Lila smiled as she walked with the girls on their way to the movies. Time after time, she heard the girls make plans with Marinette only for them to choose her over the goody-goody. They would promise to hang out with her later but that wasn't going to happen on her watch. It made her so happy that Marinette was being left out. She was probably left sobbing, realizing no one cared. She never expected that they would run into her.
"Uh, M-Mari we-we were gonna tell you." Rose tried to stammer out.
"Tell me what?" Mari questioned.
"Uh, we have to reschedule." Mylene announced, embarrassed.
"You see, Lila-" Juleka began.
"I'm sorry!" Lila cried out, "It's just I had tickets and I wanted to invite my friends. If you were nicer, we could be friends."
"Were you waiting long, Angel?" A man came over and asked.
"Nope." Marinette smiled, "You're right on time, Damian." kissing him.
"Who is this?" Alya questioned.
"My boyfriend." Marinette smiled.
"What?" They all questioned.
'Boyfriend?'
'When did she move on from Adrien?'
'How long have they been dating?'
"But....weren't you gonna get ice cream with us, later?" Asked Alya.
"No. You assumed I was going. You threw out another random promise to "make it up to me", like all the other broken promises." Marinette replied, rolling her eyes, "Did you really think I was always waiting for you guys? That I was just gonna wait around like some sort of loyal pet 'til you decided to hang out with me? Every 'promise' you only made to yourselves and I guess you broke a lot of them."
Damian took a step towards them.
"Don't bother with them." Mari declared, "They're not my friends. They haven't been for a long time. Looks like we're finally on the same page." shocking them all.
"Ready to go?" Her boyfriend asked.
"I thought we were gonna watch the movie around here." Mari spoke confused.
"No." Damian announced, "It's somewhere better." leading her away.
"So, all those times we told Mari we'd meet up," spoke Mylene, "She never went?"
"I wonder how many times she did, but we never showed." Mumbled Alix
"I feel bad." Stated Rose.
Juleka shifted, uncomfortably, "Did we really promise that many times?"
"I guess we haven't been going for a long time." Alya mumbled, sadly, "How did we not know she got a boyfriend?"
"What about Adrien?" Asked Alix, "Wasn't she jealous of Lila?"
"Maybe you can be friends now!" Exclaimed Rose, getting the other girls excited.
"But now she's not friends with us." Claimed Mylene.
"Oh yeah." Whispered Juleka.
"Maybe we made it so they would never be friends." Mylene continued, sadly.
"We're sorry, Lila." Alya spoke up, "i guess we should have said 'No' when we already had plans."
"Should we follow her?" Rose asked.
"No." Declared Alix, "It seemed like they were on a date."
"Let's get everyone together and we can figure out how to apologize tomorrow!" Alya announced.
"Maybe we can earn her friendship back!" Shouted Rose, happily.
As they began to walk away, Lila shouted out, " But you guys!"
"Sorry, Lila, but we need to break our promise to you this time." Stated Alya, "We have to try and save this friendship!"
"Maybe another time." Suggested Mylene, "We'll pitch in."
"But-" Lila tried to argue.
"Nino says he's calling Adrien." Alya declared.
"We can meet on the Liberty." Juleka spoke out.
"I got Nathaniel!" Alix shouted, as they continued to walk away.
Lila stood there in shock before stomping her foot and screaming. She thought she had succeeded in stealing them away. She assumed when they cancelled their plans with her, they were siding with her. Lila turned and stormed off towards her place. There was no way she was going to school for the next few months. Everything was going to be about Marinette and how to be her friend. She couldn't even use the same excuses. Lila needed a new battle plan!
[ Lila is finally starting to learn what its really like to be Adrien Agreste's girlfriend and finding out its not everything she hoped it would be. But while the liar struggles Marinette works toward her goals and meets someone new. ]
[ Prefer AO3? Link HERE! | Part 1 HERE! | Part 3 Coming Soon | Masterlist Link HERE! ]
Chloe made her grand return 3 weeks after Lila and Adrien’s big dating announcement. The bossy blonde had been away in New York with her mother and it was only in retrospect that Marinette briefly wondered if the entire timing of her and Adriens break up and Lila and Adriens announcement had been planned. After all Chloe had not taken well to Marinette dating Adrien and the class president was positive she would not take the news that Lila had swooped in right after their big breakup any better.
As it turns out Marinette had been right at least about Chloe not taking the news well. She’d walked into class early (for her) only to be met with chaos as Chloe and Lila stood opposed and yelling filled the classroom. Despite the fact that Marinette KNEW Chloe would hate whoever dated Adrien the sight was still enough to leave her mildly stunned after all Lila and Chloe had been tag team harassing Marinette since the second she and Adrien had started dating so to see the once allies now locked in a vicious match each using their unique brand of awful against each other… Well it was something.
Luckily Marinette knew she would not have to lift a finger to fix things. Because this? This was Adrien’s problem. And Marinette had no intention of helping or playing mediator. After all Adrien had let Lila and Chloe stomp all over their relationship when they’d still been dating, heck he’d even asked Marinette to simply deal with it so now he could deal with it and Marinette severely doubted that Lila would be even half as accepting or accommodating as she had been.
So while the two wannabe queens duked it out Lila with fake tears and Chloe with vicious mockery Marinette simply glided past the drama and up to her seat where she pulled out her sketchbook and started adding the finishing touches to a sketch of a brand new rock and roll suit for Uncle Jagged. Now that she wasn’t chasing after Adrien 24/7 and making him gifts and worrying about him or Lila or Chloe not to mention trying to keep up with her school work and grades all while also being Ladybug well Marinette had time on her hands and she’d been using it to study, track down Hawkmoth with Alya’s help, spend time with friends but most of all she’d been using that time on her career.
As she wrote in what materials she would need to get a certain sheen effect on the outfit, Marinette noticed the green eyes looking up at her desperately from the front of the class. Marinette glanced up noting how Adrien seemed to be trying to plead with her to help as he tried to reign in his dramatic new girlfriend and attack dog childhood friend; she only cocked her head to the side, smiled and offered him a little wave before continuing with her work. Yeah no way was she willingly throwing herself into THAT.
Sure enough before class could start Adrien managed to drag Lila out of the room and into the hallway no doubt to give her the same speech he had given Marinette when THEY were dating Lila bursting back into the classroom a few minutes later looking like she’d just swallowed a whole lemon only confirmed Marinette’s suspicions.
What Marinette had not expected was Lila openly complaining about ADRIEN at lunch, hours after the incidents of that morning. Marinette ate her steamed bun as she watched with mild surprise as the Italian wailed and threw a veritable tantrum as she told the girls all about how Adrien had put Chloe first and had asked Lila to simply deal with it. It was so painfully ironic that Marinette struggled not to roll her eyes. Honestly after the breakup Marinette had for a brief time contemplated revenge because truthfully. She was hurt and mad but Tikki had talked her out of it claiming that karma would have its way Marinette hadn’t believed the little god at the time too lost in her grief and her ice cream but now? Well now Marinette was starting to understand what Tikki meant. Because Lila wanted to be Adrien Agreste’s girlfriend no matter what it took, and she was only now starting to see what that really meant.
Sure enough in the weeks that followed Lila and Chloe kept each other busy allowing Marinette to for the first time in years relax at school. Of course Lila tried to redirect Chloe’s hatred back at Marinette by telling the blonde about how it had been Marinette who initiated the break up. But Marinette had easily overcome Chloe’s rage with honesty after all she had only broken up with Adrien because she knew they were incompatible and that Adrien would be happier with someone else, something Chloe agreed with though the way in which the blonde agreed made Marinette’s eye twitch just a little.
And then of course there was Adrien who was still trying to get Marinette to step in and help him handle his childhood friend and girlfriend but Marinette had been able to dodge him for weeks until they were having a class meetup at the park. Chloe was not attending due to wanting to avoid the ‘peasants’ as she so called them and Lila claimed she would be late due to an important meeting with some famous person. Honestly Marinette had not even bothered to pay attention. Adrien had noted the lack of ‘problem people’ and had decided to make a bold move calling Marinette out as they all hung out together to ‘talk to her in private’ yeah like THAT was going to happen.
Marinette knew Adrien’s modus operandi very well. He’d call you out, ask to talk to you privately and then lay on the guilt trip. No way was she doing that anymore she’d endured enough of them while they were dating to last a lifetime.
“Actually I would prefer not to talk to you alone, Adrien. You're publicly dating someone and we never know when your fans or the paparazzi might be around. Besides anything you can say to me in private you can say in front of OUR friends.”
Adrien looked like a kicked puppy at her words. But as their classmates quickly took her side and insisted he tell Marinette whatever he needed with them around the blonde was backed into a corner.
“Well the thing is… I was wondering if you could help? With the whole Lila, Chloe situation?”
Marinette wasn’t even given a chance to respond. The second the words left Adrien’s mouth the entire class bristled, many giving Adrien looks of confusion and shock as if he’d just spoken pure nonsense and honestly in a way he had. Nathaniel however was the one who said it best.
“Wait I’m sorry are you seriously asking Marinette to mediate between her long time bully and the girl you started dating not even an hour after your break up with her? Are you serious?!”
“W-Well I just thought-”
“Thought what Agreste? That Marinette should put herself in the worlds worst situation completely ignoring her own feelings just to make your life easier?”
Oof Kim going straight for the throat.
“B-But shes the class president!”
“So?! That doesn’t make her a genie! She can't just clap her hands and fix everything nor should she have to!”
Marinette had never heard Rose sound so upset in her life, which is when the young fashion designer knew it was her turn to say her piece and get things back under control.
“Adrien.” She ignored the hopeful look he shot her. “Not only do I not want to get involved but I don’t think it would help. Chloe doesn’t like me and Lila’s ‘disease’-” she said the word with barely concealed sarcasm “acts up when I’m around. So I’m sorry but no I will not help you with this.”
“But I’m sure if you just-”
The look the class shot him was enough to end the conversation and Marinette let out a relieved sigh as her heart filled with warmth she really loved her friends.
