AN:

We hit 10 thousand views last chapter! Yay! Keen to get it higher so I'm gonna keep pumping out chapters. Sometimes. I am now more busy because I've just started the second year of my degree, but thankfully I haven't had anyone whining at me to update so yay!

Replies to guest reviews:

Riza: I can't imagine having to watch Watership Down that young, my little sister's seventeen and she hasn't been able to look at rabbits since.

Question of the chapter:

What do you guys think of the show's Ladynoir dynamic? I'll repeat: the show's Ladynoir dynamic? Honest question.

Twisted Words

Bright and early Tuesday morning, Lila floated into the classroom while Marinette worked on homework, head down as Alya chattered loudly in Marinette's ear. Lila paused in the aisle by Marinette's desk and waited expectantly.

"Oh my God! Girl did you see my article on the Ladyblog yesterday?" Alya exclaimed. Lila giggled, and Marinette caught a glance of the girl nodding before Marinette found a butt in her face.

Marinette drew back, a noise like a strangled frog escaping her throat in her shock. Lila had hopped up onto Marinette's desk and firmly planted her rear end in the middle of Marinette's homework. Lila folded her legs and flicked her hair, looking imperiously down at Alya, all the while keeping her back turned to Marinette.

"I did read your article yesterday Alya! It was so good, you'll have to remind me to talk to Mr Bachelier at the Paris Daily News, his daughter and I go way back. But…" Lila trailed off, sing-songing the last word. She twirled one of her hair sausages around her finger.

"What is it?" Alya leant forward, hands clawing the desk. Marinette could've sworn she saw new rents carved in the beaten surface. "What's wrong with my article?"

Lila startled before a laugh spilled past her lips. The sound grated on Marinette's ears. "There's nothing wrong with your article, Alya, it's just surprisingly close to the truth is all…" Lila glanced covertly aside before continuing loudly, "Ladybug asked me not to tell anyone, but I know I can tell you, Alya."

"What about us, Lila?" Kim asked from across the aisle.

"Yeah, can we know too?" Rose chirped from the back of the room. Marinette looked around frantically, almost desperately for someone who wasn't clamouring to hear Lila's news. Even Chloe couldn't resist the lure of Ladybug info.

"Well…" Lila seemed to consider it, before she erupted in a fake smile Marinette could hear. "I think you guys are super trustworthy. I doubt Ladybug would mind." The class cheered quietly, before falling into a hush, desperate to hear Lila's latest tale. "Well, Alya's right about Ladybug and Chat Noir having a falling out…but it's not just your typical lover's spat-" Lila paused for effect "-because they're not a couple. They're arguing over me."

The announcement had the desired effect on the class, shocked gasps and the occasional wail rang in Marinette's ears. Lila gently hushed the class, her platitudes rang empty to Marinette; Lila's voice was beginning to give her a headache.

"Well," Lila simpered after the class settled into eager silence, "Ladybug doesn't want anyone to know this, but I know her in her civilian life."

Marinette's headache pulsed. The class nearly combusted in their excitement. Lila was really pulling out the big stops today.

"I know, I know. We're really close friends, and she'd never admit this to the reporters, but she's actually really flattered by Chat Noir's flirting. In her civilian life she's actually really unpopular, and she's always been a bit jealous of how easily I make friends and how many boys fall in love with me." Marinette fought not to roll her eyes. She could count on one hand the number of friends Lila had that didn't want something from her. Marinette glanced aside, catching sight of Alya's expression, wide-eyed and somewhere between delight and horror, as she stared transfixed at Lila.

"So when Chat Noir fell in love with Ladybug she was delighted, but she ignored my advice on how to seal the deal and decided to play hard to get." Lila shrugged awkwardly. "Chat's taken it to heart, and he visits me nearly every night, just to talk about his feelings. But the other night, Chat confessed to me that Ladybug didn't have his heart anymore. I did."

Once more the class erupted. Demands to know more came in strangled shouts, drowning out Marinette's thoughts and making her headache pound unbearably.

The classroom door slammed open; Marinette craned her neck around Lila to see. A wide-eyed, panting Ms Bustier slumped in the doorway.

"Is anyone hurt?" Ms Bustier demanded into the silence left by her entry.

Alya squealed. "Lila's dating Chat Noir!" The class fired up again, chattering and rising from their seats to circle Lila. A crowd of monkeys begging for fruit.

Ms Bustier clapped loudly, drawing the class' attention almost immediately. "How about we let Lila tell us all about it. Quietly. Back to your seats, everyone." The class murmured and retreated, everyone except Lila took their seats. Marinette was still forced to crane around Lila's back to glimpse Ms Bustier and the back of Adrien's head.

