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Chapter Text

Marinette ultimately couldn't argue her parents' point as she walked towards her new school that morning: Collège Françoise Dupont was closer than her old school, and she wasn't going to be tardy as often. That didn't completely get rid of her issues with attending said school.

And speaking of issues, she slowed down as a familiar blond girl climbed out of a limo, flouncing up the stairs and into the building without giving any attention to any one else around her. It would be hard to not recognize Chloé Bourgeois even if Marinette wasn't one of the two people who ended up having to clean up her messes at least three times a month when this whole mess had begun, just as it was hard not to recognize Collège Françoise Dupont due to the sheer amount of akumas that had been produced there.

Her parents hadn't sounded very enthusiastic about it themselves, but she could understand why they found it necessary, with the way her standing with her old school was suffering from her repeated tardies. Even if it meant she didn't get to spend as much time with her friends during the week. On the bright side, she wouldn't have to do much traveling to get to ground zero next time someone at this school got magically induced into trying to murder Chloé.

Somehow, it didn't feel like much of a bright side.

Taking a deep breath, she headed up the stairs into the building. She wasn't sure whether this was an "out of the frying pan" situation, or if this was her entering the frying pan and the fire would come up later. Either way...she had handled worse. She'd be fine.

Marinette remembered every akuma, mostly because they all were notable for at least something, and Xavier Ramier and August Leclair were evidence that any akuma could be recreated. Remembering the akumas meant remembering the level of threat they were and, hopefully, remembering the weaknesses she could exploit.

The principal was Dark Owl, who had gotten too close to getting the Miraculous for her liking. Her teacher, whose name was printed on top of her schedule she had retrieved from the office, was Zombizou, who had created a love zombie apocalypse that had been annoying on many levels. The girl she passed in the hallway with the blue cloud dress was Stormy Weather, one of the early akumas who had been difficult to out maneuver when she could literally blow Ladybug and Chat Noir away.

Still, it was a bit of a shock to open the door to her classroom and see several pairs of eyes staring at her, especially when she recognized almost all of them.

Lady Wifi, Bubbler, Dark Cupid, Timebreaker, Princess Fragrance, Reflekta, Evillustrator, Horrificator, and on and on. There was only one face she didn't recognize and that was a blond boy with green eyes in the front row, sitting next to the girl Marinette recognized as Volpina. Every other person had been akumatized.

It was almost enough to keep her from noticing that Chloé was also in this class.

Marinette didn't blame the victims for being akumatized, but she did feel a bit nervous anyway as she walked up to the teacher and her desk. It was mostly just the attention all on her, curious, searching eyes that seemed to be looking into her soul.

The teacher, Ms. Caline Bustier, smiled at her. "You must be Marinette, then?"

"Yes ma'am," Marinette answered with a nod, reaching into her backpack and pulling out a letter. "I was told I needed to give you my accommodation letter?"

Ms. Bustier nodded and took it, her eyes scanning over it for a moment before opening a folder and tucking it aside. "Alright, I'll be sure to make a note of this. I'd recommend talking to the librarian at lunch about the distraction-free testing room, since she can give you more information about it. For now, your assigned seat is in the back desk to the right, on the aisle side, next to Sabrina."

"Thank you, Ms. Bustier," Marinette answered politely, before turning to look at the desks.

Most of the eyes had looked away now, most of her new classmates involved in their own conversations. Chloé looked up from where she was filing her nails, her eyes looking Marinette up and down, and she let out a small noise that meant...something, before turning her attention back to her manicure. The Ladyblogger (Lady Wifi: disable internet and destroy any devices that would provide her service and she could be overpowered), was looking at her as she whispered to the boy sitting next to her (Bubbler: bubbles could give him control over the environment with traps and such, but in a face-to-face fight he was easy to deal with). The blond boy she didn't recognize made eye contact with her briefly, giving her a smile and a small wave of greeting that she returned. And the girl beside him (Volpina: illusions are dangerous, but keeping on the offensive would prevent her from using her flute and her physical prowess was no match for an actual miraculous user) gave her an appraising look that made her feel a little uncomfortable.

Shaking her head, she headed up the stairs to one of the back desks, the one where a girl with short red hair (Vanisher; a much more effective Volpina due to her invisibility being constant, use some sort of method to render her visible, like flour) was sitting, scribbling in a journal.

"Hi, you're Sabrina, right?" she asked, and the girl looked up, blinking in surprise before giving a quick nod, scooting over so Marinette could sit beside her. "Thanks."

Tugging her phone from her pocket, since class had yet to begin, she could already see several new text messages.

Melodious: day 1 without marinette: life seems to have lost all its color. i enter mr. dubois' class and he immediately fails me in math because it is now obvious i've lost my crutch. i feel so alone.

Speed Demon: dude

Speed Demon: class hasnt even started yet

Melodious: uuuuuuuuuuugh

Drama King: Do you want my crown legs?

Melodious: hell no clown

Grumpy Cat Meme: Why are you texting? We are all in the same class.

Grumpy Cat Meme: Who changed my name?

Drama King: :)

Grumpy Cat Meme changed their name to Felix

Drama King: :(

Melodious: mari's not in this class anymore. i wanted to include her.

Felix: I suppose that's fair, but I'm trying to study for the quiz.

Melodious: THERE'S A QUIZ???

Speed Demon: uh oh better cram allegra

Melodious: shut up i will kill you

Marinette let out a snort at Allegra's antics, quickly typing out a new text message. Allegra and Claude had both acted like the world was ending when Marinette had told them she was transferring to a new school, and it seemed Allegra was still extending the joke. It wasn't like she wasn't meeting up with them after school or anything. Still...

Fashionista: good luck on your quiz guys! you can do it Allegra, I believe in you!

Melodious: i'm gonna cry i've been blessed

Drama King: Seriously legs you can have the crown whenever you want

Melodious: fuck off clown

Tucking her phone back into her pocket, she glanced over at her new deskmate, who had finished scribbling in her notebook and was now tucking it into her bag.

"So...are you a writer?" Marinette asked quietly, and Sabrina jumped, seeming startled at the question.

"...Not really," Sabrina answered, keeping her voice down as she did. "More like...investigative journalist?" She shrugged a bit helplessly before fidgeting with her sleeves as she did. "Or maybe a detective, I guess."

Marinette smiled. "That's really cool. Like a police detective or a private detective?"

Sabrina tilted her head thoughtfully. "I'm not sure? My dad's a police officer, but he's a patrolman, not a detective, so I don't really know much about what a police detective does. He mostly does things like give tickets and stop people from feeding pigeons in public areas. He doesn't really help people so much as enforce the law." She shrugged again, but she didn't seem as nervous anymore. "It's not always the same thing."

Remembering Stoneheart, the first Mr. Pigeon attack, and Rogercop, Marinette couldn't help but agree there. "That's a good point."

Sabrina gave a small smile, before asking, "Um, what about you?"

Marinette laughed. "I'm a fashion designer, actually. I really like designing and making clothes, and I really love it when a piece comes together." She shrugged awkwardly, admitting, "I guess that's not as big of a deal as wanting to help people, but it's what I love."

"I think it's cool," Sabrina answered. "We actually had a contest here hosted by Gabriel Agreste to design a hat. It's too bad you had to miss it."

"Nah, it's fine. I'm honestly not a big fan of Gabriel as a brand." And Gabriel as a person can go crawl in a ditch. "Some of the accessories he designs are cool, but the clothes are dull and boring. He isn't willing to take risks or do anything except stay safe, and you can't wear his clothes without practically begging for stains because it's all white."

Sabrina nodded sagely. "Yeah, and it's all ridiculously expensive too. I think I like my clothes from the thrift store more."

"Your outfit looks really cute on you too," Marinette agreed, and Sabrina gave a small, slightly embarrassed smile at that.

"Thanks."

"Alright everybody, class is starting!" Ms. Bustier called, and the class began putting phones away and pulling out notebooks. "And remember to introduce yourselves to your new classmate when you can. I hope you'll all give Marinette a warm welcome."

A blond girl with light blue eyes (Princess Fragrance: improvised gas masks for herself and Chat Noir before confrontation) glanced back at her and gave her a little wave, and Marinette smiled at her and waved back.

Even if this class had Chloé in it, it seemed at least a few people here were really nice. Maybe this wouldn't be too bad?

"Hey, do you want to be lab partners in Ms. Mendeleiev's class?" Sabrina asked as the two of them stood up, and Marinette blinked in surprise. "My uh...my old lab partner paired up with someone else and I...I really don't want to pair up with Chloé."

"Sure!" Marinette answered. "I'd be happy to!"

Sabrina smiled at that, seeming somewhat relieved at that. Marinette couldn't blame her, not really.

Before Marinette could say anything else, she heard someone on the step behind her, and turned to face the blond girl from before and a girl with black and purple hair (Reflekta: difficult to track later on, but not dangerous and can be baited out of hiding) standing there, the blond girl sticking out a hand and saying cheerfully, "Hi, I'm Rose! Welcome to Collège Françoise Dupont!"

"Oh, thank you," Marinette answered, shaking her hand. "I'm Marinette." Then, looking over to the dark haired girl, she asked, "What's your name?"

"...Juleka," the girl answered quietly. "Uh, nice to meet you."

"She's the best friend I've ever had," Rose declared proudly, pulling Juleka into a sideways hug that caused her to blush somewhat. "But anyway, I'm the class representative for this class, so if you have any questions or need help with anything, you can come to me!"

Marinette nodded in understanding. "Alright, thanks for letting me know! It's really nice to meet you both."

"Nice to meet you too," Rose answered cheerfully. "I'm sure you'll find a lot of friends in this class."

"We, uh..." Marinette turned to see Sabrina standing there, looking a bit awkward. "We should probably get to class. Ms. Mendeleiev doesn't like it when students are late."

Better made a note of that.

"Oops, right," Rose agreed, laughing. "Thanks for the reminder, Sabrina."

Sabrina nodded without a word, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and giving Rose and Juleka a tiny wave before heading down the stairs. Marinette could see the way Rose's smile fell, replaced with a concerned frown, but she didn't feel it was any of her business.

Still, it was...it was weird, that Sabrina had gotten so quiet all of a sudden.

"Hey Marinette," Rose began, drawing her attention again. "I really hope you and Sabrina become good friends. I think she needs it." Then with a smile, she continued, "Well, we better get to class!"

Marinette frowned, a bit confused, but nodded, turning and hurrying to follow Sabrina.

"Is everything alright?" she asked quietly, once she had caught up, and Sabrina glanced over at her for a moment before giving a small nod.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," she answered. "It's just...a bit of an awkward situation. But it's not a big deal."

