So.. sorry this came so late? I had to suddenly take a job I'm not exactly keen on, and there isn't really a decent space to write.. only one more week though.
Also did not expect how many wanted the follow up chapter. I mean I know I said I would write it, but honestly it was just something I said without thought - I think there were only four reviews total across this and the FFN version that didn't ask for a part two, so here it is!
As she all but ran through the streets of Paris, she forced herself to keep moving - because as long as she kept moving, she could redirect her mental spiral. She could focus on the impact of her shoes on the pavement, and the burning soreness spreading up her shins, and the way her lungs screamed as they were pushed to her limits trying to keep up with her running and gasping.
She could focus her head on all the physical pains, rather than the overwhelming guilt that racked through her - rather than the shame of doubting her friend, rather than the unnerving fear that she would never be able to make it up to her..
Anything rather than the shame that overwhelmed her as her mind made connection upon connection - making her realise what her friend had likely been put through these last few months.
As if called forth by her slower pace, she recalled the last video she had watched before storming out of her apartment.
—
The school cameras weren't the best, and though there wasn't any audio, the video quality was only slightly grainy. It was a scene from the hallway just outside the locker room, seeming to be another confrontation between Marinette and Lila - she had worried for the latter, since she always seemed so much more.. delicate than Marinette; Lila who suffered from certain medical problems, against Marinette who Alya had once seen casually flip a table to help someone hide from an enraged akuma.
Those worries had quickly fled as the confrontation unfolded.
She still had no idea what their conversation was, but the disdainful sneer on the Italian girl's face seemed completely at odds with everything she had shown previously - and yet Marinette stood there calmly (or as calm as she ever was when dealing with Lila) so clearly it wasn't any surprise to her.
She had almost convinced herself that it was just some weird camera angle or something, or just Lila gaining the courage to stand up for herself.. but then Lila did something that shocked her to her core.
She slapped Marinette.
Not lightly, or impulsively either (it wouldn't have made it acceptable if it was, but still) but a fully drawn back, putting her weight behind it, slap across the face.
Then there was the look - she recognised that look. It was the look of a bully - of someone putting someone else down, and taking plenty of enjoyment from that act. Hell, she could have sworn Lila's sneer was on its way to outright laughter..!
If Marinette's head hadn't snapped back towards Lila - along with a straight jab to her jaw. It knocked Lila back several steps, but even on the grainy video it was clear that it was more due to shock than the actual force of the blow.
Lucky for Lila - she had seen Marinette knock out a senior back in their first year after he said that he wished Chat Noir stayed gone after the battle against Timebreaker, so someone else would get a chance to fight alongside Ladybug.
The guy still crossed the road whenever he saw Marinette approaching.
Marinette had seemed fine after the confrontation, it having ended with Lila running away after the jab to her jaw, but it raised a stomach-turning question.
Was it an isolated incident?
She wasn't sure it was.
Her mind flashed to several injuries or bruises Marinette had been sporting this year - things she never had a good excuse for - always waving any concern off as her being clumsy, or not looking where she was going..
She wanted to throw up - and her room suddenly felt too small.
Cramped.
Like the walls were closing in - she needed to get out.
So she did; she stormed out of her room, barely slowing down to grab her jacket, before she was out the door - ignoring the worried calls her sisters yelled after her.
—
Her breathing came out in ragged gasps, as she finally came to a stop at a random bench in the park - she still felt the flashes of cold shame go through her, but she honestly couldn't run any longer.. What was she going to do?
"Babe..?" came the hesitant tone, and she startled in the direction of the voice, seeing her boyfriend of three years approaching with a worried look on his face.
Despite herself, she tried to clean up the worst of her tears.
"How'd you find me..?" she asked in a hoarse voice, trying to distract herself.
"Ah.. well Nora called me. She said you stormed out of the house, and seemed to be crying.." her boyfriend responded slowly, and despite the situation, she narrowed her eyes at the feeling that he was leaving something out.
He winced, clearly recognising her expression.
"She.. also warned me that if I was the reason, she would fold me into a paper airplane and throw me from the Eiffel Tower.."
Alya made a noise somewhere between a gasp of indignation and a snort of laughter - she knew her sister was simply protective, but at the same time.. Alya had never quite understood what the older girl had against Nino.
There was a strange dichotomy between her sister's apparent demand that Nino be able to protect Alya, and at the same time believing that people should be strong enough to protect themselves.
Alya even had that interview with her where she stated that the people of Paris shouldn't become too reliant on Ladybug and Chat Noir since they wouldn't always be around to protect them!
Which didn't even touch on the irony behind Alya's boyfriend actually being a part-time superhero who could definitely protect her if it was needed, despite it not being needed since Alya herself was also a part-time superhero!
Looking up at the calm eyes of her boyfriend, she felt her emotions break all over again, and it all started to spill out.
The truth.
Or rather, the complete lack of truth in any of Lila's stories; the realisations that came with that discovery - how they had been treating Marinette, what they had missed about how Lila treated Marinette..
Everything up to the last video she had seen where Lila slapped Marinette.. and the disturbing conclusions she had drawn from that scene and Marinette's occasional unexplained injury or bruise.
A part of her felt relieved to get it off her chest, to discuss it with someone else (she suspected Max knew - he had been the one to send her the video, but had said nothing else with it).
Another part of her hated seeing those same feelings of shame and anger that had so overwhelmed her start to creep up on Nino as well. Not that she could keep it from him - it was too important, and she didn't want any secrets between them besides.
When she finally finished relaying everything, they simply sat together in silence. She would let him process everything at his own pace - a few minutes to think could hardly be begrudged of him, considering her own reaction to the news. She could spend the intervening minutes forcing herself into a calmer state of mind; getting akumatised would be the cherry on top of a terrible day.
