Chapter 14: Plagg + Lila = _
Marinette lets out the most precious baby yawn Adrien has ever heard and nuzzles into his chest. A rush of butterflies flow up his torso. He concludes they somehow also made their way up his throat when the words "I love you" tumble out of his mouth. He freezes.
No. No, I did not just say that while she's literally laying on top of me. She's going to think I'm so weird. She's going to hate me!
"I love you, too." She mumbles into his shirt.
Plagg flies over to get a look at Adrien's scorching red face and chuckles softly. " has stopped working."
Suddenly, Marinette shoots up, her face nearly colliding with Plagg in the process. She turns to look at Adrien, but he clamps his eyes shut in the hopes that she'll assume he's asleep. She lets out a soft groan and grumbles, "I can't believe I had that stupid dream again. He's. Just. A. Friend." She emphasizes each word with a light punch to her forehead. Then she lays back down, turning her back to him, so they're no longer touching. Adrien misses her warmth and wants to wrap his arms back around her to ease the sting left by her words, but he tightly clutches the blanket instead.
Plagg's nub of an arm does the equivalent of a facepalm as he sighs, "You two are hopeless." Then he flies back over to his bed.
Adrien opens his eyes and stares at the ceiling as his thoughts race. She only sees me as a friend. I knew that, so why does it hurt to hear her say it again? It's not like she hasn't said it before… But if she has dreams about being in love with me, maybe she likes me back and she just doesn't know it yet!
When they finally get out of bed, they decide to start their day in the best way possible: Watching anime together. In the middle of the second episode, Adrien's stomach lets out a rather loud grumble. Marinette looks at him with a smile. "Time for breakfast."
Adrien feels his ears heating up as he nods back at her. The two are walking into the kitchen together when a thought dawns on Marinette. "Adrien, you don't know how to cook, do you?"
"No. One time I tried to make soup and I flooded the stove." He laughs awkwardly and scratches the back of his head.
She snorts. "Do you want to learn?"
His eyes light up and he nods. "Yes, please!"
"Great. Let's go make breakfast."
Marinette pulls out a carton of eggs. "There's yogurt in the fridge and we have plenty of pastries so I figure we can have that and I'll just show you how to make eggs. How do you like yours?"
"Sunny side up." Adrien starts looking for a pan.
"Of course you do, Sunshine."
He whips his head around, "I-is that a bad thing?"
Marinette laughs, "No, it's just very fitting."
Similar to how they made the cake, Marinette cooks the first egg while Adrien watches and then she lets him cook the second, offering help when he needs it. Adrien is a bit flustered as she stands behind him on her tiptoes to look over his shoulder and he accidently cracks his egg on the counter, spilling yolk everywhere. They reach for the paper towels to clean it up at the same time and Adrien jerks his hand back. "Sorry! Sorry, you can clean it up if you want to."
She laughs and proceeds to wipe up the mess before handing him another egg. "Let's try this again."
With Marinette's help, he manages to cook a perfect sunny side up egg and he looks so happy that she wants nothing more than to capture the moment so she can stay in it forever.
Once finished, the two sit at the table and Adrien starts scarfing down the food like he has never eaten before. Marinette looks over at him and giggles, "Hey," she nudges him with her elbow, "My parents are coming back today. We need to decorate the cake before they get here."
Adrien stops eating for just long enough to give her two thumbs up before turning his full focus back to the plate in front of him.
Marinette and Adrien stand in front of the cake. Marinette with her arms crossed, and Adrien staring at the cake with starry eyes.
Marinette looks at him and smiles, tilting her head, "How do we want to decorate this masterpiece?"
"We should make it Multimouse themed!"
She raises her eyebrow, "...We're going to eat this with my parents." And she mumbles under her breath, "Besides, what is it with you and Multimouse?"
"So? Everyone loves mice! They're so cute!"
"Adrien, I really hate to break this to you, especially because that look on your face is adorable, but most people do not, in fact, love mice. I'm pretty sure that's just a you thing."
Adrien blushes, "Mice like cheese."
"Your point?"
"I bet I could get Plagg on my side." Adrien crosses his arms and smirks but his victory is short lived.
Plagg screams from Marinette's room, "No, you couldn't!"
"Are you seriously just listening to us?" Adrien yells back.