Hmm...that doesn't sound right. But it's none of my business, so I won't bother her about it.

Fashionista: hey guys!

Melodious: SHE LIVES!

Drama King: SHE LIVES!

Felix: You both are insufferable.

Speed Demon: aw thanks felix

Fashionista: so I got the Queen of Mean in my class.

Drama King: Oh shit you don't mean

Speed Demon: chloe bourgeois?!

Melodious: oh god mari i'm so sorry

Felix: An unstoppable force meets and immovable object. Chloe Bourgeois, who has akumatized nearly everyone she knows, versus Marinette Dupain-Cheng, who has never even been at risk.

Fashionista: so far Chloe hasn't done anything to me.

Fashionista: but considering there's only one person in my class who has never been akumatized

Melodious: what le fuck

Felix: I second Allegra's statement.

Fashionista: yeah it's wild

Speed Demon: you got this marinette

Speed Demon: dont let her break your record!

Drama King: Hey felix you grew up with her

Drama King: Any advice?

Felix: Get a restraining order.

Fashionista: I don't think that's going to work out?

Felix: Then I have nothing to recommend.

Felix: Have you run into Adrien yet?

Fashionista: not yet

Fashionista: how'd the quiz go?

Melodious: no do not remind me of it

Melodious: it is out of mind, it does not exist

Drama King: Keep telling yourself that legs

Melodious: wanna die clown?

"Who are you texting?" Sabrina asked out of curiosity, and Marinette let out a snort as she tucked her phone back into her pocket.

"Just my friends," Marinette answered. "They were a bit worried about me because..." She hesitated, wondering if this was maybe rude to bring up.

Sabrina nodded in understanding. "All the akumatizations? Yeah, that makes sense. I think some kids in other classes got transferred out because their parents were worried." She shuddered slightly. "Getting akumatized is a freaky experience. It's happened to me twice, and I hate it. I really hope you don't have to go through that."

Yeah, me too.

Marinette noticed a small bag in with her lunch as she opened it up, and she checked inside the bag to see a few macarons. Then, looking over to Sabrina, she pulled one from the bag and asked, "Want one?"

Sabrina's eyes brightened at the sight. "Really?" She took the cookie from Marinette's hand and took a bite, humming in delight at the taste. "Ish so good!"

"My dad made them," Marinette explained, taking one out for herself and taking a bite. "He must have snuck them into my lunch when I wasn't looking."

"That's really sweet." Sabrina finished her macaron in a second bite, smiling as she did.

As Marinette started on the rest of her lunch, she could hear loud talking from a nearby table, and she glanced up at it to see the girl she recognized as Volpina sitting on the table, with a few of her classmates sitting at the table and a few more gathered around it. It was kind of ridiculous, honestly.

"And Jagged Stone promised to write a song for me as a thank you!" she continued, and Marinette frowned at that. "It was so nice of him, especially since all I did was save his kitten at the airport."

...What?

Marinette mentally went over all the ways that was weird. For one, Jagged Stone didn't have a kitten. Fang was too much of a hazard to a kitten for that to work out. For another...this girl couldn't be much older than her, could she? She had to realize how creepy it would be for a grown man to write a song about her, right? Jagged was a lot of things, but he definitely had enough impulse control and common sense to know better than to do something like that. And Penny would murder him if he causes her a PR crisis like that.

Sabrina sighed, tugging her notebook out of her bag and opening it up, writing something down before closing it again. "Please tell me you hear what was wrong with that?"

"You mean that she's spreading rumors about a celebrity implying that he would do something as creepy as writing a song for a minor?" Marinette asked. "While also suggesting a man who takes his crocodile everywhere with him would have a kitten as a pet?"

"Yeah," Sabrina answered with a nod. "I think a lot of them are a bit too starstruck by the idea of someone knowing Jagged Stone to realize the implications." She scowled at her sandwich for a moment, before shaking her head and going back to her meal.

Marinette, for only a moment, entertained calling out the lie. But logic (which tended to sound a lot like Felix) pointed out that there was no reason for them to believe her over the person they had known longer. Not to mention that Marinette didn't want to take advantage of the working relationship she had with Jagged Stone just to call out a namedropper. That wouldn't make her much better than namedropper herself.

Still...she still remembered the circumstances that led to Volpina in the first place. She had hoped that maybe the girl had reconsidered the namedropping. But apparently not.

"I gotta go to the bathroom," she eventually said after a moment. "Could you watch my stuff?"

Sabrina nodded, and Marinette stood, heading towards the sign she had noticed earlier.

Once she was inside, and it was clear she was alone, she opened her purse. "Hey Tikki, what do you think about the former Volpina?"

"I think there's some information we're missing," Tikki admitted, sticking her head out to look at Marinette. "Do you remember Oni-chan?"

Marinette frowned, answering, "Beyond another example of Hawk Moth's questionable knowledge of cultures outside of Europe you mean?" That's right, that particular akuma had been dead set on killing the former Volpina, though she hadn't known why. She thought maybe Chat Noir knew, but if he did then he wasn't saying anything. "Yeah, she was gunning for her the way a lot of akumas went after Chloé."

Tikki nodded. "I think you need to keep an eye on her, Marinette. It's possible we might be underestimating her by considering her just a namedropper."

Before she could say anything, the sound of the handle of the door sent Tikki diving back into the purse, and Marinette began rooting through it with a plastered grimace on her face.

"Everything alright?" a familiar voice asked, and Marinette looked over to see that, speak of the devil, the girl she and Tikki had been talking about was right there.

"Forgot a pad," she answered, and the grimace was a bit more real at that. She didn't like how easy small little lies like that were now. "Do you happen to have one?"

"Oh yeah, sure!" The girl reached into her own purse, rooting through it a bit before holding out a pad. Marinette quietly thanked her and went into the nearest stall.

Once she was done, she left the stall and moved to wash her hands, and she mentally took note of the fact that the girl was still in the bathroom, leaning on the wall by the door.

"So your name is Marinette then?" she asked, and Marinette nodded. "I'm Lila. Lila Rossi."

"Nice to meet you." Definitely better than just calling her "namedropper" or "former Volpina." "Did you need something?"

The girl, Lila, took a deep breath. "I actually...I wanted to warn you about something."

Marinette frowned. "About what?"

"The thing is...I noticed you were sitting with Sabrina in our classes today, and then with her at lunch," Lila explained. "And I realized you probably didn't know..."

"...Know what?" Marinette asked, raising an eyebrow. Beyond the weirdness with Rose earlier, she hadn't noticed anything off about Sabrina. She seemed perfectly nice, and talking with her had been fun.

Lila let out a sigh, with an emphasis that seemed a bit dramatic. "Well, I know you're new, but you've gotta know about Chloé Bourgeois, right?" Marinette gave a small nod, still confused. "Well the thing is, Sabrina used to spend all her time with Chloé. Called herself her bestie and everything."

"...Is that it?" Judging by our conversation earlier about lab partners, it sounds like she doesn't want anything to do with her anymore. "I don't think it's fair to judge someone based on who they used to spend time with, do you? People change, after all." Marinette grabbed a few paper towels and set to drying her hands.

"But she didn't, is the problem," Lila continued, and Marinette paused. "Did you know when she came to this school, she started harassing me for getting close to her new friends? She accused me of awful things, and she called me names behind my back!" She shook her head sadly. "I tried so hard to be friends with her, but she refused to even try."

...Interesting.

"And so you are telling me this because...?"

"Because you should be careful. She may act like she's washed her hands free of Chloé, but she's still a bully through and through. And she'll go after you if you don't do what she wants."

Something about this is...off. Maybe it's her tone, where it sounds less like she's warning me to be careful and more like she's telling the biggest gossip she's heard today. I don't have enough information to dispute it necessarily, but it doesn't sound like she's doing this out of the goodness of her heart.

"...Thanks for the information then," she answered. "I'll take it into consideration." But I'm making my own judgment call first.

"Of course," Lila said, a grin on her face that seemed a bit more victorious than anything. "That's what a hero does, after all."

Marinette paused. "Huh?"

Lila's eyes went comically wide, and she slapped her hands over her mouth. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." Then, under her breath, "She's going to be so mad if she finds out."

"What are you talking about?" I just thought you were a Ladybug fan or something, this is a weirder reaction than I predicted?

Lila grimaced, looking around nervously before taking a deep breath. "Look, it's...it's a secret, okay? Only the class knows, because I trusted them with it, but...oh I'm sure you're trustworthy too. Anyway...I'm Red Piper."

"...What."

She sighed, pulling a pendant out from under her shirt and removing it so Marinette could see. "Ladybug entrusted me with the fox miraculous, in order to help her fight against Hawk Moth. We're best friends, so she knew I could be trusted. This is a secret, of course, so you can't tell anyone, but I'm sure Ladybug will understand if I explain the situation to her."

Marinette wordlessly took the pendant from Lila's hand, looking over it with a blank stare. Then, she looked up at Lila with the same blank expression, before looking back down at the pendant, doing her best to keep her fury in check.

This...this girl was seriously claiming to be Red Piper? Seriously? Not only had she continued claiming to have the fox miraculous and be best friends with Ladybug, but now she was taking credit for helping to fight akumas? She had the audacity to put herself and her classmates in danger by claiming to possess one of the miraculous and acting like Ladybug would ever let her get away with so many people knowing?

She had the audacity to claim credit for what Allegra had done?

Her hand shook as she looked over the necklace, forcing herself to take deep breaths to keep herself calm. Then, she looked up at Lila and gave her a harsh glare.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked, doing all she could to keep her voice steady, and Lila flinched. "Do you realize how dangerous it is to go around telling everyone that you just have one of the very specific magical items a super terrorist is gunning for? Not only are you endangering yourself and your family, but what about your classmates?! Your friends?! Have you even considered the fact that Hawk Moth might go after them to get to you?!"

She needed to stay calm. She needed to stay calm. She couldn't get akumatized over this.

"It's okay, I trust them," Lila began, but Marinette wasn't going to accept that answer.

"If Hawk Moth akumatizes them, he's in their head. They won't have a choice about what he knows. And then you're putting the lives of everyone you care about in danger, and over what?! A Gabriel necklace?!" She held up the necklace, showing the raised metal logo on the back, and Lila flinched again, her eyes wide. "Yeah, I doubt the super powerful magic items Hawk Moth is hunting are Gabriel brand. What the hell are you thinking?!"