Finally letting out a defeated sigh, he pulled off his hat and started to twist it this way and that way - a gesture she knew from experience was an indication that he was completely lost.
"Babe.. how are we supposed to handle this? Do we confront Lila? Tell the others? I mean some of this is pretty dark stuff - are we supposed to take this to the police instead?"
She understood her boyfriend's hesitation - he was usually her rock, the guiding light that kept her from going too far whenever she's after a story or interview.. Indecisiveness was not Nino's natural state (though people often mistook his steadfast support for timidity), but as she had had more time to process, she would help him come to the right conclusion.
"No.." she started, taking a breath to fortify herself, "that's what we need to address first," she finished, nodding at the building across the street.
As his eyes followed her gaze, she could feel the subtle slump of his shoulders as he realised what she meant.. though Nino soon proved to be as dependable as always, quickly squaring his shoulders and getting up.
Turning, he offered her a hand and said:
"Yeah.. guess that would be the most important.."
Swallowing nervously, she took the offered hand up, but refused to let go of him once she stood.
Seeming to understand her gesture, Nino simply squeezed her hand once more, before they set off across the street.
Straight towards the Dupain-Cheng Bakery.
As she heard a specific knock from the floor of her room, Marinette sat bolt upright - almost knocking Adrien off of the elevated bed.
That was not a good knock. In her eternal habits of overthinking, Marinette had asked some of the bored kwamis to take turns keeping watch out whenever she was home alone - just to give her a slight warning, in case she was working on anything guardian-related that might get her in trouble should the wrong person walk into the room at the wrong time.
This particular knock meant two people had approached the side door of the building, and were taking the steps that led to the front door that bypassed the bakery itself.
"Maman and Père must have decided to come home early!" she yelped, turning to Adrien with the expectation of seeing him panic as well.
That expectation was not met.
Adrien was lying next to her, his eyes dazed, hair mussed, and a goofy smile on his face..
She blushed, knowing she was the reason for that particularly silly look, before shaking her head and almost diving off the bed in her haste to forestall her parents before they entered her room.
"Adrien, you need to.." she started, turning to look up at where her boyfriend (Boyfriend! Who was Adrien! Who was Chat Noir! kwami, if Paris knew how lucky she was so many people would be after her..!) was waiting on her bed, looking at her like she was the only star in the night sky.. before getting a terrible idea.
A terrible, completely irresponsible, idea.
What she should do was tell him to leave through the hatch to the roof. That would be the good, responsible thing to do.
..but then, she had had to be serious and responsible so much since becoming Ladybug, and even more so since she became the Guardian.
Maybe she could take just one night for herself..?
"..you need to stay up there, towards the wall, and be absolutely quiet," she finished.
Even if her parents were home sooner than expected, they would most likely go to bed soon.
She saw Adrien give her a wide-eyed look, already crouched halfway towards the skylight that led to the roof.. before adopting a smirk that was almost completely Chat Noir in execution - the kind of look that had given her butterflies long before she even considered liking anyone else other than Adrien.
Throwing her a cocky salute, he languidly layed back down.. but not before she saw his eyes darken with longing.
She shivered; she really hoped her parents went to bed soon - she and Chatdrien (Adrichat?) had several years of all kinds of mixed up attraction to work out sort through.
Taking a quick look as she passed her mirror, she pursed her lips at the state of her hair - it was definitely messy, but hopefully it would be easy to play it off as the had-been-asleep kind of messy, rather than the had-been-mussed-up-by-Adrien's-hands-while-kissing kind of messy.
She also winced at the sight of the barely-there-but-still-noticeable love bite on her collarbone.. still, she didn't have the time to hide it, and simply adjusted her pajama top to better hide it.
It should be fine.
Just as she reached the living room, expecting to see her parents enter, she heard a knock at the door.
'Why wouldn't they just come in..?' she wondered, before shrugging. Maybe her parents lost their keys, or maybe it was someone else entirely? Her parents occasionally asked their neighbors to check up on her, and since she had returned home via her balcony, they may not realise she was already home.. Not like she had taken the time to actually ask Longg who was there.
Wanting to get back upstairs, she didn't even hesitate or look before opening the door.
Probably not the safest thing to do, it being relatively late at night, but.. well.
She was Ladybug.
And Chat Noir was right upstairs.
She burst into giggles at the image of a burglar barging into her home, only to freeze at the sight of Chat Noir suddenly storming down the stairs - for all that he was a loveable goofball, at least to her.. she had also seen him tip over a bus with brute strength, and knew his Cataclysm had the power to sink at least an island, if Tikki had been honest about the whole Atlantis thing.
Her giggling at the image was suddenly cut off, as she stared open-mouthed at the sight before her; Nino and Alya standing at the door to her home, with the former actually seeming angry (she had known him for years, and seen him genuinely mad maybe six or seven times) and the latter having puffy eyes and clear tear tracks across her cheeks.
"Nino..? Alya..? What are the two of you doing—" was as far as she managed to get out, before she was knocked back by the force of Alya tackling her in a hug.
"I am so, so sorry Marinette! I'm sorry for not believing you, I'm sorry for not seeing it, I'm sorry for being such a bad friend!"
Marinette felt utterly bewildered, but still wrapped her arms around her friend's waist as she returned the hug - she wasn't really sure what was going on, but she could feel the way the normally confident girl was shaking like a leaf, hear the barely-restrained tears in her voice, see the worried look on Nino's face..
Something was up.
Knowing from experience that it was best to just let Alya get it all out, even if her friend had become less and less coherent the longer she spoke/sobbed, Marinette simply rubbed soothing circles onto her friend's back.
She tried to silently ask Nino what was happening, but the other teen seemed to be steadfastly avoiding her gaze, turning his cap over and over in his hands.
Something majorly bad was up, then.