Marinette snorts, "Any other ideas, Sunshine?"
Just as they put away the last bit of the mess, they hear keys giggle in the doorknob. Adrien quickly transforms and waits for the door to open before rushing over to give Sabine a hug.
She laughs and returns the hug. "I see you're glad we're back. I hope Marinette hasn't been starving you while we've been away."
"I would never!" Marinette huffs indignantly.
When Chat pulls away from Sabine, Tom goes in for a hug and he gladly accepts.
Sabine opens her arms with a smile, "I'm just kidding. Can I get a hug from my other kid, too?"
Marinette happily obliges.
After the hugfest, Chat Noir shakes his fists excitedly and says, "We have something to show you!"
Tom gives him a questioning look, similar to the one Sabine is giving her daughter. Marinette just laughs and allows Chat to lead everyone into the dining room, where the table is already set, with a two tier Multimouse inspired cake.
"Aww that's so cute! What inspired you to make a mouse?" Tom smiles.
"Other than me and Ladybug, no one saw her but, there's a mouse miraculous and the hero that used it was absolutely adorable. On both sides of the mask." He gushes.
Marinette stiffens and Sabine looks from her to Chat Noir, pressing her lips to hide a smirk. "Oh was she now?"
"What are we having for dinner?" Marinette practically yells in an attempt to change the subject.
"We already placed an order for pizza." Tom replies, oblivious to the tension in the room.
While eating, Chat excitedly fills them in on everything he and Marinette did over the weekend. Well… mostly everything.
"Me and Tom used to cook and bake together all the time when we were your age." Sabine reaches out to take Tom's hand and looks at him lovingly.
Tom squeezes her hand and returns the look, "It's always more fun when you have the right partner."
Marinette blushes, "YES! It was a lot of lo– FUN! It was a lot of fun!"
At this point, Chat's face rivals the hue of a tomato as he tries to block out the memories of them baking and his sudden realization, "YEP!" In his panic, he starts to makes finger guns but he stops with a yelp almost immediately when he remembers what happened the last time he used them.
Sabine blinks. "Are you all–" She's cut off by the loud thump of Chat slamming his head into the table.
"Fine!" He holds a weak thumbs up in her general direction.
"Marin–"
The girl looks like she's about to pass out as her eyes are wide and her face completely flushed and frozen. "YES I'M DOING AMAZING THANKS MOM!"
"You guys know you don't have to yell for us to hear you, right?" Sabine teases. Tom chuckles.
Later that evening, the two have settled down on the chaise to watch more anime, but the blond isn't paying much attention as he's been staring at his friend the entire time. Adrien messes with the hem of his shirt, "Can I do your hair, Marinette?"
Marinette turns and tilts her head, "What? Why?"
"N-nevermind. I'm sorry." His cheeks redden and he looks away.
"No, don't apologize! You can totally do my hair. I just wasn't expecting you to ask." She smiles at him excitedly and pauses the show. He rushes over to grab her brush before sitting back down behind her.
Adrien takes out her hair ties and brushes her hair. After a few minutes of waiting patiently she hears a frustrated sigh and feels his forehead rest on her shoulder. "Ugh, I don't know what I'm doing. This was a bad idea. I'm sorry."
Marinette rests her head against his and scratches his head gently, "What are you trying to do?"
"….mousebuns" he mumbles too quietly for her to make out his words.
She turns to look at him, "What?"
"M-multimouse buns." He says just a hair louder.
"You're really obsessed with my super alter ego." Marinette giggles and takes one of the hair ties from him. "Watch how I put this one in and then you can do the other one." She slowly demonstrates how to make one of them while talking it through. "And that's all there is to it!"
He nods and tries again, taking a good few minutes longer than Marinette. "Mar."
She turns to look at him, "Hmm?"
"Oh my god, you look so cute!" Adrien claps his hands excitedly, "I'm going to beg Ladybug to give you your miraculous back. It's a downright shame that no one else has seen this."
"Or I could just wear my hair in buns at school tomorrow." She shrugs.
He wiggles his shoulders with a huge smile on his face, "Will you let me do your hair in the morning?!"
She narrows her eyes and puts her hand on her chin, pretending to think for a moment. "Nah."
His smile drops, "Oh."
