#lila salt fanfic

[sturchling]

I have a request. How about Lila’s mom comes to school because Lila forgot something. And she comes to class only to see them screaming at marinette to stop being “jealous” and stop “bullying” because of another lie Lila told. Lila’s mom also sees mrs. Bustier not doing anything to stop it. So she steps in and Lila pales at the sight of her mom. Then she sets things straight and goes off on Lila for lying again. In the end Lila and the class get punished. And lila gets held back a year.

Mrs. Rossi was already in an annoyed mood. She had already been running late this morning, and needed to get to work. But right as she went to leave, she saw that Lila had left her homework binder on the counter.

She was irritated with her daughter for being so irresponsible. Part of her considered just leaving it there and letting Lila face the consequences. She left it, she can take the bad grade. But then Mrs Rossi remembered that this assignment was worth a lot and if Lila got a bad grade, it would really affect her overall grade.

Mrs Rossi decided to just take it to the school, and she would deal with her daughter later. Little did Mrs Rossi know, Lila would wish her mother had left it alone. She had left the binder on purpose. Lila had planned to blame Marinette for the missing assignment, saying that the girl had wanted Lila to fail so she stole the assignment from her on the way to school.

Mrs Rossi strode into the school and up the stairs to her daughters class, texting on her phone to try and explain to her boss why she is late. Her focus was glued to her phone, that is until she heard the yelling. When she looked up, Mrs Rossi saw the entirety of her daughter’s class, standing and yelling at one girl in the back of the class. They were yelling at her for “bullying Lila” and “stealing her homework” so this girl would have a better than Lila.

But none of this made sense. Lila’s homework wasn’t stolen, Mrs Rossi had it in her hand. Why did the class think this girl stole it? And why wasn’t her daughter correcting them? Surely she knew about her homework, so this girl couldn’t have stolen it. Mrs Rossi felt her stomach twist. She had seen her daughter finally, and she was smiling maliciously.

Then Mrs Rossi understood. Her daughter was lying again. She had done this at every school in Italy. She always lied to everyone, about everything. Fake conditions, fake achievements, anything she could think of. And she had also previously used those lies to target specific students and make them miserable. She had been expelled from several schools for this behavior, but Lila had seemed better since moving to Paris. Reticently, Mrs Rossi realized that Lila had seemed better, because Mrs Rossi had been willfully ignoring it. Now the lack of the communication from the school, and several “school closures” seemed way more troubling.

She glanced at the teacher, Bustier, but Bustier wasn’t doing anything. She was just watching the chaos, like it was some twisted show. Mrs Rossi couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Well, if she wasn’t going to stop this, Mrs Rossi absolutely would. Her daughter wasn’t going to ruin another girl’s life.

Mrs Rossi stormed into the classroom, yelling, “LILA ROSSI”. The entire class whipped around at the sudden intrusion and stared at her. Most looked confused, but Lila didn’t. She looked terrified, and paled almost instantly upon seeing her mother.

“Mom… what are you doing here?” Lila glanced around the room, completely panicked. Especially when she spotted a certain binder in her mother’s arms.

“It doesn’t matter why I’m here. What matters is you are lying again! You told your class that this girl stole your homework? You know good and well that you left it at the house. It’s right here! I thought you had gotten over this lying phase of yours, but clearly not!” Mrs Rossi threw down the binder on the sad excuse of a teacher’s desk, angry beyond measure.

Lila was stuttering, trying to think of someway out of this, as she felt the stares of her class on her. This was very bad, Lila had intended for this lie to fully turn the class against Marinette. She hadn’t expected her mother to see the binder and bring it to the school. “Mom it’s not what you think, Marinette, she… she threatened me. Told me not to bring my homework or I’d be sorr-”

Lila couldn’t even finish her lie, her mother’s anger growing with every word until she exploded. “ENOUGH! You did this in every school you went to in Italy, and I thought I got the lesson through your head this time! Clearly not! I didn’t warn this school because you seemed to understand it this time, I guess that was my own naivety. Get up, you are coming with me to the principals office! I’m willing to bet he has some interesting stories to tell me of what you’ve been up to! I wonder if you have that lying disease again, or the one about saving some random celebrity pet. It’s the same nonsense every time and I’m sick of it!”

Lila tried to stammer out protests, she really did not want her mom to talk to Damocles. But deep down, she knew it was pointless, her mom was furious and wouldn’t take no for an answer. She felt the betrayed looks from the class on her back, as they realized Marinette had been telling the truth. Lila was a habitual liar, and her own mother was confirming it right in front of them, even referencing specific stories Lila had told them.

Lila reluctantly left the classroom with her mother, dreading this conversation and the after effects to come.

And man the after effects were more brutal than Lila expected. She wasn’t expelled exactly, but she almost wishes she was. But her mother had advocated against expulsion, but not for the sake of her daughter. She did it so her daughter couldn’t pull this again at another school.

Instead, Lila was suspended for the rest of the year and as a result would be held back a year and need to repeat it. When she was allowed back, she would be closely monitored by teachers, to make sure she couldn’t get away with anything or trying to bully any students. And a note was placed in her permanent record, so that if she ever did have to transfer for some reason, her next school would be warned.

As for the rest of the class and Bustier, they didn’t escape unscathed either. Most of the class was suspended as well, just for shorter periods of time. The school was a bit more lenient with them, since their actions were based on manipulation and lies, so they wouldn’t be suspended long enough that they would need to repeat the year, but they would be suspended for a few weeks and when they got back, they would have detention for the remainder of the year.

Finally, Bustier was also given an unpaid suspension. To come back to work, she had to complete several hours of retraining on class management, anti bullying tactics, and a wide range of other subjects. Her class got a long term sub in the meantime.

Mrs Rossi may have been annoyed about bringing that binder, but she is glad she did. It opened her eyes to her daughters continuing lies. She was able to put a stop to it this time, and she would make sure her daughter would never be able to pull this nonsense again. 

[cocosparkel]

Curiosity killed the cat (but satisfaction brought it back)

Chapter 1

Summary-

When Marinette finds out that she is adopted, she tracks down her Biological aunt. Who happens to live Gotham, the place she swore she wouldn't go. Well, Gotham just gained a new vigilante -Chaos.

CHAPTER 1: REVELATIONS

The day Marinette found out she was adopted, her life changed completely.

It started like a normal day.

She entered the kitchen. “Maman ?” She asked. Her mother was crying over a photo. When she noticed Marinette, she quickly wiped her tears and hid the photo under a book.

“Marinette…” she said with a shaky smile.

“Maman, are you okay ?”Marinette asked, stepping into the room “What was in that photo ?”

“Nothing, Marinette, I'm fine.” Sabine abruptly stood up and left the room.

“Okay maman…” Marinette whispered as Sabine was leaving the room, loud enough for her to hear it.

Just as Marinette was about to leave too, confused about the entire thing, something caught her eye. It was another photo, which had fallen on the floor. Hesitating, she eventually picked it up. The photo was that of a baby. She had big blue eyes, and black hair, with a beautiful smile. Flipping the photo, Marinette saw a familiar handwriting at the bottom corner.

Bridgette Liu Dupain-cheng, our precious baby.

Confused, Marinette kept the photo with her, deciding to ask her parents later.

______________________________________________________________

At dinner, Marinette finally asked the one question in her mind. “Maman, papa, who is this ?” She showed them the photo she had found early.

Sabine dropped her knife and Tom looked stunned.

Snapping out of her reverie, Sabine said “Oh Marinette, we hoped this day would never come….”

Marinette swallowed, losing her appetite immediately.

“We were going to tell you when you were 13, but then Hawkmoth appeared, and we didn't want to overwhelm you, and we just– we love you Marinette, and it doesn't matter if… if you're…if you're…” Sabine looked at Tom, unable to complete her sentence.

But Marinette bet them to it. “ I'm adopted, amn't I ?”

Sabine started sobbing, and Tom put a comforting hand around her.

He sighed,” Marinette, we are your godparents. Our own daughter, Bridgette passed just a year before we adopted you. Your mother was a very close friend of ours, and she left us with you.”

Sabine gave her a watery smile,“We love you, Marinette that will never change.”

Marinette stood “ Thanks for finally telling me the truth Maman, Papa.”

She fled to her room.

______________________________________________________________

Her parents had given her her original birth certificate that night.

Her name had been Marie Kyle - Draper. Her mother's name was Diane Kyle, and her father's name was Richard Draper.

She looked them up in every possible website, but the only thing she found was an article.

Last saturday night, a young couple who were later identified as Richard and Diane draper were found dead in an alley near Robinson park. Richard had been shot straight on the head,whereas Diane had taken a bullet through her stomach. While it looks like a mugging attempt which led to their demise, the GPD suspect something more sinister. The GPD have promised to get to the bottom of this.

Finding out just what happened to her parents made her uneasy, especially when she realised that the place they died was Gotham, the very place where her grandmother Felicie had been murdered.

______________________________________________________________

Walking into class, Marinette was still in a daze about what had happened the day before. She was so lost in thought, that she didn't notice the glares her classmates were giving her.

"How could you, girl ? We all trusted you so much !” Alya shouted, as Marinette went to sit beside her.

"Alya what do you mean ? I don't get it ?” Marinette asked, confused.

“Look I get that you don't like Lila but that doesn't mean you can insult her when all she's done is be nice to you.” Kim said, as everyone agreed with him.

"What? I still don't understand-’’ M asked looking around. Her eyes fell on Lila who seemed to be crying.

"So you're saying you didn't tell lila that she will never be Adrien’s friend ? Or that Ladybug doesn't really like her ?” Alya snapped.

“I never said that!” Marinette exclaimed, realising what was happening.

“And who would have sent her these messages from your phone ?” Sneered Kim.

“ Those were taken out of context.” Marinette said, shaking her head.

"Sure…” Alya looked at her, and lowered her voice and said, “Look all you have to do is apologise to her… and understand that Adrien may not want to be with you and-”

“Alya what makes you think I still like Adrien” Marinette asked, getting annoyed.

"Come on girl, I'm your best friend.” Alya said rolling her eyes.

“You haven't been my best friend in months! You haven't properly talked to me, insulted me when I forgave Chloe and even ditched me for Lila many times.” Marinette shouted, done with her friends, no ex friends stupidity.

“Marinette, you know it's not like that…” Alya said, in a condescending tone.

"No Alya, I'm done. With all of you.” With that, Marinette stormed to the back of the class, and sat next to a stunned looking Chloe. She had made up her mind about what she was going to do.

______________________________________________________________

Ever since she found out that she was adopted, things had been tense with her parents. She walked into the bakery, determined to put this behind her.

“Marinette ! Could you.. could you help me with making the decorations for this cake ?” Sabine asked hesitantly.

"Sure thing Maman” Marinette said, a small smile on her face.

So what if she was adopted? Her parents still wanted her, still cared for her. She wasn't going to let anything ruin her family life, like the way she let Lila ruin her friendships.

______________________________________________________________

( what do you think ??? Is it nice ???? Is it boring ??? Is it cool ???? Is it horrible????)

[miraculousystuff]

I’m Done

lil backstory*

Marinette’s life in class was crumbling down, or so Lila thought. Her friends had abandoned her, and while Adrien was still on Marinette’s side, he couldn’t actively do anything about it. But not a worry. Adrien would be hers.  

Meanwhile, Marinette was at the brink of depression. She had lost all her friends, her new responsibilities as Guardians were pressuring, not to mention the akumas that Hawkmoth was sending were downright annoying, waking her up at 3am, plus the finals and the studying needed for it, in additon the babysitting, commissions for celebrities and more. But she was Ladybug for a reason. And after ranting about it for about two hours to Tikki, she was finally at peace.

Because the next morning, Marinette woke up and stopped giving a shit.

*end of lil backstory*

As Marinette walked to school, she felt oddly refreshed, like a weight had suddenly dropped from her shoulders. Aurore and Mirelle greeted her, as they were now one of her closest friends, along with Kim and Alix. Surprisingly though, her best friends were Chloe and Kagami. Chloe had apologized for her previous actions, finally maturing enough to see the errors in her ways and the damage she was doing. And as soon as Kagami heard what was going on, she immediately transferred into Dupont. Marinette was actually quite popular amongst the school, just not with her class. As she walked into the school, she was immediately met with a teasing remark. “Damn Mari-bug, you look like you haven’t slept at all!” Chloe snickered. “Hey you try running on two hours of sleep and 5 and a half cups of coffee.” she grumbled in return, smiling slightly as she made her way to Miss Bustier’s class with her.

As she walked through the classroom doors, surprisingly early, she was immediately met with harsh glares from the class. Usually, she would respond with her customary fear and shyness at the glares. Sometimes even get teary-eyed. But today was different. So instead, she merely rolled her eyes, and paved her way to the back, matching the angry glares with cold ones. As she settled in her seat, she inwardly counted. “3. 2. 1.” As if on cue, Alya lunged at Marinette, glaring furiously at her. Keep in mind, Mari’s blood was practically running on caffeine at this point, and she was not in the mood for this. But Alya was already talking. Sipping her coffee, only Marinette knew how much of a mistake that was.

“How could you do that to poor Lila! You hurt her because of your jealo-”

“Shut up.”

“What?” Alya said, dumbfounded. Usually, Mari either bursts into an angry rant or tears. But currently she was scrolling through her phone and sipping coffee like Alya wasn’t even worth her time. Alya was disgruntled. This was not the reaction she wanted. But being her stubborn self, she would not let it go. So, once again, she tried to jab at her.

“No YOU SHUT UP!”

Marinette rolled her eyes at the sheer immaturity of that sentence alone. “I swear to god…” she muttered, before taking a large sip of coffee. She had a feeling she would need it. In anger from being ignored, Alya decided to speak, not understanding how stupid she sounded.

“I still can’t believe you would-”

“I was doing shifts at the bakery the last 24 hours, no sleep, so unless I can teleport, can you care to explain what I could possibliy have done to your precious Lila?”

“I-”

“Oh that’s right! You don’t know, and I don’t care enough to bother listening to the two hour explanation filled with more holes than Swiss cheese that you are undoubtedly going to yell at me, so let’s get this over with shall we?” Mari said, her eyes showing exactly how much she cared about this conversation. She waved her hands to continue, looking just as bored as she sounded.

“You went through her phone, and because she was talking to Adrien, and threatened her!” Alya screamed angrily, and was about to yell more, when Marinette cut her off.

“Wow. She flipped the story around. Genius. Not. I’m still surprised that she bothered really, but I’ve come to expect the unexpected. You know what is expected though? The fucking idiocy of the class used to shock me. Now I’m just used to the fact that every single one of you guys are dumb. Seriously. Y'all dense. You genuinely think that I would waste my precious time and effort on Lila, when I could be doing better things? Working, sleeping, watching paint dry?”

Crying fake tears to hide her fury, Lila piped up. “You think that I’m a waste of time?” she whimpered.

“Precisely.” Marinette said, not even bothering to spare a glance at her, and resumed looking through her phone. Alya was dumbfounded, too shocked to retort.

Hawkmoth sensed annoyance from Marinette. While there were many strong emotions, he had been looking forward to akumatized Marinette for a long time. He did his little speech, and the akuma flew straight into her coffee cup, turning it into a ugly purple color. “Princess Justice, I am Hawkmoth and I will grant you the power to-”. He was cut off by a rather pissed Marinette. “Give me the power to do what? Walk around in an ugly onesie destroying Paris and trying to grab some teenager’s jewellery because for some reason you can’t do it yourself, or design anything that doesn’t look like a hot mess?” she snickered at a rather shocked Hawkmoth.

“Did you just call my outfits ugly!”

“And a hot mess.” she supplied.

“They are neither of those things! They were designed by a world renowned fashion designer!”

“Well that fashion designer was clearly blind. And deaf, because the outfits practically scream ugly.“

“Excuse me?” 

“Change my mind. I dare you.”

“...”

“Yeah that’s what I thought, Hawkass. Now, you have completely ruined my coffee. Shame. I was looking forward to it. My favourite too. Anyway, I expect at least $100 dollars compensation and a free coffee for my trouble. And if you can’t afford it, I can see why you need the accessories. Speaking of which, not only do I expect that voucher, I want your miraculous too, and while you’re at it, get Mayura’s as well. Au Revoir.” Marinette finished, tearing the cup in half as she did so. She went back to drawing, blissfully unaware of the shock on her classmate’s faces. 

Adrien had a lot to think about. Previously, he saw a news story about a girl who commited suicide because everyone turned on her, beleiving rumours instead of her actual personality. Shocked, Adrien realized that he needed to apologize to Marinette. Still thinking about it, Adrien walked in, and noticing the obvious tension in the room, centered around a certain bluenette, quickly slid into the seat next to Marinette. “What did you do?” his tone wasn’t accusatory, more… confused. Not even looking up, she replied. “If you dare tell me to take the fucking high road, I will shove that advice so far up your-” Adrien cut her off, only a little bit alarmed at her gorriness. “I get it. I actually came here to apologize. The advice was terrible.” he said, and Marinette smiled up at him. He smiled back, and for a second, they shared something that Lila quickly became jealous of as she snuck a glance. But the moment was broken as the teacher walked in. Yet Adrien did not miss the silent “Just a friend huh?” from a certain mini god of destruction. 

Lila thought that there was no way Marinette could keep up this attitude. Boy was she wrong. For example, when Lila had tried to corner her to threaten her, she responded with a cold glare and a “I’ll listen to you when hell freezes over. On second thought, even if it does, you can fuck off, because I’m still not listening.” When Nino tried to ask for some of the pastries she brought for her friends, she looked him dead in the eye and said “I’ll share them with you when you grow a brain, and leave your herd of sheep.” then left. But the icing on the cake was when Juleka came up to her crying, expecting comfort, and Marinette turned a blind eye, saying no, and when Juleka said that that's what friends do, Marinette quickly retorted with sugary sweetness that would soon haunt the akuma class’s dreams. “Honey, you’re right. That is what friends do. But I’m not going to help you. Why? Because I’m not your friend. Not anymore.” she said, leaving a rather stunned Juleka in her wake.

