Adrien arrived back on campus from his latest photoshoot. The shoot had only lasted an hour, but to Adrien, it had felt like it had taken a whole day. His head had been spinning the entire time, thoughts and memories of Henri's deception of Ivan swirling in his mind. He could not shake the nasty feeling that tingled all over his body at the thought of the brunette boy.
As soon as he entered, he saw Marinette sitting on a bench with Henri, tending to his bandaged ankle. She looked up at her boyfriend and smiled like an angel, her bluebell eyes glittering with gentility. A flash of something unfamiliar panged through Adrien's heart, but it didn't feel like anger. It felt like...jealousy? He wanted to be in Henri's place, to be sitting with her, to have her tend to him, to look at him with that lovely smile and those glittering eyes.
"Adrien!"
He was pulled out of his confusing daze by the sound of his name on her lips. She smiled and waved him over towards her and Henri, who stared at him with a stony expression. Adrien walked over and started his role of the supportive friend. "Hey, guys! Henri, how's your ankle doing?"
"Dunno.", said the brunette boy with a shrug. "There was a...incident at lunch."
"What kind of an incident?", asked Adrien.
Marinette's eyes narrowed. "Adrien, you wouldn't believe it! Alya told the whole class that Henri was faking his ankle injury! She said she saw him standing fine in the hallway. Then, Kim deliberately threw a paper football at him to get him up on his feet!"
Adrien's stomach churned. "And...what happened?"
"Well, Henri here risked his injury to get up and catch the football, to save my face from getting a paper cut." She smiled at her boyfriend dreamily. "He was so brave."
Adrien suppressed the urge to scowl in disapproval.
"But now Henri's hurting even more, and its all because our so-called friends are acting like a bunch of immature toddlers!" Marinette folded her arms over her chest and huffed. "I mean, I know firsthand they could be nasty when they wanted to...but I didn't think they'd act like this to Henri! I mean, what do they have against him?"
Adrien's peridot-green eyes shifted back and forth between her and Henri, before finally resting on her. "Uh...Marinette? Can I talk to you? In private?"
Marinette looked a touch confused, but said, "Um...okay. I guess." She leaned over and kissed Henri gently on the cheek. "Be right back."
Adrien felt that jealous feeling sting him once more before leading Marinette away to a secluded corner where he was sure Henri couldn't hear them.
"What do you wanna talk about, Adrien?", she asked him innocently.
Adrien took a deep breath in before he spoke. "Marinette, I don't think you should trust him is blindly."
She looked a tad hurt at that statement. "What? Why not?"
Adrien grimaced before he went on. "I don't think he's all that he appears to be."
Marinette shook her head. "Adrien, why would you think that?"
Adrien looked uncomfortable. "Its just...ever since he got here, he's been giving me bad vibes. I can't put my finger on it...there's just something about him that rubs me the wrong way. I can't look at him without getting a bad feeling in my gut."
Marinette frowned. "Really? That's what your basing your judgement on? A gut feeling?"
Adrien slumped a bit in defeat. "Look, I know it sounds totally unreasonable, but...I really don't think that he's who you think he is. You have to side with me on this."
Marinette was silent for the longest time. He expected her to ask more questions, really dig deeper. Instead, she gave him a nasty look, her blue eyes narrowing.
"Adrien, why are you acting like this? Henri's never done anything. I mean, sure, he was a little nasty to Alya earlier, but he felt bad. He was gonna apologize!"
Adrien shook his head. "Marinette, I know I must sound crazy...but don't you trust me?"
Marinette's face became blank. "Adrien...I'm not saying I don't trust you. Its just...its conflicting, okay?" She lowered her gaze to the ground sadly. "Ever since Lila came along, I've been feeling really down. Everyone's been cold to me. Henri is the first good thing to happen to me since she started lying. He treats me well, he's always by my side, and he's made me feel like I'm worth something again. And now, you're telling me to not trust him, even though he's proven that he's worthy of my trust? Just because your stomach hurts when he's around?"