She wasn't sure how long their standoff lasted; she trying to console her friend about something, Alya outright sobbing, and Nino looking like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Still, Alya did eventually calm down and Marinette let her step back beside Nino, who had taken the time to fully enter the room and close the door behind him.
Marinette also didn't miss the way their hands sought each other out for reassurance.
"Okay, uhm.. Alya? Don't take this the wrong way.. but I couldn't actually understand you through all the sobbing. What's going on?"
Alya and Nino shared a look, before Nino lifted a single shoulder in something like a half-shrug, and Alya nodded.
Taking a deep breath, she said:
"I.. should probably start from the beginning? Well not the entire beginning, but.." she trailed off, before shaking her head.
"The class has been.. worried. About you and Lila - no one understood why you kept fighting, since Lila's always said she wished you two could be friends, and the only thing that explained your antagonism was.. either our newest friend was a sociopath, or.. you were jealous.."
Marinette pursed her lips, feeling her shoulders tense slightly, but didn't say anything. She had long since come to a similar conclusion - one of the reasons Lila's lies worked so well was because if Marinette was wrong, it would simply be one teen being jealous of another.
If she was right about Lila.. the girl had been outright manipulative, brutal, and had actively tried to get Marinette expelled. And that was just the things she was supposed to know as a civilian! Actively keeping Chat Noir from an akuma battle..
"So after your last fight, a bunch of us came together to.. try and figure this mess out. There was this whole discussion actually.."
Alya gave her a watery smile, and said: "You should have been there, actually - Chloé of all people made the best argument against you being jealous, saying - and this is a direct quote - Because she's better than that loudmouth in almost every way. It was one of the most surprising things.. Why aren't you surprised?" Alya cut herself off, her innate curiosity getting the better of her despite the seriousness of the situation.
Marinette pulled a face.
"Look, Chloé and I aren't.. suddenly best friends or anything, but.. we've sort of been talking. We've even hung out a few times, though those were admittedly because she either wanted to order something or because I went to her father's hotel to meet a client and we ran into each other. I mean I'm surprised she was that flattering, but I'm not surprised she said something nice.. if that makes sense?"
She could tell from her friends' blank stares that it didn't quite make sense to them, but fortunately Alya seemed willing to just move on with her story.
"..Anyway. So a bunch of stuff came out, and we decided it wasn't jealousy since we figured out you had moved on from Adrien to some mystery-boy—"
"Wait what?!" Marinette interjected with a yelp.
Alya - and Nino - shot her a look.
"Your mysterious 'Best Friend' you rarely talk about..? The one that had you blushing whenever I asked what he looked like, the one I know exists but have no name or any information on?!"
Marinette stared at her friend in open-mouthed shock.
'I wasn't that obvious.. was I?' she thought, before her eyes widened in realisation, 'and that mangy cat is almost definitely hearing all of this!'
She felt her cheeks form a blush in embarrassment, though Alya just smirked at her.. she was glad her friend seemed to be getting back to normal.
'Even if I still don't know what made her so upset in the first place..' she grumbled internally.
"No denial, I see.."
"Alya!"
"Sorry, sorry~! So anyway, it was sort of decided that it couldn't be jealousy, and so we all figured it was a misunderstanding. One we could maybe try and fix! If the problem between the two of you was that you thought Lila was lying about everything.." she trailed off.
Marinette heard Alya's words, but they barely registered as her mind raced ahead - a vague sense of hope was starting to form, about why Alya was so upset. What she could have found out about everything.
"..then maybe if we could prove she really did do those things, the two of you could be friends. So we decided we'd hold a party for Lila, since her birthday was coming up, and in order to hit two birds with one stone.. we'd use it to mend the rift between the two of you."
Marinette still stayed quiet, her eyes wide - a part of her almost felt like if she said something now, some sort of spell would break and all of this would be just a dream.. even the earlier evening with Chat Noir and Adrien.
"Everyone had different ideas, but Max.. Max approached me and asked for help making one of those.. Grateful videos? You know, where someone cuts together a bunch of clips where people say how someone's helped them, or thanked the person in a heartfelt gesture? It was.. something of a weird idea, but very Max, so I agreed."
Alya took a breath and held it for a moment - something Marinette figured was to let her build up her courage.. which was proven correct, as Alya suddenly looked at her with a determined expression.
"..I think you know what we found out. Or rather.. what we didn't find.. not one person, not one shred of anything to corroborate even one single thing she's told us!"
Alya's face had been growing less and less steady as she spoke, finally ending in a tearful exclamation.
"I'm sorry, Alya - I should have tried harder at the start to expose Lila, but after Volpina I became worried about her becoming akumatised.. I knew learning the truth would suck, but I honestly didn't expect it to affect you so badly.." Marinette said softly; she knew it was ridiculous to blame herself for Lila's actions, but seeing her friend so overwrought sucked.
To her surprise, Nino snorted at her words.
"Don't take this the wrong way, 'Nette, but finding out about Lila's lies? It sucked, sure, but it would not mess up Alya this badly.. wouldn't mess both of us up this badly.." he trailed off, some of his anger seeming to fade into resignation.
Blinking at the two of them in confusion, Marinette hesitantly asked:
"So then.. why are you this upset?"
Her friends shared a look, speaking without words, before Nino nodded at her, and Alya turned to face her again.
"After Max and I started to figure out the truth, we sort of went our separate ways - I was going to try and look up people from Lila's old schools, and he mentioned he was going to 'take a peek' into the school security cameras.. the idea was to meet up again tomorrow and compare notes. Then earlier tonight he sent me a video clip about a confrontation between you and Lila.."
Marinette froze; her first thought went to that fateful day in the locker room when Lila told her she would slowly turn all of her friends against her.. that could definitely explain how distraught Alya and Nino were at the moment.
