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Adrien sat up straight in his seat, watching Lila intently. She was up to something, he was sure. No one just stared at their water bottle like that, unless they were Plagg, and he was willing it to turn into cheese. Maybe Lila just really wanted cheese? Wait, no, that would be Plagg.
Focus, Adrien!
She suddenly looked up, and then glanced at Adrien. He turned around quickly, but not before she caught his eye again and smirked.
Paying him no mind, she stood up abruptly and walked down the stairs to Mme Bustier. However, on the way down, she had taken that stupid bottle of water along with her and unscrewed it ever so slightly.
She didn’t even drink it! What was she doing?
It suddenly became clear when she “tripped” down the stairs and flung the thermos at Marinette. While the rest of the class rushed to her side, comforting her through her crocodile tears, Adrien took it upon himself to get up to survey the damage the drink did.
“Adrien, Marinette tripped me! Come help me! I think my ankle’s broken, so you have to carry me!”
He mumbled some not-very-nice words under his breath, and responded in a tight tone. “Lila, stop. I watched you fling your heavy, metal water bottle at Marinette. You could have done some serious damage.”
The class alternated their gazes between him and Lila as though they were a tennis match. He ignored Lila’s attempts at redeeming herself, and got to his feet and walked up to his friend.
His view had been blocked by the desk he sat at, but Marinette was covered in a foul green liquid. It didn’t smell rancid, though, so Lila must have just poured whatever she had been drinking at the time. It looked like a smoothie, but nonetheless it had ruined Marinette’s clothes. She looked as though she was struggling not to cry, staring down at the nasty stains all over her blouse and pants.
What could they do?
Mme Bustier was not entranced by Lila this time, and Adrien took that opportunity to go ask if he could go clean up Marinette.
“Mme Bustier, is it alright if I go help Marinette? Her clothes are quite ruined, as you can see.” His polite tone was likely what swayed her.
She took one look at him, and nodded. “Be back quickly, please.”
“Of course, Madam.”
He coaxed Marinette up from her seat, and tried to ignore the wet dripping that had to have been excess smoothie. He snagged the nearly-full tissue box off of Mme Bustier’s desk, and walked down the hall with her.
In front of the bathrooms, he paused. Obviously, he would need to have access to a sink, but which one would be better? The men’s room would surely be nasty, but was he allowed in the woman’s?
Likely not, but he led her through the doorway and shut it behind them.
Lila had really done a number on Marinette’s clothing. As he looked her over, he heard a sniff and looked at her face. Her eyes were swimming with tears soon to be shed, if he didn’t comfort her soon.
“Don’t worry, Mari, we can totally fix this!” Great work, Adrien. There’s no way any of this is coming out.
He shook his head to clear the unwanted thoughts, and hurried to reassure her. He pulled several tissues out and tried to rid her shirt and pants of the horrendous goop. She gasped, and he looked up at her.
“Wh- What are you doing?”
“Cleaning you— Oh fuck, sorry! I’ll just— Sorry!” He finally realized where his hands had been placed, and nearly ran from embarrassment. While trying to clean her top, he had his hand in a rather compromising position on her chest.
He thrust the tissues at her, and turned away. “Sorry!” He apologized again.
“‘S okay…” She mumbled.
He finally deemed it safe to turn back around, when his face was no longer flaming. Marinette was still very much red, and very much covered in green stains. She had tried to get most of it out, but it would not budge. It was early morning, and they would obviously get in loads of trouble if they left now, but Adrien had no idea what to do for her.
He looked her up and down, up and down. What was there to do? Aside from giving her the clothes right off his back, they had no other—
Wait.
The clothes off his back!
She could wear them! Adrien was skinny, almost Marinette’s size. Surely his clothes would fit her!
The only problem was that he would have nothing to wear then, either.
Except…
Marinette would fit into his clothes, right? Why shouldn’t it work the other way around? They were really so similar, with all of the restrictive diets that Adrien was forced on. If he had to suffer through wearing a girl’s green-stained shirt and pants, he would. Marinette was his friend, after all.
A friend.
Just a friend.
No matter how much he would like to be more.
Except he was loyal to Ladybug! He couldn’t like Marinette!
