Summary: It was only a matter of time before Chloé decided enough was enough. Lila would never know what hit her.
Yo, so somebody stole chapters 14, 15 and 16 of this and posted it as their own and that is the funniest shit to me. Like, it's flattering as fuck but I'm here wondering what the point was? I just checked and I can't find their profile/the story, so it appears that they deleted their account.
But hey, in case you're reading this, I understand that you might be a bot or a person who thought this would be funny, but do understand that you're a walking piece of flaming dogshit and I want nothing to do with you, so could you kindly delete my work off of your page?
I feel like that was too aggressive. Was it? I mean, I put so much time and effort into this story only for three of the most draining chapters to be taken and plagiarised by somebody else. And I'm not even that mad. Just disappointed in this person.
(Okay, I'm a little mad.)
But, thank you to everyone who commented and told me what was happening. I really appreciate it and am thankful for all of you guys.
Anyways, on with Chloé destroying Lila.
Nobody knew the identity of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Nobody. No living, breathing person knew the identity of Ladybug and Chat Noir.
(Except for the actual superheroes, of course.)
But that wasn't entirely true. One person─one─knew who they were. How, you ask? Well, it became obvious after you realise that they always disappear when the heroes show up─not to mention that they're identical.
That one person didn't tell a single soul, surprisingly enough. But it could be excused─after all, she was trying to get back into their good graces after screwing up horrendously.
So that's why, when a certain liar started harassing the person she knew to be Ladybug and taking advantage of the person who was definitely Chat Noir, Chloé Bourgeois decided that she needed to act.
She didn't get her hands dirty immediately. No, she plopped down into the empty seat beside Dupain-Cheng─Césaire was off fawning over Rossi─and glared at the Class President.
Marinette frowned, eyes darting around the classroom. "Uh, Chloé? Is something wrong?"
Chloé stared her down.
No, it still didn't make sense.
"I don't get it," Chloé eventually said.
"Um, you don't get what? Is this about the macarons I brought to class? I know I didn't give you one, but that's because you never want any─"
"Not that," Chloé snapped. "I don't understand why our useless classmates haven't realised that Rossi is clearly lying."
It was almost comical how quickly Dupain-Cheng froze and stared at her, jaw dropped. Chloé avoided looking at her open mouth because ew. "I─you─you believe me?!"
Chloé snorted. "I'm not blind. Rossi is clearly a liar and I'm, frankly, tired of hearing it." Realising that Dupain-Cheng was Ladybug may have helped, but only a tiny bit. Chloé was, after all, a genius.
"But you know the truth, then?" Marinette said. "Oh my God, of all people…"
"What do you mean by that?" Chloé demanded. Dupain-Cheng didn't respond. "Nonetheless, I want to know why you haven't stopped her by now?" After all, Ladybug should really be capable of stopping something as simple as a liar.
Dupain-Cheng glared at her. Chloé quirked an eyebrow. She must've gotten on the baker's nerves. "I've tried. And I got expelled for it. There's no point in calling Lila out since they'll never believe me."
Chloé looked at their classmates with little interest. It seemed that her presence at Dupain-Cheng's table was starting to garner attention. Césaire was still far too enamoured with whatever tale Rossi was spinning to notice. "Then make them believe you."
"How would I─" Dupain-Cheng scoffed. "No amount of evidence will make them see, Chloé. Adrien's the only other person who knows she's a liar and all he wants to do is take the 'high ground'. No matter what I do, fighting against Lila will end badly for me."
Chloé frowned. Was… Ladybug giving up on this? Hardly. No way.
"Bullshit. She's not infallible, Dupain-Cheng. And you're─"
"In my seat? Yes." Chloé glanced up at Césaire. The former superhero's furious glare was quite the contrast to Chloé's bored stare.
"Technically, I'm in Dupain-Cheng's seat," Chloé said, standing and pushing past Césaire. "Think on that, DC. You might just realise that being docile in your little war is something only an idiot would do."
Chloé pointedly ignored Adrien's curious look and whatever was coming out of Césaire's mouth.
Ugh, she could feel a migraine coming on. Where's Sabrina with her─
Oh. Right, Chloé almost forgot.
Sabrina abandoned her. Just like everybody else.
When Dupain-Cheng made no move to put Rossi in her place, Chloé decided to go after the next superhero.
