History Fanfic / JerkInSheepsClothing

In this fic, Henri [=LeRoi=] arrives at Françoise [=DuPont=] soon after Lila’s return and uses his charms and wits to turn Marinette against her friends, leaving her all alone so that he can keep her all to himself, a toxic relationship. Adrien must figure out what went wrong and how to fix it before Henri finishes working Marinette over.

In this fic, Henri [=LeRoi=] arrives at Francoise [=DuPont=] soon after Lila’s return and uses his charms and wits to turn Marinette against her friends, leaving her all alone so that he can keep her all to himself, a toxic relationship. Adrien must figure out what went wrong and how to fix it before Henri finishes working Marinette over.

*** It then deconstructs the fact that Marinette never told Adrien. Adrien's constant shielding and excusing Chloe's actions despite the harm done meant that Marinette genuinely had no faith that Adrien would behave differently if he knew the full truth.
** It then deconstructs Adrien's friendship with Chloe. Adrien has excused Chloe a lot, and he has even chewed out her victims for celebrating when they thought they would be free of her. Despite her feelings for him, Marinette had no faith in Adrien because he gave a precedent that he wouldn't help her even if he knew how bad things truly were. The realization that he has lost the trust of Marinette, the girl he loves, and that she is in the arms of [[BitchInSheepsClothing Henri]] because of his relationship with Chloe causes Adrien to angrily sever their friendship.

* HateSink: If you think Lila was bad, just wait until you meet Henri. Not only is he, if anything, a ''worse'' bully than Lila, he's ''smart''. While Lila goes for spinning grandinose lies to distract the class from her bullying, Henri goes for more subtle psychological manipulation spiced with ''just enough'' truth to make him genuinely believable.

* KickTheDog: Henri gets a particularly mean-spirited one by deliberately dropping a little china cat that was given to Chloe by her mother, causing it to smash to pieces.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: After months of making excuses for Chloe’s bratty behavior and bullying of their classmates, Adrien finds out that it was this ExtremeDoormat attitude with her that [[NiceJobBreakingItHero made Marinette feel unable to trust him to talk to him about everything with Lila]], [[ForWantOfANail leading her to seek comfort and companionship in Henri’s arms]]. After learning of this, Adrien is so regretful of his former passivity that when Chloé launches into a speech about how pathetic Marinette is, it pushes him over the edge and he finally snaps at her, calling her out for her bloated ego and mistreatment of others.

'''Chloe:''' WHAT?!\\

'''Chloe:''' But you can't go! You promised me! Remember, Adri-kins? You promised we'd always be friends!\\

** Chloe is used to using her clout as the mayor's daughter to get away with things. Henri quickly reveals why that will not work on him.
** Henri has a parental relationship with the head of a ''very'' powerful tech company, which is a major part of the mayor's campaign. Thus, his connections go higher than Chloe and he in fact has pull that can ruin her father.
* SemanticSuperpower: Shatter Queen, the akumatized Chloe, can shatter physical both objects and concept. Including relationships or facades.
* SpearCounterpart: Henri [=LeRoi=] is essentially a Reverse Lila. Like her, he's a manipulative liar who turns friends against each other in pursuit of their goals. The only real differences between them are gender, methods, and choice of targets. Lila likes to dazzle with grandinose lies to charm most of the class, while Henri focuses more onto getting into the head of a single target- Marinette.

[[https://archiveofourown.org/users/BroadwayCutie16/pseuds/BroadwayCutie16 BroadwayCutie16’s]] [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/20695151/chapters/49157624#workskin Jerk In Sheep’s Clothing]] is yet another fanfic seeking justice for the wrongs expressed in the “WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug” episode [[Recap/MiraculousLadybugS03E01Chameleon “Chameleon”]]. While not as spiteful as most salt fics in the ML fandom, it does address some of the issues of the infamous episode and the mistakes made by Adrien and the class. Even though this story holds them responsible for their actions and reminds the audience that they are wrong, it does not [[RonTheDeathEater portray Adrien, Alya, or the others as selfish monsters who wish to make and/or see Marinette suffer]], which is rare for salt fics.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnection: Played straight and subverted by two characters.

* ScreTheRulesIHaveConnection: Played straight and subverted by two characters.

