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Adrien could barely hear Vincent gushing about Lila over the steam spouting out of his ears.
"I'm very sure you could teach me a lot of things, Adrien," Lila said with a wide smile that appeared more like a leer to him.
"You know, since I'm so inexperienced."
Oh, he was going to teach her a thing or two.
Putting on his best model-smile, he politely asked Vincent, "Could you leave us alone for a minute?"
"Sure." Vincent shrugged and left along with his assistant.
Plagg would be proud of the low growl he let out as he marched to sit on the set chair next to Lila.
He inhaled deeply. When he was in the car, he was furiously thinking of ways to give Lila a piece of his mind at school.
All those insults, all that anger....it seemed useless now.
He wasn't going to waste his breath with an incorrigible liar like Lila.
He wasn't going to give her that satisfaction.
He looked straight at the building across the canal, not even making eye contact with her.
"I warned you once already Lila." He said. "But you didn't listen."
He could feel the scowl forming already. "You hurt my friend Marinette, and that's not okay."
"Me?" Lila gasped. "Hurt Marinette? But she's the one who-"
His fists clenched even further as he cut her off. "I don't know how to prove you lied, Lila, because you are good at it."
He recalled the pure rage in his veins when he had to witness the utter confusion and hurt on Marinette's face when that necklace fell out of her locker.
If he wasn't a gentleman and was raised right, someone would have had to hold him back from giving Lila Rossi exactly what she deserved.
How dare she? To Marinette of all people? In front of him?
At that instant, the words, "You better tell the truth or else-" were on the tip of his tongue.
But something else clicked.
What better way to make a liar pay than by forcing her to lie against herself?
"So you'll have to come up with another lie, just as convincing, only this time it's going to prove Marinette's innocence." He changed track at the last minute.
Her carefully acted out look of innocence crumbled away into a scowl.
"Why would I do that, Adrien?" She asked, angry as usual at being called out for her lies.
I turned away. "Because we're friends aren't we?" He didn't want to help the pure venom in his voice.
That did the trick.
He could see her weighing her options, but he knew she didn't have any.
Lila Rossi craved attention, and right now, he was the only one who could give it to her.
If she refused to accept, he would cut off all ties with her, thus leaving her lonely and without any connections to the world of fame.
"Alright. I accept your deal." She said, turning to face him, offering her hand in mock agreement.
I didn't take it. "Good. Just one request though."
"And what is that?" Her eyes narrowed.
"Calling this a 'deal' implies that you and I are on the same level of agreement. And FYI, we are not."
"So what is this then?" She scowled heavily. "Blackmail?"
"Exactly." He said. "When Vincent gets back here, we are going to pretend like we've known each other all our lives. You get what you want, you get to model with me, and then, you are going to go back to the school, and you are going to make sure that Marinette is back in school by tomorrow."
"Boy, you do care about your precious Marinette." Lila rolled her eyes scathingly.
"It's like I told you the other day." He said evenly. "You can always count on me, as long as you don't hurt the people I-" His eyes widened for a fraction of a second as he realised that he was about to say the word 'love', "- I care about."
"Ah, what photogenicity!" Vincent suddenly exclaimed loudly, rushing towards them.
He stepped in front of them, making photo frames around them with his fingers.
"I don't even want to call the makeup artists on you! Such perfection!"
"Actually, Vincent, Lila here is a huge fan of making up things." Adrien smirked and he had the satisfaction of feeling Lila's glare on him.
"What Adrien means to say is that-" she leaned over and gripped his arm tightly. "-I love wearing make up! All the colours, the styles, the palettes.... when I was in New York, I got to meet some of the best makeup artists in the whole world!"
"Lila, darling, you are a woman after my own heart!" Vincent nearly swooned at her words.
Meanwhile, Adrien was trying his best to wrench his arm out of her grasp. When he did, albeit with great difficulty, he smiled again, "Shouldn't we get on with the makeup?"
"But of course!" Vincent practically bounced away to get the makeup artists.
"When you decided to get me to save Marinette," Lila glared, "You also basically agreed to us hanging out," she stroked his arm again. "Every second, of every day." She said sweetly. "Are you sure about your decision?"
