Chapter Text
"Yeah, the new student is totally best friends with Ladybug!"
"What?" Marinette deadpanned.
"Yep! Her interview is getting a ton of views on my blog!" Alya continued.
Nathaniel tilted his head from next to Marinette, "Sounds sus. Even if it is true, I think you should take that down."
"What? Why?"
"Well, it's a public blog. So Hawkmoth could be watching and go attack her family."
Alya clicked her tongue, "Heck. You're right." She walked away, quickly typing away on her phone.
Marinette turned to her brother, "Wow, that was the quickest clean up I've ever seen of a rumor about Ladybug off her blog."
He shrugged, "Eh, wasn't that hard. Just common sense."
Lila smiled at the twins, "Yep! I'm best friends with Ladybug!"
Marinette narrowed her eyes. Nathaniel simply shrugged, "Eh." He nudged Marinette, "Just ignore it."
"What? Why would you ignore it?"
The redhead sighed, "I don't know about you, but I've already been attacked once by an akuma, and I'm not about to place another target on my back by associating someone who's," He made quotation marks with his fingers, "Best friends with Ladybug." With that, Nathaniel walked back to his seat.
Alya nodded, "And I took down the interview so Hawkmoth wouldn't target you!"
Lila gaped at the two girls. Mrs. Bustier walked into the classroom, "Oh, welcome! I assume you're Lila Rossi?"
The Italian nodded.
"Wonderful! You sit in the back next to Nathaniel!"
Nathaniel looked up, quietly muttering, "Shit."
"And then Prince Ali told me I was his very best friend!" Lila continued on without an ounce of respect for the boy taking notes next to her.
He eventually snapped the pencil in his hand in half, the snap echoing through the classroom. The class went quiet. Marinette sighed, not looking up, assuming it was him cracking his knuckles, "Another fight again?"
Nathaniel simply raised his hand and asked, "Can you move Lila? She won't stop talking to me."
Lila paled, not expecting that someone would ignore or get annoyed by her tales.
"Of course. Lila, would you please move to the opposite row?"
"Yes, ma'am," Lila growled, glaring at Nathaniel, who didn't even notice, as she moved. It hadn't even been a day but he was making everyone think badly of her with one interaction!
...Maybe she was overreacting.
Marinette glared at Lila and Adrien walking into the library together.
Nathaniel simply glanced at her, then said, "Don't do anything you'll regret." He left to try and find Alix.
Marinette nodded, before going on to do exactly what she would regret.
Nathaniel was watching the news with Marinette, "A fox heroine?"
Marinette narrowed her eyes, "I'm going to scope things out."
"Did you do anything?" Nathaniel asked as she opened the trapdoor.
"W...What makes you say that?"
"Hero appears directly after you found this random book that somehow has information about different superheroes and miraculous."
Marinette groaned, "Why are you so good at reading situations?"
Nathaniel simply stared at her, "So?"
"Okay, so the book belongs to Adrien and Lila stole it and she was lying about being a superhero in the park, and I guess I just kinda exposed her? In front of Adrien!"
"You stole the book from her?"
"No! She threw it in the trash so I picked it up!"
Nathaniel clicked his tongue, "Great. Go fight whatever akuma Hawkmoth sent out this time."
Marinette stuck her tongue out before heading up onto the roof.
"Lila Rossi had to leave because of a trip!"
Nathaniel grimaced. Was she that embarrassed of being akumatized she had to make up a lie about leaving school? How was her mom even okay with this?
"That's an oof," He heard muttered quietly from the front of the classroom.
"Aw guys, you remembered my hearing issues!"
Nathaniel glanced up from his sketchbook.
Oh.
OH. That's why everyone was being moved around. He didn't even notice.
Marinette growled, "That's a total lie."
"Oh, I got them while saving Jagged Stone's kitten from an airport runway."
Nathaniel thought back to the time Jagged Stone literally visited their bakery and called Marinette his honorary niece.
"You mean Fang?" He spoke up, absentmindedly.
"Oh, yep! That was its name!" Juleka, a fan, flinched a little.
"Haha, funny. Because last I checked, Fang was a crocodile."
"Oh, no! He had a kitten before he had Fang!"
Juleka spoke up, "He had Fang twenty years ago. You weren't even alive then."
Nathaniel waved his hand at Juleka, "My point exactly."
Lila's cheeks flushed, "Well, uh."
"Marinette, please just sit in the back," Mrs. Bustier lectured.
"What? Why?"
"It would make this a lot easier than it is."
"I'm not going to sit in the back with nobody there!"
And that's when Nathaniel pinpointed the problem. He stood up, "Hey, I'll switch with you."
The class turned to him as he gathered his stuff and moved to the back with his sister.
"Your issue isn't the back. It's because there's nobody here for you to talk to, right?"
Marinette slowly nodded. Nathaniel hummed, "Alright then. I'll take my old seat. You can sit next to Alix." The girl in question gave her a thumbs up.