Her second thought was the sudden burning awareness of her boyfriend (boyfriend!) just upstairs. Her extremely protective, super-powered, gifted-with-enhanced-hearing-boyfriend who currently had no idea about the extent to which Lila had threatened her.
"I mean you've always been clumsy, girl," Alya continued, and Marinette's confusion at the seeming random segway slowed her thoughts just enough that she couldn't predict - and more importantly, prevent - her friend's next words, "but it wasn't until I saw that footage of Lila slapping you across the face, that I realised all of those unexplained bruises and injuries.. that was Lila bullying you," Alya finished, her tone clearly conveying her shame at her inaction.
Unfortunately, on a physical scale Lila barely registered as a threat to Marinette - which cost her another few precious minutes as she both tried to remember the moment in question, as well as reconcile that single slap with Lila apparently physically bullying her?
A part of her felt dismissive - Lila's real danger came from her words and charisma, not any physical threats. Another part of her felt indignant; even if she wasn't Ladybug, she could so take Lila in a fight!
The conversation between the three friends was interrupted by a sudden loud bang from upstairs - her head snapped towards the stairs so fast she heard her neck crack, and she rapidly paled at realising that this particular confrontation was so much worse than when Lila was threatening to take her friends away!
Lila hadn't actually assaulted her, other than that one attempt, but Marinette knew her kitty could be extremely impulsive on occasion. She needed to do something, try to calm him down before—
"Is that a hickey?" Nino's incredulous voice broke through her thoughts.
Turning back to her friends, she instinctively slapped a hand over the offending mark.
Alya's eyes widened, and her jaw dropped as she seemed to take the sight in.. then her eyes started to roam over Marinette's slightly crumpled pajamas, her messy hair.. before slowly turning towards the ladder that led to Marinette's room.
"Oh - my - Ladybug! He's here, isn't he?!" she hissed out, suddenly looking way too excited for Marinette's peace of mind.
"What? No he isn't! I mean, I don't know who you're.. that was nothing! Just.. just my cat! Yeah, you caught me, I've been secretly keeping a cat in my room and hiding it from my parents.." she trailed off, laughing nervously, hoping Adrien wouldn't do anything foolish.
She could tell by her friends' expressions they weren't buying her story for a second, but it's not like they'd shove past her and into her room, so she could probably get out of this looking very suspicious, but not actually—
There was another loud bang, as the trapdoor to her room was yanked back with enough force that it slammed into the floor; the noise was quickly followed by a soft thud, Adrien having dropped straight down rather than bother with the ladder - she was kind of impressed by how silently he landed despite being untransformed - but this was about to become so much harder to get out of.
"Adrien?!"
"Bro?!"
Came the simultaneous shouts, and Marinette winced at their volume.
Alya and Nino couldn't seem to keep their focus on either Adrien or Marinette, and kept shifting their gazes between them.
Once he reached her side, he turned a burning gaze onto Alya and said:
"Lila slapped Marinette? And you think this is something that's been happening for a while?"
Alya, sadly, had apparently decided that Marinette's safety was more important than her love life (at least for the moment) and just focused on Adrien.
"I.. yeah. In the video she looked like she was about to start laughing, and there was nothing to make it seem like her emotions got the better of her. Actually, if you start the video earlier, you can see her check the room for anyone else, before she confronted Marinette - she definitely planned the.. entire.. confrontation.." Alya trailed off, noticing far too late Marinette's repeated gestures to stop talking.
Marinette could feel Adrien's eyes on her, but she steadfastly looked ahead - she knew all his tricks! He was almost certainly making Chat Noir's kitten eyes at her, and she would not have it!
She was not prepared for him to move in front of her, place a hand under her chin, and tilt her face up to look at him.
"Marinette.. why didn't you ever tell me?"
Yep, there they were, kitten eyes.
"I couldn't tell you, kitty. I know you - you would have kept trying to help, and with your father.. it would have been too easy for her to ruin your life.. besides, it isn't as bad as you—"
"Not as bad!? It's more than bad! It's..! To hell with my father, to hell with Lila! You shouldn't have to deal.. I should have..!"
Marinette loved that her partner cared so much about her, but she also hated to see him so angry! Adrien was kind, and sweet, while Chat Noir was cheerful, and excitable - but they were one and the same, and anger and frustration wasn't what she wanted to cause him.
"Adrien.." she said softly, gently laying a hand on a tensed shoulder.
"I know this is a bad situation, dude," Nino finally spoke up, "but you can't blame yourself. I don't think Marinette blames you either," getting a vehement nod from the girl in question, who hoped Nino might be able to get through to him.
"Besides," chipped in Alya, sounding rather morose herself, "you didn't know, Sunshine. So how could you do anything?"
Marinette opened her mouth to again try and explain that no, Lila wasn't assaulting her thank you very much, but stopped as she registered the anger from Adrien. Or rather.. the sudden and complete lack of it.
His body untensed, his expression smoothed out..
"I," he started calmly, "am going to toss her off the Eiffel Tower."
Alya snorted.
"Well I certainly understand that desire, but don't worry dude - we're already working on something we can actually do, and I think Chloé is actually helping.." Nino said, though the way his eyes kept flickering between Adrien and Marinette showed he still wasn't quite sure what to make of that situation.
Adrien looked at him in confusion, before his eyes widened in understanding.
"No, I am actually going to toss her off the Eiffel tower."
The trio of her, Alya and Nino just stood there in confusion, as Adrien casually walked over to one of the large windows that faced the street, before opening it.
Marinette startled into movement, only just making the connection that Adrien only looked calm and was about to do something insane.. She tried to reach him before he left, but she was too slow.
Her sight was suddenly obscured by the familiar flash of green light, the words 'Claws out!' carrying vaguely afterwards and echoing in her ears.
Marinette gaped at where her partner had just revealed his identity to their two friends, right after revealing their newfound relationship.
