La Red

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D/C: I own nothing.

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Marinette liked going to Nino family's Food Mart. It was small, but it was very cozy. There was even an eating area as Nino's mom would make food there too. Which is where they are right now. Marinette and Nino sat facing each other, both munching on whatever they ordered off the menu for breakfast.

It was quiet between them, to the point that Ms. Lahiffe escaped to the backroom, yelling out to Nino to call her if a customer walks in. this left with the teens wondering who was going to talk first.

Nino would occasionally look over at Marinette as he tried to think over what he needed and wanted to say to her. Many of those things could very well get himself into trouble as he could run into. How could he tell her that Ladybug had told him as Carapace, not as Nino, several things that have been happening to her ever since Lila came into the picture? He really is a horrible friend…

"Didn't you say you wanted to say something to me in person?" Marinette asked, breaking Nino out of his self-deprecating thoughts. She put down her fork to pick up her drink and taking a tentative sip from it.

For his own part, Nino looked away bashfully. Right, that was one of the reasons he wanted to meet up with Marinette is to properly apologize and to get her full side of the story, then to talk about his breakup with Alya… or was it the other way around…

"I don't know where to start or say, Marinette." Nino said honestly, he pulled off his hat to scratch his head. "I found out a lot of things yesterday and I am still reeling from what I found out. I… I talked to Ladybug yesterday. Alya had a huge fight with her and I wanted to know-"

"If you could smooth things over between them?" Marinette added in.

"Ye-Yeah, that." Nino knew he was on a thin thread as he needed to be careful with his words. He can't just tell Marinette when he talked to Ladybug, he did so as Carapace. How Ladybug had told him about Lila's lies and how it severely affected not only the hero but also Marinette to a massive degree. "She told me… that she could no longer trust Alya due to her inability to seek out the actual truth than going onto detail about Lila. How they are not actually best friends and everything Lila had ever said about her to everyone, is just lies. Then… then Ladybug told me how Lila is going up against you and nearly caused you to get Akumatized! Marinette, why didn't you say anything?"

"Who would have believed me, Nino?" Marinette questioned back with an obvious shrug. She looked down at her half-finished breakfast wondering if Tikki would like some of it. "Alya would have easily said it was because I'm jealous of Lila or something else just a pitiful. Don't argue with me on this."

Nino had to agree, Alya has been making Marinette feel horrible every time the bluenette attempted to stand up for herself at every turn. And what did he do during all this? Nothing. He picked up his fork to take another bite of his food, but his stomach clenched over when he remembered something Ladybug mentioned to him. "I'm not arguing. I promised to just listen and not jump to conclusions but… almost getting Akumatized?"

"Luckily for me, it did not happen." Marinette said, patting Nino's hand in an attempt soothe him. "I'm okay, I didn't allow Lila to get to me."

"What did she say? What did she do?" Nino doesn't know if he really wanted to know what nearly caused Marinette to almost cross that point.

Marinette shifted uneasily in her seat. This was it. The make it or break it point. "Lila… she…"

Nino… Nino did not know what to think anymore as he sat there as Marinette told him everything that Lila has been doing against her. How Lila threatened her, causing her to lose all her friends and so much more. But he did what he promised the day before, to promise to judge or jump to conclusions. This is about Marinette, not about him.

"She made good on her threat on having everyone turning against me." Marinette finished with a half-shrug. She looked down at her unfinished food, deep in thought.

"What about Adrien?" Nino asked, wondering what part he has in all of this.

Marinette did not bother to hide her snort in clear aggravation at the mention of the name. "He knows about Lila's lies and told me to take the high road. That her lies were not hurting anyone."

Nino took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. This whole Lila thing goes far more than he originally thought it to be. "What else did Adrien do?"

"You're not going to stick up for him?"

"My supposed best friend allowed some chick to allow his friend to be bullied by the entire class… he has no ledge to stay standing on at this point." Nino put his glasses back on and wondered what the hell is going on in Adrien's mind. "Lila's lies are hurting someone. They are hurting you, even I could see that. Now more so than before."

"Adrien said something in the lines that her lies will blow over and that we should wait it out. No harm, no foul. He just wants to continue to see the good in people." Marinette concluded on her thoughts on Adrien, and his need to keep her quiet about Lila's lies.

"This is so much worse than I originally thought it to be…" Nino could not help but say aloud. He looked over at Marinette and could see how much this hurt her even if she attempted to hide it. It was not so much that the guy she had a crush on since day one treated her in such manner, but for her best friend and everyone else she grew up with turning their backs on her… he's more surprised that Marinette hasn't been Akumatized yet. "I'm so sorry, Marinette. I am so sorry for everything I've done and haven't done."

