Discontinuation Notice and Fic Outline

Hello from 2023!

As you can tell from the title, this is a discontinuation notice. But I have most of the fic outlined and I'll be posting it here alongside other notes, so you'll find out what happens, don't worry! :) I should've done this maybe a year or two ago, but better late than never, and I want to give this fic closure.

I apologise for not finishing this fic and going MIA for years. I'm also sorry to future readers because it feels like an abrupt stop here. This was a fic I wrote from 2017-2019, back when I was 13-15, and there's no real reason except I outgrew it. I got very stressed by school starting from September 2019, and I started focusing on other projects (such as Achieving Thermal Equilibrium, my Kayano-Itona piece for AssClass Big Bang 2020). I was also stuck on WP because while I knew how the love square was gonna go, I didn't know what to do with the main villain Kochou. Bit by bit, it fizzled out, until I reread some chapters this year and realised there's so much I forgot about.

To quote myself from April 2021, from an ask on tumblr (that I also forgot about haha):

"I still love Which Partner. It's through that fic that I made many of my tumblr friends and the fic itself is just really important to me.

BUT-

I don't really… agree with the fic anymore. At least, not the 100k ish words I posted. Not because it's bad, per se, even though it does have mildly problematic elements that I picked up from Miraculous Ladybug (and my immature view of romance). It's a high school classmates to friends to lovers, romantic comedy, fantasy/action fic. It's exactly something my 2018 self would love and write. But not what my 2021 self would enjoy enough to finish the entirety of the fic (since it's 1/3 done now)."

I'm not active in the AssClass fandom and not in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom anymore. I still write fanfic for other fandoms, and you can find me on Archive Of Our Own under bluenao (where I write about Damian x Anya from Spy x Family). Although less active, I'm still reachable on tumblr under clownao.

Onto Which Partner! The outline will be fairly long (and self-indulgent). To recap, I wrote around one-third of the fic. The halfway point is Island arc, and we're currently at the early bits of AssClass canon, specifically right after Irina's introduction. Chiba has a crush on Hayami, Ladybug has a crush on Black Cat, no identity reveal yet, but Korosensei knows both of their identities.

Some notes before we jump right in:

- There are some potentially sensitive topics that I tried to tackle as a teen, and the way I wrote them feels clumsy to me now, in the sense I won't write about these topics in the same way now. (Doesn't help that the fic was heavily based on MLB.) Such topics include: PTSD, trauma, panic attacks, romance and sexuality.

- The plot came out of an immature teenage girl's mind, and it's understandably a bit messy and contains plot holes. It mostly follows the skeleton of AssClass canon (and beyond canon). It's also very much inspired by MLB canon, borrowing akumas and lore and such, but it's not up to date with current MLB canon, which may be confusing.

- There are a lot of OCs here.

- Important plot points will be marked with asterisks. * for an important one, ** for a mega important one. You can skip around but please don't skip the mega important bits if you're invested.

Now, let's go! In chronological order, starting from where we left off:

Kimura character arc / Trials of Justice Part 2

- We end with Kimura being akumatised into Vanisher (turning invisible because he's ashamed of his name), and he wants to live up to his namesake of Justice.

- An akuma emerges - Illusionist! She's basically Animaestro from MLB, and she can only move when she has an audience aka. she can't move when no one's looking at her.

- Her identity is Hikage Mio, an OC I posted about on tumblr and specifically made to be Kimura's best friend, but in WP she doesn't know Kimura yet.

- Mio gets akumatized after her police officer mom says her future career as a magician is not practical. She causes chaos at the police station. Kimura has to take charge, calm the public, and evacuate them. After that, Kimura gains recognition for his name and gets to know Mio.

Kyoto School Trip

- This part contains Group 2 dynamics (and fanservice).

- Inspired by Kanzaki and co being kidnapped by delinquents, the Group 2 girls (Hayami, Nakamura, Fuwa) get threatened by delinquents, but the Group 2 boys (Chiba, Sugaya, Okajima, Mimura) come and save them.

- More specifically, the boys act like delinquents to scare the real delinquents away. Chiba uses his baton skills to spin a broom and Sugaya spins his knife. Basically, it's all just acting instead of actual fighting, referencing how Group 2 are the artsy kids.

- At night, during the girl talk, the girls agree that Black Cat is an ikemen. Yada gives Hayami side glances since Hayami has a crush on Black Cat.

- At the same time, an akuma happens back in their hometown. Chiba transforms and returns with the aid of Korosensei, but Hayami is busy chatting with the girls.

- BC is now terrifyingly aware that if LB doesn't show up, the akuma can never be cleansed and the damage cannot be repaired. So in later fights, he knows he has to protect her at all costs (this is foreshadowing).

- Ladybug misses the entire fight and only shows up to cleanse the akuma, leading to criticism.