His sister smiled, "Thanks." They all sat down and promptly started the lesson.
Lila walked up to him later during lunch while he was eating outside, sitting against the wall.
"Look, I don't know what Marinette said to you, but-"
"Why do you immediately assume Marinette told me something?" The artist replied, not looking up from his sketchbook.
"Well, Alya told me she's just jealous and is spreading lies I'm a liar!"
"Alya has only been here for half a year. She's not a good judge on Marinette's character."
Lila sputtered, "Well-"
"And she's not spreading lies. You are a liar. I even called you out this morning with evidence."
Lila growled, kicking a leg next to his face, "I only tell people what they want to hear. And I can and will take away all your friends."
Nathaniel simply gazed up at her then back to his sketchbook, "Mhm."
Lila huffed, "Oh, of course, the brooding artist doesn't have any friends. But you do care for people here. I'll find them and make their life miserable if you don't stop."
She walked away, Nathaniel's eyes following. He sighed. Of all the days for Marc to be absent.
After watching the artist for a week, Lila determined that black haired writer was one of the few people he cared about. Once Nathaniel left for the bathroom, she walked up to Marc.
"Hey, you're friends with Nathaniel, right?"
Marc looked up, "Um...Yes."
"Oh, you poor soul! Has he been threatening you?"
"N-No?"
"Really? He tried threatening me into a friendship! I heard all the fights he gets into are because they refuse to be his friend! He even got into one with that kid over there last week."
Marc's eyes followed her pointed finger. He vaguely remembered Nathaniel complaining about that kid and how he got into a fight, so it wasn't too far-fetched.
Lila waved goodbye as she saw the seed of doubt get planted in his mind. Honestly, she knew Nathaniel was too shy to get into fights so that was surprising.
"So..Did you get in a fight last week?"
"No?" Nathaniel looked up, "What brought this on?"
"Uh, that new girl in your class, Lola?"
"Lila."
"Right, she said you got into a fight last week with that kid," He gestured accordingly.
Nathaniel huffed, "Liar. I didn't get into any fights."
"Jeez, she's only been here for two days total."
"And she said she saved Jagged Stone's kitten off an airplane runway."
"...Oh."
"And somehow everyone in my class believes her anyways!" Nathaniel complained, waving his hands in the air.
"Jeez, at least her lie about you getting into a fight was believable."
"Hey!" They both chuckled a little.
"...She threatened me the day you were absent."
Marc choked, "She what?"
Nathaniel shrugged, "Pinned me to a wall with her foot and said she would take away all my friends. Jokes on her, in the past three years of my life, I was really only close with Marinette, who knows, and Alix."
Marc grabbed him by the shoulders, "Hey. I know some people. If you want her gone, I can-"
"Please don't send your mafia group after her."
"Okay, look, it's not a mafia, it's a gang, get it right."
"You realize you just offered to murder her, right?"
Marc shrugged, "I mean, if you want-"
"No."
If Lila could somehow convince the class that they should go after the two against her as a group instead of individually, then that would make it so much better. Then it's some well-placed lies to the rest who will spread it to them to finally isolate them from everyone.
Lila glanced over at Marinette and Nathaniel, who were eating together at the staircase, "They make a cute couple, huh?"
Everyone paused. Alix spoke up, "What?"
"Yeah, they're a couple! But I heard Nathaniel threatening Marinette in the locker room to stay with him. What a shame. Even if she bullies me, I don't her to be stuck in a relationship with someone like that!"
"So...This isn't a joke?" Juleka asked, quietly.
"Why would it be?"
Alix stood up, "Holy shit, I need to go apologize. You are a liar!" She quickly skated over to the two, most of the group following her.
Lila stammered, "What?"
Max pushed up his glasses, "I assume since you lied so easily with so much confidence, everything else has been a lie. Actually, thinking back on it, it was pretty obvious. We were just too star-struck."
"Why would you say that's a lie?"
"Because Marinette and Nathaniel are twins."
"THEY'RE WHAT?!" The scream echoed throughout the courtyard.
Marinette chuckled, "Haha, nice."
Nathaniel looked past the sea of apologizing teens to see Marc, who looked very confused. He stood up, pushing past them, "Hey, Marc!"
"Uh, what happened?"
"From what I got, Lila tried to say Marinette and I were dating."
Marc snickered, "Wow." He pulled out a bag, "Also I found these online and decided to buy it for you."
"If it's a severed body limb, I swear to-"
"It's not!"
Nathaniel took the bag, "...How the fuck did you get this many art supplies at one time. This brand is hella expensive!"
Marc smiled, "That's for me to know and you to find out."
Nathaniel rolled his eyes, amused. He hugged Marc, "Thanks."
"You're welcome," Marc kissed the top of his head, "Wait, that's fine, right?"
"Oh my god, you got self confidence."
"Shut up!"
Lila screamed again, as she realized her entire kingdom fell because she didn't know the two were siblings.