'What the heck is up with him? He's acting like this is a matter of life or..'
Her eyes widened.
What would she do if she thought someone had been routinely hurting him over a period of months, after telling him to stop confronting them directly..?
Shit.
"Tikki, Spots On!"
As the pink light of her own transformation cooled down, Ladybug turned towards her friends, who seemed to be frozen in astonishment, and said:
"Look, we don't have time to talk about any of this - I need to go after him! Wayzz and Trixx will explain as much as they can, and then you two need to follow in case I need help talking him down."
"..What the actual fuck just happened?" Nino asked, and so thrown off was Alya by this whole situation that she barely acknowledged his uncharacteristic swearing.
Her mind was running a mile a minute - Marinette was Ladybug? Adrien was Chat Noir? Had they always - no, of course it had always been them, Ladybug and Chat Noir had clearly been the same people ever since their first appearance..
Was all of Marinette's behaviour around Adrien a ruse? A double-bluff, maybe, to throw people off their trail..? But no, her friend had clearly been in love with Adrien.. the only hiccup in that had been the mysterious friend that she had—
She smacked her forehead with an open palm.
Chat Noir was the secret friend! One she couldn't really talk about, because it could compromise her secret identity! And Ladybug had to be the girl from Adrien's 'job' that he was crushing on!
Which means Ladybug and Chat Noir hadn't known who the other was, otherwise why would Adrien pine after Ladybug, who was pining after Adrien?
Damn. She owed Nino money now - she'd been so sure they had to know each other though! She had figured Carapace's identity out pretty quickly..
Any further thoughts were quickly derailed by the appearance of their part-time-partners, each carrying their respective Miraculous.
"Dude~!" came Wayzz's languid drawl, while Trixx just let out an excited squeal and dived towards her.
She opened her mouth to ask for the explanation Marinette (Ladybug!) had offered, before turning to look at Nino instead.
A few seconds later saw him nodding his head in agreement; they would go after their friends first, anything else could wait.
She shot her boyfriend an excited grin, which he easily matched, and together they spoke their transformation commands:
"Wayzz, Shell On!"
"Trixx, Let's Pounce!"
—
Alya wasn't sure what she expected to find if they were to catch up with Chat Noir and Ladybug (who were Adrien and Marinette! She still couldn't quite.. process that), but finding Adrien sitting on a rooftop with his arms around his legs, chin resting on his knees, with a massive pout on his face was not it.
The fact that Ladybug was standing over him with a grin, while a small black kwami (she supposed it was Chat Noir's) flew about cackling wildly.
"Uhh.. what did we miss?" Nino asked as they landed on the same rooftop.
"Oh, it was great!" the black kwami snickered, "Ladybug over there found him real quick, and then asked for a kiss before he did anything else - then when loverboy stood there dazed, like the sap he is, she just slipped off his ring before he could react!" he finished with a guffaw, clearly enjoying himself at his wielder's expense.
Marinette, after detransforming herself when the two of them arrived, let out a slight giggle.
"Don't be too hard on him, Plagg, we all know planning is my thing.."
Adrien stood up, grumbling at their friendly ribbing, before cringing at the sight of her and Nino barely holding in their own laughter.
"I heard you liked Marinette, but trying to toss her enemies off the Eiffel Tower? That's a bit much, wouldn't you say..?" Alya asked, partially amused, but also kind of shocked by the behaviour.
Adrien made to answer, but was interrupted by his kwami who was now floating in front of her. She blinked in surprise, and a little bit of unease, as his eyes started to faintly glow, before he said:
"Hey Fox Girl.. We really need to beat Hawk Moth, and since Carapace is the weakest one here, I'm thinking we use him as bait. What do you think?" he finished in an indifferent tone.
The next moment it felt like her mind had blanked, and then she felt an almost consuming rage flash through her.
"I'd like to see you try," she snapped at the kwami, unconsciously stepping in front of her boyfriend. As quickly as her anger had come, it disappeared - partly because she noticed the kwami sporting a small grin, partly because her friends were looking at both her and the black kwami in shock.
A loud sigh broke the silence, and everyone turned towards the red-and-black spotted kwami floating by Marinette.
"Plagg, must you always do this?" she asked in a resigned tone.
The kwami in front of her, who she know realised must be named Plagg, floated towards her and said:
"C'mon Tikki! I don't have to do it this way, but can you really deny it wasn't effective - or appropriate - given what almost happened with Loverboy a moment ago?"
The Ladybug kwami, apparently named Tikki, just ran a.. arm? paw? Whichever, over her face, before reluctantly agreeing - along with asking that she and Nino detransform so that Wayzz and Trixx could be part of the conversation.
"Uhh.. anyone care to fill us in why you just threatened to use my friend as bait, Plagg?" Adrien asked, obviously annoyed with his kwami's behaviour.
"Do not fret, young ones," came the calming tones of Wayzz, "Plagg was merely trying to demonstrate something important - sadly, he is just a poor teacher."
"Wayzz is right," chirped Trixx, "he was just trying to get a reaction out of you. Which he did.." the fox finished, now floating upside down and looking around.
Alya frowned, deep in thought.
"You mean that.. sudden anger? I mean of course I'd be angry, but this felt different.. Like.. like.." she trailed off, unsure how to phrase it.
"..Like you wanted to destroy everything, like the anger came from both inside of you and from elsewhere - like the rage had always been there, but at the same time, was something completely foreign," Adrien finished, staring at her with wide eyes.
"Wayzz, what's going on?" Nino asked, while Marinette turned to Tikki and asked the same.
"All of you just calm down.. Nobody is going crazy, or evil, or whatever silly mortal thing you're worrying about. It's just a.. side effect of your Miraculous's that the two of you need to be aware of," Tikki interjected, waving her paws at Adrien and Alya.
