Lukanette, Class Salt, and HEAVY Adrien Salt. Little bit of Lila Redemption
This really has nothing to do with the game
Adrien rejects Marinette for Lila, believing that she only wanted him for his money because of Lila. She goes to Luka for comfort, and he helps her heal. They soon began dating, and Adrien has to face the consequences of dating a liar.
Marinette was nervous. Ever since Lila took away most of her friends, she's been struggling to keep her confidence up. First was Alya, who would do anything for a scoop. One story about being Ladybug's best friend and she was gone like Marinette never existed. Then the rest of the class, leaving Juleka, Mylene, Nathaniel, Chloe, Kim, Nino, and Adrien.
They all had their ways of finding out the truth about Lila. Juleka asked Luka to meet Lila once when she was over with Kitty Section and let's just say, his ears were literally bleeding. She trusted her brother's judgement and started to stand up to Lila and she ruined her and Rose's relationship. The goth girl vows to bring her down for Rose, her brother, and Marinette in any way possible.
Chloe was humiliated by Lila, so she didn't like her from the beginning. She was isolated to the back with Marinette and slowly became friends after the former bully apologized. They worked together to keep track of all the connections Lila claimed she had.
Kim and Nino were skeptical about the claims Lila made about their childhood friend. It seemed so out of character, and too quick of a change to make sense. Kim was crushing on Lila, but it faded once he realized what she was doing. Nino was pressured by Alya to chose her or Marinette. Nino lost his girlfriend, but he still had his true friends.
Adrien was more difficult to explain. He acts like he was on their side, but the group sees how he threw Marinette to the wolves at the first chance of possible conflict. And somehow, none of them knew that Adrien knew Lila was lying. They all believed he was under her lying spell.
But even after all that, Marinette still had a small crush on him. Emphasis on small.
It wasn't as big, and definitely wasn't as obsessive as before. The feeling began fading away when he stopped talking to her about anything other than taking the high road. Marinette was hoping that declaring her love for him would repair their friendship, get them closer, and he would see her way that his advice wouldn't do anything. But she was wrong.
At lunch on a dreaded Wednesday, Marinette went up to Adrien. He was sitting next to the clingy liar, much to the group's amusement.
"He's probably just playing the part," Nino said, looking at his best friend. He didn't know what he would do if he seriously believed her.
"I don't think so, he seems pretty certain to me." Juleka narrowed her eyes.
"H-Hey Adrien, can I talk to you?" Marinette asked, twiddling her thumbs. (And so they keep on twiddlin them thumbs skiddly-dee-da-dum). Adrien, for whatever reason, looked annoyed. That emotion was rare coming from the model.
"What is it?" Adrien asked, in a rude tone. No one has heard him talk to anyone like that, so of course everyone was watching.
Marinette was doing her best to ignore the eyes, not letting her confidence teeter. It took her so long to bring it up, and she refused to give up this time. At least it would do some good to get it off her shoulders.
"I...um..." She took a deep breath. "IhavehadacrushonyouforthelongesttimeandIwaswonderingifyouwantedtogohangoutlater?" Everyone who knew she had a crush on him, which was basically everyone, smiled and was proud of her for finally confessing. But the response was not what anyone expected.
"Why would I want to hang out with you? You're a gold digger, leave me alone." The response had the entire room silent. Lila had a slightly guilty look, knowing what it was like to be rejected harshly.
Marinette felt tears boil up, but refused to cry. She held her head up high. "Ok." And she walked out of the room. Once out of everyone's sight she crumbled, but continued on her journey. Chloe and Juleka followed her, making sure she wouldn't get akumatized. Every eye in the room glared at Adrien, but continued their hushed conversations. Their topics changed, however.
"She's the nicest girl in the school, how could he reject her?"
"He should have gotten Marinette while he could, now he'll never get the chance."
"I thought he was super nice, but I guess not."
"Guess Rossi had too much of an effect on him."
"What happened to him?"
The comments surrounded the room, bouncing off the walls. Lila placed her claws on Adrien's arm. (There was no strikethrough option I'm crying)
"Don't listen to them, Adrien. They're just jealous." Lila smiled.
"Just like Marinette." Alya sneered.
Marinette reached the Couffaine houseboat, where she usually went when she needed calming down. Luka's school wasn't open that day, there was a gas leak that needed fixing. Luka and Marinette have been spending more time together lately, and Juleka hopes that Marinette gives him a chance when she's ready. Luka perks up when he hears a familiar melody enter his room.
"Hey Mari."
"Hi Luka." She sat down on the edge of his bed. He hears her changing melody and her expression and frowns.
"What did they do now? Do I need to hit them with my guitar?"
"It wasn't them this time, it was him. I confessed my feelings today."
"And...?" Luka was curious about what exactly happened, but the picture was being painted in his mind.
"He called me a golddigger and told me to leave me alone, so I will." Luka was annoyed with how the Agreste was nowadays.
"He will regret ever leaving your side. He's probably going to start dating the liar, so wouldn't his entire relationship be a lie?"
"He knows she's a liar too, that's what complicates it. But he dug his own grave, so he can lay in it." Marinette smirked. "No more nice Marinette."
✨✨✨
Since Adrien was the last bit of reasoning why Marinette did kind gestures for the class, she cut off everything altogether. Goods and treats were only given to friends and out of random acts of kindness, which were the members of the class she was on good terms with and anyone else who wasn't in Bustier's class. Of course, the remaining members of the class didn't like that they didn't get special privileges that others did.