Chloé glared at the camera that stared her down, unmoving. "Adrien is busy, Chloé."
"Then clear his schedule," Chloé snapped. She genuinely hated this assistant. "I need to lecture him about how he is clearly being sexually harassed by Lila Rossi and he needs to listen. Now please, let me in." There's no way Nathalie could turn her away now. She even said please.
"I'm sorry─did you just say he's being sexually harassed by Mlle. Rossi?"
"Yes, he is. Are you going to force me to wait any longer, or should I call my Daddy?" Sancouer didn't reply, but the gate did swing open. Chloé smirked, walking up to the doors and entering the house.
Chloé was mildly surprised to see Uncle Gabriel waiting for her along with his assistant. "Chloé," he said, frowning down at her. "What is this I hear about my son being sexually harassed?"
Rossi worked for Gabriel, right?
Well, this was the perfect opportunity, then.
"Oh, Uncle Gabe," she offered a simpering smile. "There's a lot you've yet to hear."
Chloé didn't actually get to talk to Adrien that evening, but it was fine because the next day at school, Adrien took her aside and demanded to know what game she was playing.
"Well, Adrikins, when I realised that Lila was taking advantage of you and your family, something had to be done. Especially since she's taken to bullying Dupain-Cheng, too."
"Didn't you used to bully Marinette? Wait, did you just say that she's bullying Marinette?"
"It's pretty obvious," Chloé shrugged, leaning against her locker. "And yes, I did bully her once, I've matured since then." Adrien sent her a look. "What? I have! I've been trying to be a better person since─" Chloé broke off, but Adrien's eyes softened, nonetheless.
He frowned. "But Chloé, I'm not being sexually harassed by Lila."
Chloé didn't believe that sentence for a minute. She pulled up his sleeve, revealing nail marks across his arms. There was a faint trace of blood along the darkest one. "I'm willing to bet that you have marks in other areas too, Adrien."
"But she's never touched my─"
"Were you uncomfortable with the places that she did touch? Did she stop when you asked her to? Did she touch you more in front of other girls? I know for a fact that she kissed you without your permission, took a picture and sent it to a bunch of girls."
"W-well I─" Adrien shook his head. "She just kissed me on my cheek! You always did that! And, I mean, you used to touch me without my permission and that made me uncomfortable but that wasn't─"
"It was," Chloé said. Adrien frowned. "I did take advantage of you and what I did was without your permission and I'm sorry that I ever made you uncomfortable. Everything I did was my own fault and I'm really sorry that I ever hurt you. I never realised that was bad until I saw Rossi doing it and I saw your face and─" Chloé broke off, wiping at her eyes. "I'm sorry, Adrien."
He reached for her hand. "I'm─I'm not mad─"
Chloé cleared her throat, tensing and offering a smile. "And we'll work on your confrontational issues another time, Adrikins, but for now, we need to do something about Rossi. Unfortunately, it will take way too long for your father to file a restraining order against her since her mother's a diplomat, so I suggest that we take care of this problem ourselves."
Adrien crossed his arms. "You said she was bullying Marinette? When? I haven't seen her do anything, and I told her that if she stopped I'd be her friend."
"Oh, Adrien," Chloé chuckled. "You're so innocent. I'll have Sab─my butler make a presentation for you about the different types of bullying. Isolation is one of them and so is spreading rumours. I should know─I was the master." Chloé glared at the floor. "Anyways, we're going to take her down."
"But wouldn't that make us as bad as her?"
Chloé paused. Would it? No.
She offered a small smile. The smile was bittersweet and hurt Chloé's face.
"No, Adrien. I'm worse."
Chloé was uncharacteristically quiet for the next few days. And by uncharacteristically, she meant that she never responded to anyone─even the teachers. She nearly caused quite a few akumas (specifically in Mendeleiv's class), but her silence ended up being worth it.
It was simple to overhear the conversation, especially since Lila never bothered to keep her voice down.
"Um, guys," she timidly started off. "I don't know if you know, but there's a reason Chloé hasn't been speaking for the past few days."
"Huh?" Alya looked up from her phone. "Oh, I didn't even notice! No wonder there hasn't been a million akumas trying to kill us lately."
"But she hasn't caused a million akumas," Rose said, tilting her head to the side.
"I'm exaggerating," Alya said. "But I'm not wrong."
