Fanfic / Spots Drawn in Marker

Following

Spots Drawn in Marker is a complete Miraculous Ladybug fanfic by LadyAnput.

Marinette's life takes another sharp turn when Rébecca arrives as the latest addition to Bustier's class. Not only does Rébecca already know Lila, she wastes no time dropping hints that she's secretly Ladybug! As Alya, Adrien and the rest of the class swallow up her claims hook, line and sinker, it looks like she's on the verge of losing everything... especially when her crush starts dating the new girl...!

But even the darkest clouds can have silver linings, and there might be more to this whole scenario than she realizes...

Can be found here on Archive of Our Own.

Spots Drawn in Marker contains examples of:

• Accusation Fic:
  • Alya does not come off well in this story. Not only does she show No Sympathy whatsoever for her ex-bestie, her obsession with the Ladyblog overrides any semblance of common sense, to the point where she's outright GLEEFUL at the prospect of Rébecca's little brother being taken hostage so she can get even MORE exclusive footage.
  • Adrien's entitled attitude towards Ladybug also proves to be his undoing here.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Alya not believing Marinette's Cassandra Truths because she dismisses her as 'jealous' is one thing. Alya's utter Lack of Empathy for her former friend or anyone else around her is something else entirely, to the point that she doesn't bat a lash at Marinette Running Away to Cry and is outright ecstatic when Miguel is kidnapped, seeing this solely as a chance to livestream his clearly distressed sister's Transformation Sequence.
  • Adrien discovers how to use the Ring to seal Plagg's mouth shut and makes a point to keep him in that state as much as possible, just so he doesn't have to hear his kwami's attempts to warn him about Rébecca.
• Armor-Piercing Question: After the truth is revealed, Alya expects Ladybug to be much harsher upon Rébecca than she actually is:
  Alya: She told everyone she was you, everyone believed her! Aren't you going to have her serve justice?
  Ladybug: And who was responsible for that information being accepted as fact, Miss Césaire? Who was the one that posted the interview, that kept insisting that she was Ladybug? I highly suggest you keep your mouth shut for now.
• Bad Influencer: Alya becomes one, revealing Rébecca's supposed Secret Identity just for the views and expecting her to bend over backwards providing even more "exclusive content". Ladybug pointing out that SHE provided a public platform and broadcast Rébecca's lies far and wide without the slightest care for any consequences doesn't seem to affect her, either, as she insists it wasn't HER fault she was tricked.
• Be Careful What You Wish For:
  • Rébecca agreed to play along with Lila's deception and pretend to be Ladybug because she always wanted to be famous. But that fame turns out to have a price she's not willing to pay. Though she's able to spin everything in her favor in the long run.
  • Rébecca gives Adrien exactly what he always wanted when she claims that she'd only been Playing Hard to Get as Ladybug, reeling him in EASILY. This costs him any chance with the real deal, along with his own secret identity.
  • Alya wanted to be the one who got to reveal Ladybug's Secret Identity, potential consequences be damned. Rébecca grants her wish... too bad she's a liar, and her eagerly providing a platform for all her claims destroys Alya's credibility.
  • Lila got Rébecca to back up her lies and convince the whole class she really was besties with Ladybug... and her co-conspirator promptly exploited that very same lie to get her hooks into Adrien, whom LILA wanted for herself.
• Betrayal by Inaction: Not a single one of Marinette's classmates intervenes when Alya, Lila and Rébecca accuse her of being a Stalker with a Crush in the middle of class. This leads to her taking down most of her pictures of them alongside every last one of Adrien.
• Birds of a Feather: While gloating to Lila, Rébecca reveals that she's dating Adrien's cousin Félix, who's as clever of a manipulator as she is.
• Blackmail: Discussed; during their confrontation, Lila smugly tells Rébecca that she can't blackmail her since she'll just pretend to have been an Unwitting Pawn who fell for her lies like everyone else. Later, Ladybug accuses Lila of blackmailing Rébecca into backing up her lies, with Rébecca claiming she'd threatened to get her father fired.
