the high road
is a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic by anges_writes in which Marinette opts to deal with Lila through Bothering by the Book. Since Adrien insists that they shouldn't expose her, and everyone acts as though it's her fault they can't get along, why not give them exactly what they want?
If she's taking the high road, they're all coming along for the ride. Let them all learn what it's like to be forced to bend over backwards to appease a Manipulative Bitch.
This fanfic contains examples of:
- Abilene Paradox: The main reason it takes so long for Marinette's classmates to compare notes is that each of them thinks they are the only one to realize the truth, so they only attempt to speak individually with Marinette.
- Accusation Fic: Downplayed; the fic effectively dismantles Adrien's advice about taking "the high road" by forcing him and the rest of the class to unwillingly join Marinette in giving the Bitch in Sheep's Clothing everything she wants. Said road turns out to be much less appealing when they're all paying the price for taking it, rather than only forcing Marinette to make nice with her.
- Adults Are Useless: Weaponized; Marinette knows that Ms. Bustier won't do anything to address the bullying in her class, expecting her 'good students' to lead by example and Turn the Other Cheek. Thus, she knows that Bustier won't step in and intervene when her efforts to cater to Lila hurt the rest of the class, eventually forcing them to take matters into their own hands.
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: One of Lila's favorite tactics is Playing the Victim Card. Marinette pretends to be completely taken in by her deception, then feigns shock and horror when the class finally rallies together and "exposes the truth" to her.
- Be Careful What You Wish For:
- Adrien wanted Marinette to take 'the high road' and ignore how Lila was manipulating everyone, claiming that it didn't really matter and that it was more important to maintain the Status Quo and keep Lila from being akumatized. Marinette takes that to the logical extreme, appeasing Lila in ways that inconvenience him — and everyone else.
- Similarly, Alya and the rest of the class wanted her to just "get along" with Lila. They rethink this once they're the ones being pressured to go out of their way to cater to the Consummate Liar.
- Lila wanted to have the world revolve around her every whim. Marinette gives her exactly what she wanted, letting her Lack of Empathy and foresight dig her own grave, as her classmates grow tired of being forced to comply with her every request.
- Beneath Suspicion: Marinette takes advantage of her reputation as the "Everyday Ladybug" to make sure no one suspects that her dragging all her classmates into pretty much becoming Lila's servants is part of a scheme to bring Lila down.
- Beware the Nice Ones:
- Marinette uses her reputation for being a people-pleasing 'Everyday Ladybug' to her advantage here.
- Tikki also reveals a surprisingly mischievous side, being 100% on board with Marinette's Guile Heroine approach.
- Bothering by the Book: The crux of Marinette's plan. If she has to cater to Lila's every whim, so does everyone else.
- Cassandra Truth: Marinette learned that nobody wanted to believe her warnings about Lila. Adrien and the others subsequently learn how it feels to be The Cassandra, as their attempts to warn her about what's happening seemingly fall upon deaf ears.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Adrien drops one during his rant upon hitting his breaking point.
- Crazy-Prepared: Downplayed; when Lila complains about her tinnitus, Marinette brings out a seating chart she'd prepared specifically to cater to every condition she claimed to have, much to Lila's surprise.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Confronted by Alya and Nino, Adrien defends himself by pointing out how they refused to believe Marinette when she warned them, and that he hoped Lila would change her ways, only to watch her keep lying and Marinette fall into her clutches as a direct result of his advice.
- The Gadfly: Marinette is clearly having too much fun watching everything play out and even decides to keep her plot to herself, just for the fun of it.
- Gone Horribly Right: Deliberatedly invoked by Marinette; her classmates wanted her to get along with Lila, so she did that, and then some by dragging everybody else into making sure all of Lila's whims are catered to. This prompts them into taking everything Lila says with a grain of salt and finding holes in her claims, if only to escape being her servants.
- Hoist by His Own Petard:
- Marinette keeps track of every single lie Lila tells, especially her "disabilities", and works hard to ensure each and every one is accounted for and accommodated... regardless of how that impacts the others. This turns the rest of the class on Lila, especially after they realize she's been deceiving them all along.
