Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nikki Evans was showing her girlfriend, Mary Mitchells, around Collège Françoise Dupont.

“I’m really glad you decided to join me Sunshine!”

The ravenette smiled nervously. “I just hope my classmates like me.” She fidgeted with her skirt before one of her hands was grabbed.

Nikki smiled gently at her, before pecking Mary’s cheek. “They’ll love you. But not too much cause I’m the lucky one who’s dating you.”

The two continue their little tour before stopping outside the locker room.

“I only tell people what they want to hear. There’s nothing you can do about it anyways, and if you don’t want to fall in line, everyone you know and love will leave you, because I rule this school. I’ll give you until the end of day Marc.” Lila Rossi walked through the double doors, acting as if she owned the place.

“Hey Lila!” Nikki cheerfully, a little too much so, said. Lila jumped as if shocked, before schooling her face into a happy expression.

“Oh Nikki, I didn’t see you there!” The Italian noticed the slightly taller girl standing next to the redhead. “Oh? Who’s this?” She looked over the girl.

Nikki protectively placed a hand on Mary’s shoulder. “This is Mary, she’s starting school here tomorrow. I’m just showing her around so she won’t get lost.”

“Aw, how sweet!” Lila cooed. “But are you certain you’re okay with taking time out of your day to show her around? You look a little upset.” Nikki waved her fake concerns off.

“I’m more than happy to show Mary around, I’m just a little upset that this weed started getting even bigger in my garden.”

“Oh, if you have a weed problem, my great uncle actually invented this weed killer that works 100% of the time.”

Nikki smiles at her, and Mary got chills down her back. “Thanks for the offer Lila, but I prefer to deal with problems hands on.”

~

The next day, the atmosphere in school had drastically changed. People were gathered into small groups, huddled together as if they were trying to protect themselves from something.

Whispers of “Did you hear?” or, “The Ace is back.” and “What do you think made her come out of retirement?” floated throughout the hallway.

Mary finally spotted the few friendly faces she knew, Marc Anciel, Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and Alix Kubdel.

“What’s going on? Who is this Ace everyone ‘s talking about? And where’s Nikki?” She asked, very confused as no one had mentioned anything about this earlier.

“The Ace ruled the school a couple of years ago. No one knows how, but if you crossed her, your life was just about over.” Marinette filled her in.

“She also had this group every year that ruled alongside her. If you found a face card in your locker, you were in. It changed every year until she left the school suddenly.” Marc took over.

“Geez, she sounds like the type of person my parents would want me to be friends with. Anyway, you feeling better Marc?” After his nod, the ravenette noticed Marinette looked ready to cry. “Sweetie are you okay? You look like you’re about to cry.”

“Marinette weakly nodded. “I’ll be fine, it’s just Lila.”

The rest of the group wanted to comfort her, but said nothing, respecting Marinette’s unspoken wish as they made their way to their lockers.

When they opened them, a card was sitting there innocently.

“Hey you guys, I found a card in my locker.” Mary called out, grabbing the card and showing it off, causing several people’s eyes to widen.

“Ma-mary.” Nathaniel raised a single shaking finger. “You’ve got the King of Spades.”

Chapter Text

The four just looked at the cards they held in their hands. “Alright, so we all somehow got face cards, right?” Alix asked, looking at the others.

“Yeah, I’ve got the Queen of Spades.” Marinette spoke up and flashed her card at the group.

Whispers started up, no doubt about Marinette’s new position, and they only increased as the other 3 showed off their cards.

“Marinette how could you?!” Lila cried out, loud so that everyone in the room heard. “You stole the Queen of Spades and put your 2 of Clubs in my locker just to bully me!” She buried her face in her hands and let out a few loud fake sobs in an attempt to gain sympathy. The crowd murmured and shifted as she continued on. Alya appeared by her side and started to comfort her.

Before Alya or anyone else could say anything, someone burst through the doors yelling “The Ace is here!” The crowd left quickly after that, and the group was swept up, being pushed along until they entered the courtyard.

When they finally escaped, the four noticed everyone looking and pointing at the second floor. Standing there, looking down on the school with a very satisfied smirk, was “NIKKI!?”

“Hey babe!” Nikki smiled at Mary, who was glaring at her as she made her way up the stairs.

“You better have a good reason as to why you gave me the KING of Spades!”