Adrien couldn't believe how much this girl shocked him by the minute. It was like getting her revenge on Marinette was more important than well, anything.
"Are you sure about yours?" He shot back. "Because, you know, I could still go back and tell Vince exactly what I think of you."
Lila's frantic eyebrows raised minimally, but Adrien saw them. Both of them got up from their chairs.
"I'm really going to have fun in this photoshoot with you!" She gushed at the top of her voice, and swiftly pecked him on the cheek. "Adrien." She added with more malice as she sashayed ahead of him.
Adrien wiped his cheek with disgust, hoping he could erase the imprint of her lips and silently thanking his fate she wasn't in the form of Chameleon.
"Uh, you do realise you sold your soul to the devil?" Plagg said, looking up at him from the inside of his pocket. "Literally?"
Adrien shook his head, determined to get through this particularly painful photoshoot.
"As long as Marinette gets to come back to school, it doesn't matter." He muttered to his kwami as he walked over to makeup.
"It's like she has a disease or something. I mean, no one can lie this much." Plagg said thoughtfully.
Adrien stopped in his tracks as a chord struck.
"Plagg." A smile spread across his face. "You're a genius."
"Uh, you're not wrong kid, but what?"
"You'll see." Adrien reassured.
-------
Marinette somberly packed up her bag for school.
"Marinette, please, talk to me!" Tikki said,coming out of her purse.
"What is there to talk about Tikki?" She sighed, looking straight ahead.
"I mean, you cleaned up yesterday!"
"I cleaned my room, Tikki. That's a person's normal reaction to a messy room."
"No, I mean you removed all the photos of Adrien!" Tikki exclaimed, gesturing around at her uncharacteristically clean walls. "I mean, not that that isn't a good thing, it's great that you are slowly realizing it but.....what does this mean for you and Adrien?"
"You saw the TV yesterday." Marinette rubbed her arm. "He did a photoshoot. With her. Of all people."
"Oh Marinette..." Tikki lamented. "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation."
"Like what? I wonder what lies Lila cooked up to make Adrien believe in her." She said bitterly.
"None! Adrien knows she is a liar! Besides, yesterday he was one of the first people who stood up for you!" Tikki comforted. "Adrien is your friend, Marinette. Once you go to school, just talk to him. Ask him what happened. There is no problem that cannot be solved." She said wisely.
Marinette gave her kwami a watery smile as she kissed her head.
---------
"OH MY GOD YOU ARE BAAAAAACCKKK!" Alya screamed as she glomped her best friend just as she walked into the school.
Marinette hugged her back just as enthusiastically.
Before she knew it, Nino was hugging her tightly, and then Kim lifted her off her feet, and Max joined in the hug.
"She's back kids! Let's have a party!" Kim yelled as he separated from Marinette to let Nathaniel and Marc hug her.
"Not during school hours, Kim." Mrs. Mendeliev said disapprovingly as she walked by. To Marinette's surprise, she found her usually strict teacher give her a small smile before walking away.
"Marinette!" She heard Mylene call as Alix, Juleka and Rose slowly trailed behind her.
"Mylene!" Marinette called back joyfully as she let her friend hug her.
"Marinette?" Alix called uncertainly.
"We're really sorry." Rose said, looking pitifuly ashamed. "Of course you would never have done any of those things."
"We really should have known better." Alix pleaded. "Lila's necklace in your locker wasn't solid proof for anything. I'm really sorry, Marinette."
"We really hope you can forgive us." Juleka mumbled quietly.
Marinette sighed happily. "Of course I forgive all of you."
"Really?" Alix looked up, shocked.
"Of course!" Marinette said sweetly and sincerely, giving them all a hug in turn. "You're all my friends, and things like these happen. I really appreciate you guys coming over to me right now."
All three of them looked relieved.
Over Juleka's shoulder, Marinette saw Chloe jabbering away on her phone as Sabrina stared devotedly at her, waiting for her next order.
"Wait. Don't tell me you're going to-" Alya stuttered when she followed Marinette's gaze.
"Alya, she was the only one other than you, Adrien and Sabrina to not get akumatised." Marinette said patiently. "That has to mean something."
