Chapter Text
Marinette is seething, her late night patrols have taken a lot out of her patience, so much so that her friends have recently been getting worried or distant, and now, this liar is here. Calling her a fox feels like an insult to foxes, they are beautiful creatures, loyal mates and dutiful parents, this thing feels more like a cuckoo or a parasitic wasp larva eating its host from the inside. There is no other ways to describe Lila, she came into the classroom a few weeks ago and Mari hadn’t payed her much mind, she seemed a little obsequious, but Marinette had chalked it up to being nervous and cautious from a sudden mid-year transfer, apparently from a good family of diplomat that needed to move for some reason. Now, all Marinette sees is a demon crawling out from hell, Lila’s manipulation had been relatively fast, making a lot of friends, Mari isn’t against that and had found Lila’s words rather intriguing, but it only got worse, what sounded like honeyed words had turned less and less believable, Marinette has tried warning the others, but they say she is just being cranky, that Lila must have traveled a lot and seen a lot of things and heard a lot of wondrous tales and that everything is possible in a world of superheroes and villains.
Marinette hated being brushed off, but she can’t really disprove what Lila is saying, a lot of her tales are about her apparently numerous congenital problems, something that Marinette doesn’t feel comfortable picking on, she knows a lot about biology and is pretty sure all those pains are fake, but it is hard to explain and there is always a miracle documented case that can explain Lila’s nonsense. She hates this, Lila is a pro at lying, she string in enough facts that it is hard to look into her lies and her tales of valiance and rescuing stray puppies in a flood in the Philippines is just impossible to prove. Marinette would have barely noticed the lies if not for the overly honeyed voice, the slight discrepancies and how Lila doesn’t act like she has any health problems.
Marinette would have looked pass everything as just the newcomer being an attention seeker if not for what happened 2 days ago, she came in exhausted from a night akuma attack that she had to solo because it was a stealthy one that tried to find The Guardian, Chat and her have both been training to take up the mantle, but they can’t both show up to these stealthy akumas, it would be suspicious if Hawkmoth and Mayura notices that they guard some spots more closely than others, it is also for this reasons that their patrols are almost always done solo unless they happen to meet up at one of Paris’ many landmarks or stop to get food together after a patrol. Hawkmoth has been getting wise, probing the city arrondissement by arrondissement to try and see which places gets the heroes to answer the fastest and with the most panic. Ladybird tries her best to not call on the others, she deems visiting Fu too risky, Chat had agreed to that too, so they have been stretched thin for a month, Marinette has it worse, Chat is carefree, Mari is overly cautious and always try to follow the purified akumas to try and see if they go back to the terrorist, but that hasn’t yielded any results yet, the akumas seem to be just normal wood white butterflies and just settle in parks and stuff. Anyways, Mari reminds herself she shouldn’t let her mind wander, 2 days ago, she had arrived in class looking half dead, Lila had sidled up to her and asked her if she has insomnia and needs some bullshit sleep remedy from Kwamis know where made with ingredients Mari is sure will kill a human in that amount, she had admittedly been short and told Lila to drop the act and to actually speak her mind, that her lies are like a cloud of mosquitoes and that she would appreciate someone true and honest. Lila had looked horrified for a second and then Mari caught the shadow of a predatory grin before the storm came, Kim had yelled at her for being a curmudgeon, a word Mari didn’t think Kim would know, and that Lila was just being nice, the everyday-Ladybird must have spoken louder than she meant to in her jadedness. Lila had gasped as if Mari had stabbed her and the parasite’s voice quivered, way too quickly, saying she had only meant to check on Marinette, that Miss Bustier had told Lila that she was concerned about how Marinette’s grades have plateaued and how she has been less social. Mari must admit she admires the way this pile of demon dung masquerading as human can weave a sob story from barely anything. The rest of the class had told Marinette to apologize, which she had fervently refused because she just didn’t feel like it and because the all valiant Ladybird would never bow down to such behavior, she isn’t above trickery in the heat of battle, but she makes her displeasure and opinion known. That had started a huge argument that Lila meagerly tried to stop by shifting the blame on herself as if she wasn’t the one who started it, it only ended with Mrs. Mendeleev walking into class.