Chloé ignored the pitiful glance Adrien sent her way and when Dupain-Cheng sprinted into the room, ranting about being late, nobody bothered to spare her a second glance. Lila's groupies were too enamoured with the latest lie she was telling and the other half of the class was trying to wrangle the tomato into showing them the artwork to his newest chapter of his Ladybug comic book that Chloé did not read. Definitely. She's never even looked at it. Nope. Never.
Lila quickly commandeered their attention. "Well, anyways, the reason she hasn't been talking lately, is because─"
"Here we go," Dupain-Cheng muttered under her breath. Somehow simultaneously rolling her eyes and sending the stink eye Lila's way.
"She's been giving blowjobs to a bunch of upperclassmen from the nearest Lycée and they gave her an STD in her throat because she didn't make them use a condom." Gasps rang out. Eyes swivelled to focus on her. Chloé's shoulders shook with silent laughter.
Dupain-Cheng glanced between Chloé and Lila. "I think that's my favourite one yet."
Chloé scoffed. "What the fuck, DC?" Shit, she wanted to remain silent until she called Rossi out. It would've been more dramatic. Still, she supposed that she could speed things up.
Chloé absolutely did not notice how Sabrina inched away from Lila, a look of unbridled horror and betrayal on her face. She didn't think about how that meant Sabrina knew her well enough to know that was bullshit. And she certainly didn't acknowledge the spark of hope that was birthed in her chest, or the way her stomach twisted at the thought that maybe, maybe, Sabrina still cared.
Dupain-Cheng held up her hands defensively. "I'm just saying, most of the time her lies are about me! And it's kind of karma."
Chloé considered that. "Point." She stood, leaning against her desk. "Ugh, I suppose this means I'll have to disprove that absolutely bullshit theory Lila just proposed. So difficult, I swear."
Césaire glared her down. "Come on, Chloé. Just because we found out the truth, doesn't mean you have to make up lies about Lila. Your reputation can't get any worse."
"That is a fact," Chloé conceded. It was. Her reputation around this school─and most of Paris, for that matter─was at the bottom of a dumpsite in Guatemala. "However, that's because of things I've actually done. Nobody's allowed to ruin my reputation except for me. So, Rossi, prepare to be ruined."
She pulled out her phone, texting Jean to hurry up and arrive with the documents. In it, was proof of Lila being banned from several states in America as well as legitimate statements from the people she's lied about and the lawsuit and restraining order from the Agreste family on behalf of Adrien. Ah, she couldn't wait for him to arrive.
"Now, we have about ten minutes before undeniable proof that Lila is also a walking piece of flaming dogshit arrives, so I'm gonna talk and you're gonna listen. M'kay?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Good. So we know that Rossi and DC hate each other, yeah?"
"No, Marinette hates Lila for no reason and Lila's been trying to be her friend for ages," Alya said.
"Hm." Chloé nodded as if she gave a shit. "Right. See, remember when Rossi got DC expelled? Yeah? Well, do you remember why that was? Apparently, DC pushed Rossi down a flight of stairs. Rossi later rescinded her statement and claimed she fell and must've imagined it. Now, why was this?"
Rose frowned. "That she imagined it?"
"No. Rossi later told Principal Damocles that she had a 'lying disease' and that was the reason DC was reinstated as a student of this here establishment. Damocles, however, refused to tell other students of Rossi's disease, in case of her getting bullied, so DC came back under mysterious circumstances, with no explanation ever being given as to why she was back. Now, why would Rossi say that she has a disease which forces her to lie?"
"Because she's being forced?" Kim guessed.
Chloé smirked. "You're right and wrong, plebeian."
"That's not my─"
"Don't care. Anyways, people would assume that Rossi was being forced to say she has this disease, which would lead to the assumption that DC had, in fact, pushed her down a flight of stairs. But, since the 'truth' never got out, the same thing still happened and most people think that DC is a raging lunatic with a tendency for attempted murder."
"Get to the point, Chloé," Césaire huffed out. Chloé didn't understand how Dupain-Cheng was friends with her. Honestly, she was as bad of a friend as─
Chloé's not going there.
"If DC was willing to push Rossi, a diplomat's daughter─" Supposedly. "Down a flight of stairs, then why didn't she do it with me?"