Marinette went all out for her friends. Nino got interviews with famous DJ's, Aurore was offered internships with news companies from her BugOut blog, Nathaniel and Marc were noticed by more popular comic book writers, Mylene received acting gigs, and Chloe and Marinette started a fashion business. They even convinced Juleka to model the clothes and give any feedback. All that happened from Marinette's connections.
Alya was seething with jealousy. She didn't get the message and confronted Marinette on why she didn't get special treatment, as if anything she did after Lila appeared never happened at all. Marinette's answer was the same every time:
"Because they are my friends." And it got worse from there, if that was even possible.
Since she was hated by the class, she was also voted to not be Class Representative anymore. They voted for Lila instead, believing that her connections would score them better trips. That was a mistake.
The class wanted to raise money for a trip in the spring. The problem was, Marinette did most of the work. From bake sales to rapidly making banners and signs to get the message out, she did more than half of her share for fundraisers than her classmates did. Not to mention, she also had to plan on her own and do all the paperwork. Bustier didn't learn as well and put the exact same pressure on Lila as she did to Marinette.
The class soon gathered enough money to be able to go to Disney World, but one day Lila came in crying that half of the savings had been stolen. Alya immediately pinned the blame on Marinette, and Adrien agreed. But Chloe came to her defense that they all had a sleepover at the hotel the night before so there was no time to take the money. And she didn't even know where they lived.
The class then worked extra hard to make back all the money, but sadly didn't make as much. Their bake sales weren't as good as Marinette's, Kim got roped into making banners and signs with Alix and they didn't turn out well, and Alya wasn't good at coordinating anything. They only raised enough to go sightseeing in London for half a day.
While all that happened to the class, Marinette and Luka began dating. Marinette realized that Adrien was just a distraction and wasn't worth her time when all he did was be a bystander and witness everything. She felt like she knew Luka better, and they had a mutual understanding of each other.
The musician does everything in his power to make sure Marinette never sees her classmates outside of school, while Marinette makes sure none of her classmates see him as a bully and try to harass him as well. Chloe and Juleka call them the "Perfect Couple", since they look out for each other so much. Of course, when Adrien found out about their relationship, he got jealous. He even tried breaking up with Lila to get with Marinette, but the Italian was having none of it.
"You will not dump me. I can make them all hate you in a matter of hours. You had your chance to defend her and you blew it."
"I can tell them you're lying." Adrien was sure Lila would falter, but she didn't. He wasn't sure how much had changed in the past year.
"They won't believe you. They will leave you, just like they did Marinette. This is why the DJ left you, you're a spineless coward who goes back on his word." Lila huffed and turned around, but said one last thing.
"Actually, you don't need to dump me, because I'm breaking up with you. Kiss your life goodbye." She strutted away, already forming her next plan. Adrien thought nothing of it and still tried to call her out the next day. Marinette watched the show as Lila cried and said Adrien cheated on her.
The boy was isolated to the back just like Marinette by the end of the day. He tried to apologize to her to get back on her good side, but she was done with him at this point. He still hasn't changed, and it's been an entire school year!
"Don't come back apologizing because you realize lies hurt. You promised to be by my side and you broke it. I loved you for who you were, but you showed your true colors and now I don't even know who you are anymore. I'm not taking you back because you can't face the reality of her lies. Go back to her, since you love her so much." Marinette never spoke to him again. Adrien fully realized how much pain Marinette was in as everything that happened to her occurred for him. And he had no one to defend him.
🍃Bonus🍃
I like Lila Redemption every once in a while, keeps it interesting
Lila approached Marinette in the park on day. She was sitting with Luka under a tree while he was strumming his guitar. Luka wasn't happy to see her but Marinette was going to give her a chance. Lila gave a long apology and reasoning for why she did what she did, and the couple saw that she was truly being sincere. Lila was hesitantly welcomed into the friend group, now only using her lying ability for useful situations. Soon, she became the true holder of the Fox miraculous, much to Alya's shock. Luka also got the Cat Miraculous, after Adrien became unfit to be a hero.
Bustier and Damocles were interrogated for neglect, favoritism, and bribery from the mayor. Both of them lost their jobs, and Mrs. Mendeliev became the new principal of the school.
The class was being fined for destruction of property (Pretend you can be if you can't), and charged for assault, bullying, cyberbullying, and attempted murder.
Destruction of Property: The class destroyed Marinette's sketchbook and homework, and she tricked them into thinking that they destroyed her designs when it was really the future plans of class trips.
Attempted Murder: Alya and Adrien went mad and attacked Marinette one day. They beat her up until she started breathing funny. That was one of a few times the incident occurred and had to go to the hospital at least once.
Assault: Physically attacking Marinette in plain sight in front of witnesses during school hours. Even though Damocles didn't check the camera footage, someone else did.
Bullying: This one's kind of obvious so I'm not gonna really put anything here.
Alya and Adrien weren't happy when they found out they were being sued. it was pure chaos when everyone found out Lila lied.
Adrien was homeschooled again, even though it was his junior year. (Idk if schools around the world have the typical freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year in high school so just picture it's his 2nd to last year of school). His father found it best to never let him return to public school because of the effect it had on his son. It was also to keep him out of the eyes of hungry reporters.
Alya was grounded, her blog had to be taken down, and she had to pay back Marinette for everything she did for her. Which included free items she made last minute, babysitting, and more. When she found out Lila lied, she blamed her for ruining her friendship with Marinette and didn't accept that she was at fault as well.
"It's not my fault that you didn't do you job properly as a reporter." Lila laughed, walking away.
Alya was also sent to juvie for the assault reports from the Dupain-Chengs. And she was never forgiven or trusted by anyone again.
I got a hand cramp while writing this😭
2345 words