"Why only the two of them?" Marinette asked, reaching out a hand for Adrien's.
"Well, there's a whole bunch of history and stuff I don't really want to go into right now, but in short - our pantheon is loosely divided in two; those who follow Tikki, and those who follow me. Those who follow me tend to be.. more aggressive. Usually it isn't much of an issue, since we have experience in controlling ourselves, but occasionally it aligns with the protective nature of our human wielders and.. well. That happens. Just keep it in mind, and everything should be fine."
Plagg seemed oblivious to the intensely questioning gazes and gaping mouths that were leveled at him for that little speech, and just pulled a piece of cheese out of nowhere and started to eat it.
"I.. have so many questions.." Marinette muttered quietly.
"Yeah, no kidding! We've fought together for years, Plagg, where's all that history been!?"
The Kwami of Destruction blinked innocently at him, seemingly opening his mouth to respond.. before tossing the last of his cheese in, swallowing it in one gulp.
"Plagg is correct, in a sense, that the inner workings of our kind is perhaps too long of a story to share this late in the evening. I believe you all still have civilian identities and responsibilities to attend to?" asked Wayzz, acting as the voice of reason.
"Wait, we still need to talk about this Lila stuff!" Alya interjected.
Adrien and Marinette shared a look, before Marinette turned back to them and said:
"Once each of you reach home, we'll set up a group call or something. I appreciate you guys coming to see me, but we can discuss everything else later."
Alya made to protest, before Marinette's choice of words registered, and she smirked instead.
"Oh, me and Nino can go home..?" she asked, and Marinette nodded slowly, detecting the teasing tone in her friend's voice.
"So tell me.. does that mean Adrien's coming home with you~?" she drawled, and was rewarded by both Adrien and Marinette erupting in scarlet blushes.
Marinette sputtered a protest, but she was saved by Nino turning towards Adrien with a slight frown on his face.
"Bro.. you stormed out because you wanted to dangle Lila off the Eiffel Tower," he started, ignoring Adrien's mutter of toss her, "but do you even know where Lila lives?"
The question caught everyone by surprise, and they all turned to look at the blond in question.
He blinked once.
Twice.
Then slapped the palm of his hand against his forehead.
As Lila walked up the steps at the front of the Collège Françoise Dupont, she almost felt like skipping. She just knew this was going to be a good day; she had overheard some of her classmates talk about a surprise party they would be holding for her, and she was truly excited for it.
Who wouldn't be, faced with the idea of a party to celebrate themselves? As the extra cherry on top, the day would be as horrible for Marinette as it would be great for herself! Either Marinette would need to keep herself quiet and miserable, all while Lila spun her stories to everyone - or Marinette would try to confront her in front of everyone, damaging her reputation even further.
After all, how could Marinette be so mean, on her birthday of all days, just because she's jealous..?
If she was really lucky, her classmates would have asked Marinette to help cater the party - Lila may hate the girl for refusing to fall in line (honestly, if Marinette had just gone along with her, the two of them could have ruled this school!) but she could not deny that her family's bakery made the best pastries she'd ever had.
She'd have to make sure to act surprised, it being a surprise party, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem if she slipped up.
—
"Surprise!"
"Oh you guys! You did all this for me? For my birthday? You shouldn't have!" she exclaimed, looking around in only somewhat-faked wonder.
Say what you will about the gullibility of this school, her classmates knew how to arrange a party. The room was decorated with balloons, and streamers - and yes, her seat had been made to look like some kind of throne..? A bit odd.. until she spotted the pretend-crown nearby.
Taking another glance around, she noticed that the party did seem to have some kind of royal theme.. realization hit, and she suppressed a wince.
She might have made up some nonsense about how she strived to meet Prince Ali because of a childhood love of all kinds of royalty - the details were a bit vague, but no matter.
A small part of her did wonder how her classmates hadn't caught her out yet, if even she couldn't keep her lies straight anymore.. but the larger part didn't care. What she did care about were several of her classmates who weren't here.
Allowing herself to be dragged towards her chair by Rose, the rest of their classmates singing Happy Birthday, she wondered at the absences.. Marinette, had she known, likely would have avoided the party.
Unless she was just late again.
Chloé rarely if ever showed up for homeroom, just showing up for the first class of the day.
Adrien frequently missed classes due to his modeling, so that wasn't a surprise.
No.. what bothered her was the fact that neither Alya or Nino seemed to be here either. They were two of the most important people she needed to keep fooling - Alya because she was Marinette's best friend, and due to her blog Lila's best chance at becoming famous - and Nino because of the influence he had over his girlfriend.
Feeling she had let her smile slip, she quickly shook herself and turned to face her nearest classmates (which happened to be Kim, Alix, Max and Nathaniel) and pretended to be interested in another dull story about another ridiculous bet between Alix and Kim.
For a moment she felt like she was being watched by someone.. but when she looked up, Max and Nathaniel seemed to be in a deep conversation about the artwork of some game or other.
Convincing herself it was nothing, she completely missed the flinty-eyed stare Max sent her way.
—
"Morning, Lila!"
The girl in question suppressed a wince; the reporting-aspirant's greeting had come with a friendly smack to her shoulders, but it seemed Alya didn't know her own strength as the gesture had almost knocked her into Juleka who was standing next to her.
"Yeah, what she said - sorry we're a little late, but it seems like everything's just getting started at least," came the voice of Alya's irritating boyfriend.
He was useful when it came to manipulating Alya (one of the few chinks in thegirl's confidence was how much she cared about her relationship, and the insecurity that came from feeling like a second choice next to her friend) but overall a pain to deal with - almost never getting as worked up or enthusiastic as she hoped with her manipulations.
Hiding her annoyance behind a false smile, she turned to Alya and said:
"Don't even worry about it! Even having this party is already more than I could have hoped for.. but out of curiosity, where exactly were you?"