Marinette slumped back in her seat as Lila continued to regale the class, babyish voice lilting unpleasantly into simpering giggles whenever someone asked a question.

"Oh I just have to get an interview for the Ladyblog!" Alya wriggled in her seat, eyes bright and wide, a grin splitting her face.

"I thought Lila said Ladybug wanted to keep this private?" Marinette drawled. Alya shook her head and rolled her eyes, giving an almost condescending laugh. Lila turned enough to look down her nose at Marinette.

"Oh, Marinette, hi, I didn't see you there." Marinette brushed Lila's gaze off and met Alya's laugh with a steady stare.

"Marinette, this is a massive scoop, this could get me recognised by the big leagues! I'm sure Ladybug won't mind too much," Alya replied. Her careless tone mirrored Lila's too much for Marinette's comfort.

"Don't you want Alya to get recognised as a real reporter, Marinette?" Lila asked, bottom lip wobbling. Silence reigned as the accusing stare of their peers levelled on Marinette's back. Marinette grit her teeth, her headache pounding against the back of her eyes. Tikki pounded against Marinette's leg through her purse, the steady rhythm demanding something, making Marinette pause and consider her words before she spoke.

Marinette took several deep breaths, her headache fell into a lull.

"Are you saying Alya isn't a real reporter already?" Marinette demanded, latching onto Lila's words and twisting them. The accusing stares turned on Lila, laced with confusion.

"What? No! I just mean that she should be recognised properly. Brought into the circle. Officially. This story could do that for her." Lila's defence shook. The class exchanged looks, but seemed satisfied. Lila widened her eyes at Marinette. "But you want to take the story away."

Marinette rolled her eyes, letting logic take control of her tongue. "If Alya publishes this story publicly, that you said you weren't supposed to share with anyone, Alya could lose Ladybug's trust, and lose access to all of her exclusive Ladybug interviews which give Alya an edge over the professionals." Marinette smiled at Alya's slack-jawed look. "Do you want Alya to be rejected by Ladybug?"

The class hissed accusingly, vipers watching and waiting to strike. Marinette inhaled slowly, keeping her temper settled.

Lila's throat worked and her mouth flapped. With Lila stunned speechless, Marinette took advantage of the room's quiet.

"You're sitting on my homework, Lila, and I think class is supposed to start soon?" Marinette leant around Lila so as to see Ms Bustier. Ms Bustier nodded.

"Yes. You can continue this discussion during the breaks. Lila, please take your seat." Lila stood, and for once took her seat without further ado. Marinette was never so glad for class to start in her life.

-line break-

The day continued rather pleasantly from there, with Lila only rarely contributing to conversation during the class breaks. At least as pleasant as it could be with Alya taking every chance she could to jot notes down about the 'scoop' Lila had dropped on them, muttering wide-eyed to herself.

When they broke for lunch, Marinette hooked her arm through Alya's and dragged her away from Lila as fast as she could.

"Marinette, what are you doing?" Alya asked, only offering token resistance. Marinette dragged Alya to sit beside her on a bench in the courtyard, instead of heading to the cafeteria where Lila's flunkies would be, letting themselves get brainwashed once more.

"I've got lunch from the bakery today," Marinette chirped brightly, fishing her lunchbox from her bag, as well as a packet of painkillers.

"Girl, gimme." Alya snatched up the box of pastries, selecting a savoury quiche while Marinette crunched on a dose of painkillers. Alya eyed Marinette sideways. "Do you want some water?"

Marinette swallowed and wheezed out a dusty gasp. "Yes please." Alya passed her a water bottle. Marinette drank gratefully while Alya chewed on her quiche.

"So. Wanna explain what you dragged me out here for?" Alya asked around the last of her food.

"I just want to make sure you don't get yourself in trouble with Ladybug," Marinette said, passing the bottle back and taking a quiche for herself.

"Me? Never." Alya laughed but it rang hollow to Marinette's ears.

"I'm serious, Alya. I know how you get around a story, especially one like this." Marinette didn't mention the obvious falsehoods in the story, there was no reason to stir bad things up just when everything had settled.

"I know," Alya whined, "it's just so tempting, y'know?" Marinette nodded empathetically, holding her tongue. "It's big news. Chat Noir dating and all, especially with how close they look all the time. Especially since it's Lila!"

Marinette shrugged noncommittally. "If you did post it, maybe Hawkmoth would find out about the rift between Ladybug and Chat Noir, and use Lila as leverage of some sort." Alya gasped.

"I didn't think of that! There's no way I can post it now!" Alya groaned and stuffed the last of the quiche in her mouth. "I've just lost my big new scoop." Marinette pat her friend's shoulder comfortingly.

"I'm sure something new will come up. Maybe you can ask them about the time with Ref- I mean, when they switched Miraculouses. You haven't got an interview about that yet, have you?" Marinette offered.