At lunchtime, Marinette was talking to Chloe about something, and Alya watched with jealousy as she laughed with Chloe like she used to do with her. The feeling was quickly shaken off however, as Kagami sent a smug smirk her way, and the jealousy was turned into what she thought was rightful rage. Just then, Mylene went up to Marinette. “Hey Mari, can you make me something for the new play? I’m auditioning for Lady Bravery, and I need a costume! It’s tomorrow, plenty of time! ” she asked. Mari smiled, but Alya could have sworn she detected a hint of smugness as the girls in the akuma class drew next to Mylene. “Sure. Just give me the details and I’ll send you the price.” she said brightly, and Mylene turned pale. “Price…” she stuttered. Marinette smiled innocently. “Well of course, you can’t expect me to give you it for free. The materials are expensive and so is my time, plus it’s such short notice.” Mari explained.

Just then, Alix came into view. “Hey Mari, do you mind if you make me a dress for my date with Kim?” she asked. “When do you need it?” Mari asked warmly, contrasting from the fake sweetness that Mylene received. Smiling brightly, Alix explained how it was only a week away, and she was so sorry for the short notice. She needed it to match her style. Lila watched, gritting her teeth. If Alix and Kim were on her side, she could and would have easily used them to beat up Marinette. But of course the only two people with more strength than a snail also had to have a brain bigger than the size of a pea. How annoying. “Of course I can make it Alix!” Mari said. “How much would it cost?” Alix asked, but Marinette waved her off. “It’s free! You’re my friend!” Alix beamed and thanked her, and soon a rather large crowd was slowly forming around Mari. It seems that as soon as she left, Marinette realized it, so sighing, she turned her attention back to Alya, who was purple with rage, and Mylene who looked like she was about to sob any second.

 Alya decided to intervene. “WHAT! WE NEVER HAD TO PAY BEFORE! HOW COME ALIX GET’S IT FOR FREE AND MYLENE DOESN’T!” she yelled, but Mari not only rolled her eyes, she snickered with Chloe, making Alya’s fury swirl. “Yes well that was when you were my friend, and now you’re not, so I don’t think you deserve my kindness. I’m not handing out freebies to you anymore. Suck it up. Mylene, you can either pay me or you can leave, and honestly I’m fine with either. But just to let you know, the price would be $370, not including material prices. Alya, you’re just being a plain bitch. Give me one good fucking reason I should give you anything for free. You believed a liar over your best friend, harrassed me, abused me, and destroyed my property. Not only that but you yelled at my friends for being my friends, and then wormed yourself out of trouble by tattling to that useless teacher Miss Bustier!” Mari said, sharing a glance with Kagami. “Mylene has done nothing to deserve my kindness. All she has done is stand by and watch me crumble at the hands of every single one of you.” Marinette ended her speech, glaring furiously.

As Mylene burst into tears (to Marinette’s annoyance), Alya decided to take action. “Take that back!” Alya demanded, and visibly angered at Marinette’s denial. Appalled, Alya decided that there was only one course of action.

“Fine then. We are not best friends anymore, not until you learn the consequences of your actions.” Alya said, expecting apologies, tears and possibly groveling from Marinette, but she got…confusion?

“Oh! I thought we established that already. We are not best friends, nor are we friends, and we will never be friends again, or classmates for that matter. Because I plan to get rid of toxicity. I’m transferring to Mrs Mendeleiv’s class, effective immediately.” she bit, adding venom to every word, and swept out the door, leaving applause and a dumbstruck class. Lila watched in awe. Maybe she should have befriended Marinette. 

Alya rushed back to class, along with Ivan and Max. “How dare she insult Mylene.” Ivan growled. Lila was watching this gleefully. “Hey, is that Marinette’s sketchbook?” she said innocently, knowing that the plan would form all on its own. That’s how it worked really. Lila never had to lift a finger. They practically carried her. “Yup. We’re going to rip it, or in my case, use scissors.” Max said. They got to work, tearing every single design, note or sketch in that book. Soon it was reduced to peices, and a smug look on Alya’s face was almost as priceless as the face Marinette’s when she saw this. Lila smirked evilly at the tattered remains of paper on the desk. She quickly wiped it away at the classmate’s glances, but returned soon at the thought. If this didn’t break Marinette, nothing would.

As Mari came to pick the last of her things, she noticed the torn up prices of paper, on her desk, most likely at the hands of Ivan and Max, who was surprisingly good with scissors. Instead of being heartbroken like the class expected, she shrugged and smirked. Lila piped up. “We ruined your sketchbook! That’ll show you to be mean!” she smirked smugly. “Do you honestly think that I would leave my sketchbook with you goblins?” she smirked knowingly, then it hit Lila. With all the abuse she had been getting, she wouldn’t leave her most prized possession unattended. “Who are you calling a goblin?” Ivan growled.

“You,” Mari continued “Anyway, what you actually destroyed was the information for the class trip to London.” Gasps were heard, but Marinette ignored them and continued. “Luckily I have backups.” There was an obvious relief in the room, but Mari smiled smugly, Lila knew she wasn’t done, and she honestly considered switching sides from the mere look on Mari’s face. Mari continued. “Unfortunately, they aren’t for you. Seeing as you don't appreciate me, I am now going to Mrs Mendeleiv’s class. I’m sure they’ll enjoy London, and business class seats.” The shock of the class could not be described as she walked out, her friends in tow. 

Marinette meant what she said. She transferred, along with her friends (Kagami , Chloe, Kim, Alix and Adrien). Lila was elected class president, but her kingdom of cards came crashing down, as all the promised connections were revealed to be nothing more than dust. The class found out the truth. They tried to bring Marinette back. They begged, blackmailed, bribed. But she wouldn’t. And everything fell apart. No more free dresses, free food, fun fundraisers, fantastic field trips. They saw how much fun she had with the other class, seeing the Big Ben, London tower, and even a selfie of them having tea with the Queen! Meanwhile, they could barely go to the Eiffel Tower for the field trip, and had to buy cheap costumes which were of bad quality. They quickly fell into despair, rage, and jealousy.

All because of a certain liar.

Fin

[kawaii-queen-kaiju]

Lies

Maribat March - Prompt 10

~

"He gave me a diamond the size of my fist! You can't tell anyone though; the paparazzi would be all over us." Lila loudly proclaimed from across the cafeteria. Marinette scoffed, throwing a disgusted sneer over her shoulder at the Italian. This was the fifth celebrity engagement story. She wondered just how she got unfortunate enough to be surrounded by these idiots. She could kill everyone in this room in two minutes flat, and yet, she had to restrain herself for the sake of the mission. Keep playing the role of meek little 'Mari', keep pretending she wasn't one of the most skilled assassins in the world. Stupid Hawkmoth. Because of some random ass dude, she was stuck among these sheeple.

She quickly left the cafeteria, exiting the school and heading to the bakery. She greeted Sabine - a member of the Order of the Miraculous and one of her old handlers - and climbed the stairs to her room. Just a little longer. She was so close to finding the man who had enough audacity to steal from the Order. And Hawkmoth, him too.

Her phone rang, startling her out of her inner monologue. It was Damian, her betrothed. She happily answered, the smile on her face genuine for once. 'Habibti. How was your day?' He asked, an odd whirring echoing in the background. 'Have you stabbed the harlot yet?'

She rolled her eyes, the smile on her face persisting. "It was fine. And no, I have not stabbed Lila, as much as I may want to. It's annoying, but it's helping my cover. She keeps the idiots from following me around, and it makes easier to search Paris for the lousy fake-Guardian and whatever asshat he let take the Butterfly." 

'And you're still sure you would not like me to join you and help?'

She sighed, the conversation a common one since she was sent to Paris. "I've got this, Dami. Besides, you wouldn't last five minutes here. I love you, but you are very temperamental."

He squawked angrily, and she could picture the offended look on his face, his jade green eyes crinkling adorably. 'I am not temperamental! You seem to be forgetting just how many of our trainers you sent to the infirmary.'

She rolled her eyes. "They were misogynistic pricks, and you know it."

'I was not arguing that they weren't, Habibti, merely stating that you extensively hurt each of them. In fact, I am quite glad for what you did. Had you not, Mother never would have seen fit to have us betrothed.'

Marinette smiled happily at the memory, standing in the middle of the large al-Ghul throne room in ceremonial garb, opposite Damian in matching robes. "Yeah." She glanced at the clock on the wall and cursed. "Sorry, Dami. I need to head back. Call you back later?"

'Of course. I love you, Habibti.' He answered curtly, though she could tell he was peeved at being cut off. "I love you too."

She came back to excited whispers throughout the classroom, and a huddle around Lila's desk. Marinette rolled her eyes, heading towards her own desk at the back of the room. Except...

She was stopped in her tracks by one whispered word. 'Damian'. There were plenty of Damians in the world, and several rich ones Lila could be claiming she's engaged to; but what if? Marinette continued up the stairs, but kept an ear on the conversation at the front.

'Wayne'.

Marinette clenched her teeth. They were talking about Damian. Her Damian. She'd seen articles and heard rumors before, right after Damian's debut as a billionaire's son, but something about hearing her beloved's name come from that liar's mouth made her see green. She was fuming, trying to force away the murderous haze. She was chosen for this mission specifically because of the ease it took to banish the Pit's influence from her mind, and she was not going to let Lila of all people ruin it for her. 

At the front of the room, the door slammed open. Marinette's mind screeched to a halt, because standing there in all of his glory was Damian. She shot to her feet and raced down the stairs before she registered what she was doing. He was here, right in front of her! She flung her arms around him, squeezing tight.

"Hello, Habibti." He whispered in her ear, squeezing her back. "What are you doing here?" She asked, pulling back to look at him. "Father found something. Camera footage of the akumas, and an identity, over a hundred and twenty years old. They're going after them now." He said, a happy gleam in his eye despite the lack of emotion on his face. Marinette grinned widely. Her mission is over! She can go back to Nanda Parbat - or Gotham!

"Marinette, what's going on?"

She turned around abruptly, remembering their audience. "Who is this?" Alya was front and center, glaring at her accusingly. Marinette's mind was whirling, trying to find an in-character way to answer. Except they found them. The false Guardian and the Butterfly. She didn't have to keep up her cover anymore. She grinned, her true smile, not the meek thing she'd developed the past few months.

She watched as Lila's little lapdog recoiled, enjoying the effect she finally got to have on her classmates. Marinette stalked forward, easily falling back into her natural gait. The walk of a predator. "I'm happy to announce that I'm done! I don't have to sit here and pretend anymore! You're all horribly stupid, and it was definitely not a pleasure to have known you." She let her smile widen to that terrifying degree that always made her targets believe she was inhuman. She never dissuaded those thoughts, instead encouraging them. "And you, Lila Rossi. You are a lying sociopath, and to be honest, I can respect that! But you chose to put my beloved's name in your mouth, and you've made me mad. Unfortunately for you, that is an unpleasant situation to be in."

"M-Marinette?" Alya tripped backwards on the steps, falling on her butt. She was ignored. Marinette's focus was on Lila, the repulsive girl who dared to soil her beloved's name with her tongue. To her credit, Lila was managing to hold eye contact with Marinette, even if it was in paralysis. "Tell me," Marinette slammed her hands on the lying girl's desk. "Do you do any research before you decide to spread rumors?" 

Lila was pale and shaking, her mouth a thin line. She didn't answer. "You do, don't you? You recognize my beloved, and you realize your house of lies is toppling around you." Marinette ended with a whisper, her face inches from the Italian's.

The room was silent, everyone's focus on the scene before them. On the way Marinette's personality did a complete one-eighty and froze everyone in their spots. Well, everyone except for the boy. He was staring at Marinette in adoration, hands clasped behind him as he watched his betrothed tear into her hemorrhoid of the last several months. His phone buzzed in his pocket, the only sound in the room. "Habibti. It's done."

Marinette whirled around, her sunshine smile back. "Then why are we still here?" She linked arms with the boy and left the room in stunned silence.

(The LoA and The Order are the same organization under different names)

[aliensunflower-fics]

Dating ‘Prince Charming’ Part 2/3

[ Lila is finally starting to learn what its really like to be Adrien Agreste's girlfriend and finding out its not everything she hoped it would be. But while the liar struggles Marinette works toward her goals and meets someone new. ]

[ Prefer AO3? Link HERE! | Part 1 HERE! | Part 3 Coming Soon | Masterlist Link HERE! ]

Chloe made her grand return 3 weeks after Lila and Adrien’s big dating announcement. The bossy blonde had been away in New York with her mother and it was only in retrospect that Marinette briefly wondered if the entire timing of her and Adriens break up and Lila and Adriens announcement had been planned. After all Chloe had not taken well to Marinette dating Adrien and the class president was positive she would not take the news that Lila had swooped in right after their big breakup any better.

As it turns out Marinette had been right at least about Chloe not taking the news well. She’d walked into class early (for her) only to be met with chaos as Chloe and Lila stood opposed and yelling filled the classroom. Despite the fact that Marinette KNEW Chloe would hate whoever dated Adrien the sight was still enough to leave her mildly stunned after all Lila and Chloe had been tag team harassing Marinette since the second she and Adrien had started dating so to see the once allies now locked in a vicious match each using their unique brand of awful against each other… Well it was something. 

Luckily Marinette knew she would not have to lift a finger to fix things. Because this? This was Adrien’s problem. And Marinette had no intention of helping or playing mediator. After all Adrien had let Lila and Chloe stomp all over their relationship when they’d still been dating, heck he’d even asked Marinette to simply deal with it so now he could deal with it and Marinette severely doubted that Lila would be even half as accepting or accommodating as she had been. 

 So while the two wannabe queens duked it out Lila with fake tears and Chloe with vicious mockery Marinette simply glided past the drama and up to her seat where she pulled out her sketchbook and started adding the finishing touches to a sketch of a brand new rock and roll suit for Uncle Jagged. Now that she wasn’t chasing after Adrien 24/7 and making him gifts and worrying about him or Lila or Chloe not to mention trying to keep up with her school work and grades all while also being Ladybug well Marinette had time on her hands and she’d been using it to study, track down Hawkmoth with Alya’s help, spend time with friends but most of all she’d been using that time on her career. 

 As she wrote in what materials she would need to get a certain sheen effect on the outfit, Marinette noticed the green eyes looking up at her desperately from the front of the class. Marinette glanced up noting how Adrien seemed to be trying to plead with her to help as he tried to reign in his dramatic new girlfriend and attack dog childhood friend; she only cocked her head to the side, smiled and offered him a little wave before continuing with her work. Yeah no way was she willingly throwing herself into THAT.

 Sure enough before class could start Adrien managed to drag Lila out of the room and into the hallway no doubt to give her the same speech he had given Marinette when THEY were dating Lila bursting back into the classroom a few minutes later looking like she’d just swallowed a whole lemon only confirmed Marinette’s suspicions. 

 What Marinette had not expected was Lila openly complaining about ADRIEN at lunch, hours after the incidents of that morning. Marinette ate her steamed bun as she watched with mild surprise as the Italian wailed and threw a veritable tantrum as she told the girls all about how Adrien had put Chloe first and had asked Lila to simply deal with it. It was so painfully ironic that Marinette struggled not to roll her eyes. Honestly after the breakup Marinette had for a brief time contemplated revenge because truthfully. She was hurt and mad but Tikki had talked her out of it claiming that karma would have its way Marinette hadn’t believed the little god at the time too lost in her grief and her ice cream but now? Well now Marinette was starting to understand what Tikki meant. Because Lila wanted to be Adrien Agreste’s girlfriend no matter what it took, and she was only now starting to see what that really meant.

 Sure enough in the weeks that followed Lila and Chloe kept each other busy allowing Marinette to for the first time in years relax at school. Of course Lila tried to redirect Chloe’s hatred back at Marinette by telling the blonde about how it had been Marinette who initiated the break up. But Marinette had easily overcome Chloe’s rage with honesty after all she had only broken up with Adrien because she knew they were incompatible and that Adrien would be happier with someone else, something Chloe agreed with though the way in which the blonde agreed made Marinette’s eye twitch just a little.

 And then of course there was Adrien who was still trying to get Marinette to step in and help him handle his childhood friend and girlfriend but Marinette had been able to dodge him for weeks until they were having a class meetup at the park. Chloe was not attending due to wanting to avoid the ‘peasants’ as she so called them and Lila claimed she would be late due to an important meeting with some famous person. Honestly Marinette had not even bothered to pay attention. Adrien had noted the lack of ‘problem people’ and had decided to make a bold move calling Marinette out as they all hung out together to ‘talk to her in private’ yeah like THAT was going to happen. 

 Marinette knew Adrien’s modus operandi very well. He’d call you out, ask to talk to you privately and then lay on the guilt trip. No way was she doing that anymore she’d endured enough of them while they were dating to last a lifetime.

 “Actually I would prefer not to talk to you alone, Adrien. You're publicly dating someone and we never know when your fans or the paparazzi might be around. Besides anything you can say to me in private you can say in front of OUR friends.” 

 Adrien looked like a kicked puppy at her words. But as their classmates quickly took her side and insisted he tell Marinette whatever he needed with them around the blonde was backed into a corner.

 “Well the thing is… I was wondering if you could help? With the whole Lila, Chloe situation?”

 Marinette wasn’t even given a chance to respond. The second the words left Adrien’s mouth the entire class bristled, many giving Adrien looks of confusion and shock as if he’d just spoken pure nonsense and honestly in a way he had. Nathaniel however was the one who said it best.

 “Wait I’m sorry are you seriously asking Marinette to mediate between her long time bully and the girl you started dating not even an hour after your break up with her? Are you serious?!” 

 “W-Well I just thought-”

 “Thought what Agreste? That Marinette should put herself in the worlds worst situation completely ignoring her own feelings just to make your life easier?” 

 Oof Kim going straight for the throat.

 “B-But shes the class president!”

 “So?! That doesn’t make her a genie! She can't just clap her hands and fix everything nor should she have to!”

 Marinette had never heard Rose sound so upset in her life, which is when the young fashion designer knew it was her turn to say her piece and get things back under control.

 “Adrien.” She ignored the hopeful look he shot her. “Not only do I not want to get involved but I don’t think it would help. Chloe doesn’t like me and Lila’s ‘disease’-” she said the word with barely concealed sarcasm “acts up when I’m around. So I’m sorry but no I will not help you with this.”

 “But I’m sure if you just-”

 The look the class shot him was enough to end the conversation and Marinette let out a relieved sigh as her heart filled with warmth she really loved her friends.

