History Fanfic / MarinetteDupainChengsSpitePlaylist

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Before summer break, Lila tells her classmates that she's going to be visiting Achu. Maintaining this lie means she's effectively under self-imposed house arrest for the next two months, seething while others enjoy the holiday. Can't risk being seen, after all. [[spoiler:She even rejects akumanization to avoid blowing her own cover!]]

** Adrien realizes just how much he dismissed and downplayed Marinette's perspective after she transfers out of Françoise Dupont. This is swiftly followed by a stronger one when he learns about how Lila threatened her in the bathroom.

** Adrien realizes that his advice about leaving Lila be was ill-considered after Marinette transfers. This is followed by a stronger reality check when Marinette explains how she threatened her in the bathroom and almost got her akumatized.

* UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}}: Elliot is trans male. He started transitioning the summer before collége, and his family has been supportive, but only Macy and a few teachers knew before Marinette found out in Chapter 11.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng is ''done''. Done with dealing with lying liars who lie like Lila Rossi, and those to flock towards her lapping up every last lie. Done with {{Intrepid Reporter}}s who won't verify their sources, but expect '''her''' to do the legwork for them. Done with {{Fair Weather Friend}}s who turn on her at a moment's notice. Done with Collège Françoise Dupont.

In January 2021, the author begun releasing a "Remix" version, which was available exclusively [[https://purrincess-chat.tumblr.com/tagged/mdcspr on her tumblr]] until it had surpassed the original in terms of chapter count. That finally happened in July 2021 with the 22nd chapter out of 41 posted and '': Remix'' added to the title. Now the ''original'' version is [[https://purrincess-chat.tumblr.com/tagged/mdcsp%20original exclusive to her tumblr]] instead (well, and Website/WaybackMachine). As of January 2022, the Remix version is complete.

* BetrayalFic: While some of those who turned upon her eventually get some LaserGuidedKarma for their actions, the primary focus here is on Marinette coping with their betrayal and moving forward.

** Adrien's primary problems are his [[WideEyedIdealist naivete]] and [[TheDitherer hesitance]]. His mother taught him that it was better to ignore issues rather than 'make a fuss', and while he's come to recognize that letting Lila continue lying unchallenged was a mistake, he balks at the prospect of fighting back through methods he deems too sketchy or underhanded. This enables Lila to not only counter his 'cleaner' methods, but start escalating in response to his defiance, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero making matters significantly worse]]. Not helping is that he worries too much about the potential fallout of exposing her, unable or possibly unwilling to admit that things will go badly no matter how delicately it's handled, simply because of the nature of her deception.
** Alya's biggest flaws are [[IRejectYourReality denial]] and stubbornness. Once she's decided that something is true, that's it. Any evidence to the contrary gets ignored, dismissed or otherwise treated as wrong, because that's easier than acknowledging the notion that ''SHE'' [[NeverMyFault might have made a mistake somewhere]]. This WithUsOrAgainstUs attitude winds up dividing the class and pushing away more and more of her friends.
** Chloé is {{Pride}}ful, stubborn and hard-headed, and her history of bullying and belittling her peers makes it harder for her to say or do anything against Lila, as she's dismissed simply because she's ''[[SpoiledBrat Chloé]]''. She's also reluctant to admit how much she misses Marinette or regrets her past behavior, which only makes matters worse.

** On a meta level, Remix!Alya versus the original Playlist's Alya. In the first fic, Alya is shown to be more of an UnwittingPawn in Lila's schemes, with Lila preying upon her sadness to [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis become her submissive]] BetaBitch. The Remix delves more into Alya's perspective and has her actually questioning some of Lila's claims, only to back off and latch onto the 'easier' answers her FalseFriend offers because the alternative means [[NeverMyFault accepting she made some major mistakes and misjudgments]].

** One way that the Remix differs from the original fic: when Alya tries to ask Ladybug about [[spoiler:Malin replacing Rena Rouge]], Ladybug's Earrings are beeping -- her transformation timer is running out. As a result, she barely has time to answer Alya's question before having to leave the MediaScrum. This causes the other reporters present to [[DeathGlare glare at Alya]] for wasting their time with that query, leaving Alya feeling even more isolated.

** [[spoiler:Chloe being given the Bee Comb again]] just further convinces Alya that Ladybug is really a BitchInSheepsClothing. Alya is unaware that [[spoiler:Chloe has had real CharacterDevelopment that led to her being trusted by Ladybug again]], so from her perspective, [[spoiler:a horrible bully got a second chance while she got replaced for no reason. Tigress' less than tactful handling after Alya gets akumatized only further fuels her issues in that regard]].