"I'm just kidding you big goof! Of course I will." Marinette moves forward and kisses his cheek, "Now, I believe we have some anime to finish. Last one to the bed has to steal camembert from Plagg!"
Plagg pokes his head through the wall and he narrows his eyes at them, "I heard that and if you try, I will cataclysm you."
Plagg can still see Adrien's pleading eyes boring into him. "Go with Marinette. Do whatever you can to keep Lila from hurting her."
That is what started this whole ordeal. If Plagg's caught by Tikki, he's as good as dead. If he's caught by Marinette, he's going to get yelled at for leaving Adrien alone, and if he doesn't go at all, Adrien is going to be even more stressed out and will likely not shut up about it all day. Not to mention, although he hates to admit it, Plagg can't stand the thought of someone hurting Marinette either. So, really, he doesn't have much of a choice.
He does his best to remain unseen. He hides in the desk drawer under Marinette's backpack before he phases into it through the bottom. He ends up being squished between two of her notebooks in the process. This kid owes me so much cheese after this.
Even if the feline kwami would've done this regardless, he still intends to hold it over his holders' head.
FLASHBACK
Marinette had texted and called Chloe multiple times the previous night and she had ignored every single one. She couldn't figure out why Chloe was ignoring her, but she knew something was wrong and she was determined to figure out what. Marinette marched into class about 20 minutes early, as usual, in order to talk with her. She wasn't necessarily surprised when the blonde didn't arrive until about 5 minutes before class would start, but it definitely stung. Hanging out before class was part of their routine. Regardless, she still walked up to her friend with a big smile, "Hi Chloe!"
Chloe met her eyes before biting her lip and turning her back to the bubbly girl.
Marinette furrowed her brow and reached out to touch her shoulder, "Chloe?"
She whipped around and slapped her hand away before lashing out, "What do you want, Dupain-Cheng?"
"Chlo I- what do you mean?" Her words came out shaky as a heavy weight settled into her stomach, "I just wanted to talk to you."
"Well I don't want to talk to you. Ever."
Marinette's eyes started to tear up, "What? Why?"
"Because I don't like you! You annoy me. Get that through your thick skull." Chloe stared daggers at her, but her gaze softened slightly when she noticed her classmate was about to cry.
Marinette stumbled back, "Did I do something?"
Chloe rolled her eyes and turned away, "Just get out of my face."
Her head became light and she dropped her things, feeling as if she was about to pass out. Chloe looked back with tears running down her own face, but before she had the chance to do anything, Marinette sprinted out the door and back home.
Chloe instantly regretted her harsh words, but Marinette didn't come back to school for another week. When she did finally show up, the damage had already been done and there was no undoing it. She wouldn't even look at the blonde, so Chloe decided there was no hope for them. Rather than face that pain and admit she made a mistake, she kept pretending and turned both of their lives into a neverending nightmare.
Marinette walks through the door to school, sporting a pair of space buns on her head, and braces herself for whatever new lie Lila has cooked up for her. As bad as everything with Lila is, at least Alya didn't believe her this time. Maybe she's finally starting to see through her whole facade. Her thoughts are interrupted when Nino jogs over to her.
He grabs her by both shoulders, "I figured out where all of this is coming from and it's not good. I like your hair by the way."
"Thanks." She blinks. "Wait, what? Where what is coming from?"
"The whole deal with Alya. I went full incogNino like I said I would before; to try to find out what was up."
"Incog who?" She raises an eyebrow.
He lets go of her shoulders and stands up straight, "IncogNino. Anyways, since she hadn't said anything to me yet, I figured it was probably useless to just ask and I started watching Alya a bit closer." He takes a breath before continuing, "After only a few minutes, I knew something was up between her and Lila. They've been closer than ever, but it was clear they were trying to hide it. So when they walked off together, I decided to follow them."
Marinette shakes her head. "I don't understand, why would they hide that?"
"That's what I was thinking, too. I hid nearby so I could listen in on the conversation and it was bad. Lila just started crying and said something about being 'So happy that Alya believed her over her best friend!'. I'm so sorry, Nette, but she was so good that even I started to believe her."
Marinette can't tell if the sound that leaves her mouth is more akin to a scoff or a laugh, but it makes Nino flinch. "Of course you did. Everyone always does. What made you change your mind?"
