Chapter Text
She knew.
Marinette didn’t know how, but Lila knew.
She had tried to seem cool and collected when Lila let her know she knew, but she was filled with so much anxiety people were starting to notice. Well, as much as they noticed her when Lila was being herself, telling ridiculous lies that they somehow believed. Marinette went about her day, pallid, nauseous, and with Lila always in the corner of her vision, ready for her to strike. How she wished that seeing her like this would be satisfying enough for her.
Unfortunately, Lila had a personal vendetta against her and would never be satisfied until Marinette’s world came crumbling down around her. She was talking to Alya in the cafeteria. Marinette, sitting alone while she waited for Alya, was too far away to hear about what, but she saw Alya light up and take out her phone. She used her reporter voice in order to be heard properly.
“This is Alya, coming to you live from the Ladyblog, here with Lila Rossi who claims to have an inside scoop about Ladybug! What is it you want to share, Lila?”
Marinette’s chest tightened. It was getting hard to breathe.
“I have the biggest scoop you could have asked for, Alya. Ladybug’s identity!”
Alya faltered. Her classmates, who had already been idly listening, straightened to attention, mixed emotions running through them. Adrien, who had previously been waiting in line with Nino, whipped around and began marching towards them.
“Uh, Lila, I don’t think-“
“She’s Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”
Alya’s mouth dropped open in horror, too stricken to end the livestream. Their classmates began murmuring amongst themselves.
“That explains why…” “she always DOES disappear when…” “..could she lie to us…”
Marinette was suffocating, the world spinning around her as she stared at the floor, hands gripping her purse tightly, surely crushing Tikki and the cookies inside. What could she do? She’s never been able to convince her classmates Lila was lying, why would they believe her now. Besides, denial would just make things worse. This was bad. Bad bad bad bad bad-
“I’ve had ENOUGH, Lila!”
Everyone whipped around, stunned to hear him sound so angry and LOUD. Adrien towered over Lila whose smirk faded at his dark look. His hands shook at his sides, fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white. Lila took a step back and stumbled on a chair, but Adrien continued to approach.
“You’ve gone too far! I told Marinette to not humiliate you by continuing to try to prove that you’re a liar, but I guess I was wrong. I knew you threatened her and still I defended you! I never imagined that you’d pull something THIS stupid!”
The crowd was shocked, gaping at Adrien as he spoke.
“Marinette being Ladybug makes no sense. Marinette is too clumsy. She’d never be able to pull off all the stunts that Ladybug does. And she’s too busy with school, being class president, designing, and helping everyone with their problems to have time to fight akumas daily AND go on patrol nightly. You think she’d show up to class at all if she had to stay up every night for patrol as late as Ladybug and Chat Noir do? She has enough trouble being on time for as it is. But I think, most convincingly, is that Ladybug’s costume is too plain to be designed by Marinette. You’ve seen how every new hero has a different outfit, even if they share the same miraculous. Volpina and Rena Rouge, for example. And when Ladybug and Chat Noir switched their miraculous? That means they have at least a LITTLE say in how their clothes look and considering that Marinette is a Gabriel-chosen contest winner, I’d say that she’s way too creative and talented in fashion design to have come up with that plain, spotted onesie.”
Lila’s mouth opened and closed a few times, struggling to make words, “b-but her eyes! Ladybug is clearly Asian, and she has blue eyes! That’s almost unheard of! And yet Marinette has blue eyes!” She was beginning to regain her confidence, standing up a little straighter.
Adrien laughed, “you’re right! I’m such an idiot! By the way, why haven’t we found out who Chat Noir is? I’m sure it would be so easy to find a guy with cat eyes! OH WAIT! WE HAVEN’T FOUND HIM BECAUSE MAGIC CHANGES HIS EYES! GOD Lila! Are you so hateful of Marinette that you’d say stupid shit like this so that she’s put in danger?”
Lila didn’t respond, but Adrien wasn’t done. He leaned forward, a glint of malice in his eyes.
“By the way, this brings up an interesting point. Didn’t you say you were Ladybug’s best friend?”
The crowd began to whisper amongst themselves, while Lila gaped and stuttered, “I-I did! We are! That’s how I know-“
“Know that you’re digging yourself into a hole? How are you best friends with Ladybug if Marinette is ladybug? Marinette doesn’t like you.”
“I-It’s a farce we put up! To, uh, to further hide her identity!”
“Then why are you sharing it now?”
“b-because-“
“Because Marinette isn’t Ladybug,” Adrien finished, pointing a finger at Lila’s chest, who had literally backed herself into a corner. “Marinette isn’t ladybug and you hate her so much for being the only one to see through your lies and DOING something about it that you’re willing to risk her life in order to keep your reputation! And yeah, that’s exactly what you’re doing. You’ve singled her out to Hawkmoth, who no doubt is going to start sending akumas after her.”