- Okajima defends LB (he has a crush on her), which leads to everyone thinking he actually really adores Ladybug and it's not just shallow attraction.

Ritsu akuma and Fuwa akuma

- Ritsu joins the class. Chiba and Ritsu get closer. Ritsu longs to be human, so she gets akumatized.

- Ritsu's akuma form is a human form of herself. She has access to electronics using her human body but she can also feel emotions.

- Ritsu kidnaps Chiba because she feels like she can learn the most about human emotion from him. Chiba/Ladybug happens when Ladybug saves him.

- Fuwa akuma! She's basically Lady Wifi from MLB canon. She suggests a theory online on how Gakuho is Kochou and Gakushuu is BC, gets debunked, she's roasted and feels humiliated. She's dead set on uncovering the heroes' identities.

* Hayami/Chiba development in 3-E

- This part highlights Hayami's changing feelings towards Chiba.

- Because 3-E already has two skilled stationary snipers (Chiba and Ritsu), Hayami trains herself on mobility. She climbs up trees. And falls down. And gets bruises. Chiba is worried, but doesn't interfere.

- Then one day Hayami falls down, hits her head, and faints. Chiba finds her and brings her back to the campus.

- As a result, Hayami starts to develop a feelings Chiba, so she is conflicted

- The class ships ChibaHaya even more, and asks Chiba what he thinks about his "partner". He absentmindedly asks "which partner?" (the title of this fic!) because both Ladybug and Hayami are his partners. Of course they answer Hayami.

Kataoka akuma (Siren) and Itona's second appearance

- Kataoka gets tired of Kokona clinging to her so Kataoka gets akumatized into Siren.

- Her singing can enchant people to follow her / do as she says so the heroes use earplugs.

- I think I added this part because I felt bad for Kataoka in canon.

- I addressed Itona's second appearance (the one when the class got washed into the river) by saying Hayami and Chiba couldn't save them because they stored their miraculouses away when they were swimming.

End of term, Karma akuma, and Hayami's birthday

- The end of the first term, Karma's big failure. His momentary lapse in judgement and loss of control over his emotions leads him to be akumatized. He was disappointed by his grades and his ego received a big blow.

- I don't think I fleshed out his akuma, but he can shoot people which sends them into a coma. (You can see it as a similar akuma to Takebayashi/Collector, who absorbs people's skills.) Karma was also akumatised in the 3-E classroom, so Korosensei involves himself in the fight and talks to Karma.

- On Hayami's birthday, Okajima gives her handmade postcards with landscape pictures he took. I wanted to develop the Hayami-Okajima dynamic because in AssClass canon, he has a crush on her.

** ISLAND ARC

My favourite part from back then. I talked about this on tumblr in 2022. I'll paste the entire thing with some edits:

"Island arc happens as usual, Chiba and Hayami fail the shot, half the class falls ill, they go to the hotel to confront Takaoka etc etc. Chiba and Hayami don't use their miraculouses to do stuff because technically Ladybug and Black Cat are only supposed to be active in Kunugigaoka and they don't want to jeopardise their identities.

Nagisa fights Takaoka, Chiba tries to help him just like he did in canon (with no miraculous). Nagisa manages to win the fight although Kayano was close to exposing her tentacles to defend him (little NagiKae for my soul :3), plus both Chiba and Hayami were considering risking their identities for Nagisa. It seems calm until Kochou manages to fly his akuma to the island.

Takaoka is akumatized and is therefore back to his full strength. Takaoka seeks revenge on all of 3-E due to the humiliation he suffered. He goes crazy and starts destroying the cockpit and raises up debris to crush the students. Karasuma attempts to help, but he's still recovering from the poison gas. A piece of debris crushes Chiba, Sugaya, Karasuma and probably a few others. They all try to lift the debris but they're not strong enough. Meanwhile, the class is in a panic. Something needs to be done IMMEDIATELY. Chiba makes eye contact with Korosensei and knows what he has to do- he has to transform.

Major plot point 1: Chiba exposes his identity

Chiba transforms into Black Cat and uses Cataclysm to destroy the debris and save his class. Also uhh for plot's sake, akumatized Takaoka isn't looking in his direction, so the villains don't know his identity. Everybody is naturally shocked, and Hayami especially. Hayami almost goes through a crisis right there (her classmate and friend is her superhero best friend and crush) but forces herself to fight the akuma first. She sneaks off and transforms. Her identity is not revealed.

At the scene, there are two guns (the ones ChibaHaya used against Gastro). The first is with Karasuma, the second with Chiba/ Black Cat. Takaoka grabs Karasuma's gun and everyone is instantly alarmed. Guns haven't appeared in akuma battles before. BC and LB duel with Takaoka for a bit. LB is fully aware BC is Chiba, but BC doesn't know why LB is here (she probably comes up with some excuse later).