-->'''Lila:''' You don't want to be friends with a loser like her. I'm the great-granddaughter of world-famous piano player, Victor Laurent.\\

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Adrien tries to be a voice of reason and morality throughout the story. But after the museum incident he's just done with Lila and all too happy to just let Chloe to as she wants so he can be rid of the liar. The only reason he decides to try something a bit more morally upright is because Marinette reminds him of the fallout for their classmates.

* ReformedButNotTamed: {{Deconstructed}} through Chloé while she becomes more of a LovableAlphaBitch, her abrasive personality and history of bullying makes it easy for Lila to discredit her. Worse, Lila uses this to paint Marinette, Adrien, and anyone else who tries to reveal the truth about her as evil by association.

** PlayedForLaughs with Chloé, who ''wants'' to rope Adrien and Marinette into taking the 'low road' and wreck vengeance upon Lila.

* AffluentAscetic: Despite all the money she makes later in the story, [[spoiler: Marinette]] doesn't really change her lifestyle that much, aside from getting a car, chauffeur and a PA.

* ABirthdayNotABreak: Downplayed; Adrien officially emancipates himself on his eighteenth birthday, and has to remind [[spoiler:Emilie]] of this before leaving the manor for the last time.
* BittersweetEnding: More sweet than bitter, overall. Adrien has to deal with the knowledge that his father abused the Butterfly Miraculous (and that [[spoiler:Emilie did the same with the Peacock]]). Similarly, Alya must cope with the heavy realization of how she was manipulated, and how much Lila changed her for the worst. Then there's how [[spoiler:the Miraculous Team must retire for good, with Master Fu, Tikki and Plagg promising to keep in touch]]. The remix version adds some bitterness when [[spoiler:Emilie doesn't recover.]]

* ImprobableAge: Marinette manages to [[spoiler: become a world-famous and coveted designer, and founder of a number of charities and get filthy rich]] being only ''fourteen years old''. By around ''sixteen'' she is already [[spoiler: meeting up with ambassadors from all Europe to launch a ''continent-wide'' ecologic campaign]]. Keep in mind that, while at this point her social circle consists entirely of rich kids, all of them are rich because of their parents, while Marinette managed it on her own.

** She brings up how much of a pushover Adrien and is absolutely right about him being an ExtremeDoormat, something Adrien does realize is true and starts working to correct it.
** When Chloé insults Alya for turning against Ladybug Adrien protests that Alya is being mislead by Lila. Chloé fires back that Alya chose to listen to Lila and refuses to hear anything that doesn't fit her biased views, so it's not their fault she's acting up.
** Chloé's belief that they have to face Lila head on and be just as mean does hold some merit. Marinette and Adrien both chose to avoid dealing with Lila directly and it only made her worse without any one to stand up to her. Not to mention softer methods would be likely to fail against Lila given what she's pulled off so far.

* NoodleIncident: Although Adrien eventually comes to the conclusion that [[spoiler:Emilie's coma was caused by her abusing her miraculous]] and confronts her about it, the only explanation she gives is that [[spoiler:she and Gabriel only did it to "protect" Adrien]] but it is never explained ''how'' the power was abused or ''why'' Adrien resents it so much. The last one at least is superficially adressed as him feeling smothered, but what does that have to do with [[spoiler:his parents misusing the miraculous]] is never explained in the story.

* CriticalResearchFailure: InUniverse, Lila is more than a bit of a KnowNothingKnowItAll, making claims that could be easily disproven by anyone willing to investigate... or just know the subject matter better than she does, as Martin demonstrates:
-->'''Lila:''' You don't want to be friends with a loser like her. I'm the great-granddaughter of world-famous piano player, Victor Laurent.\\
'''Martin:''' Victor Laurent didn't have any children. He died alone at the age of 72 from pneumonia...