- Lila's willingness to exploit her classmates without any regard whatsoever also works against her, as she fully capitalizes on all the opportunities she's handed without considering how this might impact the way they view her.
- Hourglass Plot: Adrien, Alya and the rest of Marinette's classmates gradually find themselves in the same position she started out in: knowing that Lila is a Manipulative Bitch who's taking advantage of their friend, but unable to convince her victim of the Awful Truth.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In a variation, Marinette shuts down Alya's Team Adrienette agenda by reminding her that Lila likes Adrien as well, declaring that she's more than happy to step aside and let her pursue him without any competition.
- In-Universe Factoid Failure: Lila doesn't research her claims, which works against her once her classmates start looking into them. She also misidentifies the Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps as an ice skater, and offers to introduce Nathaniel to the late Stan Lee.
- Jaw Drop: Several of Marinette and Lila's classmates have one when the former apologizes to the latter, giving her a handmade custom jacket.
- Meaningful Echo:
- Marinette repeats Adrien's claim that Lila's "not hurting anyone" when he comes to her asking to be moved to a different seat.
- Later on, she echoes all of the excuses he made for Lila while pressuring Marinette to take "the high road" in the first place.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Adrien gets hit by this when Marinette thanks him for pushing her to give Lila another chance, saying he helped them become friends.
- He has a second one that hits even harder while trying to defend himself against an angry Alya, as he explains why he didn't want to expose Lila and realizes that he unintentionally pushed her into Lila's clutches.
- In a downplayed example, Marinette is shocked to hear Adrien releasing a Cluster F-Bomb when he finally can't take it anymore.
- Obfuscating Disability: One of Lila's favorite tactics, which Marinette weaponizes here.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging:
- Played With in that Marinette knows exactly what she's doing when she praises her classmates for kindly helping her cater to Lila's every whim, knowing full well that they're uncomfortable with the changes but don't want to disappoint her.
- She also thanks Adrien for the advice he'd given her, declaring that "If it weren't for you, I would've missed out on a really amazing friend. I owe you one." Leaving him to wallow in the horror of unintentionally making her Lila's thrall.
- Playing the Victim Card: Lila loves doing this, turning on the Crocodile Tears whenever somebody balks at catering to her whims. Marinette turns this around on her by letting everyone believe she was completely taken in by her deception.
- Poor Communication Kills: As the classmates gradually figure out Lila's true nature, they approach Marinette individually to try and convince her, rather than comparing notes with each other.
- Rage Breaking Point: Adrien hits his when Marinette texts the whole class suggesting that they should throw a party for Lila, spurring a Cluster F-Bomb rant.
- The Resenter: The whole class comes to resent Lila for getting special treatment for her laundry list of fake disabilities, especially since they're all pressured to go out of their way to support her.
- Sweet Tooth: Adrien complains that despite her supposed 'gluten allergy', Lila eats more pastries than he does during photoshoots.
- A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Marinette turns the tables on Adrien and the rest of her classmates by taking them on the high road with her, forcing them to be the ones making concessions in order to accommodate Lila's Blatant Lies, as well as feigning ignorance when they try to convince her that she's being manipulated.
- Tempting Fate: The class unknowingly does this when they praise Marinette's thoughtfulness and how she's always looking out for them when she unveils her new seating arrangement chart she drafted to cater to all of Lila's supposed disabilities... before learning just where each of them has been placed.
- Through His Stomach: Played With; one of the ways Marinette ensures that the whole class is inconvenienced by the concessions she makes to Lila is by not bringing her usual Friday treats, since Lila has claimed to be allergic to gluten and she didn't have the supplies necessary to fix anything for her... and it wouldn't have been fair if only she got left out, right?
- Too Dumb to Live: In spite of Marinette previously doing her best to expose Lila for the liar she was, she completely falls for Marinette's claims of now believing her and wanting to be her friend. This ensures she goes down later in the story once the others catch on.
- Unwitting Pawn: Ms. Bustier functions as one to both Lila and Marinette; both take full advantage of how Bustier expects her "good" students to lead by example.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Alya and Nino call Adrien out when he accidentally reveals that he knew about Lila's true nature and pressured Marinette to stop trying to expose her.
