Disclaimer: I don't own ML.

Ladybug: the episode where the A-plot sucks ass and the B-plot shines.

"So, you made a deal with the devil."

"What? No!" Adrien splutters. Kagami just raises an eyebrow from next to him on the locker room bench. "Okay…yeah…maybe…"

"And now you want me to get you out of it."

"I don't need you to save me." Adrien digs his fingers into the material of his fencing pants. "Just…help me figure out how to out Lila. I don't know how to prove that she lied."

"Why now?" Kagami says, fiddling with her ring. "Why not literally any other time before now? When I was akumatised? When she was only just starting to spread her influence? Back when Ladybug outed her in front of you? You've known she's a liar all this time."

"I didn't think her lies would hurt anyone, okay?" Adrien says. "And I didn't want her to get akumatised again. I thought she'd just get herself caught in them and out herself. I didn't think she'd go so far as to get Marinette expelled…"

"Or get me akumatised for the second time," Kagami says. Adrien can't quite tell whether there's an accusation in there.

"I'm sorry," he says. "I'm a dick. That should've been the snapping point for me, but all I did was warn her to stay away from you and my other friends."

"Yes. That should've been the snapping point for you."

When Kagami doesn't say anything more, Adrien frowns at her. "So…?"

"So what?"

"Will you help me?"

Kagami sighs. "As annoyed as I am at you, Marinette's my friend and Lila's still out for her blood. I'll help you. Besides, I still owe Lila after that photograph stunt that she pulled."

Adrien's shoulders slump. "Thank you, Kagami."

"Don't thank me yet. We have to manoeuvre Lila into a corner by getting proof from someone who could irrefutably call out her lies. And for that, we need the help of a certain someone."

"Me? Help Dupain-Cheng?" Chloé scoffs. She dabs the final bit of green nail polish onto Sabrina's pinky finger, then screws the brush back into the bottle while Sabrina fans her nails dry. "Adrikins, you know I'd do anything for you –"

"It's not just for Marinette," Adrien says. "I'm the reason Marinette's back at school. I had to make Lila fix the mess somehow."

Chloé narrows her eyes. "Adrien Agreste," she says slowly, "what did you do?"

"Is that why Lila was in that photoshoot with you?" Sabrina pipes up. She immediately scoops up the bottle of scarlet nail polish when Chloé extends her hand.

"Well…yeah," Adrien says. "Lila asked why she should help Marinette. I…might have made a deal to be her friend if she did."

Chloé blinks. Then she blinks again, and then she pinches the bridge of her nose with her free hand.

"Of all the utterly ridiculous – Adrien, you should've come to me in the first place! I might hate Dupain-Cheng, but if I'd known you were going to sell your soul for her –"

"Enough with the lectures, alright?" Adrien says. "I got enough of that from Kagami when I asked her for help."

"Tsurugi?" Chloé wrinkles her nose.

"Yeah. What's your problem with her?"

"Nothing, nothing. Look, alright, I'll help you expose Liar Rossi. I owe her for that time she utterly humiliated me, anyway."

"And you know I'm with you too!" Sabrina says.

"Yes, we'll probably need you to make sure that such a busy diplomat is available when we need her," Chloé says and Sabrina beams.

"You're the best, Chlo," Adrien says. Chloé smiles rather smugly.

"Oh, no need for flattery, Adrikins. Just meet me at school tomorrow with Tsurugi. The more kids of rich and powerful parents we have, the better."

"Look, I'm not sure –" Mr Damocles tries to say.

"You haven't even investigated how those answers got into Marinette's backpack," Kagami says with crossed arms. "Or the necklace into her locker. And if Marinette didn't take them, it stands to reason that someone planted them."

"Which is exactly what she said before you expelled her," Adrien says.

"You heard Miss Rossi – she has a very rare disease –"

Kagami snorts. "She doesn't have a disease. She's a compulsive liar. No disease is making her do all this. And for that matter, why does Lila get to claim any of this with no proof?"

"We pride ourselves on believing our students, Miss Tsurugi."

"Like you believed Marinette?" Adrien mirrors Kagami's crossed arms. "I even tried to point out that Lila was lying, and you wouldn't hear it."

"Have you even consulted her mother?" Kagami says. "With as many illnesses as Lila has, the logical thing to do would be to seek extra advice on accommodating her. And as far as I know, every other disabled or chronically ill student has to have supporting paperwork."

"Miss Rossi's had a very hard time –"

Chloé scoffs. "Wait, so you've got this ridiculous rule that someone has to prove they're disabled or sick, and you don't even hold Lila to that rule? Incompetent, utterly incompetent!"

"Miss Bourgeois, please –" But Mr Damocles is wilting under the three-pronged attack of Adrien, Kagami, and Chloé.

"I'm sure my daddy would simply love to hear about this," Chloé says. "Expelling one student and not believing her, while believing another student because of a sob story! No one will want to send their students here if they hear that."

