The Salt Files (MLB)

Trustworthy

Requested by daemonichopsticks

Adrien Sugar and Lila Redemption

Lila lies to prove to Marinette that she can't trust her friends. Lila later tells the truth and gets isolated by the class while Adrien learns about how to deal with bullies and liars.

Lila knew fakers when she saw them. After all, she was a master at one. Her latest observation was at her newest school with a certain class.

They all had some kind of special achievements they either earned or were in a group activity. But there was one girl's who stood out the most: Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

She had the most to offer.

Designed sunglasses for a famous musician and now is referred to as his honorary niece, was a background dancer in Clara Nightingale's music video, her uncle is a famous chef, she knows a heroine, and so on. Comparing her to everyone else in the class, there was only one other person who could earn their fame.

Adrien Agreste. Lila knew his type immediately.

He was enabler, but not on purpose. He wouldn't know how to handle the situation, and could easily misread it and try to simmer the wrong person.

Lila also noticed how much Marinette adored Adrien, but how much Adrien only saw her as a friend. On top of that, the relationship between the baker girl and the rest of the class seemed...forced. As if they were making themselves put up with her.

Lila had an idea of how to make her time here more enjoyable. She went up to Marinette in the bathroom one day and told her about all her observations.

"They are my friends, you don't know what you're talking about." Marinette finished drying her hands and crossed her arms. "Can I go now?"

Lila huffed as a lightbulb went off. "What if I said I had a way to prove that they aren't as trustworthy as you think?" Marinette raised an eyebrow, encouraging to continue. "Alright, how's your acting?"

🍂🍂🍂

Lila explained the things Marinette needed to look out for when confronting her 'friends'. Body language, tone, and visual cues. Usually, one of these three will set off some sort of alarm that something isn't right, or it's something to be skeptical of.

The plan was that Lila would start claiming that Marinette is bullying and harassing her. Then they would wait to see how long it would take for her friends to defend her. Most of all, to let Agreste show his full colors.

The plan was working smoothly. Lila shouted out randomly in the middle of class for attention. The yelling match started between Alya and Marinette, and Marinette ran out crying. Adrien followed her, which wasn't what Lila expected. Alya came over and asked if she was alright while wiping away her fake tears.

Their plan was just that for a while. Lies here, accusings there, and every once in a while the teacher would butt in and act all involved. Lila knew that she wasn't and that she only cared about reputation. A person like that shouldn't be a teacher.

The longer the facade went on, it turns out Adrien was only half of what she predicted: he was an enabler, until he was shown that lies can hurt. His stance took a whole 180 once he saw the damage that could be done by lies. By then, Lila and Marinette both let him in on the plan. He understood that he had to try and test others to see if they have a different reaction.

Adrien was able to get through some people. Nino, Nathaniel, Mylene, Juleka, Ivan, Sabrina and Chloe were all on their side. It was now the last day before Christmas Break, and the girls decided to break the news about their plan.

"You mean you lied about everything?!" Alya screeched like a banshee. "Why would you do something like that??"

"If you were listening, you would know it was because you weren't even proving yourselves worthy of being called friends. We should be asking you why you all are like this in the first place." Lila sneered.

"Because we were jealous." Alix quietly spoke up. "Marinette has all these achievements held on a higher pedestal compared to us and we were sick of it."

The room was silent. "I was never jealous." Nino said. "I always thought she just worked harder for what she wanted and it paid off, but I was never like, angry about it."

"Me neither." Nathaniel agreed. "There's no point in overlooking your own accomplishments and taking your anger out on another person." The class started arguing while Mrs. Bustier tried to settle them down. It was the sound of Marinette opening the door that got them to stop.

"Where are you going, girl?" Alya asked, as if they were still friends.

"I'm going somewhere where my REAL friends actually enjoy my presence. School ends in a few minutes, so I'm just leaving early. When we come back, I do not want contact with any of you. If you guys were really annoyed with me you could have just talked to me about it, not escalate it within three months!"

"We-we didn't want to hurt your feelings..." Kim trailed off.

"And finding out like this makes it any better?" Another painful silence. Marinette sighed as the bell rang. She had plans to move on with her life and cut out anyone who stood in her way.

Once they returned from break, Marinette refused to talk to anyone who believed the lies. She made a New Year's Resolution to focus on herself more and that was what she planned to do.  On top of that, she now knew who was worth her time thanks to Lila. The Italian was becoming her best friend and looked out for her more than Alya ever did.

Maybe later she would give a relationship with Adrien a try.

IK it's short but I'm tired🥲

BONUS

"What are you thankful for, Marinette?" Adrien asked.

"I'm thankful that you had a braincell and didn't abandon me this time."

Baiiiii

981 words