Plagg would be hysterical if he could hear his thoughts now.
Hmm… Hiss-terical. A pun to save for later!
Back to the matter at hand, Adrien knew he had the only solution that could work.
“We could swap clothes.”
Marinette froze, and just stared at him. Openly gaped.
“Why on earth would we do that?”
“Well,” Adrien said, rubbing the back of his neck, “you look terribly uncomfortable.”
“So?”
“So we could- switch? So you’re not cold and wet?”
She was clearly ill, with the way her face was threatening to spontaneously combust. He had to find a way to fix this situation.
“And it would make Lila mad.”
She stood there, contemplating his words.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah. Are you sure this isn’t for any other reason?” She looked at him, almost hopeful. Clearly Adrien was delusional.
He felt his face, ears and neck pinken. “No, nope. Just two.. friends..” He trailed off.
She hung her head, as if disappointed. “Alright. How is this going to work?”
“I guess… We each go into a stall next to each other? Hand me whatever is soaked, and I’ll switch with you.”
She looked like she was about to collapse. “Ah. A-alright.”
They each took a stall, and began to shed their clothes. They hung them over the divide of the stalls, and retrieved the matching pieces of clothing. The silence was almost unbearable.
There was a wet squelch as Adrien struggled through Marinette’s shirt, and they both burst into laughter. Some of the tension lifted, and Adrien grinned at nothing.
Progress!
Once their clothes had been swapped, Adrien walked out of the stall to see Marinette leaning against the wall.
She was gorgeous in his clothes. His clothes! Those were his! The black shirt was slightly baggy, but it was nothing compared to his jeans on her. Normally, they were skinny jeans, but they looked large on her. He loved it.
Adrien was having an internal freak out, and it looked at though she was too. They stared at each other, steadily turning redder, until a sudden squeak from a stall door roused them from their stasis. Adrien quickly turned away, spinning to the mirror.
He looked ridiculous. In a good way. These were Marinette’s clothes! Green, wet, and cold, but her clothes nonetheless!
They were just slightly too small on him, but he could deal with that. They highlighted his waist, as she had foregone the blazer today. The pink pants looked like they were too tight, but they weren’t cutting off his circulation so he counted it as a win.
She cleared her throat, and he spun to see her holding the door open. He walked out quickly, but it seemed that neither of them were quite capable of speech yet.
He tried to say something, but all that came out was a muffled squeak. He clapped his hand over his mouth, and heard her chuckle.
He laughed a bit too. They leisurely walked down the corridor, drawing out the time when they would have to enter the classroom. He didn’t mind doing this as long as it was for Marinette, but she looked nervous, so he delayed their entry.
They were suddenly outside the door, and it seemed as though it had taken only a second no matter how long Adrien tried to drag it out. He watched as Marinette took a deep breath, and pulled open the door to the classroom.
Okay, maybe he was a bit nervous. It’s not every day that you trade clothes with a girl!
Watching her stride in, he heard gasps and confusion. Just wait until he gets there!
He allowed himself three more seconds of calm.
One…
Two…
On three, he raised his head and crossed the threshold. There was no doubt that he had thoroughly confused all of them.
Nino was the first to say something.
“Adrien, dude, what are you wearing ?”
“Clothes.”
“Yeah, but why?” Came from Alya.
“So that Marinette didn’t have to sit around all day in her wet clothes.”
He heard awwws sound from around the classroom. He was glad to know that he had successfully survived the encounter with the rest of his class. There was no telling what Lila would have told them.
Right on time, Rose frowned.
“But why would you give your clothes to Marinette, when your girlfriend is right here?”
Girlfriend?
He stuttered out, “Sorry, what was that?
Rose repeated what she said, and Marinette looked to Adrien in dismay.
Lila chose this as the perfect opportunity to talk.
“Don’t worry guys, our relationship is supposed to stay a secret. Right, Adrien?” She stared at him, daring him to contradict her.
“Lila, I’m literally wearing Marinette’s clothes. She’s wearing mine. What in the world makes you think that you and I are dating? Seriously, what the fuck?”
The class was not amused.
“Adrien, how dare you cheat on Lila?!”
“I thought you were better than this!”
“Apologize, Adrien!”