A month after the conversation in the park Lila Rossi got her second harsh wake up call to the ‘true joys’ of being Adrien Agreste’s girlfriend and it was a two for one deal.
Lila had seemingly been under the assumption that once she was dating Adrien her own popularity would rise to meet his but she was starting to learn that wasn’t the case. Adrien still got plenty more photo-shoots then she did and most were still solo and since they were fast approaching the spring fashion season Adrien was plenty busy with more and more shoots while Lila was left waiting for her turn in the spotlight.
Perhaps it was the frustration at not immediately sky rocketing her way up in fame or maybe it was the snide comments from Adrien Fangirls talking about the lack of couples shoots but Lila seemingly came up with the brilliant plan to force the spotlight onto herself by demanding, manipulating and forcing Adrien to take her on big flashy fancy dates where the paparazzi always conveniently found them Marinette had no doubt Lila was the one tipping them off but she kept her mouth shut. It wasn’t her problem.
However while Lila was enjoying her tabloid paparazzi fueled fame the class and more surprisingly Gabriel Agreste himself were beginning to notice the way it was wearing Adrien down. Between his photo-shoots and busy schedule all of Adrien’s precious free time was being filled up by Lila and her many needy antics and it was starting to show in the way Adrien carried himself and how exhausted he seemed.
Nino was the one who led the charge just as he had when Lila manipulated the class into thinking her ‘clingy’ but where Marinette had gotten some hurtful but well meaning lectures about her Adrien obsession which in retrospect DID help her realize her love was unhealthy. Lila was not given such a kind well meaning speech instead Nino got mad, something he rarely let himself become.
As it turns out Lila had worn Adrien down to the point where the blonde was too exhausted to function and he’d nearly passed out while standing and talking to Nino and that mixed with the fact that it had previously been Lila who painted the faux picture of Marinette as the clingy evil girlfriend isolating the boy from his friends was enough for Nino to harshly call her out. The liar did do her best to wriggle out of the situation trying to claim she only wanted ‘some’ private time with her oh so busy boyfriend but Nino was not having it and the class was too happy to back him up.
The more Lila tried to defend and excuse her actions the angrier Nino got and much to the liars annoyance the young musician had proof and plenty of it. Between his text correspondence with Adrien that revealed the model was constantly being forced to cancel relaxing friend days to take Lila out on flashy dates that always ended with paparazzi and fans swarming the location and forcing Adrien into high stress situations, and an extremely detailed schedule planner that Nino had made to keep track of his best buds work life balance (potential evidence to blackmail Gabriel Agreste if he ever threatened to pull Adrien out of school again apparently). The facts didn’t lie and they were showing that Lila was the real ‘clingy’ girlfriend.
Things eventually got so heated between Nino and Lila arguing that an akuma appeared to try and take advantage of the situation. Luckily for everyone Ladybug had been patrolling and stopped the naughty little butterfly from making things worse. In the end Lila was forced to grit her teeth and apologize to her darling boyfriend. Though perhaps what upset her more was the way the class proceeded to apologize to Marinette after the fact for ever accusing her of being clingy and taking up too much of Adrien’s free time.
However Lila still thought she had one last ace up her sleeve, and so after the class luncheon ended the liar proceeded to contact Gabriel hoping to get her new boyfriends dad to reign him in and do her bidding. Unluckily for Lila however Gabriel had been paying attention to the situation and that fact that it had ALMOST led to an akuma made him look even closer into things.
And he was not happy with what he found. The paparazzi pictures and articles that resulted from Lila and Adrien’s flashy dates had started positively enough with headlines and puff pieces about how cute the couple looked together, how it was nice to see the young Agreste in more casual settings with his girlfriend. But as the dates became more and more frequent and Lila’s constant demands and needs grew the articles slowly began to change soon they were discussing the concerning amount of money Adrien must be spending on his girlfriend, how exhausted and stressed the young Agreste heir looked under his strained smiles and was he eating and sleeping enough?
The akuma he’d sent had only further confirmed Gabriel’s negative feelings toward Lila though it did make him re-evaluate the young Lahiffe boy. Gabriel had originally thought the wannabe musician might just be interested in Adrien for money but seeing the lengths he went to defend his friend had the designer impressed and even a little grateful. So when Lila phoned to try and throw the boy under the bus and get Gabriel to side with her, well she had another thing coming.
Marinette heard later from Alya and the rest of the girls that Lila was ‘devastated’ how she’d wailed sobbed and thrown the tantrum of the century as she ranted and raved about Gabriel putting a 1 date a month maximum limit on Adrien and Lila. The two lovebirds could still hang out of course but it would be in the company of the rest of the class or other friends, or if they really wanted some privacy it would be strictly at the Agreste mansion for studying. Lila had told the girls that it was unfair and unjust that Gabriel was trying to get in the way of their love! Alya had relayed to Marinette that while the girls agreed that 1 date a month was a bit rough they all thought Lila’s tantrum was a bit childish especially when they all remembered how Marinette had rarely if ever got to enjoy 1 private date a month with Adrien and never in public.
Of course just because Lila had been told ‘no’ didn’t mean the liar was going to listen. And so she began trying to find ways to manipulate Adrien into ‘accidental’ dates, bugging the blonde to take her out instead of settling for lunch at school or trying to conveniently separate the two of them from the rest of the group during weekend and after school hang outs. But each time Lila tried Nino thwarted her eventually the Italian had gotten so angry at his meddling that she phoned Gabriel again this time to try and get the musician removed or banned or ANYTHING so that he’d back off, so when she instead learned that Nino had been asked by Gabriel to keep an eye out on for his son and that Adrien knew about it well the liar was furious.
Marinette learned later this time from Rose and Juleka that the Italian had tried to go on another tantrum tirade only to be stopped by Alya who would not tolerate anyone badmouthing her lovely boyfriend. Needless to say, Marinette was quick to notice the following Monday how Lila pouted and avoided the Ladyblogger like the plague. Luckily Marinette made sure Alya didn’t dwell on it too much by inviting the girl over to help her brainstorm some new ideas.
Because while Lila was focusing on leeching the fame and fortune off her boyfriend and being met with endless failures and a very hostile guard dog called Chloe. Marinette had been THRIVING. The suit she’d designed for Jagged had gone viral online and soon Jagged was passing on her contact information to a small selection of celebrities Marinette felt comfortable designing for. The fact that her identity was a secret and she had a very exclusive client list had only caused MDC to soar even higher in popularity with the public making it clear that they too wanted access to MDC fashion. And so Marinette had done her research and with the help of Uncle Jagged and Aunt Penny she’d set up an online store where she would sell ready made clothes.
Of course just because Marinette was seeing success didn’t mean she had forgotten about her friends. In fact the entire class minus Lila, Adrien and Chloe knew very well the true identity of the elusive MDC and that was because while Marinette was taking big steps toward her dreams she was helping her friends do just the same.
After all it didn’t take long for the internet to learn that the mysterious MDC designed Kitty Sections outfits causing the band to have a surge of free publicity that led to many people discovering their music and falling in love with the band.
Then there was Nathanial, Marc and Alya who Marinette or should she say MDC collaborated with while designing her ‘hero hoodie’ fashion collection all of them saw a boost in views with Marc and Nathanial’s comic picking up new readers though it was there brand new all original idea that had really flown off the shelves earning them an online cult following. Alya meanwhile got her blog spotted by Lois Lane herself who was impressed with the young future journalist and contacted Alya for a summer internship the scream Alya had made almost gave Marinette a heart attack.
And it didn’t end there. When Nino made a short film with Mylene and Kim of all people as his lead actors and uploaded it for free to YouTube MDC who was well known for supporting smaller creatives and signal boosting them on her social media was more than happy to make a tweet linking to the short film. Nino’s short film had been impactful and powerful despite being a comedy satire on Hawkmoth and it had quickly blown up earning Nino a summer internship at a film studio and Mylene and Kim several job offers. Kim had never been particularly interested in acting but after seeing the outpouring of love and support not to mention with the encouragement he got from his lovely girlfriend Ondine he decided to accept a few offers surprising everyone as he developed a new passion that he and Mylene bonded over.
Max, and Alix were also boosted in a similar way to Nino, Kim and Mylene when MDC retweeted some of their creative endeavors. Alix a video where she had used spray paint to recreate a few classical paintings though that had only acted as a signal boost that allowed the skater to be noticed for her real passion Extreme Sports! When a very exclusive extreme sports training summer camp contacted Alix about her attending she’d squealed almost as loud as Alya had. Max meanwhile had his demo for his work in progress video games retweeted by MDC and saw a huge surge in interest and a few interested investors and publishers even arrived with offers, though before he could agree to anything his popularity ballooned even further when a video of him showing off Markov surfaced. He had later joked to Marinette that while he appreciated the support he wasn’t sure how he felt about suddenly gaining a ‘nerd cult’ as Kim called it.
Of course all of Marinette’s friends knew she was largely responsible for their sudden surge of fame and good fortune and many of them tried to dismiss their own talents and give all the credit to Marinette. But the young designer simply threw it back at them. Yes she had signal boosted them and given them a helping hand but at the end of the day the only reason they had gotten so popular and stayed so popular after the brief burst from her influence passed and the internet moved on to the next big thing was because they were talented and amazing without Marinette.
The only problem with the classes' new found fame. Was that sooner or later Lila was bound to take notice. And take notice she did when Mylene appeared as an extra in one of Lila’s favorite daytime soaps. The liar had been so focused on Adrien and trying to leech her fame off him while beating Chloe back with a stick that she had somehow missed all the major developments. And she was livid.
She was supposed to be the most popular girl in school! She was meant to be the star, the one people admired and aspired to be like! The one they envied but loved too much to truly hate! And when she’d finally gotten Marinette and Adrien to break up she thought for sure that all her dreams would come true. But somehow while she’d been busy trying to reign in the pesky little blonde her classmates had all gone and gotten famous without her. Most of them wouldn’t even BE in Paris in the fast approaching summer since many of them either had internships, specialized camps, acting gigs, or in Kitty Sections case a whole music tour with Jagged Stone that for some reason Marinette was also a part of?!?