"Thank you, Nino. For believing in me."

Unbeknownst to the teens, they were overheard by someone who walked out of the shop with an all-knowing chuckle…

Nino and Marinette didn't know where to go after leaving the food mart. They knew that they would run the risk of running into their classmates if they go to all their normal hangouts. Almost getting caught by some of them when they visited the food mart, and this resulted with them having to use a side exit to escape unnoticed.

The only other place they could go would be the bakery but that would be too obvious. Far too obvious. So, they needed to go somewhere that no one would ever think to search for them.

"Sabrina… how did you manage to get several Jagged Stone's limited editions signed posters!" Nino could not help but exclaim at all the posters that covered the walls of Sabrina's room.

Sabrina looked over at Marinette to look for some sort of approval and when the latter gave the nod, she looked back at Nino with a wide grin. "Marinette did several commissions for Jagged Stone and as thanks, he gave her several of his posters and other merchandise. She gave me several of the posters! Aren't they amazing!"

At that, Nino turned around to see a nervous Marinette closing the door of Sabrina's room behind her, avoiding his gaze. "You met and have made clothes for Jagged Stone?"

"He considers Marinette as his honorary niece." Sabrina added in, shooting Marinette an unapologetic shrug.

For her own part, Marinette shot her a glare before looking at Nino with a half-hearted shrug. "I've been in contact with him since he last visited Paris. He tends to send me a bunch of his merch as a thank you for making his costumes… or clothes in general."

"Did you ever tell Alya about…" Nino asked, pointing at one of the posters.

"I did, but she still decided to believe Lila." Marinette rolled her eyes, she looked around Sabrina's room and couldn't help but be amazed by it. It was smaller than her own room, but it was cozy to say the least. Bookshelves filled to the brim with books, there was a massive desk that is filled with piles of papers, notebooks, and more books. Many of those books are textbooks that are related to local laws and other related things to the topic. "I asked him about it, and he confirmed my suspicions on him never having a cat, let alone writing a song about her."

Nino only shook his head, he also looked around the room to now see Sabrina sliding into her chair and slid in front towards her computer. "Could you tell me why we are here? No offense, Sabrina."

"None taken." Sabrina waved him off in favor to log in into her computer. Once she logged in, she looked over at Marinette. "Have you talked to him about the site?"

"That's why we are here." Marinette responded, shooting Nino a worried gaze. Nino, for his own part, kept his gaze on all the posters on the walls being completely memorized by them.

"Since you are wondering why you are here, it has to do with Lila." Sabrina rolled her eyes over to Nino to see him whip his head over at her and Marinette.

"What?"

Sabrina turned her attention back at her computer and quickly pulled up the blog. Her lips pursed seeing that one needed to login to get into it. Not surprising, M/B does this often to ensure certain people do not get logged into the site before changing a couple of things. Logging in and grinning at seeing there were many people online. "Here we are. Nino, come here."

Slowly, Nino walked over towards the desk and took Sabrina's seat when she got up and motioned him to sit. Nino slowly reached over to the mouse and looked through the blog his jaw just continued to drop further and further. Marinette and Sabrina looked at each other, wondering how this is going to go down. Nino could still very well not believe what he is seeing and runoff or… believe everything that is set before him.

"Does Adrien know about this place?" Nino asked in a low whisper.

"No, and we don't plan on showing it to him. The last thing we need is him using connections to get it to shut down or being all high and mighty on us." Sabrina rolled her eyes at the thought. She looked over at Marinette to see her looking uneasy before turning her attention back at Nino. "Are you going to tell him?"

"No." Nino shook his head; he could feel bile beginning to rise up his throat. He swallowed back down the bile as he needed to keep calm and continue looking through the site. Oh, he could not believe himself for actually allowing himself to follow Lila so blindly. "I'm afraid he'll just turn this around on us and try to make us feel bad about it too."

Marinette actually took a step back at Nino's words, so did Sabrina by the looks of it.

Nino could sense how the others were surprised by his words and explained his reasoning he said such thing. "Out of everyone in the class, minus Chloe, know him best. He wants to see the best in everyone, even if it means leaving himself in the open or… not see how it is hurting anyone else. He wants his life that is picture perfect…"

"So... you're saying he's looking through the word in rose-tinted glasses?" Sabrina asked with an eyebrow raised, not at all surprised by Nino's words. "When you said 'us,' does that mean you're going to help us take down Lila? We need to know before we figure out what to do with you."

"I'm in. I refuse to be a bystander anymore."

TBC.

R/R.