Since that day, Lila has been a constant pain in the ass for Marinette, trying to spill water on her electronics “by accident”, fake being tripped while passing her by and twisting her every word into the worst meaning those specific remixes of the alphabet are capable of expressing. Mari’s friends seemed torn, Marinette has been distant for around 2 months now and only seem to be more cantankerous lately, they are inclined to believing Mari but the observant part of her sees the hesitation in everyone’s eyes, Lila had proven herself a great story teller and helper for everything except physical labor, while Marinette has been a constant in everyone’s lives for years, but has recently seemed to be drifting away. On one of such argument that ignited from Lila twisting Marinette’s complaint about the lack of rest time their school schedule provides into a churlish tirade on education as a whole and how there are starving children all over the world that dream to have an education they have here in Paris. Lila had interrupted Max’s monologue about how Marinette has a cortisol level over the moon with a crocodile-teared melodramatic speech on how Marinette must be burnt out from spending her school years with always the same people and that someone as future oriented as Mari would eventually pursue a future career over staying with her friends. Marinette had snarled at that, she cares about her friends and classmates despite large shows of love never being her thing, but she will always be there if they ask, she had tried to argue back, realizing how the purpose of this fight is for Lila to give a reason for Mari’s aloofness and to distance her further, but Adrian had stepped in and said that lunch is almost over and that he is sure everyone needs to eat.
Mari froze and Alya gave her a knowing look that attempts to be playful but hides the obvious sadness, indicative that she believed Lila’s bullshit lie. Mari said nothing about that, she was basically paralysed. Rose had gotten everyone to think that she has an astronomical crush on Adrien, but that’s stupid, Marinette had recognised him immediately on his first day and had been afraid, a word from this boy to his father can make or break her career prospective in the realm of fashion and seeing this boy talking so casually to Chloe while doing something to Marinette’s seat had made her afraid, she had been glad when the misunderstanding cleared up, but has always been way too cautious around him, leading her friends to have the wrong idea, she’s been getting better at being casual around him recently, mostly because she is too tired to care and because Adrien seems to be way too nice to speak of anyone’s evil behind their back, almost to a fault. Marinette has seen how Adrien is basically a doormat, almost always passive and non-confrontational, yet outgoing otherwise. She can see too clearly the signs of abuse, how he seem to flinch every time someone suggest he talks to his father for more free time. Marinette feels for him, her own parents love her but hate one another, yet every time she confronts them, they pretend as if nothing is wrong, as if she is a blind child to be protected, though even the deceased can see something is amiss. Mari had just given up on trying to get an answer and she can understand one’s complacency to family problems, but Adrien seem to clam up about his most basic needs. He is well built but seems always hungry and his lunches seem like some depression meal a household with no seasoning would cook up, Marinette would rather walk into a speeding train if she has to switch from her mother’s flavorful cooking to whatever Adrien eats for lunch, she remember how his eyes seem to glow every time their peers offer to share food, Marinette is not stupid enough to waste time on lost battles but she would never let something as primal as her hunger be tread on.
- “Marinette?” Adrien asked again, seemingly trying to get her to snap out of her stupor, oups, she has been staring, lost in thought.
- “Oh, sorry, just a lil tired from studying last night, sorry for the drama earlier”, she blabbered out, apologetic about staring, she knows how he hates this.
- “It’s ok, just be careful next time. And oh, between you and me, I know you mean no harm, I can tell Lila is lying, her claims about being Ladybird’s best friend are just nonsensical, a hero as cautious as her would never let anyone know her enough to be able to make that claim and I know Ladybird doesn’t get snacks with civilians”, Adrien tried to flash a reassuring smile at his friend before going off to finish his food as the bell draws nearer, he seems to have learned that Marinette does not appreciate him being too close.
Marinette had nodded, appreciating the fact that someone is on her side, but her eyes narrowed, how did Adrien know for sure her alter ego never does that, Ladybird has always been a very extroverted person but furtive and fast enough that no one can film or see her for an extended period of time unless she makes an announcement from the Arche de Triomphe, so everyone only have pieces of the hopefully complex puzzle she has build around her personality. From what she knows, Adrien is a fan of hers, but not so much that he can put that much details about her and deduce this type of things for sure. She will have to keep an eye out for him, she has saved him on a few occasions and every time, he seems to watch her closely. She trust him enough, but if someone as busy as him has even an inkling of a chance of figuring out who she is, than she can only imagine what the likes of Alya and Nadia can do. Marinette trusts Alya enough to hide her identity if she figures it out and Nadia is trustworthy enough, but the media she works for is owned by Roth and Marinette knows to not underestimate how greedy that man is, he will sell her out if it means one more watcher on his channel. Despite everything, Mari can’t risk it, her identity weighs as much as Atlas’ burden and she would wish to share its weight with no one.
The bell rings. She sighs and prepare to start another boring day, at least Lila shuts up as the teacher walks in, still thinking back to how Adrien saw through the lies but never even spoke up a little bit, she is tolerant of complacency, but Lila’s been making her the villain for days now and Adrien just ignores her suffering despite being always praised as someone who knows right from wrong. Coward. Mari shakes her head and heads towards her class. How foolish her friends are to think someone like her can ever love someone who doesn’t share her virtues? Hell, they know how hesitant she is about love, seeing the hot garbage of her parent’s marriage, but these last few days have revealed quite a lot about how little her friends know about her and how willing they are to let her down.