He couldn’t take much more of this.
“Shut up! The girl I love is special, and nothing like you, Lila! Stop fooling yourself, and stop lying!”
He rushed out of the room to compose himself. Why couldn’t Lila stop harassing him? If a few stray tears slipped out, well, that was no one’s business.
His back hit the wall of the locker room, and he slid to the floor.
This whole thing was so unfair! Lila wouldn’t stop hurting Marinette, no matter what he tried! Now that he had done this, there was no doubt it would be much worse for her, and he would become an actual target as well. The high road? What had he been thinking?
He sat on the floor trying to collect himself when he heard footsteps walk in. He looked up, hoping for Marinette, but he was instead found face to face with the one and only girl he hated. Lila crouched down to his level, and smiled innocently before yanking him up.
Her expression turned into an insane smirk, and he knew something bad was coming.
Her hand clapped over his mouth, and he whimpered. What was she doing? As her other hand started to wander down to the front of Marinette’s pants, he couldn’t take it anymore. He shoved her off of him, but she just came back.
“Now, Adrien, you’d better do as I say. Marinette could get in a lot of trouble now, couldn’t she? I have so many plans for her… And you. Keep quiet, and I might forget about them.”
She was threatening Marinette? Oh god, no. The things she could do… The things she had done…
She kept him up against the lockers, and palmed him through the pants. He had to stand there, ready to collapse as she touched him. She tore Marinette’s pink jeans down, and tried to jerk him off. He was crying, and she knew it. Her expression only grew frustrated as she tired of his antics. He wasn’t going to give her anything, and she knew it.
Lila growled, and opened the locker he was next to, and shoved him in. She didn’t even bother to pull his pants back up; just locked him in. The click of her heels across the floor made him break down into the sobs he had been holding back.
He was stuck in this locker, with his pants down, the door locked, and tears rolling down his face. Suddenly, there was a glow before him as his kwami phased through the locker. Plagg was extremely concerned, which could have been a funny expression if it was not so dire a time. He couldn’t even bring himself to stop the sounds wrenching from his chest as Plagg’s green cat-eyes looked him up and down.
The kwami opened his mouth as if to say something, but thought better. Now was not a time to talk.
Adrien’s knees hit the door as he finally collapsed, sinking as far down as the confined space would allow. He started to hyperventilate as the severity of the situation sunk in. He had no way of getting out, and he had just been raped. Rape. That’s what it was. His crying grew silent, and tears slid down his face. He looked for Plagg, but he was gone. His only friend had abandoned him.
Adrien had probably only been in the locker for a few minutes, but it felt like hours. Every minute dragged by, and the walls seemed to grow closer and closer. He was going to die in this tiny, metal box—
His thoughts were cut off by the opening of the locker room door. Whoever had come in could not see him like this, so he stayed silent, with salty tears running down his face.
There was some shuffling as they walked over to the lockers, and then stopped. What were they doing?
“Chat?”
Adrien bit back a cry. His lady was here, but she couldn’t see him like this. Not now, and his identity would be compromised.
The quiet overwhelmed him.
“Plagg, which locker was it?”
Oh. Plagg got her. He could only pray that he had forgotten—
A flash of pink and green, and then both of the kwami had phased through the door in front of him. He bit back a sob as he saw Plagg again, but he wasn’t completely successful.
“Chat? Is that you?”
“He’s in here, bug.”
Adrien barely possessed the strength to talk, but he knew that he and Ladybug would be in serious trouble if they knew each other’s identities.
His voice was hoarse and dry, but he managed a quiet “No.”
“Chat!”
“Our identities, Ladybug…”
He heard someone fumbling with the lock before walking away. She came back, and she much have been holding something heavy because a loud clang echoed throughout the locker room and something fell to the floor. The locker was wrenched open, and he tumbled out with his eyes closed.
“Adrien?!”
He couldn’t get up, so he was stuck on all fours on the ground. Then, he remembered how he had been left, and fumbled up the underwear and pants that were around his knees.
“Sorry…” Adrien trailed off, still refusing to open his eyes.
Her breathless voice sounded from above him. “Adri— Chat, who did this?”
He just sat on his heels and clasped his hands in front of him. She didn’t need to know.