Takaoka is a particularly tough akuma bc 1) he's naturally strong already, imagine being supernaturally strong 2) Kochou is exhausted from flying that akuma and isn't able to control his akuma as much (Kochou might want the miraculouses, but does he want to kill innocents?). Korosensei and Karasuma can't really help as well because their only gun was taken by Takaoka. Takaoka excels in close combat, so everyone's hope lies in BC's gun.

BC knows he has to protect LB at all costs because she's the only one who can cleanse akumas (re: Kyoto School Trip). In the middle of the fight, Takaoka shoots BC in the head and he falls down. Everybody is shocked.

Major plot point 2: Chiba dies (temporarily)

A hysterical LB grabs BC's gun and tries to shoot the akumatized item, but misses. BC, losing consciousness, thinks LB looks like Hayami due to their similar shooting poses (he forgets about this later).

Takaoka gleefully laughs about how he killed BC. LB is horrified and going through a silent panic attack in front of everyone. How can she save the day when Chiba just died in front of her and she missed THE shot again?! Everyone notices her turbulent emotional state (in particular Nagisa) and encourages her. This keeps her going. Korosensei shouts out advice. Karasuma gets well enough to provide distractions. Meanwhile, BC lies silently in his pool of blood (lmao), his ring beeping away because he used his Cataclysm earlier.

LB goes all bloodlust and fights against Takaoka. She summons her Lucky Charm, which gives her a pistol (the type that Hayami is skilled at using). LB finally shoots the akumatized item and defeats Takaoka. LB is drained as hell and once she cleanses the akuma, she immediately rushes to BC. The rest of the class hurriedly restrain Takaoka before checking on BC / Chiba.

There's an emotional scene in which LB breaks down in front of an unmoving BC (note that she lets her guard down because she's in front of her friends and classmates, she probably wouldn't do that if they were strangers). LB focuses on using Miraculous Ladybug to heal him, which miraculously works! BC is alive, but just barely. BC is about to transform back, which Hayami doesn't mind, but LB isn't supposed to know. BC shakingly stands up and claims he's fine, and he and LB part ways. LB hurries away and comes back as Hayami. Once LB leaves the scene, BC immediately collapses and transforms back (he was trying to be strong in front of LB).

Everybody gathers around a weak Chiba. Plagg used his and his owner's energy, and combined with LB's powers, they managed to save Chiba's life, but now Plagg and Chiba are both completely exhausted. Plagg trusts Hayami to take care of him and Chiba, and asks her to feed him cheese. Of course, it's because Plagg knows she's Ladybug, but it also makes sense to everybody else because she's Chiba's best friend.

So the class now knows Chiba is BC and he Risked It All For Them. Hayami doesn't know what to do because BC doesn't know LB knows, plus she would reveal herself if she tells him he knows. So Hayami keeps it all to herself.

This is the beginning of Hayami's trauma and long-lasting guilt complex in true MLB Chat Blanc fashion. After the fight, Hayami's in a daze. She sends Tikki to be with Chiba so she can help him regain energy faster with her healing powers. Karasuma immediately takes Korosensei (who's in his ultimate defence form) to try and kill him, so the only adult who knows what she's going through can't comfort her. Hayami is isolated and terrified from earlier events. To make things worse, during her Miraculous Ladybug earlier, Hayami focused so much on BC that she didn't heal herself, so Hayami now has a myriad of bruises and scratches on her body (that would usually be healed post-fight).

Everyone's exhausted, so they sleep. Hayami can't sleep. She goes to the hotel washroom and finds Irina there. We get an Irina-Hayami scene that is actually quite precious to my heart. Irina doesn't question Hayami's wounds (remember she was playing the piano downstairs during the whole fight) and takes care of them. Like Hayami, Irina can't sleep. Hayami can't fully tell Irina what happened but she does confide in her a bit. (I forgot whether I make Karasuma and Irina realize their identities, but I think I planned to make it ambiguous at this stage)

On a lighter note, people start debating whether to ship BC with LB or Hayami lmao, and Yada knows of Hayami's crush on BC aka. Chiba. Chiba accidentally overhears Yada saying to Hayami "I didn't know who would be better for you, him (BC) or Chiba.." and Chiba thinks his crush Hayami likes someone else lmao (very MLB bs of me, I know).

Later, LB starts going through a self sacrificing arc during akuma fights because of Island arc events and BC is having NONE of it. They address the self-sacrificing and work together instead of throwing themselves out to save the other.

Chiba also made a great risk because his entire class now knows his identity and his classmates can't risk getting akumatized. Except in my fic outline, a ton of them do get akumatized anyway and they never reveal BC is Chiba lol (there are a lot of plot holes)."