Lila clenched her fists. "Fine, I lied. But only because Ladybug asked me to. She wanted me to make sure Red Piper's identity was safe. Are you happy?"

Marinette couldn't believe this. It was getting so much harder to remain calm with Lila saying this absolute bullshit claiming that she supposedly did that.

"You expect me to believe that Ladybug would ask you to endanger yourself, a civilian, and everyone close to you for the sake of protecting someone whose identity isn't even at risk?!" She felt insulted. "You call Ladybug your best friend and yet you betray her and her values by endangering the lives of the people she's trying to protect. And what happens if someday there's trouble and everyone you care about looks to you for help and you can't do anything?! Everyone looks to you to protect them and all you can do is stand there because you lied and now you have to let them down!"

"Shut up!" Lila shouted, pushing Marinette back roughly.

But Marinette wasn't done. "Namedropping is one thing, but these lies could get someone killed, and their lives would be on your shoulders!"

"I said shut up!" Lila grabbed Marinette's shoulders roughly and shoved her against the door, and the fox tail necklace clattered to the floor. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

It was quiet for a moment, just the two girls breathing heavily as Lila held Marinette against the door. And Marinette wasn't scared of Lila, but she didn't say another word, her mind finally catching up with her own words.

"...I'm sorry," Marinette finally continued. "But what you're doing is dangerous. And I'm not going to play along and pretend it's anything otherwise, not when people's lives are at stake."

The grip on her shoulders tightened, but Marinette couldn't stop now.

"How many people do you think died during Syren? Or on Heroes Day? What if one day Ladybug can't fix it? What if the day everyone you love is hurt is the day Ladybug and Chat Noir lose and Hawk Moth wins?"

"Stop it," Lila growled out. "If you say anything about this to anyone, I'll make sure you suffer. You'll be alone, without any friends here, and you'll know better than to cross me."

"Like Sabrina?" Marinette asked, and Lila's grip fell away as she recoiled. "Yeah, I figured." Rolling her shoulders back with a wince, she continued. "Go for it, then. Ruin my chances of making friends here. It's not like any of them really know me. And...and I'd rather have no friends than put people in danger for attention like you." She turned, heading out the door without looking back.

Her hands...they were shaking. She needed to calm down, didn't she?

Instead of heading back to the cafeteria, she ducked into an empty classroom, and Tikki zipped out of her bag, circling her before find a place on top of her head and nestling in her hair.

"Breathe with me, okay?" Tikki said quietly, and Marinette nodded.

Lila stood alone in the bathroom, hands clenched tightly in fists.

How...how dare she.

"She's no better than Ladybug," Lila growled under her breath, furious.

She heard the flapping of wings and turned to see a familiar black butterfly heading for the door, about to phase through it. Then, without even really thinking about it, she snatched from the air, feeling it fluttering in a panic in her hand for a moment as a smirk grew on her face.

She reached up, pressing the butterfly to her right earring and feeling it dissolve into it.

Hmm...well this is interesting.

"You want to destroy Ladybug, don't you?" Lila asked, keeping her voice quiet. "Well, so do I. So how about we make a deal?"

...I'm listening.

Chapter Text

"Are you okay?" Sabrina asked as Marinette arrived back at the lunch table. "You were gone for a while."

"I'm fine," Marinette assured her, waving it off, though mentally she was still reeling.

After calming down, one thing had made itself clear: There was no way anyone was going to listen to her over Lila, especially since she didn't have any proof beyond the logo on the back of the necklace and being Ladybug herself, the latter of which she couldn't share. As much as it killed her on the inside, there was no way she could reasonably cast doubt on Lila at the moment.

Still...there was one thing she could do.

"Can I have your phone number?" she asked Sabrina, who practically jumped in surprise. "I'd like to be friends, if that's cool with you, so I thought-"

"Yeah!" Sabrina nearly shouted, getting her strange looks from adjacent tables. She blushed a bit, taking a deep breath and saying, a bit calmer, "Yeah, I'd really like that, actually."

Marinette grinned. "Awesome!"

The two of them exchanged numbers quickly, and Marinette thought over it a bit before saving her number under "The Great Detective." It seemed suitable enough, as far as she was concerned.

The bell rang, and Sabrina jumped up from the table excitedly, saying, "I have a pretty good collection of Disney movies at my apartment. Maybe we could watch some of them together some day after school?"

"I'd love that!" Marinette agreed, grinning. "Oh, I should introduce you to my friends from my old school some time. They're all really cool people, though Felix might take some time to warm up? I'll talk to them about maybe inviting you to hang out with us sometime?"

The two of them continued to talk as they pushed in their chairs and disposed of their trash before heading back towards the class. Marinette couldn't help the smile on her face, the bad encounter in the bathroom drifting to the back of her mind as they walked down the hall together.

At least, until she saw a familiar person leaning against the wall in their path.

"New girl," Lila greeted, and Marinette rolled her eyes. Seemed she had lost name privileges. "See you've decided to befriend the social pariah. Not very smart of you."

Sabrina scowled, clutching the straps of her backpack tightly as she said, "Back off, Lila."

"Oh please, I'm not trying to ruin your chances to actually have a friend," Lila remarked, rolling her eyes. "In fact, I think it's cute how she's really so desperate to have any friends here she'll stick with the former Chloé slave."

That got Sabrina to let out a frustrated growl, but Marinette simply placed her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow.

"And you're so desperate for us to acknowledge you that you decided to come bother us," she remarked, rolling her eyes. "What do you want, Lila? If you wanted to badmouth us, you could have done it anywhere."

Lila shrugged, pushing herself off the wall and walking over to them, explaining, "Oh, I just wanted to make something clear to you, new girl. Something I made sure Sabrina already knows." Then, she leaned in, so their faces were right next to each other, grabbing Marinette's arm so she couldn't lean away. "I always get what I want."

There was suddenly purple light in Marinette's eyes, and she didn't even have time to react when Sabrina let out a cry and suddenly she was tackling Lila to the ground, and Marinette could see the purple butterfly outline around Lila's eyes.

"Marinette, run!" Sabrina called, wrestling with Lila as best as she could.

"But Sabrina-"

"I'll be fine, now go!"

Marinette hesitated, before turning and running to the girl's restroom, ducking inside and checking to make sure it was empty before opening her purse for Tikki. "We have to go help Sabrina. Tikki, spots on!"

Adrien probably would have thought more about the fact that Lila wasn't walking with them...if he wasn't just purely relieved by the fact that she wasn't there, and the fact that he had managed to dissuade Alya from sending him to look for her. The only other time he got to avoid Lila that didn't involve being at home or being Chat Noir was when he was hanging out with Kagami, and since she was in a different class they never got to hang out at school really. He was going to take every opportunity to be away from her without questioning it.

"I really want to talk to Chat Noir about organizing an interview with Ladybug," Alya continued, "because I've gotten several interviews with him but haven't had the chance to interview her yet. I also kind of want to get the chance to properly interview the temps, other than Lila of course, but they are never around for long and I don't see them at night during the patrols so Ladybug would probably be easier to land an interview with than one of them."

He really needed to find some way of letting Alya and Nino know that Lila was lying about being Red Piper without letting on that he was Chat Noir. Especially considering Red Piper was a huge lesbian and Lila was at the very least interested in him. If that got out during one of Alya's post-akuma interrogations, that would probably be really awkward.

"'scuse me, need to borrow this," Sabrina's voice spoke up, and Adrien turned to watch as Sabrina snatched Nino's hat from his head, to the shock of all three of them.

"What the-hey!" Alya called, shocked and furious. "What do you think you're doing?"

Sabrina(?) stuck her tongue out at them, putting on Nino's hat and hurrying down the hall to the stairs, leaving the three of them frozen in place, staring after her as she ran through the exit.

"...That's not Sabrina," Adrien said aloud.

"Yeah, she'd never skip school like that," Alya agreed with a nod, pulling her phone out of her pocket with a grin. "Which means that must be an akuma!" Then she was off down the stairs, Nino on her heels with an exasperated look on his face.

Adrien ducked into an unused classroom, saying, "No time to waste. Plagg, claws out!"

Sabrina and Lila were no longer on the floor when Marinette arrived, but soft snoring led her to opening one of the nearby lockers, only to catch Sabrina as she fell out of it.

"Sabrina?" Marinette called, trying to shake her awake, but it was no use. "Shit." She pulled Sabrina's backpack from the locker Lila had abandoned her in, laying it on the ground and using it as a pillow for her. "Don't worry, Sabrina. I'll make sure you're okay."

It was quick work to get to the roof of the school, where Chat Noir was already waiting, staff open to the screen on the inside.

"Hey kitty, what are you looking at?"

"The Ladyblog livestream," he explained, showing her his staff. And Marinette watched with wide eyes as Sabrina rode a stolen bike down the street, a red cap on her head and a string of flags wrapped around her body, and heard as the Ladyblogger was huffing and puffing chasing after her. "Talked to one of the students who was there when she stole the hat, and he insists she's an impawster."

Oh I heard that pun in there, you little shit.

"Considering I found that girl unconscious in a locker downstairs, he has a point," Marinette agreed. Then, with a frown, she noted, "Seems the akuma is trying to allow the Ladyblogger to keep up. Think it might be a trap?"

Chat Noir snorted. "Pawsibly. But knowing Hawk Moth, purrhaps we don't need to worry."

Marinette sighed, shaking her head. "I'm going to need a cat nap after dealing with you." Chat Noir snorted at the pun, and she smirked. "But even still, a trap would be pretty inconvenient. What do you say to coming up with our own trap?"

The grin on his face would give the Cheshire Cat a run from his money.

"Do you think we might be baiting Ladybug and Chat Noir into a trap by accident?" Nino asked as the two of them hurried down the street after the fake Sabrina.

Alya frowned. Of course, she couldn't ignore the possibility. The fake Sabrina was on a bike and could have outpaced them easily, but she hadn't. And it was Alya who was broadcasting the location of the akuma out, meaning that, if she was planning a trap, then Alya was likely going to lead them right into it by nature of livestreaming it.

But...

"Maybe, but we're also not really giving her an option to switch tactics," Alya explained quietly. "We don't really know what this akuma is capable of, beyond looking like Sabrina, but we aren't really giving her an option to try and change tactics or use her powers on anyone else. If we just let her run off, who knows what kind of chaos she'd cause."

Nino grimaced. "Fair enough, babe. Still, we should be careful."

"Yeah yeah, don't worry. We've got this." She hoped.

Eventually, they ended up at the base of the Eiffel Tower, and both Alya and Nino watched with wide eyes as fake Sabrina began making ridiculous jumps up the side of it, hollering something they couldn't properly hear as she did.