None of it made any sense and when Lila had gone looking for how exactly everything had happened she kept finding herself looking at MDC’s social media. The elusive and private designer was apparently a super sucker or something as every week they would highlight some small time random creator. Honestly it disgusted Lila who just handed out fame like that? Fame and popularity was meant to be exclusive! Earned! Something for only the most beautiful and talented of society. Not for chubby little idiots like Mylene or nerdy freaks like Max.
Of course Lila was nothing if not an opportunist. Sure in her opinion none of her talentless, average, classmates actually deserved their new found fame and popularity but the good thing was they were also a bunch of gullible idiots. And if she played her cards right they would surely carry her to the top. She already had the perfect lie, she would simply claim to be best friends with MDC and tell the class that she had been the one to recommend that the designer boost her classmates.
It was perfect. Genius really.
So then why did it fail immediately?
Lila stood in front of the class, her face frozen in shock as she was stared down by 10 pairs of angry glares. She had expected overwhelming thank you’s and the class bowing at her feet but the second the lie slipped out of her mouth the class instead turned on the liar like a close knit pack of wolves smelling a sheep. Honestly Lila could not understand where she’d gone wrong, and even if she had said something that was an obvious lie wouldn’t the class just normally brush it off as her disease? So why is it that they were acting this way?
It was Alya who broke the silence first.
“You want to run that by us again? Lila.”
The Italian girl swallowed the lump in her throat and ignored the obvious warning sign that was Alya’s sharp tone. Forcing a charming smile Lila brought out her sweetest voice determined that she could salvage whatever THIS was.
“I was just saying that I’m so happy for all of you! I didn’t want to say anything at the time BUT me and MDC are such good friends! So when he-”
“He?” Alix snorted and rolled her eyes. “Yeah that about confirms it.”
The entire class seemed to agree with Alix as they all shook their heads and shot Lila disappointed and annoyed looks before returning to their own conversations and or hobbies freezing her out. Ignoring her.
Oh that? That pissed Lila off like nothing else. Her cheeks grew hot as she stomped her foot angrily, regaining their attention.
“You guys think I’m telling lies again! You all promised that you wouldn’t judge me for my disease but you are!” For added effect she started to sniffle and sob expecting the class to do what they always did and feel guilty about their treatment of her and rush to comfort her.
Instead she was met with even harsher glares.
“Uhh yeah no duh we think you're lying because you ARE. We” Alix gestured to the people currently in class. “Have all met MDC and SHE not ‘he’ is a wonderful person who helped boost our careers because she thinks we're all super cool and talented not because you asked her too.”
Lila felt her face screw up like she’d just sucked a lemon but she quickly worked it to her advantage as she began to loudly sob.
“T-That’s not fair! You know I can't help my disease!”
“Uhh yeah no. I’m stopping you there.” Alya stood up looking down from her perch at Lila with her hands on her hips commanding the room, Lois had been training her well. “We can accept that MAYBE your lying disease makes you claim things when your nervous or scared like how you always accuse Marinette of stuff, and we can MAYBE believe that your disease makes you mix up names and words so you end up giving the wrong information out about charities and celebrities and yes MAYBE we can believe that you sometimes make false claims about yourself when your stressed out like that time with Clara Nightingale stealing your dance moves. Whatever! But Lila that right there? You were not having an ‘oops I lied’ moment you were actively trying to deceive us to make the false claim that YOU are the reason MDC noticed us when we know the truth. And when I gave you a chance to correct yourself you tried to double down. That was intentional. That was malicious.”
Lila felt her mouth fall open, her eyes blinking in shock. Too late she tried to recover. Tried to explain away the situation and make herself out to be innocent. But the class was done with her and they made it clear in how they iced her out. Eventually she had no choice but to suck it up and sit down at her seat. Not long later Marinette rushed into class followed by Chloe who was latched onto Adrien with Sabrina in tow.
Soon enough the school year came to an end and Lila watched bitterly through the all seeing eyes of the internet as her classmates left for their internships, job opportunities, highly specialized summer camps, and more. Meanwhile she was stuck at home. Oh sure she got to go on a few out of country photo-shoots with Adrien but her fame was still nothing compared to her boyfriends, and it was quickly becoming less than nothing as her classmates rose in influence and popularity. Come the new school year Lila would need to find some way to force the class back under her heel.
Marinette was having the best summer of her life! Jagged had taken Kitty Section on tour with him and insisted on Marinette coming with them as their designer. Marinette hadn’t been sure at first worried about the Hawkmoth situation and her own career. But in the end Tikki and her parents had convinced her. Her parents loved the idea of Marinette leaving Paris and going to see the world with her friends for a bit, and Tikki had reminded Marinette that she had the Horse Miraculous and could come home anytime, besides Hawkmoth had been getting lazier and lazier with both his akumas and the amount of them. So in the end Marinette agreed and it had been the BEST decision of her life.
They visited England before eventually traveling overseas to America. The sights and sounds and new foods were filling Marinette with inspiration and she’d never been so busy sketching. Then of course there was the great company. Uncle Jagged and Aunt Penny were wonderful and quickly ‘adopted’ all of Kitty Section + Marinette. They'd act like doting parents one second and then the next they’d be ordering way too much pizza for the teens to share.
Of course everyone missed their friends and family but video call existed and it was only for the summer anyway. Ivan was the one who was probably the worst off pouting over his beloved Mylene but the group was able to cheer him up encouraging him to write a song for his girlfriend, the piece he wrote became a new hit single the second they performed it on stage and Mylene had loved it.
The group stopped by Florida first where Jagged took them all to Disney World and then Universal Park, pictures of the rocker wearing mickey mouse ears and a hufflepuff scarf of all things while being followed by a gaggle of teenagers had soon gone viral, after that it was off to New York, and then Metropolis where they spent a bit of time so Alya could see them and hang out. Her internship with Lois Lane was going well but she’d still been relieved to see her friends and get some down time to just chill. After that they went to Gotham, which was Jagged’s home town. Now most parents might veto a place as dangerous as Gotham but seeing as how Paris was under siege by an emotional butterfly themed terrorist and they were from a class particularly used to dealing with deadly akumas on a regular basis well they were able to convince their parents to let it happen. And to Marinette’s surprise Gotham turned out to be her favorite place of the whole trip.
Sure the city was gloomy but the gothic architecture somehow inspired Marinette, and while the people were not outwardly all smiles and sunshine they were kind in their own way. But the thing Marinette ended up loving most about Gotham was its beautiful parks and famous greenhouses. Thanks to the influence of Poison Ivy and Bruce Wayne the city of Gotham had become the greenest city in all of America and it was a never ending source of inspiration for the young designer. Not to mention it was thanks to all the inspiring greenery that Marinette had met HIM.
She’d been walking through one of Gotham’s older parks admiring the beautiful blooming wisterias that had been shaped into a long hallway arch when she got bowled over by a massive terrifying but very friendly dog. Marinette had been terrified at first until she noticed the fast wagging tail and happy smile on the dog's face. Tikki had warned her that one side effect of holding the Ladybug miraculous would be extra friendly animals a rather ‘tame’ side effect compared to the super strength, increased speed, and occasional urge to hibernate when cold but still the designer had never expected to be attacked with friendly happy dog kisses, not like THIS anyway. As she squirmed and laughed she tried to gently push the dog off. That was when the dogs owner had come to her rescue. Yanking his dog off of her while admonishing it Marinette was finally able to sit up and begin wiping the dog drool off her cheek with a laugh.
“Don’t scold the cutie too much I’m okay I swear he didn’t hurt me.”
“Even if he didn’t hurt you he’s been trained better than that. I’m very sorry, please allow me to help you.”
The boy’s voice was cool, firmly polite and matter of fact leaving no room for argument. To an untrained ear he might even sound annoyed or angry but Marinette could tell that wasn’t the case. As Marinette accepted the hand the boy offered and let herself be pulled up she suddenly came face to face with the most beautiful pair of green eyes she’d ever seen.
Where Adrien’s eyes were bright like a blinding peridot green, these eyes were soft and warm like the green of a pine tree and Marinette could feel herself melt into them. It didn’t help that the rest of the boy's face was also incredibly handsome. The designer quickly shook herself out of her thoughts and glanced away not wanting to stare. Instead she directed her attention to her assailant, the dog was sitting now staring up at her with its tail still wagging wildly. Marinette smiled and reached her hand down letting the dog sniff her before she gave him some soft pets.
“Such a softy for a big guy. What's his name?”
“Titus. And I apologize again. He really is trained better than that. I don’t know what came over him.”
Marinette felt a little bad but she couldn’t exactly say that she was the chosen champion of a god and a side effect of that was very friendly animals so instead she shot the boy a smile.
“Don’t worry I just seem to have that effect on animals. Back home the pigeons and crows have started fighting for dominance of my roof and balcony because they both want my attention.”
The boy gave her a stunned look before he made a sound that Marinette believed might be a covered up laugh. She smiled even brighter and offered the boy her hand to shake.
“By the way my name is Marinette. And it's a pleasure to meet you.”
The boy looked at her hand for a moment before he eventually grabbed it and shook it awkwardly.
“Damian… It's nice to meet you too. Though I can tell by that introduction that you're not from here.”
Marinette snorted at that.
“Really the introduction was what gave it away but not my accent?”
The boy seemed to blush a little at that before he coughed awkwardly. Marinette took pity on him and giggled.
“You are correct in your deduction mr.detective. I’m visiting from Paris, France with some friends and my uncle.”
If Marinette hadn’t been too embarrassed to look him in the eyes she may have noticed the spark of curiosity when she mentioned Paris. And had she known who Damian truly was at the time she would have known that his curiosity came from the fact that Batman and the other supers had recently learned about the situation in Paris thanks to Lois Lane taking on a new intern who ran the Ladyblog. Mayor Bourgeois had been doing a good job hiding the situation but he’d overlooked the civilian journalist.
“Hm. We don’t get many tourists. What brought you all the way out here. If I may ask.”