 A month after the conversation in the park Lila Rossi got her second harsh wake up call to the ‘true joys’ of being Adrien Agreste’s girlfriend and it was a two for one deal. 

 Lila had seemingly been under the assumption that once she was dating Adrien her own popularity would rise to meet his but she was starting to learn that wasn’t the case. Adrien still got plenty more photo-shoots then she did and most were still solo and since they were fast approaching the spring fashion season Adrien was plenty busy with more and more shoots while Lila was left waiting for her turn in the spotlight.

 Perhaps it was the frustration at not immediately sky rocketing her way up in fame or maybe it was the snide comments from Adrien Fangirls talking about the lack of couples shoots but Lila seemingly came up with the brilliant plan to force the spotlight onto herself by demanding, manipulating and forcing Adrien to take her on big flashy fancy dates where the paparazzi always conveniently found them Marinette had no doubt Lila was the one tipping them off but she kept her mouth shut. It wasn’t her problem.

 However while Lila was enjoying her tabloid paparazzi fueled fame the class and more surprisingly Gabriel Agreste himself were beginning to notice the way it was wearing Adrien down. Between his photo-shoots and busy schedule all of Adrien’s precious free time was being filled up by Lila and her many needy antics and it was starting to show in the way Adrien carried himself and how exhausted he seemed.

 Nino was the one who led the charge just as he had when Lila manipulated the class into thinking her ‘clingy’ but where Marinette had gotten some hurtful but well meaning lectures about her Adrien obsession which in retrospect DID help her realize her love was unhealthy. Lila was not given such a kind well meaning speech instead Nino got mad, something he rarely let himself become.

 As it turns out Lila had worn Adrien down to the point where the blonde was too exhausted to function and he’d nearly passed out while standing and talking to Nino and that mixed with the fact that it had previously been Lila who painted the faux picture of Marinette as the clingy evil girlfriend isolating the boy from his friends was enough for Nino to harshly call her out. The liar did do her best to wriggle out of the situation trying to claim she only wanted ‘some’ private time with her oh so busy boyfriend but Nino was not having it and the class was too happy to back him up.

 The more Lila tried to defend and excuse her actions the angrier Nino got and much to the liars annoyance the young musician had proof and plenty of it. Between his text correspondence with Adrien that revealed the model was constantly being forced to cancel relaxing friend days to take Lila out on flashy dates that always ended with paparazzi and fans swarming the location and forcing Adrien into high stress situations, and an extremely detailed schedule planner that Nino had made to keep track of his best buds work life balance (potential evidence to blackmail Gabriel Agreste if he ever threatened to pull Adrien out of school again apparently). The facts didn’t lie and they were showing that Lila was the real ‘clingy’ girlfriend.

 Things eventually got so heated between Nino and Lila arguing that an akuma appeared to try and take advantage of the situation. Luckily for everyone Ladybug had been patrolling and stopped the naughty little butterfly from making things worse. In the end Lila was forced to grit her teeth and apologize to her darling boyfriend. Though perhaps what upset her more was the way the class proceeded to apologize to Marinette after the fact for ever accusing her of being clingy and taking up too much of Adrien’s free time.

 However Lila still thought she had one last ace up her sleeve, and so after the class luncheon ended the liar proceeded to contact Gabriel hoping to get her new boyfriends dad to reign him in and do her bidding. Unluckily for Lila however Gabriel had been paying attention to the situation and that fact that it had ALMOST led to an akuma made him look even closer into things.

 And he was not happy with what he found. The paparazzi pictures and articles that resulted from Lila and Adrien’s flashy dates had started positively enough with headlines and puff pieces about how cute the couple looked together, how it was nice to see the young Agreste in more casual settings with his girlfriend. But as the dates became more and more frequent and Lila’s constant demands and needs grew the articles slowly began to change soon they were discussing the concerning amount of money Adrien must be spending on his girlfriend, how exhausted and stressed the young Agreste heir looked under his strained smiles and was he eating and sleeping enough?

 The akuma he’d sent had only further confirmed Gabriel’s negative feelings toward Lila though it did make him re-evaluate the young Lahiffe boy. Gabriel had originally thought the wannabe musician might just be interested in Adrien for money but seeing the lengths he went to defend his friend had the designer impressed and even a little grateful. So when Lila phoned to try and throw the boy under the bus and get Gabriel to side with her, well she had another thing coming.

 Marinette heard later from Alya and the rest of the girls that Lila was ‘devastated’ how she’d wailed sobbed and thrown the tantrum of the century as she ranted and raved about Gabriel putting a 1 date a month maximum limit on Adrien and Lila. The two lovebirds could still hang out of course but it would be in the company of the rest of the class or other friends, or if they really wanted some privacy it would be strictly at the Agreste mansion for studying. Lila had told the girls that it was unfair and unjust that Gabriel was trying to get in the way of their love! Alya had relayed to Marinette that while the girls agreed that 1 date a month was a bit rough they all thought Lila’s tantrum was a bit childish especially when they all remembered how Marinette had rarely if ever got to enjoy 1 private date a month with Adrien and never in public.

 Of course just because Lila had been told ‘no’ didn’t mean the liar was going to listen. And so she began trying to find ways to manipulate Adrien into ‘accidental’ dates, bugging the blonde to take her out instead of settling for lunch at school or trying to conveniently separate the two of them from the rest of the group during weekend and after school hang outs. But each time Lila tried Nino thwarted her eventually the Italian had gotten so angry at his meddling that she phoned Gabriel again this time to try and get the musician removed or banned or ANYTHING so that he’d back off, so when she instead learned that Nino had been asked by Gabriel to keep an eye out on for his son and that Adrien knew about it well the liar was furious. 

 Marinette learned later this time from Rose and Juleka that the Italian had tried to go on another tantrum tirade only to be stopped by Alya who would not tolerate anyone badmouthing her lovely boyfriend. Needless to say, Marinette was quick to notice the following Monday how Lila pouted and avoided the Ladyblogger like the plague. Luckily Marinette made sure Alya didn’t dwell on it too much by inviting the girl over to help her brainstorm some new ideas.

 Because while Lila was focusing on leeching the fame and fortune off her boyfriend and being met with endless failures and a very hostile guard dog called Chloe. Marinette had been THRIVING. The suit she’d designed for Jagged had gone viral online and soon Jagged was passing on her contact information to a small selection of celebrities Marinette felt comfortable designing for. The fact that her identity was a secret and she had a very exclusive client list had only caused MDC to soar even higher in popularity with the public making it clear that they too wanted access to MDC fashion. And so Marinette had done her research and with the help of Uncle Jagged and Aunt Penny she’d set up an online store where she would sell ready made clothes. 

 Of course just because Marinette was seeing success didn’t mean she had forgotten about her friends. In fact the entire class minus Lila, Adrien and Chloe knew very well the true identity of the elusive MDC and that was because while Marinette was taking big steps toward her dreams she was helping her friends do just the same. 

 After all it didn’t take long for the internet to learn that the mysterious MDC designed Kitty Sections outfits causing the band to have a surge of free publicity that led to many people discovering their music and falling in love with the band. 

 Then there was Nathanial, Marc and Alya who Marinette or should she say MDC collaborated with while designing her ‘hero hoodie’ fashion collection all of them saw a boost in views with Marc and Nathanial’s comic picking up new readers though it was there brand new all original idea that had really flown off the shelves earning them an online cult following. Alya meanwhile got her blog spotted by Lois Lane herself who was impressed with the young future journalist and contacted Alya for a summer internship the scream Alya had made almost gave Marinette a heart attack.

 And it didn’t end there. When Nino made a short film with Mylene and Kim of all people as his lead actors and uploaded it for free to YouTube MDC who was well known for supporting smaller creatives and signal boosting them on her social media was more than happy to make a tweet linking to the short film. Nino’s short film had been impactful and powerful despite being a comedy satire on Hawkmoth and it had quickly blown up earning Nino a summer internship at a film studio and Mylene and Kim several job offers. Kim had never been particularly interested in acting but after seeing the outpouring of love and support not to mention with the encouragement he got from his lovely girlfriend Ondine he decided to accept a few offers surprising everyone as he developed a new passion that he and Mylene bonded over.

 Max, and Alix were also boosted in a similar way to Nino, Kim and Mylene when MDC retweeted some of their creative endeavors. Alix a video where she had used spray paint to recreate a few classical paintings though that had only acted as a signal boost that allowed the skater to be noticed for her real passion Extreme Sports! When a very exclusive extreme sports training summer camp contacted Alix about her attending she’d squealed almost as loud as Alya had. Max meanwhile had his demo for his work in progress video games retweeted by MDC and saw a huge surge in interest and a few interested investors and publishers even arrived with offers, though before he could agree to anything his popularity ballooned even further when a video of him showing off Markov surfaced. He had later joked to Marinette that while he appreciated the support he wasn’t sure how he felt about suddenly gaining a ‘nerd cult’ as Kim called it. 

 Of course all of Marinette’s friends knew she was largely responsible for their sudden surge of fame and good fortune and many of them tried to dismiss their own talents and give all the credit to Marinette. But the young designer simply threw it back at them. Yes she had signal boosted them and given them a helping hand but at the end of the day the only reason they had gotten so popular and stayed so popular after the brief burst from her influence passed and the internet moved on to the next big thing was because they were talented and amazing without Marinette.

 The only problem with the classes' new found fame. Was that sooner or later Lila was bound to take notice. And take notice she did when Mylene appeared as an extra in one of Lila’s favorite daytime soaps. The liar had been so focused on Adrien and trying to leech her fame off him while beating Chloe back with a stick that she had somehow missed all the major developments. And she was livid. 

 She was supposed to be the most popular girl in school! She was meant to be the star, the one people admired and aspired to be like! The one they envied but loved too much to truly hate! And when she’d finally gotten Marinette and Adrien to break up she thought for sure that all her dreams would come true. But somehow while she’d been busy trying to reign in the pesky little blonde her classmates had all gone and gotten famous without her. Most of them wouldn’t even BE in Paris in the fast approaching summer since many of them either had internships, specialized camps, acting gigs, or in Kitty Sections case a whole music tour with Jagged Stone that for some reason Marinette was also a part of?!? 

 None of it made any sense and when Lila had gone looking for how exactly everything had happened she kept finding herself looking at MDC’s social media. The elusive and private designer was apparently a super sucker or something as every week they would highlight some small time random creator. Honestly it disgusted Lila who just handed out fame like that? Fame and popularity was meant to be exclusive! Earned! Something for only the most beautiful and talented of society. Not for chubby little idiots like Mylene or nerdy freaks like Max. 

 Of course Lila was nothing if not an opportunist. Sure in her opinion none of her talentless, average, classmates actually deserved their new found fame and popularity but the good thing was they were also a bunch of gullible idiots. And if she played her cards right they would surely carry her to the top. She already had the perfect lie, she would simply claim to be best friends with MDC and tell the class that she had been the one to recommend that the designer boost her classmates. 

 It was perfect. Genius really.

 So then why did it fail immediately?

 Lila stood in front of the class, her face frozen in shock as she was stared down by 10 pairs of angry glares. She had expected overwhelming thank you’s and the class bowing at her feet but the second the lie slipped out of her mouth the class instead turned on the liar like a close knit pack of wolves smelling a sheep. Honestly Lila could not understand where she’d gone wrong, and even if she had said something that was an obvious lie wouldn’t the class just normally brush it off as her disease? So why is it that they were acting this way?

 It was Alya who broke the silence first.

 “You want to run that by us again? Lila.” 

 The Italian girl swallowed the lump in her throat and ignored the obvious warning sign that was Alya’s sharp tone. Forcing a charming smile Lila brought out her sweetest voice determined that she could salvage whatever THIS was.

 “I was just saying that I’m so happy for all of you! I didn’t want to say anything at the time BUT me and MDC are such good friends! So when he-”

 “He?” Alix snorted and rolled her eyes. “Yeah that about confirms it.”

 The entire class seemed to agree with Alix as they all shook their heads and shot Lila disappointed and annoyed looks before returning to their own conversations and or hobbies freezing her out. Ignoring her.

 Oh that? That pissed Lila off like nothing else. Her cheeks grew hot as she stomped her foot angrily, regaining their attention. 

 “You guys think I’m telling lies again! You all promised that you wouldn’t judge me for my disease but you are!” For added effect she started to sniffle and sob expecting the class to do what they always did and feel guilty about their treatment of her and rush to comfort her.

 Instead she was met with even harsher glares.

 “Uhh yeah no duh we think you're lying because you ARE. We” Alix gestured to the people currently in class. “Have all met MDC and SHE not ‘he’ is a wonderful person who helped boost our careers because she thinks we're all super cool and talented not because you asked her too.” 

 Lila felt her face screw up like she’d just sucked a lemon but she quickly worked it to her advantage as she began to loudly sob.

 “T-That’s not fair! You know I can't help my disease!” 

 “Uhh yeah no. I’m stopping you there.” Alya stood up looking down from her perch at Lila with her hands on her hips commanding the room, Lois had been training her well. “We can accept that MAYBE your lying disease makes you claim things when your nervous or scared like how you always accuse Marinette of stuff, and we can MAYBE believe that your disease makes you mix up names and words so you end up giving the wrong information out about charities and celebrities and yes MAYBE we can believe that you sometimes make false claims about yourself when your stressed out like that time with Clara Nightingale stealing your dance moves. Whatever! But Lila that right there? You were not having an ‘oops I lied’ moment you were actively trying to deceive us to make the false claim that YOU are the reason MDC noticed us when we know the truth. And when I gave you a chance to correct yourself you tried to double down. That was intentional. That was malicious.”

 Lila felt her mouth fall open, her eyes blinking in shock. Too late she tried to recover. Tried to explain away the situation and make herself out to be innocent. But the class was done with her and they made it clear in how they iced her out. Eventually she had no choice but to suck it up and sit down at her seat. Not long later Marinette rushed into class followed by Chloe who was latched onto Adrien with Sabrina in tow.

 Soon enough the school year came to an end and Lila watched bitterly through the all seeing eyes of the internet as her classmates left for their internships, job opportunities, highly specialized summer camps, and more. Meanwhile she was stuck at home. Oh sure she got to go on a few out of country photo-shoots with Adrien but her fame was still nothing compared to her boyfriends, and it was quickly becoming less than nothing as her classmates rose in influence and popularity. Come the new school year Lila would need to find some way to force the class back under her heel.

 Marinette was having the best summer of her life! Jagged had taken Kitty Section on tour with him and insisted on Marinette coming with them as their designer. Marinette hadn’t been sure at first worried about the Hawkmoth situation and her own career. But in the end Tikki and her parents had convinced her. Her parents loved the idea of Marinette leaving Paris and going to see the world with her friends for a bit, and Tikki had reminded Marinette that she had the Horse Miraculous and could come home anytime, besides Hawkmoth had been getting lazier and lazier with both his akumas and the amount of them. So in the end Marinette agreed and it had been the BEST decision of her life.

 They visited England before eventually traveling overseas to America. The sights and sounds and new foods were filling Marinette with inspiration and she’d never been so busy sketching. Then of course there was the great company. Uncle Jagged and Aunt Penny were wonderful and quickly ‘adopted’ all of Kitty Section + Marinette. They'd act like doting parents one second and then the next they’d be ordering way too much pizza for the teens to share. 

 Of course everyone missed their friends and family but video call existed and it was only for the summer anyway. Ivan was the one who was probably the worst off pouting over his beloved Mylene but the group was able to cheer him up encouraging him to write a song for his girlfriend, the piece he wrote became a new hit single the second they performed it on stage and Mylene had loved it. 

 The group stopped by Florida first where Jagged took them all to Disney World and then Universal Park, pictures of the rocker wearing mickey mouse ears and a hufflepuff scarf of all things while being followed by a gaggle of teenagers had soon gone viral, after that it was off to New York, and then Metropolis where they spent a bit of time so Alya could see them and hang out. Her internship with Lois Lane was going well but she’d still been relieved to see her friends and get some down time to just chill. After that they went to Gotham, which was Jagged’s home town. Now most parents might veto a place as dangerous as Gotham but seeing as how Paris was under siege by an emotional butterfly themed terrorist and they were from a class particularly used to dealing with deadly akumas on a regular basis well they were able to convince their parents to let it happen. And to Marinette’s surprise Gotham turned out to be her favorite place of the whole trip.

 Sure the city was gloomy but the gothic architecture somehow inspired Marinette, and while the people were not outwardly all smiles and sunshine they were kind in their own way. But the thing Marinette ended up loving most about Gotham was its beautiful parks and famous greenhouses. Thanks to the influence of Poison Ivy and Bruce Wayne the city of Gotham had become the greenest city in all of America and it was a never ending source of inspiration for the young designer. Not to mention it was thanks to all the inspiring greenery that Marinette had met HIM.

 She’d been walking through one of Gotham’s older parks admiring the beautiful blooming wisterias that had been shaped into a long hallway arch when she got bowled over by a massive terrifying but very friendly dog. Marinette had been terrified at first until she noticed the fast wagging tail and happy smile on the dog's face. Tikki had warned her that one side effect of holding the Ladybug miraculous would be extra friendly animals a rather ‘tame’ side effect compared to the super strength, increased speed, and occasional urge to hibernate when cold but still the designer had never expected to be attacked with friendly happy dog kisses, not like THIS anyway. As she squirmed and laughed she tried to gently push the dog off. That was when the dogs owner had come to her rescue. Yanking his dog off of her while admonishing it Marinette was finally able to sit up and begin wiping the dog drool off her cheek with a laugh.

 “Don’t scold the cutie too much I’m okay I swear he didn’t hurt me.”

 “Even if he didn’t hurt you he’s been trained better than that. I’m very sorry, please allow me to help you.”

 The boy’s voice was cool, firmly polite and matter of fact leaving no room for argument. To an untrained ear he might even sound annoyed or angry but Marinette could tell that wasn’t the case. As Marinette accepted the hand the boy offered and let herself be pulled up she suddenly came face to face with the most beautiful pair of green eyes she’d ever seen. 