"Especially if the son of famous fashion designer Gabriel Agreste and daughter of renowned fencer Tomoe Tsurugi happened to lend their support to Chloé," Kagami says.

"No! No! Please!" Mr Damocles babbles. Excellent. Now they've got him where they want him. "What do you three want?"

"For you to call Mrs Rossi," Adrien says. "We want to talk to her about Lila."

"I don't think I can just –" Mr Damocles says. Chloé pulls out her phone. "Okay! Okay! I'll call her!"

"And I think we should move this to the classroom," Chloé says. "I'm sure the other peasants would love to hear this. But don't tell Lila what's going on or she'll lie her way out of it."

"But –"

Chloé starts to dial a number.

"Alright!"

The four of them head for Ms Bustier's classroom. Class has already started, so Ms Bustier is in the process of writing on the board, and she beams when they enter the room.

"Ah, Adrien! Chloé! I was wondering where you two were!" she says. "I thought Sabrina would be with you, but I suppose she's just sick or late." Her brow furrows when she catches sight of Kagami. "Aren't you in Ms Mendeleiev's class?"

Kagami just stares right back.

"How rude," Mr Damocles tuts.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kagami says. "But since no respect was shown to Marinette when she was accused of cheating and stealing, I didn't think I needed to show any in return. I wasn't aware that it was common practice in France to humiliate a student in front of their entire class over an accusation rather than pulling them aside quietly."

The way Marinette's eyes light up at this defence of her leaves Adrien's insides warm and fluttery. He never realises just how much he treasures that light until it's gone. Watching her nearly give in to Hawkmoth is probably one of the most horrible things he's ever seen in his life; next to watching Ladybug get captured over and over again during his stint as Aspik or believing that his lady was dying when Mayura had summoned that Ladybug sentimonster.

"We've got some, uh…business to address, once our guest arrives," Mr Damocles is saying when Adrien tunes back in. "For now, why don't you two take your seats, Miss Bourgeois, Mr Agreste?"

"I don't think so," Chloé says. "We're fine here."

"What's going on?" Ms Bustier says. No one answers her.

It only takes about ten minutes after that for a rather flustered Mrs Rossi to arrive, her coat thrown on hastily and haphazardly, with Sabrina in front of her.

"What a morning!" she exclaims. "Everything's been disappearing – my keys, my purse, everything! It's as though the universe didn't want me to go to work today. I'm grateful that this young lady's father offered me a lift and that she was lovely enough to guide me here."

Sure, the universe. Or a certain redhead. Adrien peeks over at Chloé, whose smile is almost proud as Sabrina slips into her seat.

"Mamma?" Lila gasps. "What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, what's going on?" Ivan says.

"Um – ahem – these students wish to talk to you about your daughter," Mr Damocles says. Mrs Rossi's brow furrows.

"You called me here for schoolchildren?" she says. Adrien glances at Chloé and Kagami, playing a mental game of chicken, but the look in their eyes is very clear: he got them into his mess, so he can step up.

"Sorry to trouble you, Mrs Rossi," Adrien says. "My name's Adrien Agreste –"

"Ah, Adrien!" Mrs Rossi's face lights up. "My bella's boyfriend! Lila simply can't stop talking about you!"

"Mamma –" Lila tries to say.

"Excuse me?" Chloé says.

"His boyfriend?" Kagami adds.

"Not likely," they chorus.

"Chloé and Kagami are right," Adrien says. "I don't know what Lila's told you, but I'm not and I never have been her boyfriend."

"But Lila wouldn't lie to me! She's my little angel!"

Angel. Yeah. Right. More like the devil. "Ma'am, she's been lying since she set foot in this school," Adrien says. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices Marinette trying to conceal her incredulous smile. "She tried to lie to me about being descended from a fox superhero called Volpina. She's been lying to our class all year."

"She posted photos of herself kissing Adrien without his consent," Kagami says.

"But that doesn't sound like Lila at all…" says Mrs Rossi.

"Ahem." Mr Damocles clears his throat. "These three raised an, uh…excellent point. Now that I've finally got you here, I was wondering if you could provide us with a full medical history for Miss Rossi. Purely for accommodation purposes, of course, so that we can ensure that she's given a quality education."

"I already told you –" Lila says.

"Medical history? Accommodations? Lila doesn't need accommodations!" Mrs Rossi says. "She's healthy as can be!"

"But she said she's got tinnitus from saving Jagged Stone's kitten on a plane runway!" Alya says. "Our whole seating arrangement was reorganised to accommodate her!"

"No, wait, it got miraculously cured by Ladybug," Chloé says. "Her bestie."

"Oh, and don't forget the arthritis!" Adrien says.

"And her disease that makes her lie uncontrollably," Mr Damocles says. "She did tell me that herself when confessing to accidentally framing Miss Dupain-Cheng for the theft of –"

"Stop! Stop!" Mrs Rossi clamps her hands over her ears. Mild guilt starts to bubble in Adrien's gut – what is he doing, bombarding the poor woman – but his resolve is steeled at the reminder that he's doing this for Marinette. Who was nearly akumatised and is the only other person in their school who hasn't been akumatised, as far as he knows. The only reason she wasn't was because of that freak scarlet akuma retreat!