“Because the King of Spades is the second most powerful, and since you're my girlfriend and I love you so very much, I made you my second in command! Nothing to do with gender or anything I swear!” Nikki held her hands in front of her, in a futile attempt to shield herself.

The explanation managed to pacify Mary enough that Nikki could make her announcement. “Alright, you all know the rules, unless you’re new. So for any new people, listen up, cause I’m only gonna say this once!” She clasped her hands together and gave the crowd a wide smile. “I’m the Ace of Spades, otherwise known as The Ace. I rule this school, so crossing me or hurting the people I care about, otherwise known as the Royals. Who are the Royals you ask, well they are the people I have chosen to protect slash rule alongside me.” Nikki grabbed her girlfriend and pulled her close. “This is my wonderful and beautiful girlfriend, Mary. She is my second in command, my King of Spades. Treat her with respect!”

The crowd shivered at the look in her eyes. The look that said if they didn’t do what she said they’d end up on the chopping block.

Nikki smirked at their reaction, before returning to her speech. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng is my Queen of Spades, Alix Kubdel is my Jack of Spades. You will also treat them with respect. On to the Hearts!” The redhead screamed as she slammed her fist on the railing.

“Moon Beam, you need to calm down.” Mary pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“Sorry Sunshine. Anyway, the Hearts. My King of Hearts is Marc Anciel and his boyfriend Nathaniel Kurtzberg is his Queen of Hearts. See baby, it has nothing to do with gender. And finally, I dub Ivan Bruel as my Jack of Hearts. As usual, treat them and their partners with respect.”

“Huh, do you think she picked him cause they’re seatmates?”

“It’s likely.”

“And now for The List.” A flurry of noise rose at the proclamation. Who had already gotten on The Ace’s bad side? “Lila Rossi!”

The crowd turned as one towards the girl, who was curled in on herself and looked like she wanted to disappear.

“You have threatened my best friend, Marc Anciel, alongside harassing and tormenting my friend Marinette Dupain-Cheng. For those reasons you have been dubbed the lowest of the low, the 2 of Clubs!”

Chapter Text

Everyone was still talking about what had happened this morning by the time lunch rolled around. Everyone except Alya and Adrien was avoiding Lila, the latter had the Italian digging her nails into his arms.

It’s not fair Alya!” Lila whined to the reporter. “Marinette and Nikki managed to turn the whole school against me!”

Alya patted her hand as she promised “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure everyone knows the truth.”

“That’s all we want to hear Alya.” Nikki said from behind them.

Upon turning around, Lila paled as she took in the brunette woman behind Nikki. “Ma-mamam what are you doing here?”

Her mother glared at her before explaining that “I got a call from your principal. Apparently he had been trying to contact me for a while. Imagine my surprise when he told me that my perfectly healthy daughter had a variety of illnesses, and that the school hadn’t been shut down for months. And that a precious family heirloom was stolen.”

The lunchroom started to murmur as Lila’s face grew paler and paler with every word out of her mother’s mouth. “Mama, I-”

“Be quiet!” She thundered before continuing on. “You don’t have a family heirloom, you don’t have any diseases or illnesses, and you were never traveling out of the country!” Lila cowered as her mother’s voice rose. “When I told Mr. Damocles that, he told me all about the incident where you were pushed down the stairs. But when we looked over the security tapes, it turns out you planted the necklace and walked down the stairs yourself!”

The murmurs got louder at that statement, all eyes turning towards the drama.

“Ahem. Due to your truancy and framing of another student, I’m afraid Lila is expelled Mrs. Rossi” Mr. Damocles spoke up.

Mrs. Rossi only nodded. “Fair enough, I was planning on pulling her out and shipping her off to a military school in Italy for what she’s done.” Looking at Adrien, she let out a sigh. “Young man, I’d advise breaking up with my daughter since she is also losing her devices and access to the internet for a year.”

Adrien stared at her confused. “I’m not dating Lila, I’m just her classmate.”

“Another lie, why am I not surprised.” The two adults left the cafeteria to discuss the details of Lila’s expulsion as the student body talked amongst themselves, figuring out the rest of Lila’s lies.

“Oh Lila, Lila, Lila, Lila.” Nikki shook her head. “This is why you don’t mess with The Ace.”