 Where Adrien’s eyes were bright like a blinding peridot green, these eyes were soft and warm like the green of a pine tree and Marinette could feel herself melt into them. It didn’t help that the rest of the boy's face was also incredibly handsome. The designer quickly shook herself out of her thoughts and glanced away not wanting to stare. Instead she directed her attention to her assailant, the dog was sitting now staring up at her with its tail still wagging wildly. Marinette smiled and reached her hand down letting the dog sniff her before she gave him some soft pets.

 “Such a softy for a big guy. What's his name?” 

 “Titus. And I apologize again. He really is trained better than that. I don’t know what came over him.” 

 Marinette felt a little bad but she couldn’t exactly say that she was the chosen champion of a god and a side effect of that was very friendly animals so instead she shot the boy a smile.

 “Don’t worry I just seem to have that effect on animals. Back home the pigeons and crows have started fighting for dominance of my roof and balcony because they both want my attention.” 

 The boy gave her a stunned look before he made a sound that Marinette believed might be a covered up laugh. She smiled even brighter and offered the boy her hand to shake.

 “By the way my name is Marinette. And it's a pleasure to meet you.”

 The boy looked at her hand for a moment before he eventually grabbed it and shook it awkwardly.

 “Damian… It's nice to meet you too. Though I can tell by that introduction that you're not from here.”

 Marinette snorted at that.

 “Really the introduction was what gave it away but not my accent?” 

 The boy seemed to blush a little at that before he coughed awkwardly. Marinette took pity on him and giggled.

 “You are correct in your deduction mr.detective. I’m visiting from Paris, France with some friends and my uncle.” 

 If Marinette hadn’t been too embarrassed to look him in the eyes she may have noticed the spark of curiosity when she mentioned Paris. And had she known who Damian truly was at the time she would have known that his curiosity came from the fact that Batman and the other supers had recently learned about the situation in Paris thanks to Lois Lane taking on a new intern who ran the Ladyblog. Mayor Bourgeois had been doing a good job hiding the situation but he’d overlooked the civilian journalist. 

 “Hm. We don’t get many tourists. What brought you all the way out here. If I may ask.” 

 Naturally without much thought the pair began to walk through the park together as their conversation flowed. Marinette avoided using Jagged's name not wanting her new very handsome friend to take an interest in her solely for her connections. Instead she told him that Gotham was her uncles hometown and that this was the last stop on what had already been a pretty busy summer vacation. That turned into her telling him a bit about her family in general which got him talking about his family, he complained about his adopted siblings of which there seemed to be many but Marinette could tell he loved them. 

 Talking about family made him admit he’d come to the park to get away from them for a little while which got Marinette talking about the park and all the beautiful nature in Gotham which got the two of them talking about the best parks in Gotham and then Marinette brought up her sketches and suddenly they were talking about art and other hobbies. Before they had even realized it they were sitting at a bench together hidden away in the trees and wisterias chatting away. Marinette didn’t know why but something about Damian made her feel comfortable. Maybe it was the way he gave her his full undivided attention, maybe it was the way he made sure not to invade her space without consent or how he didn’t interrupt her when she spoke. Either way she felt safe, felt warm, almost like she was home. And judging by the way he seemed to relax the longer they spoke, his stiff body unwinding and his gaze softening, she thought maybe he felt just as comfortable with her as she was with him.

 Honestly Marinette could have sat there chatting with Damian all day in fact it had already been several hours when the pair were finally interrupted. Both of their phones began to ring, Marinette’s with the tell-tale alarm of an akuma attack in Paris and Damian’s with an emergency as the Riddler had broken out of Arkham. The teenagers regretfully had to go both citing emergencies before they departed. It wasn’t until later that they realized they had forgotten to exchange phone numbers.

 The akuma back in Paris had turned out to be Lila Rossi, it seems that Adrien’s fangirls had never truly warmed up to the liar and they had been trying to dig up dirt on the girl for months before finally finding there evidence. Alya may have privated the videos of Lila’s lies after finding out about the ‘lying disease’ but apparently someone had copied and saved them beforehand. And those videos had finally made their way out into the public. Luckily no one criticized Alya seeing as how she’d already had the common sense to remove the videos from her blog it helped that Alya also made a post explaining the situation in more detail which led to the general public agreeing that it had not been Alya’s fault when she had a teacher and a principle telling her to believe in a fake ‘lying disease’ clearly it was the adults at fault here not the young girl who had believed in them. 

 Needless to say the public ripped Lila to shreds for being a serial liar with more of her lies coming to light each day now that she had been exposed. And obviously the Italian had not taken it well and gotten akumatized.

 Marinette knew that she should be happy that Lila had been exposed. Her classmates certainly were, but instead Marinette could not help but mope. Damian had been SO kind she really had wanted to get to know him better. The fact she’d completely missed out on getting his number gnawed at her. Little did she know that Damian was across the city thinking the same thing as he sat on a Gargoyle statue. 

 But fate likes to play funny games. A few days later Jagged got a call from Bruce Wayne, a few of his sons namely Tim, Jason and Dick had heard about Jagged being in town and tjat the rocker had brought MDC the famous designer with him. Apparently they were huge fans and had bugged, pleaded, whined, and eventually threatened a hunger strike until Bruce would ask Jagged to pretty please introduce them. So Jagged got the go ahead from Marinette and the gaggle of teenagers plus Jagged and Penny piled into a big van and drove over to the Wayne mansion.

 Seeing it from the outside, Marinette felt only intimidation and dread. It was so huge and they were so rich. What if they were unimpressed when they found out MDC was just some teenage girl? Letting Jagged guide her and her friends push her forward Marinette nervously knocked on the door and let herself be led inside by the kind old man who introduced himself as Alfred.

 Walking through the halls in wonder Marinette slowly felt her fingers twitch with the urge to design. But she suppressed it and focused not wanting to be rude. As the group turned a corner into a large sitting room Marinette’s blue eyes somehow found a pair of familiar green. She gasped, he blinked wide eyed.

 “Marinette?” - “Damian?” 

 They blinked again, shocked. Marinette eventually snorted and laughed. Damian found himself smiling as he approached the small girl. And everyone else? Well they were just confused. Except for Damian’s family they were confused and freaked out. 

 “Is the demon spawn, smiling Dicky bird? Or am I hallucinating?”

 “No I see it too Jason. He looks genuinely happy.”

 “So it's official.” Tim added “we're all hallucinating.”

 After some introductions and explanations things settled down with Marinette happy to take the Wayne’s on as clients. And the Wayne’s in turn being suitably impressed and amazed by the young girls accomplishments though the part they found most amazing was how she interacted with not only them but Damian. She was genuine and kind, no fake smiles or hidden double meanings, nor did she let their money and fame impress or blind her in any way. Jason soon declared her a little sister and Jagged preened and puffed as he gloated about not only Marinette but Kitty Section as well. 

 The rest of the summer spent in Gotham was tons of fun with Jason teaching Juleka and Marinette how to shoot guns and ride motorcycles, Rose and Marinette learning some of Dick’s gymnastics moves, Ivan meanwhile got along well with the quiet Cass and level headed Duke. Eventually Stephanie and Bab’s returned home as well and they also took to the french teens with ease they organized girl nights where they taught the girls how to break and enter something Marinette had a natural affinity for go figure. The most surprising development however was Luka. The slightly older boy had seemingly set his sights on the awkward coffee addicted Tim and had spent the remainder of the summer wooing him. 

 But while Luka was wooing Tim there was one other couple slowly forming. Everyone had seen the spark between Damian and Marinette and soon enough everyone was shipping it. The pair were often ‘conveniently’ left alone or were sent on errands that somehow conveniently became accidental dates. Marinette had been guarding her heart after Adrien had shattered it but Damian made her want to take the risk and fall in love. He was charming, polite, kind, sarcastic, and as she’d learned after telling him about the entire Paris situation akuma’s and all he was protective but without going so far as to undermine Marinette’s strength. He trusted her to be fast and smart and strong enough to defend herself (especially after they did a bit of fight training for fun and she laid him flat on the ground) but he did worry and care about her.

 But still there was something holding back both teens. Something that shattered near the end of the vacation. Marinette had been caught by a villain. Poison Ivy to be exact. The plant villainess had taken note of the new frequent visitor to her greenhouse but what had really gotten her attention was how the plant life reacted to her. And furthermore how the plant life SPOKE about her. Ivy’s curiosity eventually grew too large and so she snatched up the young designer and brought her home. Luckily Marinette wasn’t particularly scared of Ivy or Harley, sure she didn’t like being knocked out but she felt no real fear, in the end Ivy, Harley and Marinette ended up having an unprompted girls day complete with junk food, ranting, bad American tv and more. Ivy eventually figured that Marinette was some kind of Meta one who had a strong influence over plant and animal life and that was enough for her to adopt the small half Asian girl and inject her with her special blend the same one she’d given to Harley to keep her safe in a town full of crazies.

 But while Marinette was perfectly fine hanging out with 2 of the 3 sirens Damian had not taken it so well. He had scoured the city trying to find the sirens newest abode all while he gnawed his lip until it bled. Maybe it was the stress that made him slip up or maybe it was just Marinette being too smart for her own good. But when the young Robin came bursting in through a window yelling Marinette’s name something had immediately clicked and she knew who he was. After she’d calmed the situation down and made sure no one fought anyone else, Marinette thanked Ivy and Harley for the nice day and let Robin carry her away. After talking with Tikki and deciding to be reckless and selfish for once in her life Marinette confronted Damian the next day, revealing her own identity in the process. There was some freaking out and a LOT of talking with Tikki and the rest of the bat clan but in the end it seemed to work out for the best. Ladybug was certainly happy to accept the help anyway even if Chat Noir wasn’t going to be.

 A week later Damian finally asked Marinette out. Two days after that they shared their first kiss on the ferris wheel. And come the end of summer Marinette, Kitty Section and surprise guests Damian and Tim Wayne were all boarding a flight back to Paris.

[ Wanna Support Me? Donate HERE! ]

[nana-mizu-shiki]

It good. Read. Kudo. Do it.

[jayphoenic]

MLB Alya Cesaire Salt Prompts/Fics Recommendations

A Bakers Daughter by @ladyanput

This doesn't actually have a title

“You’re not walking away from this, Marinette! If you need harrassing Lila like this, you’ll get arrested! Get it in your head! Adrien doesn’t want you! He would never want a baker’s daughter, someone so useless and uninspiring! You’ll never reach great heights, Lila does! Lila has more talent grace in one pinky, than you have in your entire being! You’ll always be a nobody and you need to learn to deal with that.”

All This After a Monkey Tries to Steal Marinette’s Purse by @cornholio4

“Dad, I can explain…” Alya replied while trying to think of an explanation that sounded somewhat believable.

“I sent Marinette to our house to wait for either of us, I want you home within half an hour to take over for the babysitting duties that you were supposed to be doing anyway! I will try and be home shortly to have a talk with you!” Otis told him sternly and Alya looked down sadly having to tell Nino and Adrien that she has to get home with them looking concerned.

FACT CHECK by @spooky-z

“Marinette, aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Act like nothing is wrong. I didn’t know you could be that cold and calculating.” She caught everyone’s attention again, especially Marinette.

Marinette sighed, her elbow resting on the table, she laid her head on her palm. There was an air of boredom around her. Chloe, Sabrina and Nathaniel with unimpressed looks on their faces.

New York Special Salt: Confrontation by @nobodyfamousposts

Adrien was shaking at this point, but forcing himself to remain steady.

“You both knew Marinette liked me. Fine. Sure. Apparently she was having trouble telling me this. That’s okay. You knew she felt this way and was having trouble telling me. I get that.”

He glared.

“What I don’t get is why it was necessary to go THIS far instead of just TELLING me what was going on yourselves?!”

Exposed by @miraculousbelladonna

She is still absolutely going to have words with her bestie later, but she doesn’t think twice about posting the life changing video onto her blog.

All she’s thinking about is how it’s so cool that she’s the one who found Ladybugs identity. It’s so cool that she’s the one who’s revealing it. It’s so cool that her best friend, Marinette, is Ladybug. Her views are going to go through the roof. Television channels are going to be talking about this, they’re going to be calling her and asking to use her footage.

[aoparteilee]

Alya With a Chance of Defamation

Words: 1,230

Part 1 (here) - Part 2 (Soon)

Summary: Alya Césaire wasn't stupid. As an aspiring journalist, she knew to fact-check, double check, and every other check. She could connect details faster than her phone connects to the school wifi. And while she wore glasses, her eyes are ones of hawk's when spotting holes in a story.

She's also not a suck-up, or too much of a snitch. If something isn't harmful, she's gonna let it slide. What she won't let slide, however, is the deliberate dragging of her best friend's name.

or, Alya isn't as dense as she is in canon

When Lila Rossi first comes to Dupont, stories of travels and claims of connections spilling from her very bangs, involving a certain red and black clad super-heroine, Alya is a bit hind-sighted. Ladybug is not an easy lady to come by to request an interview, and while her partner in crime-fighting was a bit more open to conversations, the looming threat of identities that came in the form of beeping noises often pulled him away before he could share more.

She had many questions. How did they acquire their miraculous jewelry? How many miraculi were out there? Are there other ways besides Ladybug's yoyo and Chat Noir's Cataclysm to terminate akumas and prevent akumatizations? Do they have any leads on Hawkmoth's whereabouts and identity? Will they leave once Hawkmoth is gone?

Marinette had snagged her an interview with the heroine before, but it had been more about her thoughts surrounding her heroism and how the super suit worked.

She is brimming with excitement to question the new student when she remembers one, tiny detail: How could Lila even know Ladybug before coming to Paris?

According to the girl, she first came from Italy before moving here because her parents were important Italian diplomats. Knowing about Ladybug's existence is possible. By this point of time news of the superheroes has become old and accepted as something that just is and another weird thing about France. But how could a girl all the way in Italy personally know a superhero in Paris who most likely, lives in Paris.

Alya won't write it down as fact, but judging from how akuma attacks were always in Paris, whomever had given Ladybug and Chat Noir their miraculi must have given it to people from Paris. If, hypothetically, Ladybug were from Italy, she gets to Paris so fast it's unreal. How do person all the way across the continent hear about an akumatization so fast they get to Paris in around 5 minutes?

She looks beside her, to her best friend, and from the looks of it Marinette is thinking along the same lines. She's wearing a frown and her nose is scrunched in that manner that she only ever does when Chloe is being more irritating than usual.

Something is rotten in the state of Lila Rossi.

Okay, Alya will admit, she- as a little kid, mind you- had lied to her fellow students about whatever was trending being something she followed to sound cool. Everyone at one point lied about something to sound cool in front of their peers. It's a part of the beautiful cycle of life! But this is getting out of hand.

Lying about knowing celebrities is one thing, but making promises about helping her classmates reach their dreams with her "connections" was just mean. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes when Lila had told her about setting her up an appointment with Ladybug for an interview. She politely declined, wrapping her arm around Marinette's shoulder and saying, "Thanks, but there's no need, Lila. Miss Dupain-Cheng over here happens to also be friends with Ladybug. In fact, my blog's most viewed video, an interview with Ladybug, was arranged by her! I think I'm all set."

Marinette gives a small grin and flicks the hand by her shoulder playfully.

Lila's expression falters, her mouth twisting down from her welcoming 'I-can-grant-you-opportunities' smile into a displeased downturn.

Bingo.

She quickly smiles again, and moves to harass Mylene with her actor connections.

Alya is not a genius psychoanalyzing scholar. She's never been too good at reading people, often being labeled a bit naive back in her old school. But she's not stupid, nor is she blind. She saw and she knows.

Fortunately for Lila, she hasn't lied about something stupid and illegal enough that Alya would feel the need to call her out for.

She's lied before, so what if this girl's a little more intense? No harm done. Her friends aren't stupid nor blind either.

As long as no one is getting hurt, who cares if the new girl is trying to show off a bit?

Marinette cares. Marinette cares a lot.

"You do know Ladybug wouldn't publicly have a best friend right?" she squished Alya's cheeks, making her laugh a bit. "That would be dumb, because then the said best friend would be targeted by Hawkmoth and-"

"Babes, relax, I know she's a little bit of a liar," Alya reassures. "Just don't bother with her. Soon enough the hype will die down and she'll realize we're humoring her. You never lied to sound cool before?"

Marinette paused, then seemed to relax, slumping against her. "Oh. Good. Okay, so at least you know."

Alya laughed again.

What was Marinette worried about? Lila's a harmless liar. It'll die down in a few days, probably.

"Marinette, I don't know what rough fight you and Ladybug might have gone through, but that's no excuse to threaten her identity!" Lila exclaimed the very next day to confused but listening class, if only to humor the girl. "Don't you know what could happen if Hawkmoth were to find out?"

Marinette blinked tiredly up at the girl, bags under her eyes and hair askew. "Say that again? My ears are still ringing from that commotion last night."

Yesterday's akuma had been a little boy who loved New Years and was frustrated that the date was taking so long to come. With Hawkmoth being the negativity leech he is, he had turned the boy into Fireworker, who made loud booming noises across Paris that resembled fireworks and shot beautiful lights at the two heroes who tried to get a grasp at what the akuma's object was while trying not to explode in beautiful lights. It had gone until 2 AM, when they realized the boy had actually left the object in his drawer figuring it was the safest place in the world.

Poor Marinette lived in the bakery that was right on the street where the akuma and the heroes were fighting and couldn't sleep with the noise.

Lila flusters, but goes on. "Yesterday! Ladybug told me how selfish you were and wouldn't help with the akuma! Then you threatened her identity after calling her annoying! For sake, the fight was right next to you!"

She expected people from the class to back her up on this, but no one did. They all looked at her like she'd grown two heads, both of which were empty.

Alya is the first to break the awkward silence. "Ladybug avoids asking civilians for help unless she's absolutely desperate. Beside the usual dangers of the akuma last night being destructive to buildings, it was nowhere out of the ordinary and Ladybug and Chat Noir ended up defeating the akuma on their own."

While her classmates back her up, and Lila begins to panic, Marinette is still looking groggy. She looks as if she hadn't heard a word. Alya couldn't blame her, while the Miraculous cure worked wonders to property damage, it didn't really change the effects the akuma had on people.

Encouraging Marinette to sleep, she silently fumed. She hadn't cared for Lila's lies at first. Everyone lies sometimes, after all. But this was deliberate. Trying to slander her best friend of all people?

