(Summary: Lila discovers exactly why she shouldn't lie about knowing somebody. Especially when that somebody is her most hated classmate. MDC was all too amused.
Again, this is set post-reveal, the classmates are gullible but not stupid and Lila is a fucking bitch.)
Lila lying about knowing MDC was like Lila lying about knowing Ladybug. Marinette couldn't exactly stand up and proclaim: "Yeah, Lila isn't actually friends with them, because I am them, and we hate each other." So Marinette was forced to cringe and suffer in silence as Lila's lies grated on her ears.
It hadn't taken too long for MDC to become a household name. After a couple of Twitter shout-outs from Jagged Stone, Adrien Agreste, Audrey Bourgeois and Clara Nightingale had everybody curious about Marinette's acronym. It wasn't particularly hard to set up a website─she'd been helping Alya with the Ladyblog for years─and MDC was suddenly the hottest new sensation out there. Of course, that was before the partnership with Gabriel.
Of all her classmates, only Adrien and Chloé knew her second secret identity. Her Chaton had been the one to suggest her actually creating a brand and Chloé's mother had been all too eager to be known as the mentor of the newest fashion mystery. Marinette had later been approached by Adrien, who'd been approached by Nathalie, about their brands working together on a new line. Marinette needed to focus on that─not Lila's yammering.
"Can't believe Chloé has MDC clothes," she heard Juleka murmur. Like most of their classmates, she still hadn't gotten over her contempt for the Mayor's daughter.
"She probably started whining to Mommy," Kim laughed, rubbing his eyes in imitation of a crying baby. Marinette sighed. That couldn't be farther from the truth. Audrey could barely remember Chloé's name─she could never be bothered to buy her presents. No, Marinette had actually designed Chloé outfit personally, as a thank-you for trying to be a better person. It might've actually worked, too. She hadn't heard Chloé demand Sabrina to do anything today.
"Actually," Lila started off shyly. Marinette huffed, rolling her eyes. She wondered what bogus claim Lila would make this time. "I─I asked MDC to make it for her."
"What?!" Alya demanded, her head snapping up. "Girl, why would you do that?"
Lila flinched. Marinette honestly wished Lila would just leave and become an actress. Her claims might actually turn out to be true if she tried. "I─I just wanted to get it for her birthday. I thought, maybe if I got her a gift she'd be nicer!" Marinette suppressed a snort. Chloé's birthday wasn't for another six months. Of course, none of their classmates knew that. It was just the kind of thing she learned as Class Rep.
Alya laughed, wrapping an arm around Lila's shoulders. "Girl, you are far too nice."
Rose, however, had fallen for the bait Lila had dropped. "Wait, you know MDC?!"
"I─I..." Lila looked at her hands. "I shouldn't say…"
Alya shook her head fervently. "No way girl! You can't drop a bomb like that and expect us not to ask! C'mon, who are they?!"
Lila sighed. "Oh, fine!" she lifted her hands dramatically. "Yes, I know MDC. But you can't say anything! He would be so upset with me if I told anybody! And I won't say who he is, either!"
"He?" Alya questioned. "Well, you did just reveal more to us than we already knew. I was beginning to think that he was made up by Gabriel for publicity or something."
"We all know you're a conspiracy theorist, Dudette," Nino laughed, focusing intently on his screen.
"Am not!" Alya argued.
"Do I need to bring up why Lady Wifi happened?" Nino questioned. Alya opened her mouth, then paused and deflated.
Lila frowned, speaking up. Marinette knew she didn't like losing their attention for too long. "You know, I really shouldn't be saying this, but I'm sure he won't mind, and I can trust all of you with a secret…" Lila leaned in conspiratorially. "You see, MDC and I are dating. We have been for a while. I introduced him to Gabriel and Audrey Bourgeois."
"No way!" Mylène exclaimed.
"That's amazing!" Rose grinned.
"You go, girl!" Alya laughed.
"Are you going to the fashion show with him? The one with Gabriel?" Juleka quietly asked. Marinette smirked as Lila froze for a millisecond.
"Uh, yeah, I'm going," Lila smiled. "But not with him. He really wants to keep his identity secret."
"Do you think you can get us tickets?" Rose asked, gasping.
"I'll see what I can do!" Lila laughed. "I'm sure he'll let you guys sit in the front row!"
"Woah!" Rose exclaimed.
"Awesome!" Juleka murmured.
