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Adrien Salt Prompt: A Little Subtlety Goes A Long Way

Lila was caught between spitting in rage and applauding the audacity.

Christelle had only been in the classroom for five minutes and she had already entranced everyone with her charm. Including Marinette! Who was always nitpicking Lila’s stories like she had nothing better to do!

Okay, granted, Christelle had started off innocently enough--she was just friendly and cheerful, not trying too hard or anything. She introduced herself when Ms. Bustier called her name, standing up at her seat (she sat in the front, next to Sabrina, on the far side of the table from Chloe) and smiling at everyone as she told them her name and an interesting fact about herself.

That interesting fact? That she liked to garden.

Also known as, not interesting at all. Also known as, incurably boring.

Just the right kind of ‘interesting’ fact that had this class falling over themselves to exclaim, “Wow! That’s so cool!” “Gosh, that sounds fun!” and other such over the top praise.

You know, Lila was starting to wonder why she even tried so hard in the first place.

Anyways!

Christelle started out boringly enough. Friendly and boring, nothing in her life of adventure whatsoever.

And then people started introducing themselves and asking questions like, “What kind of plants did she grow?” and “What was her favorite flower?”

Which prompted some conversation that was too boring for Lila to pay attention to, until a keyword drew her attention back.

That keyword?

Ladybug.

Or, rather, ladybugs.

“Yeah, the ladybugs love it! My yard is constantly covered in them, and it’s always so fun, because they c--uh, I mean, they’re really fun to watch!”

And then the conversation kept going on, and everyone was focused on the Ladybugs and Christelle...

Ever so subtly, every so slowly, ever so gently, started to paint a picture.

A picture that spelled out one single thing.

That she was Ladybug, trying and only subtly failing to keep her secret identity a secret. Her yard was covered in ladybugs. She couldn’t tell them much about her family, because they were very private people who didn’t like rumors and gossip. She had a medical condition--she wouldn’t tell them what kind--that would mean that sometimes she would be late for class, would leave early, would have to leave suddenly and without warning, and she might not be able to come back in for the rest of the day.

She never stated it outright.

Everything she said and did appeared to try to lead everyone away from that conclusion.

But oh so carefully, she was painting a picture. Through half cut off words, nervous laughter, deflections and changing the subject, she was painting a picture.

Of Ladybug.

Of her. Being Ladybug.

Christelle. Being Ladybug.

And you could could see the gears turning in her classmate’s heads. They might be stupid, but they weren’t dumb. They were catching the hints Christelle was dropping. She was--pretending to be subtle. She was pretending to just barely catch herself.

It was a performance within a performance.

And it was beautiful.

And it was infuriating.

And it was working.

EVEN ON MARINETTE!

Although...

Lila glanced over at....nemesis was too strong a word..

Lila glanced over at Marinette and saw that she was, as usual, half asleep. Lila was pretty sure she was only hearing every other word of Christelle’s masterfully spun story, so that probably explained why she wasn’t picking up on what was really going on.

As Lila watched, Marinette literally fell asleep sitting up. She’d been nodding off for the last ten minutes straight, jolting visibly awake, blinking, and then nodding off again. Only this time she didn’t jolt awake. Just stayed posed, chin on her chest, asleep.

Lucky for Lila, unlucky for Marientte, Alya was out sick for the day. And Nino and Adrien were just enthralled by Christelle’s charade as the rest of the class.

Currently, she was going on about something or other that seemed unrelated to her subtle web of lies, probably to make the lies seem more innocent, so Lila didn’t really care about that.

What she cared about was that Adrien was falling for it.

And he wasn’t half asleep.

He was wide awake, and leaning out of his chair so he could lean closer and listen to every word that left Christelle’s mouth like she had the voice of an angel, like every syllable was a drop of magic, enchanting him, entangling him, drawing him in in a way none of Lila’s lies had ever managed.

Which was stupid of her.

Well no, it wasn’t. Because lying that you were Ladybug was stupid. There were literally so many ways to check that. All someone had to do was see you literally anywhere at the same time Ladybug was anywhere. That was a ridiculously risky lie to place your bets on, which was why Lila’s respect for Christelle was so high even if she was annoyed.

Christelle wasn’t....lying, outright. She wasn’t even implying. She was just...stating things. That everyone around her was interpreting to mean something that they didn’t actually mean. Which was her intention. But it wasn’t the same thing as lying. If anyone caught onto the fact that she wasn’t Ladybug and confronted her, she would be allowed to act shocked and surprised--where on Earth did you get that idea?

It was still risky. At least when Lila said she was Ladybug’s best friend, literally the only person capable of disproving that was Ladybug herself. And even if she denied it, it didn’t mean it wasn’t true. Of course a superhero would deny any connection to their best friend! That was what secret identities were for! They weren’t worth salt if you go around telling everyone who your friends were! Even if Ladybug did ever come straight out and declare for everyone to hear that she’d never met Lila in her life--which, for some reason, she’d yet to do--there would still be the possibility that she was just saying that to protect Lila.

There was no way to disprove it for sure.