Ignoring her friends' flabbergasted expressions, she walked over to Chloe and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Hey, Chloe," Sabrina hissed.
"What is it Sabrina?" Chloe snapped, and turned around when Sabrina pointed to Marinette.
"Ugh, so you're back, Dupain-Cheng?" She remarked, looking at her up and down. "Whatever, it's not like I missed you anyway." She said, rolling her eyes and returning to her phone.
"Hey, Chloe, I just wanted to-" Marinette began bravely.
"You're still not gone?" Chloe turned around again.
"I wanted to thank you."
Chloe let out a sputter of laughter.
"Thank me?! You want to THANK me?? For what?" Chloe laughed.
"You know," Marinette's smile never wavered. "For not getting akumatised. It meant that you believed me right?"
"Oh, don't flatter yourself, Dupain-Cheng. Me not getting akumatised has more to do with me being a superhero, and less to do with you." Chloe snarled.
"But some tiny part of it did, didn't it?" Marinette said persistently.
"It didn't, okay? Cut it out!"
Chloe matched her gaze fervently until it dropped.
"Oh alright. I didn't think you were capable of cheating and of theft. BUT, don't take it as a compliment. It just means that you don't have the balls to do something as colossal as that, goody two shoes." Chloe glared at her.
Marinette's smile grew wider.
"There, are you done now? Leave me alone, I have to finish talking!"
"Thank you anyway, Chloe." Marinette turned away, satisfied, only to bump right into the last person she wanted to see.
Lila Rossi.
"Oh, Marinette!" She simpered, ruining Marinette's good mood.
"Yes, Lila?" Marinette crossed her arms.
"I'm so glad you are back! I must have tripped on those stairs by myself, and thought you were the one who did it! I'm such an idiot!" She said at the top of her voice.
"Finally something we can agree on." Marinette muttered under her breath.
"And my necklace, the reason why I thought you did it? I saw a glimpse of it in your locker the other day, but I shouldn't have immediately assumed that you stole it! I'm really sorry, Marinette. Someone clearly has it in for both of us!"
If you didn't know her well, you might actually think she meant it.
Marinette could almost hear Tikki in her head, telling her to not give Lila the time of the day.
"Yeah. Okay." Marinette said through gritted teeth as she walked past her.
"Everything is good now, right?" Alya said happily. "Both you and Lila are reconciled, you're back at school-" she gasped. "And look, Adrien is here!"
Marinette's throat went dry as she saw Adrien walk into the school.
"My dude!" Nino went over to give his best friend a pat on the back. "Look who's back!"
"Go on, girl!" Alya gave her a not-so-gentle nudge.
Marinette quickly tried to jump on the bandwagon. "I'll go to class with you! Don't wanna be late on my first day back-"
"Nuh-uh. Those excuses aren't going to work on me." Alya interrupted. "Besides, he was worried about you...." She added in a sing song voice.
He was? A flutter of hope flew in her chest.
When she turned towards Adrien and Nino's direction, Adrien was looking directly at her.
Marinette's habitual instincts around Adrien were screaming at her to run.
He waved at her, giving her a smile.
Was that the look of someone who didn't believe her at all?
"Alya..." She hissed for help, but she was long gone.
Marinette instead made do with giving him a strained smile.
Nino gave him a clap on the shoulder that seemed to both knock the wind out of him and bring him out of a dazed stupor.
Now why did Nino's actions seem familiar? Marinette thought.
"Hey, Nino!" Alya called.
What?! Damn you, Alya! Marinette thought frantically as Nino rushed over to help his girlfriend.
Adrien wasted no time in walking towards her, and Marinette's legs were steadily turning into jelly.
"Hey, Mari-"
"Adrien! There you are!" A very familiar, and very obnoxious voice rang in her ears as Lila knocked into her shoulder, holding Adrien's arm.
"Uh, Lila, I need to-" he was saying.
"We need to talk about that amazing photoshoot yesterday! And those tricks on lightings and angles, man, we need to hang around Vince a lot more! He really knows his stuff!"