As others voiced their excitement, Marinette found herself smirking. Maybe─just maybe─Lila would come through for once. She caught Adrien's eye, who only raised a curious eyebrow at her devious expression. Maybe MDC would be making an unexpected appearance, too…
Mlle. Bustier was standing at the front of the class, beaming up at them. "I have a small announcement to make! Last night, tickets to the Gabriel and MDC fashion show were donated to the class anonymously! We'll be going on Friday night, but I do need you to ask your parents to sign these permission slips…"
Alya was gaping at Lila. "Did you do this?!"
Lila was smiling tightly. She nodded, seeming to come to a conclusion in her head. "Of course I sent them! I'd never go back on my word, Alya. When I make promises, I keep them!"
"You sent the tickets Lila?" Mlle. Bustier asked. Lila confessed that she did indeed, which only led to their classmates fawning over her.
Adrien gestured for Marinette to sit beside him. Nino took notice, quickly swapping with her. He sent Adrien a thumbs up, whispering, "you go, bro!"
Adrien raised an eyebrow at Marinette. "Why, Princess?"
Marinette ruffled his hair. "You're a clever kitty─figure it out!"
Adrien sighed, bumping her shoulder. "So will we be making up an excuse to not go with them?"
Marinette smirked. "You're modeling for it─obviously you won't be sitting with them."
Adrien frowned. "Keyword: 'you'."
"Well, I'm just a lonely Collège student, kitty. Where else would I be?"
Adrien looked down at her bag, where Plagg had flown to converse with Tikki. "You've been spending way too much time with my kwami, Milady. He's corrupted you."
Plagg's head popped up. "Please! I didn't do anything! She's naturally manipulative!"
Adrien's only response was to close her bag. "Fine, Mari… what's your plan?"
"There's Adrien!" Rose exclaimed, pointing to him as he walked down the catwalk, sporting a feathered fedora that may have been created because Adrien had realised that he was the person Ladybug had rejected Chat for and he teased Marinette mercilessly for. Most of the outfits had a butterfly theme, a bold statement for an up and coming designer, but one that was recognised, nonetheless.
Juleka shushed Rose, looking on enviously. Marinette would have to make Juleka a model in her next show. She did want to be a model, after all. Alya was filming the show, something she'd normally be reprimanded for, but whenever somebody went to complain, Jean, Marinette's assistant that Gabriel insisted she'd get, would direct them elsewhere. Lila was, as always, spreading lies, this time about how MDC had wanted her to model, but because of her sprained ankle, she couldn't. Honestly, that was bullshit. But so were all of her other claims.
Adrien caught her eye, nodding subtly. Marinette took this as her cue, excusing herself to the bathroom. When she'd gotten backstage, she was immediately forced into a dressing room by Chloé.
"Fix her make-up," Chloé directed. The beautician made quick work of Marinette, adding eyeline, mascara and lipstick. Marinette had done everything else at home, as she knew she'd only have a short period of time before the next step of her plan. Chloé handed her the dress she'd specifically made for this occasion. "Change, now." She pulled out the long, pink and white dress that was adorned with silk, embroidered butterflies. There were lace purple sleeves and her white kitten heels were barely two inches, a precaution recommended by Gabriel after he'd discovered her intent for that night. Marinette suspected he was thinking about the seven mannequins she'd knocked down in one go.
"Ready?" Adrien asked, standing behind the curtain with her.
"As I'll ever be," Marinette exhaled, imagining that she was in her suit, facing down an akuma. Yeah. She could do this. Definitely. Maybe. Okay, no. She was going to trip and fall and make a complete fool of herself in front of all of those people and─
"Hey." Adrien took her elbow, turning Marinette to face him. "Listen to me, Mari. You'll be fine. Don't overthink this. Don't doubt yourself. I know you can do this."
"R-right." Marinette smiled. He always did manage to make her feel better. "I can do this. I can do this!"
Adrien smiled, stepping away from her and heading out. Somebody had to be on akuma (Lila) watch. Marinette took the offered microphone, nodding to herself.
"And now we have MDC, in the flesh!" Marinette braced herself for the looks as she walked out.
It was… pretty great, honestly, to see Lila's flabbergasted expression. Max's eyebrows were raised, Alix was grinning, Nino looked supportive, yet still as surprised as everyone else, Nathaniel looked inspired and Alya… Alya looked betrayed. But it wasn't directed at Lila. No. It was directed at Marinette. She almost aborted the mission, but she couldn't go back now.
When Marinette reached the halfway mark, she raised the microphone to her mouth. "Well… hello, everyone! My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, or as you know me, MDC." Lila was looking slightly panicked, but nobody paid her any mind. "Um… I'll be honest, I was going to wait a couple of years before revealing who I am. But… how do I put this… have you ever known somebody was manipulating people you care about, but felt… helpless?" The few reporters in attendance looked curious at this. "Well, there's a girl in my class who's been lying about… everything. Knowing Jagged Stone─"
"Hi Mari! Fang says hi!" The rockstar called. Marinette giggled, some tension leaving her body.