There was every way to disprove that Christelle wasn’t Ladybug.

And whatever Lila was going to do, she had to do it fast if she wanted to turn this in her favor.

She still wasn’t sure if she wanted to kill Christelle or kiss her.

But she had to do something--Mrs. Bustier was releasing them for the day, everyone was rushing out of the classroom, except for Adrien, who had already grabbed his bag and practically leapt across the classroom to offer the white-haired girl a personal greeting, waving a hand for Nino to go ahead without him.

And you know what, even that was part of the act.

Christelle’s hair being white, not that Adrien wanted to say hi to her.

Everyone agreed--well, mostly everyone, there were still a few random stragglers who insisted her hair was blue--that Ladybug had black hair.

It was hard to get a good grasp of her features, like as soon as you looked away, you forgot. And pictures and videos didn’t help either, her face and figure was always--out of focus. The only thing you could see clearly was the red and black. It was why so many Akuma--and so many cosplayers--got mistaken for her. No one really knew what Ladybug looked like for sure. She could stand right in front of you and you wouldn’t be able to describe her.

But the one thing everyone agreed on, the one thing that everyone could just barely make out--was that Ladybug had black hair.

And Christelle had white hair.

And of course, that should have ruled her out as Ladybug.

Which was exactly why it worked so well with her implications that she was Ladybug.

Because Ladybug had black hair. And Christelle had white hair.

So of course she couldn’t be Ladybug.

WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT LADYBUG WOULD DO IF SHE WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT NO ONE WOULD EVER CONSIDER HER AS LADYBUG!

AND ANYONE WITH A BRAIN COULD FIGURE THAT OUT!

Especially when Christelle was helping them along with all her implications!!!!!!

Lila had no idea how she managed to keep her expression calm and normal and in control as she watched Adrien FREAKING Agreste take Christelle by the hand, and swoop down for a kiss like she was a princess and he was a knight in shining armour.

And when Christelle’s response was to frown, and then pull her hand away and make a tiny little expression of surprise and upset that lasted just long enough for everyone else that was still in the room to see and take note of--

Oh. Lila was going to kiss her. And then she was gong to kill her.

That was just not fair.

That was.

She dropped her head into her hands and ignored the looks she could feel Nathaniel giving her.

That was just freaking brilliant.

Everyone knew. EVERYONE KNEW. That Ladybug. Did not. Welcome. Romantic advances.

Everyone knew that. Everyone. Literally everyone. She was strictly professional. And she made that clear every change she got. She was a superhero first. Her first priority was the safety of the people of Paris. She did not want people to ask her out while she was on duty. She did not want people to try and send her gifts. She didn’t transform so she could be showered by attention from fans. Her priority was defeating Hawkmoth. She didn’t accept romantic advances--

Not even from Chat Noir.

And that wasn’t a secret either. He made sure it wasn’t a secret. Chat Noir was madly in love with Ladybug, and if you believed him, she was just as madly in love with him.

If you believed him.

No one believed him. Not for long, at least. Not if they had any sense at all.

Because every time Chat Noir declared his love for her, or tried to make a romantic gesture--asking her out, calling them a couple, calling her ‘Buggaboo’, trying to kiss her, trying to hold her hand--she rejected him. Outright. Made her feelings very clear.

For every time Chat Noir declared them to be a couple, Ladybug reaffirmed that they were not. There were countless videos of the arguments they got into, or rather, the arguments he got them into. He was always the one that started them, always the one that instigated them. She always made her feelings on the matter clear. She set very clear boundaries.

And he always--purposefully, laughing--crossed those boundaries. He didn’t even care that people were watching. He didn’t even care that there were witnesses. She told him, “stop calling us a couple,” and he replied, “We’re meant to be together, m’lady, you’re the only one who doesn’t see it.”

And after it kept happening, Ladybug publicly came out, on live television, as an ‘aromantic asexual’, or ‘aroace’ for short. She told everyone, in no uncertain terms, that she was not looking for a romantic partner, and that was something that wasn’t going to change, ever.

She came straight out on live teleivsion and said she wanted Chat Noir to stop.

But even after that. Even after his approval rating took a massive hit that never recovered, Chat Noir never stopped.

And there was nothing anyone could do to stop him. Nothing they could do to help.

And Ladybug...

It wasn’t a secret.

Everyone knew that Ladybug these days shied away touches, even innocent seeming ones. No one except tourists who didn’t know better ever tried to get in her personal space without her initiating it. Even the kids she rescued knew to be respectful and get permission, knew to ask if they could have a hug or a high-five.

A six year old showed Ladybug more respect than Chat Noir.

And everyone knew the impact it was having on their favorite hero.

Lila didn’t know why Adrien decided that the best way to approach what he supposedly thought was Ladybug was to do something he knew would upset her if she was the real Ladybug WHICH SHE WASN’T.

Maybe he could see right through her? Maybe he was trying to trip her up? Get her to have the wrong reaction?

Well, whatever his plan was, it didn’t work.