** And finally, we have the type of person that salt fic writers turn Marinette into, it as it is known amongst the salt fandom, Saltinette. Saltinette is a bitter, angry person who holds grudges and blames the class for her problems with Lila, because they didn’t automatically believe her word over Lila’s. She acts like she’s better and smarter than them for not falling for Lila’s trickery and often looks down on them for giving Lila the benefit of the doubt. Worst of all, she takes pleasure in their pain and enjoys “punishing” them for their “stupidity” by dishing out petty revenge, using her Ladybug side and her celebrity connections to ruin their lives, and watching her salt OC friends do the same. However, in the story above, the one time Henri attempts to harass and humiliate one of her friends in front of her, she is horrified by his actions and voices her disapproval, as she has forgiven them easily and Henri has no right to make things hard for them on her behalf. Even when she thinks the class is bullying Henri, she does not give them any more than a scolding and a “DisappointedInYou” speech.

** And finally, we have the type of person that salt fic writers turn Marinette into, it as it is known amongst the salt fandom, Saltinette. Saltinette is a bitter, angry person who holds grudges and blames the class for her problems with Lila, because they didn’t automatically believe her word over Lila’s. She acts like she’s better and smarter than them for not falling for Lila’s trickery and often looks down on them for giving Lila the benefit of the doubt. Worst of all, she takes pleasure in their pain and enjoys “punishing” them for their “stupidity” by dishing out petty revenge, using her Ladybug side and her celebrity connections to ruin their lives, and watching her salt OC friends do the same. However, in the story above, the one time Henri attempts to harass and humiliate one of her friends in front of her, she is horrified by his actions and voices her disapproval, as she has forgiven them easily and Henri has no right to make things hard for them on her behalf. Even when she thinks the class is bullying Henri, she does not give them anymore than a scolding and a “DisappointedInYou” speech.

* TheCharmer: Henri is smooth with his words, showering Marinette with praise upon their first meeting. He’s even able to charm her parents, who are all for their daughter dating such a nice, funny, charming boy...or so he seems to be.
* ConsummateLiar: In addition to Lila, we also get her [[DistaffCounterpart male counterpart]], Henri [=LeRoi=], who serves as an evil love interest to Marinette, who wastes no time in getting his hooks into her by proclaiming unconditional love and loyalty to her and her alone. He claims that he truly cares for her and her well-being, but [[spoiler:in Chapter 8, when he threatens Adrien to stay away from Marinette]], he reveals that he only wants her as a trophy girlfriend. To keep her all to himself, he worsens the distance between Marinette and the class. He sets them up to look like they’re attacking him physically or emotionally, and makes her question their character by twisting the perspective of recent events to make them seem disloyal and petty.

* DoggedNiceGuy: Deconstructed as well. Both Kagami and Nino call out Adrien for still pinning on Ladybug who explicitly said she was not interested in him and expecting to one day magically change her mind.

* GoldDigger: Henri's mother is strongly implied to be this, given that she has married to (and then divorced from) multiple powerful and wealthy men.

** On the flip side, the class sees Marinette as this. After all, Marinette got mad at them for not automatically taking her word about Lila. But now that Henri’s out to get them, she refuses to listen to their warnings, even though it’s the same situation she complained that they put her in. Sadly, they fail to realize this is because Henri is the only one who took her word about Lila the first time and kept her company while they were all fawning over the new girl.

* Spear Counterpart: Henri [=LeRoi=] is essentially a Reverse Lila. Like her, he's a manipulative liar who turns friends against each other in pursuit of their goals. The only real differences between them are gender, methods, and choice of targets. Lila likes to dazzle with grandinose lies to charm most of the class, while Henri focuses more onto getting into the head of a single target- Marinette.

* DistaffCounterpart: Original Character Henri [=LeRoi=] is described as a “reverse Lila”. Both are cruel, narcissistic, two-faced [[ConsummateLiar serial liars]] [[ManipulativeBastard who manipulate those around them to get what they want, feeding people lies and warping the perspective to make their enemies look like the bad guy.]] The only difference, really, is their choice in who to manipulate and who to paint as the bully. Lila, in her bid to become the SchoolIdol, tells fantastical stories about herself, claiming to have traveled the world and met all sorts of celebrities. Marinette is the only one who knows she’s lying and desires to call her out, so of course, Lila keeps trying to undermine her by convincing the class Marinette is jealous of her. Henri also wants Marinette separated from her friends, but for completely different reasons. He wants to be the only one Marinette trusts and spends time with. He does the same thing as Lila, except in reverse, [[LetNoCrisisGoToWaste taking advantage of the tense situation between Marinette and the class]] to convince her that they are [[FalseFriend false friends]] and harsh bullies at heart, even Adrien.