The couple exchanged a quick look, before Nino half-shrugged and Alya turned back to her with a grin that seemed just a little.. off.
"Oh, you know - some last minute prep to make sure this is a party that nobody will ever forget," she said - and again, there was something about her tone of voice that set Lila's nerves on edge.
Before she could decide whether or not to pry, the classroom door banged open, and Chloé Bourgeois sauntered in, heading straight towards Miss Bustier's desk to speak with her. Lila pursed her lips; she'd never admit it, but she did envy Chloé's ability to walk anywhere like she owned the place.. though it probably helped that her Father was one of the most important men in Paris.
"What do you guys think she's doing?" Rose asked, absently taking a sip of the hot chocolate that had been set out beforehand.
"Oh don't worry about it," Alya cut in, waving their concern away.
"It's just something to do with the.. secondary goal of this party," Nino chimed in, sending a significant look to the people nearby.
A look that made their eyes widen, before excited grins started to form - frankly it unnerved Lila - what the heck was that supposed to mean? Mylene hadn't mentioned anything of the sort!
She started to ask what they meant, when Rose explained:
"I think Chloé is going to explain in a bit.. but I'm sure you'll like it!"
Lila managed to relax a bit at that - Rose really didn't have it in her to deceive someone, and she sounded genuinely excited about whatever this was. More than that, Rose was one of the easiest people to fool with her lies - largely because the girl seemed to want to believe the best of everyone.
Even she felt a bit bad about taking advantage of the bubbly girl..
"Alright, class! If you could all quiet down a bit, Chloé has something exciting to share with you all!" came the voice of Miss Bustier, before the teacher sat down at her desk and started doing something on her computer.
"As.. most of you know," Chloé said, making sure to look at Lila, "this party wasn't just to celebrate Lila's birthday.. but it was with the hope that we could finally help her and Marinette bury the hatchet.."
Lila tensed for a moment, before her thoughts began to work at a furious pace.
'This.. I'm not sure what their plan was, but since Marinette hasn't shown up.. She may be avoiding the party because of me. I can use this! It wouldn't be hard - Oh, I'd have loved the chance to make up with Marinette! Thank you guys so much! If only she wasn't so selfish, staying away - no, ditching! - ditching all of you, and refusing to make up.. Yes, I can definitely twist the pig-tailed brat's perpetual lateness to my favour..'
"..easiest way to do that, would be to prove to Marinette that Lila wasn't lying about everything she's done!" Chloé finished, shooting Lila a grin that chilled her to the bone.
She'd kind of suspected that Chloé was aware of her lies and simply didn't care.. but if the entire class was trying to 'prove' her lies? She could be in big trouble.. but what did Chloé have to do with any of..
She froze, utter panic beginning to set in - how many of the celebrities she 'knew' frequented Le Grand Paris?
"Sadly, I wasn't able to reach Jagged Stone, and Clara Nightingale is overseas at the moment.. but she agreed to video chat with the class because of our class's role in her Ladybug and Chat Noir music video!"
And to Lila's horror, Miss Bustier did turn her computer screen around to face the class, and there was the smiling face of Clara Nightingale herself!
"Good morning and hello to all you beautiful faces; sorry I couldn't be there, but my job takes me to some far off places! Though I'm sorry to say, on this otherwise happy day, that I bring you news, of a friend's cunning ruse..
It really is a shame, but some would lie for even a bit of fame - so more than just wishing you a happy birthday, I must also tell you all our connection is but hearsay! Sorry to ruin the party with this affair, but of her lies you need beware.
I wish I could stay, but sadly I must already be away; it is time to go, I must prepare for my show!"
Alya could honestly say that seeing Lila's face become paler and paler as Clara Nightingale spoke was extremely cathartic.. or at least it was, until she saw the way Lila pulled herself together.
She could almost see the Italian girl's mind work on a way to get her out of trouble - not that she'd allow it. The class had exploded into chaos a few moments after the singer had signed off, but Lila managed to calm them down enough that she was able to speak:
"I know what this sounds like, everyone, but just think for a moment - Chloé was the one to arrange this; turning you all against me is exactly the kind of thing she loves doing! She's nothing but a.. but a bully!" and to Alya's disgust, she actually seemed to be tearing up a bit.
What was worse, she could see the tears were starting to affect many of her fellow classmates.. she could reluctantly admit that most of them did have a history with Chloé that would count against her in this case..
Not that she was going to stand for it.
Clapping her hands together to grab everyone's attention, she looked to Max and said:
"Okay that's enough of that; before this goes any further, play the security video," she started, "the one that someone anonymously sent you and definitely wasn't found by Markov hacking the school security cameras.."
Both Max and Miss Bustier shot her pointed looks, but she just shrugged and motioned to the projector screen where they had arranged for Markov to show the clip of Lila slapping Marinette.
She could tell by the way Lila was cringing away from the screen and to the door that she knew nothing good would come from this. Say what you will about her, but Lila had good instincts.
The moment the slap landed, the room exploded into outrage.
"How dare you!?"
"What the hell, Lila?!"
"Go, Marinette!"
"Why would you do that?!"
Along with several other exclamations followed; she could see Lila start to panic as everyone started to crowd around her, demanding answers or (in Alix's case) threatening something about hairspray and a lighter..?
The class was worked up to such a degree that she was almost worried about an akuma appearing, but Marinette had mentioned something about activity charts and dead periods and maps - which Adrien had summarised as certain periods where Hawkmoth never akumatised someone, likely due to obligations as a civilian (and wasn't that a weird thought? Hawk Moth at some regular job?).
It was why they had convinced the class to change the date and location of Lila's party to this morning in particular.
Alya didn't really care (well no, the superhero nerd in her cared very much, just not at this second while she was enjoying revenge), and just let a vindictive smirk spread across her face, outright laughing at some of the creative insults her class came up with.