Lila forgets, Alya is a journalist. And she knows a thing or two about bringing someone down with words.

[mcheang]

Reality

As Nino lays out his plan for targeting Gabriel, Alya points out one thing. “Sure I know Ladybug can fix the mess an akuma causes. But Gabriel will still be mad. He already doesn’t like you, Nino. Don’t push it. For all we know, Gabriel might threaten to transfer Adrien to a different school. Remember, he totally lost it when Adrien lost his book?”

Nino: oh…right. I didn’t think of that. Then, who do we target?

Marinette grins sneakily. “I know someone who can get upset very easily.”

Adrien: really, who?

Marinette: i don’t want to spoil the surprise.

Later, as the parent-teacher meeting commenced, Marinette bursts in, “Oh, I’m so sorry to barge in like this. But I forgot I needed Mrs Rossi’s signature for Lila’s trip to Achu.”

Caline: Marinette, can’t this wait?

Mrs Rossi: what trip to Achu?

Caline and Marinette look at her. “You know, the trip she’s taking to join Prince Ali in teaching children for free. It’s such a shame that she won’t be able to attend the school’s weeklong camping trip but it’s for a good cause.

Mrs Rossi stands up. “My daughter is doing what?”

Caline: why are you so surprised, Mrs Rossi? Lila went to Achu for months less than a week after she joined Dupont.

Mrs Rossi: she told me the school was shut down from akuma attacks!

Marinette pretended to look faint. “Oh no, was it because of her special lying disease?”

Mr Cesaire looked skeptical. “A lying disease…? Do you mean compulsive lying?”

Gabriel almost regretted not being able to akumatize Mrs Rossi, if only to make up for losing Lila Rossi as a spy since clearly Alliance can no longer use her. Oh well, there’s always the fallout when her sheep find out.

Alya and Nino were recording this with open mouths. Adrien wasn’t so bothered by this after seeing more of Lila’s hateful personality.

Needless to say, the parent-teacher conference was delayed as Sabine then angrily wanted justice for her daughter if she was indeed framed by a liar. Gabriel had to admit the teaching faculty here was lousy to fall for Lila’s reception, but that’s what makes this place so prime for his akumas! Why did he send Adrien here again? Oh right, it’s the most prestigious school and he’ll never hear the end of it from Andre because Chloe would never accept his perfect son being in another school away from her.

Later, after Marinette received an apology from Mrs Rossi, she agreed to bring Lila up. Alya and Nino looked apologetic. “We’re so sorry we didn’t believe you.”

Marinette looked behind her. “It’s ok. Keep recording. If Mrs Rossi isn’t angry enough to attract an akuma, her daughter will be. Nothing akumatizes Lila like being caught.”

Lila was immediately suspicious when Marinette of all people came to get her, however it was subdued by Marinette’s poorly hidden dislike and the fact that it was Gabriel who asked her to come.

Certain that Mr Agreste wanted her help against a stupid boy’s resistance team, she agreed.

Boy was Lila surprised to see Sabine and her mother standing in front of the classroom instead of Mr Agreste, who looked disappointed in her.

Uh oh. Now Lila could see Marinette’s triumphant face and could see what had happened. Her one consolation was that the team’s plan to anger a parent into akumatization had failed. Though she was also irked she couldn’t get akumatized and make that loser suffer for exposing her like this. This is worse than Ladybug’s exposing her in front of Adrien!

As Lila was dragged by her mother to the principal’s office, Caline tried to resume the parent-teacher conference though it was clear all now felt disheartened by her incompetence.

The resistance was confused. Angry Rossis and disappointed parents were around. Where was the akuma?

Eventually they had to give up. What a waste of free period.

Not entirely a waste though since Lila was now exposed. Alya sent the recording to the whole class as the parents left.

Outraged gasps were heard everywhere.

Nino: why didn’t you wait till class was about to start? Then we could prepare to record the akumatization.

Adrien: if Monarch didn’t come out for Mrs Rossi and Lila, I doubt he’ll come for-

Reverser promptly swooped by, ready to turn Lila nice and honest.

Adrien: never mind.

Marc was deakumatized and the class apologized to Marinette for not believing her.

Lila returned to class, sulky in her forced apology, not really bothered by their angry reactions now that she was expelled. Only Marinette’s smug attitude infuriated her. Having been forced honest by Reverser, she had confessed to having duped two other women into being her mothers and had initially planned on running away to join one of them. Her mother now has their numbers. It was a nightmare.

Alya: who else can we akumatize for the greater good? Mayor Bourgeois?

Marinette: I don’t think our plan works if we our expected target isn’t even akumatized. We’ll have to think of something else.

Monarch is disappointed he won’t get to akumatize the akuma class again for a while. Ah well, it can be a favor to Adrien.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Y'know, if Lila was just a one-off character for Volpina and we never saw her again, a few tweaks in that episodes writing could have made it a good lesson about not letting your temper get the best of you, even in a situation where your anger is justified

This is in reference to the post where I discussed how terrible Volpina's lesson is and I agree with the proposed change. If Marinette has to be in the wrong here, that's the only way to make it kind of work. In fact, this is what I thought the episode was trying to do on my first watch. When the next season started with Lila gone, I thought, "Okay, so that episode was supposed to be about being the better person and having a more measured response when you've been wronged. I don't think it did that lesson super well, but I can see what they were going for and we'll give them some grace. Definitely one that I wouldn't just give to a kid, though. Way too high a risk of them internalizing a very wrong message."

I only gave the writers that grace because I assumed that Ladybug had truly humiliated Lila out of Paris off screen (remember, we only see Ladybug out Lila to Adrien even though Lila was lying to everyone) and that is a pretty extreme punishment for a teenager making a dumb choice. Even then, saying that Ladybug was in the wrong feels a little too victim blame-y for my tastes. Lila was the one telling the lies and using Ladybug's name for clout on a city-wide scale or possibly even a national/international scale depending on the Ladyblog's viewership. By telling those lies, Lila was harming Alya's credibility and presenting herself as a sort of authority on Ladybug, a position that she was going to use to her advantage as we saw with her manipulating Adrien. She was also putting herself at risk if Gabriel or other villains believed the lies and saw her as a way to get to Ladybug.

That means that the lies Lila told aren't exactly minor, victimless crimes like the lies Marinette and Adrien tell to hide their identities. Lilia's lies needed to be outed on the same scale that they were broadcast and there's no kind way to do that. It's going to have a brutal edge no matter how pretty the words are.

There are times when it's right to be "the better person" and let a thing go, but it's hard to view this as one of them because this was not a nuanced situation. There was no reasonable option other than issuing a public retraction and Ladybug didn't even go that far! She had a single, private confrontation with Lila and then let the matter rest. A better version of this episode might see Alya and Marinette giving a really mean retraction on the Ladyblog that they then feel bad about because they should have been more professional, but that's about it as far as possible improvements go.

If we look at what the episode actually gave us, it feels like another Gamer situation. An episode that blames Marinette for impure motivations while ignoring anyone else's faults, creating a nonsense moral that just makes me mad. Ladybug-is-wrong-for-confronting-the-liar-for-impure-reasons is certainly a take. It's just not one that I'm ever going to agree with. To give a recent, real-world example, do people really feel that James Somerton was the wronged party because his many, many lies and instances of plagiarism were outed in a brutal public takedown? (Context part 1 & part 2, though part 2 is the one to watch if you only want to see why letting lies from respected sources go unchecked can be so messy.)

To be clear, I don't think that Lila's lies were Somerton bad in Volpina, but they were starting to go down that road and they arguably reached Somerton levels by season five. Fakes identities, almost getting Marinette expelled, using her lies to get social power from Gabriel, the list goes on, which is yet another reason to hate Volpina. Its nonsense moral is a big part of why Lila could do all of that. Ladybug should have outed Lila! Society suffered and will continue to suffer because she didn't. That's why you have to stop misinformation as soon as you possibly can, but that wasn't actually the moral of Volpina. The moral was that Ladybug was in the wrong for being mean to the liar. Maybe if she'd been nicer, then Lila wouldn't be so evil now which is a very gross moral! Volpina really does feel even more victim blame-y now that Lila is the new big bad.

That's a good segue to circle back and finish off my original topic: I gave the writers grace for Volpina until Lila returned and established that she'd never been publicly outed. At that point, Volpina lost any chance at me giving it charity. The lesson was worse than I thought and I was fully justified in hating it. It's one of the ones I use when I explain why I wouldn't want a child getting into Miraculous because the problem with Volpina's moral is pretty straightforward.

[itriedwritingandhereiam]

Was writing a pettynette fic after bingeing the entire available fic population for it and I ended up trying to comment on the characterisation of characters in salt fics in the a/n and it turned into an essay so I decided to post it here.

I understand Miraculous is a kids show. I do! But as someone who's been watching the damn thing since primary school, it's always frustrated me that the class was so gullible! Like, as someone who's lived through a class of 15-16 year olds, I can gaurantee that bullshit Lila spews ain't passing in a real classroom. Especially with teenage girls. Most of the time they can smell bullshit from a mile away.

But fiction is fiction I guess.

I've seen some amazing fics exploring the logic behind the character's decision int terms of the Lila situations and that's the only reason I let canon fly, it CAN be justified, with some effort and some far fetched but it still bothers me. I feel like making the lies a bit more subtle and toned down could greatly change the impact you know? When she's trying to isolate Marinette the class, do it slowly. Plant some seeds of doubt and water them. Don't go big, bold and accusatory with no preparation or build up.

Instead of "Why does she hate me? *sob* I can't believe she'd corner me in the bathroom and threaten me *sob*. How could she do this!"

why not,

"I just- I don't understand what it is about me she doesn't like you know? *gains a look of sympathy* I know she's your friend and she's really nice to you all but - did I do something to offend her? I don't understand," garnering sympathy points would get you everywhere.

At the same time,, Marinette could have handled that the situation a bit more gracefully. Yeah she was blinded by jealousy (At first) and that's what made it easy to just right off and dismiss what she was saying, because it was obvious she was feeling threatened. (Alya's reaction to Marinette revealing that Lila is a lying manipulator)

But even later, she kept acting rashly and throwing around the "She's lying!" thing and it was a hard to believe when they KNEW she had biases against Lila. Lila, who has a fantastical life, the 'attention' (notice the quote unquote) of Adrien and so many disabilities.

It's just so out of place for their oh-so considerate class president to just up and hate the girl.

(Although, that should have raised some suspicion, they were supposed to be smart), so I can't fault Marinette entirely.

It's just so interesting to see how fics combat the already canon events and even improve the happenings or deal with the fallout of either girl's actions.

Sometimes Lila wins (partially) and Marinette is ostracised, but usually the class gets their just desserts by the end. Sometimes the class gets corrupted and drive Marientte out(which I'd crazy but always entertaining, (I love Marientte transfers school-fics)) and everything gets the i-told-you-sos with some guilt tripping (maybe even repercussions) or not, depending on the tone of the plot. Sometimes they grow braincells and figure it out themselves. Always satisfying to see the guilt ( but sometimes they're portrayed as too proud to make amends and aton for behaviour)

One thing that always bothered me(but I eat it up anyway) is Adrien. Adrien's advice to Marinette comes from his own,fucked up little way of problem solving. He grew up in a household where he had no control or say in what happened in his own life, Hence the, "if I don't see the problem it doesn't exist/ ignore it long enough it'll go away" flavour of thinking. Now, funny enough I relate to this on a personal level which is why I feel attacked when Adrien is villainised for this poor piece of advice he gave. Yes, my boy is trying to keep the peace because he's not confrontational (ahem, selectively, I would like to note, theire is some hypocrisy in his actions later down though) and he has this unfortunate notion that since Marinette is strong enough to endure, she SHOULD endure. In canon, she runs with his advice, in fanon she (usually, not always) hates/dislikes him for it because it results in Lila getting away with her schemes and Marinette being painted as a jealous girl who feels threatened by Lila. Yes, it's wrong. Yes, people get hurt. But it's not entirely his fault. Unless his character is tweaked a bit. I'm talking about the fics that have him having his sunshine personality as a facade he uses for some semblance of normalcy. Or he's made into the toxic and possessive type. Then, shit on him all you want.

Yes, I absolutely love salt fics that follow that exact outline. But there is always a chance to enlighten the poor oblivious boy(if you're sticking with his canon, typically a bit brown nosed personality).

There was a fic a read that did this so masterfully, If I find a link, i'll drop it. She acknowledged that his advice was faulty, but she also considered that that was all he knew (see my previous statement) and found it in herself to forgive him for it (after he showed he was willing to atone/redeem himself)

I love salt fics though. No matter how much the characters are tweaked to fit the plot. That's the point of fan work, it's your own spin on the og plot so you have creative liberties.

[miraculousystuff]

hi there! I have a request. Since it’s spooky season,my request is that Mrs.Bustier is on maternity leave and the class has a substitute. They are to be going on a class trip with Mrs. Mendeleiev’s class to Salem to study the differences between the Salem witch trials and the witch trials in Europe at the time, however lila starts her usual crap like trying to get Marinette to give up her first class seat or get her left behind with a sudden “disability” but the teacher isn’t taking any of her crap despite the class’s protests and objections.

The sub scolds the class and especially Lila, then the scolding continues when Lila continues lying and trying to get marinette into trouble.

however Lila messes with one of the historians, who happens to be a descendant of one of the accused. The worker, placed a “real curse” on the liar, making her have unfortunate accidents.

she tries to blame Marinette but Adrien shuts her down and tells her off.

soon the accidents get to her and she gets revealed as a liar. The class tries to ask for forgiveness but marinette brushed them off. And transfers to Mendeleiev‘s class.

Thank you @animechefgirl454 for the amazing request! I hope you like what I wrote!

The Corey Curse

Marinette Dupain Cheng was not in the mood for this. It was the 19th of September, or in other words, the day her class went on an expensive trip to Salem, all the way out in Massachusetts, USA. And of course, she had been peer pressured into organizing the whole trip, from the plane tickets to the destinations they were visiting. After about a month of sleepless nights (Hawkassmoth) the trip was finally here. And after multiple consultations with Tikki and Master Fu, she figured there was no way out of it. Anyone else would be jumping at the opportunity to go. But Marinette had a feeling that Lila would certainly ruin the trip for her, especially through the rise in snide remarks and bathroom death threats in the past few weeks. Thankfully, they hadn’t done anything physical recently, but that was mainly because Ms Bustier was on maternity leave, and had been replaced with a sub, Miss Fournier. She was a young, dark haired and sharp woman in her late twenties, and held a no-nonsense classroom. Marinette was still wary, because she had never openly discouraged Lila, but at least she hadn’t forced her into fake apologies or sympathy, a major level up from Ms Bustier. 

She trudged to school with her pale pink suitcase. It was adorned with elegant roses across it, along with a rose vine curling across the handle as a finishing touch. Her style had changed after most of her class had abandoned her, and she began finding the Marinette beneath the social mask she put up. Her hair had grown out to her mid back and she usually just left it out. However, today was a special day, or special enough that her mum had convinced her to tie it in a braid, draped across her shoulder. Her usual outfit had changed too, from the boring pink white and black to a more colorful range. Today she adorned a blue, spaghetti strap sundress with a floral pattern across it. Her ears adorned gold hoops and matching jewelry, along with a pair of white converse. In other words, she looked stylish, and as she reached the massive group outside the school, a certain liar, unfortunately, was the first to notice.

Lila let out a loud squeal and gasped. “MARINETTE HOW COULD YOU!” she yelled out, and Marinette’s eyes widened in response. “Me? I’ve been here for like 30 seconds!” she sputtered, her face heating up as all eyes glared at her. Lila ignored her however, and continued yelling. “You stole my suitcase!” she wailed loudly, huge tears welling up in her eyes. The whole class immediately went to comfort her, except for Alya and Adrien. Alya was the first to speak. “HOW COULD YOU MARINETTE! Stealing Lila’s suitcase is NOT COOL!” she yelled, and stormed up to the bluenette. She grabbed her and hissed “This is jealousy to a whole new level. Apologize to Lila!” Marinette stood, shocked. “Wh-I-but-” she sputtered, the utter stupidity was astounding. Nino was quick to agree with his girlfriend. “Yeah dudette, not cool!” he yelled, while comforting Lila. Soon, the whole class was bombarding Marinette with insults. Through the cacophony of it all, another voice cut through the crowd. 

“That’s Marinette’s suitcase.” Adrien said, stepping forward. All eyes turned to him in shock, including Marinette’s. Adrien, unphased, continued. “Marinette had the same one in the first class trip to London, before Lila came. Remember?” Slowly, the class began to nod, they yells dissipating into murmurs. Lila’s eyes widened before stammering out an excuse. “Oh, umm, sorry Marinette, you just had a suitcase that looks really similar to the one I got from Switzerland when I…” she stammered, continuing on to a story about rescuing the Duke’s puppy. Marinette was no longer listening however, staring at Adrien with wide eyes. “Wh-what happened t-to taking the high road?” she stammered, a faint pink dusting her cheeks. Adrien brought his hand to the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly. “Well I’ve been meaning to talk to you about th-” suddenly, he was cut off by Miss Fournier, yelling at the class to line up in front of the bus that goes to the airport. 

*time skip brought to you by Lila’s sausage hair*

After going through security, it was finally time to board the plane. As they reached their seats, Marinette realized she had a window seat, and smiled widely. She had only ever been on a plane once before, and had always adored the beautiful sky outside. She grinned as she got in, and immediately took out her headphones. Just then, someone sat beside her, and she was about to move away when she realized who it was. “A-Adrien?” Marinette squeaked, and said Adrien just laughed. “That’s me.” he said, and Marinette almost melted on the spot. The bubble was ruined, however, when none other than the devil herself plopped down in the aisle seat next to Adrien. “Hey babe…” she started, already pouncing on Adrien, who immediately pulled away in disgust. “What do you want, Lila?” he said through gritted teeth, and she was about to reply when she noticed Marinette. “YOU!” she screeched, and the whole plane turned to look at her. Lila blushed and coughed loudly, before making a fuss again. “I-um-yes-uh-I need the window seat!” she blurted out, before recovering quickly. “I have this skin disease, which requires me to sit on a window seat at all times. Could you switch seats with me, Marinette?” she simpered, garnering the attention of the rest of the class, who immediately took Lila’s side.