“Kitty, I can’t help if you don’t tell me what happened.”
He felt hot tears start their journey down his face again. She wouldn’t want to know.
He felt her shift, and she was likely crouched in front of him. She brushed his cheek softly with her hand, and he flinched away involuntarily. Ladybug tried a different approach.
“Why won’t you open your eyes?”
“You won’t— you won’t want me to know,” he sniffed.”
“Chaton, I couldn’t care less about our identities right now. Please, let me help you.” He felt her lean forward, and she asked, “Is it alright if I hug you?”
He wanted that so much.
“Yes,” he breathed.
Her warm embrace started his sobs up again. She just sat there, rocking him back and forth through them. They sat there for hours, Adrien crumpled up in his Lady’s arms. Suddenly, she tensed for the first time since his yes.
“The bell is about to ring, my Kitty. Can I take you somewhere else?”
He nodded, still yet to open his eyes.
“I’m going to pick you up, alright?” At his second nod, she scooped him up over her shoulder with a slight grunt.
The repetitive padding of her footsteps against the floor grounded him, and he waited until they had reached their destination. He chanced a glimpse of the room around them, and saw the dark and warm boiler room. Perfect.
“Would you be alright with telling me what happened now? I don’t mean to pry, but you will always feel better once you get something off of your chest. It’s not just your burden to bear.”
His eyes were back to being shut tightly again, and he sat down on the floor. Ladybug sat down behind him, and pulled him into her lap. Her fingers ran through his hair gently, and she rubbed his back. The calm, reassuring touches made him feel better, but he still knew that she would think he’s gross after he told her. She would never love him now.
She just stayed with him, helping him recover.
He couldn’t hold it in anymore.
“Lila.”
He heard her growl, and shrank back. She immediately noticed his discomfort, and sought to reassure him.
“Oh no, Chaton, it’s not you! I just despise Lila Rossi. She is a horrible, rotten piece of shit that doesn’t deserve to be alive.”
He sunk back into Ladybug’s lap, but the tension never left him.
“Would you want to continue telling me?”
He loved his Lady. So considerate and wonderful.
His voice, raw from crying, spoke up. He had to get this out, or else he wouldn’t ever be able to say it.
“I— I went to the locker room, and tried to get myself back together. Then she— she cornered me, and wouldn’t let me go! I pushed her off of me, but then she threatened to hurt my friend Marinette if I didn’t let her have her way, and I’m sorry, I’m disgusting, just get away from me already—“
She held him so tight in her arms that he was soothed, just a bit. The pressure surrounding him did wonders for the oncoming panic attack, and he felt safe and secure.
“You are not disgusting, Adrien. Never.” Softly, ever so softly, she asked, “What did she do?”
He turned around to cry on her shoulder, and whispered, “She raped me,” into her ear.
She rubbed his back, and combed through his disheveled hair. He could feel her nearly shaking in anger, but he didn’t know what to do. Obviously she was angry at him, but—
“What? You think I’m angry at— at you?”
Adrien must have spoken out loud.
“Yes?”
“That’s it. Lila is dead. I’m going to kill her.”
He didn’t say anything, because he wanted the same thing ever so much. It was apparent that Plagg and Tikki wanted the same thing, because they chimed in for the first time in hours.
“Use Cataclysm,” they said in unison.
Adrien looked up at that, forgetting to keep his eyes closed, and received an eyeful of t-shirt.
A black t-shirt.
With stripes.
His t-shirt.
He looked up with wide eyes. “Mari? Oh god…”
She pulled him to her chest again, and whispered, “Yes?”
God, he loved her.
“I love you,” he told the stripes on her shirt. His shirt.
“I love you too, Adrien. So much. Nothing that you do, or anyone can do will change that.”
Adrien looked into her swimming bluebell eyes. He probably looked like shit, and he knew that he was a mess, but she loved him.
They both leaned in slowly, ever so slowly.
Tentatively, she asked, “Can I kiss you?”
“Absolutely,” he breathed.
Their lips met, and it was everything he could have hoped for and more.
It was full of love.
It was full of promises.
It was full of care.
It was full of hope.
Most of all, it was a reassurance that no matter what, they would be there for each other.
Always.