Adrien was at a photoshoot in the park, he saw Nino walk up to Natile and ask her something and she nodded. She called Adrien over and told him that he could have a 15 minute break. Adrien was surprised that Natile agreed to give him a break, but was more surprised when Nino whispered, "I'm sorry"
Adrien looked at him confused, "Why?"
"I didn't believe you when you told me that Lila was a mean liar"
"You do now though?"
"Yeah", he said quietly
"How did you figure it out?"
"Alya, she's not the same, her temper is short and she's mean and it's because of Lila, same with Sabrina"
Adrien put a comforting hand on his best friend's shoulder, and then his eyes lit up with an idea and pulled out his phone to text Chloe and Mari.
Adrien: Hey guys!
Marinette: Hey
Chole: Was up!
Adrien: can i tell nino
Chole: tell him what
Adrien: about mari
Marinette: why
Chole: yeah he left us
Marinette: and joined her
Adrien: he's at my photoshoot and told me that he believes that lilas a liar
Chole: what if he's lying
Marinette: i guess we could give him a chance, all of you meet me at my house in 2 minutes
Chole: on my way, have snacks ready :)
Marinette: lol, Adrien bring nino
Adrien smiled at Marinette for being so nice and trusting, Nino looked at him confused
"What is it"
"You'll see"
Adrien grabbed his friend's hand and dragged him towards the bakery and ignoring Natiles protests, ran in and greated Tom and Sabine who shoved a box of snacks in his hands and gave him big hugs and smiles, then they returned to their customers.
"Why are we here," whispered Nino in his ear as they raced up the stairs
"To see an old friend," Adrien said smiling while he knocked on the door
"You mean…"
The door opened to reveal the real Marinette, with the white flower printed shirt and signature pig-tails and a light grey collared blazer
"Hey Nino," she said softly with a sweet smile. Nino looked so happy to see her, he gave her a big hug and kept telling her how much the class needed her
She looked at Adrien with raised eyebrows, "You haven't told him yet?"
"I figured we should all do it together," he said with a warm smile, "Tell me what?," Nino said confused as he let Marinette free of his grasp
"We have to wait for Chole," Marinette said with humor dancing in her eyes. As if on cue, Chole had flown up the stairs, "Did you tell him yet, did I miss it?"
"We were waiting for you," Adrien said smiling, Chole gave him a warm smile and then looked at the box of goodies with wide eyes.
"Can we eat that," she said with an innocent, child like expression that made them all laugh and Marinette nodded, then put her hand on Nino's shoulder, "But first…."
"What?," he asked as they all were looking at him smirking, they lead him to the couch and sat him down and he picked up a pastry and took a bite
"Im Mari," said Marinette bluntly and cringed as he choked on his pastry.
"WHAT!!!!"
"Nino, we wanted to tell you earlier but we didn't know if you were on our side." Marinette said apologetically.
"That's fine Marinette, I just want to know how you became Mari and what happened in the three weeks I was gone. No offense, dude, but people seem to really hate you."
"That's the point."
"This is too confusing." Said Nino
"Well you see, I overheard Lila plotting to get Marinette expelled, so Chloe and I gave Marinette a makeover, into Mari the mean girl, to get back at Lila. Since then Mari replaced the shampoo in the girls locker room with soap, plastered the classrooms with sticky notes, ripped Lilas homework, "accidently" smashed cake in her face, dyed Alyas hand lotion, dumped paint on Sabrina, and blamed the girls for stealing Mr. Damocles owl figures. Is there anything I'm forgetting?" Said Adrien counting them off on his fingers, while Chloe and Marinette grinned mischievously.
"Oh yeah, and Ms. Bustier knows everything and is helping us."
Nino was staring at them dumbfounded, he pointed at Marinette and said, "I never thought you had a dark side, maybe you," he said looking at Chole, "but not you," he said shaking his head with a grin.
"Nino, there's something important that we have to ask you." Said Marinette, "Will you join us?"
"Of course. I always had a bad feeling about Lila, but this confirmed it. I do feel bad though, I wish you were still friends with Alya."
"She doesn't want to be my friend," said Marinette softly looking down, Adrien squeezed her hand
"But-"
"And I don't really want to be hers anymore"
"But why"
"I told her about a billion times that Lilas was a liar and she didn't trust me, instead, she went to be Lila's friend." A tear slipped down Marinette's check and she ran away. Adrien looked at Chloe thinking she would run after Marinette.
"Maybe you should go" Said Chloe. "I mean I haven't been her friend for very long." Quickly followed behind. As Adrien went to follow Marinette Chloe winked at him, and he saw her share a smirk with Nino. He found Marinette locked in the bathroom, Adrien knocked softly on the door, "Marinette, are you alright?"
"Yeah"
"Are you sure?," he asked with concern in his voice, "Can I come in"
There was a few seconds of silence before he saw the doorknob turn and step back step to see Marinette standing there looking down at her feet shyly.
"Sorry, I didn't mean for you to leave and to interrupt the meeting," she mumbled
Adrien put his hand on her shoulder and lifted her head with his hand, softly tilting up her chin to see her tired, red-tinted eyes, "You have nothing to apologise for, it's not your fault that Alya doesn't know what being a friend means," he said reassuringly with a serious tone.
His gaze softened and that turned into a smirk, "Plus, now you know a model, who Chat has told to be the Cats meow," he said flexing his muscles, that got him a playful shove in the shoulder and a snort from Marinette that made his grin widen. They walked back to Chloe and Nino who were talking in hushed voices and when they saw them walk up, they stopped talking and asked Marinette if she was ok, "Yeah, I'm fine," she looked at Adrien and gave him a warm smile that made him blush.
"Let me get more snacks," she said smiling at the empty box and giving Chole and Nino an amused look, then walked down the stairs to the bakery. Adrien turned to face Chole and Nino who were smirking at him.
"Wha-," he realized what they were smirking about and his eyes widened, "No"
"Yes," they said the same time smiling
"No, I love somebody else," he said, stubbornly crossing his arms over his chest, even though he knew deep down that it was not completely true, but that seemed to do the trick because Chole and Nino looked shocked.
"What!," they said. Luckily Marinette walked in and said, "Let's get to planning," she said smirking
"Yeah, let's get to planning," said Adrien giving Chloe and Nino a look that told them not to press the former topic.