Nino nudged her with his shoulder, and said:
"Calm down babe, your evil genius is showing - you might scare the children," and yet despite his words, she could tell her boyfriend was barely containing a laugh of his own.
She wasn't sure how long this was going to last initially - probably not much longer, seeing how Miss Bustier had finally stood up with the most uncharacteristic look of anger - but whatever would have happened, was completely derailed by the door opening and Marinette and Adrien entering.
Marinette and Adrien - who despite her warnings that they maybe take things slow in front of their class to keep their cover - walked in with Adrien's arm around Marinette's shoulders while hers was wrapped around his waist, she whispering something into his ear while he just threw back his head and laughed.
The duo - the damn oblivious, besotted duo - were so absorbed with each other it took them almost five minutes to register everyone in their class were completely silent and staring at them with disbelieving eyes.
She actually saw Max take off his glasses, clean them thoroughly, before putting them on again and staring at them like they were an illusion or something equally unbelievable.
When they finally did notice, she saw that Marinette was starting to blush a bit (though she didn't move away) and Adrien just gave them all his model smile.
"Oh hey guys, what's up with all the staring?" he asked in an innocent tone.
A week ago she would have mistaken that for what he intended - simple sunshine-child obliviousness.
Now, knowing he was Chat Noir, she could see the glint in his eyes that meant he knew exactly what he was doing, and was only barely keeping a shit-eating grin off of his face.
The class collectively made a sound reminiscent of a walrus choir attempting the opera, causing Marinette to burst into giggles while Adrien's smile slipped into a grin - a grin that only widened as he quickly leaned over to peck Marinette on the lips, causing another rendition of the walrus choir noise.
Lila, unexpectedly, was the first one to regain her faculties, and was almost shrieking in shock.
"What the hell..!? Why are.. when did.. since when are you two.. What?!"
"Good morning, Lila - I almost didn't see you there. Having a good birthday?" and while his words were perfectly pleasant, she saw many surprised looks at the pure venom in his tone.
"Oh it's a bit of a long story," Marinette started, sounding for all the world like she and Lila were best friends, "but I'm not sure you have the time to hear it - we just came from Principal Damocles's office, and he was having a very heated discussion with two people.. I think they may be your parents?" she finished with a sweet smile.
Alya hadn't thought Lila could grow any paler, but at these words the life seemed to almost vanish from her completely, and she looked like she was about to be sick. Almost like it had been timed, the school intercom buzzed on and Principal Damocles spoke:
"Good morning, students. Due to certain unexpected circumstances, first period will be extended until further notice. In addition, could the following students and staff please come to my office immediately; Lila Rossi, Alya Césaire, Max Kanté, Chloé Bourgeois, Miss Bustier and Miss Mendeliev. Thank you."
Alya grinned again.
—
When she got back to class, she wasn't surprised to see Adrien and Marinette surrounded by their friends and fielding questions about their relationship (though judging by the tear tracks on some of their faces, there had been plenty of apologies first).
She was surprised, however, to see her boyfriend sitting two rows away from the happy couple, leaning on one arm and watching them with bemusement. Taking a seat next to him, she answered his unspoken question.
"I'm sure Miss Bustier will inform everyone when she gets back, but Lila has been expelled. Her parents are furious, and when I left Chloé was actually asking Max to look up a few correctional schools to show them. It was not fun to be in the middle of that mess, but oh so fun to see her finally get what she deserved, you know?"
Nino simply nodded, and she could tell he was ready to put this entire mess behind them. Smiling at her boyfriend, she asked why he was sitting all the way over here when their friends were not.
"Because if I have to listen to those two any longer, I'm going to lose it," he said in a serious tone.
He must have seen the confusion on her face, because he motioned for her to listen; so she did.. only for her jaw to drop as their words registered.
"Oh, I've loved her since the second day I met her," came Adrien's dreamy tone.
"Ah, no I didn't actually believe him when he first started asking me out," came Marinette's embarrassed laugh.
"It took me a while to realise that she was so much more to me than just a friend," was Adrien's nervous answer.
"Well you all know I've had a major crush on him for years - I just finally found a way to tell him," was Marinette's proud response.
…
"Those little shits," she whispered, "they're being completely contradictory on purpose!"
"It's worse than that, Babe - everything they say is actually the truth, just from a certain point of view. Whenever someone tries to point it out, they just start kissing! How are two of the nicest kids in our class this devious?"
Alya pulled a face, because sure she and Nino weren't exactly the best when it came to PDA, but at least they snuck away when they wanted to make out.
Nino dropped his head onto his desk with a groan.
"I swear, this lovesquare-nonsense has made them at least four times as sappy/tactile as most couples.."
"Oh cheer up, Nino! It could be worse.." he lifted his head to look at her with an expression that clearly said he doubted that, so she continued, "I mean imagine if we found out before they did - imagine all that PDA but converted into mutual pining instead.." hs trialed off, eager to see her boyfriend's response.
He gaped at her for a few seconds, before slamming his head down onto the desk again.
"Those poor Kwamis.." came his muttered response, and Alya burst out in laughter, picturing the kwami of Destruction and Misfortune offering love advice to a teenager.
There you are. Probably not as good as some of you were hoping, but I was in a bit of a rush. I'm also writing a Percy Jackson & Miraculous crossover, an update to my My Hero Academia fanfic, a DC & Miraculous Soulmate AU, as well as an update to a Percy Jackson I'm currently publishing anonymously.
The idea was to actually post the four chapters on the same day, but the others are still far from finished, and I was suddenly overcome by the urge to publish one last chapter before 2023, so here it is!
I really do need to write a story that fleshes out my version of Kwami lore since it will be a feature in the Percy Jackson crossover but.. eh. Life.