"Crocodiles can't talk, Uncle Jagged," she laughed. "But, anyways, where was I? Oh, right! Knowing a lot of celebrities, and normally, that'd be fine, you know? I'm sure loads of people lie about knowing celebrities. But she didn't just lie about this. No. She faked everything. Illnesses, injuries, charities. She exploits them. And that's not right, you know? She even managed to frame and get me expelled. It was overturned, but, it's still there, you know? And this is all because I told her to stop lying."
Marinette's classmates began to turn to Lila, frowning as they finally─finally─listened. They couldn't interrupt her, which was why she decided to do this here and now.
"But when I called her out on it… she managed to convince everybody that I was jealous. And that hurt. Here were these people, that I've known for years, who I've always gone out of my way to help… and they wouldn't even give me the benefit of the doubt." Marinette felt tears well up in her eyes. Alya's mouth was agape, Nino was looking down guiltily and Lila was panicking.
"But no. If I wasn't jealous of her amazing, fictional life, I was jealous because she was claiming to date this guy I like. And it's funny, because he's the only other person who knows that she's a liar. So… I have to ask. Was it something I said? Something I did? What was the reason that made you refuse to believe me? Did I not provide enough pastries at the birthday parties that I threw for you? Were the school tours I organised not good enough?"
Marinette felt a stab of irrational guilt at their guilty and pale faces. She wondered why she felt so bad that she was finally allowed to voice the thoughts that had been plaguing her for months.
"You know what the funny thing is?" Marinette asked. She looked at all of her classmates. Some looked guilty, but others, like Alya and Alix, were livid. She almost pitied Lila. And it was also ironic that Marinette hadn't even needed to disprove the lies. They were just listening, and putting things together all by themselves. "I'm only revealing myself because she claimed that I'm a guy who she's dating. She also claimed that she commissioned an outfit that I made for a friend, and that said friend's birthday was coming up in a few days. It's not for another six months." Chloé sent her a half-hearted sneer. Marinette laughed. "Don't look at me like that, Chloé. You're my friend."
There were a few minutes of silence as Marinette inhaled.
"So, any questions?" she asked. The reporters all clamoured to get her attention, but Marinette's attention was solely on her classmates.
Finally, Rose raised her hand. "D-do you hate us?" she asked quietly, tears in her eyes.
Marinette couldn't help the small gasp she let out. "No! Of course not! I could never hate you! I mean, I'm pretty disappointed, but I also still kinda love you guys!"
Next, Max decided to speak up. "To be clear, we are talking about Lila Rossi, who has been claiming rather outlandish things recently and has been claiming to date you, or MDC, Adrien Agreste, Prince Ali and every other mildly popular French male?"
Marinette raised her eyebrows, before she realised what Max was doing. She raised the microphone. "No comment." This was confirmation enough for everybody, but Marinette wasn't going to say yes. She wasn't about to destroy Lila's life. Okay, maybe just a little bit.
Alya's arm was raised, a hard glint in her eye. Marinette was certain that her question was going to involve the word 'murder' somewhere. "So, I have a series of questions. One, why are you wearing a butterfly dress?"
She blinked. Not what she was expecting. "Well, I guess that I wanted to make a point. Butterflies have had a rather negative reputation lately, but they, themselves, are adorable creatures who haven't hurt anybody! I think that hating butterflies would be like hating akuma victims. They've all been manipulated by Hawkmoth. They're not evil, he is. We shouldn't judge or hate something because of a factor that is out of their control."
Alya nodded in satisfaction. Marinette was beginning to think that Alya was doing this to manipulate the reporters. "Two. Why did you decide to reveal Lila here?"
"I never said that I was referring to Lila," Marinette said, though everyone knew she was. "But… I realised that the only way that any of you would ever listen to me is if we weren't on equal footing. If you had no choice. Because everytime I had something to say, I was shut down because I was jealous or a bully."
"Alright then… and my third and final question…" Alya paused, looking down and biting her lip. "Could you ever forgive me?"
Marinette choked on a sob. "Y-yes. Of course I forgive you, Alya!"
If Lila was akumatized and defeated all within the span of ten minutes, nobody commented. And if nobody ever listened to a word Lila said again, nobody brought it up. They did, however, make sure that Marinette knew how loved and cared for she was. And Gabriel, of course, was happy, as sales were rocketing and Adrien was happy because his Lady was happy.
Marinette was happy because, for once, she was listened to.