Things that also happen:

- On the way back, Hayami is exhausted because she didn't sleep much that night and falls asleep on Chiba's shoulder. Since he still has a crush on her, he gets flustered and thinks she's cute. He's the only one who knew she fell asleep on his shoulder.

- Hayami wakes up and has zero idea that she fell asleep on someone's shoulder. Chiba doesn't tell her out of nervousness.

- This part is a parallel to a scene from Ch 12 in which LB falls asleep while leaning away from BC. "There was an empty space between the young heroes as they slept. Perhaps, one day, the distance between them would diminish."

Okuda akuma and the Summer Festival

- Ladybug becomes increasingly protective of Black Cat after the Takaoka incident. Chiba's classmates also get nosy and watch the fights with even more interest.

- Okuda becomes akumatized and uses poison as a weapon. Ladybug takes some attacks for Black Cat. This is an example of "self-sacrificing Ladybug".

- The self-sacrificing (in typical canon MLB Chat Noir style) gets addressed and they work together instead of constantly sacrificing themselves for each other.

- Summer festival! On Day 1, Black Cat goes with Ladybug and the entire city is in uproar because everyone ships them. It ends awkwardly because there are so many people that the heroes can't enjoy themselves.

- On Day 2, Chiba and Hayami go out. Hayami tries asking Chiba about how he thinks about Ladybug. At this stage, Chiba still has a crush on Hayami only, but he's more comfortable around her because they're better friends and she knows his secret (along with the rest of 3-E lol).

Okajima akuma

- Summer holidays are over and they return to school. This part is meant to be an Okajima arc.

- Okajima is deeply in love with Ladybug and sleepily wrote a sappy love letter. He tried to hit "save" but ended up sending it to someone else who spread it to everyone in Kunugigaoka.

- Now everyone knows Okajima's deepest feelings. The main campus kids tease him because they think he's crap and doesn't deserve a chance with anyone, let alone Ladybug. (The 3-E kids are nicer to Okajima but Okajima still feels humiliated.)

- The actual love letter isn't pervy, but since Okajima's reputation precedes him, they think his lovesick ramblings are also creepy. People start saying Okajima is nothing but a pervert, which depresses Okajima.

- The bullying by the main campus kids go on for a few days before he finally gets akumatised (he did try to fight the akuma because he didn't want to cause trouble for Chiba and Ladybug)

- After the fight, Okajima gives up on Ladybug / gets over her. He's also done some self reflecting on his behaviour, so he apologises to 3-E for being a pervert and vows to change.

- Hayami later talks to Okajima in private because she feels he sincerely wants to change and she wants to encourage Okajima.

- Okajima feels very touched and he's grateful for her, especially since Hayami usually acts cold to him (and for good reason lol).

- It's only when she leaves that Okajima realises that falling in love is way too easy for him. He starts crushing on Hayami instead of Ladybug.

- Hence, Okajima immediately jumps to shipping Chiba x Ladybug instead of Chiba x Hayami.

Silencer akuma and Hazama akuma

- It's October now.

- NOTE: the Silencer akuma is NOT based on MLB's canon Silencer because I came up with that idea for a 2017 MLB roleplay. (Coincidentally, the identity of my Silencer is also a snake miraculous holder OC I made for the roleplay. This was before Luka.)

- Silencer has his own backstory, but for now, his purpose is to show that Black Cat and Ladybug can communicate effectively without talking because Silencer absorbs all noise. Silencer himself doesn't talk and he kidnaps his best friend to be his mouthpiece (lol).

- Hazama gets akumatised. She traps the people in a book world, and the book is a tragedy with the two main characters (lovers) dying at the end. When Black Cat and Ladybug arrive, they fit into the role of the two lovers and are doomed by the book world.

- Fortunately, Hayami has read the book, and fights the doomed narrative by doing things opposite of what the characters did. (This is a reference to canon Hayami being interested in books that Kanzaki has read but doesn't want to approach her because Okajima is sitting between them. I assume Kanzaki, Hazama, and Hayami would have similar tastes in literature.)

- Ladybug has to act dramatically and reverse important dialogue to save her and Black Cat. Since they're acting as lovers, it's a bit awkward, but ultimately they fit into the roles smoothly. Yeah, this is fanservice.

Irina arc and Kayano arc

- Honestly I had no idea what to do with Irina. The only line I had in my plans is "Irina arc! She gets the peacock miraculous somehow and is Paun". And then it ends. This was the extent of my plot haha. So we can probably skip over her.

- Kayano drops her reveal and asks Korosensei to meet her so she can kill him. After she walks away, she gets akumatised. However, Kayano has an unnaturally strong will and can resist Kochou to some extent. She says she'll get the miraculouses after she kills Korosensei, and Kochou agrees.