• Bluff the Eavesdropper: When she notices Marinette hiding behind a trashcan listening in on a confrontation between her and Lila, Rébecca opts to play the victim by pretending one of the bracelets she got from Adrien is "special to [her]".
• Cassandra Truth:
  • Alya refuses to believe any of Marinette's warnings about Lila; after Adrien hooks up with Rébecca, Marinette despairs that none of her classmates are willing to heed her warnings, even the guy who KNOWS Lila is deceptive.
  • Plagg confronted Adrien and told him point-blank that Rébecca wasn't Ladybug, only for Adrien to take his mouth away with a Geas.
• Celebrity Lie: Lila's claims to be "best friends with Ladybug" take center stage here, as she convinced Rébecca to back her up by pretending to be the heroine.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Following her deakumatization, Michelle is reunited with her husband Pierre, and they decide to accompany Rébecca and Miguel back to their apartment. Later, they adopt the pair after learning the kids' father is a deadbeat, and turn out to be incredibly wealthy.
• Crossing the Burnt Bridge: After Rébecca and Lila are exposed, Marinette notices several of her classmates glancing her way before looking away, ashamed. She muses to herself that while she might have easily forgiven them all once, and has no intention of holding a grudge forever against the majority, they're still going to have to work to rebuild their ruined relationships. And two of them have no chance whatsoever of mending fences.
• Death Glare:
  • Alya repeatedly glares at Marinette throughout the story while telling her that she should have made more of an effort to befriend Lila while she had the chance.
  • Ladybug glares down Adrien, Lila and Rébecca after dealing with Niobe, regarding all three with a Tranquil Fury.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Neither Rébecca, Lila or Alya ever considered that Hawkmoth might take full advantage of knowing who Ladybug supposedly is by targeting her family...
  • Despite knowing that Lila is a liar, Adrien eagerly swallows up Rébecca's claims that she's Ladybug without a second thought, purely because she feeds into his belief that he and Ladybug are meant to be together. During the denouncement, Marinette calls him out on this, saying "It's not rocket science that anyone connected to Lila was most likely lying because she wanted attention!"
  • Lila threatens Rébecca into forking over everything that Adrien's giving her, without considering how that might undermine her claiming to have been tricked, since she's the one clearly benefitting from Rébecca's efforts.
  • Adrien also doesn't think twice about transforming in the middle of the school yard in the final chapter. To be fair, Rébecca is pleading with him to save her little brother, and he doesn't realize until it's too late how odd it is that she's not transforming despite having gone completely public with her identity.
• Downer Beginning: The first chapter is a constant downward spiral for Marinette, culminating with her running out of class and crying herself past the point of exhaustion in a park, finally passing out.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • As Lila regales Alya with another one of her tall tales, Alya happily muses that 'true friendship' is all about telling each other everything and helping them see others' faults before they could hurt them. She is, of course, blissfully unaware of how Marinette was trying to warn her about Lila.
  • While taunting Lila in prison, Rébecca reveals how she and Félix found evidence that Gabriel may have been lying about what happened to his wife, gleefully noting that this could mean Lila is connected to murderer on top of her working with Hawkmoth. Naturally, she has no idea that Gabriel is Hawkmoth.
• Earn Your Happy Ending:
  • Despite the heartache she goes through, Marinette winds up much happier by the story's denouncement. Not only was Ladybug able to expose the truth, she's happily dating Luka, and no longer has to deal with Chat Noir harassing her after his exposure, replacing him with Catastrophe. She also has a new ally in Miss Kit, replacing Alya.
  • This also gets played with interestingly through Rébecca, who manages to manipulate everything so that she comes out on top by the end. She and Miguel are now Happily Adopted by the Pelletiers, making them heirs to a fortune even greater than that of the Agrestes. She's best friends with Marinette and Ladybug, and has even been trusted with the Fox Miraculous, having a happy partnership with Trixx.
• Entitled Bastard:
  • Alya milks the crap out of Rébecca supposedly being Ladybug, pestering her for more "exclusive interviews" and content.
