I Trusted You

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The next day at school was almost the same except for the fact that Lila kept a keen eye on Marinette. She had decided that if Marinette didn't talk to Adrien at all, she'd have no reason to keep bothering her. The only reason I even bother messing with this goody-two-shoes is because she won't get away from my Adrien. If she doesn't do that, I'll have no reason to waste my time on her.

She watched as Marinette scribbled in her notebook in silence. Lila smiled. Good. She's minding her own business.

All of a sudden, Adrien turned around. Lila saw the humongous smile he gave her as he leaned over on her desk. "What are you making, Marinette?"

She almost had her notebook flying off her desk as she stumbled in her seat, startled. "Oh, uhm, I'm just sketching some designs for my masquerade gown!"

Adrien glanced at her sketch. Lila could see the impressed look he had etched on his face. His "Wow, Marinette, you're really talented!" had Marinette blushing in a matter of seconds.

"T-thanks, Adrime! I MEAN, Adrien!"

Scratch that. This girl is going down. And I know exactly how.

--

"I knew it wasn't a good idea to recruit you as my ally," Gabriel said, rubbing his temples.

"Oh, I'd be very helpful, trust me. But I need you to do this, Mr. Agreste!"

He sighed. "I apologize, Miss Rossi, but I cannot do this for you."

Lila let out a frustrated huff. So, he wasn't going to listen to her? Well, she'd make him.

"Oh, well then, I'm sorry. I guess I'll just have to tell Ladybug and Chat Noir who you are," she said, sniggering to herself.

Gabriel nearly jumped out of his skin. "No! You can't!"

"Then how about you help me? It can't hurt to NOT let all of Paris know you're a supervillain," she quipped slyly.

He sighed for the tenth time that day. "Fine. I have no other choice, I assume?"

"No. You don't."

---

Tikki sighed. "Would you ever take a rest, Marinette? You're always busy."

Marinette giggled. "It's fine, Tikki. I'll rest when I get the time."

She heard the sound of her doorbell ringing. "I'll get it!" she said.

She walked down the stairs and opened the door. "Alya, is it you? What brings you here-" she stopped when she saw who it was.

Adrien chuckled. "So, I guess I'm officially Alya now, huh?"

"O-oh! Adrien! Hi! What brings you here?" she asked.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, I just wanted to see how the props are going! Thanks again, Marinette."

She smiled sincerely at him, the same way she had smiled at Chat Noir the day on her balcony. "It's really my pleasure. Come in! I've finished the ears already. I think they turned out okay."

Adrien knew all too well that those ears had turned out better than okay. He realized just how modest Marinette was. "I'm sure they're great."

He walked up to her room while she led the way. She opened the door to her room. In an instant, she started panicking, thinking that she had forgotten to take off the pictures of Adrien from her room, but then she remembered that she had removed most of them a while back. She relaxed.

She opened the drawer in which she had kept the cat ears and held them out to Adrien. His eyes sparkled and he looked up at her. "These are amazing, Marinette! They look just like Chat Noir's! If I hadn't known better, I'd think you'd taken his help," he winked. Marinette turned pink.

"W-what? No! How would I take help from THE Chat Noir, anyway! It's not as if he'd help ME. After all, I-'m just a mere civilian!"

Adrien chuckled. He could understand why Marinette had to hide the fact that Chat Noir had visited her the day before.

He took the prop from her. "Thank you, Marinette!"

"You don't have to keep thanking me, Adrien. Really, it's my pleasure."

He smiled at her and left.