- Kayano actually doesn't want to hurt Chiba so she merely restrains him with her tentacles to prevent him from interfering. She starts fighting Korosensei. Since Kayano is stronger with her akuma boost, Korosensei can't afford the time to release Chiba.

- Ladybug arrives at the scene and uses her Lucky Charm. Her Lucky Charm ends up being a hint to Nagisa, and Ladybug needs Nagisa to calm Kayano's bloodlust. The kiss happens like in canon and Ladybug breaks the akumatised item.

- Korosensei explains his past, Kayano recovers.

* Winter break / Fear based akuma

- Understandably everyone is quite depressed during the winter break. Adding to the bleak atmosphere is an akuma that recreates one's fears. This takes place at a ski resort. The guests at the resort are evacuated as the heroes go there to fight the akuma.

- Ladybug's fear is being responsible for losing people she loves (PTSD from Chiba dying). Black Cat's fear is being feared and ignored (for his eyes), and being a disappointment in general. The heroes hold hands to help each other get through it.

- While Ladybug experiences her fears, her backstory is revealed. Hayami's dad was married to someone else and Hayami's mom was his affair partner. Hayami's dad moved out to live with Hayami and her mom until when she was three or four and the wife came knocking at their door. The dad left to be with his wife, effectively abandoning Hayami and her mom. Hayami thinks it's her fault that her mom is unhappy.

- The akumatised person turns out to be Hayami's half-sister, a child her dad had with his wife. The half-sister is around Hayami's age and has orangeish hair like her. The family of three was having a ski trip and Hayami loves skiing, so she feels replaced by her half-sister.

- To make matters worse, Hayami's dad thanks Ladybug for saving his "precious daughter", unaware Ladybug is also his daughter. Ladybug gives a forced smile.

- Ladybug and Black Cat are both emotionally drained after the akuma and they comfort each other. Ladybug talks about her backstory. She falls asleep on his shoulder, and Chiba is reminded of Hayami (because Hayami also fell asleep on his shoulder after the Island trip). Ladybug kisses his cheek at some point as thanks for saving her.

- Chiba starts to kind of like Ladybug.

* Gorizilla akuma

- They go back to school and the civil war happens like in canon.

- At school, some kids ask Hayami about her "partner". She thinks of Chiba immediately, but then also thinks of Black Cat (and they don't know she knows the two of them are the same) so she blurts out "which partner?". Of course they answer Chiba.

- The Gorizilla akuma is basically the one from MLB, and provides some Chiba x Ladybug scenes. Chiba is kidnapped as a hostage and is taken to the roof of the TV station. Ladybug goes up to save him (without Black Cat, obviously).

- Korosensei says he'll save Chiba if Ladybug can't do it.

- Like in Gorizilla, Chiba has to jump for some reason. He trusts Ladybug with his life and does so. Ladybug saves him. Chiba's eyes get exposed by the wind but Ladybug doesn't mind, so he's relieved. (Chiba's eyes are different in Black Cat form, and he assumes no one's gonna like him when they see his real eyes.)

* Copycat akuma

- A band is shooting a MV and they need actors for Ladybug and Black Cat. Ladybug is played by Hayami's half-sister, who's a huge fan of Ladybug and looks remarkably like her. Black Cat was originally played by someone but he had his role stolen by another boy who happens to be an arrogant jerk, so the original boy is mad and is akumatised into Copycat so he can be a perfect copy of Black Cat.

- (This akuma happens to be the younger brother of Silencer because I love including OCs, but his backstory isn't relevant here.)

- Copycat has brainwashing powers and brainwashes LB into believing he's the real BC. Ladybug uses her Lucky Charm and a pistol appears. Ladybug is instructed to shoot the real BC. Angst.

- LB has PTSD about Takaoka shooting BC which breaks her out of the brainwashing. They fight and defeat the akuma.

- Ladybug and Black Cat cameo in the MV, with BC playing the electric guitar and having a great time.

** Fangirl akuma, Ladybug confesses to Black Cat, identity reveal

- The day after Copycat, a diehard fangirl of BC is akumatised. She's very jealous of LB and wants BC to herself. She kisses BC which angers everyone.

- The akuma declares that she'll "control everyone who likes the boy with the mask". The other fangirls of BC become controlled by the akuma and act as her minions.

- The akuma wants to kill LB. LB's earrings are half-removed. BC is furious that the akuma is hurting LB, and his bloodlust skyrockets.

- LB, out of choices, detransforms as a distraction and runs away. Her identity is not revealed.

- A furious BC fights the akuma alone. He retrieves the earring and gives it to Korosensei, trusting he'll give it to a detransformed Ladybug. Together, they defeat the akuma.

- At night during patrol, BC laments about being kissed and how all his fangirls like him for shallow reasons (eg. his appearance).

- Ladybug chooses this moment to confess that she likes him.