“Switch seats with her!”

“Don’t be mean!”

“Hurry up Lila could die!”

Marinette squeezed her eyes shut and was about to give in when a savior came in an unexpected source, “What is going on here?” Miss Fournier yelled, cutting through the crowd. Alya was quick to respond. “Lila has a skin disease and she has to sit on the window seat, and Marinette refuses to give up her seat!” she says, and to her surprise, Miss Fournier sighs. “And why should Marinette switch with Lila? It is not her duty to accommodate Lila’s needs. In fact it is Lila’s.” she says, shutting down the whole class as everyone gapes at her. She continues. “And seeing as Lila has failed to do so-” she pauses to give a sharp glare to the liar “It is now my duty to ensure Lila is safe. There is a window seat next to me. You will sit there for the remainder of the plane ride. Get up, let’s get going.” Lila slowly got up, burning with shame as she stormed to the seat next to Mrs Fournier. The whole class was bristled and annoyed, but left it at the fact that Lila was now ‘safe’.

To say Marinette was overjoyed was an understatement. She was beyond herself that not only one, but two people had stood up for her today. She put her headphones in and began to drift to sleep. Meanwhile, Adrien was going through an inner battle of whether or not to take back his high road advice to Marinette. “What if she hates me?” a voice whispers in his head, contradicting “She could never hate me…right?” Finally, he gathered the courage to turn around and speak to her, when Marinette’s head suddenly dropped on his shoulder. He turned rigid until he realized she was asleep, her small, steady breathing sending flutters down his chest. Adrien pulled out his phone and took a photo of them together, smiling softly. He then glanced at Marinette once more and moved his hand to brush her hair, and that was how they remained for the rest of the ride.

*time skip brought to you by Adrien’s obliviousness*

After they got off, their first destination was the Salem Witch Museum. It was based off the witches of Salem, exploring the 20 people who were executed for supposedly practicing witchcraft, one of whom was accidentally killed through torture. Needless to say, this gave Marinette chills, and as they reached the brown bricks and iron gates, she gulped. Lila however, didn’t share this sentiment, and had no problem yelling about the place, complaining about its structure, color, everything. Marinette was just about to yell at her to stop when someone else beat her to it. “Miss Rossi. I take it you have not learnt obvious respect in your old schools, however this is a place that deserves to be preserved and not be hurled upon by insults, especially by you.” Miss Fournier barked sharply, leaving the whole class silent once more. “I see that your friends are having an influence on your tongue, so until the tour guide shows up, you will come stand by me.” Lila’s face turned red as she glared at the teacher, but begrudgingly did as she was told. Marinette stared in awe as Lila was put in her place, and completely ignored the daggers the lying fox sent her way. 

Marinette soon realized how no-nonsense Miss Fournier truly was. As soon as the tour guide showed up, Lila didn’t hesitate to go back to Alya, and began rather loudly criticizing the poor woman’s outfit choices. She hurled insults like “Her clothes must have been dug out from a trash can!” and “Are those shoes fresh out of the 1700s?” The tour guide looked like she was going to cry and Marinette was about to fight when Miss Fournier stepped in once more. “That’s enough Lila. How dare you disrespect this incredibly well dressed woman who has the effort to put up with you? And let’s be honest, Miss Rossi, your outfit choices aren’t exactly flattering enough to be considered better than her’s. Apologize to her immediately and then come walk with me AGAIN.” she’d said sharply, leaving Lila humiliated and the class astounded. A while after, Lila began moaning about how boring this whole trip was, and how Marinette couldn't even plan something decent. The substitute once again came to the bluenette’s rescue. “Well Miss Rossi, I’ll make sure you plan the next trip then? But while we are here, I suggest you pay attention to the trip that Marinette has graciously planned for us and worked hard for while you have done nothing. Apologize to her now.” This continued on for the whole trip until they reached a historian, Molly.

Miss Fournier suddenly spoke up. “Excuse me students, I need to pop to the restroom for a moment. Please behave.” she said, giving a very pointed glare to Lila before disappearing. Molly gave her a smile before turning to the class. “Hello. My name is Molly. So boys and girls, I’m sure you have been waiting for this moment. I’m here to talk to you about what can be considered the most horrible death throughout the Salem deaths: The murder of Giles Corey.” she stated, and immediately the class broke out into whispers. Marinette froze at her word; she had learnt about this in history, and it wasn’t pretty. Adrien seemed to notice her state and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, to which Marinette flushed bright red. Lila noticed the interaction and her eyes burned with jealousy. Desperate to get the attention of her boy toy back on her, just as Molly was about to speak, she yelled. “Did you guys know that I actually know Giles Corey! He was a great friend of mine!” she yelled proudly. The whole class froze, and Molly full on flinched. Just as they began gushing over Lila, Marinette spoke up. “Lila, Giles Corey died in 1962, before you were even born. How could you have known him?’ she stated, hands on her hips. The class looked at her confused and expectant and Lila shrunk under their gaze before stuttering out an excuse. “Ah-uh, silly, silly me, umm, I mean, I’m-i’m-I’m related! That’s right, I'm related to him. My Alzheimer's acts up sometimes and I forget things, but that’s right, Giles Corey is my great grandfather.”  Marinette rolled her eyes, knowing there was no way to convince the class otherwise as they  once again crowded around Lila and gushed over the fact. Lila continued on a rant about him.

 “...but good old grandpa Giles was really an asshole in reality. He had a lot of money but he practiced in…” she dropped her voice to a not so quiet whisper “...unholy practices, so he was killed obviously, and he gave his money to his daughter and none to my grandpa because he was sleeping with her.” The whole class gasped. That was the final straw, Molly spoke. “I’m sorry, does Alzheimer's cause you to lie as well?” The class turned to her, and Alya immediately started yelling. “How dare you accuse Lila of lying?” she screamed, but Molly remained calm, a small smirk playing at the corner of her lips, but her eyes betrayed her anger. “I know Lila is lying because my name is Molly Crosby.” she stated, and the class stared at her blankly. Suddenly, Marinette gasped, eyes wide. “Oh no..” she said, pale. Adrien stared at her in worry, but Alya grew impatient as Molly grinned at the realization. “So what, you have a weird last name? Your point is?” Molly smirked and stepped closer. “Alya…” Marinette warned quietly, but as usual, she didn’t pay attention as Molly spoke again. “I’m Molly Corsby, granddaughter of Deliverance Corsby and direct descendant of Giles Corey.” she stated “Also known as the lineage of the most evil witches in Massachusetts.” The whole class was shocked into silence, gaping and staring. Nino was the first to get his wits about him. “So…Lila was lying.” Silence hung over the air as everyone turned to Lila, shock in their eyes. Lila laughed nervously and played it off. “Sorry guys my lying disease must be acting up again.” she stuttered, and everyone seemed to accept it soon enough, though a hint of doubt lingered. As everyone faded back into their own conversation, Molly walked up to Lila. “You know, Giles Corey was said to have put a curse on a town that lasted 300 years. I wonder what would happen to you.” she whispered and clicked her fingers. 

Suddenly all the lights flickered and died. The people in the room screamed. They came back moments after as staff reassured everyone it was just a technical issue. Even after they had recovered, Lila was still pale, with Alya and Rose simpering over her, asking if she was sick. The remainder of the tour continued on peacefully, in comparison at least, as Lila didn’t say a word the whole time. It seemed she had genuinely been shocked to silence. This peace didn’t last for long and after they reached their hotel rooms, Lila was already spinning a tale of how Marinette had used Molly to threaten her, but she had been subdued by Miss Fournier enough to not say it to Marinette herself. However, inside, a storm brewed inside of her as she watched Marinette and Adrien bid each other good night. She was going to make her pay, and with that thought she entered her hotel room, scheming.

The next morning, Marinette woke up feeling more refreshed than ever. The feeling of her teacher not being a complete pushover and at least one person on her side made her significantly happier than when she started her trip. Lila however woke up feeling crappy, with a sore throat and a headache. After they got ready, they were meant to meet Miss Fournier in the cafe for breakfast. Marinette had chosen a blue halter top and bell bottom jeans with a delicate scarf draped over her neck. Lila on the other hand, has on a bright orange latex too and orange checkered shorts along. Just to copy Marinette, Lila decided to wear a tacky orange scarf. As they entered the cafe, Adrien immediately complimented Marinette’s scarf. As usual, she flushed bright red. “I-uh-oh th-th-thanks, I actually, um, made it!” she squeaked out. Lila saw red as she stared at the scene. How dare Maritrash interact with Adrien. She immediately stormed up to them and flashed her scarf at them. “Hey Adrien! Do you like MY scarf?” she simpered, and Adrien recoiled. “It’s okay Lila.” he said uncomfortably. She continued showing off. “You know I actually made it.” she said, fluttering her eyes annoyingly, Adrien rolled his eyes. “The tag is still on it.” he stated, unimpressed. The liar immediately began crying huge tears, and though the class immediately comforted her, it wasn’t enough for her. She needed to make a certain bluenette pay. The room was very hot, and as Marinette got up from her seat, she placed the scarf on the table. Big mistake. Lila pounced almost immediately, grabbing the scarf, then walking back to her table nonchalantly. Just as she was about to sit down, someone bumped into her, sending her falling to the floor. They also, unfortunately, were carrying multiple glasses of juice, which all spilled over Lila, her clothes, her shoes, her hair. Miraculously, the only thing that remained untouched was Marinette’s perfect;ly stitched scarf. Speaking of the scarf, Adrien came and picked it up, smirking at her. “Lila don’t you know it’s rude to take things without the owner’s permission?” he mocked before walking off, leaving a soaked and sticky liar sputtering on the floor,

After Lila had cleaned up and changed into a clean pair of clothes, even though she got sympathy from the class, she couldn't stand the fact that Marinette got away scott free, and with Adrien at that. And that smirk. It looked like Satan’s grin himself, and she shivered at the thought as the image replayed in her head. There was no way Maritrash was going to get away with this. Today, they were going to the Salem witch Trials memorial, and it cost $25 to enter. Which means that if someone’s money just happened to go missing, they would be left out of the destination, and she would get Adrien all to herself, Perfect. As they neared the brick walls of the area, Lila smirked. Marinette, ever so forgetful, had left her wallet on the bus. And Lila, ever so thoughtful, was the only one left on the bus, and simply took out all the cash she could find in it before walking out and stuffing it in her pocket. Grinning widely, she walked up to Marinette and handed her the wallet, making a big show of giving it back to her in front of the whole class. “Here Marinette. You forgot your wallet.” she purred ‘innocently’ as the class cheered praises.

“Oh my god girl, you are such a good citizen looking past her bullying and still being kind!”

“Damn dudette you are a literal angel!”

“Yeah Lila, I could never!”

However soon, the comments dissolved as Marinette gave Lila a tight lipped smile. “Thanks Lila, but that’s not mine.” she said, and Lila turned pale. “Wh-what do y-you mean it’s not y-yours?” she sputtered as the whole class looked at her in disbelief. “I mean that that’s not mine. Actually, I’m pretty sure that’s Miss Fournier’s.” she stated calmly, and Lila paled even more if that was possible. “Oh no-” she breathed as she turned around and came face to face with the teacher. “Miss Rossi, that is in fact mine. Thank you for collecting it for me. In fact, your mother has actually entrusted the fees for your memorial with me, so_” she dug through her wallet until she came with nothing, pretending not to notice Lila’s shocked expression. “Oh, it seems I don’t have it. Did you see it anywhere?” the teacher asked, glaring at Lila. Ashamed, Lila had two choices: she could admit she had taken it and blame it on some disease or fault the teacher. Of course she chose the one with the least effort. “M-miss, how could you lose my fees!” she wailed, and the class came to her defense, criticizing Miss Fournier. “Actually Miss Rossi, I think that if we look in your left pocket we can find the fees.” Lila stopped crying and gaped as she pulled out the money and smirked. The whole class gasped, and while still defensive of Lila (claiming it was her lying disease or Alzheimer’s) were more subdued, some even giving sneaky doubtful looks. Meanwhile, Adrien and Marinette were having a ball, laughing with each other and entering the memorial. Miss Fournier was also giving her smug looks (even though she would deny it vehemently.)

These kinds of incidents continued on throughout the day, First, Lila tried to trip Marinette up as she moved past grave stones, but unfortunately, golden boy Adrien was in front of her, ready to catch her, Even worse, Lila had stuck her foot out too far, resulting her to fall forward, face flat onto the ground. Then, as Miss Fournier asked questions about the history, Marinette answered. Lila had tried to claim that she was wrong, and of course the teacher had said that the stupid bluenette was right and she, in fact, was wrong. It was humiliating to say the least. Then, as they stopped to eat food, Lila gathered up a bunch of dirt in her fist and dropped it in Marinette’s juice cup. But for some reason, as she brought her mouth to her own, there was disgusting mud in it, so bad that she spat it out. Right onto Miss Fournier’s face, who once again made her sit next to her for ‘disrespecting the area.’ To rub it even more, when Marinette drank her juice, she was perfectly fine, and not only that, but Adrien even wiped some of it from her cheek as she grumbled next to the teacher. The icing on the cake however was when they reached the hotel again. They had to cross the road, and Lila had the perfect plan. She was going to push Marinette into oncoming traffic. And sure enough, just as a giant black SUV began speeding down the road, Lila’s hands found the bluenette’s back and gave her a hard shove, throwing her onto the road. However, instead of getting pummeled, Marinette recovered even faster than the car and moved out of the way at the speed of light, earning loud cheers from the crowd. The SUV had even stopped and apologized to her profusely, and of course the owner had to be some rich guy driving by for a history tour, and oh of course he also knew the OH SO FAMOUS MARINETTE DUPAIN CHENG LIGHT OF LIFE EVERYDAY LADYBUG. AND Adrien had witnessed the whole thing, so he was even more clingy and protective of Marinette. It was the final straw when they were relaxing in the lobby and Marinette gave an AUTOGRAPH to someone. “THAT'S IT!” Lila screamed, stunning the whole room into silence.

“YOU!” Lila screeched and pointed to Marinette, who stood with eyes wide open, gaping. “YOU HAVE BEEN RUINING THIS WHOLE DAY FOR ME!” Alya stood up in an attempt to end this before it started. “Now Lila, I know she’s been bullying you, but I’m sure-” Lila held up a hand to shut Alya up before advancing on their ‘Everyday Ladybug’. 'FIRST IT WAS THE STUPID HAND MADE SCARF, THAT FOR SOME MAGICAL REASON COULDN’T GET SOAKED EVEN WHEN I DID!” she screamed “THEN IT WAS THAT USELESS TEACHER’S WALLET. THE MONEY I STOLE WAS MEANT TO BE YOUR MONEY, DUPAIN-CHENG, BUT OF COURSE, SO CONVENIENTLY IT WASN’T EVEN THE TEACHER’S MONEY IT WAS MINE!” she ran her fingers through her hair as Mylene put the pieces together. “Wait so, when you took the money…it was on purpose? To sabotage Marinette?” she gasped, her eyes wide, but Lila wasn’t done. “OF COURSE IT WAS! AND THEN SUNSHINE OVER HERE WAS SO READY TO CATCH THAT BRAT WHEN SHE WAS MEANT TO FALL WHEN I PUSHED HER, AND THEN, I FELL! HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN?” she squealed, aggressively pointing at Marinette, her hair a mess, ignoring the class’ shocked looks. “AND THEN, OF COURSE YOU WERE RIGHT ABOUT THAT STUPID QUESTION ON MARTHA WHATEVER, AND YOU JUST HAD TO SHOW ME UP! AND THEN, YOU WERE COMPLETELY FINE WHEN YOU DRANK YOUR JUICE, AND MY JUICE HAD THE DIRT IN IT, BUT IT WAS MEANT TO BE YOURS!” she screamed, and this time Nathaniel stepped in. “Wait so you purposely tried to poison Mari-” he was cut off by Lila once more. “SHUT UP TOMATO. AND OF COURSE, WHEN I PUSHED YOU ONTO THE ROAD, YOU COULDN’T JUST DIE, AND YOU HAD TO BE AN INSUFFERABLE HUMAN BEING AND BE ALL NICE ABOUT IT!” she finished, yelling at the top of her lungs, breathing heavily. Dead silence. Everyone stared at her as she exposed everything, including her attempted murder. Suddenly, a voice was heard deep and dark. “Lila, it sounds to me like Marinette is the victim here. You tried to destroy her property, poison and murder and you think YOU”RE the victim.” Adrien hissed, softly, but it cut through the silence like butter. “How dare you try to blame MY PRINCESS when all your friendships are based on lies, and when all you care about is hurting others. You are a disgusting, lying cockroach, and I hope you rot in juvie.” he finished, loud and clear, then gestured to the security cameras. Lila visibly paled as chaos resumed, the whole class turning on her, bombarding her with questions.

“Oh my god, Jagged Stone doesn’t have a cat, and would never write a song about a teenage girl!” “I literally know Ladybug, she would never be friends with a random civilian!”| “That rare fox necklace that Marinette stole is $5 on ebay!”

At the mention of Marinette’s name, it was like someone pulled a switch, and everyone turned to Marinette, apologizing profusely.

“I’m so sorry Marinette, we should have believed you!” “Yeah we’re so sorry!”

“Please accept our apologies!”

Marinette raised her hand to silence everyone. “I understand that you’re sorry. Believe me, I do. But it hurt. My friends for years betrayed me over an orange clad liar. Who threw away years of trust for something better. So, I accept your apologies.” audible sighs of relief could be heard from the class “...but I don’t forgive you. And I don’t know if I ever will,” The apologies started again, Alya being the loudest one. “PLEASE GIRL. WE’RE SORRY! THE LEAST YOU CAN DO IS FORGIVE US!” Marinette turned to her former best friend sharply. “The least I can do is forgive you. No. The least I can do is damage your things-” she gave a glare to Ivan and Nino “humiliate you-” she faces Alya and Sabrina “hurt you." She turns to Kim and Alix, then swivels to face Alya. “Believe me, I know the least I can do, because I’ve been facing it for the past 2 years. It would be a miracle to ever gain forgiveness from me, Alya Cesaire, or the rest of you.” Marinette finished, leaving the room in dead silence. She then straightened up and spoke in a clearer tone. “Actually, I’m planning on getting rid of this toxicity forever. I’m transferring to Ms Mendeliev’s class, straight after this trip, along with Adrien. I hope I never see any of you again. And I hope you suffer.” she finished before stalking off, Adrien at her heels. Leaving the class in chaos.