  • Lila also takes advantage of Rébecca's relationship with Adrien, demanding that she "loan" her some of her jewelry so she can show it off.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Marinette suffers a one-two punch in this regard that leaves her in utter tears by the end of the first chapter:
  • Alya proves to be a Fair-Weather Friend who casts her "bestie" aside without a second thought... and posts an interview "exposing" Ladybug's Secret Identity, showing how little regard she held for the heroine's safety. She also accuses Marinette of being a Stalker with a Crush on Adrien, showing No Sympathy for any of her anguish.
  • Adrien knew that Lila was a Manipulative Bitch who kept constantly lying, yet promptly hooks up with Rébecca without a second thought, simply because she tells him what he wants to hear.
• Everyone Has Standards: The other kids at the juvenile detention center give Lila a wide berth as they may have done a lot of rotten things but never sink so low as to work with Hawkmoth.
• Failed a Spot Check: When Dryad attacks, Adrien completely fails to notice that Rébecca's close enough to the alcove he ducks into and witnesses him transforming into Chat Noir.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Alya is too Prideful to even consider the possibility that she might be wrong. She's also singularly obsessed with promoting her Ladyblog and becoming famous, which leads her to latch onto Rébecca and gleefully spread the news that she's supposedly Ladybug. Her utter Lack of Empathy, inability to see past her own nose or CARE about anything that's not boosting her profile leads to her humiliating herself on one of her own livestreams and destroying the reputation she coveted so much.
  • Adrien feels entitled to Ladybug's love, which led to him ignoring her protests and complaints about the constant harassment she endured from Chat Noir. Rébecca plays along and tells him just what he wants to hear, so he ignores all the warning signs for the sake of pursuing a "perfect romance" with "his Lady".
  • Lila's Greed and jealousy ensures her downfall, as she forces Rébecca to give her all the jewelery and expensive gifts that Adrien's been showering her with... which means that when their deception is exposed, everyone can see just who's holding the bag.
• Foil:
  • Rébecca proves to be cut from similar cloth to Lila, but proves to be more sympathetic due to her sincere love for her little brother and dealing with blatant Parental Neglect. She's also significantly more skilled at manipulating others.
  • Alya and Adrien both fall for Lila and Rébecca's deception, despite the latter already knowing that Lila is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing. Both ignore all warnings because they're getting something they desired out of the whole matter — Alya's getting "juicy content" for her blog while Adrien's getting to "date Ladybug". In the aftermath, both insist they're just innocent victims, with Alya immediately turning on Adrien the second she learns he was aware of Lila's true nature and never warned her.
  • Both Adrien and Marinette start out Loving a Shadow. But while Marinette comes to realize that she'd let her crush blind her and learns to let go, Adrien is undone by his obsession, refusing to heed any warnings about Rébecca because she feeds his delusions and sense of entitlement.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Near the end of the story, Marinette privately admits to herself that it's likely she'll eventually forgive most of her former friends for how easily they swallowed up Lila and Rébecca's lies. But she will never forget how easily they turned their backs upon her, either, and she'll never trust them nearly as much as she once did.
• Foreshadowing: When Alya thanks Rébecca for (supposedly) picking her to be Rena Rouge, both Rébecca and Lila are clearly taken aback; however, Rébecca recovers quickly and rolls with it. Similarly, she immediately incorporates Adrien being Chat Noir into her plans, showing that she's good at improvising and adjusting her plans on the fly. This ultimately leads into her angling and finagling her way to success, avoiding any serious consequences for her actions, while the more inflexible Lila suffers a complete downfall.
• Freudian Excuse: Rébecca's mother passed away a few years before the story began, and her father withdrew completely, working long hours in his home office and leaving his children to fend for themselves.
• Gold Digger:
  • Rébecca effectively calls Lila one when she confronts her about stealing Adrien, declaring that "We both know you're only interested in the fame and money. I'm sure we can snag you a cuter guy, from a richer family, okay?"
  • Rébecca herself gleefully accepts all the expensive gifts Adrien showers upon her, as she needs the money to help compensate for her father's Parental Neglect.
• Happily Adopted: In the ending, Rébecca reveals that she and her brother were adopted by Michelle (the woman who'd been akumatized into Niobe) and her husband Pierre... who happen to be the current heads of the Pelletier empire.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Lila's insistence on taking all the jewelry and expensive gifts Adrien showers upon Rébecca bites her in the backside when Ladybug calls her out on Playing the Victim Card, as everyone present abruptly notices that she's the one wearing said jewelry and nice clothes. She also gets caught trying to grab an akumatizing butterfly, further sealing her fate.