[[https://archiveofourown.org/users/BroadwayCutie16/pseuds/BroadwayCutie16 BroadwayCutie16’s]] [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/20695151/chapters/49157624#workskin Jerk In Sheep’s Clothing]] is yet another fanfic seeking justice for the wrongs expressed in the “WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug” episode [[Recap/MiraculousLadybugS03E01Chameleon “Chameleon”]]. While not as spiteful as most salt fics in the ML fandom, it does address some of the issues of the infamous episode and the mistakes made by Adrien and the class. Even though this story holds them responsible for their action and reminds the audience that they are wrong, it does not [[RonTheDeathEater portray Adrien, Alya, or the others as selfish monsters who wish to make and/or see Marinette suffer]], which is rare for salt fics.

** During a confrontation with Adrien, Henri points out that if he has been able to woo Marinette so easily and so quickly is because the rest of the class have been shunning her and making her feel unwanted. Adrien is forced to admit that he has a point.

** Next, it deconstructs the commonly-held notion that Marinette did not buy Lila’s innocent act because she is somehow emotionally and intellectually better than the friends who did believe Lila. The first chapter itself has Marinette remind herself (and the readers) that she, too, was taken by Lila’s fantastical made-up life, and was only altered to it’s falsehood by the lie about being best friends with Ladybug, Marinette’s own alter ego. The main storyline is her falling for Henri’s honeyed words of loyalty and affection, all while poisoning her mind against her friends, showing that it’s easy to trust a liar when they tell you what you want to hear.
** The idea that the class would willingly bully Marinette on Lila’s behalf. Many salt fics have the class insult Marinette, physically harm her, destroy her belongings, etc. the first chapter tells us while there is a wall between Marinette and the others, they are still on good terms with each other. Many parts of the story have Henri setting them up to make it look like the class have done to him what they do to Marinette in salt fics. The class keeps trying to warn her about Henri, showing that they do care for her deeply, enough to want to save her from the conniving psycho she calls her boyfriend.

* DeconstructionFic: The whole standard salt fic seen in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom is deconstructed.
** First off, the popular fic idea that a new character arrives and becomes Marinette’s best friend and only ally against Lila and the class, making enemies out of the class and calling them out on their bullshit at the drop of a hat. The idea that they are “the friend that Marinette deserves” and thus somehow a better person than anyone else in the ML universe is deconstructed. Even though Henri does do many of these things against Adrien and the class, [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype he is written as a lying, two-faced sociopath who sees Marinette as a prize he’s won, rather than as a brave, loyal friend who is more deserving of her love than Adrien.]]

* AccusationFic: Played With and a rare exploited example: while Lila is a true-blue bitch, she is the GreaterScopeVillain (of sorts). The ''real'' BigBad is Henri, who is trying to manipulate Marinette by doing the typical things an OC does when they are "on her side" in a Salt Fic.

* GreaterScopeVillain: Lila's actions set up the story and she's still weaving her webs, but this is mostly there to explain why Marinette was so ready to believe Henri when he painted all her friends as Lila's hopeless dupes. The real BigBad is Henri, with the plot focusing on the rest of Ms. Bustier's class finding themselves in the same situation that Marinette was in during ''Chameleon''.

* BigBadFriend: Henri may [[BitchInSheepsClothing seem like a loyal and kind friend to Marinette, but in reality, he’s only kind to her so he can manipulate her into isolating herself, and he can have her all to himself]]. He even knows how to expose Lila to the class and her mother, but not only does he choose not do it, he actually ‘’teams up with her’’ to help separate Marinette from Adrien and their friends.

* BrutalHonesty: Played with. A tool Henri uses to plant seeds of doubt in Marinette’s mind. He points out the class’s flaws in loyalty and logical thinking, plus he adds that she might only be making excuses for their behavior out of nostalgia. Henri also explains as Adrien’s overly-passive nature and lack of empathy for her and the friends Lila’s manipulating, and that Marinette’s only excusing him out of lingering romantic feelings. After all, if Adrien truly cared for Nino and Alya, shouldn’t he want then to know the truth about Lila, who’s using their dreams and passions to extort them? While most of what he says is one-sided in perspective, and he’s only pointing it out to make the class look like awful people, many of what he says are half-true.

* GreaterScopeVillain: Lila is this, sort of. While it’s her selfish, bullying actions that have set the events of the story in motion, many readers agree that Henri is the REAL BigBad of the story. This is because his lies of false love and loyalty, of doubts of the characters of the class, are somewhat set in truth, and his manipulation of Marinette is much more believable and better done than Lila’s manipulation of the class through outrageous takes of grandeur and fantasy.

* HateSink: If you think Lila was bad, just wait until you meet Henri. Not only is he far worse than Lila in any regard, but he's also way more effective than her in his manipulations.

