hey yall! this is a continuation of a prompt i saw off of tumblr! the prompt was by kittybug, first part by skaylanphear and second part by sadrien. i highly recommend reading them before you read this! you can read them both here: post/153978450978/skaylanphear-kittybug-me-okay-brain-what
the endgame ship here is lilanette, but it starts out with the general love square.
have fun!
/
It somehow seemed to bring a sense of clarity to her. If Adrien, if Chat Noir, couldn't accept Marinette's word, then they never would have worked out anyway. He was never in love with her. He had always been in love with Ladybug. And while Ladybug was an essential part of Marinette's identity, she'd always had the nagging thought that they were separate personalities. Adrien loved the witty and outgoing Ladybug. Chat Noir loved the confident and strong superhero.
But he had never loved the shy and nervous Marinette. He had never loved the girl who had given him her autograph, who had designed a contest-winning hat, who had loved him. Maybe he had liked her like a friend. But he never loved her. Never would love her.
And if he was never going to love Ladybug's civilian identity…
He was never going to love me.
We were never going to work.
Marinette found herself at the park, and she collapsed on a bench.
"Marinette!" Tikki flew out once they were hidden, worry in her voice. Marinette's arms came around her, curling in on herself as the tears finally started.
"I'm so stupid," She managed to say in between shuddering breaths, "I shouldn't have even tried- revealing my identity? Stupid, stupid!" Adrien not believing her would have been one thing, but Chloe hearing it all and then announcing it to the entire class? She'd only planned on entrusting her identity to Adrien, but now that all of the kids in her class had heard that, she could only deny it. She could only admit to lying. And if Adrien- dear, sweet Adrien- was so quick to just shut Marinette down like that, well, at least Chat Noir was safe from knowing Ladybug's identity. That was the last time she was ever going to try and tell anyone about her identity.
Even if Adrien, if Chat Noir, would forever think that Marinette was just a liar.
Marinette knew how this superhero business went. Her identity was supposed to be secret. If people actually knew that Ladybug was Marinette, all of her friends and family would be at risk. Hawkmoth would have no qualms about using them to get to her. She had wanted so bad to just transform right there in class, just to prove them all wrong, but she knew better.
"Marinette-" Tikki tried again, but then suddenly she dove into Marinette's purse.
"Here you are, Ladybug,"
Marinette's head jerked up in surprise, and out of all the people she expected to be standing in front of her, it had to be Lila Rossi.
Her mood instantly soured even more. There was no reason for Lila to be here. She'd never even spoken to Lila as a civilian yet, except for introducing herself as class president. Since the Volpina incident, Lila had gone to school as usual. She'd tamped down on the obvious lies, however.
"What do you want?" She snapped, standing up. Marinette moved to leave, arm coming up to wipe at her tears. "Are you just here to make fun of me?"
Lila pursed her lips, looking down at Marinette inquisitively but not saying anything. Marinette glowered under her gaze, and started walking.
"I know how it feels," Lila suddenly said from behind her, and Marinette stopped, not turning around.
Oh no. Lila was sympathizing with her. She'd been humiliated by Ladybug disproving her, and now she was-
"Well, I was going to say that I know how it feels when you're caught lying, but-" Marinette heard the footsteps and finally turned around, looking at Lila. The girl looked Marinette up and down, and continued, "But now that I'm here, I think you weren't even lying in the first place."
Marinette's scowl fell from her face, and for the third time that day, she didn't know what to say. Out of the people who would believe her, it was Lila.
"You- you hate me," She finally said, staring at Lila in disbelief, who shrugged, "And why do you believe me?"
"Call it a liar's intuition," Lila said, "A super liar's intuition. Besides, you two look exactly the same. And believe it or not, I don't hate you. I just never wanted to see you again."
Marinette stared. She was getting tired of people ragging on her. Especially people who considered her their enemy. Lila had just come to see Ladybug all weak and pathetic.
