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Everyone quietened down the moment Lila Rossi walked into the classroom ten minutes late that morning, Miss Bustier had come down with the flu and the class had been left to their own devices for the lesson. Most had been studying -- several with headphones listening to music -- others were quietly talking about their work between themselves. But the moment Lila had walked through the door the conversations throughout the room had slowly died off, even those listening to music had picked up on the room’s newfound vibe and either turned their music down or off entirely. Marinette Dupain-Cheng found herself casting a glance at her best friend and seat-mate Alya Cesaire, the two of them subtly turning off their music, but keeping their earphones in so as not to seem like they were snooping outwardly.
The reason for the curiosity that permeated through the room was due to the fact that Lila Rossi was rarely late and, in the few instances she had been, there had always been a reason to go along with it, a reason that gained the attention of her classmates -- both positive and negative. Another reason was that upon Lila’s neck was a cluster of small, dark bruises that were visible when she had pushed her hair behind her ear upon her entry.
Marinette found a note being pushed towards her courtesy of Alya. The two had grown used to passing notes quietly between each other during classes, almost never being caught -- and the one time they had they had been discussing an upcoming assignment so they had gotten off easy.
‘Wonder what the story is this time…’ Alya had written in blue scrawl. Marinette almost laughed at the accompanying scribble Alya had drawn of a small emoji-style face in thought with a small thought cloud above it. Since the event that had led to Marinette’s part-time expulsion, Alya was able to see the brunette girl for who she really was.
‘Its gotta be good. What, with all those hickeys???’ Marinette’s black pen quickly drew out and she handed it back to Alya at the same time she could hear a conversation being struck up from the back of the room.
“How was your weekend Lila?” Rose greeted the Italian girl who was now in her seat at the back of the room, on the aisle seat opposite the blonde girl.
“Oh, it was just wonderful Rose!” Lila responded. “I was able to spend time with my boyfriend. He is such a sweetheart.” Marinette found it almost comical how the girl had instantly launched into a story about herself and not asking about Rose’s weekend in kind.
“Wow, that’s great,” Rose responded, everyone else pretending that their study was more interesting than the conversation that was currently taking place. “What did you get up to?”
Marinette couldn’t see the brunette, but she could imagine the fake blush Lila’s face would feature at the moment. “We just hung out a little, watched some movies, his favourite type, rom-coms.”
Rose cooed. “Wow Lila, that’s so good! I didn’t even realise you had a boyfriend! You've never mentioned him before,” Rose said, and Marinette looked over to see Alya quickly writing on their note.
‘Chances are that he didn’t exist until Lila decided he did.’ Marinette struggled to stifle a laugh.
Lila gives a fake innocent giggle. “Well, you see, he didn’t exactly want our relationship to be common knowledge…”
“Why not?” Rose questioned her, voice higher pitch than normal indicating clear confusion from the smaller girl. “He’s not ashamed of you, is he? You should date a guy like-”
“No,” Lila cut her off. “He’s super sweet, it’s just that he’s… um… well, he’s kinda well known in Paris… and all over France to be honest…”
‘Plot twist: its Adrien’ Marinette passed the note back to Alya who quickly wrote on it and handed it back.
‘Even he doesn't know he exists.’
Marinette couldn’t help but look at the head of blond hair sitting in front of her. Logically, Marinette knew Alya was only making a joke, but since she had stopped stuttering over her every second word around him, the dark-haired girl had come to the realisation that perhaps outside of his duties to his father, he was almost non-existent. The way he acted around her when he was comfortable in a situation was unlike she had ever seen him before, and she was glad that she had the opportunity to become even better friends with him, to see him as he truly was, the pun-loving dork that he refused to show the world, except for Marinette, Nino and one other friend (whom he did not name). Adrien was like two separate people, and she wasn’t sure which was real or not.
“Oh,” Rose continued. “So he’s like a celebrity?” Marinette cursed her vantage point from the room but imagined Lila nodding her head. “Who?” Rose inquired.
“Um well…” the next words that came from Lila were said in a tone that made it sound like she was meant to be whispering, but everyone in the class could still hear her perfectly. “It’s um… he’s Chat Noir.”
Marinette’s eyebrows furrowed, yeah that couldn’t be correct. Surely Marinette had misheard. It was obvious that Marinette was not the only person in the class in disbelief because from across the room Chloe Bourgeois spat out a mouthful of her caramel macchiato. “Sorry, didn’t realise how hot it was…” she said once she had recovered.
Alya pushed a note to Marinette that read, ‘hmmm… Ladybug’s bestie dating Ladybug’s partner??? Original…’
At the rear of the room Lila pushed on in her faux-whisper tone “He wanted to keep it a secret... I’m pretty sure it's because he’s worried Ladybug will become jealous…”
In front of her, Marinette could see Adrien’s left leg start bouncing, which she had come to realise was a sign of frustration. He must have been actually doing his work — maths from what Marinette could see.