Césaire rolled her eyes. "We're not here to feed your ego."
Max frowned. "No, no, she's got a point."
Alix's eyes narrowed. "Chloé bullied Marinette for years, and she never tried to hurt her. And they had a weird rivalry over─" Juleka elbowed her. Alix grimaced. The boys looked clueless at the exchange. "Fine. You-Know-Who, the same boy she and Lila's been arguing about. Why would Marinette attack Lila and not Chloé?"
"Exactly," Chloé nodded.
Nino grinned. "Also, Marinette cried whenever we trapped spiders in plastic boxes and made them fight. No way she tried to kill Lila." Chloé shuddered. She'd almost forgotten about that.
Césaire gaped. "I'm sorry, you what?"
"Boy things," Ivan said.
Adrien cringed away from him. "Uh, I've never─"
"Boys-who-had-proper-childhoods-things," Kim corrected.
"Okay." Chloé never wanted to meet a 'boy' again. "Now, onto another lie. All of that crap about Jagged Stone. Complete bullshit and with the way she words things, Jagged is a pedophile. Now, are we really going to believe the person who implies that Jagged Stone is a pedophile?" Chloé asked. Dupain-Cheng perked up.
"Hey, I mean, I agree with you, but always believe the victim," she said. "But, yeah, Chloé's right. Lila's definitely lying about that. I know Jagged personally, I've designed a bunch of his album covers and stuff and he's never met Lila."
Rossi scoffed. "How do we even know you met Jagged?"
Adrien raised his hand. "I've seen them together."
"Same."
"Same."
"Ah, you saw that episode too?"
"Uh-uh. It was amazing."
"Do you remember her room?"
Dupain-Cheng flailed about. "Enough! Enough! So Lila doesn't know Jagged! Chloé, moving on!"
Chloé absolutely did not want to move on. Adrien looked about innocently. She knew for a fact that he'd seen the episode, and the innocent explanation his mind had come up with absolutely killed Chloé every time she remembered it.
"Hm. Clara Nightingale─DC's also met her. Bob Roth, XY, my mother, Prince Ali, Stephen Bespielberg, Penny Rolling and about a million other people. Also, DC has met over half of the people on my list. Since when did you have connections?"
Dupain-Cheng looked at her incredulously. "Since when did you have a list?"
"My butler made it," Chloé said. "Césaire's blog helped. Also, the blog."
"Chloé, be nice," Adrien said.
"I'm always nice," she scoffed. "Anyways, Césaire, your blog was semi-decent until you decided to interview Lila as Ladybug's best friend. If anything, Ladybug's best friend─"
"Who is it? You?"
"No, Chat Noir," Chloé scoffed. Obviously. "Besides, if Lila is Ladybug's best friend, then she knows her secret identity. Rossi's been Akumatized a lot. Why hasn't she gone after Ladybug before she transforms to steal her Miraculous? Also, Hawkmoth would know her identity, then. I haven't seen any news broadcasts about Hawkmoth exposing Ladybug's identity. Have you?"
"We don't know that she knows her identity," Césaire tried.
"Yes, we do!" Chloé raised her arms. "Think about it! Use your brain for once!"
Alya glared her down. "Why are you suddenly so insistent that Lila's lying, anyways?"
Chloé blinked dumbly at her. "Did you… did you miss her telling everyone that I was giving blowjobs to a bunch of boys at the lycée nearby?"
"How do we know that that's a lie?" Césaire demanded.
"Because I'm not," Chloé said. "If you want proof, just ask─" she faltered. Sabrina wouldn't back her up here. She hasn't spoken to Chloé in forever.
"Let's just ask Luka," Dupain-Cheng said. She nodded to Juleka, who was already calling her brother. They waited with baited breath for him to pick up.
"Jules?" His voice sounded. Chloé had to admit, his voice was sexy.
"Um, Luka, have you heard a r-rumour that, uh─" Juleka thrusted the phone towards Marinette. "You do it."
"Right." Dupain-Cheng stared at the phone. "H-hi, Luka!"
"Marinette?" he asked. "Is something wrong? Your tune is─"
"I'm fine! Um, we have a question. Have you heard any rumours that Chloé Bourgeois has been doing… sexual favours to boys in your school?"
There was silence for a moment. "No, but I'll ask."
Juleka's forehead dropped against her desk. "Oh my god."