- While BC does have a bit of a crush on LB, he is kinda indifferent to the fact that Ladybug likes him. He says she will never know the real him under the mask.

- But Ladybug starts getting emotional because she does know him under the mask but can't tell him, not to mention she managed to tell the fake BC from the real BC the day before, and they both end up very distressed.

- Black Cat confesses that he likes Ladybug too but "their relationship will never work out" and they will "never really know each other without an identity reveal" and he says so in a cold way. He also says he's liked a girl (Hayami) longer than he's liked Ladybug, so he's confused about his feelings for both girls.

- Ladybug doesn't know the other girl is her and thinks Chiba's liked a mystery person for a long time, so she's CRUSHED.

- Both parties are heartbroken. Ladybug tells Black Cat to make up his mind on whether he likes Ladybug or the "other girl" so she can at least have a proper rejection and won't have any hope left.

- They return home. Then Chiba remembers that the akuma said she can "control everyone who likes the boy with the mask". Ladybug wasn't under the akuma's control, so that means she likes the boy under the mask. Chiba is even more conflicted, because how does Ladybug know him under the mask? From their few interactions when she saved him?

- Chiba makes himself choose and compares Ladybug and Hayami (because he likes both of them) and finds they have less and less differences. He thinks more about it, and the realisation dawns on him: his two partners are one and the same! (This chapter will be named Which Partner?)

- Next day at school, Hayami continues to be miserable and avoids Chiba. She's confused and exhausted, so she buries herself with work.

- She does something cool with Chiba as a sniping unit, and because she's so tired, she slips up and stretches out her hand for a fistbump (which is LB and BC's thing. Hayami's starting to not tell the difference between BC and Chiba). Chiba voices his suspicions of Hayami being LB, and at first she denies it, but eventually gives in.

- They have a long talk about their feelings because it turns out they like each other the whole time, with or without the mask. They don't date because they don't want to risk their friendship (and their professional relationship as heroes / assassins), but they're aware they like each other.

Valentine's Day, Okano akuma, Korosensei dies, Nagisa akuma

- Okano is akumatised after the Valentine incident. She could be like Dark Cupid, but I'm not sure. (LB BC kiss scene maybe lol.) Afterwards, LB criticises Maehara for causing a lot of akumas by breaking hearts.

- Korosensei dies like in canon. After graduation, Nagisa in particular is affected and becomes akumatised. Nagisa wants to bring Korosensei back so he "harvests" energy from living people (like an assassin). The more important a person, the more energy Nagisa receives. This causes a worldwide crisis because leaders and presidents start falling unconscious. Nagisa attempts to reconstruct Korosensei, but it's just a shallow imitation.

- Korosensei is "brought back" via akumatized Nagisa. Ladybug and Black Cat don't want to fight him because they miss Korosensei too, but they must choose between work and feelings. This causes a dilemma because the rest of the old 3-E are crying their eyes out.

- "Korosensei" comforts them and there's a whole emotional monologue about how he wanted to be killed by the class and how he always lives on in their hearts. The kids learn they have to move on from the past. The heroes manage to purify the akuma. Everyone's sobbing.

- At this point, even though LB is not known to be a member of 3-E, she's considered an honorary member due to her connection with Chiba and because she knows about Korosensei too.

** Final Kochou arc, Hayami akuma

- Hayami's step-sister has recently been in Kunugigaoka, and so her mother ends up meeting Hayami's mother.

- Hayami's mother is agitated and about to be akumatised, but Hayami saves her by intercepting the akuma. In my story, current miraculous holders cannot get akumatised, so Kochou now knows Hayami is a miraculous holder. Whoops.

- Hayami is kidnapped and her earrings are taken away. Kochou doesn't know who Black Cat is, but plans to use Hayami as a hostage.

- Hayami wakes up in Kochou's lair, and Kochou starts villain monologuing about how he lost his Black Cat too, and is planning to use the two miraculouses to revive his partner. (I haven't fleshed out Kochou's partner, so they will have they/them pronouns.) Hayami realises that Kochou was an ex-ladybug miraculous user.

- Kochou compares losing his BC to Hayami losing her BC, and asks her won't she do anything to bring him back. Hayami retorts by saying she won't sacrifice world peace to bring back someone (flashbacks to Nagisa's akuma attempting to bring back Korosensei).

- Hayami also attacks Kochou because he directly caused BC's death by akumatising Takaoka, and Kochou is regretful over that particular incident because he was exhausted trying to fly an akuma to the island (tracking Takaoka's rage) and ended up losing control. Kochou genuinely didn't mean to kill BC, but Hayami's already lost complete trust in Kochou.

- Hayami declares that as miraculous holders, duty should always come first, and their personal feelings second. She thinks it's very irresponsible to cause chaos and terrorise civilians just to bring back one's true love.

