It's well established that Bustier's class have enough connections of their own to trash Lila's stories. This fic explores one way that could possibly happen. It takes place during Season 4, after Crocoduel but before the finale.
I originally submitted the idea as a prompt on the Miraculous Fanworks Discord Server (discord dot gg slash mlfanworks), but the bunnies wouldn't leave me alone. I have wanted to try a "no salt" exposure fic for a while because I don't think there are enough of them, so here it is.
Thanks to my betas for this fic: CoffeeBanana, Diana_Luna_13 and Liz from the Discord server.
Lila Rossi would not usually leave her apartment on the weekend, when her mother was home. She was a busy woman after all, bringing work home every Friday night from her job at the Italian Embassy. Lila's mother spent much of Saturday and Sunday each week poring over documents, often staying up late into the evening. Lila knew that embassy roles were demanding, even in a friendly country like France. Resolving the most mundane issues still meant navigating endless layers of bureaucracy.
Lila suspected her mother worked through the weekends because she had been promoted beyond her ability, but she would never say so. At least her mother was home for those two days, the only time they shared meals each week. Lila would tell her stories of Collège Françoise Dupont while they sat together at the kitchen table. She spoke of the kind and helpful friends she had made, her wonderful and caring boyfriend Adrien Agreste, and the terrible difficulty that Ladybug and Chat Noir had dealing with akumas. Lila knew her mother was worried about her fitting in after years of having to move around on short notice, and telling her mother what she wanted to hear meant the overworked woman would stay out of Lila's business.
Lila spent the rest of her weekends holed up in her room, following her classmates on social media. As jealous as she was of the fun they had together, she could not afford to let herself accidentally be seen by anyone from school. Lila had entertained them with tales of meeting dignitaries, working on charities, or reuniting with celebrity "friends", and she did not want to risk losing her position if she ran into any of her classmates. They were far too credulous and trusting for their own good, but they weren't all stupid.
Life could get complicated for Lila if she got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time or by the wrong person, especially if it was that goody two shoes Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Grrrrrr! That girl's stubborn refusal to fall in line was almost as infuriating as Ladybug's interference in her plans with Adrien. As for Adrien, his inexplicable protectiveness of the self-righteous busybody was just as frustrating. Still, Lila had plans to work around that. She just needed to bide her time a little longer. With some help from Adrien's father, she would soon be in the perfect position to get everything she wanted.
Such were the thoughts occupying Lila's mind as she turned onto the walkway along La Seine. This weekend was different since her mother was not home. The entire diplomatic staff were needed at the embassy to prepare for the Italian Prime Minister's upcoming tour, leaving Lila with nothing to do. She would not normally have accepted Rose's invitation to watch Kitty Section rehearse on the Liberty, but the girl had been annoyingly persistent.
Hopefully Rose would back off now, and if a small part of Lila got to pretend that she had friends for a while then so be it. Besides, Lila knew Marinette couldn't go because she was helping her parents cater an event for Chloé's father. The thought of those two stuck together brought a smile to Lila's face, and Marinette's absence gave Lila a rare opportunity to plant new seeds of doubt in the minds of her gullible classmates. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to work on convincing Adrien because he was in London with his father for the weekend.
As Lila descended the stairs where the Liberty was docked, a musical cacophony assaulted her ears – harsh guitar chords, pounding drums, and lyrics about unicorns sung in a voice that reminded Lila of the stray cats who fought in the alley behind her apartment building. It was definitely not her preferred genre of music, but she couldn't tell her classmates that. They were all committed fans, totally enamoured by the band. When Lila saw the riot of colour on the hull and mismatched cabins of the Liberty, she couldn't believe anyone would choose to live on such a scow.
Lila fought the urge to grind her teeth and composed her features into their usual saccharine grin while she walked down the ramp onto the boat. When she saw the band playing, Lila was surprised to discover that the shrieking voice came from Rose's small frame. Behind Rose, Juleka strummed a bass guitar while Ivan slammed on the drum kit. A tall, slender boy with dyed blue hair and a greyish blue hoodie was playing lead guitar. The four of them were wearing ridiculous horned cat masks paired with chest pieces, exaggerated shoulder pads and capes that matched the colour of their clothes. These were the costumes Marinette had made, the ones that Rose had bragged about for weeks? Lila resisted the temptation to roll her eyes at their amateurish get-up.