Everyone saw the tightening of her expression, the way she tensed when she pulled her hand away, the way she took a step backwards and turned and oh so subtly pulled her hands behind her back so he couldn’t grab them to kiss them again which he’d done to Ladybug so many times it WASN’T EVEN FUNNY--

Yeah.

Lila was going to kiss that girl.

Her classmates were stupid, but they weren’t dumb. They saw her reaction. They knew who had that kind of reaction to that kind of thing.

They fell for her act hook, line, and sinker.

Alix was even climbing over top of the bench so she could try and fail to shove her way in between Adrien and Christelle, because Adrien hadn’t just backed off when Christelle pulled away. No. He’d gotten closer. Leaning into her space like he owned it.

Lila had never seen him act this way. What was he doing? Still trying to call Christelle’s bluff? But he’d failed that already, she’d reacted just like she would if she were the real Ladybug, so what--

He whispered--

Something.

Something too low for Lila, at this distance, to catch, and from the way Alix frowned, Lila guessed that she couldn’t hear it either.

But Christelle? Her eyes widened, and her face went pale. A quiet gasp left her horrified mouth.

“Hey! Back off, Adrien!” Alix snapped, still trying to get between them and failing, because Adrien refused to move, and Christelle seemed frozen in place.

And then Adrien stepped backwards, and smiled.

A disarming, perfectly normal smile for Adrien Agreste to smile.

A goofy smile. An innocent smile that screamed I’m a pure cinnamon roll! I’ve never done anything wrong, ever, in my life!

A smile that Lila had never once been given any reason to doubt, until now. A facade that had suddenly--not cracked but--been taken off.

It--

All she could do was stare. Stare at Adrien Agreste, the pretty boy she thought she’d had figured out, the boy who had just taken off a mask so finely wrought she could never in a million years have guessed that anything but truth lay beneath.

And then he put that mask back on, like it was easy as breathing, like it meant nothing, even more seamlessly than the best acting Lila had ever managed.

He was an even better liar than Lila. He was a better liar than Christelle, who looked like she was starting to regret everything. She was just standing there, right where he’d left her, staring after him with wide, brown eyes as he walked out the door with a skip in his step that seemed innocent but was anything but.

Only Alix, Lila, and Christelle herself had witnessed the entire event. Everyone else had already gone, they were so eager to go gossip and whisper probably, but apparently they had at least enough respect for who they thought was their hero that they weren’t going to follow her around like lost puppies.

Lila was going to have to figure out how she wanted to react. How she wanted to spin this situation to her advantage. Her attraction to Adrien was fading fast. A pretty face wasn’t worth that. Not in a million lifetimes. She would probably have Alix and Chistelle on her side, but Adrien was the classroom’s darling. They were always swooning over him when he wasn’t in earshot, talking about how ‘adorable’ and ‘innocent’ he was.

It wasn’t going to be easy to convince them of the truth, if Lila even wanted to convince them of the truth, which she hadn’t decided on yet. It would depend on how Christelle and Alix were going to react. She didn’t know either of them well, so they were going to be wild cards. She would have to tread carefully until she could figure out how to predict their moves.

And meanwhile, still at her table and now leaning forward with her head pillowed on her arms, Marinette was fast asleep. Blissfully unaware of everything that had just happened.

Everything that had just changed.

Over in the corner with Alix, Christelle began to cry.

Lila started down the stairs towards them, determined that she was going to do something, even if she didn’t know what that something was yet.

All she knew was that she hated Ladybug, but she didn’t hate Christelle.

____

Rules for the blog - send a short prompt - send a long prompt

(for the record, for this AU, magic prevents people from learning their secret identities unless they specifically tell someone, so even if Adrien walked up to the actual Ladybug and started acting like Chat Noir towards her in front of a live camera, no one would be able to make the connection between Adrien and Chat Noir, not even Marientte. He has to specifically tell you, with the un-influenced and purposeful intent of you knowing his identity. It’s not something you can overhear or discover by accident.)

Everyone: “Happy Birthday, Avian Rusameiya!!”

Rusame: “Wha-?”

Kingstate: “WH-?! You, too? Are all of you just growing long hair?”

Rusame: “With how much I am working, I don’t really have much of a choice. Anyways, what is all of this?”

Amandara: “Well, we’re celebrating your b-day, bro! Aw, look at your kids! Lookin’ good, there, Sissy Christi!”

Cankraine: “Anyways, we have decided to put on this birthday party for you on Nyoom Conference! How does that sound?”

Rusame: “Really? Well, I suppose I don’t mind.”

Pruscan: “THAT’S THE CUE EVERYONE. TAKE YOUR PLACES!!”

And so, Rusame watched with wide eyes and gaping mouth as everyone either slipped on some kind of choir cloak and/or pulled out an instrument and started an orchestra long version of the happy birthday song that eerily sounded like the USSR anthem.

Rusame: “That...sounded faintly of communism.”

The Entire Russian Fleet: “OUR BIRTHDAY, YOUR HIGHNESS.”

Rusame: “Haha, everyone that was beautiful!”

He took the joke fairly well.