Dearly Despised, (I love you)

Deal

A/N: Adrien and Marinette come to school with new resolves. Oh, and Lila's back.

(As usual late chapters mean extra long chapters to hide my guilt)

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"What's your deal with Lila, bro? Ever since we found out she was coming back you haven't been excited at all."

"She's—"

A two-faced lying, predatory witch that sent him hiding in his own grave, making it technically her fault he'd had to walk into school with a complaining Marinette on his arm for the last few months.

So technically, it was Lila's fault the pattern of Marinette's heartbeat and hot breath replayed on his mind all night as he clung to his new shirt; Lila's fault the memory of rosy lips latching to his like magnets couldn't be burned; Lila's fault the soppy, sweetened smell behind Marinette's ears were phantom wafts in the stainless air of his room. It was all Lila's fault he was still thinking about Marinette.

Adrien hated Lila.

"She just wouldn't leave me alone last semester." Passing Nino the last of his orange juice, his knee bounced under the desk. In front of him, there was a clean view of the "Welcome back Lila!" whiteboard beside chemical formulas – no stumbling girl through the door, no nails behind him tapping to Jagged Stone's latest album, or cookies somehow falling near his shoe.

It was Lila's fault that Marinette would, for once, have a pretty good reason to hate him if she ever found out what he'd done.

He really hated Lila.

"Hey! I remember Marinette didn't get along with her, somehow." Nino noticed him watching the empty seat in front of him. "Is that why she didn't come today? That's a bit drastic..."

"No."

She didn't come to school because Adrien was there.

And they had kissed last night. A... healthy amount.

(She could've just been late, but growing up with a projecting father didn't teach him to ever not take things personally.)

"Didn't you go to her place yesterday?"

"Yeah, after the park. We got caught in the rain and then went to hers for dinner. After all that she probably got cold feet."

"You mean a cold?

"Ah. Yeah, that."

His knee bounced more vigorously.

"Hey Nino, I wanna be honest with you about something—"

"Hi everyone!"

"Hi, Lila!"

Adrien's jaw hardened as Lila's shrill voice rattled the peace. Nino and other classmates leapt out of their seats to greet the vixen with amorous praise and questions about her trip to Achu, or whatever she'd told the masses.

"Adrien! I've missed you so much!"

Sadly, she saw him before he could jump out the window to his death, and soon the cold bangles on her wrists zapped his face as she held his head to French-greet him. His mouth was too busy fighting a sour look to kiss her cheeks back. He hadn't felt as raw anger as this since his first feud with Marinette.

"Did you miss me?!" she squealed, squishing him into Nino's spot that he'd vacated to greet her. "Since you're such an excellent student, you can help me catch up on all the schoolwork I've missed since traveling with my parents! Would you do that for me?"

Adrien wasn't fifteen anymore. He'd since learnt that others were allowed to be aware he had boundaries. Years of fangirls, stalkers, and intense personal invasions granted him a lot of patience but not a lot of tolerance for obvious acts of attention. Lila didn't like him – she liked his last name, and any connection to him meant some of her lies could come true.