* {{Hypocrite}}:
** Despite all her bragging that "a good journalist always does her research", Alya balks when Adrien asks her to look into Lila's claims, partly because she's afraid of potentially learning that he -- and Marinette -- were ''right''. She ''does'' start questioning things but does the absolute bare minimum to actually look into the issue and drops it entirely when Lila offers her a scenario that allows Alya to outright dismiss Adrien's concerns.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion:
** After Chloé attempts to convince Marinette to help her take down Lila, Adrien surprises Mari by asking her "Do you think I'm spineless?" She tries reassuring him, but his self-realization still sticks.
* ArmorPiercingResponse:
** When Alya confronts Marinette about transferring out and makes clear that she ''still'' won't hear her side of the story, she answers one of Alya's angry comments in a way she clearly didn't expect:
--->'''Alya:''' Then I guess we shouldn't consider ourselves [=BFFs=] if there's so much we don't know about each other! Maybe we shouldn't even be friends at all.\\

* BrickJoke: In the very first chapter, Tikki complains about Marinette's new SchoolUniform, which Marinette privately acknowledges she finds drab as well. This comes up again in Chapter [[spoiler:36]] when [[spoiler:Adrien transfers in -- he explains that Chloe refused to join him because she refused to be caught dead in such a dreadful uniform]].

As of January 2021, the author has begun releasing a "Remix" version, which will be available exclusively [[https://purrincess-chat.tumblr.com/tagged/mdcspr on her tumblr]] until it has surpassed the original in terms of chapter count. That finally happened in July 2021 with the 22nd chapter out of 41 posted and '': Remix'' added to the title. Now the ''original'' version is exclusive to her tumblr instead (well, and Website/WaybackMachine).

* BittersweetEnding: More sweet than bitter, overall. Adrien has to deal with the knowledge that his father abused the Butterfly Miraculous (and that [[spoiler:Emilie did the same with the Peacock]]). Similarly, Alya must cope with the heavy realization of how she was manipulated, and how much Lila changed her for the worst. Then there's how [[spoiler:the Miraculous Team must retire for good, with Master Fu, Tikki and Plagg promising to keep in touch]].

* HisStoryRepeatsItself: Adrien previously chose to stand by and let Lila go unchallenged, advising Marinette to to the same; this led to her transferring out. As this story progresses, he eventually decides to stand up against Lila, facing similar resistance to what Marinette dealt with.

** When a new Fox holder appears [[spoiler: and Ladybug makes it clear that Rena Rouge is being replaced]] Alya does have a right to be upset, given that as far as she's aware she hasn't done anything to merit Ladybug's decision. Ladybug didn't speak to her at all about anything regarding her status as a hero and she can't exactly reveal to Alya that it's issues in Marinette's life that led to it.
** [[spoiler: Chloe being given the Bee Comb again just further convinces Alya that Ladybug is really a BitchInSheepsClothing. Alya is unaware that Chloe has had real CharacterDevelopment that led to her being trusted by Ladybug again so from her perspective a horrible bully got a second chance while she got replaced for no reason. Tigress' less than tactful handling after Alya gets akumatized only further fuels her issues in that regard.]]
** Played with after Alya is de-akumatized. She get's called out on her IRejectYourReality mentality about what's going on with her life [[spoiler: by Tigress]] and treats the whole thing as more proof that Ladybug is a BitchInSheepsClothing. While the untactful behavior didn't help things Ladybug observes that Alya had already made her mind up and just used that as fuel for the fire.

* TemptingFate: After [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink giving another model food poisoning]] so she can weasel her way into one of Adrien's photoshoots, Lila [[EvilGloating gloats to him]] that she's better at manipulating others than he is. Naturally, Adrien proves her wrong by [[spoiler:faking his ''own'' case of food poisoning, getting the photographer to cancel the shoot]].

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Before summer break, Lila tells her classmates that she's going to be visiting Achu. Maintaining this lie means she's effectively under self-imposed house arrest for the next two months, seething while others enjoy the holiday. Can't risk being seen, after all. [[spoiler:She even rejects akumanization to avoid blowing her own cover!]]

* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: Once she's ready to tackle the Lila situation again, Marinette decides to try this tactic. Specifically, [[spoiler:making all of Lila's claims come true, but in ways that make it impossible for her to keep claiming the credit]].

** Despite all her bragging that "a good journalist always does her research", Alya balks when Adrien asks her to look into Lila's claims, partly because she's afraid of potentially learning that he -- and Marinette -- were ''right''.

* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: How Chloé decides to help defeat Lila, though with a twist: [[spoiler:they'll make everything Lila lies about actually happen, only with ''Marinette'' appearing at the events. Beating her flimsy deception with ''real'' work]].

* BullyingADragon: Despite her 'victory', Lila isn't quite willing to let Marinette go, gleefully attempting to needle and work her way further under her skin at every opportunity.
** AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: Ultimately, she sets in motion her own downfall when she [[spoiler:forcibly kisses Adrien at the museum, both to spite Marinette and to further dig her claws into him]]. This prompts Marinette [[spoiler:and Adrien]] to start working against her in earnest.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: The fallout of the news that [[AlphaBitch Gabrielle's]] family [[spoiler:is bankrupt]] is implied to be massive and ends with her [[spoiler:becoming a social pariah]], however, since it's not pertaining to the main story, the details are skipped over entirely and her character slowly [[DemotedToExtra fades into the background.]]