"Hey babe," Alya asked a bit distantly. "Would you put super jumps under super strength or super agility?"

"Strength," Nino answered, still in shock.

She nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"Yeah, you need a lot of power to propel yourself up in a jump like that."

Both Alya and Nino started, looking behind them to see Chat Noir, a shit-eating grin on his face as he stood there.

Before either of them could say anything, he continued, "Sorry we're late, by the way. Had to get everything ready for the show. " Then, with a salute, he raced off, disappearing into the confused crowd.

"...What?" Alya asked, confused, only to be startled when Ladybug and Chat Noir dropped to the ground between her and where the fake Sabrina was posturing on the Eiffel Tower.

"Oh, so you finally decided to show up?" the fake Sabrina called, jumping down and landing in a three point landing. Then, she stood, brushing herself off before taking a stance. "Alright then...come and get me."

Chat Noir let out an annoyed growl and threw himself forward, and fake Sabrina side-stepped him, moving to grab him only for him to just narrowly dodge. And from there, the battle began.

Alya immediately picked up on something off about the fight, though it took her a few moments to identify what. Ladybug and Chat Noir were weirdly defensive, despite seeming to have an advantage with two against one. Instead of going on the offensive and cornering fake Sabrina, they were doing everything they could to avoid her touching them. In addition, Chat Noir was just a little slower than normal, his dodges somewhat narrower than usual, and Ladybug was faster, using her yoyo a lot less than she usually did. And they were definitely not as talkative as normal

Then again, no one really knew what this akuma was capable of? Maybe they were trying to get an idea before jumping in head first? Still...something was off.

"Ugh, I've had enough of this!" fake Sabrina shouted, a purple outline appearing around her eyes as she dove for Chat Noir, reaching to grab his arm.

Only for her hands to knock against the air and, in a puff of orange smoke, reveal a green-suited boy blocking her with a shield, a smirk on his face.

"What?" the fake Sabrina asked, shocked.

"Captain Turtle?" Nino and Alya asked simultaneously, shocked.

Before anyone could say anything, Ladybug cried out, "Venom!" in a voice that definitely wasn't her own, before jabbing something into the fake Sabrina's arm, causing her to go stiff. At the moment of contact, there was another puff of orange smoke, and there a boy in a yellow and black suit, grinning victoriously.

Then, down the real Ladybug and Chat Noir dropped, with a familiar red-orange girl with them.

"Amazing performance, everyone!" Ladybug congratulated, and Chat Noir was applauding as he did. Red Piper went ahead and gave a bow, while Captain Turtle rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment and Hornet merely rolled his eyes. "Alright, now to find the akumatized item."

Alya couldn't help herself, finding her feet moving before her brain had even thought of it, and she was about to say something when she noticed a silver earring in the fake Sabrina's ear, one that looked very familiar.

("Check out my new earrings!" Lila had gushed not even a week before. "My mom bought them for me as a present. Don't they look cute on me?")

"Nino, take my phone," Alya insisted, and he did, looking slightly confused as she walked over to the paralyzed imposter, reaching out and carefully removing the earring from her ear, turning and handing it to Ladybug. "Here. This is what you're looking for."

Ladybug blinked, before nodding and dropping it to the ground, stomping on it and watching the black butterfly begin to fly away from the remains before catching it. Then, after a moment, she called "Lucky charm!" and a red polka-dotted locket dropped into her hand, one she didn't seem to give much thought before throwing into the air and calling, "Miraculous Ladybug!"

As the dark energy dissipated around the fake Sabrina, revealing her to be Lila, Alya could hear Nino gasp behind her. But she didn't say a word, just watched as the five heroes bumped their fists together, collectively going "Good job!" It was a nice scene, though Alya was struggling a bit to appreciate it at the moment. So instead, she helped the dazed Lila to her feet.

"Hey Lila," she began, and Lila let out a tired groan. "Yeah, getting akumatized takes a lot outta ya. Hey Nino, can you cut the livestream?"

"You got it," Nino answered, seeming oddly calm. It was like the two of them silently agreed in that moment not to make a big deal out of it, even if Alya's mind was racing over the information she had just received. No...better to talk to Lila in private, after things had calmed down. Not now.

There were a chorus of three unsynchronized beeps, and Ladybug winced, declaring, "I'll meet up with the three of you in a bit to get you sorted. Chat Noir, can you escort these three back to their school?"

"You got it, my lady," Chat Noir answered with a mock salute, and Ladybug rolled her eyes with a fond smile before she and the temp trio disappeared in all different directions, leaving just the three civilians and Chat Noir. "Okay, let's get you three back to school. You guys can decide from there if you should go home or finish the day."

"Yeah...we'll have to think about it," Nino remarked a bit distantly, shooting Alya a worried look that Lila seemed to miss.

She couldn't help but agree with him though.

There was definitely a lot to think about.

Sabrina blinked awake, looking up at three worried faces as she did, and didn't understand what was going on at first.

"Wha..." she began, confused. Then, like lightning, she remembered, and she began to sit up. "Shoot, Marinette!"

"Lay back down," Rose insisted, her voice surprisingly firm. "We found you unconscious in the hallway and Ivan carried you to the nurse's office. Can you tell us what happened?"

Sabrina blinked, finally processing the fact that Rose, Juleka, and Ivan were surrounding her, all looking at her with concern. And that was weird, because she...she had been pretty sure no one in her class cared about her anymore, not after what Lila had done.

"Lila...she was akumatized," Sabrina began, her voice shaking. "She was going to do something to Marinette, but I tackled her, and then...then she kissed me? And I don't remember anything after that..." Then, panicked, "Is Marinette okay?"

"I'll text Max and see if he can go find her," Rose assured her, resting a hand on her shoulder soothingly. "It'll be okay, Sabrina. Ladybug and Chat Noir have already beat the akuma. Marinette will be okay."

"I...okay," she answered, her voice small. She couldn't help but be a bit terrified anyway, despite that, but she...she had to be assured that even if Lila had hurt Marinette, Ladybug would have fixed it.

It would be okay.

Marinette dropped into the alleyway where Allegra, Claude, and Alan were waiting, kwamis chattering excitedly with each other as they did. "Good job today, you three. Sorry to call you all while you were in school-"

"Don't worry about it," Allegra answered cheerfully, smiling as Trixx nuzzled her cheek. "Honestly, I think I needed this. Clown was worrying over a quiz."

"Oh screw you, Legs," Claude sniped, and Wayzz let out a snort.

Alan shook his head, rubbing a finger against the top of Pollen's head as he noted, "Looks like we're the only cool ones here Pollen, as usual."

Pollen let out a giggle, before answering jokingly, "Of course. We are the coolest people here, obviously."

Marinette shook her head at their antics, before saying, "Make sure to say goodbye quickly, you guys, or you won't make it back to school in time."

There was a bit of chaos as the three of them said goodbye to the kwamis, with Trixx definitely making jokes about "corrupting" Allegra as they did and Claude insisting that had long since passed to Allegra's chagrin, and Marinette sighed, shaking her head.

She hadn't intended for the three of them to find out about each other's identities, but in the chaos of Heroes Day there hadn't been any time to separate them to give them the miraculous. On the bright side, it did mean she didn't have to worry too much about pulling one or more of them away when she needed them, thought it did make her feel guilty that Felix was left out of the loop completely. It felt completely unfair.

Once Hawk Moth was handled, she'd tell them all the truth, Felix especially. She'd tell Chat Noir first, obviously...but they would be the next to know. She only hoped none of them would be too upset that she had lied to them.

She passed the three of them their boxes, each depositing their miraculous inside as they did, and Marinette quickly shooed them off to send them back to their school, only to be surprised when Claude hung back for a moment.

"Hey...our friend Marinette started attending that school that all those akumas were coming from?" he began, and Marinette blinked in surprise. "If it's not too much to ask...could you keep an eye out for her, for us?"

"I...yeah, of course," she answered, doing her best not too sound too choked up or emotional at that. "After all you've guys done to help me and Chat Noir out...I think I owe you guys a few favors anyway."

He grinned. "Alright. Thanks, Ladybug." And with that, he hurried after Allegra and Alan, leaving Marinette alone.

She took a deep breath, before remembering something.

"Shit, I left Sabrina on the floor!"

And, with that, she threw her yo-yo and zipped away.

Sabrina practically tackled Marinette the moment she entered the nurse's office, letting out a relieved, "You're okay!"

Marinette blinked, before smiling and patting Sabrina on the back. "Yeah, I hid before Lila could find me and watched the Ladyblog until I knew things were safe. One of our classmates told me that Rose brought you here?"

"Yeah, they found me on the floor," Sabrina admitted, pulling away from the hug. "I was really worried! I can't believe an akuma showed up on your first day!"

Honestly, I can. It's just kind of my luck.

"I was more worried about you," Marinette insisted. "I can't believe you threw yourself in danger for my sake. I was terrified you were really hurt and that..." She cringed, feeling guilty.

Sabrina frowned, then held out her hand, pinky raised. "Let's just promise each other that we will do our best to stay safe, alright?"

"...Alright," Marinette answered, smiling as she locked pinkies with Sabrina, who grinned. "I promise."

And I'll do my best to keep that promise, despite everything.

Adrien had to commend Nino and Alya for keeping their cool, even while Lila did her best to distract the rest of the class from noticing what Alya's livestream had revealed about her claims. Lila was uncomfortably good at diverting attention away from things she didn't want focus on, pointing it towards the things she wanted her audience to care about.

It was what she had done to Sabrina, after all. Diverted attention away from the person she had proven herself to be, instead emphasizing the person she had had to be while trying desperately to be Chloé's friend. Adrien imagined that was how she had convinced his father to give her the time of day too.

Even still, Adrien was a bit surprised by how Alya hadn't said anything yet. Alya wasn't one to hold back when she was mad, and she had even called him and Nino out in the past when she felt they were in the wrong, no matter how inconvenient it was. He was a bit worried that she had taken it harder than he thought, that she was still struggling to process.

He couldn't say anything about it himself. And not just because Lila was attached to his arm now that the crowd had dissipated.

The door to the classroom opened and in came Sabrina and the new girl (Marinette, if he remembered correctly), and he was surprised by how animated Sabrina was, practically bouncing as she talked with a huge grin on her face, hands gesturing as she did. Adrien couldn't believe it really; it had been forever since Sabrina had looked genuinely happy when he could see her, and he always felt bad that he never had the opportunity to talk to her and check in with her due to everything. He didn't know what Marinette had done to brighten Sabrina's day, but he was happy that it had happened.

