Requested by @donttrustaliyah

I took what I was given and made THIS. I hope you enjoy it.

Once again, Lila is back with her lies—but this time, Marinette thinks she's taken it too far by involving Adrien's deceased mother in the lie. 

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"I'm sure you've all seen the film Solitude?"

Disinterested, Marinette took a bite out of her apple. All around her, the lunch table she usually sat at in the back corner of the cafeteria with her three closest friends had been bombarded by not only Lila but her little swarm of followers who couldn't stop eating out of her hand.

"Who hasn't?" Nino said. He was just as unamused as the rest of his friends. There was a reason why they'd chosen this table, after all. It was quiet, away from all the rowdiness of the cafeteria and the farthest away from where Lila usually sat.

Alya's eyes remained narrowed at Lila as she blew out a large bubble of gum. It popped a moment later, and she continued to chew as if nothing had happened. Marinette wasn't sure why Alya chose to chew gum during lunch.

And then there was Adrien, who sat right beside her with his hands in his lap, staring absently at the lunch on his tray that he hadn't even touched. He hadn't said a word since Lila approached their table either, which was kind of surprising considering Adrien tended to always put Lila in her place. However, the second she decided to mention the name of the movie Adrien's mother starred in, Adrien tensed so suddenly it had Marinette glancing worriedly out of the corner of her eye at him.

"Well, I'm glad you're familiar with it," Lila said as she tossed one of her sausage-like braids over her shoulder. "Because they're planning to remake the film. And guess who's going to play the main role?"

No one bothered to indulge her question. Nino took a silent sip of his soda. Alya simply smacked her lips together as she chewed her gum and continued to stare. Marinette took another bite out of her apple as she, too, stared. Adrien remained silent, his distraught-looking eyes frozen on his untouched lunch.

"Me," Lila said when no one answered. Her tone had already shifted slightly in annoyance as she placed a hand on her chest to emphasize her point, or rather, her lie. "I'll be playing the same role Emilie Agreste played—"

Nino cut her off with a loud cough. "And you're telling me this... why?"

"Actually, I wasn't talking to you," Lila turned away from Nino with a huff, but now her eyes had shifted over towards Adrien, like a predator cornering its prey, and Adrien seemed too frozen to even acknowledge just how vulnerable he was allowing himself to become in front of her. "I was talking to Adrien. I thought it would make him happy knowing his mother's film is being... upgraded."

"Upgraded?" Alya butt in with an expressive roll of her eyes. "What actually made you think that Adrien would be thrilled about someone else redoing his mother's film and recasting her role?"

"Besides, who in their right mind would cast you to represent someone as awesome as Adrien's mom?" Nino added, "You're the complete opposite of her—in both looks and personality, and I never even got to meet the woman, but I know she got the better end of that."

A smile pulled at Marinette's lips before she bit into her apple again, but she wouldn't dare laugh. Not when Lila was staring at them all, mouth agape, with a look of absolute offense.

"I'll have you know the idea of remaking the film was Gabriel Agreste's," Lila said through a set of gritted pearly whites. It was just another one of her lies. Unfortunately, Marinette knew for a fact that the last thing Gabriel would invest time and money into was redoing a film that reminded him of his late wife. The man couldn't even watch the original film, according to Adrien.

She idly heard Adrien's breath quickening. That wasn't good.

"Why don't you tell someone who actually cares?" Nino replied in absolute disinterest. "Or better yet, someone stupid enough to actually believe your lies."

The little crowd that had followed Lila to their table was as silent as a mouse, and because of that, even amongst the other rowdy students in the cafeteria, a pin drop could still be heard. The insult had Lila fuming out of her ears. Literally.

But Lila wasn't the only one allowing her anger to surface. Marinette quickly noticed that Adrien's hands were clenching into fists in his lap, which was slowly turning his knuckles white. She glanced up at his face, catching how he worked his jaw as his eyebrows slowly turned downward.

Realizing he was about to snap, Marinette quickly slid her hand underneath the table to place it atop one of his clenched fists.

The unexpected contact startled Adrien, which caused him to whip his head in her direction with wide eyes. For a brief moment, she saw the fear in his irises, but that fear quickly vanished when he realized it was her who had touched him. Once realization hit, he visibly relaxed, and a small, thankful smile graced his lips. Then, he opened up his fist and lightly squeezed her hand.

Marinette returned that smile and squeezed his hand.

Lila was still rambling on when Marinette finally turned her attention back on to the liar. Nino had placed his headphones over his ears just to block her out, and Alya was simply trying not to blow a fuse. All of them were simply hoping she would take the hint and walk away.

But then, Lila said something that had them all livid. "I don't understand why you guys think I wouldn't be the perfect role for the lead. I mean, I knew Emilie Agreste personally—"

"You did not know my mother." Adrien suddenly bit out, harshly cutting Lila off. He hadn't said a word since Lila had arrived, but Marinette was extremely glad that he had now.

Lila visibly flinched back at the harsh tone Adrien used with her. For a moment, he'd caught her off guard. Using that to her advantage, Marinette added mockingly, "Out of all the lies you've concocted, Lila, this one has got to be the lowest of them all."

Lila's eyes snapped to her in fury, greeted by Marinette's smirk, but she didn't have a chance to formulate a response because Adrien was already speaking again. "I don't want to ever hear my mother's name out of your mouth again." He said dangerously low. That caused Lila's eyes to trail back to him, no longer clouded with fury but instead anxiousness. "If I hear you telling people you're starring my mother in a so-called 'remake' of her film, you can guarantee my father will hear about it."

Lila visibly shrunk back. Marinette couldn't believe just how frightened she all of a sudden was of Adrien. When she remained silent, Adrien took that as his sign to continue. "And do you want to know how my father might react to hearing such a lie about his wife?"

Lila said nothing in response, but her silence spoke wonders on its own. Adrien had made himself extremely clear and now glared at her with the nastiest look any human being could have possibly mustered; Marinette was sure of it. And then, Lila did what they all expected she would when she was caught in a lie and threatened to be exposed for it: she ran. Well... more like huffed and stomped away, but she left, and her little posy scurried after her.

Adrien visibly deflated as soon as she was gone, releasing a breath he'd been holding in. Marinette also found herself sighing in relief. She let go of his hand to pat his knee, silently praising him for his courage. Adrien lit up at that and offered her one of his brightest smiles. Marinette found herself grinning just as widely.

"Woah." Alya breathed out suddenly. It caused Adrien and Marinette to break eye contact and turn their attention to her, where they found both Alya and Nino gaping at Adrien specifically. "You totally just stuffed that lie down Lila's throat and made her choke on it."

A beat of silence ensued. Then, after Alya's words had been fully processed, all four of them burst out into synchronized laughter. That in itself seemed to lighten the mood, and after all that had happened, Marinette knew a good laugh was all they needed.

Smiling up at Adrien, she said, "I'm super proud of you for standing up to Lila."

He matched her smile and then squeezed her hand, which made her realize that she was still holding his hand. "Thanks, Marinette. I couldn't have done it without you."

She was sure he could've done so all on his own without her help, but her cheeks flushed nonetheless at his kind words. Of course, Adrien didn't realize she was blushing. His eyes had already turned to Nino, who was telling him something Marinette couldn't even remotely focus on. 

And the reason for that was that even though Adrien was no longer looking at her, he hadn't let go of her hand.

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I'm not sure if I'm 100% satisfied with how this turned out, considering it was a bit too short for my liking, but I hope you guys enjoyed it nonetheless. 

See you in the next one-shot! (Be sure to check out my bio or the 'Welcome to My Profile' book underneath 'update schedule' for when the next scheduled update will be.)

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