Chapter Text
Adrien was very used to interviews. Though Nathalie did always remind him of the rules beforehand. Be honest, yet kind and professional.
But when opportunity strikes, well, he would stick to those rules. He just smiled at Nadja Chamack and let the cards fall where they may.
“So,” Nadja began. “Tell us about your new coworker, Lila Rossi. I hear the two of you are pretty close!”
“Not wildly so,” Adrien said. “We’re classmates and coworkers. But I can’t honestly say that I know that much about her as a person.”
The glimmer in Nadja’s eye was familiar. It was the look of a reporter who found a lead on a story.
“Interesting you say that,” Nadja said. “Most of us have been wondering why a girl with no experience or celebrity status was chosen to model with you. Talk started flying when it was revealed that she was your classmate. People are assuming you had asked your father to help out a friend with her career!”
“Honestly no,” Adrien said, quietly smiling at how Nadja had commented on how Lila was an unknown. “Even I’m not sure how it happened. Lila asked to come over to my place so I could help tutor her. While she was there, she ran into my father and somehow struck up a conversation. Perhaps she asked about being a model and my father generously offered to help out what he assumed was a friend. Though if I’d known he would do that, I would’ve asked before about giving the spot to another friend of mine, Juleka Couffaine.”
“A friend or a ‘friend’?” She wondered.
“While Juleka’s great, we’re not into each other like that,” he said. “But despite being new to modeling, she’s very good at it! One of the easiest models I’ve ever had to work with. While she was a bit nervous at first, our photoshoot turned out great! I look forward to working with her again!”
“Which shoot was this?” She asked. “The only one we’ve seen you do with any girls recently have been with Lila.”
“This one wasn’t directly for the Agreste Brand,” he admitted. “Another friend of mine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, recently put up a website for her commissions. Originally I was supposed to just give Juleka tips and help out with the photography work, since I have plenty of experience. But since Marinette has ties to the Agreste Brand, there wasn’t any harm in letting me be in front of the camera for her.”
“Ties to the Agreste Brand?” She repeated. “What exactly do you mean?”
“Marinette has gotten a bit of attention recently,” he explained. “She won a design contest my father put together, and Audrey 'Style Queen’ Bourgeois loved her designs so much that she offered Marinette an internship on the spot! And while Jagged Stone isn’t a big name in fashion, he’s still a big name. He commissioned Marinette to design his album cover, along with a few outfits. So did Clara Nightengale, after we worked with her for her "Miraculous” music video! Between all that, it’s no wonder my father approved enough to let me model for her!”
He could hear the whispers and reactions of the studio audience. Though he would have had to be transformed as Chat Noir to make out what they were saying exactly, he had an idea. They were interested, but not yet sold.
Nadja herself had a somewhat dumbstruck expression. He knew that she knew Marinette as well, even if her professionalism as a reporter kept her from mentioning it at the moment. But he had a feeling she was clever enough to find a way to compliment her anyway.
"That’s quite a few accomplishments,” Nadja said. “I didn’t realize Marinette was so busy!”
“Oh, that’s just the tip of the iceberg!” Adrien said, glad that the conversation was being directed somewhere good. “That’s just what she does for her career. She also does plenty of other things. Like helping out at her family’s bakery, babysitting some kids, being our class president and organizing our events. She also helps out all of our friends with whatever she can, and can put together complicated plans to make sure we’re all happy. There’s a reason we call her our "Everyday Ladybug”! She always saves our day!“
"She sounds like quite a girl,” she said. “The way you go on about her makes it sound like she’s more than just a friend!”
Internally, Adrien was frowning. What was Nadja’s obsession with romance? First Chat and Ladybug, then Lila, and Juleka, and now Marinette.
To be fair, he had been laying it on a little thick. It was just that he’d realized how much damage Lila intended to cause, so he had decided to derail her spotlight in favor of reminding everyone how amazing Marinette was. Because for all the lies Lila could make up about herself or Marinette, in the end, Marinette was the one who had the actual skill to back it up.
Wait. He hadn’t responded yet. Fuck!
“She’s, uh, just a friend,” Adrien said. “I don’t know who she’s interested in, but they’d be crazy if they didn’t fall in love with her back!”
Why did he feel something he could only describe as “a disturbance in the force?”
Out of all classmates he thought might be at his throat the next day, he didn’t expect Juleka. Partly because of her shy nature, but mostly because he didn’t expect anyone other than Lila to want him dead.
“I’m going to kill you!” Juleka growled. “Then I’m going to revive you, thank you, and then kick your ass!”
“That’s valid, but why?” Adrien wondered.
“You mentioned her in the interview!” Rose explained. “A few modeling agencies were interested in someone who modeled with you! Her email has been flooded with offers!”