Lila leaned into his space, glancing over at the two girls with a sneer as they headed towards the stairs, before whispering, "You wouldn't like that new girl at all, Adrien. You should have heard the things she said to me earlier."

Adrien leaned away, even more uncomfortable by her deciding to get even closer, before asking, "Can you please give me some space?"

"But Adrien," Lila whined, her eyes growing pitifully large, and Adrien could already feel his heart sink. Yeah, there was no way he was getting any space now. "I had such an awful day, getting akumatized and everything. Being close to you makes me feel better."

Yeah, but being close to your just makes me feel awful.

Adrien would never say that, especially not to someone who could and probably would report back to his father, but sometimes he wished he could.

"Excuse me," a voice spoke up, and Adrien and Lila looked up to see Marinette standing there, hands on her hips and eyebrow raised. "I'm pretty sure he asked you to let go of him."

"And why's that any of your business?" Lila asked, clutching his arm tighter, and Adrien winced.

Marinette shook her head. "I think that you need a reminder of the lesson of consent, because it sounds like your friend there didn't give you permission to touch him right now." She glanced over at him, asking, "Are you alright?"

"He's fine," Lila answered for him, and Adrien felt frustrated at that. Like she actually cares about how I feel. "And I think it would be best if you butted out."

"Forgive me if I'm not convinced," Marinette stated firmly, before looking at him again, expression softening. "I'd rather hear it from his own words, if that's all the same to you."

Adrien's eyes went wide, and his brain was struggling to catch up to the idea that someone other than one of his actual friends was asking how he felt about something. And about something that not even Nino or Alya had ever asked if he was okay with.

(It had kind of felt, after a while, like this was just something he was supposed to allow. Like his opinion on it didn't matter.)

Lila took his momentary silence as disagreeing with Marinette, saying, "See, he's fine, now buzz off."

"...Actually," Adrien began, a bit hesitant, and then he took a deep breath before tugging on Lila's vice grip again. "I really don't want to be touched right now." Especially not by you.

It grew a bit quieter in the classroom, and he was very aware of the eyes of his classmates as Lila's eyes began watering with crocodile tears.

"But Adrien," she began, her voice filled with so much sorrow you'd have thought her dog died, "Aren't we friends? And I had such a bad day and-"

"Your bad day doesn't give you a right to touch him without his permission," Marinette insisted, crossing her arms in front of her. Lila turned to her, fixing her with a vicious glare, but Marinette wasn't cowed, not even a little bit. "And he told you he didn't want to be touched. So if you really are his friend, I think you should let go of him and respect that."

Lila let out a quiet growl, before looking around and realizing the eyes of the class were on her. And Adrien realized in that moment that they weren't judging him, but her. And Lila had clearly realized that too, as she put on a mask of sorrow and dropped his arm.

"Fine," she answered, looking depressed. "I guess if you're not willing to make me feel better, I'll leave you alone."

Adrien winced, but Marinette just rolled her eyes and remarked, "If you want a companion you can hug without having to ask for permission, get an actual doll instead of treating your friend like one. You have the right to be sad, but you can't just expect him to bend to your whims just because of that. And I think it's unfair to put that expectation on anyone." Then, looking back over to him, she gave him a warm smile and added, "Sorry if I was bothering you. I just wanted to make sure you were okay after what I heard."

Then, she turned and headed up the steps, plopping into her seat beside Sabrina, and the two began talking quietly between them.

And Adrien couldn't help but stare for a moment, still processing the information even as Lila let out an annoyed huff.

...Huh.

"Later!" Sabrina called as she hurried down the steps of the school, waving behind her to Marinette as she did.

Marinette waved back of course, a smile of her face as Sabrina jumped into the police car her dad was driving (Roger Cop, cover hands and then he would be an easy fight). Even if today had been...eventful, she had managed to make a new friend, and soon she'd get to hang out with her other friends too. She could already imagine Sabrina meeting them.

Oh jeez, she wasn't sure if that was going to be fun or a disaster.

"Hey, Marinette, right?"

She turned, surprised to see the boy peeking from behind the door to the school, looking a bit nervous as he stepped out onto the landing.

"Oh hey," she greeted, giving him a hopefully reassuring smile. "Uh, sorry for kind of butting into your business earlier. I overheard what she said and it bothered me and I just-"

"No, no it's fine!" he insisted, holding out his hands to stop her. "I...I actually really appreciated it." He began rubbing the back of his neck nervously, continuing, "I've...I've never really been able to stand up to her myself, honestly? But...that was the first time anyone in our class every just asked me to say how I felt about it." Marinette's eyes widened, her mind processing what that meant, but before she could he looked up at her and said, "Uh...thanks, for that."

She blinked, then smiled softly, saying, "No problem." Then, sticking out her hand, she continued, "I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

"...Adrien Agreste," he answered, shaking her hand, and her eyes widened at the realization.

Oh shit.

"You're Felix's cousin?" she asked, surprised, and Adrien's jaw practically dropped.

"You know Felix?"

She nodded, unable to help the smile that grew on her face. "Yeah, he's my best friend! We actually went to school together before I transferred here." So this is the Adrien I've heard about then. "I'm actually going to go hang out with him and a few of my other friends once Allegra's mom picks me up."

Adrien's eyes were wide, before he grinned. "That's really cool. I think he actually mentioned you a couple of times. You're the girl who has been making better designs than Father since she was five then?"

Marinette blushed at that. "Oh my god he didn't. I am...so sorry." I'm going to kill that boy for using me to insult his uncle.

"No, it was hilarious, I promise!" he insisted, and the snickering as he said that seemed to support it. "Honestly...I'm glad he has friends he cares about so much. Especially since..." He hesitated, and it was like a shadow fell over the conversation. Marinette's blush faded as the mood fell, because she knew exactly what Adrien was talking about. "Uh...how is he doing, by the way? We...haven't talked. In a while."

"He's...he's doing better." She sighed. "It's not my place to give you details or anything but...he's okay. He'll be okay." Then, with a smile, she added, "I think he was actually worried about you actually, considering all the akumatizations that happened here. You know he'd never admit it though."

Adrien let out a laugh. "Yeah, that's Felix for you."

The two of them snickered together, before Adrien asked, "So you're a designer then? You must be really good, for Felix to bring it up."

She smiled. "Yeah, I love designing and making my own clothes!" She began rocking on her heels, continuing, "I like making everyday clothes mostly, things that are comfortable and look cute, but I recently got a commission for an evening gown and it is so much fun to just go all out sometimes! And I've actually gotten really invested in costume design thanks to a specific customer of mine. He always wants the craziest looking clothes and honestly his commissions are so fun because I get to experiment in ways I normally can't? And I've also done some stuff for my friends, like for Allegra I gave her a dress for her birthday and it was so much fun and oh god I've been rambling-"

"It's okay," Adrien assured her, a delighted grin on his face. "I think it's really cool how passionate you are about it."

"...Thanks." She smiled at him brightly. "What about you? What are things you enjoy?"

He blinked, as if surprised, before admitting, "I...I'm still trying to figure that out, honestly." Then, a bit shyly, "I do really like playing video games?"

"Really?" Marinette grinned. "What kind of games do you like?"

"All sorts," he admitted, smiling. "One of my favorites is Ultra Mecha Strike-"

"You play UMS too?!" she interrupted, excited, before squeaking and clapping a hand over her mouth, and he blinked before cracking up. And Marinette flushed with embarrassment before giggling herself.

"We should definitely play against each other some time," Adrien offered. "I mostly play with Nino or Max, but Max and I usually play cooperative instead of competitive and Nino's not much of a match."

"Oh prepare to get your butt kicked," she challenged, smirking, and Adrien looked absolutely delighted at that. "In fact..." She pulled her phone out from her purse, opening it up to the contacts before passing it to him. "Here. This way we can arrange something so we can play together some time. Sound good?"

He looked somewhat surprised, before smiling, taking her phone and quickly typing in his number and handing it back. "Yeah...yeah, I'd really like that!"

"Awesome!" She thought over the contact name for a bit, before typing in "UMS Buddy" for lack of a better term yet. Then, she quickly shot him a text message, causing his phone to ding in his pocket.

Before either of them could say anything else, there was a honk from the street, and they turned to see a limo out front, which she guessed was there for Adrien.

"Oh...I've got to go."

She nodded in understanding. "Alright. We can text later, figure out a good time to meet up for UMS?"

He smiled, answering, "Yeah, absolutely. Uh...later, Marinette!"

"Later!"

She waved to him as he walked down the steps, soon climbing into the back of the limo and waving once before shutting the door and zipping away. And only a few moments later her phone buzzed in her hands.

UMS Buddy: It's going to be the fight of your life.

And she laughed, shaking her head and shooting back a text message just as a familiar silver car pulled out to the front of the school, the window rolling down and two heads sticking out of it.

"Let's go, Mari!" Claude shouted, and Marinette grinned, nearly tripping as she ran down the steps towards her friends.

Marinette: we'll see about that :)

As Adrien sat in the car and thought about the conversation, he could feel the smile growing on his face. He hadn't expected to do more than thank Marinette for speaking up, but she had ended up being a lot more fun to talk to than he was expecting. And as he looked at the response Marinette had sent to his text, he couldn't help the way his cheeks flushed a bit.

God, the only other person who had made him feel like this was...

Oh.

Oh no.

He buried his face in his hands, practically whining, "Not again."

And he could hear snickering from Plagg inside his shirt and he knew it meant he would never hear the end of it.

Paparazzi: hey lila

Paparazzi: why did you lie about being red piper?

stay foxy: who said I lied?

stay foxy: obviously Ladybug had to find a different fox, but she probably didn't want to risk my identity getting out so she had the fox use an illusion to look like me when I'm transformed

Paparazzi: right. of course.

stay foxy: c'mon Alya, would I ever lie to you?

Alya stared at her phone, a frown on her face as she did. Her thumbs hovered over the keyboard on her screen, as she mentally tried to figure out what to say, how to word her doubts without attacking her friend, how to answer this without bringing her beliefs crashing down.

Marinette had made a point earlier, one that couldn't be excused by pretty words. And Alya had seen Red Piper right there with her and Nino, talking with the other heroes, acting just the same she always had when she showed up. And how would Ladybug have gotten the fox miraculous in the first place if Alya had gotten to the akumatized Lila long before she could have?

But Lila wasn't a liar. She couldn't be. If she was...if she was, then that meant more than Alya having to rethink her opinion on her. That would mean that Alya had made a huge mistake, one she couldn't make up for. That would mean that Alya had published lies on her blog, after promising to share the truth. That would mean that Alya had been dragged into advocating and defending someone who had been using her the whole time.

