Ladybug's fake identity

Chapter 10: Gifts

"Never!" she exclaimed, protecting her ears with her fingers, then burst out laughing.

The laughter of her friends joined hers. Marinette felt her heart drop when he reached out to ruffle Lyssa's hair lovingly. Unable to force a laugh out of her mouth, she opted for a smile. At least he was happy. Was that all that counted? No. She wanted to be happy, too. But it would take some time for her to accept this, to not feel her heart break a little more when seeing them, to grow over it. And there was nothing she could do but wait. Wait for her heart to heal, even if at the moment, it seemed impossible.

Her three friends thanked her with amazement in their eyes. She knew that they expected her to have prepared something similar for the two liars, but even if she had wanted to, she wouldn't have had the time.

"As for you, Lyssa and Lila... I'm sorry, I had to prepare this in a rush, I didn't plan that you would come along. But still, here it is." She forced a smile on her face while offering her ridiculously small present to Lyssa.

The girl took it with vigilance. Who knew what Marinette was capable of when it came to her? But all of her friends were here, she wouldn't dare to give her something suspicious. In the end, it would only be an excuse for Lyssa to steal her friends, too. But her reassuring thoughts didn't prepare her for what she discovered under the Christmas-themed wrapping paper.

"A ladybug-themed earring?" she said, surprised, lifting a single handcrafted dangling earring with a small red open-winged ladybug hanging at the tip of the metallic piece. Why would Dupain-Cheng offer her that? The gift seemed to be an ironic reminder that she knew about her lies. "That's really nice, thanks, Marinette. But... I'm really sorry, I don't know if I'll be able to wear it."

"That's not a problem." the designer grinned. "Earrings are really popular in fashion, and the more, the better. You can fit this earring with your usual one on one ear if you pierce it again." It was true. Adrien nodded at her words, remembering how his father considered letting his son pierce his ears, too. "But this gift only has a meaning if Lila opens hers."

All heads turned to the brunette, who hastily ripped the wrapping paper open to pull out a similar earring but with the face of a fox dangling at the end of the earring.

"Matching earrings!" she exclaimed with a smile. "That's so sweet! You've figured us out quite well, Marinette."

The blue haired girl smiled proudly back. Of course Lila would take this opportunity to make the people around the table believe that she is Rena Rouge. And, judging from Adrien's wide eyes, she already convinced some of them. But what she didn't know was that the real Rena Rouge was sitting right across her and glaring at the earring with jealousy.

Marinette wondered if Alya felt exactly like she had felt when the reporter had exposed her theory of Lyssa being Ladybug, weeks ago. Maybe it would slightly open her eyes, maybe she would realize slowly that what had been a theory was and stayed one without becoming a truth just because she wanted it to be. But she didn't want to get her hopes up: a single earring wouldn't change much, she knew it. But it was better than nothing. It was her way of fighting back.

"What else would I have offered to a master of creation and a master of illusion?" Marinette said.

Master of illusion, more like master of lies. But only Lyssa and Lila understood the real meaning behind the sentence. The designer noticed how Alya clenched her fist under the table when speaking. She felt bad for having found it satisfying during a second. Alya deserved recognition as Rena Rouge, not Lila. Just like Marinette deserved recognition as Ladybug instead of Lyssa.

The conversation went on, gifts were opened, jokes were exchanged. The laughter of the small group of friends filled the air of the café. Marinette received a pretty noteblock, some fabric of rare colors, a fashion magazine, an alarm clock and, surprisingly, a Chat Noir plushie. The last one was a gift from Adrien. She couldn't decide if his proud grin made the gift better or just worse.