• I Warned You: Alya sneers this at Marinette after posting Rébecca's big reveal on her Ladyblog, saying that her ex-bestie should have cozied up to Lila while she had the chance. Subverted in that Alya eventually learns too late that she should have been heeding Marinette's warnings.
  Alya: I told you that you'd regret it, Marinette. I told you to try, and look at how things are now, even Ladybug herself thinks you're being unreasonable!
• It's All My Fault: In the aftermath of Rébecca's exposure, Plagg laments that he didn't take his duties as a kwami seriously enough and should have been firmer with Adrien.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Despite her humiliation, Marinette realizes Alya wasn't entirely wrong about her taking her crush on Adrien too far. While she wasn't truly a stalker, she had grown obsessed with Loving a Shadow... and it blinded her to what was right in front of her with Luka.
• Just Between You and Me: In the final chapter, Rébecca pays Lila a visit in prison in order to taunt her former ally with how she's not only seen as her victim, but has surpassed Lila in every way. She even bribed the guards to ensure nobody would overhear them.
• Karmic Jackpot: Downplayed. Make no mistake, Rébecca is not a good person, but her sympathetic background, genuine love for her brother, and simple ability to know when to stop lying ensures that she gets off far better than Lila.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • Throughout the story, it's repeatedly hammered home that Alya cares more about her blog than anything or anyone else. During the final classroom scene, Mylène reveals that rumor has it her parents took a hammer to her computer and phone after all the lawsuits from businesses fooled by the fake identity reveal rolled in (with her blog having disappeared).
  • Adrien believed he and Ladybug were destined to be together regardless of how "his lady" felt. Rébecca exploits his entitlement to lure him into a relationship on false pretenses, enjoying lots of lavish gifts and jewelry, and he outright ABUSES Plagg when his kwami tries to warn him that he's being deceived. Ultimately, he loses his own secret identity, gets stripped of the Ring, and is exposed as a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing himself when Marinette reveals he'd known about Lila all along but refused to join her efforts to warn anyone.
  • Lila sees nothing wrong with threatening Rébecca, confident that she can easily convince everyone that SHE was fooled along with the rest of them. After Rébecca is exposed by Niobe, Ladybug shuts down Lila's attempt to Play the Victim Card, and she's caught trying to grab an akumatizing butterfly, exposed as a willing accomplice of Hawkmoth, and winds up in prison. To twist the knife further, Rébecca visits her just to reveal that SHE now has everything Lila ever wanted, and there's nothing she can do about it.
• Late to the Realization: When Lila rants are Rebecca on how she took all those clothes and jewels from people who thought she was Ladybug, Rebecca dryly points out said clothes and jewels are all in Lila's room as Lila demanded them and isn't it such a coincidence that she and Lila are the same size? Too late, Lila realizes Rebecca has secretly been manipulating her this whole time.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: Michelle, the woman who gets akumatized into Niobe, has been trying for kids with her husband for years without success. Her sister managed to successfully have a baby on her first try, and Hawkmoth exploited her Moment of Weakness to akumatize her.
• Liar Revealed: Everything starts unraveling rapidly once Rébecca's little brother Miguel is taken hostage by the akuma Niobe.
• Loving a Shadow:
  • Marinette realizes that she was more in love with the idea of Adrien she'd constructed around him, specifically the notion that he was like a prince straight out of some fairytale.
  • Similarly, Adrien is completely besotted with the idea that he and Ladybug are "destined" to be together due to their Miraculouses. He projects all of this onto Rébecca, showering her with attention and expensive gifts purely because he believes she's "his lady".
• Make-Out Kids: Adrien constantly keeps making out with Rébecca, to the point that Lila finds herself feeling oddly grateful that he wound up dating the other girl because she's not sure she could stomach his clinginess.