That would mean that Alya had done something she had promised she wouldn't do, right back when she had first started coming to this school, for no good reason at all.

No...no, of course not. It was just an innocent mistake. Besides, even if Lila had lied about this, that didn't mean she had lied about everything else, right?

...Right?

Paparazzi: nah i guess not

stay foxy: that's right.

stay foxy: I've gotta go now. the XY concert awaits!

Alya frowned, before sighing and tucking her phone away.

Everything was fine. Lila was honest, Alya had made the right decision, it was all fine.

It had to be.

Chapter Text

"All I'm saying is that together, we could all totally kill Hawk Moth."

Alan let out a sigh. "Allegra, we don't even know where in Paris he is?"

Allegra crossed her arms from her perch on the stairs to Marinette's loft bed, insisting, "We can find him. Besides, he deserves it for creating an akuma called Noisemaker at three in the morning." The disgust in her voice at that was so theatrical Marinette couldn't help but let out a snort.

"You could probably pinpoint a rough idea of his location using the locations of akumatizations," Felix noted, not even looking up from his phone as he did.

"Ha! Exactly!" Allegra crowed, crossing her arms with a smirk. "So what I'm suggesting is that we team up, maybe even recruit Ladybug and Chat Noir, find Hawk Moth, and kill him. And then we never have to lay awake until six in the morning listening to the incessant whistles and honks of a goddamn noise machine akuma."

"If Ladybug and Chat Noir haven't found him yet, what makes you think we can?" Claude called from the floor. "Not that I'm saying your plan is a bad one. I'm all down for recreating Caesar on the resident super terrorist. But what do we have that Ladybug and Chat Noir don't have to help us track down Hawk Moth?"

Numbers and less than 50% of those numbers busy trying to finish two major commissions by the end of them month while also preparing to go to a new school and maintain an intense double life, Marinette thought to herself as she carefully set to work again. These particular parts of this dress needed to be hand-stitched, but all the best for Clara Nightingale, who was so much nicer than Marinette had expected and had been really excited after helping Marinette come up with this design for her next music video. And I'm pretty sure the existence of night time akuma are specifically to spite our attempts to track him down, at this point.

"Are you going to be okay, Mari?" Allegra suddenly asked, and Marinette paused, looking up from her work in slight confusion. "You're about to be in the line of fire soon enough. That seems pretty terrifying."

Alan nodded, sitting up as he added, "Yeah, you're going to be dealing with a lot more akumas soon enough."

Well I was already dealing with them, but I can't exactly say that. She could see all of them giving her concerned looks, even Felix (though he was doing his best to try and keep his normal unaffected expression as if he really thought he could hide anything from her after years of friendship), and all possible snarky responses flew out the window.

She took a deep breath, before answering, "It is a bit intimidating, I guess. Going to the school so many of the akumas came from. But...I'll be okay, guys. I'll do what I can to stay safe and I'll keep you posted."

It wasn't even a lie, not really. She was intimidated by the prospect, and she would be doing what she could to remain safe, even if just for the sake of making sure there was still a Ladybug to save the day at the end.

That didn't mean it didn't feel somewhat like a lie anyway.

"I think I've figured out a way to get to akuma battles faster," Marinette remarked after she and Chat Noir had settled onto a roof, and he looked up at her with surprise.

"Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I can't tell you the details, since it will involve civilian me-" He gave an understanding nod there. "-but hopefully we'll be able to avoid problems like what happened with Horrificator."

He winced, remembering that fight particularly vividly. "Yeah, that's a good thing." Then, he blinked. "Oh, I actually got you something, since I believe a special occasion is coming up and I wasn't sure we'd be able to meet up that night." She gave him a look, and with a sheepish laugh he admitted, "And also I couldn't wait." He opened up his staff, reaching in and pulling out a white box, passing it to her.

She took the box, her eyes wide as she carefully opened it. Inside was a necklace, a yellow rose with a golden stem and leaf, dangling from a delicate gold chain, and she blinked with surprise before letting out a laugh, shaking her head and smiling fondly as she carefully removed it from the box and put it on, liking the way the gold caught the dim street lights.

She knew what the necklace meant, and she appreciated it.

"Thanks kitty." Then, with a grin, she added, "I got something for you too, actually." She opened her yoyo and withdrew from it a green scarf. Chat Noir let out a dramatic gasp as he took it carefully in his claws, before immediately rubbing his face in it.

"It's so soft," he gasped, amazed, and Marinette let out a giggle at his ridiculousness. "Thank you, I love it."

"There's actually more," she told him, taking one end of the scarf and flipping it over to point to a corner, and Chat Noir looked over at it and gasped in delight at the black cat there, posed as if about to pounce.

"I wanted to make something you could wear in your civilian life but that still had a little something of Chat Noir in it," she explained. "You mentioned once that you didn't feel like you were as brave as a civilian. I thought I'd make something to remind you that, no matter if you're transformed or not, you're always Chat Noir. You're one of my best friends, and probably the bravest person I know, so I made this so maybe you could feel a bit braver when you can't wear the mask."

He looked up at her, eyes practically watering, before pulling her into a hug. "Thank you, my lady. I...thank you."

And she smiled, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing him. "No problem, Chat Noir."

Chapter Text

"Mari Mari Mari Mari Mari Mari Ma-"

Marinette groaned, rubbing her eyes and looking up to see Allegra sitting next to her on her bed, bouncing excitedly.

"It's too early, go back to sleep," Marinette grumbled, rolling over and shoving a pillow over her head, only for Allegra to snatch the pillow and gently smack her in the back with it.

"It's the day of the premiere, Mari!" Allegra reminded her, excitement in her voice, but Marinette simply pulled her blanket up over her head, wanting to go back to sleep.

Then she proceeded to shoot awake, sitting up as she realized, "SHIT, WE HAVE TO GET READY!"

Both girls proceeded to race down the steps to the trap door, Marinette opening it and Allegra racing to the bathroom, shouting, "I call first shower!"

"Jerk!" Marinette shouted back just as Allegra slammed the door to the bathroom. She theatrically flopped on the couch, mock glaring at the wall for a bit before letting out a snort.

"I'm still a little surprised that you decided not to go as Ladybug," Tikki admitted, zipping out of Marinette's pocket once the coast was clear.

Marinette laughed, admitting, "Well maybe I would get VIP treatment, but Chat Noir isn't going to be there and I think I'd rather hang out with my friends than just kind of be a prop at the party, you know?" She shrugged, adding a bit more solemnly, "And anyway, this is the first public appearance Felix and Miss Amelie have made since what happened last year. That was the reason Ms. Amelie got the rest of us tickets."

Tikki nodded in understanding, her expression sad. "That's a good point."

They sat in silence for a bit, before Tikki added, "On the bright side, you did a really good job with everyone's clothes for the premiere. They all look so pretty!"

"Thanks Tikki," Marinette said, smiling brightly. "It took a lot of work to get everything done, but I'm really proud of everything I've made." Then she let out a tired sigh. "But it was soooo much work, and that's not even mentioning that I had to make Jagged's jacket too. I think I've lost years of my life to those outfits."

Tikki giggled, nuzzling Marinette's cheek affectionately. "Don't worry, Marinette. You did amazing."

Marinette had just finished blow-drying her hair when Alan and Claude burst in, and it was immediately chaos. Allegra and Claude were jumping excitedly, while Alan was shaking his head at them even as he was bouncing excitedly.

"Alright!" Marinette called, and they all jumped to attention, Allegra and Claude both simultaneously saluting as they did, and she did her best not to laugh. "Ms. Amelie and Felix will be here at four to get us! Alan, you're handling painting our nails, Allegra, you're on hair and make-up. Claude, you're music and also keeping track of time, because everyone know I can't do that. And I'll be making sure everyone's clothes fit and handling accessories. Sound good?"

"Sir yes sir!" Allegra and Claude chorused, and Marinette and Alan cracked up at that.

With that, the four of them set to work, with all the coordination of people who had known each other for a long time and had done this before. And, as Marinette pulled the clothes out from her wardrobe and checked over them one last time, she couldn't help the excitement that she felt.

There were going to have a great time, if she had any say in it.

"Are you sure you don't want to come, Father?" Adrien asked, glancing over at the tablet Nathalie was holding as he got dressed. "Aunt Amelie and Felix are going to be there after all."

Father let out a scoff, and Adrien sighed, shaking his head as he started tying his tie.

He had tried to advocate for a red suit jacket, since this was a premiere for a movie about Ladybug and Chat Noir, but Father had refused, and so now Adrien was wearing his black and dark grey ensemble, unable to hide the disappointment as he did. Sure, lots of people would be wearing tributes to Ladybug at the premiere, but he had wanted to wear something in honor of his partner despite all that. Instead he was wearing a fairly bland looking outfit that didn't even have any color, and the disappointing thing was that this was somewhat of a bold choice by his father considering the different patterns on the jacket and tie.

Yeah, Felix probably had a point about Father's designs.

On the bright side, Lila wasn't going to be there. All it had taken was Adrien pointing out how much this movie would be honoring the heroes and Lila had suddenly had other plans to keep her from asking Father to be his plus one.

At very least Kagami would be there, so he would definitely be having more fun than a lot of events he had to go to. And he'd finally have a chance to talk to Felix after everything.

"I expect you to behave to the usual standards," Father remarked, and the underlying threat of consequences if he didn't made Adrien cringe.

"Yes Father," he answered, making sure his tie was perfectly straight.

He wished he could go as Chat Noir instead. Maybe then he'd actually be able to have fun.

Chloé stood in her full length mirror, turning this way and that to look at her dress before giving herself a confident smirk.

A custom Ladybug dress, only one of its kind, and it was just for her. She bet no one else was going to have a dress even close to what hers looked like.

She glanced behind her through the mirror, as if expecting to see someone sitting on her bed, about to gush about how pretty she looked. But there was no one there. She was alone in her room.

Her smirk fell at that realization, and she frowned at herself. It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. She couldn't believe she was still caught up on that, still missing that girl as if she hadn't betrayed her. Betrayed her and left her...

"I'm done! All you've done is hurt me and use me and make me do your dirty work, and I can't do this anymore! Not when you clearly don't care about anyone but yourself!"

Chloé turned, looking out at the giant room around her, and sighed.

She was alone.