"He didn't even judge you," Alix commented. "What the fuck? Is he real? I don't think he's real. Aren't boys meant to be super weird about these kinds of things?"
"Marinette, if you don't marry him, I will," Césaire said.
Nino gestured at himself. "I'm right here."
"Yes, and I love you, but he's perfect."
Luka's voice sounded once more. "Nobody's heard anything about it. Why?"
"I'll tell you later," Dupain-Cheng squeaked out. "B-bye, Luka!"
"Goodbye, Mari─" she hung up and threw the phone at Juleka. Rude.
Césaire stared Dupain-Cheng down through her glasses. "So that's a thing."
She flushed. "Now's not the time for that, Alya! Did you hear what Luka just said? Nobody heard any rumours about Chloé!"
Rossi looked around nervously. "I-I mean, you must've told him to say he hadn't heard anything."
"When did she have the opportunity?" Chloé asked. She rolled her eyes, watching as a familiar car pulled up to the school gates. "Give it up, Rossi. We're all tired of your bullshit."
Césaire frowned. "We haven't seen any evidence that Lila's a liar. And if she were, I'd know. No way she could tell all those lies about my best friend only for me not to notice. A lot of those were probably misunderstandings."
Chloé leaned forwards. "Then why would DC say Rossi's a liar?" Césaire opened her mouth. "No, no. Think about it. If Lila Rossi is a liar, then why would Dupain-Cheng call her one? And if your answer is A─sorry, the person she is clearly crushing on, then you're dumber than I thought." See, Chloé wasn't an evil person. She didn't out Dupain-Cheng's painfully obvious infatuation with Adrien to him. Césaire gaped at her, her mouth opening and closing every few seconds. The second-hand-embarrassment was almost painful, if not for the vindictive satisfaction that shot through her.
A knock on the door sounded, drawing the class's attention. Chloé smirked. 'Go time.'
She beckoned Jean inside and had him follow her to Lila's seat. She took file after file as she spoke. "Let's see… restraining order from the Agreste family, defamation lawsuit from Gabriel, termination contract from Gabriel, sexual harassment lawsuit on behalf of Adrien Agreste… ah, there's more." Chloé smirked. Jagged Stone alone made up half of the pile, just ahead of the Agreste family with the amount of legal action taken against Rossi. Then again, Jagged was suing Lila on behalf of Dupain-Cheng, too. And there were a lot of those.
"Wh-what is this?" Rossi demanded. Her face was ashen and she was shaking. She was not intimidating in the slightest bit.
"It means, Rossi," Chloé dropped the files onto her desk. It was toitering to the left and obscured most of Rossi's face from view. Chloé could still see the fear in her eyes. "That you're finished." She smirked. "I did tell you that I'd ruin you, didn't I?"
"You─you─you─" Rossi lunged for Chloé. Before she could react, Dupain-Cheng's hand wrapped around her wrist.
"I wouldn't, if I were you, Lila," she advised. A student stood, drawing their attention.
"So Lila lied about everything," Alix intervened. "That's been dealt with, clearly. Now, should we start running before the akuma comes, or d'you want to stick around to get attacked?"
"Good point," Kim said. "But somebody should make sure she doesn't run."
"I've got that handled," DC said. "I'll bring her to Damocles and get him to call her mom."
"I'll come with," Adrien said. He frowned at Lila, glancing nervously at Marinette. "Just in case."
Chloé groaned. "Ugh, just kiss already."
Dupain-Cheng turned scarlet. "Chloé!"
Nobody knew the identity of Ladybug and Chat Noir.
Supposedly.
What they'd never know, was that Chloé Bourgeois, the once and future holder of the Bee Miraculous, knew both of their identities.
She never said a word.
…
Okay, she did, but that was years later after Hawkmoth had been dealt with. And they were all very drunk when she told. It's not like any of them remembered the next day, anyways.
But the future saw Chloé as many things. An awesome friend, the best superhero to ever walk the planet, the person who got Lila Rossi out of their lives for good and a kickass godmother to little Louis Dupain-Cheng-Agrest (she'll never get over the amount of hyphens they used).
And most of all, she had Sabrina back again. And what they had was real. Not fake. That was all she could ever ask for.
A/N IDGAF, Luka's definitely in Lycée. He's too old to be in a Collège.