• Meaningful Name: Niobe is an akuma who turns people to stone, created from a woman with grief over fertility troubles. In Classical Mythology, Niobe was a queen whose fourteen children were killed by Artemis and Apollo as punishment for her vanity, and wept for so long that the gods took pity on her and turned her to an unfeeling stone—but water poured from the stone still.
• Morality Pet: Miguel serves as one to his big sister Rébecca. For all her flaws, she sincerely cares about him, and is legitimately horrified when he's taken hostage.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Michelle breaks down weeping when she realizes that she was threatening children as Niobe.
• Never My Fault:
  • Neither Alya or Adrien is willing to admit they did anything wrong or made any mistakes over the course of the story, insisting they're both hapless victims who were totally taken in by Lila and Rébecca's claims.
  • For bonus points, when Marinette calls out Adrien for knowing Lila was a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, Alya immediately turns upon him:
    Alya: Wait, you knew?! You knew this entire time and you let me ruin my blog! You let them manipulate me into ruining my credibility!
    Alix: You did that to yourself...
• New Transfer Student: Rébecca starts out as one. In the end, she winds up transferring to another school.
• No Sympathy:
  • Alya repeatedly rebukes Marinette throughout the story, coldly telling her that it's her own fault that she's suffering so much. This includes berating Marinette for running away from school and unintentionally making her parents worry by not responding to any of their calls (because she'd passed out after a long crying jag).
  • In return, Marinette doesn't sympathize with Alya or Adrien when the consequences of their actions come home to roost.
• Offscreen Karma: Implied with Miss Bustier. During the final classroom scene, it's mentioned in passing that somebody new is sitting in Bustier's usual seat, hinting that she may have gotten into serious trouble for everything that unfolded under her watch.
• Oh, Crap!: Rébecca is horrified upon realizing her little brother's been kidnapped by an akuma.
• On the Rebound: Discussed. While Luka cares deeply about Marinette, he also wants her to be happy, and doesn't want to overstep her boundaries while she's hurting from losing her first crush. Similarly, Marinette is afraid of disrespecting him by leaping right into a relationship after her Love Epiphany.
• Parental Neglect: Rébecca and Miguel's father left his children to fend for themselves for two years, claiming he was working on a "brilliant script" that would serve as his Magnum Opus. Rébecca accuses him of spending all that time loafing around playing video games and browsing sex sites.
• Playing Hard to Get: Invoked; Adrien constantly told himself that this was the real reason why Ladybug kept rejecting his unwanted advances, and Rébecca exploits this by playing along with his delusions.
• Playing the Victim Card:
  • Lila threatens Rébecca with this, declaring that unless the other girl gives her some of the jewelry Adrien's been giving her, she'll expose her as a fake and claim she was tricked too.
  • Rébecca decides to do this as well when she realizes Marinette is witnessing one of her arguments with Lila.
  • When Lila tries to play this card post-exposure, Ladybug immediately shuts her down and calls her out in front of everyone.
• Plot Parallel:
  • Alya and Adrien are undone by the same Fatal Flaw: both gravitate towards those who tell them precisely what they want to hear, rejecting those who try to warn them about Lila and Rébecca.
  • After witnessing his transformation, Rébecca feigns a Love Epiphany, telling him that she can't believe the love of her life was right there in front of her and that "I've been so blind." Later, Marinette has an actual epiphany regarding Luka, repeatedly lamenting that "I was blind, I'm always blind to what's right in front of me."
  • Michelle has been trying in vain for years to conceive a child with her husband. Ladybug remarks on how painful it is to lose hope after investing years into pursuing your dreams, implicitly thinking of how she'd recently given up on Adrien. For bonus points, she remarks that Michelle helped her realize she needs a new partner, referring to how she now needs to replace Adrien/Chat Noir.
• Promotion to Parent: After their mother passed away, Rébecca's father became a Workaholic, effectively abandoning his children in order to focus entirely upon his "Magnum Opus". Thus, she was left to raise her little brother Miguel and ensure they could live as comfortably as possible.