"The second Alya left, she wiped the tears off of her face and just started laughing, 'Well that was easier than I thought it would be.'" He frowns, "Now I know that she's been lying to everyone and we never doubted her. To make matters worse, she almost has Alya wrapped around her finger. She's a reporter, so she can convince the others that pretty much anything is the truth.
Luckily, I don't think Alya's completely convinced. For now at least. She believes Lila, but she mentioned that someone could be framing you. She thinks it might be Chloe's doing, but Lila pointed out how close you two seem to be lately. Alya said she wanted to talk to you about it, and Lila tried to convince Alya to let her be there.
After Alya left, Lila called someone and I overheard them talking about a ploy to make you 'admit it.' whatever 'it' is. "
Marinette furrows her brow, "Lila claimed that I bullied her while I was gone, but how would they pro-" Her stomach drops and she is filled with an overwhelming sense of dread when realization sinks in, "Oh no." Without another word, Marinette sprints to class and Nino follows close behind her.
When she bursts through the door, Lila is in tears, "Thanks to Alya, I have proof." She turns to Marinette and gives her a smug smile, but keeps the same tone as she says, "You're done torturing me." She looks back at the rest of the class to continue her ruse. Alya watches with a furrowed brow as Lila pulls out her phone, "She even admitted it herself."
Marinette's eyes widen as Lila presses play and her own voice comes through the speaker, "Yeah, haha, I totally bullied Lila, it was fun. I mean how could it not be? She deserved it."
After the last word rings out, the room goes dead silent as everyone processes what they just heard. Sabrina is the first to shake herself out of it and she stands up from her seat to hug Lila, who pretends to sob into her shoulder.
Kim shakes his head, "Not cool, man."
Alix crosses her arms. "We may as well have kept Chloe as class rep."
Max doesn't speak or even look up, too focussed on crunching numbers and mumbling to himself. He says something about "probability", but Marinette isn't listening.
Nathaniel shakes his head and sneers. "I can't believe I ever had a crush on you. You're a fake!"
Rose won't even look at her. Juleka has her arm wrapped around her and is staring at Marinette with narrowed eyes.
"What did Lila ever do to you?" Mylene looks absolutely horrified.
"How could you?" Ivan chimes in.
Marinette stiffens, Nobody is on my side anymore. This is karma, isn't it? She tries to block out her classmates' comments for her own sanity, and turns to Alya with a look of betrayal. Instead of the glare she was expecting, Alya's face is ashen and her jaw is hanging open. Marinette ducks her head to hide the tears she's failing to hold back and walks to the back of the class without saying anything.
Chloe's sharp voice suddenly cuts through the muttering classroom, "Marinette would never do something like that! You of all people should know that, Alya!"
"I- I thought I did…" Alya doesn't seem like she's fully comprehending what is going on around her, but Chloe doesn't care.
"She is way too good of a person for you. You don't deserve her. None of you do. You never have." Alya opens her mouth to respond but she's cut off, "Just leave her alone."
Chloe makes her way to the back of the classroom where Marinette is sitting and she takes her hand and squeezes it as she joins her on the bench. Marinette leans over and lays her head on her shoulder, "Thanks, Chlobear."
She smiles down at her and squeezes her hand again.
Alya's distress fades from her face and she blinks a few times as she watches them. "The Marinette I knew would never be friends with a bully like you. So maybe she isn't the problem, maybe you're just manipulating her for some sick game, Chlobear."
The blonde snaps up her head to glare at Alya and wraps her arm around Marinette protectively.
Still sobbing Lila turns to Alya, "She may have tried to influence her, but you know how headstrong Marinette is. Chloe couldn't make her do anything she didn't want to do. Even if she tried."
Alya looks back at Marinette and frowns. "I don't see how a good person could be friends with her unless it was just an act."
It is just an act. I've been lying to Adrien about everything. I even kissed him, knowing he wouldn't want me to if he knew the truth. I'm not a good person at all. Not even close. Unable to bear it any longer, Marinette lets go of Chloe's hand, opting to wrap her arms around her instead and buries her face into her side.
She doesn't notice that Nino also opts to sit near the back of the class rather than his usual seat.
Mlle. Bustier walks in to begin the lecture and Chloe hugs Marinette tighter. She goes to kiss her head when she sees a blur of black slowly making its way across the classroom towards Lila. She stares at it for a moment before realizing it's Plagg.