"Yeah, I'm sorry, but I need to-"
"So tell me, when is the next one? Your father told me that it would be in two weeks, but I really wish it could be sooner!" She walked her fingers up Adrien's arm, and Marinette felt vomit rising up her throat. "I really had a lot of fun, you know."
Just then, the bell rang for the first period.
Lila finally let go of Adrien, to his huge relief. He thought that she would be hanging around him all day.
But the damage was done.
Marinette's weakening legs had somehow turned into lead.
Lila and Adrien were modeling together, and more of that was going to come in the future.
He didn't believe her.
Or maybe he knew, and just didn't want to.
How could he?
How could she have been so stupid?
Marinette shut her eyes tight and turned away, refusing to look at Adrien.
If she had, she might have caved at the utterly crushed look on his face.
--------
Adrien got told off thrice for daydreaming in class, but he couldn't care less.
"Dude, are you okay?" Nino asked him as they walked together to PE.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Adrien brushed it off.
Nino knew his best friend very well. "Did you talk to Marinette? Did something happen between you two?"
"No, nothing!" Adrien said, defensively.
"Uh huh. Look, Lila is a nice chick," -Adrien turned his laugh into a cough- "but I think you modeling with her upset Marinette a little. I mean, she was involved in that whole issue with her getting expelled."
"You don't think I know that, Nino?" Adrien groaned. "It's not like I wanted to."
"Look, she's right there." Nino pointed out where Marinette was talking to Alya. "Go on, I bet talking to her will fix everything."
Adrien nodded to him. Taking a deep breath, he walked right ahead towards the girls.
Alya quickly noticed him and tactfully waved to Marinette, walking away.
"Marinette?" Adrien said, and he saw her shoulders stiffen as she turned to him.
"Adrien." She said calmly, turning to him.
It may have been something really miniscule, but her calm way of greeting him unnerved him.
Marinette never greeted him calmly.
"I just never got to say how glad I am that you're back in school." He smiled.
"Yeah. I guess. Lila didn't get away. She's a liar, by the way, did you know that?" Marinette crossed her arms, fixing him with a less than pleased stare.
Adrien was starkly reminded of a piece of gum on his first day of school.
That time he didn't want to throw someone else under the bus. This time he was the bus, the driver, and he was also underneath it.
He utterly messed up.
"Marinette, please, just listen to me. I have to tell you something." He urged.
"Oh, Adrien!" He heard the same god-awful voice belonging to an even huger god-awful liar.
"Go on. Your dad's new muse is calling out to you." Marinette said, clearly unimpressed as she turned away.
"But Marinette, wait!"
His pleas landed on deaf ears as she caught up with Alya.
--------
Poor Marinette had to endure watching Adrien stuck in Lila's clutches the entire day.
She wished she could say she was angry.
She was. But that didn't erase the hurt that was gnawing away at her.
After all this time, she was finally making progress with him.
Of course it had to blow up in her face.
What on earth did Lila even say to him?
How did he even believe her?
Marinette opened up her locker, carefully checking for any foreign items that did not belong to her.
"Don't worry, Marinette." She jumped as she heard Lila's voice. "I never ruin a person's reputation the same way twice."
She didn't even need to look at her to know that she was smirking.
Marinette slammed her locker with as much force as she could and grabbed her bag.
"Careful now, Marinette." Lila tutted. "You got caught for cheating, injuring another student, and theft. Don't want to add destruction of public property to the list now, do you?"
Marinette felt her eye twitching. "I'm really not in the mood, Lila."
She strapped up her bag.
Everyone except the fencing class was in school. And all Marinette wanted to do was get out of here without getting noticed by Adrien.
"I told you that Adrien would be mine, didn't I?"
"Yeah. He's yours." Marinette tried to not let her heart sink even further than it already did. "Have you come to gloat?"
'Soon enough, I'll accomplish my other goal. I was this close to getting you out of everyone's lives. But the next time-"
"The NEXT time?!" Marinette burst in anger. "Isn't it enough for you that you got to be famous? That everyone likes you?"
Lila laughed. "No, Marinette. Why on earth would you think that? You see, I can never be truly sure that I can completely have Adrien unless you are out of his life. I'm just removing a boulder in my path, that's all." She shrugged, like it meant nothing.