* WoundedGazelleGambit: In the Remix, Lila pulls the "Marinette pushed me down the stairs" trick at the Louvre. Even though Adrien is right there as a witness, she has discredited him enough that Alya and others in the class believe her.

** Alya's biggest flaw is [[IRejectYourReality denial]]. Rather than delve too deeply into Lila's claims and unearth the full extent of her deception, she shies back and latches onto whatever lets her keep believing that [[NeverMyFault she hasn't done anything wrong]]. Because she HAS to have been right all along... and her inability to face a potentially AwfulTruth just makes matters worse for everyone involved.
*** There's also her forceful personality. Alya shows a tendency to try and push people to do what she deems best, trying to force others to act how she wants and drawing battle lines when they refuse to support her. It doesn't help that Alya assumes she has the moral high ground or full understanding of situations when she really doesn't [[IRejectYourReality and denies any proof to the contrary]] so she's working off of skewed perceptions that cause her massively misjudge what's going to happen. The dialogue under ArmorPiercingResponse is implied to be an attempt to guilt Marinette to admit she's wrong about everything and she's caught by surprise when Marinette ''doesn't'' act how Alya expects. The same bullheadedness is major part of Alya's [[spoiler: replacement as the Fox Wielder]] and only further makes things worse because it mixes in with her [[NeverMyFault refusal to admit she's done anything wrong]], leading to her starting to lash out at ''anyone'' that could be connected to Marinette [[spoiler: such as Ladybug]]. She also basically forces a divide on class that, while making things a great deal harder for Adrien in exposing Lila, has the benefit of actually making those who don't side with her start thinking critically about Marinette and concede that she could actually be innocent. In trying to make people conform to what she sees as the truth she winds up only uncovering more proof that she isn't right.

* BroingButPractical: This is how the BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame strategy is treated. It's not as grand or as quick as just outing Lila as a liar would be but it will let the class come to the realization on their own that they were deceived and effectively cut Lila off from trying her manipulations again.

** Alya proves to be another type of [[TheDitherer ditherer]]: one motivated by a reluctance to face a [[AwfulTruth potentially painful truth]]. Rather than delve too deeply into Lila's claims and unearth the full extent of her deception, she shies back and latches onto whatever lets her keep believing that [[NeverMyFault she hasn't done anything wrong]].

* WoundedGazelleGambit: In the Remix, Lila pulls the "Marinette pushed me down the stairs" trick at the Louvre. Even though Adrien is right there as a witness, she has discredited him enought that Alya and others in the class believe her.

** Adrien's is his innocence. While he has come recognize that his inaction has allowed Lila to become a much bigger problem his efforts to solve the issue are continually roadblocked by his reluctance to use what he deems underhanded or sketchy tactics. The thing is these types of tactics are a necessity because his cleaner methods get countered by Lila, who decides to start escalating her actions because of his defiance. This in turn makes his goals much harder to achieve. Not helping is that Adrien worries too much about the fallout of exposing Lila, unable or possibly unwilling to admit that things are going to go badly no matter how delicately it's handled solely because of the nature of Lila's deceptions.
** Marinette's is her ChronicHeroSyndrome. No matter how bad someone has been to her she can't help wanting to reach out to them when they're in trouble. This adds to her problems because she continually feels overwhelmed with being ''expected'' to be the one to solve everythin. And no matter how many [[SelfCareEpiphany Self Care Epiphanies]] she has about leaving things be so she won't be overwhelmed in the first place she finds herself in the position of being the only one who can chart a healthy way forward for everyone.
** Alya's is [[TheDitherer reluctance]]. She avoids giving critical thought to situations in favor of accepting narratives at face value that fit her wishes. She's also extremely hesitant to actually follow up on things when doubts are brought up about what she believes, doing the absolute bare minimum to check that she's actually right. When Adrien approaches her to look into Lila for herself Alya takes an immense amount of time to consider that he may be telling the truth and doesn't even bother to look further when she starts seeing small signs that he's actually right. By contrast she accepts Lila's open slander of Marinette, Adrien and Ladybug with no complaint whatsoever because it suits her better that they are holding an irrational grudge instead of going looking for answers that could prove her wrong. Essentially Alya resists thinking too heavily on things because she would rather be right than be truthful.