* LetNoCrisisGoToWaste: Even though it’s not a major crisis with lives hanging in the balance or anything like that, Marinette is going through an emotional crisis with her friends thanks to them believing Lila over her. Their eagerness to take the liar’s word over hers, despite all they’ve been through, makes her feel neglected and has already scattered seeds of doubt about the realness of her so-called “friendships”. Henri sees the situation immediately and uses it to his advantage. He swoops in to fill the role of the faithful friend and non-passive ally against Lila that she has been dreaming of, and uses his new position to taint her already compromised view of her friends, making her isolated so he can have her completely to himself.

* ManipulativeBastard: Henri [=LeRoi=], of course. In fact, many readers have commented that he is a better manipulator than Lila. Unlike her, his lies are based in truth, simply showing another perspective on the situation and telling it to the right people to give himself an advantage. His manipulations are so subtle and so well-planned that he can get anyone to do and/or give him whatever he wants, while any victims of his charms believe that it was of their own free will to do so, without realizing that he influenced their choices.

* VillainHasAPoint: One of Henri's strongest points, and what makes him more dangerous than Lila, is that he doesn't need to lie most of the time to get what he wants.
** When Alya confronts Henri and the topic of the rearranged seats comes up, Henri points out that, if they really wanted to just accomodate Lila, all they needed to do was for Nino or Adrien to move to the back, since they're the ones who sit in the first row, yet it was Marinette who ended up alone in the back despite her seat wasn't even in the first row. Alya finds herself unable to refute his statement.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: After months of making excuses for Chloe’s bratty behavior and bullying of their classmates, Adrien finds out that it was this ExtremeDoormat attitude with her that made Marinette feel unable to trust him to talk to him about everything with Lila, [[ForWantOfANail leading her to seek comfort and companionship in Henri’s arms]]. After learning of this, Adrien is so regretful of his former passivity that when Chloé launches into a speech about how pathetic Marinette is, it pushes him over the edge and he finally snaps at her, calling her out for her bloated ego and mistreatment of others.

'''Adrien:''' Nothing's wrong with ME, Chloé. Something's wrong with you. You go around Paris, insulting people, picking on them, playing nasty tricks on them and getting them in trouble if they stand up to you. You strut around with your nose up in the air, thinking you're better than everyone else, thinking that gives you the right to treat everyone around you like garbage. Half the people in our class got akumatized because of your cruelty. And don't even get me started on the akumas you caused outside our classmates.\\
And you know what the worst part is, Chloé? The worst part is, you rarely show remorse for your actions. And even when you do, it's so little it's barely even there. You think you can mumble out a little 'sorry' and it automatically washes away all the pain you caused. It doesn't, Chloé. It takes more than a half-hearted apology to make up for something bad. And even after all the hurt you made, even if you say sorry, as soon as it's all over, you snap right back to bullying some poor new soul. You're a spoiled brat who's vain and selfish, and you don't care who you have to push around to get your way. It's no wonder the school threw a party when they found out you were leaving.\\

'''Adrien:''' Oh, come on, Chloé! Do you really think that party on the day your dad was akumatized—once more because of your meanness—was to celebrate your being Queen Bee? That party started hours ago! And the real reason behind it was because everyone was happy when they found out you were moving away! Even the teachers were laughing and dancing! How about that, Chloé? Those people were so sick of you, that they threw a giant party to celebrate the fact that they didn't have to put up with you anymore!\\
Funny enough, it was Marinette who convinced everyone to change the party to thank you for everything you did as Queen Bee. But you know what, Chloé? You don't deserve to be Queen Bee. If you did, you would stop treating people like their only purpose in life is to be there for you to hurt or belittle. You've had plenty of chances to be better, but you've wasted all of them. And I've given you a pass because we used to be friends, and I wanted to believe there was good in you.\\
Well...not anymore. I'm done defending you, Chloé. I'm done sitting around, waiting for you to change your ways. I'm done turning a blind eye to your misdeeds. I'm done with you, Chloé. I'm not interested in being friends with a bully. I wish Sabrina the best of luck dealing with you.\\

'''Adrien:''' You broke that promise first. I told you you had to be nice to people. You and I both knew I meant long-term. But the second I took back my threat, you went right back to picking on everybody. So this time, I'm not going to be your friend until you've proved you can be a better person, for good.\\
I'm sorry, Chloé. Not for what I'm about to do, but because this is the way it has to be. I'm sorry it's come to this. But I can't be friends with someone who does awful things so easily and doesn't feel any remorse or even try to change. It's not good for anyone. Not for me, not for you, not for anyone else. And I should have realized that a long time ago.