"Adrien is NOT a prize to be won, Lila. I don't know what you said to him to make him believe, but he will see one day that you are completely defined by the lies you say."
Marinette was nearly shocked by what she said.
Taking a deep breath, she chose to believe it.
Adrien is not dumb enough to fall for her. He never will be.
"And neither will anyone else." She continued proudly.
"And what makes you think that?"
"You just outright confessed to having a lying disorder, Lila." Marinette said calmly, knowing that she got the upper hand in the conversation. "You may not be hated, but now everyone knows that you cannot be trusted."
Lila growled and got all up in Marinette's face. "You really think one lie like that is enough to bring me down? I can make people believe it's cured, I can also make them believe that my accident caused by you was the reason I even got it."
"That is the dumbest lie ever." Marinette retorted. "Even for you."
"It is not me who is dumb, Marinette. It is people who are." She grinned slyly. "The entire class believed me even after I got akumatised into a lying supervillain. Twice. What makes you think they won't take my side over you?"
"My friends will never leave my side. Nothing you say will make me believe otherwise." Marinette's knuckles were turning white.
"Let me let you in on a little secret, and don't worry, it is the honest truth: I nearly defeated Ladybug and Chat Noir."
Marinette gasped internally. How did...how was she aware of what she was doing as an akuma victim? And how was she able to speak about with so much pride?
"Two superheroes didn't stop me, two normal civilians being a little less dumb won't either." Lila said in a soft, dangerous voice.
Marinette wished with all her might she could have transformed. It would have given her good reason to kick her butt.
"I'm done having this conversation." Marinette said as calmly as she could, turning away to walk over to the door.
But when she saw it, it was opening, and Adrien was standing there in his fencing gear.
He looked confused. "Uh...am I interrupting something?"
Marinette really wanted to work things out with him, but she couldn't do it. Not in front of Lila.
Making a mental note to talk everything out with him later, she walked past him and out of the locker room, closing the door behind her.
------
"So, Adrien, I will be off then, see you tomorrow!" Lila said airily, blowing him a kiss as she went over to the door.
She stopped when Adrien blocked her path with his fencing foil.
"I thought we had a deal." He said, angrily. "You stay away from Marinette in exchange for you getting to be around me."
"Uh, she was asking for it?" Lila said nonchalantly.
"Don't even start with me, Lila." He put his arm down, but his rage did not subside. "I heard everything you said to Marinette. Every single word."
"So? The deal was that I wouldn't harm her. She can handle a few empty threats." She shrugged.
"Knowing you, I'm sure they were empty." He said sarcastically.
"What's the big deal anyway, Adrien?" Lila made to touch his chest but he stepped backwards and away from her.
"The big deal here is that you are lowkey bullying my friend." Adrien's voice trembled a little at the word 'friend'.
"You don't know Marinette. I wasn't there when you fixed what you broke, but I'm sure she offered you another chance, even after everything you put her through."
"Aww, you know her so well!" Lila cooed. "Yeah, she did, so what? It just shows how weak she is."
"Weak?!" Adrien bellowed. "You're the one who's weak, Lila!" He pointed a finger at her, whom for her part looked startled. "Trying to get people to like you by telling lies to make yourself look more attractive? That's weakness. Marinette drops everything to help her friends, she'd even give up her life for them! She gave you, a psychopathic liar, so many chances, even more than I have, and you wasted every single one of them. You don't get to talk about weakness, and you especially don't get to talk about Marinette."
His chest heaved with anger, passion, and most importantly, hatred.
Adrien was definitely sure he had never hated anyone more than Lila at the moment, and he dealt with supervillains on a daily basis. Two of which were Lila herself.
Lila looked terrified. She wasn't acting. Adrien had scared the wits out of her.
"If you tell her one word about our agreement, I will-"
"You will what?" Adrien interrupted. " 'Ruin' my life? Joke's on you. There is nothing whatsoever you can do to make my life more miserable than it already is. So if you want to ruin my reputation, lie about my 'misbehaviour', or even worse, expel me, Go. Right. Ahead. There is no suffering that I do not know, and I cannot handle."