Naturally without much thought the pair began to walk through the park together as their conversation flowed. Marinette avoided using Jagged's name not wanting her new very handsome friend to take an interest in her solely for her connections. Instead she told him that Gotham was her uncles hometown and that this was the last stop on what had already been a pretty busy summer vacation. That turned into her telling him a bit about her family in general which got him talking about his family, he complained about his adopted siblings of which there seemed to be many but Marinette could tell he loved them.
Talking about family made him admit he’d come to the park to get away from them for a little while which got Marinette talking about the park and all the beautiful nature in Gotham which got the two of them talking about the best parks in Gotham and then Marinette brought up her sketches and suddenly they were talking about art and other hobbies. Before they had even realized it they were sitting at a bench together hidden away in the trees and wisterias chatting away. Marinette didn’t know why but something about Damian made her feel comfortable. Maybe it was the way he gave her his full undivided attention, maybe it was the way he made sure not to invade her space without consent or how he didn’t interrupt her when she spoke. Either way she felt safe, felt warm, almost like she was home. And judging by the way he seemed to relax the longer they spoke, his stiff body unwinding and his gaze softening, she thought maybe he felt just as comfortable with her as she was with him.
Honestly Marinette could have sat there chatting with Damian all day in fact it had already been several hours when the pair were finally interrupted. Both of their phones began to ring, Marinette’s with the tell-tale alarm of an akuma attack in Paris and Damian’s with an emergency as the Riddler had broken out of Arkham. The teenagers regretfully had to go both citing emergencies before they departed. It wasn’t until later that they realized they had forgotten to exchange phone numbers.
The akuma back in Paris had turned out to be Lila Rossi, it seems that Adrien’s fangirls had never truly warmed up to the liar and they had been trying to dig up dirt on the girl for months before finally finding there evidence. Alya may have privated the videos of Lila’s lies after finding out about the ‘lying disease’ but apparently someone had copied and saved them beforehand. And those videos had finally made their way out into the public. Luckily no one criticized Alya seeing as how she’d already had the common sense to remove the videos from her blog it helped that Alya also made a post explaining the situation in more detail which led to the general public agreeing that it had not been Alya’s fault when she had a teacher and a principle telling her to believe in a fake ‘lying disease’ clearly it was the adults at fault here not the young girl who had believed in them.
Needless to say the public ripped Lila to shreds for being a serial liar with more of her lies coming to light each day now that she had been exposed. And obviously the Italian had not taken it well and gotten akumatized.
Marinette knew that she should be happy that Lila had been exposed. Her classmates certainly were, but instead Marinette could not help but mope. Damian had been SO kind she really had wanted to get to know him better. The fact she’d completely missed out on getting his number gnawed at her. Little did she know that Damian was across the city thinking the same thing as he sat on a Gargoyle statue.
But fate likes to play funny games. A few days later Jagged got a call from Bruce Wayne, a few of his sons namely Tim, Jason and Dick had heard about Jagged being in town and tjat the rocker had brought MDC the famous designer with him. Apparently they were huge fans and had bugged, pleaded, whined, and eventually threatened a hunger strike until Bruce would ask Jagged to pretty please introduce them. So Jagged got the go ahead from Marinette and the gaggle of teenagers plus Jagged and Penny piled into a big van and drove over to the Wayne mansion.
Seeing it from the outside, Marinette felt only intimidation and dread. It was so huge and they were so rich. What if they were unimpressed when they found out MDC was just some teenage girl? Letting Jagged guide her and her friends push her forward Marinette nervously knocked on the door and let herself be led inside by the kind old man who introduced himself as Alfred.
Walking through the halls in wonder Marinette slowly felt her fingers twitch with the urge to design. But she suppressed it and focused not wanting to be rude. As the group turned a corner into a large sitting room Marinette’s blue eyes somehow found a pair of familiar green. She gasped, he blinked wide eyed.
“Marinette?” - “Damian?”
They blinked again, shocked. Marinette eventually snorted and laughed. Damian found himself smiling as he approached the small girl. And everyone else? Well they were just confused. Except for Damian’s family they were confused and freaked out.
“Is the demon spawn, smiling Dicky bird? Or am I hallucinating?”
“No I see it too Jason. He looks genuinely happy.”
“So it's official.” Tim added “we're all hallucinating.”
After some introductions and explanations things settled down with Marinette happy to take the Wayne’s on as clients. And the Wayne’s in turn being suitably impressed and amazed by the young girls accomplishments though the part they found most amazing was how she interacted with not only them but Damian. She was genuine and kind, no fake smiles or hidden double meanings, nor did she let their money and fame impress or blind her in any way. Jason soon declared her a little sister and Jagged preened and puffed as he gloated about not only Marinette but Kitty Section as well.
The rest of the summer spent in Gotham was tons of fun with Jason teaching Juleka and Marinette how to shoot guns and ride motorcycles, Rose and Marinette learning some of Dick’s gymnastics moves, Ivan meanwhile got along well with the quiet Cass and level headed Duke. Eventually Stephanie and Bab’s returned home as well and they also took to the french teens with ease they organized girl nights where they taught the girls how to break and enter something Marinette had a natural affinity for go figure. The most surprising development however was Luka. The slightly older boy had seemingly set his sights on the awkward coffee addicted Tim and had spent the remainder of the summer wooing him.
But while Luka was wooing Tim there was one other couple slowly forming. Everyone had seen the spark between Damian and Marinette and soon enough everyone was shipping it. The pair were often ‘conveniently’ left alone or were sent on errands that somehow conveniently became accidental dates. Marinette had been guarding her heart after Adrien had shattered it but Damian made her want to take the risk and fall in love. He was charming, polite, kind, sarcastic, and as she’d learned after telling him about the entire Paris situation akuma’s and all he was protective but without going so far as to undermine Marinette’s strength. He trusted her to be fast and smart and strong enough to defend herself (especially after they did a bit of fight training for fun and she laid him flat on the ground) but he did worry and care about her.
But still there was something holding back both teens. Something that shattered near the end of the vacation. Marinette had been caught by a villain. Poison Ivy to be exact. The plant villainess had taken note of the new frequent visitor to her greenhouse but what had really gotten her attention was how the plant life reacted to her. And furthermore how the plant life SPOKE about her. Ivy’s curiosity eventually grew too large and so she snatched up the young designer and brought her home. Luckily Marinette wasn’t particularly scared of Ivy or Harley, sure she didn’t like being knocked out but she felt no real fear, in the end Ivy, Harley and Marinette ended up having an unprompted girls day complete with junk food, ranting, bad American tv and more. Ivy eventually figured that Marinette was some kind of Meta one who had a strong influence over plant and animal life and that was enough for her to adopt the small half Asian girl and inject her with her special blend the same one she’d given to Harley to keep her safe in a town full of crazies.
But while Marinette was perfectly fine hanging out with 2 of the 3 sirens Damian had not taken it so well. He had scoured the city trying to find the sirens newest abode all while he gnawed his lip until it bled. Maybe it was the stress that made him slip up or maybe it was just Marinette being too smart for her own good. But when the young Robin came bursting in through a window yelling Marinette’s name something had immediately clicked and she knew who he was. After she’d calmed the situation down and made sure no one fought anyone else, Marinette thanked Ivy and Harley for the nice day and let Robin carry her away. After talking with Tikki and deciding to be reckless and selfish for once in her life Marinette confronted Damian the next day, revealing her own identity in the process. There was some freaking out and a LOT of talking with Tikki and the rest of the bat clan but in the end it seemed to work out for the best. Ladybug was certainly happy to accept the help anyway even if Chat Noir wasn’t going to be.
A week later Damian finally asked Marinette out. Two days after that they shared their first kiss on the ferris wheel. And come the end of summer Marinette, Kitty Section and surprise guests Damian and Tim Wayne were all boarding a flight back to Paris.
As the anti-bullying classes went on, everybody but Alya seemed to understand exactly what impact they had on Marinette. Almost all of them rebuilt tentative if not profound friendships with her once more, All except for Alya, who still doted on Lila. But that all changed at the parent teacher meeting Miss Fournier hosted. Everyone’s parents except Lila’s showed up. “Are we waiting on anyone?” Miss Fournier began, and noticed Lila’s mother was nowhere to be seen. Then, suddenly, a tall, green eyed brunette woman that looked to be in her 40s stormed through the door. “Lila Rossi. Why is this the first I’m hearing about bullying? You told me the court case was about all your vacation days?” the woman, who was presumably Lila’s mother, yelled. Lila’s eyes widened in response. “Mom? I made sure to throw that letter away_” she was cut off by her mother “Yes, and I found it in the trash. Imagine my surprise when I found out my daughter has been bullying a poor girl for this entire year!” she continued yelling, and Mr Damocles had to quite literally usher them out of the building. Needless to say, that was the last they saw of her. “For most of you, this meeting will be brief. As you know from the emails I have sent, most of your children have improved greatly due to the anti-bullying classes, especially Nino, Kim and Alix. Therefore, they are being dismissed from them early, and will no longer have to attend. Juleka, Rose and Nathaniel will also be dismissed from them once the week is over. For the rest of your children, keep working hard and they should hopefully be dismissed by the end of two weeks. You are free to go.” she stated, and everyone slowly began filing out, but Miss Fournier spoke up again. “Mrs and Miss Cesaire, do you mind waiting for a moment please?” They nodded as everyone left and the room was only with Alya, Alya’s mom and Nora. “I regret to inform you that Alya is not doing well in these classes at all. She refuses to believe Marinette is innocent and blames it on her, as well as consistently torments the other students who have now built relationships with Marinette.” Alya turned pale as her sister and mother turned to her in anger. “Alya Cesaire, care to explain?” her mother thundered. “Mom, I can explain-” she was cut off by Nora. “Sis, there is no way you believe a liar over your best friend-”
“She’s not my best friend.”
“Anyway, she sacrificed a lot for you. She babysat for you, helped you with the ladyblog, hell she got interviews from ladybug herself or you. How can you honestly say that she had done horrible things?”