- Chiba discovers something is wrong when Ladybug/ Hayami doesn't show up for two days.

- He asks on the 3-E group chat whether anyone saw her. Now 3-E knows about Hayami's disappearance and offers to help him.

- Kochou sends out a bunch of butterflies to make a hologram of his face, and tells Black Cat to come alone to a place to save the captured Ladybug.

- The class thinks Chiba will be torn between finding Hayami and saving Ladybug, and that's when Chiba decides to reveal Hayami's identity.

- Class freaks out but decides to focus on the real problem. They gear up and decide to fight Kochou together. Karasuma and Irina join them.

- Hayami, without her miraculous, is akumatized. BC has to fight her, which results in a lot of angst.

- Since the akuma can't be cleansed, Black Cat uses Cataclysm to destroy the akuma and he gets damaged. He suffers.

- They eventually reach Kochou. BC, 3-E, and the teachers fight him. They take the butterfly miraculous and Kochou detransforms. To everyone's surprise, he's a frail old man.

- Kochou is an OC! He's actually the old man that Miki and co visited in Ch 16. In his youth, he was the ladybug miraculous holder. He lost the cat miraculous after his partner died. Kochou became obsessed with reviving his dead partner, and somewhere along the way, Tikki was stolen / he lost her / or something. Kochou eventually finds the butterfly miraculous and decides to use it as bait.

- I have no idea how the ultimate wish works (I still don't because I don't follow MLB anymore), but in this story, even if LB and BC go soft and let Kochou use the wish, Kochou's BC doesn't come back the "right" way. It's like how Korosensei can't come back no matter what; the dead remain dead, but their memory lives on, and we eventually have to move on from the grief of losing a loved one.

- The plot ends here.

Well, that's the main outline! There's some side storylines that aren't really relevant (you can skip them) but I planned to include them:

The Guardian

- The Guardian was the person who gave Hayami and Chiba their miraculouses. She's a uni student / fresh graduate so she's not really sure what she's doing. (This is to make the Guardian less powerful in this story because I don't really know what to do with the Kochou plot lol.)

- Her grandma used to be the old guardian but she passed away. The Guardian lives in her grandma's old apartment, which is coincidentally the same apartment complex that Kochou lives in.

- Her grandma had the snake miraculous which gave her the power to see bits of the future (different from canon MLB). The grandma foresaw that Hayami and Chiba would have a powerful ally (Korosensei) and instructed her grandchild to give them the miraculouses despite them being children.

Silencer and Copycat

- As I mentioned above, Silencer and Copycat's civilian identities are brothers (they're my OCs). Silencer is a student studying in the same high school as Chiba's eldest sister Shiho, so he's two years older than the gang.

- Silencer used to be a star student in Kunugigaoka Middle School. But right before his exams began, his younger brother (Copycat) got into a car crash in front of him. Silencer was devastated and distracted, and naturally his grades dropped. Gakuho hence sent Silencer to 3-E. Silencer thought that was very unfair given his unexpected circumstances, which is why he has a seething hatred for Kunugigaoka and Gakuho.

- In 3-E, Silencer meets his best friend / love interest, a sweet and cheerful girl who supports him. Her grades were simply not standard, so she was dropped to 3-E. Silencer and his best friend work hard and eventually get into a good high school (Shiho's school.)

- Silencer doesn't like talking, and he was annoyed when Shiho (class representative) forced him to work with a noisy bunch, so he ended up akumatised. He was so introverted that he kidnapped his best friend to speak for him. (The heroes saw her as Silencer's hostage, but he didn't hurt her.)

- The younger brother, Copycat, is a year younger than the gang. He survives the crash and emerges with some physical defects (some scars maybe?), which made some people think he's not the best choice to play BC in the MV even though Copycat has excellent dancing / singing / acting skills. Which is why Copycat wanted to become a "perfect" Black Cat when he was akumatised.

A time travel / fankids side plot?

- Okay, I was wilding back then. But it was fun!

- 25 years in the future, Chiba and Hayami are married and have kids. Karma and Okuda are married and have kids. Nagisa teaches the kids.

- ChibaHaya fankid is Kuro Neko (they/them). Karma and Okuda's fankid is LB (he/him). They're the same age and they act as the new bug-cat duo. Since they don't have a Kochou anymore, they fight normal crime with their advanced weapons. KN and LB know each other's identities and are childhood friends.

- An akuma in the present comes up with the clever idea of holding current Ladybug and BC's most prized possessions hostage. Unfortunately, this comes in the form of their future children.

- Kuro Neko has a younger sibling (another ChibaHaya fankid) that they lost and desperately have to find.

- There's a romance subplot between KN and LB. LB looooves teasing KN and calls them "Neko-sama" to their great annoyance. KN secretly (or not secretly lmao) likes LB, but LB is popular at school and doesn't seem to like them back.