The red carpet experience was a bit awkward, as far as Adrien was concerned. It was nice to be acknowledged for talents other than posing in front of a camera, and honestly voicing himself in the movie was an amazing and honestly hilarious experience, but the sheer number of flashing lights made his head hurt slightly, and he did his best to just pose for the last few photos at the entrance before hurrying more properly inside, his eyes catching the refreshments table. Glancing around, he gave a devious grin and headed over to the table.

"Is it alright if I grab some of these?" he asked, gesturing to the macarons.

The man at the table, a huge man with a bushy brown mustache, gave him a warm, friendly smile, answering, "Absolutely, take as many as you want! I'm a baker, it's the yeast I can do."

Adrien's eyes lit up. "Well I hear baking is a trend that's on the rise."

The man's smile became a mischievous grin, and he turned and called to the woman (who judging by her uniform was also working the table), "Sabine! I've found another punner!"

"Oh good, now there's two of you," the woman, Sabine, responded, shaking her head before giving him a smile and a wave. "Hello, feel free to help yourself. We also have petit fours over here."

He nodded, saying, "Thank you," before grabbing a few macarons, taking a bite out of one before his eyes went wide, because holy shit these were delicious.

"These are really good," he said, once he finished the ones he had grabbed. "Thank you so much!"

"Thank you for being so polite," Sabine responded, shaking her head. "Honestly, some people here think that just because they are celebrities they can talk so rudely to the rest of us."

He winced sympathetically. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that."

She nodded, about to say something else when the man beside her said, "Look, there's Marinette and her friends!"

Adrien jumped, whirling around to look at the entrance, and his eyes immediately landed on the familiar girl, standing there, a sweet smile on her face as she waved to the cameras. And his breath caught in his throat as he took in the black dress with glittery lace, the green lining of the hi-lo skirt and the sash around her waist, the gold bell necklace and the black ring on her finger.

She was wearing Chat Noir's colors. And she looked good in them.

He could practically hear Plagg snickering from inside his jacket, but he didn't care. He was...impressed. Yeah. That was the word. Of course.

Maybe if he thought it enough times he'd actually convince himself.

"Adrien," Nathalie's voice spoke up, and he jumped, turning to see her standing there in her black dress, her tablet tucked under her arm. "The Tsurugis will be here soon. You and your father will greet them once they arrive, and then you are free to mingle as you want."

"R-Right," he answered, cheeks flushing as he realized he was stuttering.

Marinette was still a bit dazed from all the camera flashes, and her mouth was starting to hurt from all the smiling she had done.

"How was your first red carpet experience?" Ms. Amelie asked, smiling at the group. Felix rolled his eyes at the question, but otherwise didn't say anything.

"Bright," Marinette answered, causing Ms. Amelie to let out an inelegant snort.

"Yeah, I've still got splotches in my vision," Alan remarked, blinking somewhat as if trying to get rid of them.

Felix sighed. "You get used to it after a few movie premieres."

"Well I definitely felt confident in my Marinette original," Allegra remarked, sounding like she was speaking in an infomercial, and Marinette blushed a bit before shoving her arm. "Don't worry, Mari. Your work is awesome and I bet all of them out there agreed."

Claude nodded, throwing an arm over Marinette's shoulders and adding, "Yeah! I've never felt so dapper in my life!"

She buried her face in her hands, mumbling, "Stop it, guys."

"Oh Felix, your cousin is here!" Ms. Amelie spoke up, and Marinette looked up to see Felix's expression grow microscopically more distressed. Then, she turned to see Adrien over by the door, bowing to a girl around their age and a woman who was presumably her mother.

"...Wow, Gabriel Agreste went really crazy with that outfit," Marinette remarked, and Felix glanced over at her, surprised. "I don't see any white on it at all."

Allegra, Claude, and Alan began snickering, and Ms. Amelie let out a snort. Felix shook his head, but seemed to relax somewhat.

"Of course, it appears my dear brother-in-law isn't here, not to anyone's surprise," Ms. Amelie remarked, rolling her eyes. "Which unfortunately means I won't have the option to criticize his fashion sense to his face. Tragic, I know." She turned to the kids, continuing, "I do have some business I have to attend to while I'm here, so we'll meet up in our seats during the film. For now, you're free to wander around, grab food, and upset all the uptight celebrities who take things too seriously. Keep track of any old money rich people who say 'I never!' because I will be scoring you."

"Yes ma'am," all of the chorused, except for Felix, who rolled his eyes and said, "Thank you, Mother."

"Alright, love you all, stay safe!"

Ms. Amelie left to do business/schmooze, and Felix looked at all of them, saying, "Embarrass me at your peril, you absolute hooligans."

"I'm going to share your baby pictures with Jagged Stone," Alan deadpanned, and Marinette giggled as Felix narrowed his eyes at him, as if that would keep any of them from noticing the way his lips twitched at the comment.

"You're on thin ice, Alan," he said, before giving a wary glance over to Adrien, who had moved with the girl he had been greeting earlier over to the refreshment table, talking with Marinette's parents. Marinette frowned, a bit concerned.

She was well aware that Felix's feelings towards Adrien were...complicated, right now. He was bitter and angry, as much as he still cared about his cousin, and Marinette couldn't exactly blame him. But she also couldn't help but see that it wasn't entirely fair to Adrien. Which left a very confusing and awkward middle ground to deal with there.

She looked over to Claude, making a slight shooing gesture, and he nodded before grabbing Allegra and Alan's arms and pulling them off to go explore, leaving Marinette and Felix by themselves.

Once she was sure they had some pseudo-privacy, she lightly elbowed Felix's arm, and he gave her an annoyed look that quickly fell into confusion as she gave him a reassuring smile.

"You don't have to, if you don't want to, but I think you should talk to him," she said quietly, and he scowled slightly. "C'mon, hear me out."

"I doubt he's very interested in how I feel about things," Felix remarked, his voice cold and bitter, and Marinette frowned.

"You know, the first thing he asked me when he learned that we were friends was how you were doing," she told him, and he blinked. "And honestly...I think you've been wanting an explanation, or at least something for months now. But he's not going to be the one to approach first, and you know that." I honestly don't think Adrien even realizes he has the right to speak up. And not just about the weirdness between him and Felix. "I think you'll feel better if you finally just talk to him, because then you won't have to be looking for an explanation. You'll be able to deal with it instead of just stewing in how upset you are."

Felix looked at her for a bit, then sighed. "I don't know why I'm ever surprised when you manage to rip apart any excuses I have. You've been like this for years."

She laughed, shrugging. "That's what we do, isn't it? We remind each other how to people correctly."

He snorted. "Like when I had to stop you from spiraling when you learned this was a red carpet event?"

She elbowed him again, a little harder this time, and he snickered.

"Jerk."

"I can't believe it took you nine years to notice," he remarked, and she rolled her eyes at him. Then, after a moment, he said, "I would rather talk to him alone, personally."

Marinette glanced over at Adrien and his friend, who were still by the table, before saying, "Alright, I think that can be arranged."

"Hmm...I agree she is attractive," Kagami remarked, causing Adrien to let out a high-pitched whine as he buried his face in his hands. "Though it's ridiculous for you to be so nervous over approaching her."

Adrien groaned, dropping his hands as he explained, "Yes, but what if I screw it up? What if I say or do something wrong and she hates me forever because I just...don't know how to talk to people?"

She sighed, shaking her head at her friend. He was being ridiculous, as far as she was concerned. "You've faced me head-on when you had no chance of victory, but now you can't compliment a girl on her dress? That seems pretty ridiculous to me." Then, she smirked, saying, "Maybe I should approach her instead, give you time to figure out what you want to say?"

He made a face at that. "I don't like that expression."

She shrugged. "I'm just saying, if it comes down to it and you aren't willing to speak up, I may make a move."

"Hey," Adrien said, giving her a dirty look, and she snorted. "You're the worst."

"No, I'm the best," she answered, and he rolled his eyes. "And I'm making a threat. Say something to her today or I will."

Before he could say anything in response, she glanced over to the girl and noticed her walking over, a blond boy in a light grey suit right on her heels, and remarked, "She's heading this way."

He let out an actual squeak, and it was so ridiculous she struggled not to laugh as she turned more properly over to the two approaching.

"Oh, Felix! Ma-Marinette!" Adrien stammered, before leaning one hand on the table as if trying to look cool. "Uh, what's up?"

Kagami rolled her eyes as Marinette let out a snort (cute), before saying, "Just wanted to come over and say hi." Then, she looked over at Kagami and stuck out her hand, saying, "Hi, I don't believe we've met?"

"We haven't," Kagami answered, shaking Marinette's hand. "Kagami Tsurugi. Adrien and I are on the same fencing team."

"Really?" Marinette asked, surprised. "That's really cool." Then, almost a bit shyly, she added, "I don't actually know much about fencing. Do you think you could explain it to me?"

"I could-" Adrien began, only to let out a squawk as Felix grabbed his arm, pulling him away. "Felix, what-?"

"You can simp later."

"How do you know that word?" he asked, slight horror in his voice, and Kagami stared as Felix ignored the question, just dragging Adrien off towards the men's restroom.

"Is he...kidnapping Adrien?" she asked, glancing at Marinette in slight concern.

Marinette smiled, waving it off. "It's fine, they just need to talk things out. I was going to distract you so he could talk to Adrien alone, but it looks like he decided to skip all that." Then, giving Kagami a hopeful look, she added, "I was actually interested in hearing about fencing though?"

...Cute.

"Well then...I'd be happy to explain the rules then," Kagami answered, smiling a bit.

Adrien would...probably be fine.

"So, should we say anything about Felix kidnapping his cousin?" Allegra asked, watching the scene from where she, Claude, and Alan were standing. They had just had a conversation with an old money movie star who had been strangely delighted by all their controversial opinions on her old movies, but she had been called away by an old friend and now it was just the three of them.

"Nah," Claude answered with a shrug, throwing his arms over Alan and Allegra's shoulders. "If Mari isn't saying anything, it's probably fine."

"Heh, fair enough." Allegra looked around at the other guests, taking note of one man who seemed to be greatly annoyed in a conversation with another, younger actress. "Hey guys, maybe we should keep an eye on that guy over there?" She subtly gestured to the irritated man, and Alan and Claude immediately glanced over to him. "Seems like he might be at risk of an akuma?"

Alan frowned, watching as the man stormed off, to the confusion of the actress he was speaking to. "Maybe one of us can go talk to him, see if we can cheer him up?"

Allegra thought about that briefly, before shrugging. "Maybe? But if he's one of those stuffy adults Amelie warned us about, then we might just make it worse?"