“What? Really?” Rose pressed. “Ladybug? Jealous? Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” Lila said almost instantly. “He didn’t say it in so many words, but it was pretty easy to infer…”
If it wasn’t for her utter disbelief at Lila’s claim to be dating Chat Noir, Marinette would be almost insulted by the words being spouted against her secret persona.
Marinette could almost confirm that Chat Noir was actually single, contrary to the lies Lila was spouting currently. And even if he wasn’t, she was sure he had more wits about him than to date a compulsive liar such as the girl in question.
“Isn’t she meant to be your friend though?” Rose asked the question that was burning through the rest of the class, weren’t they friends?
Lila sighed, “well that’s the thing… she has been so… cut off lately… she’s really short with me, I don’t know what I’ve done wrong really… and Chat said she's acting differently towards him as well… more flirty even when he knocks back her advances. I guess she’s just upset she didn’t know a good guy when she had him…”
Something within Lila’s words filled Marinette with a sense of longing. No, she wasn't mad at Lila and the lies she was sprouting. No. instead, Lila’s words made Marinette realise something, how much she missed Chat and his stupid puns. He had been more reserved lately, told her that he was moving on, and at first, she had been fine with it — glad even, that he would no longer be hung up on unrequited love. But then the days passed where he slowly drew back. No, not ‘drew back’, but he wasn't there fully. He wasn't the Chat she really knew, the one that was her best friend. She could tell he was holding back on his flirting, and for once in her life, she began to miss it. Began to realise what Lila had just voiced — that she didn't know a good guy when she had him.
Marinette wanted to make a comment, but she knew almost anything she said would be incriminating of her secret identity and instead bit her tongue, focusing on the blonde hair in front of her rather than the worksheet which now lay forgotten on her desk.
Adrien was clearly agitated by this time, pen tapping on his desk repetitively, and his whole body was practically vibrating in anger, and when Marinette saw him move she knew what she had to do.
Adrien Agreste was fuming. How could Lila come into class and begin sprouting lies about a relationship with Chat Noir like she was doing? Did she have no dignity? And to insult Ladybug? The absolute gall of her!
Even though Adrien’s feelings towards Ladybug were no longer anything more than platonic — with Marinette to thank for that — the blond boy still felt rather defensive for his best friend (sorry Nino). It wasn’t even until Adrien saw a figure in front of him that he realised what he had been about to do, that he had been about to verbally (and perhaps physically while he was at it) murder Lila.
Marinette was not sure what possessed her to stand up, to place herself between Lila and an enraged Adrien — Marinette wasn’t sure why, but for whatever reason he had, Adrien was pissed.
No, she had no idea why she had felt the need to protect Lila. Or perhaps it was Adrien she was protecting — as his friend Marinette was at least a little clued into how terrible Gabriel Agreste could be towards his son.
Marinette was suddenly aware of all the eyes in the room that were now focused on her and Adrien, standing chest to chest, her facing the front of the room and Adrien glaring at what Marinette knew to be the vicinity of Lila. She was also aware of the fact that she would need to tread carefully over the topic of Ladybug — just as she needed to do every day of her life. But what Marinette was most curious about, however, was why it was Adrien who looked ready to murder Lila over her latest lies. Perhaps Adrien was friends with Chat Noir — she does recall him asking after the superhero after the incident with Evillustrator… or perhaps Adrien was dating the cat-themed hero himself… that would make sense as to why Chat had been withdrawn lately and Adrien was weird around her. (She also hated how her mind instantly jumped to the conclusion of how she would have loved to have been the ham-cheese hybrid in the middle of that man-sandwich.)
“Do you not think Lila,” Marinette found herself speaking without even a glance over her shoulder at the girl. “That even if you were dating Chat — which I’m not saying you’re aren’t -- that in that instance, it is possible that Chat didn’t want his relationship with you being public in fear that Hawkmoth may target you?” Behind Marinette, she could hear the other girl stuttering over what to say next and how to respond to Marinette's statement. “That the reason Chat insisted your supposed relationship remain hidden from the public eye was not due to Ladybug’s... ‘jealousy’ as you put it, but instead because he’s a superhero with an enemy who’s capable of controlling people and using them to perform acts of evil within the community?” Marinette fought to keep her voice level and not for the anger in it to rise too far.
Adrien’s gaze moved to meet Marinette’s where he held it. His eyes were a vibrant green, and they held not just anger, but so much more. Admiration.
“Perhaps you should think about what you’re saying Lila,” Marinette said. “Before you instantly villainize a woman whom you claim to be friends with.” With that final comment, Marinette threw her bag over her shoulder and grabbed her books.
Certainly, she could have stayed in the room, but leaving added a certain dramatic flair which she had picked up from a certain black cat she knew...