
  Nino: Dude, I heard you the first time. Ladybug, then Marinette, then me.
  Adrien: No, Nino- (facepalms, then turns to Juleka) I apologize for every conversation you’ve ever had with me.
  Juleka: Apology accepted.
  Nino: What am I missing here?
  Adrien: I didn’t tell Marinette my identity after telling Ladybug my identity.
  Nino: Wait, you told her first? That’s messed up.
  Adrien: Oh my- I didn’t tell her after, because Marinette found out when Ladybug did.
  Nino: (blinks, then narrows his eyes) Like… a joint reveal?
  Adrien: Nino, Marinette is Ladybug.
• In Chapter 28, Adrien's repeated insistence that Juleka knows everything, and Juleka trying to deny it but not helping her case when she answers questions about the Miraculous that weren't even directed at her.
  • The fact that Nino's lunch consists of nothing but potatoes - it's mentioned in the narration seven times before Tikki comments on it.
• Nino playing sick to get Adrien and Marinette out of a classroom after being alerted to an akuma attack downtown - in particular, his hammy insistence that only Adrien and Marinette can take him to the nurse, and Adrien almost botching the ruse by picking up Nino without Marinette's help and having to deliberately drop him at one end. If the glamour weren't in place, it's likely this would arouse a lot more suspicion than the constant bathroom excuses earlier in the story.