Home of the MiraculElse fanfic series -- what-ifs, might-have-beens, might-be-somedays, never-woulds and occasional happy endings in the Miraculous Ladybug universe, love letters to the creations of Thomas Astruc and team.

There is no extended storyline linking these; you should be able to pick up any one of them and enjoy it on its own. If having watched specific episodes will be needed for clarity, I will try to call that out in my Timeline note after the title. Most will be standalone flights of fancy. If something happens that radically shakes everything up (like a Reveal that sticks), it's one of those. If you're in doubt, just kick back and relax and let me do the overthinking.

In any case, expect these to try to stay within reasonable shouting distance of the real thing. No ancient vampire clans hiding in the Parisian sewers, no crossovers with Battlestar: Galactica, South Park or Seinfeld, no explicit or sexual content, nobody dies, nobody gets maimed, nobody turns out to be of high elvish bloodline or banished to Asgard or magically aged thirty years and now working as a private detective in Iowa. I may introduce canon divergences -- well, duh, that's kind of the point of all this -- but I try to remain at least a first cousin to canon because otherwise, why are you reading this?

I will create characters now and then for these. Villains of the week, obviously, plus the occasional Sir or Madam Named Character Who Is Not On The Real Show when a story calls for it. The big red "ORIGINAL CHARACTER DO NOT STEAL" light will not light up because, frankly, I doubt my OCs will be all that inspiring. But if for some reason you decide to borrow one that I make up, PM me, and a hat-tip in the credits will do nicely.

No regular schedule for these; they will be written as inspiration strikes.

"Alternative episodes" will be self-contained single chapters; I am doing more multi-part stories now but I do not really intend on long, open-ended universes that ramble on and on. Somewhere around 5-10 updates seems about right to have an idea, to execute it, to reach my endpoint and move onto the next without wearing out my welcome. Some will run longer than that. Likewise, I generally DON'T do sequels unless the material and the readers are absolutely screaming for one. I'd rather tell a new story than dwell too long on an old one.

Hope you enjoy the ride! Now get out there and get your spots on and your claws out.

-- DFC

Newcomers: welcome aboard. My current stories are grouped as follows, for convenience:

MARICHAT: Main theme of The Marinette Project (14-parter), Summer Break (one-shot); significant presence in Tyger; some elements in Reservations

LADRIEN: Main theme of Reservations. All four sides get to play a little in that story, but Ladrien is the focus. Someone To Watch Over Me will be a fluffy carnival of Ladrienette feels.

ADRINETTE: Pops up in all of them.

LADYNOIR: Pops up in all of them to some degree.

EPISODES: Forget-Me-Not, Locked and Loaded

MYSTERY: Once in a Lifetime, featuring an unknown temporary Ladybug.

AU: Let's Take It From The Top, a reboot that changes some things and watches the wild repercussions.

SILLY CRACK: Trouble...Made?, It Wasn't Plan "A", The Logical Conclusion (that one's more fluff-crack than pure crack)

REVEALS: Read them to find out. ;)

Hey, kids! I have a Tumblr now, @dfcfanfics, for news and assorted snark.

WORKS IN PROGRESS:

It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time: An Adrigaminette tangle starting with Adrien making a miscalculation or three, Kagami turning to the one person she can think of who can help, and a highly pressured Marinette finding herself with unexpected problems, a growing bond and a snap decision whose implications will spiral interestingly. This is NOT Adrien Salt, I assure you, despite how early chapters may appear; Our Heroines are acting on partial information, and much will become clear before long! Currently at 13 chapters of I don't know how many, probably in the 16-18 range in all.

Throw Me Around Like One of Your French Girls: Adrienette fluff in which Marinette decides that Felix's attempted forced kiss on Ladybug shouldn't be taken lightly. What if he, or someone more dangerous got grabby with her normal self? Good thing that she has a good friend who's studying martial arts... and that he's thrilled that she's reaching out so that he can be the closer friend he wants to be. But is that all that either wants? A fun and oh-so-fluffy diversion from It Seemed, which is indeed continuing. Currently at 3 chapters of I don't know how many, likely high single digits.

Stuck In A Bakery (With You): Adrienette fluff and friendship and family. Adrien finds himself about to be whisked out of the country due to pandemic concerns... but the Dupain-Chengs aren't about to let that happen without a fight. And with two young friends suddenly in close company, what might emerge? A light touch and small bites applied to what we're all dealing with now. The virus is not a joke, and is taken seriously therein... but that doesn't mean that doom and gloom must dominate everything around us.

And HELLO to all of the people who are reading Stuck in A Bakery and enjoying it. If you're hungry for more of my stuff while waiting for updates, may I suggest...

Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright: 9 chapters of Tikki getting zapped, Chat Noir bringing a temporary Miraculous to Marinette, and a crafty and devious Tiger Kwami turning all of their lives upside down.

The Marinette Project: 14 chapters of Chat Noir seeing a saddened Marinette and deciding to cheer her up... then finding just how over his head he truly is. Megafluff, an accidental reveal, a brain explosion for Alya, soul-searching, triple identities, a princess dress and a masquerade in the park follow. What more do you want?

Someone To Watch Over Me. My Ladrienette epic in 24 chapters. LONG chapters, be warned! But I think they're worth your time. Akumas targeting Adrien? Not on Ladybug's watch. But she finds herself drawn into Adrien's life in both her identities... and that's just the beginning.

Enjoy!

IT WOULD BE NICE IF YOUR REVIEWS FOR CHAPTER 47 WOULD BE READABLE BEFORE REVIEWS FOR CHAPTER 48 CAME IN, BUT I GUESS THAT'S ASKING TOO MUCH, HUH, FFN DEV TEAM?

OH HOLY CRAP!

Two moments of amazingness happened to me this weekend and I could not possibly be happier about either one.

1) A reader called Yunyin, who is a fantastic artist, sent me a pair of sketches based on my recent stories.

2) A reader named Britt reached out to me to ask permission to start a comic-ization of Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright! As if I was going to say "no, no, please don't put time and effort and heart and soul into building upon something I'd created!" It has begun on @brittsarts on Tumblr. The first 30-ish pages are up and she is doing a wonderful job!

However, I've been informed that FFN is borking the links and there is no approved way to post them here. SO, um... look up my profile on AO3 for them, or PM me?

Misc:

We here at DFC Enterprises take pride in maintaining at least a semblance of authenticity. This is a White Flash Zone.

AUTHOR'S ADDITIONAL NOTES:

As you can probably tell, Tom and Sabine are among my favorite characters to write. They're so supportive of Marinette, but don't let her just run wild and get away with anything, and they also know just how to get under her skin in the right ways like any of good parents would.

My "Idea Bin" for new stories is filling up. I have a handful of 'episode' ideas that are on hold because the multi-parters seem far more popular.

All four Love Square sides deserve exploration but I do have a soft spot for Marichat. In particular, you can always expect that:

- Chat will have a habit of stopping by Marinette's balcony at intervals, as in Glaciator, just to hang out and talk and be friendly.

- Chat and Marinette will always start out a story in their 'default' state of Just Friendship unless specified otherwise.

- Marinette will have talked to Chat about her Mystery Crush, but hasn't specified a name out loud. Yet.

I just do not have it in me to throw "aged up" on the main characters and write smut. Those who want that know where to find it. Therefore, any MLB smut that I write will be restricted to Marinette's grandmother, Andre the Ice Cream Vendor and Adrien's Bodyguard in various settings and combinations.

Thanks to all for the many compliments! It's been a long time since I've done serious creative writing and I'm glad to see that apparently I do remember how. I really do love your comments, reviews and feedback.