The other Françoise Dupont students who came to see the rehearsal were assembled in front of the stage, tapping their feet and swaying with the rhythm. As expected, Alya and Nino were standing shoulder to shoulder. In front of them was Mylene, who could only have been there to support her oaf of a boyfriend. Alix sat next to a blonde girl with a black jacket and yellow pants, who Lila only vaguely recognised. When the girl's head turned to reveal a dyed pink lock of hair trailing out from under her turquoise beret, Lila realised it was Chloé's half-sister. What was her name? Zara? Zuri? Ah, Zoé, that was it. Lila had not considered the new girl important enough to worry about before – she was in another class after all – but knew that she was friends with Marinette. Lila could twist the screws there, too, just for the fun of it.
The final chords faded at the end of the set, and the band was rewarded with raucous cheering as they threw their masks in the air. "OK guys, take five," the blue-haired boy announced when everyone finally calmed down. With his mask off, Lila thought he was kind of cute in a generic rock musician way. Certainly no Adrien Agreste, but not a complete waste of time either. She would have to be sure to get him on her side as well. Rose spotted Lila as she and the other band members came over to speak with their friends. "Lila!" she squealed excitedly, dashing across the deck to hug her. "I'm so happy you could make it!". Lila held her breath against the cloying smell of Rose's sweet perfume. The others turned to offer greetings of their own, although Alya seemed a bit distracted.
"Thank you so much for inviting me. It's nice to have time with my friends after being so busy with all my charity work," Lila smiled brightly, not feeling any of the enthusiasm she injected into her tone. She made a show of looking around. "Where's Marinette? I thought she'd be here considering how supportive of the band you told me she was."
Alya jumped in straight away, "Mari's busy helping her parents with a big catering job today, Lila. You know that."
"That's right! She told us earlier this week she couldn't come, but she made sure to send us some snacks." Rose gestured to a half-empty box of macarons and cups of soda on a nearby table.
Lila had to force her features into a contrite expression. "Oh, silly me. I must have forgotten. You know my memory sometimes plays tricks on me," she responded, making sure to inject the right mix of regret and self-pity into her tone. Throwing in that little hint might come in handy later.
"Sure thing, girl. Don't worry about it," Alya replied with a frown as she turned back to Nino.
Before Lila could get to the bottom of Alya's expression, Rose tugged on Lila's hand and pulled her towards the blue-haired boy sitting on the edge of the stage. He was idly strumming his guitar with a relaxed expression on his face. "Hey Luka, this is our friend Lila. She's always so busy, but she finally got a weekend to herself! Lila, this is Luka. He's Juleka's twin brother," Rose introduced her with unrestrained enthusiasm. Gosh, that girl could be exhausting. It was no wonder the wannabe emo chick was so quiet.
Lila sat down next to Luka, girlishly twirling a strand of her hair. "It's so nice to meet you, Luka. Rose and Juleka have been so friendly to me since I moved here," she said. "I hope we can be friends too," Lila added as she leaned into Luka's side, placing her hand on his knee. Luka's relaxed expression sharpened into wariness.
"Oh yes. I've heard a lot about you, Lila. Your heart song is….unusually discordant," Luka's voice was soft and steady, but there was a slight edge to it as he plucked a few harsh notes on his guitar. "Excuse me, but I need to check on something downstairs."
Lila hid her irritation as Luka made his way below deck, but soon found herself drawn into a conversation with Mylene and Ivan about the Oxygen Tower the Mayor had wanted to build in the Place des Vosges. She didn't understand the fuss, honestly. If someone like Gabriel Agreste supported the tower, they should just build the thing and be done with it. She thought her classmates' protest was juvenile and naïve, and Lila was only half-listening to them when she noticed Alya and Nino speaking with Zoé in hushed tones as they drew her towards the snack table.
Lila excused herself with the pretence of getting a drink, hoping to eavesdrop on Alya's conversation. As she got closer, Alya suddenly spoke up unnecessarily loudly to ask Nino about the new music mix he was working on. Lila knew she would have to get some one-on-one time with Nino to find out what they had been talking about. The foolish boy couldn't keep a secret to save his life. Lila collected her drink and walked away, not in the mood for another one of Nino's in-depth explanations describing how to mesh the beat and tempo of various songs.