Alya began to look panicked, realization finally sinking in as she looked down at the view count of the stream, Nino began to approach Adrien, saying something about it being enough, but he wasn’t listening. Adrien wrapped his arm around a startled Lila, who was looking as cornered as she felt.
“You know,” Adrien continued, “if Marinette is Ladybug, that means that she’s been right about you all along. You’re a liar, and every story you’ve told the class is a lie. So I’m going to give you a choice. Which hill would you rather die on? Is Marinette Ladybug, and you’ve been lying about everything, or she’s NOT Ladybug, and you’ve been telling the truth about everything else?”
Lila looked around at the expectant faces, unsure of what to answer. Her eyes rested on Alya’s phone, which she just realized was still recording, and she steeled herself, looking confident. “Marinette is Ladybug. THAT is no lie.”
The triumph in her face vanished as Adrien began to laugh, “I’m sorry, just… why should we believe you?”
Lila looked confused, “what? I just sacrificed my reputation to say this! What could I possibly gain from lying?”
“Well,” Adrien drawled, “you DID just admit to lying about basically everything you’ve ever said. Why should we believe anything you say NOW? Especially considering that Marinette has been the only one to call you out on it, and so was the only threat to your reputation. I just can’t believe that you hate her so much you’d ruin your reputation yourself just to get back at her.” He laughed, “yeah, I wouldn’t believe anything you have to say. And thankfully, no one ever will.”
Lila gasped, “wh-! You tricked me!”
Adrien rolled his eyes, shrugged, and turning to Alya he took her phone, stating to the camera, “this is Adrien Agreste, signing off,” before finally ending the stream. He tossed the phone back to her, who fumbled to catch it. He turned away, calling over his shoulder as he walked, “next time, ask what the scoop is before recording anything. That was REALLY fucking stupid.”
Alya made a halfhearted excuse, still in too much shock to really reply, and Nino wrapped a comforting arm around her, “hey wait, where are you going dude?”
“I’m walking Marinette home, making sure nothing happens to her on the way, I think she’s had more than enough for one day.”
Marinette was still sitting alone, forgotten in the surprise of Adrien’s outburst, staring at a single spot in panic. He gently touched her arm before carefully guiding her off her seat, pulling her along to the front of the school. Halfway through the walk to her house, she finally calmed down enough to do more than stare at the ground and glanced up at him. He was seething, but the arm he had around her was gentle.
Finding the courage, she quietly thanked him, voice hoarse after the tightness she experienced.
Adrien’s face softened, “You don’t have to thank me Bugaboo..”
Marinette glared at him, “so you’ll defend me from Lila but you don’t even believe yourself?”
He raised an eyebrow, amused, “well, it’s hard to deny that it makes sense, My Lady.”
Adrien yelped as Marinette suddenly gripped his collar, slamming him into the nearest wall. She glared intensely at him, “Don’t. Fucking. Call me that.”
She let go, briskly walking away with her hands stuffed in her pockets. He let out a breath of air he didn’t know he was holding and smiled, jogging to catch up with her.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you,” he flashed her one of his grins, “it’s just finally sinking in that it’s you and if I’m honest, I’m really happy about it.”
“Why do you keep insisting it’s me?” She bit back, “you were all so willing to accept my reasonings for being late and leaving all the time, why don’t you believe me now? Just because Lila said so?”
Adrien let out a short laugh, “well, maybe I’m insisting because I know you too well.”
“You don’t know me,” Marinette said, “I’d like it if you did but I’m too dumb to let you.”
Adrien frowned, “don’t say that!” He reached up, brushing her cheek gently and moving her hair away from her ear, “believe it or not I do know you pretty well and- oh! I can’t believe I never noticed your earrings before!”
He found himself cut short as Marinette quickly clasped his wrist, looking furious, “Don’t. Touch. My Earrings.”
“Ah- right! Personal space sorry!” He tried to pull away, but she held on too tightly as if to make a point. “Did you want to keep holding hands, bugaboo?” He grinned cheekily, amused by how her eyes widened and a blush flared up.
Marinette stammered, letting go of his hand, “I-I just-...”
“And you’re back. How come you’re so different around me like this? You’re always so cool and collected around everyone else. And it can’t be that I’m intimidating because you’re different when I’m….. not me…?”
She shot him a puzzled look, “what are you talking about? You’re always you.”
Adrian smiled and rolled his eyes, “yeah I know I’m myself when I’m… the other guy… but bugaboo-“
“Why do you call me that? You sound like-“ Marinette stopped in her tracks as the realization sunk in, “oh…”