"Something tells me she's been lying to you as well," Kagami says.

"None of this is true!" Mrs Rossi's got a wild look in her eye, like her world is slowly unravelling around her. "Lila doesn't have tinnitus! Or arthritis! She was never on a plane runway! What sort of irresponsible mother do you take me for?"

"She also says that she's Ladybug's best friend," Adrien says. "I've been so worried for her ever since she said that! What if Hawkmoth targets her to get to Ladybug?"

"We keep our friendship on the downlow!" Lila protests.

"But you gave Alya an interview for her Ladyblog!" Marinette says.

"Ladybug? Lila was akumatised on her first day here!" Mrs Rossi says. "How could she be friends with Ladybug? And what were you thinking, broadcasting something like that on the internet and endangering my daughter!"

Alya swallows and looks down, blinking rapidly.

"Mamma, they're just trying to gang up on me!" Lila's eyes fill with crocodile tears. "Ever since Marinette was simply horrible to me –"

"Dupain-Cheng "apparently" stole test answers and Rossi's grandmother's necklace and pushed her down the stairs," Chloé scoffs.

"I didn't even touch her!" Marinette says.

"Yeah, I know," Chloé says. "You're disgusting. You're a little princess. You're the least likely person to do something like that."

"Thank you…?"

"Lila's grandmother's necklace?" Mrs Rossi says.

"Yeah, it's a fox tail!" Rose says.

"And she tried to claim that it was a Miraculous," Adrien says. "But Ladybug called her out for lying."

"You knew?" Nino exclaims.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. I thought Lila would eventually get caught in her own lies and people would see and then she'd get to change without being humiliated. But after she got Marinette expelled?" Adrien looks Lila straight in the eye. "I know she doesn't regret anything she's done."

"A Miraculous?" Mrs Rossi says. "I think I'd know if a piece of magical jewellery was a family heirloom!"

"And how could Rena Rouge be a thing if it really was a family heirloom?" Kagami says. "Everyone knows that Ladybug gets the Miraculouses from another location when she needs help. And Lila still has the fox tail necklace, which means that either Rena Rouge is an elaborate prank, or Lila's "family heirloom" is a fake."

Alya winces at that for some reason.

"But we've never had a fox tail family heirloom," Mrs Rossi says.

"We do! Nonna just never told you!"

It really is interesting to watch Lila flail and try to protect her lies, even now that the whole class is openly staring at her with scepticism in their eyes. Huh. Adrien could get used to this. Maybe there is something to being actively involved in justice.

"I can't believe this. I simply can't believe this." Mrs Rossi turns to Lila with severely squared shoulders. "You told me that the school was closed down due to akuma attacks and that's why you missed all that school!"

"She told us that she was travelling overseas!" Rose says. "And that she was invited to Achu by Prince Ali!"

"I never said that he personally invited us!" Lila says.

"Yeah, you did," Nathaniel says. "You just said that you didn't get to see him."

"Prince Ali? I've never even met him, and neither has Lila!" Mrs Rossi says.

"So, you really don't know Steven Spielberg?" Nino says.

"Or Jagged Stone?" Juleka says.

"No!" Mrs Rossi says hysterically. "Why would my daughter know famous musicians and directors? I'm a diplomat, not an actor or a filmmaker!"

"Miss Rossi, I believe we have a lot to talk about," Mr Damocles says rather coldly. "And I would like to thank Mr Agreste, Miss Bourgeois, and Miss Tsurugi for bringing this to my attention."

Adrien tries not to snort. Yeah. Right. Mr Damocles is just trying to save face. But if it clears Marinette's name and exposes Lila, he'll just stay quiet for now and let Mr Damocles take this one.

"But Marinette's been bullying me!" Lila says. "And now she's got her friends to gang up on me too!"

But that's apparently one lie too far.

"Marinette? Friends with Chloé?" Alya says.

"Please," Alix snorts. "Those two would tear each other's hair out before even looking at each other nicely."

"I wouldn't have helped Dupain-Cheng if Adrien hadn't requested me personally," Chloé drawls, examining her nails. "Sabrina, you really need to learn how to paint nails properly."

"Sorry, Chloé!" Sabrina says.

"Come on, Lila," Mrs Rossi snaps. "You've got a lot of explaining to do, young lady!"

Lila sniffles as she gathers her bag and treks down to the front of the classroom, with everyone's scorching gazes on her as she passes them. Once she's next to Adrien, she says, "How could you do this to me?"

"Because you hurt my friend," Adrien says. His eyes move to meet Marinette's, and she flushes brilliant red and snaps her head down to look at the desk. "Marinette's very dear to me, and she's not the only friend you've hurt. And I told you never to hurt my friends, Lila. Ever." He leans in and whispers one word. "Checkmate."