- KN is awkward but responsible and cool, while LB is a charismatic smooth talker who deceives people with his cute baby face.

- LB, in his civilian form, looks EXACTLY like 15yo Karma but more innocent. When he crash lands in the 3-E campus, people mistake him for Karma until the real Karma appears.

- KN and LB try to hide their parents' identities / the fact that their parents got together in fear of a time paradox. But LB's appearance makes it obvious that he's related to Karma. KN is a legendary sniper like their parents, which also makes their identity rather obvious (especially with KN getting the cat miraculous when everyone knows Chiba is BC).

- The identities all get revealed anyway, but the present Ladybug fixes everything (magic!) and the status quo continues. (In a very typical MLB fashion)

Okay, I think that's everything. Or at least, most of it. I hoped it was at least somewhat comprehensible. There's probably some stuff that I planned but never wrote down, and hence forgot.

The Kochou plot is totally wacky and doesn't make a lot of sense. My main focus was the love square anyway. I wanted Chiba and Hayami to fall for each other both with and without the mask. I wanted to show they're effective partners no matter the combination.

I tried adding a bit of everything, and I especially wanted to give more screen time to side characters (Kimura, Okajima, etc). I bit off more than I could chew, since you can see some characters / akumas aren't really fleshed out even in the outline.

Final AN!

Where do I even begin? This outline is already way longer than I envisioned. I wanted to put everything, and I mean everything here to give it closure, so I suppose I'm remaining true to the artistic integrity of a teen girl who didn't know how to plot.

Despite everything, I think WP has its charm, because I was exactly as old as the characters when I was writing it. It was very much "a middle school kid writes about middle school kids". I was also VERY into both MLB and AC, did some criticising of both, and WP kinda turned into a "rewrite" of both canons. It was self indulgent. It was also fun, even if it was nonsensical at times.

MLB's Ladybug and Chat Noir were described as equals (not going into the argument about whether they're truly equals), and so is Chiba and Hayami, and that was exactly what I wanted to convey. Best friends. Partners. Battle couples. Two people with complementary skills, two people who work smoothly, two people who know each other the best. The idea of the two of them being "equal" was important to me, which was why I wanted to stop the self-sacrificing that emerges after the Island arc.

Not gonna lie, it was exhausting looking back at the outline that I haven't touched since 2019. It was one of the most intensive things I've done fandom-wise. It's mainly because I forgot how crazy the plot actually was and realised how much I simply didn't know back then.

But as critical as I am now, it's born out of love. WP remains important to me, because it was important to a past version of me. I remember writing most of the chapters on my phone, sneakily writing on the shared family computer, reading character wiki pages over and over again, trying to plot in my notebook during classes, alternating between writing this and another teenage romcom, the silly FFN Docs Manager system, painstakingly correcting every instance of italics when I used my phone to update, refreshing the page to see the hits/views go up, my heart jumping in excitement every time I got a review— it's all the little moments.

I probably talked about this before, but I published the first chapter of WP while on holiday in Japan. I desperately held on to free WiFi from a store since I didn't have a SIM card. I also received my first WP fanart from the lovely Fumiko when I was once again vacationing in Japan. It's like, one of the things I remember the best from those two trips.

Looking back at it, I honestly did try with this fic. I tried so hard in a clumsy way, with the kind of hubris only a young teen can have. And that's good! Writing is supposed to be fun! The "cringe" is a necessary part of growing up. To quote Lorrie Moore's How to Become a Writer, "This is the required pain and suffering." I know some people tend to bury their younger years due to embarrassment, but I try to look back at it fondly and see what's happened since then. I've written better fics since then, gotten better at plotting and pacing, but nothing's gonna change that I wrote 100k of WP. I may be cringe, but I'm free :D

And to be honest, even though I've grown out of this fic, I'm still attached to the tropes and the core themes. I still have a weak spot for red/green ships. I love ensemble casts of underdogs. I still have collections of my ships standing side by side because they're always standing next to each other for some reason (do not separate!). I still love the concept of partners and equals. I'm still writing about superheroes at school and their coming-of-age. I can move on, but I can't bury WP and its impact on me, because in the end, it's all still a part of me.

Writing WP led me to meeting others in the AssClass community and I met a lot of friends :D :D I loved reading what everyone thought about this fic and loved responding to everyone. I'm honestly so grateful to everyone who read this fic and left comments. Your support was invaluable. I had so much fun with you all.

If you've reached this point, even if you skipped through some bits (completely understandable), a huge thank you from the bottom of my heart! I'm still reachable on tumblr under clownao if you have questions or if you want to know more. If you're interested in my work, I'm on Ao3 under bluenao.

For probably the last time, thank you so so much for reading and following along. Love you guys so much :D

Nao

Which Partner 25/7/2017 - 31/8/2019