Adrien's heart sank. "What do you mean, he's made you feel like you're worth something again? Why would you ever think that you're not worth something?"
She raised her head, and Adrien gasped softly seeing the tears in her eyes. "Come on, Adrien. How dense are you? Haven't you noticed that everyone's been kind of distant from me lately? Haven't you wondered why that is?"
Adrien gulped, his heart in his throat. "I...I..."
Marinette sighed. "Look, Adrien, I don't wanna talk about this right now. But I will say this...Henri is so important to me. And I really want you and the others to get along. Can't you at least give him a chance? To show you what a great guy he is? I just know you'd get along great if you got to know him!"
She placed a hand on his arm. "Please? Give him a chance? For me?"
She looked at him with those bluebell so sweetly and hopefully that Adrien's heart melted, making him putty in her hands. "Alright, Marinette.", he said kindly. "If it means that much to you...I'll try to be open to him. For you."
She beamed. "Thank you, Adrien. It would be so much to me."
She glanced at the time on her phone. "Oh! Its almost time for class! I better get going. I promised Madame Bustier that I'd help set up for the presentation before the others come back."
"Presentation?"
Marinette giggled and put a finger to her lips playfully. "Don't tell."
Adrien mirrored her actions and winked. "Tell what?"
She chuckled at his goofing off, her laughter chiming like bells. It wasn't the nervous laughter that she usually had around him. It was sweet. It was real. It made him feel warm, in a way he could not recall having since the disappearance of his mother. He smiled contently at her, focusing on her dimples, on the way her freckles seemed to shine as she smiled...
"Well, I'll see you later, Adrien.", she said, brushing past him as she walked towards the classroom.
He watched her go. It was strange. Despite how much he hated Henri for framing their innocent classmates, he seemed to have cured Marinette of whatever it was that made her so nervous around Adrien. She seemed more natural around him since meeting Henri. What was up with that?
"Shooting the breeze between buddies?"
Adrien spun around to see Henri standing there. His eyes were fixated dangerously on the blond model, and his pale lips were pressed into a tense, thin line. Such a look from him sent shivers up and down Adrien's spine...until he glanced down at his feet.
Henri's right ankle was wrapped in bandages, supposed to be hurt. And yet, he now had both feet planted firmly on the ground. And he seemed perfectly as ease, not showing the least bit discomfort over the weight he was placing on his "injured" ankle. It took mere seconds for Adrien's anxiety to give way to anger.
"So Alya was right!", he shouted. "You are f—"
Before he could get another word out, Henri dove in and slammed his hand over his mouth, muffling any sounds he made, before throwing one arm tightly around the blonde and dragging him into the men's washrooms. Looking around to see if they were alone, he released Adrien, who stumbled forward, arms flailing, before whipping around to glare at his new foe.
"What's the big idea, LeRoi?! You're faking an injury to make the class look bad to Marinette?!"
Henri rolled his eyes. "Don't pin this on me, Agreste. I wouldn't have had to do it if your friends hadn't gone sticking their big fat noses where they didn't belong. I had to teach them a lesson."
"By framing them?", huffed Adrien. "You pretended Ivan pushed you down the stairs, you set up Kim, and you made it look like Alya was lying to her best friend!"
Henri smirked as he placed his hand on the edge of the sink, leaning on as as he used his free hand to make eye-catching motions as she spoke, to keep Adrien's attention on him. "Agreste, in this world, there are two types of people. There are people like you. Wusses, wimps, spineless jellyfish who allow people to walk all over them. Always giving in to every little whim, regardless of how that person may treat them. Always allowing others, good or bad, to leech off of their eagerness to please."
His eyes narrowed. "And then, there are people like me. Go-getters. Alpha dogs. The kinda person who sees something good, something valuable, something everybody wants, and goes for it. Who knows what he wants, and takes it. Who doesn't let a bunch of second-class clowns get in the way of getting what they deserve."