Alya’s jaw dropped in shock as Nora’s words ran through her mind. Barely thinking, she ran out of the room, looking for those familiar blue pigtails- no, just blue hair. She spotted it and ran towards her, before stopping short as she stared. Marinette was laughing, with Adrien. Not stuttering, or falling, just having a good time. Her hair was out, her nose was scrunched up, her eyes twinkling. She looked so happy, so…free. She felt so scarily familiar but different at the same time, like she was a ghost of her past self. As Adrien walked away, she shook off her inhibitions and walked to her. “Marinette-” She was interrupted by her. “If you’ve come to insult me-” Alya flinched at the fact that now, as soon as she approached Marinette, the bluenette assumed it was to insult her. “N-no. I want to apologise. You don’t have to forgive me. Hell, the fact that you are listening to me is enough. But I need you to know that I’m sorry, for everything that I did to you.” Marinette gaped slightly. “Alya, you have no idea how much that means to me. I-I can’t accept your apology. Not yet. But, this is a start. To peace and maybe…” she trailed off. “Maybe a new friendship.” Alya filled in, and Marinette smiled, and it felt so nice, so normal that she smiled even wider. “You know what, let's restart this whole thing.” she said, then stuck out her hand. “Hi, I’m Marinette Dupain Cheng. I live down the street in the bakery and have a massive crush on Adrien but don’t know it yet.” Alya laughed before taking her hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Alya Cesaire, I run the Ladyblog and am one of the worst best friends ever.” she said, almost half sad, but Marinette pulled her into a hug. “Oh good. That’s what I like about you.” They laughed, just like old times, the achingly familiar feeling as if to forget what happened. And while it would never truly be forgotten, maybe, just maybe, it could be overlooked.
Quick story I wrote while thinking of Plagg’s love of cheese, Tikki’s love of cookies, and the different ways we associate with good and bad luck. Sprinkle in a little Lila salt and you’ve got some wonderful brain candy to tide you over until the next story. Warm-Fuzzies and enjoy!!
There were more than a few abilities that kwamiis had that normally weren't used. Kaalki could improve her holder's horseback riding ability. Pollen could help flowers grow when she spent enough time in an area.
Tikki's power over luck and good fortune was very well known. But it wasn't only her lucky charm, but her ability to take away luck. Now, this wouldn't give someone bad luck, that's Plagg's thing and had started the whole black cat crossing your path superstition. It would just set a person's luck to zero, and their actions afterwards would determine if it turned good or bad. This is where the concept of karma and the saying 'making your own luck' came from.
Normally, these were abilities that kwamiis kept to themselves or would become a side effect of being active for an extended period of time. Tikki was able to control that ability easily… until her holder came across that Italian rat, Lila Rossi. Oh, how she wished for the chance to reset that girl's luck and let karma determine her punishment. It would be so easy, just a second of physical contact and all her luck would disappear. Then everything she did would continue to build and grow, not that the little Goddess had to guess which way it would go.
Then, one glorious Tuesday morning, Lila accused Marinette of stealing her orange pen. Tikki had been eating her blueberry and lemon curd macaron while reclining on a silk scarf when the girl snatched the purse she was in. Marinette tried to get it back, horrified when Lila opened the latch and shoved her hand inside.
The purse jostled roughly to one side, causing Tikki's cookie to fall to the floor as the stolen pen slid out of the girl's sleeve and into the purse. What happened next occurred so quickly, that she would always claim, while ignoring Plagg's jokes and side eyes, that it was a complete accident. Tikki grabbed the pen, touching Lila’s fingers as she pushed away and fazed through the bottom of the purse. With all the chaos of Lila keeping the purse out of Marinette’s reach and Mme. Bustier, demanding that everyone calm down, no one noticed the kwamii fly under the desks, drop the pen under Lila’s chair, and return to Marinette to hide in her backpack.
"...but she took my pen, I saw her put it in-"
"If that is the case, you tell me and I will handle it," Bustier said sternly, displeased that her lesson had been interrupted and her pregnancy hormones giving her a shorter fuse. "Give Marinette her purse back, now." She did, barely hiding her smirk. "Marinette, may I please take a look inside your purse?"
Hands shaking from the adrenaline, having a flashback of the last time her bag had been searched, and worried about Tikki being found, Marinette wanted to say no. It was only when she spotted Tikki out of the corner of her eye, head poking out of her backpack and giving a reassuring nod, that she handed over her purse.
A few seconds later, Bustier handed the purse back and cast a disappointing scowl at Lila. "I believe you owe Marinette an apology."
Shock broke through Lila’s façade as she sputtered. "But… but she took my favorite orange pen. I swear I saw-"
"Isn't this it?" Nathaniel asked, causing everyone to turn and see him pick the pen up from under their shared desk.
Sputtering a bit more, Lila clenched her jaw before giving Marinette a terse "sorry" before stomping back to her seat.
Plagg knew exactly what his Sugarcube had done, he'd felt the slight spike of power after the cookie had shattered on the floor and that brat had shoved her hand into Pigtail's purse. The embarrassment of apologizing in front of the class was just the start. He knew the girl wouldn't accept defeat so easily, and the consequences would keep growing.
And he was not disappointed.
Lila tried to trip Marinette in the cafeteria, and ended up stubbing her toe on a table leg hard enough to cry real tears. When she attempted to switch their homework assignments in Mendeleiev's class, the teacher not only spotted the switch but proved it in front of everyone by comparing handwriting. That got Lila a week of detention.
Then, at the end of the day, Lila accidentally dumped her water bottle all over Marinette’s head and backpack. Despite acting oh-so apologetic and reminding everyone about her weak wrist, she wasn't getting the support or assurances of "it's not your fault" that she expected. Many glared at her while others ran off to get towels to help Marinette. Realizing that she miscalculated and did too much on a single day, Lila made a hasty retreat outside. Only to get absolutely soaked when a car sped through a puddle on the street.
Plagg laughed his little whiskers off from that one. But he knew it was just starting. He couldn't wait to hear about what happened away from school.
~oOo~
The following morning, Lila looked like she'd been dropped into Dante's Inferno and spat back out just in time for school. What happened didn't even have anything to do with Marinette, so she couldn't blame it on her. That just annoyed her all the more.
While storming home wet from the puddle, she kicked a pebble that hit a bird, then a flock of birds swarmed her while she ran for two blocks. She shoved a neighbor out of the way when she got to her apartment building, and the door flew back and cracked her in the nose. It bled for over ten minutes.
She went to the mall for some retail therapy, coupled with a five finger discount, and was caught immediately. Her mother was called and she was banned from the mall for life. Greta was not happy with her daughter and gave her extra chores as punishment. While Lila was muttering mean and disrespectful things about her parents while cleaning the bathroom, she didn't account for the volume of her voice or the bathroom tiles echoing what she said. Her grounding was extended.
All this made Lila’s mood particularly volatile when she arrived at school that morning. Not bothering to pay attention to what was around her, she gave Mireille a shove out of the way, making the girl stumble down the stairs. A couple seconds later, Lila slipped on the wet steps and fell all the way to the bottom. Her classmates saw the whole thing, and although they were miffed that she pushed someone, they still helped Lila to the nurse to get checked out. Nothing broken, but there were multiple new bruises to match her black and purple nose.
In class, Marinette had to resist the urge to stare at the hot mess her bully had become in a single day. The rest of the class had noticed too. Nathaniel decided to move up a row to sit with Ivan. Rose and Juleka cast wary glances in her direction whenever Lila started muttering to herself. Even Mme. Bustier had to tell Lila multiple times to stop talking with the threat of detention.
By the time lunch came around, Marinette made sure to be with one other person at all times. With how unhinged Lila was getting, she didn't want to risk being caught alone with her. Luckily, Ivan, Rose, and Juleka wanted to talk with her about the new designs for Kitty Section, so she was covered.
Lila noticed how the class was starting to avoid her. Fighting off the urge to curse and scream at them, she took a few deep breaths to clear her mind. She'd been rushing too much for the last two days, she knew that. Trying to compensate for her failure was only bringing more attention to herself and the sheep were noticing that something wasn't right. She had to slow down and make them come to her.
For the next few days, Lila backed down. She smiled at her followers, paid attention in class, and would occasionally look at her phone in distress and act like she was fighting off tears. By Monday morning, things were going better for her. She'd avoided getting in any more trouble with her mom and teachers, she'd texted a fake apology to her classmates, and admitted that she was going through something that was causing a lot of stress. When some of them asked what it was, Lila timidly said that she was too nervous to say anything else. She knew they would bug her and assure her that she could tell them anything.
Monday morning, just as she planned, everyone was encouraging her to trust them and tell them what was bothering her. Seeing that Bustier and Marinette weren't in class yet, she knew now was the time to strike.
Squeezing her eyes shut as she harshly pinched the inside of her elbow to bring tears, she started weaving her story. "It's just, someone's been bullying over text. It's so bad. She keeps telling me that I'll lose all my friends and that I should just kill myself," she said between forced sobs as she dropped her head into her hands. "And it never stops. Sh- she texts all day and into the night. And when I tried to show my mom, the messages were gone. I don't know how, but it's like my phone got hacked and the messages disappear after I've read them."
Max mentioned that there are self deleting message apps, but he wasn’t familiar with them. Then he looked at her searchingly. "You keep saying 'she', that would indicate that you are aware of who is behind this?"
Doing her best surprised face, Lila shook her head. "I can't say, none of you would believe that Marinette would-" she gasped and covered her mouth. "Oh no, I really shouldn't have said anything."
Lila watched as the sheep exchanged surprised looks while Adrien glared at her, but he wouldn't say anything. His father would have made sure of that.
"You're saying that Marinette, our class rep, has been bullying you over text?" Alix asked, unease evident in her tone.
She shook her head while turning up the water works. "I knew I shouldn't have said an-anything. She's your friend, too."
"You said she's been doing this constantly?" Mylene asked, eyeing her carefully as Lila nodded. "When did she last send you one of those texts?"
Sniffling, Lila rubbed her eyes to give herself a second to think. It felt like these were leading questions, like they knew something she didn't. Meaning they'd probably spent time with her over the weekend and would have noticed her messaging Lila constantly. But since everyone was here and Marinette wasn't…
"Right before class. It- it asked if I was dead yet." Another sniffle and she was sure the class was wrapped around her fing-
"Marinette was right! You are a liar!"