• Running Away to Cry: Marinette does this twice. First is in response to the double whammy of Rébecca falsely claiming to be Ladybug and hooking up with Adrien, leading to her crying herself to sleep in the park. Later, she winds up running off again when Alya, Lila and Rébecca confront her about the first incident, accusing her of making her parents worry themselves sick over her safety... and of being a Stalker with a Crush.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: According to Rébecca, Lila threatened to use her high-profile connections to pull some strings and get her father fired from his scriptwriting job if she didn't play along.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Comes into play when Rébecca visits Lila in prison, as she bribes the guards to give them some time to speak privately.
• Sickly Green Glow: Niobe's magic glows green, as evident when she prepares to turn Miguel to stone.
• Skewed Priorities: Alya puts the Ladyblog above all else. Concerns about exposing Ladybug's Secret Identity? Why would she have any of THOSE? Any dates with Nino can be canceled in a heartbeat to work out more interviews. But her crowning moment comes when she's ecstatic over the prospect of Rébecca potentially transforming right in front of her, completely ignoring the Hostage Situation at hand in her glee.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Dryad, the first akuma to appear, doesn't get fleshed out as a character in the same way Michelle/Niobe is later. All we know about them is that their favorite park was torn down so a spa could be built in its stead. However, her attack led to Rébecca witnessing Adrien transforming into Chat Noir, enabling her to manipulate him much more effectively.
• Stalker with a Crush: Rébecca and Lila convince Alya that Marinette is one towards Adrien, leading to them Staging an Intervention in the middle of class in order to humiliate her further.
• Stopped Caring: Marinette stops trying to warn her friends away from Lila after the "intervention".
• Sure, Let's Go with That: Rébecca is clearly surprised when Alya thanks her for making her Rena Rouge, but rolls with it by claiming Lila gave her a glowing recommendation.
• Taken for Granite: Niobe has the ability to turn her victims to stone.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Marinette reassures herself that Adrien won't fall for any tricks since he already knows Lila is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing... right before Rébecca tells him point-blank that she's secretly Ladybug.
  • In the final chapter, Marinette muses that while she can't abuse her powers by just randomly swinging by the school as Ladybug in order to debunk all of Lila and Rébecca's lies, she could probably take the time to say something if an akuma happened to attack... When an akuma actually does attack, she takes a moment to mutter "Okay, I was kind of kidding..."
  • When Niobe attacks Rébecca right in the middle of the school grounds, she frantically thinks that the jig is up, unless she can somehow sneak away and hide until Ladybug arrives... and then Niobe reveals just who she dragged along with her.
• This Is Unforgivable!: During the denouncement, Marinette muses that while she'll likely rebuild her bonds with most of her classmates over time, she will never forgive Alya or Adrien for how they betrayed her.
• Time Skip: Several weeks pass between the first two chapters and the finale.
• Traitor Shot: Rébecca gets several moments where she successfully hides a smile from others.
• Unwitting Pawn:
  • Lila and Rébecca easily manipulate Alya into turning upon Marinette by exploiting her Theory Tunnel Vision and belief that she's an Excellent Judge of Character who's never, EVER wrong about anything.
  • Lila smugly declares her intention to Invoke this if Rébecca tries to blackmail or expose her, claiming that everyone will automatically believe her word over the new girl.
  • In the end, Rébecca successfully convinces Marinette and many others that she was manipulated and Blackmailed into cooperating with Lila.
• Villainous Breakdown: Lila is left ranting and raving in her final scene upon realizing that not only has Rébecca been Happily Adopted by a wealthy family, but that she's been entrusted with the Foxtail Pendant and become a Miraculous heroine.
• We Used to Be Friends: Marinette grows estranged from the whole class after they swallow up Lila's latest stories.
• Would Hurt a Child: Not only does Hawkmoth not give a damn about his nemesis being a teenaged girl, he gleefully has one of his akuma kidnap her little brother and threaten him.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • Ladybug takes the time to reassure Michelle that she didn't hurt Miguel while akumatized into Niobe, and that having her Moment of Weakness exploited by a supervillain doesn't make her villainous.
  • Luka gives a small pep talk to Plagg when he becomes his new holder, telling them that Mistakes Are Not the End of the World and everybody both makes and learns from them.
• You're Just Jealous: Alya dismisses Marinette's distaste for both Lila and the new girl as being purely Driven by Envy.