Let me know if you guys want an aftermath with Lila justice and Adrienettte fluff ❤️❤️❤️.

[justrandomfanfictionskh]

We Should Have Stayed in Gotham ch5

(Almost every Maribat fic I read has the akuma class going to Gotham. But tell me which is more likely, a class touring the city of crime, or a class touring the city of lights? So here it is, the Daminette fic that only I asked for, where Gotham goes to Paris, and the poor students have to grapple with the fact that they have competition for the most dangerous city in the world. I wonder what will happen?)

ao3 Beginning Previous

Everyone froze when the Akuma Alert sounded and looked at their phones. However, this time the information provided was significantly less helpful than the first time.

ALERT UNKNOWN AKUMA

Possible Level: 1-3

Location: 15th Arrondissement

Suspected Power: Transforming Victims into Teacups

Avoidance Protocol in Effect

Ladybug: MIA

Chat Noir: MIA

(If you have more information on the akuma submit it here: Link)

Damian looked around and saw the Parisians visibly relax, and then move about their day as if nothing was happening. Which made sense. This was a low level akuma on the other side of town, the odds of it affecting them were decidedly low and, according to the government site, simply turning around when you see the akuma would keep you safe. 

Still Marinette stood up. “I’m going to check with the teachers, make sure this doesn’t interfere with our schedule,” she said before leveling a finger at her friends, and for some reason Damian, saying, “No killing. I’ll be right back!” 

She wasn’t even gone five seconds before, Chloe steepled her fingers like a Bond villain and said, “So we’re killing Lila. Who’s in?”

“Chloe!” muttered the silent Juleka who had joined them with her GA partner, Matt, a few minutes ago. “Marinette said–”

“That we shouldn’t kill anyone,” Sabrina said cheerfully, “She didn’t say anything about planning to kill someone!”

Juleka muttered something as she hid behind her hair, as if that would abscond her from their criminal ways. But before any real murder plans could be concocted Kathryn asked, “I don’t get it. I mean if everyone knows she’s lying, and only the Enablers are pandering to her then what’s the big deal? She’s not causing any serious harm, is she?”

“It depends on what you mean by serious harm,” Sabrina said gently. 

“Example!” Alex shouted, “Here, she said this literally five minutes before you all turned up.” Alix cleared her throat dramatically and then clasped her hands together, and in a voice reminiscent of a 1950s Disney princess said, “‘Oh you know, I spent a summer in Gotham! Yeah, I helped Batman stop the Riddler by solving one of his puzzles. It was so hard. And afterward Batman and Robin invited me back to the cave for a tour! It was so cool, and Robin was so sweet! I’d talk more about it, but I’m so parched. Alya can I have a sip of your coffee? I’d ask Marinette, but you know how selfish she can be.’”

She turned to Sabrina who giggled and mimicked Alex saying, “‘Oh, of course Lila! Here just take the whole thing. I’m finished with it. So, what did Batman say when you solved the riddle?’”

Every single Gothamite at the table cringed, and Damian scowled deeply, but it was Alice who spoke, “If you guys had come to Gotham, and she had said that, then she would have gotten killed!”

Alex waved her hand dismissively, “Lila’s not an idiot. If we had gone to Gotham, I doubt she would have said anything that would have put her in danger. Unless…Damn it! Why couldn’t we go to Gotham?! We could have gotten one of the Rogues to do the dirty work for us!”

“The point,” Chloe said pointedly, “Is that Lila reinforced the idea that Marinette, who is an angel, is selfish and hates her. And Alya gives Lila her coffee every morning, and today Alya was using her limited addition Heroes Day Travel Mug. They made a hundred of them, but only twenty were sold due to…complications during the celebration.”

“Akuma,” the other girls said in unison. 

“Level ten,” Juleka muttered. 

Chloe moved her phone so that they could see a picture of said mug, and she continued, “Resell price is €100, but would go for three times that at auction.”

“But Alya’s mug would start at €10,000,” Sabrina said, “And go for five times that, because it was signed by Chat Noir and Ladybug. We don’t know how she managed that because Ladybug almost never gives autographs.” 

“And Chat Noir?” Damian asked.

“Hands them out like candy,” Chloe said reclaiming her phone. “The point is that mug was irreplaceable. And because Alya idolizes the heroes, to her it’s priceless.”

“And she’ll never see it again,” Alex supplied, “And probably get akumatized when she realizes it’s missing. She probably didn’t even realize that she had brought it today. I’ll bet you five euros, Lila only ever asked for Alya’s coffee so that she could get that mug.”

“No bet,” Chloe said as the Akuma Alert pinged to let them know that Ladybug and Chat Noir had arrived on the scene, “I’d rather bet on this akuma. Ten euros says it’s a little girl whose tea part got canceled.”

“Mm,” Alex said, “No, I bet that no one showed up to her tea party.”

“The parents of Paris know better by now,” Sabrina cried, “Fifteen says someone at her tea party said something mean.”

Juleka muttered something, about them all being awful which was quickly echoed by Alice crying, “Seriously? That’s a little girl! You people bet on this?”

“Oh!” Chloe scoffed, “Like you don’t bet on which Wayne gets kidnapped every time they have a Gala!”

The Gothamites blushed and very pointedly did not look at Damian. He just rolled his eyes, “Of course we do,” he said, “In fact Todd owes me ten dollars, from the last Gala. But I am more curious about Hawkmoth’s obvious idiocy. I mean, does he truly believe a little girl turning people into teacups is going to achieve his goal? It is ridiculous!”

“Utterly ridiculous,” the Parisians cried giggling, but Chloe just rolled her eyes. 

“It’s not ridiculous,” Chloe scoffed, “When you consider the numbers.”

Damian raised an eyebrow and Sabrina explained, “Year one of the Miraculous War saw Hawkmoth akumatizing one person per week, with a level 10 happening every other month. Year two, one akuma per day and a level 10 occurring every other week. We are now on year three, and on average there are two level 1-5s every day, and one level 6-10 every week. Although if there is a level 10, we only get one akuma the next day.”

“He’s wearing you down,” Will said, “Wearing the heroes down.”

The Parisians nodded their exhaustion seeping into their expressions. It was Juleka who spoke, “Ladybug and Chat Noir are getting stronger, but so is Hawkmoth. Every now and then he’ll enact a plan that almost succeeds. Queen Wasp, Heroes Day. But when those plans fail, he goes back to torturing the city. In the end, something will break.”

 There was a silence until Marinette returned with the good news that the day would go on as planned. But as she ran over to them, she tripped on a crack in the sidewalk. She would have face planted if Kim, who had just left the Museum, had not caught her, before joining his own friend group as if this was a perfectly normal occurrence. 

“That necklace,” Damian said, pointing to the smooth, grey, circular stone pendant with five mice icons on it. “You weren’t wearing that before.”

The Gothamites ignored him, but the Parisians narrowed their eyes. It was strange, But Marinette just brushed it off, “I got it in the gift shop on the way back. I thought it looked nice. So, what did I miss?”  

They didn’t have time to answer her questions however, as the last pair left the museum. It was time to return to the school for the “Getting to know you party.” Damian was not looking forward to the mundane and trivial socializing that this would entail. So, he stayed close to Marinette and her friends, whom he deemed to be of adequate intelligence. And it was a good thing too. 

For some reason, Marinette had suddenly become dangerously and inexplicably clumsy. She still had that spark of intelligence and competence that had convinced Damian that she was worth the time spent getting to know her, but every third step she seemed to trip on her own feet, fumble her phone, or run into a random object or person. It would have been humorous, if Damian had not seen her racing through the Louvre, dodging classmates and artifacts with almost inhuman grace and skill. In the end, it just made Damian suspicious.

But he did not have time to dwell on it too long, because they separated to drive back to the school. Once there, they were led into the art room, where banquet tables of Paris’s finest pastries and sandwiches were prepared, and popular music was playing. The teachers stepped to the side so that the teens could mingle. And once everyone had their food the party began. 

Damian turned to Marinette hoping to engage her in conversation when their phones went off. The green letters read. 

AKUMA DE-EVILIZED

Akuma: China Doll

Threat Level: 2

Power: Turning enemies into China Cups and friends into China Dolls

Akumatized Object: A Decorative Spoon teaspoon. 

Damage: None

Transformed: 50

Injuries: None

Casualties: None

Action Caused: No one came to victim’s tea party.

Akuma Prevention Note: Parents should encourage proper and healthy socialization in their children. Teachers should prevent alienation and bullying in school. No Tolerance!

Damian turned to discuss this with Marinette, but she just smiled and set down her plate. “I’m sorry,” she said. “But I have to get something from my locker. Excuse me.” And with that she was gone. 

Damian sighed, and prepared himself for a tedious afternoon as the Parisians exchanged the bet money, and the Gothamites exchanged the new information about the akumas and the class. Damian turned to disappear into a corner of the classroom, or perhaps examine some of the students’ projects, when he came face to face with the last person he wanted to speak to.

“Hi,” Lila said holding out her hand, “I’m Lila Rossi. You’re Damian Wayne, right? Oh my gosh, I’m such a fan. Alya told me you speak French. Please say you do; my English is dreadful!”

Damian narrowed his eyes at her in annoyance, but said in French, “I do. Please excuse me.”

“Whatever Marinette told you,” Lila said stepping in front of him, her pinch faced in simpering embarrassment. “Please know it’s an exaggeration. It’s true I do have a lying disease, but I am trying to get better. It’s just Hawkmoth, you know. He makes everything so hard.”

“Perhaps,” Damian said his scowl deepening, “But that does not mean that I must listen to your useless drivel. Please, excuse me.”

He shoved himself past her, but before he could even make it three feet away, a second annoying voice shouted, “Hey!”

Damian silently groaned, as he turned to face the scathing voice of Alya Cesaire. She stormed up to Damian, slinging her arm around Lila’s shoulders and fixing him with a glare, which might have been threatening, if he hadn’t been so assured of her incompetence. “She was just trying to say hi! No need to be rude!”

Behind her several Gothamites shook their head in exasperation. Even the students who had never seen him before, were well aware of his reputation. Chad stepped forward giving the girls a smile that would often get him slapped or fawned over (depending on the girl) and said in French, “Oh don’t bother with the Ice Prince. He’s always like that.”

“Just because he’s ‘like’ that is no excuse!” Alya cried. “He should apologize!” 

“Ten euros on Alya getting akumatized,” a harsh whisper reached Damian’s ear.

“No way, do you see his face, fifteen on the Gothamite.”

“Oh, you’re on!”

“Guys! It hasn’t even been ten minutes!” A third voice whined. 

Damian’s scowl deepened. This was ridiculous! But he was better than that. He was better than them. The moment he had decided that the akumas were real, he had resolved against ever joining their list of victims. His training and obvious risk aside, the idea of someone controlling him was grating. So, he attempted the deep calming breath he had seen Marinette and her friends do and tried again. 

“I have no need to apologize,” Damian said icy but calm. “I did nothing wrong. It is your ‘friend’ who cannot take a hint. I suggest she leave me alone. I have no interest in engaging with liars and manipulators.”

“You jerk!” Damian turned toward the new, slightly squeaky voice stomping up to him. A small girl in pink was storming up to them in a fury, and Damian thought she looked like a small kitten for all the good her threatening expression was doing for her. “Lila has a disease!” She cried. “You need to apologize! Can’t you have compassion for someone who is sick and unable to help themselves?”

Damian scowled, as Sabrina and a tall blonde boy dashed between them. “Everyone—" the boy began, but before he could continue, Damian sneered,

 “If Miss. Rossi was incapable of helping herself then she would only just be above the rat she actually is. However, since she is completely capable of controlling her own actions, I think it’s fair to say that she’s not even worth the consideration of a rat.” Everyone gasped as Damian fixed the full weight of his glare on the small blonde girl. “As it is, her ‘disease’ is inconsequential.”

The small girl’s gasped, her eyes watering as Lila began to cry into Alya’s shoulder. Damian tilted his chin up in victory, but then looked around to see everyone else, including the teachers looking at him in absolute horror. Marinette was standing in the doorway, fixing him with a look that could only be translated as, “Seriously!” 

Damian was confused only for the five seconds it took for a purple butterfly, that glowed with its own dark light, to fly through the window and vanish inside the blonde girl’s bag. “Right,” Damian thought, as a glowing butterfly mask appeared over the girl’s face. “Emotional Terrorist.”

“Run!” Someone shouted, and the class dissolved into chaos. Damian took a defensive stance. He had caused this akuma, it would want him. He needed to face it to keep the others safe. 

He watched in horrid fascination as the girl’s soft features transformed into a scowl. “Yes Hawkmoth,” she hissed, as the teachers violently began typing something on their phones. She reached into her bag and pulled out a perfume bottle that was glowing the same, purple black as the butterfly. A hand grabbed Damian’s wrist and pulled him away with a force that had Damian stumbling, even as he turned back to see a black and purple (for lack of a better word) goo encase the girl. 

All around him people’s phones were going off with a notification that read,

AKUMA ALERT: LEVEL 4

Akuma: Princess Fragrance

Gas Mask Protocol and Local Shelter Protocol in Effect. Everyone within the 12th Arrondissement put on gas masks and evacuate to the nearest Akuma Shelter. More instructions to follow.

 Ladybug: ON THE SCENE

Chat Noir: MIA

Damian turned to the person who was dragging him through the school. The young woman was dressed in a black body suit with red body armor covering her torso, arms, and legs. The red was patterned with small black polka dots, which should have looked ridiculous, but was somehow natural. Her black almost blue hair was done up in pigtails, which had screamed innocence in her pictures. But when she looked back, she fixed Damian with such a scathing glare, the Demon’s Heir flinched. But he understood.

He had been hoping to contrive a way to meet Ladybug during this trip, but he had not wanted it to be like this, running from an akuma of his own making. But he had no time to process the implications of that as a strange noise started echoing down the hallways behind them. It was the sound of a dozen voices singing, “At your service Princess Fragrance!”

Damian looked back to see a pink cloud chasing them down the hallways. The shapes of students and teachers, bent down to a distorted silhouette of a girl. Her maniacal chackling sent a shiver down Damian’s spine and spurred him to run faster, even as the cloud surged forward with quickening speed.

“Brace yourself!” Ladybug cried, and Damian barely had time to snap his head forward, before she had pulled him against her, and thrown them out the window in a shower of glass and metal.

If Damian had been anyone else he probably would have screamed. But since he was him he only hissed, as the spotted hero swung them on top of a nearby building. “Ok,” Ladybug said. As she released him, she flicked open her yoyo and began typing hurriedly on it. Damian stumbled as he regained his balance and focused on his savior.

The way she stood made her seem taller than she actually was, which surprised Damian. All of the pictures of her were all from a distance, or from bellow, so to see that the “Savior of Paris” was actually quite short threw him for a moment. Especially since, her face was still fixed in that withering glare that honestly could have rivaled the Batglare. It made him pause and reevaluate all of his opinions on her. But it was her eyes that gave the look potency.

Her eyes were so blue they practically glowed. No, they were glowing. It was clear to Damian, that the miraculous had given her some enhancements, but even with them she was still probably physically weaker than other meta he knew. And yet her eyes glowed with a power that she did not use, fixing him to the spot. And yet there was still something about her that he could not comprehend. She was young.

Damian was certain of it, Ladybug could not have been three years older than him, if not younger. And yet here she was leading a team of heroes in the protection of her entire city. As the Demon’s Heir it grated on his pride, that someone of his age with less experience was in a position of power, when he was not. But as the Son of the Bat he respected her all the more for it. It was a strange war in his head, that he had been fighting for a long time. But for today, he felt that it would be best for Robin to win, so that he wouldn’t get in Ladybug’s way or alienate her completely.

“You do realize,” Ladybug said in perfect English, obviously annoyed but not angry, “That it hasn’t even been ten minutes since the last akuma? What did you do?”

Damian stiffened. If he was going to convince this woman to let him help her fight Hawkmoth, he had to make a good first impression, “A liar in our host class attempted to manipulate me against my associate. I put her in her place, and her friend was akumatized.” Damian paused tilting his head. “How did you get here so fast?”

Ladybug sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, “I was on my way back home, when I saw the butterfly. I would have purified it immediately, but I had to recharge…ok, we need to move before Princess Fragrance sends her zombies after us. Once I get you somewhere safe, I’ll be able to stop the akuma. Are you ok with me carrying you?”

“I’d prefer to run on my own,” Damian said. Hoping beyond hope that she would not force him to endure that indignity. His brothers would never let him live it down.

To her credit, Ladybug just raised an eyebrow and said, “Are you enhanced?”

“No, but I do have training in parkour and martial arts,” he said.

“That may be, but unless you have enhanced strength you won’t be able to keep up with me. Especially when I’m swinging and you’re just running.”

“I’m from Gotham,” Damian insisted.

“That means squat here,” Ladybug said with a furrowed brow. “Haven’t you talked to your hosts. Surely they would have instructed you on that by now.”

Damian opened his mouth and then closed it, remembering the images that Marinette and Chloe had painted in his mind. She was right, him being from Gotham was worth about as much as the air he used to say the words. So, he closed his mouth and glowered, which for some reason made Ladybug smile and say,

“You’re quiet a prickly one, aren’t you. I think I’m going to call you Spikes.”

“Spikes?” Damian demanded with a raised eyebrow.

“Yep,” she said, “Like your hair. You’re spikey.” As if to prove the point, she reached up to ruffle, Damian's carefully gelled hair. He reared back from her in complete bafflement which caused her to laugh, and shake her head. “Look Spikes, Princess Fragrance might just be a level four, but that’s one level away from being deadly. I need your complete cooperation on this, if you don’t want to get brainwashed and forced to do whatever twisted deed she has in mind.”

Damian sighed, “Very well, but first—”

He never got to finish that sentence, as Ladybug slung him over her shoulder like he was a bag of flour and took of across the city. Damian growled but didn’t fight her, as the sound of singing zombies grew louder and louder and the pink fog spilled out of the building. But before they were too far away, Damian looked up to see a girl with long pink hair, green skin, and a black dress march out of the building with a perfume bottle in her hand. She laughed shouting something that he couldn’t hear. But then a horde of brainwashed citizens spilled out of the building, smiling like they were on Joker venom and chasing them through the streets of Paris.

