Lies We Tell (Ourselves) by MiniMinou is a Miraculous Ladybug fanfic that aim to be a Reconstruction of the very polarizing episode "Chameleon". The work can be read on Archive of Our Own here
Lies We Tell (Ourselves) contains examples of:
- Both Sides Have a Point: While yes, the audience and Marinette know just how two-faced Lila truly is, Alya, and by extension the rest of the class aren't exactly wrong for not immediately taking Marinette at her word. For one, as mentioned under Deconstruction Fic, they know Marinette has a habit of letting jealousy get the best of her and has shown to be a rather poor judge of character in the past. It also doesn't help that Marinette isn't able to provide the evidence to prove her claims without exposing herself as Ladybug and that Lila was able to give Alya insider information from Heroes' Day that wouldn't have been possible unless she was closely tied to Ladybug, or unbeknownst to her, working for Hawkmoth.
- Deconstruction Fic: Another one that deconstructs Salt Fics by reminding the readers that the characters don't have the whole picture due to lacking the audience's privileged point of view, and building on that, giving the characters logical explanations for the way they act:
- In many salt fics, Adrien is shown as a spineless Extreme Doormat because of his "taking the high road" approach to Lila's lies; here, it's shown that Adrien thought that Lila lied to make herself look more interesting and her lies weren't harming anybody. When he sees that she's trying to manipulate Nino in order to get him to work as a DJ for her parties for free while setting him up for a big disappointment, Adrien was ready to intervene, though in the end, he didn't need to. The story also reminds the readers that in "Chameleon", Adrien tried to convince Lila to stop lying, which resulted in her being Akumatized and going after him (meaning that from his point of view, he was protecting Marinette from the same thing happening to her) and that he isn't aware of Lila's threat to Marinette in the bathroom at the end of the episode.
- Alya, the other biggest victim of the Salt Fics, is often portrayed as Lila's Beta Bitch who is willing to happily throw Marinette under the bus, treats every word of Lila as gospel, and refuses to admit the truth about Lila even when presented with undeniable evidence of her falsehoods; here, it's shown that Alya trusts Lila so much because she believes to be Ladybug's bestie, and Ladybug would never befriend a bad person. When Nino points out that Lila might be lying about being Ladybug's BFF, Alya counters it by saying that Lila knows about certain events of Heroes' Day that wouldn't be able to know if she wasn't close with Ladybug (of course, Lila knows of these events because she was allied with Hawk Moth and took part in them, but Alya can't be blamed for not thinking this). So it's not a case of "Alya throwing her alleged best friend under the bus for the sake of a new girl" but "Alya is placed between a rock and a hard place when she's forced to choose between her best friend and somebody very close to her idol".
- Many Salt Fics portray Marinette's classmates as Gullible Lemmings for not instantly believing her about Lila being a manipulative liar, or in some cases, dismissing her warnings due to Marinette being jealous of Lila because she also has her eyes on Adrien. The fic smashed both situations with a sledgehammer, and shows that Marinette herself is far from flawless:
- While Nino eventually agrees with Marinette, he explains that the reason why he didn't believe her immediately is because Marinette doesn't have a perfect record herself regarding judge of character, since she used to dislike Adrien due to a bad first impression born out of a misunderstanding, and even told Nino not to befriend Adrien.
- As Alya points out, Marinette has a history of letting jealousy get the best of her when it comes to other girls who may like Adrien, with Kagami as a prime example, pointing out how Marinette never bothers to hide how much she dislikes Kagami for that very reason.
- Marinette's behavior in general is a very big case of Not Helping Your Case- her frustration with her situation and Lila, while understandable, only serves to push away her friends who, especially in Alya's case, genuinely want them to get along. Not only that, but her inability to provide evidence of Lila's wrongdoing and pleas for Alya to simply trust her without it, only serve to drive a wedge between her and Alya, since as far as the latter is aware, she's asking her to drop the new girl in class as a friend simply because Marinette asked her to.
- Foil: Adrien is presented as one to Lila. Both lie frequently and are constantly putting on facades, but where Lila does it to ruin others' lives and hog the spotlight, Adrien does it because it's the only way he has of getting any affection or defending himself against his father's abuses.
- It's Not You, It's Me: Both Adrien and Ladybug. Adrien thinks Marinette is a wonderful person and he could easily fall in love with her, but Ladybug stole his heart first and he is not about to lead Marinette on. Marinette, meanwhile, acknowledges that Cat Noir is a wonderful partner and she could very easily fall in love with him, but she is not willing to return his advances until she has resolved her emotional baggage from being turned down by Adrien and can give Cat Noir her heart whole and filled only with love for him.
- It's Not You, It's My Enemies: After being rejected by Adrien, Marinette avoids any interaction with him because, with Hawkmoth in play, she cannot allow herself to be put under emotional stress.
- Love Epiphany: Inverted. Rejecting Marinette's love confession makes him realize how Ladybug must feel towards him. The next time they meet, Chat Noir tells Ladybug that, even if he still loves her, he promises to stop flirting with her constantly.
- Mistaken for Evidence: Alya believes that Lila is telling the truth because she gives key details about the battle on Heroes' Day that she should not have known unless either she was there (Alya having no idea that Lila was willingly akumatized as Volpina at the time and thus remembered the event) or if Lila actually was Ladybug's friend and she told her.
- Mythology Gag: When asked why they were akumatized into Oblivio, Nino lies and says it was due to an argument over Super Penguino, something that was the actual reason for their akumatization in "Oblivio".
- Neutrality Backlash: Alya does her best to try to build common ground between Marinette and Lila by asking them to give each other a chance. This goes absolutely nowhere, because Lila is absolutely dedicated to using Sugary Malice to drive away all of Marinette's friends just like she promised, and as a result, Marinette has retreated into a position where you have to declare for one side or another. Alya's position simply earns her the bitter nickname "Switzerland" in Marinette's book.
- Point of Divergence:
- In "Oblivio", Alya and Nino are akumatized into Oblivio because they were caught playing a game together in a closet and they wanted everyone to forget it. This time it was because they were arguing over Marinette and Lila.
- Because of his resolve to remain Just Friends with Ladybug, Chat Noir heads back to Alya to delete the picture of their amnesiac selves kissing.
- With Us or Against Us: Marinette takes this position in the conflict between her and Lila. It's justified by the fact that she knows that Lila is a Manipulative Bitch who's always looking for ways to make herself look like the victim, so interacting with her more would just leave Marinette vulnerable. Unfortunately, Marinette's decisions - refusing to even pretend to consider befriending Lila, distancing herself from the class, and point blank refusing to provide Alya with evidence in favor of asking for her "best friend's" trust - serve to rapidly wear down the reporter's patience with her, as it doesn't make her look any less jealous and irrational.
- You Were Trying Too Hard: Ironically, Chat Noir makes progress in making Ladybug fall in love with him by stopping flirting and wooing her constantly (though Marinette cutting herself from her friends and seeking Chat Noir for emotional support definitely helped). He becomes aware of this trope when he sees the picture of her and Ladybug kissing at the end of the chapter that adapted "Oblivio": months worth of flirting and romantic gestures only managed to annoy Ladybug, but one day stripped of his memories and Ladybug is between his arms sharing a kiss with him.