Lila was so surprised by Kim's outburst, she forgot to keep crying and stared at everyone as they glared at her in disgust and moved away from her.
"I can't believe we almost bought that crap you were selling!" Alix turned away, face turning red in anger.
"But- but it's the truth! I-"
"There is a .03% chance of what you said being true." Max interrupted, staring down his nose at her. "At this point it is better that you admit it."
Casting a desperate look around the classroom, she was surprised that no one looked supportive. Even Adrien looked absolutely done with her. Realizing the jig was up, she let her expression morph to anger and annoyance as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Wow, I'm surprised you idiots figured it out. Usually you do exactly what I say after faking a few tears. I'm curious, what gave me away?"
The sudden change in the Italian girl gave them a bit of whiplash, but Nino answered her. "You ruined Marinette’s phone when you dumped your water on her. She isn't getting a new one until this Friday. No way she could have been messaging you at all."
"Huh, I guess it was worth dumping that on her, even if you idiots started to notice." Then she shrugged and stood from her seat. "Oh well, good to know for my next school, this place was getting stagnant anyway."
Kim blocked her way. "You're not going to get away with-"
"Shut it, you stupid jock. I've already got Bitch-stier and Dumb-ocles eating out of my hand. When I tell them you're ganging up on me, all of you will get detention while I walk free." Sidestepping her soon-to-be former classmates, she gave them a sarcastic wave and smile as she bid them "ciao" and opened the door…
To come face to face with a furious teacher, principal, and her mother!? What's she doing here? Did they just hear what I said?
The thought barely finished when her mother reached out, literally grabbed her by the ear, and dragged her out the door. The class watched in shock as Mme Rossi screamed and lectured her daughter all the way to Damocles' office.
They would be informed days later that Lila had been sent to military school in Italy. In lycee, they heard rumors that she had been arrested for stalking a local celebrity in Venice. During university, Alya found an article about Lila Rossi being sentenced to 30+ years in prison for attempting a ponzi scheme. It had failed terribly and her victims got all their money back, but Lila would have to serve 5 years for each of her victims.
Not that it mattered to them anymore. The class was too busy with their own lives and futures to put much thought into some lying brat that they went to school with for a little while.
Bonus:
Tikki fought her grin as she watched Lila being dragged away by her ear as she and Marinette came up the stairs. Sighing with relief, she was about to enjoy a well deserved treat when she heard a familiar snicker behind her.
"Nice going, Sugarcube. Couldn't have done it better, myself." Plagg cackled as he passed her a cookie before indulging in a wedge of cheese he'd brought with him.
She grudgingly took the cookie before looking away from him. "It was an accident, I touched her hand when she tried planting that pen in my holder’s purse. What happened was her own doing and not my fault."
"Su~re. And the fact that she interrupted your cookie time and dumped your macaron onto the floor had nothing to do with it?"
The look she gave him had Plagg laughing on the inside. Only on the inside.
"That was a perfectly baked, blueberry macaron with a tart, lemon curd filling. I only got one bite before it got dumped to the floor. A price had to be paid."
Plagg watched with great affection as his Sugarcube took a bite of her sweet treat. Oh yes, he'd learned millennia ago not to interrupt cookie time. Just like Henry the VIII, that Lenin guy in Russia, and a few others. They had experienced the wrath of the goddess of creation when interrupting cookie time, though Plagg was the only one to know why things went so bad. It made him smart enough never to do it again.
Hi! I still don’t know how to tag so here’s my best attempt!
@its-maemain, @yasmin-rdz, @marsrize, @pasteile,
@
vixen-uchiha
TW for disasters and mentions of death, and Jason Todd swearing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marinette had never moved so fast in her life. She arrived to see her beloved city in ruins, and their was nothing her Miracle Cure could do. Buildings had collapsed, sinkholes had split open, and parts of the city had flooded. She could hear people screaming, crying, and everything in between. Buildings burned from electrical fires, and she felt like she was looking at hell on earth. People were dead, she knew it, it would be naïve to assume that no one died in an event like this. Her mind was already kicking into overdrive. People would need to be rescued, the dead will need to be buried, the injured treated, debris cleared, weakened buildings would need to be demolished, plans must be drawn and contractors must be hired. Gotham would get through this she’d make sure of it, so Marinette did what she does best, and made a plan.
Phase one was to take out unnecessary variables, so it was time for Hawkmoth, Mayura, and Chat Noir to go. With help from Tim she was able to hack into Paris’s CCTV cameras, and what she saw surprised her. Hawkmoth, Mayura, and Chat Noir all lived under the same roof, what were the chances. It didn’t surprise her that Adrien was Chat, when she thought about it the two were incredibly similar and were always defending each other relentlessly. She suspected he used his Chat Noir persona as an outlet to behave in ways he never could as Adrien. Jason was still furious, and she resolved to take Chat’s ring first (she did not need more destruction, and a large part of her brain was telling her that Jason would look amazing in a catsuit). Mayura would be second, and Hawkmoth would be last.
Pega-Bug had teleported into the Agreste Manor with the Red Hood at her side. The two quietly made their way through the maze of a house, Tim had disabled the house’s security systems and cameras, but the two still had to be careful. They were about to enter Adrien’s room, when a certain black cat kwamii met them holding a ring. Mayura’s pin was easy enough, she was passed out exhausted. Gabriel turned out to be tougher, as he hid the butterfly broach. After many minutes of searching, they found it hidden in a drawer full of plans on ways to restore his company. “He needs to let it go. His days in the spotlight are over after the shit he’s pulled,” Jason muttered. Nodding, Pega-Bug opened a portal back to Gothem, and the two left just as the sun was beginning to rise and the former cat was beginning to wake.
Marinette never thought she would do something like this, but with barely 24 hours after the disaster, she needed to make sure Gotham’s villains wouldn’t cause problems. In the abandoned shipping warehouse she stood before Bane, the Sirens, Penguin, and Killer Croc. She wasn’t in costume, she faced them as Marinette, not Ladybug. She could feel her husband’s eyes on her back, ready to swoop in the moment he thought she was in danger. Gotham was still well, Gotham. Supervillains were as common as the rain, and she had to make sure she could rebuild Gotham in peace.
“So why’d you call us here lady,” The penguin sneered. Marinette had to be quick, or Jason would start shooting. Mari took a breath, “As you all know, Gotham is in ruins right now, and I need people I can count on to keep the rest of the rogues under control until we can rebuild.” The villains looked at each other, unsure if they should trust the newest Wayne. “What’s in it for us,” Poison Ivy’s eyes narrowed, the Sirens were more inclined to help seeing as Selina and Bruce were sort of dating, but she knew the others would take more convincing. Ivy had a soft spot for the newest Wayne due to her push for more eco-friendly architecture.
“We’ll rebuild the botanical gardens since they sustained major damage, The Iceberg Lounge is currently underwater so we’ll raise that. Museums are refusing to send artifacts to Gotham so unless you wanna relocate Selina, we’ll have to fix those, Harley for you I’ll condemn Joker’s amusement park and remake it into Harley’s Fun Land. The sewers also have collapsed so Croc you have no way of moving undetected, and Bane your fighting rings are currently broken beyond repair and will need fixing. I can take care of all of that. I just need you all to take care of the rogues that don’t care, like Joker and Scarecrow.” They couldn’t deny that she had a point. After a moment of deliberation, Marinette and the Penguin shook hands. The Gotham Rogues would help her, as long as she kept her part of the deal. Almost as soon as she was out of the warehouse, she was scooped up by her husband, and spent the rest of the night reassuring him that she was okay.
Phase two was clearing the rubble and rescuing trapped people. Marinette was surprised with how smoothly this process was going, since multiple heroes (and even some villains with morals) arrived in Gotham to help. It took a major load off of her shoulders, because what would take a crew of 500 to clear in a month, Wonder Woman could clear in a day. She was also relieved to find out there were minimal casualties. Gothamites’ unique ability to sense oncoming Rogue attacks seemed to work with natural disasters as well. That didn’t mean there were no injuries. Thousands of people were hurt, ranging from scrapes and bruises to broken bones and everything outside and in between. This was nothing that Zatanna and the other magic users couldn’t handle, and Marinette found herself adding to the list of heroes and villains she would be sending gift baskets to.
It was at this time that the League of Assassins decided she should be kidnapped. Of course, with everything going on surely no one would miss her. SURELY she had nothing better to do with her time then sit tied to a chair with a sword to her neck and threats of death if she didn’t rebuild the city the way the League wanted it. She wasn’t really paying attention, so she may have missed parts of it. What she didn’t miss was that the Lazarus Pit was critically damaged. What would that do if it leaked into the soil? Apparently Ra’s al Ghul kept the original plans for the Lazarus Pit, but did not think to use it to keep the original architect alive. Marinette was debating on if this should be her problem or not, when her youngest Brother-in-Law and husband busted in. Damian was getting into a screaming match with his mother and grandfather, while Jason was checking on his wife. Marinette was so caught up in everything that she didn’t even realize her scuffle with the League of Assassins led to a broken arm, Tikki was gonna kill her.
Eventually, she got tired of the arguing and Jason freaking out. “THAT’S ENOUGH! I have too much on my plate as it is! Unless the Lazarus Pit is going to leak out into the environment and make the city a wasteland you’ll need to get someone else to fix it!” Everyone stood silent as Marinette crossed her arms and began to tap her foot impatiently. Talia nods. “That’s exactly what will happen.” Marinette sighed and marched over to the assassin holding the plans. She took the plans and began flipping through them, before pausing, “Did you really have to kidnap me? You couldn’t have started with that?” She sighed. They better have coffee down here, she was going to need it.