A large truck pulled up beside the berth with a screech of brakes as Lila made her way back towards the spot where Juleka, Rose and Alix had gathered. Golden flames curled garishly across the truck's bright purple cabin, but the tacky design inverted on the trailer with purple flames clashing against the golden background. A tall figure sporting dark hair with purple tips, a black leather jacket and striped pants, and a guitar strapped across his back, leapt from a door in the side of the trailer.
Lila could only stare in disbelief when she realised just who was now bounding down the ramp like an eager puppy. What the hell was Jagged Stone doing here of all places?! Lila would have to navigate this situation very carefully, not drawing attention to herself. Better yet, she should make up an excuse and leave. She could later claim that Jagged was reluctant to publicly acknowledge their friendship because he wanted to protect her from the unwelcome attention of his more extreme fans.
"Permission to come aboard, Anarky!" Jagged called, landing on the deck just as Luka emerged from the stairwell. "Don't worry, Dad, she's not here," he replied as he joined the rocker.
Jagged visibly relaxed. "Hi there, son! Doing great?" he asked, holding out his fist.
Luka bumped fists with the man. "Rock and Roll!" they cried in unison while they pulled their hands back, thumb and little finger spread wide in a time-honoured gesture.
This was bad for Lila, very bad. If Luka was Jagged Stone's son, that meant Juleka must be his daughter. He was supposed to be a distant celebrity that would impress the gullible sheep. How did she luck into the only class in Paris where half of them knew the rock star personally? As if to emphasise Lila's predicament, Jagged turned to his daughter and spread his arms wide. "Juleka! How are you?" he called to her.
The tall girl rushed to embrace her father, easily relaxing into his arms. "It's good to see you, Dad," she mumbled, barely loud enough for the others to hear.
"How's the new bass going? Show me what my rock and roll daughter has been working on," Jagged said, leading Juleka over to where her instrument rested on the stage. Lila found herself dragged along with her classmates as they followed. She needed to get away now.
Lila tried to ease her way to the back of the group once they stopped to watch Juleka with her father, but found herself surrounded on all sides. Her eyes were so busy darting about in search of an escape route that she didn't notice Alya loop their arms together until it had happened. "What's wrong, girl?" she asked. There was something in Alya's tone that Lila had not heard before.
"Nothing. I just wanted to sit down. My arthritis is playing up." Lila struggled to keep the panic out of her voice. If Alya led her to one of the seats behind them, then she could slip away quietly before anything happened.
"I got you, girl," Alya reassured, but to Lila's dismay she dragged a chair across for her to sit on rather than allowing Lila to make a discreet exit. "Here you go".
Forced to smile her thanks, Lila sat down quietly and tried to look as unassuming as possible. She loved being the centre of attention but now was not the time. Lila had long ago learned the value of being inconspicuous when necessary. It was hard to do while sitting front and centre, but she tried her best.
Lila watched along with the others as Juleka played through a bass solo. Jagged slung his guitar around and picked out a counterpoint melody to complement the original tune. The expressions on everyone's faces showed how sweet they all thought this moment was. Even in her agitated state, Lila could see that father and daughter were perfectly in sync while performing their duet. Not that she was currently in a position to appreciate the impromptu performance, mind you.
The pair exchanged warm smiles after they finished playing but were interrupted by Rose when she surged forward to wrap Juleka in a tight hug. "That was beautiful, Juleka!" she squealed before whispering something in the taller girl's ear. Whatever Rose had said caused Juleka to shake her head in response, but the blonde girl pressed on in a hushed tone, "Go on, Juleka. He'll want to say hello."
"Dad, do you remember Lila?" Juleka asked quietly while staring at her feet.
Jagged frowned in confusion, "I don't think I've ever met anyone called Lila. Who is she?"
"Our friend Lila," Juleka explained. "When she joined our class earlier this year, she told us she had met you."
"Oh, don't worry about that," Lila interrupted with false nonchalance. "It was so long ago I'm sure he doesn't remember. It's not a big deal."
"But you saved his cat!" Rose yelled out.
"And you said he wrote a song about you," Alya injected dryly.