“Speaking of emails,” Alya interrupted. “You owe my girl an apology for the same thing.”
Marinette gave him a tired look. It was halfway between a glare and an amused smile. Which really reminded him of Ladybug and made his heart skip a beat but no this was Marinette not Ladybug and any romantic feelings were just him having his hang ups and projecting and-
Damn it he wasn’t responding again. Why did thoughts of Marinette send his brain on a tangent?
“Sorry?” Adrien offered.
“I-It’s fine,” Marinette said. “Well, now it is. Last night the whole site crashed. Thankfully Alya and Max helped me get it back up. But I had to make a large disclaimer about how I’m one person so it’s first come, first serve with limited openings now.”
“Hope your potential customers weren’t too mad,” he said.
“A-a few were,” she admitted. “Most told me I should be charging more.”
“You should,” Chloé commented. “I know both my mother and Gabriel would be appalled to see you lowballing your skills like that. Speaking of, how much would I need to bribe you to jump to the front of the commission line?”
“You want Marinette to make you something?” Alya asked, skepticism obvious.
“She’s proven her worth and is insanely popular right now,” she pouted.
“You’re welcome and also sorry,” Adrien said.
“I get it,” Marinette said. “You know, if you continue on your attempts to be nicer, you might qualify for the 'friends and family plan’. Which means your commission will be considered a personal project instead of work. It also gets the discounted price of paying for the cost of materials instead of the full price.”
“I have standards,” Chloé replied. “If I’m going to continue with this 'being nice’ thing, I’m not doing it just to get perks from you. Also, that whole "only pay the cost of materials” thing might be nice for you peasants, but I’m not that cheap. You’re getting industry standard payment and you’re not allowed to complain.”
While she had insulted them, it was progress. Adrien counted it as a win. And Marinette did seem a little proud, even if she still found that ‘accept the outrageous amount of money’ thing to be a headache.
"Hey guys! What’re you talking about?”
The only reason Adrien didn’t jump over a desk at the sound of her voice was because Lila already had a hold on his arm. He debated on if he could get away with judo flipping her “out of fear and panic”, but it seemed to be too late for that. Maybe next time.
Not that he wanted a next time. If Lila could stop clinging to him all the time it’d be great.
“Adrien had an interview last night,” Alya said.
“Oh right, you mentioned that,” Lila grinned. “How’d it go? I would’ve watched it, but I was far too busy on a video call with Prince Ali. We had some complications on the fundraiser for our charity that we needed to iron out.”
“It was great!” Rose said. “He mentioned that time he worked with Juleka, and now she’s getting so many offers!”
“I’m not even sure if I should take any,” Juleka said. “I mean, that shoot worked out, but…”
“You should do it,” Adrien said. “I meant everything I’ve said in the interview. Though hopefully you choose one of the companies my father is associated with. Then we can work together!”
Oh boy. Lila didn’t like that. She might be good as masking her expression, but the nails digging into Adrien’s arm were a sure indication of her mood.
“He also mentioned Marinette’s website,” Chloé said. “Apparently the site crashed from how many commissions she’s been getting!”
The not-so-friendly grin that she gave Lila was enough for Adrien to know exactly what she was doing. And while he’d usually tell her to be nicer, well, technically she was. Though the nails in his arm were starting to hurt.
He tried to subtly pull his arm free, but the just made Lila adjust her grip. It wasn’t subtle enough, as everyone seemed to notice and look concerned. Though while Marinette and Chloé looked concerned for him, the others were concerned for her.
"You okay girl?” Alya asked. “You’ve got kind of a death grip on Sunshine’s arm there.”
“Oh, I’m sorry!” Lila said, barely releasing her grip. “I was just lost in thought trying to, well. I’m curious about if the interviewer asked about me, since we just did that photoshoot together! But I didn’t want to sound like I was, you know, begging for him to promote me on his interview.”
While Marinette glared at Lila’s subtle implication, Juleka actually raised an eyebrow at it. Good. Looked like someone else might be catching on.
“Nadja did ask a little,” Rose said. “But I think Adrien was the focus.”
“Of course he was,” Chloé scoffed. “After all, he was the one being interviewed. Not you. Though the interviewer did ask how some unknown ended up modeling with Adrien freaking Agreste!”
“Anyway,” Adrien said, cutting off Lila’s attempt to lie about being 'somebody’. “Interviews can always go off topic. Half of last night’s was spent questioning me about my love life!”
“Your love life?” Lila asked. “Oh no! I hope there weren’t any rumors about us dating! I wouldn’t want all of Paris to know about my love life!”
“Don’t worry,” Marinette said with a slightly-too-cheery smile. “Nadja just seems to have a problem with digging into people’s lovelives. Adrien clarified that you’re not together.”