Three days later the Lazarus Pit was restored, but the same could not be said about Damian’s relationship with his mother. He was still upset about the League kidnapping his favorite Sister-in-Law, and Talia was furious that he was more loyal to Marinette than the League. Mari was the first person who really encouraged him to pursue his own interests and help him find his own path. She knew what it was like to have a lot to live up to in terms of being a Guardian and also being a hero, and she understood the pressure Damian was under. She didn’t want him to make the same mistakes she did, and decided to help him when she could. She helped him realize that his life was his, and he didn’t have to live to only fulfill others’ expectations. She was happy he was much more confident than she was at his age, and knew he wouldn’t end up falling into the “Everyday Ladybug” trap she did.
Speaking of the past, many of her old classmates reached out to offer help in redesigning and rebuilding Gotham. They were appalled that Gotham was abandoned, Alya in particular got in contact with Lois Lane, and the two made sure the story never left the headlines. The others helped the best they could too, using the influence they gained in their respective careers to hold fundraisers and supply drives to send to Gotham. Chloe even pitched in (she and Marinette and come to a truce in high school) and convinced her mother to make a new clothing line, and donate half the proceeds to the Rebuild Gotham Fund, “Dupain-Cheng, I mean Todd-Wayne- Marinette will want to work with someone when she makes her return to the fashion world. Would you rather that be you, the Style Queen, or another major fashion house? Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!” Tom and Sabine were also determined to help their daughter, and with a little help from Nadja Chamack, The line outside their bakery was always wrapped around the block.
Only three people in Paris were refusing to help, and they were all currently holed up in the Agreste Mansion. Lila was still furious that she was thrown out of Marinette’s wedding reception (that she and the others crashed). How could this happen to her?! She, Lila Rossi, was supposed to be the successful and famous one! She was supposed to be married to a Wayne! SHE was supposed to be the one the world adored! Not Marinette! Unlike the other people in the room, Lila knew that after the stunt she pulled, she had no way of wiggling back into Marinette’s good graces. She also knew that since the public knew about what she did, it would be hard for her to run in the famous social circles she wanted to be in, since her reputation had been ruined and no matter how much damage control she did it would most likely stay that way. Lila was smart, and she always knew when to abandon a sinking ship, and she felt that now would be the perfect time to abandon the S.S. Agreste.
Gabriel was in a daze. His Miraculouses (Miraculousi???) were gone. He’d turned the Mansion upside down looking for the peacock broach and butterfly pin, but they were gone. What he did find in their place was a note, with two simple words on it: ‘I know.’ It was signed ‘L,’ and there was no doubt in his mind that L was Ladybug. He was also dealing with the PR nightmare that was his model, his son, and himself being thrown out of the wedding reception they crashed, not to mention the restraining order they got as well. The Wayne lawyers were a stone wall of legality, and no matter how hard he or his lawyers tried, they refused to budge and refused to let him try and smooth things over with Marinette. Unless something major happened his company would be bankrupt by the end of the year. For once in his life, he did not feel like he was in control.
Adrien was fully in denial as he sat in his messy room. He woke up to find his Miraculous gone, and a note from Plagg. It read, ‘Kid, when I first met you I thought you would be a great cat, and for a while you were. Things started going downhill fast though, you wouldn’t listen or work with Ladybug, you’d harass her constantly, and you would often refuse to help if you didn’t get your way. I tried to tell you, but you refused to listen. Then Lila came along and you chose to sit back and watch as she destroyed Marinette’s life, hell, you helped her. I thought you cared about Pigtails? I thought she was your friend? You sure didn’t treat her like one. You threw her to the wolves, helped destroy her career, then when the consequences of your, Lila, and your father’s actions came back to bite you, you continued to harass Pigtails to fix it. YOU CRASHED HER WEDDING RECEPTION AND DEMANDED SHE FIX YOUR MESS. That’s messed up. Don’t get started on that ‘She’s our Everyday Ladybug’ bs either. Just because someone’s a good person, doesn’t mean you can treat them like crap and expect them to take it with a smile. I’m leaving, of my own accord. Ladybug’s coming to pick me up, and I guess it doesn’t matter now so I’ll tell you this: Marinette and Ladybug are one in the same. You managed to treat the same woman like crap in two different personas. I’m happy Bug’s in Gotham now, and I’m happy she’s found herself a better cat.’ Plagg left him. Marinette was Ladybug. She left him. His Lady and his Everyday Ladybug were the same person, and she was married to someone else. A part of him knew he should never have told Marinette to take the high road, a part of him knew he should have acted better with Ladybug. He had always assumed that both Ladybug and Marinette would always forgive him, and that they adored him so it didn’t really matter, but now he could see how wrong he really was. As he watched Marinette and Jason helping at one of the makeshift hospitals set up in Gotham, he couldn’t help but notice a familiar ring on Jason’s finger. ‘Maybe she really has found a better cat.’
Phase Three was finally ready to begin! Some buildings were able to survive the earthquake, so those had been repaired first, but most of Gotham was lost in the damage. It had taken weeks (and a small graveyard’s worth of pencils) but Marinette had finally drawn up new plans for the city! It was difficult, but she was able to combine Gotham’s iconic gothic architecture with more sturdy, eco-friendly building components. When she pitched her idea to the city, it was a hit. Gothamites refused to be so reliant on the rest of the country anymore, since it was clear that in a crisis, they would not be helped. With people around the world chipping into a construction fund, they had the budget needed to make the dream happen, so with employees hired, the journey to rebuild Gotham finally began.
Marinette also made sure to keep her promises to the rogues she allied with as well. The botanical gardens were the first thing she tackled, and under a very happy Poison Ivy’s supervision she was able to rebuild and expand the gardens. She brought in wonderful plants from all over the world, and the building had some nice new laboratories as well. It’s crowning jewel was an exhibit of rare orchids from around the world. Next, she decided to tackle the Iceberg Lounge. After deciding that the old building was the lost cause, she rebuilt it, and improved upon the original idea. She added many flourishes like a beautiful crystal grand staircase, and a massive island bar with an aquarium inside. The top was made of strong glass, and acted as a main stage while there were smaller ones along the side. On the ceiling she added light blue lights and a mist maker, which gave the hanging crystals a sparkly, ice-like affect. When the Penguin saw it he shook her hand and said he should have hired her to design the first one as well. It quickly became the coolest club on the east coast. The Gotham Museum got some nice upgrades as well. The building had survived the earthquake with minimal damage, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t need some work. Marinette expanded it, and added a gemstone exhibit, a massive Ancient Egypt exhibit, and a famous jewelry exhibit. The last one was so she could keep an eye out for any missing Miraculous that might show up, but there was another reason as well. She was able to convince many museums to send artifacts, gemstones and jewelry citing Catwoman as the main reason. “It would certainly draw a crowd if you had a piece that was stolen by the most famous thief in the world,” she’d tell them. Sure enough, it worked like a charm.
The Joker put up quite a fight about his amusement park being destroyed, however he was no match for the new Gotham hero Lady Miracle (whom everyone suspected was Paris’s Ladybug) the Bat Fam, and a large chunk of Gotham’s Rogues. He was quickly defeated and returned to Arkham, which had thankfully survived the disaster. By now the city was about 50% complete, and she began work on Harley’s Fun Land. She added coasters, games, rides, a cruelty-free circus, and anything else Harley could think of. There was carnival food, bumper cars, a waterpark, and a Pie the Clown attraction. If you hit all of the dummies that looked like the Joker, you’d win a replica of Harley’s hammer. She was even there when Harley got to cut the ribbon and welcome Gothamites into their new theme park, and she and Jason got to have a romantic ferris wheel moment. She rebuilt the sewers, and added some improvements for Killer Croc. They were now deep enough for him to comfortably swim in, and had multiple entrances he could fit through all over the city. Much to his surprise and delight, she added a nice living space for him, and she even through in some comforts like a TV with various subscriptions, and some consoles with controllers he could use. Bane’s fighting rings were her final project, and she decided she wanted to help him branch into legal fights. Sure supervillains would still duke it out, but now it was regulated and there were safety standards, so he now had a legal source of income. This also meant she could expand the small rings, into an arena. They called it the Colosseum, and in no time at all fighters were lined up hoping to take on Bane. Opening Night’s main fight was Bane vs Kalibak, the Son of Darkseid. No one quite knew how she pulled that off, but she did get him to agree not to go to war with Earth if he lost. The packed house roared as Bane defeated Kalibak after an incredibly long and close fight. The king was back, and stronger than ever. With Marinette’s side of the deal fulfilled, the Rogues who had helped her made a pact amongst themselves: If Marinette needed help in the future, they would help her, and they’d make sure NO ONE harmed their favorite business partner.
After many months, Marinette, Jason, and the rest of the Wayne family stood proudly looking at the new Gotham. The rising sun shone and reflected off of the glass of the new buildings, and many more gargoyles stood watch over the city. It took everything they had, but Gotham was restored, a shining example of just what Gothamites were capable of, of what Marinette was capable of. In Marinette’s purse, Tikki was beaming with pride at her holder. Her Baby Bug has come so far, and still has so much to do. She was so happy her Chosen hadn’t given up, and that she had found her Cat. Tikki could practically hear Plagg purring in Jason’s pocket. As the Wayne’s press conference began, Marinette was given the mic to speak. She spoke of how difficult it was, but that they did it. The resilience of Gotham and the determination to heal, and how she was honored to help the city that had accepted her as one of its own. Finally, she ended her speech with,
“Well with that, Jason and I have some exciting news to share. I can’t see myself slowing down anytime soon, although it won’t be engineering, architecture, and fashion that’ll be keeping me busy. What I’m trying to say is... I’m pregnant!” And the excited cheers of the Gothamites rang out, the city couldn’t wait to be introduced to the newest, already beloved Wayne.
~~~~~~
Sorry it took me so long! I’m currently a college student so things have been a bit busy! Also thank you so much to all the people who have followed me, liked my work, commented, and reblogged! It means the world to me and I appreciate Y’all so much! Lemme know if I need to change anything or if I didn’t tag correctly!
So this prompt take place after Marinette revealed being Ladybug to Alya.
Alya was excited to learn that her best friend was Ladybug but then she realize something: If Marinette is Ladybug then she couldn’t possibly be Lila’s bestie since Marinette don’t like Lila.