He phases through Lila's seat and after a few seconds, he turns around with a satisfied smile. They lock eyes and Plagg immediately flies back in Marinette's bag, not breaking eye contact until he is completely hidden.
Still staring at the backpack, Chloe nudges Marinette and whispers, "Why is Plagg here?"
She turns her face up slightly, "He's here?"
"Excuse me girls. Do you two have anything you would like to share with the class?"
Sabrina sneers, "They're probably planning another way to torture Lila, but It won't work now that we all know." The rest of the class mutters in agreement.
With tears still running down her face, Marinette grabs Chloe's hand again and pulls her out of the room, "Chloe wanted me to take her to the nurses office!"
She runs down the halls dragging the other girl with her, not slowing until they get into the bathroom. She looks under the stalls to make sure no one else is there before locking the door.
She wipes her face and turns back to see a dazed Chloe staring at their interlocked hands. Marinette awkwardly lets go and the blonde shakes her head before crossing her arms to hug herself. "I um, like your hair. You should wear it like that more often."
"Yeah, people keep saying that…"
After a tense moment of silence, Chloe decides to cut to the chase. "So uh- Why exactly is Plagg here?" She doesn't ask if Marinette is okay because she already knows the answer and the kwami situation is more pressing, if only slightly.
Tikki flies out of her purse, pulling the black kwami from the backpack, "I would like to know the same thing."
Plagg shrugs, "Sunshine is really worried about you and he has every right to be."
Chloe holds her hand up, "Wait, Adrien sent him here?"
Plagg winces. "Oops."
Tikki facepalms, "Oh my god," She grabs Plagg and drags him through the ceiling, "We'll be right back."
Chloe stares at the spot where the kwamis disappeared before turning back to her friend. "Are you gonna explain, or..?"
Marinette sighs as she tugs on a loose piece of hair, "He probably did send him. So remember how I said I couldn't take Adrien to the hospital?" Chloe furrows her brow and nods, urging her to continue. "Hawkmoth, who is his father, tried to kill him because…" Marinette grimaces, "He's Chat Noir?"
Chloe looks at Marinette with wide eyes. "Are we just going to gloss over the whole 'Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth' thing?"
"Is that an option?" She asks tentatively.
Chloe crosses her arms and raises her eyebrow.
"Yeah… I didn't think that would work, but it was worth a try I guess." She mutters. "He hid a camera in his bedroom and saw him transform. He tried to take his miraculous and when he refused, he tried to kill him. After that, he came to my balcony and nearly bled out. I'm lucky he came to me or… he wouldn't be here at all."
Chloe nods and takes a moment to process the information before asking, "So Adrien really is Chat Noir?"
"Yeah. It kind of makes sense, though, doesn't it?"
Chloe gives a sharp nod and looks away, biting her cheek, "So I guess this means you don't have to keep pining over Adrien since he's already in love with you."
"He doesn't know." A pang of guilt shoots through her stomach.
Chloe turns around, "He doesn't know that you love him too? Why wouldn't you tell him?"
"No, not that," She shakes her head, "He doesn't know that I'm Ladybug. There's no point in confessing because he will never love Marinette like he loves her."
Chloe lets out a short, bitter laugh. "You're blind if you really believe that. That boy has been head over heels for you for years."
"Even if that were true, after he finds out I've been lying to him, it's all over."
"What do you think you're doing, Plagg!" Tikki yells as she flies into Plagg's face.
Plagg backs away. "The kid asked me to protect her."
"You didn't have to listen. And you didn't have to tell Chloe about it!" Tikki fumes.
He flinches. "That was an unfortunate slip up, I'll admit, but I'm just used to everything being in the open now. I haven't exactly had to talk to anyone who didn't know in a while, cut me some slack!"
She shakes her little head, arms crossed. "What did Adrien bribe you with to get you to come here?"
Plagg doesn't answer.
"I asked you a question."
"He didn't, okay?! He asked me to protect her and I agreed because I know that little brat is up to something and I can't stand to see Marinette get hurt!"
Tikki's features soften and she rests her hot dog arms at her sides. "I'm gonna tell her that you actually admitted you care about her."