"Hold on, little lady," Jagged's expression deepened to something less benign. "I haven't had a cat since I was five years old. Fang has been my only pet since my first album, and I don't write songs about kids." Lila watched in panic as Jagged turned to face her before continuing, "Have you been telling my daughter and her friends that you know me? That's so not rock and roll."
"I...No, there must have been a misunderstanding," Lila tried to explain.
"And she claimed to be Ladybug's best friend even though she isn't," Alya added, suddenly gaining the group's attention.
"What do you mean, Alya? Has Marinette been accusing me of things again?"
Alya gave Lila a hard stare. "Yes, Marinette said she saw Ladybug tell you off in front of Adrien for lying about being her friend. I checked with Ladybug when I interviewed her after an akuma battle, and guess what? She confirmed she had never met you before you came to our school. Ladybug also told me that you actually hate her, but she asked me to keep quiet since she didn't want to draw any more attention to you and your stories."
"That's...that's not true. Ladybug is my best friend. She would never say that. Marinette has always hated me because she was jealous of my friendship with Adrien."
"Trust me, Adrien likes Marinette a lot more than he'll ever like you. All my girl did was try to warn us about your lies, so you threatened her, then framed her to get her expelled. I have Ladybug on video. Do you want me to play it?" Alya challenged, waving her phone.
By this time, Rose was crying while Juleka rubbed the distraught girl's back to comfort her. Mylene also looked upset, even with Ivan's arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders. The others wore expressions in various stages of shock, anger and disgust.
"But why, Lila?" Rose asked plaintively as the tears rolled down her cheeks. "We would have been your friends anyway. You didn't need to make up stories for us to like you."
Lila opened her mouth to speak and found that, for the first time in a long while, she didn't know what to say. Because she craved attention? Because she liked to manipulate people? Because she didn't care? Because by this time next year, her mother would have moved them to another country and foisted her off onto another group of unsuspecting simpletons? Lila had told herself over and over that she believed all those reasons and that they justified her actions. She couldn't exactly admit that out loud, so she buried her head in her hands and pretended to cry instead.
"Was anything you told us true?" Alix demanded angrily. "You've been claiming you could hook us up with all these connections, but do you even know any of them?"
That started an avalanche of accusations about her treatment of Marinette, her supposed charity work, the connections she falsely claimed to have, the various ailments that she mimicked, and the travelling she pretended to do while away from school. In the end it all became too much, and Lila had had enough.
"You're all so stupid!" she yelled. "A few tall tales, some well-placed tears, and I had you eating from the palm of my hand. I would have had you all completely fooled if it wasn't for those do-gooders Marinette and Ladybug sticking her noses where they didn't belong. They'll get what's coming to them, and so will the rest of you!"
"I think you'd better leave, Lila. You aren't welcome on the Liberty anymore." Luka's quiet voice broke the silence that followed Lila's outburst.
Lila stalked off the boat, muttering under her breath. Even though she had been found out, she knew she was still smarter than all of them. Still better, still more worthy of time and attention from people like Gabriel Agreste. With him in her corner, she knew she would succeed. Lila held her head high as she marched through the streets of Paris back to her empty apartment.
...
Alya: girl, you don't have to worry about your Lila problem anymore
Marinette: what did you do?
Alya: who says I did anything?
Marinette: Alyaaaaaa!
Alya: she came to see Kitty Section, but Juleka's dad showed up and Rose insisted that they talk
Marinette: oh wow
Alya: I might have mentioned that Ladybug also told me she didn't know Lila
Alya: it kind of spiralled from there
Marinette: you're so awesome! Ladybug would be lucky to have you as her best friend
My aim with this was to adhere as closely as possible to canon. I don't expect it to go this way in the series, because (a) it would resolve too many issues too quickly, (b) Marinette is peripheral to Lila's exposure here, and (c) there's no akuma. I hope you enjoyed my take despite that.
A random thought that occurred while I was writing this – Luka was established as a long-time Jagged Stone fan back in his first episode, but has anyone else noticed that since Truth Luka still wears a shirt with his dad's face on it?
Thanks to everyone on the Miraculous Fanworks Discord Server (discord dot gg slash mlfanworks) for motivating me to try writing fic in this space. If you enjoy consuming or creating MLB fanworks, it is a friendly place to hang out with your fellow Miraculous-lovers.
This fic was originally posted on AO3, and has been cross-posted to Wattpad.