"Then go away," She said, "That way you won't have to look at me." Her voice was bitter, and even though Lila had just revealed that she believed Marinette was indeed Ladybug, if Lila was just going to be a jerk then she wanted nothing to do with her. She started walked away again, wishing she could just rewind the day.
"Wait!" Lila called, but Marinette kept walking. She didn't care, and she wanted to leave. "Marinette!" Marinette gritted her teeth and kept moving. She was feeling less sad and more angry. She was upset with Chloe and Adrien, but she was more upset with herself. None of this would have happened if she had just kept it all to herself.
"Ladybug!"
Marinette whirled around, furious, and stormed to Lila, who's expression changed to something like oh crap. They were lucky no one else was in the park.
"Shut. Up," She growled, fingers curling into fists. "What do you want?" She spat, and as she moved forward, Lila took several steps back.
"Is that all you're going to do?" Lila asked.
"What?"
"I thought Ladybug was better than that," Lila said, and Marinette felt the fury inside her grow. "You just ran away! I thought you were stronger than that!"
"You don't understand," Marinette managed to say, trying to keep her voice controlled. Lila was riding such a fine line- she didn't even know.
"I can't believe I considered you my enemy," Lila said, straightening so she could be even taller, "You're just pathetic right now."
Marinette was dangerously close to an outburst.
"If all you wanted was to see me like this, then go away. You can go home and feel all happy that Ladybug turned out to be dumb girl and was humiliated in front of all of her friends. Congratulations!"
At that, Lila's face fell.
"I-" She began, but Marinette interrupted.
"Go away."
Marinette turned to leave again, praying that it would be the last.
"I'm sorry."
Marinette slowed her pace, taking controlled breaths. Lila was so persistent, so irritating-
"I didn't mean it like that," Lila said, "I just- I couldn't stand seeing you like this. You're supposed to be cheerful and pushy and all that stuff." Marinette came to a stop, turning the thoughts over in her head.
"Was that your way of trying to make me feel better?" She finally asked, exasperated as she glanced behind her. Lila suddenly turned red.
"Well!" Lila began, searching for words. Several seconds passed, and after looking at Lila's flustered expression, Marinette began to laugh. With her laughter, she felt her body grow a little lighter. The anger and pain seemed to lessen a bit, and all the while Lila looked like she had no idea what to do. Lila's face was funny, what she'd said was so ridiculous, and everything that happened had been absolutely terrible.
And Marinette laughed anyway.
"Are you done yet?"Lila asked, slightly annoyed after a solid minute of Marinette's laughing, which was borderline hysterical. She got a hold of herself and tamped down on her laughter, forcing them into smaller chuckles.
Marinette was not doing well.
"Yea," She replied, "How did you think saying those kinds of things would make me feel better?"
"I don't know! It worked, didn't it? Aren't you all happy now?" Lila threw her hands in the air, only a little exasperated. "Why don't you go prove them all wrong now?"
At that, Marinette's temporary high went back down to a low.
"I can't," She said.
"Why not? You had no problem telling Adrien how much of a liar I was. Why can't you show them you were telling the truth?" Lila went on.
"They can't know the truth," Marinette simply said, "It would put them in danger."
"Why in the heck did you tell Adrien then?" Lila looked genuinely confused.
Oh boy.
Marinette felt her eyes well up again.
"I knew he loved Ladybug. I thought- I thought-" Marinette only made it that far before she was weeping all over again. She was mindful not reveal that Adrien was Chat Noir, however. "I like him so much, I- I thought this would be the only way he would like me,"
Lila looked left and right, clearly uncomfortable with this turn of events, before closing the distance between them and wrapping Marinette in what might have been the most awkward hug she'd ever received, ever. She felt Lila give gentle, but also awkward pats on her back, and the whole situation was so weird that she nearly started laughing again. But no, the arms around her and the shoulder her face was pressed in were so warm and comforting that all pretenses of being okay just vanished.
And Marinette sobbed.
Who knew that after having her heart broken by the one she loved, the one who protected her and the one she protected, that an old enemy would be the one to try and pick up the pieces?