Alya sat bolt upright and nearly choked on her food. "No! I completely blanked on that! No one else has been able to hold Ladybug down long enough to talk to her about it. Thanks Marinette! I'll have to write up some questions about it."

The bell rang, signalling the end of lunch. Alya groaned again. "Looks like that'll have to wait." Marinette stood and brushed crumbs off her pants. "Come on, Miss reporter."

They headed back to class, and Marinette was able to pay Lila's glower no mind for the rest of the day.

-line break-

With the painkillers managing her headache, it was easier for Marinette to fall back into concentrating on her work, and time passed quickly. At least relatively so. As the school day drew to a close, Marinette let her mind wander as the class quietly worked on worksheets.

Marinette felt fairly secure in her belief that Alya would take her advice and not post that ridiculous interview about Chat and Lila dating, if only because Alya knew that superhero business was seriously dangerous. The next problem was, of course, that Alya would be hankering for an interview about the incident with the Miraculous swap.

Marinette tapped her stylus against her tablet, shifting her focus back to the question on the worksheet. Alya could wait. As long as she didn't do anything stupid in the next twelve hours, Marinette could have a break to work on the Lila problem.

Marinette submitted the worksheet just as the teacher called for everyone to finish. The bell rang and the teacher dismissed them. Marinette packed her things and waited patiently for Alya to do the same while she chattered about what they should do that afternoon.

Marinette stood to follow Alya out the door when a hand caught her by the wrist. Marinette stared wide-eyed at the hand so close to hers, and the bright green eyes of the person the hand belonged to.

"Marinette, can I talk to you for a sec?" Adrien asked.

"Uh…" Marinette glanced up at the doorway for help. Alya grinned and gave a double thumbs up.

"Come on, Nino. We'll wait outside for you two." Alya grabbed Nino by the arm, gave another thumbs up, and disappeared out the door.

Marinette swallowed and looked back to Adrien, now standing, still gripping her wrist. He dropped it with a sheepish grin and rubbed the back of his neck.

"So." Marinette flapped her hands against her legs and rocked on her heels. "Did say want you something? I mean! You something did want? I mean…" Marinette trailed off with a groan. "Talking?"

"Right." Adrien blinked several times. "Right. I didn't get a chance to say anything yesterday, but I'm really proud of you, Marinette-" Marinette bit down an excited squeal. Adrien said he was proud of her "-I told you apologising wasn't so bad."

Marinette's headache made a sudden reappearance. "What?"

"Well, I know how upset you were by Lila's lying, but I'm glad you decided to take the highroad and you even got Chloe to be nice." Adrien was smiling, blissfully unaware of the cold feeling sinking into Marinette's stomach. Adrien's smile cut the threads tangling with nervousness in her heart. "It was hurting all our friends so bad, trying to pick between you and Lila, especially with how you kind of blew up on Friday, and Lila's lies aren't that bad really so-"

"I am not letting Lila get away with manipulating our friends," Marinette snapped, cutting Adrien off. Her temper had ignited, flaring brighter than her attraction to Adrien. His bright expression dulled.

"What do you mean? She'll get caught in a lie soon enough and she's not hurting anyone, so there's no reason to hurt yourself fighting her," Adrien replied. His brows knitted together and his mouth tugged down. Marinette would've found the expression appealing, if it weren't directed at her.

"Have you been listening to Lila? At all?" Marinette asked incredulously. Adrien shrugged and Marinette could have screamed in frustration.

"Not really, I don't want to get involved. I don't want to have to pick sides." Marinette frowned. "I just want everyone to get along." There was something desperate in Adrien's tone that almost made Marinette feel sorry for him. Almost.

"I am never going to get along with someone who's playing my friends for fools." Something hot burned in Marinette's face. Adrien's face paled.

"Look, Mari, it's not that bad, don't cry…" He reached towards her and Marinette stepped back, brushing her fingers against her cheeks. Hot, angry tears wet her fingertips. Adrien tried to step close to her again and Marinette hissed. He drew back, more pale than before.

"You preach not wanting to pick sides, but I think we both know who you're going to pick. After all, a few lies don't matter as long as everyone's happy," Marinette seethed, tone mocking and bitter. She stomped away from Adrien and scowled the whole way through the school, leaving Adrien behind in stunned silence.

Marinette breached the school gates and paused. Alya turned away from Nino, her pleasant expression immediately dropped and Alya rushed Marinette, seizing her in a fierce hug.

"What did he say?" Alya growled in Marinette's ear. "I wanna know how hard to punch him."

Marinette just shook her head in Alya's shoulder, too emotionally drained to reply.

"Come on." Alya stepped back and squeezed Marinette's hands. "Let's go get some ice cream."