Ladybug didn’t set him down until they were completely out of sight of the zombie army and their Princess. She did have the grace to put him down on his feet, and so he easily turned to see that they were on top of a skyscraper. Based on its billboard, this particular building was dedicated to a news station. Ladybug flipped open her yoyo again, but she closed it as three new heroes jumped up onto the roof.

Viperion and Ryuko were both tall and imposing figures, but one glance told Damian, that they were just as young as Ladybug. As young as him. But they all carried themselves with a presence that Damian only saw around the adult heroes. It was something that Damian associated with true power and responsibility. It cloaked them, as it cloaked Ladybug, and there was no doubt in his mind that these were members of a coherent and well established team. Even their costumes had a uniform like quality to them as thy all fit into the same style as Ladybug's. Monochrome body suits with patterned body armor styled after whichever animal their Miraculous was named for.

 Viperion’s suit was black, and his armor had a teal scaled pattern, with a yellow diamond on the chest. Meanwhile, Ryuko’s suit was red, and her armor had black scales. A golden symbol of the three elements water, wind, lightening was embossed in the chest piece, and she had two golden horns, to complete her dragon look. Compared to them, Chat Noir looked very decidedly out of place.

His suit had not changed one bit in the three years he had been active. It was still the same leather black cat suite with the strange golden bell at his neck. And though his green cat eyes glowed with the same power that Ladybug had, there was something in his relaxed and easy posture that made him seem separate from the others. He was tall and obviously strong. But he clearly did not have the presence that the others carried.

Ladybug, Viperion, and Ryuko had the dignity of leadership and strength beyond their age. Chat Noire seemed obviously hindered by his. This fact seemed to be proved when the cat hero snorted at Damian and said,

“So, this is the one who caused Princess Fragrance. Looks like we got another Chloe on our hands, milady!”

“That’s enough Chatton,” Ladybug said stepping beside Damian. “We do not judge, remember.”

Chat Noir seemed properly chastised as the other two stepped forward. “What happened?” Viperion said calmly, strumming a…was that a lyre?

Ladybug sighed, “Lila.” All three heroes nodded understandingly, and no more questions were asked on the matter. Damian gritted his teeth at this reaction, and his hatred for the liar only grew. But he remained silent as Ladybug outlined her plan.

He listened intently as they spoke, half expecting that he would need to interject, point out a flaw in their plan, or come up with a better one. But no. Ladybug was clearly very strategic and experienced as she laid out a plan that was both simple and fool proof, provided that everyone did their part.

Damian’s eyes trailed to Chat Noir. He was clearly the weak link, but if the hierarchy of Miraculous that the SpotsOn blog detailed was correct, then Chat Noir was supposed to be equal to Ladybug, her partner and balance. Instead, he acted like a side kick, lazily swinging his leather “tail” and giving Damian narrowed looks. When he did speak it was to make a pun or joke, and Damian had a hard time figuring out what exactly he added to the group, except a place to fill. One thing was clear to Damian, if anyone was going to break ranks and cause the plan to fall apart, then it would be Chat Noir. He did not want that to happen considering it was his neck on the line.

Damian cleared his throat drawing all of their eyes towards him. “Your plan is good but it’s going to fail.”

“Excuse me?” Chat Noir demanded.

“What do you mean?” Viperion asked.

“It is too reliant on individual members. If so much as one person breaks rank, then the whole thing falls apart, and you will have to use your luck charm…is it wise to use two lucky charms in a day?”

Ladybug tilted her head examining him carefully, “So long as Cataclysm is used to act as a balance it's fine. Besides I need the charm for the cure, it's part of the spell. How do you know one of us will break rank?”

Damian looked Chat Noir up and down, and couldn’t help the sneer at his blatant childishness before facing Ladybug and saying, “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Hey!” Chat yelled and tried to charge Damian, but Ryuko held him back.

“Ladybug,” Viperion asked with a hint of amusement, “Where’d you find this one?”

Ladybug sighed, “Imagine if Ryuko and Bumble Queen were the same person and male, that’s him.”

She jerked her thumb at Damian as she said this, giving Damian a strange sense of déjà vu, but he shook it off as the boys nodded their understanding with soft “Oh’s” while Ryuko studied Damian far more carefully than before. Finally, the Dragon Hero said, “What exactly do you have in mind?”

“Your lucky charm,” Damian said turning to Ladybug, “Does it only work for specific situations, or will it always work no matter what?”

Ladybug smirked at him placing her hands on her hips. “Specific situations,” she said, “And if the situation randomly changes than it can become worthless.”

“Then—”

“Wait!” Viperion cried and then did something to his bracelet so that the snake carving on it began to glow. He then nodded for Damian to continue.

Damian arched his brows at that but continued anyway, “Then set the trap in an area completely under your control. But do not give specific instructions until Princess Fragrance is right in front of you. Once she is, command everyone as you see fit. It is the most efficient way to use your Luck Charm.”

“Ladybug!” Chat Noir demanded, “Are you going to let him talk to you like that?”

Damian sighed in exasperation but said nothing as he met Ladybug's gaze. He understood where Chat Noir was coming from. There was something in his tone of voice, that had most people believing he was arrogant and entitled. Which to be fair, he was, or at least he used to be. But he had lived six years with his father, three older brothers, two sisters, one almost brother, and one technically sister. And though he would never say it to their faces, they were all incredible warriors who had put him in his place as soundly as any of Ra’s trainers.

The arrogance might still be there, but the entitlement had been drained out of him with every spar lost, every prank war engaged in, and every birthday celebrated. But that didn’t stop people from hearing his tone and assuming the worst. He could only hope that Ladybug would look past this and see the logic of his plan, even if he was offensive about it.

The hero in question just looked at him with those glowing blue eyes, that seemed to pierce him even without the power behind them. A sly smile played on her lids as she shrugged, “I don’t know what you mean Chatton. He’s right. The only problem is our time limit. Once my lucky charm is used, we will only have fifteen minutes to defeat the akuma, and purify it.”

Damian blinked in confusion, “The Government site said your limit was five minutes.”

Ladybug’s smile became a smirk as she said, “And you think I tell the government everything? Viperion, what do you think?"

The snake hero paused for a count of three before grinning slyly and saying, "We didn't need second chance."

'The follow me," she said, and before Damian could protest, Ladybug slung him over her shoulder again. 

Next

@spicemallow @night-ngale @annastasha @ev-cupcake @hammalammadamdam @laydeekrayzee @itsemmylie @when-no-wings-do-broomsticks  @doglover82 @raven-ette @atiredartistandacat

[charlietheepicwriter7]

Hey, Little Songbird

Final Chapter - AO3

Three days after the defeat of Gabriel Agreste and the arrest of Lila Rossi, Felix was invited out for ice cream by his classmates.

A little flustered, he’d agreed without thinking. Rationally, there was little reason to why Lê Chiếninvited him to join, and even less of a reason why Felix accepted. There was still too much to do in the wake of Hawkmoth’s arrest; lawyers to speak to, statements given to police and press alike, entertaining his mother who’d overtaken his home to take custody of Adrien… Frivolities like ice cream socials couldn’t be entertained.

Despite that idea, Felix found himself smiling under the sun, surrounded by classmates as they all took turns at the food cart.

Couffaine and her girlfriend—a few days of diligent study only unearthed a few of his classmates names, not all—stepped out of his way, a sundae to share between the two. He approached the ice cream stall and—“Where is your menu?”

The man, Andre or something similar, smiled merrily. “Ah, so this is your first time at Sweethearts Ice Cream? Allow me to explain.” Picking up his scoop, Andre started to fulfill his order despite Felix having never ordered anything. “Sweethearts Ice Cream has a special ablility; to connect the hearts of two people in love. The harmony of two hearts in love influences the flavors of the ice cream. And there!” With a flourish, Andre offered him his waffle cone ice cream. “Blackberry for her hair, blue bubblegum for her eyes, and black cherry for her secret you keep in your heart.”

“…This is a terrible business model.” Despite his words, Felix paid the man and took his cone. “I don’t even know who this could refer to.”

“Really? You have no idea?”

Nearly dropping his ice cream, Felix whirled around. “M-Marinette!? When did you get here?”

“Just now,” she said, squeezing up beside him at the counter. “Hey, Andre.”

“Marinette! You’re ready to give Sweethearts Ice Cream another chance then?” Andre grinned at them both. “Or… would you two like to try my Couples Sundae? It’s free for new lovers.”

Felix flushed, a protest frozen in his throat. Fortunately, Marinette could still speak. “No, thank you,” she said, voice pitched higher than usual. “Just a regular ice cream, please.”

“Of course, of course.” Changing his scoop for a fresh one, Andre started on a new waffle cone: a base of yellow with dark chocolate, with a scoop of bright blue on top. “Banana for his hair, cotton candy for his eyes, and…” He flipped the cone over and dipped it in chocolate, “…a dark chocolate shell, since you broke through his.”

Blushing, Marinette accepted her ice cream. Felix offered her his arm and escorted Marinette towards a bench separate from the class, who were watching them. Lê Chiến even offered Felix a grin and a thumbs-up, to which he awkwardly returned with a nod.

“How…” She paused to take a bite of her ice cream, dark chocolate snapping between her teeth. “How has everything been? I’m sorry for not being in class the past few days, but it’s been so busy…”

“I can only imagine.” Marinette—or rather, Ladybug—has been in and out of the police station as often as Adrien was, giving her statement. Between that and the press conference Mme. Bustier stopped class to let them watch yesterday, if she’d spent more time as Marinette than Ladybug these last few days, Felix would French-kiss Rossi. “It’s been quiet, especially once Ladybug announced that Gabriel was Hawkmoth. Ms. Bustier tried to make us talk about our feelings, but everyone’s still a bit too shocked to discuss it.” After all, it wasn’t every day when you discovered your classmate’s father was the terrorist who turned you into a supervillain. Reporters had hounded their class from the moment the news dropped.

They were even worse towards his family.

“The school’s talking about shipping in a therapist for us,” Felix explained. “Not only that whole Akuma Class nonsense, but also because we were in direct contact with a terrorist for months on end. So, you have that to look forward to when you get back.” Rossi was allowed unrestricted access to vulnerable minds for over half a year. There was no doubt his class needed therapy… including Marinette.

“At least she’s been expelled from the country,” Marinette said, sighing. “Honestly, that was harder than giving my statement ten times over. The Prime Minister wanted her trial on French soil. I had to argue with the Prime Minister! All for Lila.”

“Why?” Felix would never do anything to help Rossi.

“News of her involvement is going to drop any day now. People are already trying to attack Gabriel in his cell; when the mob of public opinion finds out about her, they’ll start trying to get her too. At least this way she’ll be tried back in her home country, by people who were never directly affected by her actions.”

Felix didn’t like it, but “It’s understandable. People are also trying to get to Adrien, despite his innocence.”

Marinette nodded, half-expected that. “How is Adrien? I haven’t heard from him at all.”

“One of his photographers leaked his phone number, so Mom took his phone away so he wouldn’t have to read all the vile filth people send him. He’s getting a new one soon.”

It wasn’t that Felix didn’t understand why people were so upset. Gabriel turned Paris into a battleground and friends into foes, but… the police had already released a statement denying Adrien’s cooperation regarding Hawkmoth, yet there are still hateful phone calls and texts coming in at every hour from people who wanted someone to blame. At least Mother was keeping a record of who sent the more illegal messages: the threats, the doxing, the… suicide baiting.

Their family lawyer would be well fed in the coming months.

It was hard with Adrien in his house. Awkward. Despite Adrien’s frame-job, he was still family, and Felix was someone who supported his family. But that didn’t mean Adrien was forgiven. Felix didn’t forgive, and he’d never forget.

Surprisingly, the tabloids were kind towards Felix. He made no effort in hiding his involvement in the case, both as the whistle blower for Hawkmoth and as a hero involved in the final take down. Mother had cut out some particularly flattering articles out to hang in their manor parlor, but fortunately the threat of arrest and restraining orders kept most of the rats away.

“How’d Adrien take it?” she asked.

Felix bit his ice cream, so he’d have time to answer. Damn that ice cream man. It was delicious. “He didn’t believe it at first… didn’t want to believe it. He’s seeing a therapist on Friday.”

Marinette wrapped her hands around her ice cream cone. “Poor Adrien…”

“He’ll recover; he’s stronger than you think. He’s already made plans to hang out for the weekend.” He gestured at Alya and DJ Boy, leaning against each other and sharing a sundae. Alya caught his eye and waved. “Everyone’s going to be okay now.”

“Yeah.” Marinette drank in the sight. Not just Alya and her paramour—though they earned a smile for finally making up—but their other classmates as well. Felix had never been invited to a class outing before, but even though they’d broken up into subgroups of couples and friends, everyone looked happy. “We’ll recover.”

The sun shined down on them all, warming skin like a heated blanket. Felix studied the melting treat at hand. “So. Ladybug?”

She flinched.

“I haven’t told anyone,” he reassured. “I understand why it’s a secret. I understand why you didn’t tell me. But…” He sighed. “I’ve been keeping this to myself for days. Can you please just… confirm?”

She took a deep breath. “Yes.” She peeked at him from the corners of her eyes. “This is me, confirming. Yes.”

Okay. A shiver ran through him. Marinette was Ladybug. His best friend was a superhero and trusted him enough to be a superhero too.

He was in love with Ladybug.

As was Chat Noir. And half of Paris. Shit.

“So, what gave me away?” she asked.

“Little things. Nothing anyone else could put together.” Little things that added up into the big picture. The way Ladybug knew he’d worn a hoodie earlier that day, the inherent trust she had in a man she previously punched in the face, the way she looked at him. But most importantly, Felix felt that she’d wanted to get caught, that Marinette had wanted him to know she was Ladybug, and that was what removed the block in his mind preventing him from realizing.

“Small mercies,” she muttered. “Did you really think I was Rena Rogue?”

Felix hid his face in his ice cream. “…It made sense at the time?”

She laughed at him. “Alya’s never going to let you live that down.”

Alya? Why would Alya care—? Oh. He felt his face growing red and it had nothing to do with the weather. “She really won’t, will she?” He asked, sounding faint.

“Yeah, you really dropped the ball on that conclusion. You should have heard her complain! “Your boy is so stupid, how do you even stand him?””

And now Felix was blushing for a different reason. Her boy?

“—I tried to keep her from talking about it in front of the other temporary heroes, but I think Viperion knows. Carapace definitely does.”

“Did she complain in front of Hawkmoth too?” he grumbled, wishing he was wearing a hoodie to better hide his face. “Throw Rossi into the loop while she’s at it? Maybe my mother would like to know all my follies?”

“Oh! Speaking of your mom—” Marinette pulled a chain out from under her shirt. His breath caught in his throat. She’d kept it on her person? “You can finally return this to her.” Threading the wedding ring off her necklace, she placed it his hand, its matching pair resting on his finger.

He squeezed it, the smooth ridges cutting into his palm… and returned it to her. “Keep it. It’s exactly where it needs to be.”

“What? But this is the entire reason you were here!” She tried to give it back again. “It’s your family ring!”

“It’s my family’s wedding ring,” he corrected. “And while most would consider this too forward of an approach, the realization that you’re the most eligible bachelorette in Paris is making me react… strongly. So, I was thinking about a spring wedding? After we graduate Lycée, of course, so it would be a long engagement—”

Marinette covered his mouth, face blush red from the tips of her ears to the neckline of her shirt. “What!?” She asked, voice cracking. “M-M-Marriage!? Felix, we can’t…”

“Well, yes, not right now. That’s why I said after Lycee.” Obviously. “I don’t see what the issue is? My family has had arranged marriages for centuries, and we like each other. Right?” Had he misidentified her feelings? She always acted sweet with him and blushed when he flirted, but what if he was wrong? What if he humiliated himself and ruined their friendship in one swift move—

“Of course I like you, but you haven’t even asked me out on a date yet!” She burst out, causing the rest of the class to glance over. She buried her face in her hands and continued, voice muffled, “Dating comes before marriage; I can’t believe I have to explain this to you!”

Oh. That was the issue. Gently pulling her hands away, he dabbed at her tears with a handkerchief. “I’m sorry, Marinette. I got ahead of myself.” Alya glared at him from over Marinette’s shoulder. Nosy overprotective reporters, getting in everyone else’s business… “I didn’t mean to pressure you. What I mean with the ring is… a promise. I would love to be in a relationship with you, if you’d have me.”

She looked up at him from underneath her lashes. “A promise?”

“To stay by your side and support you in your endeavors.” His family’s marriage vows echoed in his mind, passed down from his grandparents, from his grandfather who was so in love with his grandmother that he couldn’t think of a world where she wasn’t his equal. “As long as you stay by my side and support me in return. To lift you up through the hard times and rejoice with your success. To be equals in all things. That’s what I want to promise you.”

Tears budded in her eyes. “To stay by your side… to be equals… that’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

“Then, would you do me the honor of being my girlfriend? And going out on a date with me?”

Her tears ran down her face, but her smile lit up the entirety of Paris with her joy. “Yes. I’d love to, Felix.”

Taglist: @graduatedmelon @novicevoice@dur55@kris-pines04@18-fandoms-unite-08@moonlightstar64@bee-a-garbage-shipper@sol-o-shade@kittyotakunoir666@tinyterror333@allieoftheenemy@marichat00@xgxmxtx@two-faced-biatch@feliciakainzofspades@evil-cricket@emilytopaz@spicybelladonna@chocolateherringtacofan@user00000003@wannajointhecrabcult@happymonster-pants @duquesapincarrasca  @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen  @sxltinette @kittydemon9000 @thetrashypanda423 @unoriginalmessess @toodaloo-kangaroo @troycattribunny@nikipuppeteer

[mysticgwen]

Can someone write a fanfic with Marinette and Luka singing "Dead Girl Walking", based off of the tiktok audio? I'm thinking Lila salt with mari doing theater as an escape

[writer-rider-flirty-thirties]

Lila's lies are uncovered and Marinette feels nothing. 65/101 of Fanfic Wars (2022)