At first, she tried find an explanation, to her the idea of Lila, a very good friend, telling her malicious lies was impossible, telling to herself that it can’t be, that Lila couldn’t had lied to her just like that.
But the more she think about it, the less she could find any good explanation to Lila’s action and in the end, Alya got no other choice but to see reason: Lila lied to her.
This realisation make Alya thinking about all others Lila’s stories and about their authenticity ‘cause if Lila lied about being Ladybug’s friend then how much of her other stories were lies?
She make research and the only source she could find about Lila’s stories was the Ladyblog and when she tried to make deeper research, she found nothing, realizing that all what Lila told her and the class was lies and that Marinette was right about her.
And when she thought about all the times Lila lied to try to paint Marinette as a bad person, she had to pull all the self control she got to not end up akumatized.
Once she was calm, Alya reflect on everything she learn, upset against Lila for her lies but mostly uspet against herself for letting herself being fooled when she’s supposed to be a future reporter and for her lack of faith toward Marinette.
She decided that something must be done and begin to make plans to bring Lila down.
She begin with her classmates by subtly pointing out the inconsistencies in Lila’s stories during conversations, planting seeds of doubts in their minds which lead them to search about Lila’s stories at one point and finding out that none of her stories are true.
Then she gather evidences as much as possible against Lila.(proofs that Lila wasn’t in a trip at Achu and by so was skipping school, proofs Lila don’t had any medical conditions, ask subtly some of the celebreties Lila pretended to know about “rumors” she hear about them(read: Lila’s lie) during live streams of said celebreties ect...)
Finally, after some research, Alya manage to contact Lila’s mother as “a concerned friend” about Lila and make her aware about Lila’s stories much to Mrs. Rossi’s shock about finding out about what her daughter had done.
Step by step, Alya’s plans go smoothly and things are about to going down hill for the liar very soon.
Because no one mess with a fox’s loved ones and live to tell the tale.
Prompt details:
-Alya sugar
-Class salt
-Nino sugar
-Adrien salt or Adrien sugar(you choose)
-Chloe being Chloe
-Bustier salt/bad teacher Bustier
-Damoclès salt
-Class redemption
-Adrien redemption or not(you choose)
-Chloe redemption
-Alya having serious talks with her parents, her big sister and Nino about Lila, herself and her friendship with Marinette.
-Alya using the fox miraculous’s powers to make Marinette’s duties as Ladybug easier.(ex: during akuma attacks she create a mirage of Marinette so like this the latter can go discretely transform into Ladybug without bringing anyone’s suspicion)
-Alya having a serious descussion with Marinette about their friendship and making her best to be a better friend.
-Alya reflecting on the akumas with who she played a role in their creation(Juleka, Max), remember Marinette apologied to them for what happen and decided to had a talk with those people and to apology to them ‘cause to her Marinette shouldn’t had been the only one to apology.
-Alya even apology to Chloe for having broken into her locker, she didn’t really wanted to but she understand while Chloe’s reaction was disproportionate she shouldn’t had broke into her locker and invade her privacy.
-Alya being a badass
-Alya using her cunning side to expose Lila and helping Marinette to fight Hawkmoth.
-Alya and Marinette having a talk about Marinette’s crush for Adrien and how said crush was becoming an unhealthy obsession.
-Alya, althrough a bit sad to see her ship sink, accepting Marinette’s decision to turn the page and be over Adrien and even help her to make some changes to do so.
-Alya confronting Adrien about the “taking the high road” advice ‘cause while the advice itself isn’t a bad one, it only work if everyone know that the liar is a liar ‘cause letting people believe a liar’s stories are true for a long time can become dangerous.
-Marniette getting over Adrien.
-Alya and Marinette friendship becoming more healthy and balanced.
-Lila trying to treathen Alya but the later recorded everything and use it as evidence against Lila.(In France recording someone and make the record public without the person’s aggreement is forbiden but recording someone without their aggreement is allowed when the recording is used as an evidence for competent authorities)
-Lila being exposed thank to Alya’s plan.
-Bustier trying to force make the class give another chance to Lila when she’s exposed but the class refuse and give a good “the reason why you suck” speech to the teacher.
-Trixx and Alya having a close complicity.
-Ships: Alya/Nino, for the other ships you decide just no adrinette please!
Jason was ready to end this liar problem for Marinette. His little pixie had been dealing with this horrible liar for several months now. At first she hadn’t wanted to tell him, afraid he might do something reckless. But eventually she had caved to his pleading and told him everything. At first he was furious and ready to go personally introduce himself to the liar as Marinette’s boyfriend. But Marinette convinced him otherwise. “If you did that she would just turn it around on me and make the situation worse.” Jason hates to admit it, but she had a point.
He couldn’t believe how the class had behaved though. Marinette always said the nicest things about them, but then they all turned on her with no proof. Even worse, the supposed reporter demanded proof from Marinette that Lila was a liar without having any proof she was telling the truth herself. And Alya out right refused to do a simple google search herself. It irritated Jason a lot to hear that.
Jason still wanted to help Marinette, he just wasn’t sure what to do. Then he realized a good way to end this madness. He hopped on a plane to Paris that very day, excited to see Marinette. But even more excited to help her solve the problem of the liar.
When he arrived in Paris, he explained his plan to Marinette. “It’s simple. We just have a class party. You said they like truth or dare right? I’ll pick Alya and when she picks dare we can get her to finally google Lila.” Marinette was hesitant, but agreed to the plan. The next day, Marinette invited the whole class to a party in the park on Friday. Everyone was excited and readily agreed. Adrien would even be free to attend. With the trap set, they just had to wait for Friday.
Friday came quickly and Jason was practically vibrating with excitement. They arrived at the park and saw the whole class gathered. A girl that Jason knew had to be Lila approached with a sickly sweet smile. “Who is this Marinette? He isn’t in the class.” Marinette put a fake smile on her face. “This is Jason, my long distance boyfriend from America. He surprised me with a visit. I hope you all don’t mind him joining us.” The class quickly said it was fine.
After the party had been going for a while, Jason suggested playing truth or dare. The class quickly gathered, excited to play their favorite game. After a few rounds of harmless questions and dares, including a few new crazy stories from Lila, Jason made his move. “Alya, truth or dare?” Alya did just as he hoped and picked dare. “Ok, I dare you to google Lila’s accomplishments. Marinette has told me about her and how you people refuse to believe she is a liar.” Alya just rolled her eyes. “Not this again. She isn’t a liar. This is stupid, give me a real dare.”
Jason stood his ground. “No. That is my dare. Google her. If you can find one source besides the Ladyblog for any of her stories, me and Mari will never bring it up again. What do you have to lose? If you are so sure she is telling the truth after all, you shouldn’t be so against it.” Alya looked a little irritated. “Fine. If it will get both of you to drop this finally. There will be a bunch of things about Lila and you will finally have to admit you are just jealous.”
Alya pulled out her phone and started searching, not seeing the look of pure panic on Lila’s face. No one saw as Lila slipped away from the group and out of the park. Thankfully her mom had already been talking about going back to Italy because of Hawkmoth making Paris too dangerous. Lila hates losing such a valuable tool like Hawkmoth, but she wouldn’t be able to stay now.
Meanwhile, back at the park. Alya looked more and more desperate as she couldn’t find anything to back up Lila’s claims. Just pages and pages of articles on the Ladyblog. When she looked up to confront Lila, she finally noticed that she was gone. By now the rest of the class had gotten online as well, trying to help Alya find some proof, but they also came up empty handed.
When they turned back, they profusely apologized to Marinette. She stopped the class’ rambling and said, “I forgive you. It may be a whole before things are normal between us again, but I understand that you all made a mistake. Let’s put this behind us and move forward.” The class agreed and worked on repairing their relationships with Marinette. Jason was happy that he was able to solve this problem for Marinette. He never thought a simple game of truth or dare would be the answer to the liar problem. But Lila was gone and never bothered Marinette, Jason, or the class ever again.
threatening to turn the class against her, cornering her in the bathroom, basically everything SHES done to marinette
the class doesn’t want to believe marinette would do that, but why would lila lie?
they send alya, nino, and adrien to talk to her about it
they find marinette in the bakery after school and try to gently persuade her to be nicer to lila
marinette seems hesitant but eventually agrees to “give her a chance” (adrien gives her another high road chat under the guise of helping her get snacks)
the three leave thinking that everything will be fine from there
the day after that lila says that marinette attacked her again and has bruises as proof (makeup)
the class is shocked, but they believe her because what kind of person would fake an injury, right?
they decide to confront marinette a bit more aggressively because obviously the nice way didnt work
as they’re planning how to go about it lila subtly brings up the idea of vengeance
an eye for an eye as they say (adrien still hasn’t spoken up in marinettes defense by the way)
it wasnt as subtle as she thought though because now the whole class is looking as her as if shes crazy (“woah thats a bit excessive luv x” type beat)
sweet, generous, kind lila suggesting that they attack marinette?
they cant believe what theyre hearing
lila tries to brush it off but the seeds have been sown
this is really suspicious behavior to them so they start looking into lila. maybe something happened to her? in the process of looking for an explanation they realize the only information about lila online is from the ladyblog
they realize lila is a liar. how could she have done al these amazing things without there being a single trace of it on the internet.
at this point marinette walks in to class
the conversation goes a little like this...
marinette: i’ve been knew
class: *shoked pikachu faces* why didn’t you say anything??
marinette: i tried but alya asked for proof and adrien told me not to keep trying to expose lila.
alya: girl, i am SO sorry! wait.... adrien knew about this?
marinette: yeah, he said i should just take the high road and lila was threatening to turn you all against me if i spoke up so i gave up.
lila: and it was working up until today...
the class realizes that all those tales of bullying were actually what lila was doing to marinette
they profusely apologize to marinette and are pretty upset woth adrien for allowing them to be played like fiddles
marinette forgives them but says it’ll take time for trust to rebuild
mrs.rossi gets called once everyone realizes that if lila wasn’t in achu she was just being truant
that’s all i’ve got guys! it could go multiple ways from here (lila has to retake the grade, moves back to italy, school board comes down on bustier and damocles for not catching it, etc...)
