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Adrien inched away as Lila moved closer, a wide smile on her face as she chattered away about a fun trip she’d gone on with a famous vlogger the previous weekend. She liked to grab onto his wrist or arm and wouldn’t let go, as if she was staking a claim on him. Alya always seemed really excited for some reason whenever Lila was near him and he’d heard her talking about something called ‘Adrila’ several times with his classmates.
Spotting Chloe, Adrien quickly wiggled out of Lila’s grasp and hurried over, sitting down in Sabrina’s usual seat with a pleading look. Chloe glanced over at Lila and told Sabrina to sit in Adrien’s seat for the day. It was Friday so they didn’t have to stay in their assigned seats today, but most of the class did just out of habit. From the table behind Lila, Nino watched with a frown, ignoring Alya’s rambling about the Ladyblog next to him. Something was up and he was going to get to the bottom of it.
He spent the rest of the morning watching Adrien and those he interacted with and his eyes narrowed as he saw how his friend tried to move away from Lila and was visibly uncomfortable with her every time she attempted to harass him, because there was no other word for the girl’s blatant disregard of Adrien’s personal space despite his repeated requests that she let go of him.
What made Nino angry was that the rest of the class, apart from Chloe and Marinette, didn’t seem to see anything wrong and even encouraged Lila’s behavior. Alya seemed to think it was cute for some reason, ignoring that Adrien clearly didn’t want her touching him.
He waited until Adrien vanished out to the car that would take him back to his house for lunch before pulling Chloe aside as they filed out of the classroom to the lunchroom. “You saw how he was interacting with Lila?” He asked, getting right to the subject at hand. “That’s not cool, dude, she’s harassing him.”
Chloe nodded, the usual haughty look tossed aside in favor of concern for her friend. “Adrien hasn’t said anything to me, but what with his wonderful upbringing, I’m not entirely sure he even knows that what she is doing isn’t okay. The class reaction definitely hasn’t helped. Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.” She replied, arms crossed as she leaned against the nearby lockers.
“But how do we help?” Nino said, his earlier determination leaving him slightly as he realized he wasn’t sure what they should do.
Marinette, who had overheard them and was waiting for a good moment to announce her presence, stepped closer and said, “Well, the school has already managed situations questionably in the past, especially involving Rossi, so that’s not going to go well. Mr. Agreste is also both hard to get in touch with and not a great example of parenting. We may need to get the Paris ASE involved.” She unintentionally slipped into her Ladybug persona, her tone and posture becoming more confident.
“Let’s try Mr. Agreste or his assistant first,” Nino said after a moment. “I hope they will deal with it, the ASE is definitely a good option.” He added, thinking about the strict rules Adrien had to follow and all the required modeling and activities.
Glancing a bit uncertainly in Chloe’s direction, Marinette agreed and said, “Let’s go to his house after school and see if they have a moment to talk then.” Chloe raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, walking slightly in front of the other two down the hallway.
The unlikely trio made their way to the cafeteria, choosing to sit together at the last empty table. Marinette pulled out her lunchbox and started eating a sandwich, while Chloe sat across from her and Nino, eating a lettuce wrap while doing something on her phone. Nino hadn’t brought his lunch and had to go get his food first, sitting down next to Marinette with his tray and striking up a conversation about the homework from Mme. Mendeleiv. Marinette glanced across the room to where Lila was holding court with Alya and quickly looked away at the sight of Alya staring at them. She felt a bit guilty for going behind Adrien’s back like this, but wanted to help him however she could.
The rest of the school day passed excruciatingly slowly and Marinette occupied herself by doodling in the margins of her notes, while Nino fiddled with the strap of his bag. Chloe was typing away on her phone whenever she had time, and talking quietly with Adrien who was still sitting next to her. This resulted in Adrien joining them as they left Francais Dupont after class ended, looking slightly uncomfortable but happy about trying to force Lila to stop bothering him.
Adrien’s bodyguard moved to stop them from getting in the car at first, but Chloe filled him in on the situation and he looked angry on Adrien’s behalf, ushering them into the car and glaring at the sausage-haired girl standing on the steps, who he’d already disliked upon meeting her at a few photoshoots when she was rude to everyone and distracting Adrien from his work.
Nathalie was waiting at the front door to greet Adrien, her usual tablet in hand. She opened her mouth to tell him the afternoon schedule before stopping short as she realized he had three classmates with him. And not only that, but ones that as far as she knew were not friends with one another, only Adrien. A group project maybe?
Chloe took charge, stepping forward and saying, “We would like to discuss a serious matter. Mr. Agreste needs to be present.” which caused her eyebrows to shoot up. Something big was obviously going on. Licking her lips nervously, Nathalie checked what Gabriel’s schedule was for the rest of the day, seeing that he was currently taking a break.
Suppressing a sigh of relief, she nodded and gestured for them to come in, leading them to a sitting room off to one side of the main entry hall. Gabriel was sitting on the couch, reading a book. He stood up in surprise when she came in, lips parting before he stopped, realizing that Adrien’s classmates were also there.