“Exactly!” Rose added. “The interviewer also asked if Adrien was dating Juleka. Which is completely impossible! Not because Juleka isn’t wonderful and beautiful but because she’s very very gay. So she wouldn’t be interested.”
“Maybe if there was a gender swap Akuma,” Alya mused. “Not to jinx it, but if there’s going to be an Akuma can we have that one? I want to see how hot I’d look as a dude.”
“Bet you anything I’d look hotter,” Chloé said.
“While I’m sure Adrien would make a pretty girl,” Juleka said, putting an arm around Rose. “I love my girlfriend too much to be swayed.”
“That’s just so sweet,” Lila said. “And I’m glad that Adrien got to clarify that you’re all just friends.”
For some reason, she made sure to aim her grin at Marinette. Who returned the look with a glare. If it hadn’t been for Miss Bustier walking in, Adrien wasn’t sure he could stop Marinette from jumping Lila.
Well, he could hold her back. Possibly. But he wouldn’t really feel like trying.
When everyone went to lunch, Adrien felt himself being dragged off. Unfortunately, it was Lila doing the dragging. She pulled him into an empty classroom before fixing him with a venomous glare.
“What happened to our deal?” Lila demanded.
“I’m not sure what you mean?” Adrien replied.
“She’s back in school,” she said. “You’re supposed to be my ‘friend’, aren’t you?”
“As long as you stop trying to hurt my friends,” he said. “I don’t think parading that photoshoot around like you won me over is good behavior. Besides, unlike you, all I’ve said is the truth.”
“Sure,” she scoffed. “You do realize I spent class watching your little interview in the back? I know exactly what you said.”
“And I’m right,” he said. “I don’t know anything about you. I don’t know what shows you like or your favorite color, or any other basic thing you should know about a friend. Even if you told me, I’d still have to take it with a grain of salt. Hell, with all the lies you’ve told, I don’t even know if you’re actually from Italy!”
“Obviously I’m not lying about that,” she said.
“Well how would I know?!” he exclaimed. “I might’ve made a deal to not expose you if you fixed the mess you caused, but I’m not going to lie to protect you or help you hurt people I care about. And I’m certainly not going to ignore my friends in favor of you. So if you want any sort of friendship here, then you’re going to have to shape up and be decent for once.”
Not wanting to discuss this further, Adrien spun on his heel and walked out. He was planning on finding somewhere to cool down, but as soon as he was out the door, someone else grabbed his hand and dragged him off. Though considering this time it was Marinette, he didn’t mind nearly as much.
After dragging him around a corner, she looked back down the hall. Adrien spared a glance too, seeing Lila walk out of the classroom. She looked around, trying to find him, but eventually stormed off in the direction of the cafeteria.
“A-are you okay?” Marinette asked.
“Yeah,” Adrien said. “How much did you hear?”
“Most of it,” she admitted. “After everything Lila’s done, I wasn’t going to let her get you alone if I could help it. And I know Alya’s going to be upset about me ‘not trusting her’ because she doesn’t realize that you shouldn’t trust Lila but you’re more important than playing along with her games and-“
“I get it,” he said. “If I saw you two go off together, I’d probably follow too.”
“Right,” she nodded, blushing slightly for some reason. “But I heard you mention a deal with her? What are you talking about?”
“When she got you expelled,” he said. “I told her I’d keep quiet about what I knew if she made something up to get you unexpelled.”
“That’s… stupid,” she said. “I mean it’s sweet, but how can you be such an idiot? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because last time, I told you to take the ‘high road’,” he said. “I didn’t realize she’d get this dangerous. But I think you did. And you took my stupid advice anyway. I didn’t want to face you after finding out I was wrong. Either because you’d say ‘I told you so’ or I’d feel to guilty or-“
“That’s not your fault,” she sighed. “I should’ve said something back then. But you’re right. I knew she was at least planning on being dangerous. I just didn’t think she’d actually be able to follow through on her threat.”
“Threat?” he repeated.
“She-she said she’d turn everyone against me,” she admitted. “And it’s started working. You saw how quick everyone was to believe that I’d pushed her. Or stole her necklace.”
Well that was one hell of a punch in the face. Adrien’s hand tingled, itching to call upon a Cataclysm and break something. Possibly Lila herself.
For now though, he focused on Marinette. And how scared she was, even if she tried to hide it. Fuck. She could get Akumatized over this. For all he knew, this wasn’t the first time that happened. And boy did that make him circle back to his ‘Cataclysm Lila’ plan.
“No more secrets,” Adrien said. “And no more ‘high road’ either. We’re going to stick together and figure out a plan to take her down.”
“What about everyone else?” she asked. “What if they don’t want to listen to us?”
"Well then," he said, smiling softly at her. "It's you and me against the world, right?"
Why did that feel so familiar?