Adrien could feel his blood boiling. Not only did he show no qualms over trampling over his friends to get what he wanted, he also spoke of Marinette as if she were some prize to be won. The very idea made Adrien's fists tremble, the urge to punch Henri in his stupid pretty-boy face rising.
"It?! Marinette is a person! With feelings, and hopes, and dreams! She's not some shiny trophy for you to compete over!"
Henri laughed at him. "You're right. I can't compete for her. Because I've already won her over! She thinks I'm a god. Which I practically am. A girl like Marinette is the perfect match for someone of my excellence. Beauty, charisma, talent, success...we've got all those and more. She is the only one in this rat-infested sinkhole that is worthy of my presence."
Adrien glared at the brunette. "Well, I hoped you enjoyed her presence while it lasted.", he told him bitterly. "Because once I tell Marinette the truth about you, she'll drop you like a hot croissant."
Henri chuckled wickedly. "You seem pretty sure of yourself there. You already just warned her, and she brushed you off. What makes you so sure she'll take you seriously the second time around?"
"This time is different!", sneered Adrien. "I had a feeling that you were bad news the moment I saw you, LeRoi! And now I have enough to confirm that my instincts were right about you from the start!"
"Like what?", scoffed Henri, examining his fingernails nonchalantly. "You can't prove we had this conversation. Anything you tell people, I'll deny."
His brown eyes raised up to look at Adrien, and the blonde felt a chill go through him seeing the malicious look in them, the look a predator gives their prey right before they devoured them. "In fact...I'd advise you to keep your mouth shut about this to Marinette.", he said, every word from his lips dripping with venom. "Wouldn't want to spoil your beautiful friendship by telling her vicious lies about the boy she so loves."
Adrien could scarcely breathe. "What are you—"
The next thing he knew, he was being pinned against the wall, Henri's grip like iron on his shoulders, his cocoa-brown gaze turned deadly. "I'm saying if you cross me, I can turn her against you."
Adrien gasped. "You're bluffing! Marinette would never turn on me just because you told her a bunch of petty lies!" The grin on Henri's face was cruel. "You so sure about that?"
Adrien shook his head. "Marinette would never do that to me! I'm her friend!"
"Yeah? So were the others.", Henri so kindly reminded him in a mean tome of voice. "And I was easily able to convince her that they were bullying me. You don't think I could do the same to you?"
He pulled back and looked at Adrien, a hurt amd surprised expression on his face. "Why, Adrien! How could ypu accuse me of doing such a horrible thing?", he gasped, placing a hand to his heart. "And in front of my girlfriend, no less! Marinette told me you were such a nice guy." His shoulders slumped, and his lower lip quivered. "I guess she was wrong."
He turned to an imaginary Marinette, his brown eyes growing wet. "Mari, you have to believe me!", he whimpered, blinking away crocodile tears. "I would never do anything to hurt Adrien or anyone else, for that matter! I wouldn't harm a fly! You believe me, don't you? Please, Marinette, you are so important to me! I would never deceive you like that! Never!" Then he buried his face in his hands and sobbed loudly.
Adrien was stunned into silence. As much as he hated to admit it, Henri could win an award for his performance. He had even convinced Adrien that he was really was the victim in all this, if just for a split second. But as soon as he was done, he looked back up at Adrien with a nasty grin and a mean look in his eye, slipping out of the role of the innocent just as quickly as he had slipped into it, going right back to his old, awful, deceitful self.
"Trust me, Agreste.", said the brunette cooly, wiping the false tears from his eyes. "You don't wanna mess with me. I've taken out bigger threats than you. When Henri LeRoi wants something, Henri LeRoi gets something. And he keeps it. And right now, what I want to keep, is Marinette Dupain-Cheng all to myself. So stay out of my way, and I might not make her hate you."
And with that, Henri threw Adrien one last dirty look over his shoulder before he strode out confidentially, the door slamming shut behind him, leaving Adrien alone in the hollow, empty washrooms.