Nino put a comforting hand on Adrien’s shoulder briefly and Chloe made a ‘go on’ motion, while Marinette hovered in the back next to Nathalie. Adrien stood there in silence for a moment before he seemed to channel some unknown thing and straightened up.
“Father, Lila Rossi has been sexually harassing me at school and photoshoots.” He said, the words coming out uncertain. Was that really what she’d been doing? Surely he didn’t have it that bad, she only grabbed him sometimes?
The book Gabriel was still holding fell to the floor with a thump. “She WHAT-” He swelled with fury. “I want her contract terminated immediately with the brand. We will be filing charges and a restraining order. That girl is going to regret her actions.”
Adrien seemed startled, as if he hadn’t expected this reaction. Nino and Marinette exchanged meaningful glances before Nino said, “I bet there is CCTV evidence on the school cameras, du- uh, sir.”
Nathalie, who seemed to be clutching her tablet rather tightly and was asking Adrien if he had any bruises or other injuries from her, made a note of this. Adrien showed her the fingerprint shaped bruises that had resulted from Lila’s latest attempt of clinging on to him and Nino exhaled sharply in anger. He really wanted to get revenge on her, but knew that Adrien wouldn’t want that. His friend, who he might feel more than friendship for but was definitely pushing that back into the corner of his mind for the moment, was too forgiving, so he would have to make sure no one else tried to take advantage of him in the future.
Evidence against Lila was acquired and a meeting set up with the Agreste lawyer, who helped them decide on the course of action. Nino was content to leave the legal things to the adults, preferring to offer comfort and support to Adrien. Chloe insisted on having a movie night together that weekend and seemed to reluctantly view Nino and Marinette as friends due to their assistance of Adrien.
It ended up being quite difficult to get a hold of Lila’s parents, as it turned out the ambassador was another person entirely named Sergio Bianchi and the phone number provided to the school was out of service. When they did finally reach her mother, the woman was misinformed on quite a few subjects and she told them that the school had been closed for a few months due to unfixable damage from an akuma attack during the time Lila claimed to have been traveling. Once this was cleared up, Lila’s mother was furious on Adrien’s behalf and declared her support on whatever they needed.
Lila found herself slapped with a restraining order and fines among other punishments, and was forced to meet with a counselor weekly. Her mother pulled her out of Francais Dupont and entrusted her into the care of a boarding school for troubled teens. The class was informed of the situation at Adrien’s request and Alya’s reaction and attempt to dismiss the harassment as a ‘misunderstanding’ only furthered Nino’s relief that they had broken up months ago.
Adrien often tensed up whenever his classmates got close to him, only relaxing when Nino, Chloe, and Marinette were around. He also was calmer around Luka, who he saw more often after Luka started dating Marinette. The group of five had become friends, choosing to let go of their old friendships with their classmates. Luka had become uncharacteristically angry at hearing what had happened to Adrien and whatever he had said to his sister Juleka left the girl ashamed and distancing herself from the class as well. She and Rose had also broken up.
A few weeks after Lila was dealt with, Nino put on his usual hat and checked his phone to see that Marinette and Luka were waiting across the street for him. The group had decided to meet up and search out Andre for some ice cream. Adrien would be a little late, having to finish something up before joining them along with Chloe.
Adrien’s face lit up in a wide smile when he arrived, waving and running to meet them where they were sitting under a tree talking. Andre had been spotted in the park that day and they were waiting for him to get their orders. Nino was slightly nervous but also excited to see what combination he would get, knowing it would be different from the last time he had gotten one with Alya.
Andre looked them over and served Chloe first, saying, “Lemon poppyseed for your hair and sting and blueberry for your eyes.” Next he gave Marinette hers, this time with a, “Blue moon for their hair and peach for their smile.” Luka was given, “Blue raspberry for their eyes and cherry for their disguise.” Which caused Marinette to make an odd face and Luka to look amused. Nino probably would’ve focused more on that, except Adrien was being given his ice cream.
“Honeycomb for their eyes and chocolate fudge for their hair, with a cherry on top for their flair.” Andre said with a smile, presenting Adrien with his ice cream. He then turned to Nino and nodded to himself, scooping up, “Brown sugar for their hair and matcha for their stare.”
The group wandered over to an empty picnic table and took a seat, enjoying their ice creams. Nino’s eyes kept darting between his cone and Adrien with a pleased smile, while Adrien mirrored the glances with much more realization and shyness. Chloe appeared to be watching something very amusing and Marinette and Luka were sharing bites of each other’s dessert, lost in their own little world.
Far away, out of reach of Hawkmoth, in a different area of France, Lila fumed as she wrote down the answer to a question on her homework. Everything was going so well before Adrien grew a spine. There was no way he would’ve done something on his own, so it must’ve been Marinette. How dare that girl take her rightful empire away. Adrien would’ve been the perfect touch, giving credibility with their relationship and her modeling. A wasp appeared out nowhere and stung the girl before vanishing, while a lady beetle meandered along eating her science project. In Paris, Marinette hummed to herself as she imagined karma bothering Lila before starting her latest design project.