"You made a promise, Lila." Adrien continued, glaring at her. "For once in your life, honour it."
"Oh, did I make a promise?" Lila said, with mock thoughtfulness. "Oops. I guess I lied. Again."
"Fine. The deal is off, then." Adrien stated.
It took a second for Lila to understand what he said. "What?! You can't do that!"
"I just did." Adrien shouldered his foil casually. "You aren't allowed within a foot's range in any Brand Gabriel's photoshoots and modeling agencies anymore. Good luck trying elsewhere."
"Your father recommended me personally!" Lila screeched.
Adrien knew making his father listen was hard, but this one time, he would make an exception and rebel till he got what he wanted.
"I don't know how my father got a hold of you, but he definitely won't want you after everything I am going to tell him about you." Adrien said, his voice growing harder.
"This will NOT be the last you'll see of me."
"That's a shame." Adrien shrugged, walking over to his locker. "You're quite the delight."
"You will pay for this, Adrien. Both you and Marinette." Lila gritted her teeth.
At Marinette's name, Adrien's eyes flashed. "You won't be laying a finger on Marinette anytime soon. Not when you have to go through me to get to her. I will make Marinette listen. One way or another. She is not the only one who can see past you, and I will prove it to her." He vowed.
"She won't believe you, you know." Lila managed to say. "The damage has already been done."
"She'll believe me over you." Adrien said defensively. "I hope you realise that your career as a liar was officially over from the moment I made you admit you have a lying disorder."
Lila was absolutely furious at being reminded of that again.
"And how are you going to achieve that when she won't even look at you?" Lila mocked. "Face it, she won't be wanting to saved by her 'friend' who stabbed her in the back."
Adrien blanched. Lila did have a point.
At this rate, making Marinette talk to him seemed impossible.
"Losing my stick, getting beaten up, won't stop me from saving her."
The voice in his head sounded awfully like himself.
"I will always be here to save Marinette. I won't give up. Ever."
He had said those same words as Chat Noir to Mr. Dupain when he was akumatised into Weredad.
He was speaking the truth. He meant every word back then, and he meant every word he spoke now.
"Marinette is smarter than that, Lila. You'll see for yourself tomorrow." He crossed his arms.
"This isn't a lie, Adrien, so I mean it when I say that you will regret this." She said as she opened the door, slammed it against the wall and stormed out.
"Boy, did you give her a piece of your mind." Plagg whispered in awe as he flew out of Adrien's locker. "This day shall go down in history!"
"Plagg! Get back inside before someone sees you!" Adrien hissed.
"Alright." The kwami said, but once he was halfway through the metal, he turned around.
"You can hear everything that you say in this room from the outside, by the way."
"What?" Adrien whisper shouted.
"You're welcome!" Plagg whispered as he flew back in.
Adrien turned around to see a tearful Marinette standing at the doorway.
"Marinette?" Adrien couldn't hear his own voice.
"You went through so much....for me?" She said as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Adrien strode over to her. "Hey, it's okay, it's not that big of a deal." He said, placing a hand on her shoulder, trying to get her to calm down.
"Not a big deal? You put yourself through misery, you put yourself through her. All so she wouldn't target me! And you told her off for me! And I've-I've just been a gigantic jerk to you, I didn't even listen to you-"
Adrien pulled Marinette slightly closer to him by the shoulders. "No, it's okay, I don't blame you." He said softly. "It would have seemed that way to anyone."
Marinette let out a sob as she threw her arms around his neck. How could she have even thought of giving up on someone as selfless as Adrien?
Adrien was vaguely aware of his cheeks turning red. A second later, he reacted back and hugged her just as tightly, rubbing her back soothingly.
That didn't stop him from having a mini meltdown.
He was supposed to be in love with Ladybug! He wasn't supposed to notice how perfectly she fit into his frame and how familiar she felt and how soft and nice-smelling her hair was-argh snap out of it Agreste!
"Thank you, Adrien." Marinette whispered into his neck.
That was all it took to calm Adrien down for now.
"Anything for you, Marinette." He whispered back.