Plagg shrugs. "Whatever. As long as you let me live after what I did to that lying little-"
Tikki's face darkens. "What did you do?"
"I cataclysmed her."
"..."
"..."
"Go home, Plagg. Now."
She doesn't need to tell him twice. He gulps and then turns to rush back to Adrien.
Hand in hand, the two walk back into class, "I'm sorry Mlle. Bustier, we-"
"YOU!" Lila roars and points an accusing finger at Marinette, tears rolling down her cheek and a chunk of hair clutched in her hand. "YOU DID THIS!" The entire class is staring, silently.
They both freeze when they see her hair falling out and joining the chunks already strewn around her desk.
Mlle. Bustier calmly interrupts her, "Now Lila, I don't think we should be accusing people right now, you don't even know what happened, let alone who did it."
"Of course it was Marinette; who else would it be?! I bet she did her hair like that today just to rub it in!" She shouts back.
Mlle. Bustier tries again, "How would sh-"
"Nair!" Sabrina interjects. "She put Nair in her shampoo! She's already been bullying her and we knew it would get worse."
She turns to Marinette and Chloe and raises her brow, "Girls, is this true?"
Marinette is the first to snap back to focus, "No, of course not!"
"Then how do you explain it?"
Chloe says sweetly, "She said about a month ago that she was diagnosed with cancer. She probably started chemo," She turns to Lila, "That can definitely make your hair fall out."
Lila opens and closes her mouth, unable to argue without revealing her lie, "That's true," She sits back down, still crying.
"Sabrina, why don't you take Lila home. I think she needs something to make her feel better."
After the two leave, class continues on rather uneventfully, if only because Marinette doesn't look up from her notes to see if any of the others are looking at her. Afterwards, as everyone is gathering their things to leave, she makes the mistake of finally looking up and notices Rose and Juleka glaring at her and Chloe. She quickly shifts her gaze back to her belongings and then the ground until her friend rests a hand on her shoulder and she meets her gaze.
Chloe gives Marinette a hug, "I'm sorry, my parents want me at the hotel immediately. Will you be okay or do I need to just tell them to screw themselves and walk you home instead?"
"Thanks Chlo, I'll be okay." She forces a weak smile.
Chloe smiles and kisses Marinette on the cheek before sprinting out of the school, leaving her standing in the hall with her hand on the side of her face.
The first time Chloe kissed her cheek was years ago. but she hasn't forgotten how happy it made her. She's thankful for the distraction as she smiles at the memory.
Marinette starts walking back home with a soft smile when she's suddenly shoved into a door. When it flies open, she stumbles for a second as she tries to gain her bearings, "You seriously thought you could get away with what you did to her?" The door slams shut and she looks up to see Sabrina standing over her.
"I didn't do anything." She says weakly as she attempts to walk past the redhead.
"Bullshit!" Sabrina sneers. She shoves her back again but this time, Marinette collides with something warm.
"Ow! Brina, she just tried to hurt me!" Lila whines from behind her.
Sabrina growls and lunges at Marinette. She's in too much shock to move and Sabrina slashes her face with her nails.
The pain is enough to spur Marinette into action and she rushes away from Lila. Sabrina spins towards her, now standing protectively in front of Lila, and yanks her back by her hair, "You will never hurt her again! I'll make sure of it."
Lila gives Marinette a sinister grin and fake cries, "She's never going to stop, Brina!"
Sabrina readies herself to attack again and although Marinette can defend herself, even after everything, she can't bring herself to hurt her. Part of her believes she deserves this. I should just let it happen...
But when she sees Sabrina's fist heading for her face, she pulls out of her grasp. Her hair tie and several strands of hair fall to the ground. She darts to the door and flings it open, only to collide with a frozen Alya. They stare at each other wide eyed for a moment before Marinette runs, wanting to get out of the school as fast as she can.
"Run from the consequences of your actions like the coward you really are!" Sabrina calls after her.
She hears footsteps chasing after her, "Wait! Marinette!"
Marinette doesn't stop as she wipes the tears from her eyes and sobs, "Leave me alone, Alya!" Her legs buckle, nearly giving out on her, but she miraculously stumbles forward instead of falling and uses the momentum to continue running. She never stops crying, but the full force of her aching sobs don't escape her mouth until she's finally out the school doors.