"Nah, we're a delight, that lady from before just said so," Claude assured them both cheerfully. Then, he glanced at her, adding, "Allegra, you've been working for longer than we have. I think it should be your call?"

She grimaced. She was still new to this idea of taking the lead among the three of them, since before the whole Red Piper thing it had been pretty rare for them to not have Mari or Felix around to take the lead. And even then, there was rarely an occasion where any of them would need to take the lead. But now...now she and these two were the only ones who knew the truth about their hero identities, and now they looked to her for advice and to make calls when it came to things that had to do with their hero identities.

Allegra didn't really know how Ladybug did it, whenever she called them and had to act as leader. She didn't envy her the position.

"...Claude, why don't you start a conversation with him, see if you can ease him into calming down," she explained quietly. "Alan, you and I will keep an eye out for butterflies. Be prepared to get people to safety if an akuma shows up. If we're lucky, there's nothing to worry about, but if not then we'll have at least made things easier for Ladybug and Chat Noir when they get here. Sound good?"

"You got it, Legs," Claude said with a salute and a smirk.

"Yeah yeah, get a move on Clown," she sniped back, waving him off as he headed over to the irritated guy from earlier. Then she glanced at Alan, who nodded and headed over to hang out by that entrance, and that left her alone.

She took a deep breath, before looking around and noticing Jagged Stone over by the doors to the theater, talking with Ms. Rolling. Might as well have an excuse.

"Hey Mr. Stone!" she greeted, waving as she approached, and he looked over and grinned.

"Oh hey, you're one of Marinette's friends!" He closed his eyes, screwing up his face as he thought, then grinned and snapped his fingers, saying, "Allegra! Like allegro!"

"Yep!" she answered with a nod, unable to help the note of victory that he actually remembered her name from when Marinette introduced them. "You excited for the movie too?"

As Jagged Stone began gushing about Ladybug and how cool it was that she was getting a movie, Allegra made sure to keep Alan and Claude within her line of sight. Hopefully, things would be okay.

Hopefully.

"I'm pretty sure you understand why we need to talk," Felix spoke up after they entered the bathroom, and Adrien couldn't help but wince, unable to meet his eyes.

"Yeah," he answered quietly. "Uh...I guess I should start by saying I'm sorry."

Felix didn't say anything, just narrowing his eyes for a moment before looking towards the mirror, a grimace on his face. "What happened?"

Adrien blinked, before shutting his eyes and sighing. "I...Father said I couldn't go." He looked over at his cousin, before adding quietly, "And he scheduled two photo shoots that day, one after the other, to make sure I wouldn't sneak out."

Felix took a shallow breath at that, and Adrien looked at the floor.

It felt like an excuse, to him. Amelie had approached Gabriel after Mom...after she disappeared, offering to help with the search. Felix had let him literally cry on his shoulder, despite the fact that he wasn't very good with emotional situations. And yet, when they had needed him, Father had said no, and he...he hadn't even tried to escape.

Adrien wished he could be Chat Noir full time. Adrien Agreste was a coward, and Chat Noir was brave enough to face anything.

"It was...frustrating," Felix began, his voice shaking in a way that told Adrien it was probably more than just frustrating. "It felt unfair, that I was there for you when you were grieving but when my own father was dead...you were nowhere to be found." He clenched the side of the sink. "I assumed your father had something to do with it, but I...didn't care. I was just upset."

"Yeah, I don't blame you," Adrien muttered, absently adjusting the cuff of his jacket. "I'm sorry."

It was silent for a moment, as it was pretty clear neither of them really knew what to say. Adrien clenched his fists, about to say something anyway, when suddenly the door opened, and a dark haired man rushed in, pushing him aside and heading into a stall. He was breathing heavily, as if trying to keep himself composed.

Felix and Adrien looked at each other, as if unsure what to do about that.

"Do you...want to keep talking about this somewhere else?"

"Yes, I would prefer to keep this conversation between us."

"...Alright. Lead the way, then."

"Ugh," Chloé grumbled, approaching the refreshment table and looking at the macarons suspiciously. Apparently they had hired that bakery by the school instead of one of the more prestigious caterers like her Daddy usually got, and she wasn't really interested in eating touristy poor people food.

"Would you like anything?" the woman at the table asked, and Chloé was about to snap when she hesitated. What would Mom do in this situation?

...Audrey Bourgeois would be absolutely offended at the insinuation that she'd ever eat food that she didn't explicitly approve of, and she would tell the woman that. She would also have a harsh word with the person in charge and inform them that the woman should be fired and blackballed from the catering industry. Probably.

"...Fine," she said with a dramatic sigh, taking a macaron from the top of the plate and taking a tiny bite.

Then, eyes wide, she took another.

Then she grabbed a handful, saying, "Oh my god, these are so good!"

The woman smiled proudly, saying, "Thank you, my husband and I made them." She gestured over to the huge buff man who was walking around with a platter of macarons, serving them to guests as he did. Chloé didn't care much about that though, she just wanted more of these amazing baked goods.

She grabbed a few more, only for the woman to add, "We do have plates, if you'd like one?"

"Uh...yes! Absolutely!" She took the plate from the woman and dropped her pile of macarons on it, before looking around and grabbing a couple petit fours, and a drink while she was at it. Then, she set to work eating, humming in delight. Then, thinking again to her "What wouldn't Mom do?" question, she said, "Uh...thanks?"

"You're absolutely welcome," the woman told her, smiling warmly in a way that Chloé had only ever seen Ms. Bustier or Adrien's mom smile before. "I love your dress, by the way. It looks very beautiful on you."

She smiled, turning back and forth so the skirt would swish. "Thank you! I got it custom made for the event!" Then, a bit disappointedly, she admitted, "I really hoped Ladybug would be here, honestly. She's so cool and I really wanted her to see it." She pouted a bit, before eating another macaron. "Whatever, I just hope this movie is good. Only the best for the coolest hero in Paris, after all."

"I feel like Chat Noir would be disappointed to not be included there," a voice spoke up, and Chloé looked over to see the new girl from school and that girl from Adrien's fencing class, and inwardly she winced at the realization that she had no idea what their names were.

"Hmph...fair enough," she admitted. Part of her was...well aware why she liked Ladybug more than Chat Noir, but she absolutely couldn't just say that. Especially at an event as public as this one. Looking over the girls' outfits, she took note of the new girl's dress and asked, "Where'd you get the Chat Noir dress done, anyway? I've never seen one like that before." There wasn't as much Chat Noir merch out there, after all, and nothing as well made as that.

"Oh, I made it," the new girl explained, and the fencing girl blinked, looking surprised. She laughed a bit awkwardly, admitting, "It was a lot of work, honestly, and I also had another dress, two suits, and a suit jacket to work on too. I'm just lucky I got as much heads up about this event as I did, or I definitely wouldn't have had time to make everything."

Chloé looked over the dress, noting the accessories and the way her hair was done up, before pulling snapping her ladybug pochette open and pulling her phone out. Then, pulling open Instagram, she grabbed the new girl's arm and pulled her over, saying, "Smile!"

"Huh?" the new girl asked, startled and off-balance, before getting with the program and giving a somewhat confused smile to the phone, and Chloé quickly snapped the photo before releasing her.

"What's your Instagram, I can tag you," she continued, picking out the filter that made the red of her dress pop best before humming over the caption.

The new girl, surprised, just asked, "What?"

Chloé smirked. "Well obviously you can't have Ladybug without Chat Noir. Duh. Now, Instagram?"

"Oh, uh...marinettedesigned," she answered, still seeming somewhat surprised.

She nodded, captioning the picture with, "Found a black cat among the ladybugs. What luck!" Then, she tagged the new girl (probably Marinette, judging by the username), and posted it with a smile. Then, out of curiosity, she opened up Marinette's Instagram (public, that was good) and scrolled through, noting progress photos and pictures of other outfits that, judging by the captions, she had also made.

...Perfect.

"Do you take commissions?"

"...Yeah?" Marinette answered, tilting her head cutely. "Are you interested?"

Chloé hummed. "I'm assuming a budding fashion designer knows about Audrey Bourgeois, right?"

Marinette kind of rolled her eyes, saying, "Yeah, it's hard not to when she's such a big name in the fashion industry and she started turning people into glitter statues a few months ago."

"What do you think of her fashion opinions?"

"Uh..." She frowned a bit at that. "Do you want an honest opinion?"

"Absolutely."

Marinette shrugged, admitting, "Sometimes I agree with her, but I think her opinions are a bit outdated? Her obsession with glitter is kind of ridiculous. I don't really mind sparkle, if you can't tell," and she gestured to her dress, with its sparkly black lace, "but she takes it to an extreme level. Like Gabriel Agreste, she doesn't seem willing to risk any color in her clothes, except gold, but she uses so much gold it just looks tacky." She crossed her arms, tapping her elbow lightly as she continued, "I think putting too much focus on what she thinks and likes when designing is ultimately holding the fashion industry back and keeping anyone from actually being willing to take risks. She definitely has her own opinions about what looks good and what doesn't, but she's not exactly objective with her critiques and just kind of wants everyone to cater to what she likes. I don't think calling her the Queen of Fashion is accurate."

The fencing girl looked a bit startled, as if she wasn't sure what to make of that. Marinette smiled a bit sheepishly at her.

"Sorry for rambling, I just have...a lot of opinions."

Chloé grinned. "No, what you just said was perfect." She leaned against the table, explaining, "Now listen. In a few months, my mother is having her birthday party. It's going to be a big name event, black tie, one of the biggest events in the fashion world." She smirked. "What I want is a dress. A dress that looks so good and is so much against what my mother likes, that she'll hate herself for liking it."

Marinette's eyes went wide. "Seriously?"

"Of course." She smirked. "We can discuss design later. But I'll cover the costs of whatever materials you need on top of the commission price, and I'll even invite you along as my plus one if you want to be there to watch her conniption."

"That's a lot of money and effort to spite your mother," the fencing girl remarked, frowning at that. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Trust me, when it comes to my mother? Spiting her is worth the effort." Chloé pressed follow on Marinette's Instagram, saying, "I'll DM you on Instagram so we can discuss the details and costs. Sound good?"

Marinette frowned, as if uncertain, before shrugging and nodding. "Alright, if you're sure?"

"Great." Chloé took a sip of her drink, before saying, "I should probably go find Daddy now." She turned, about to head off, before adding, "Oh, and I like your dress. It's very cute."

As she walked away, she heard Marinette ask fencing girl, "What just happened?" And she let out a snort, shaking her head as she walked away.

Only for the door to crash open, startling her into dropping her plate, and a girl she didn't recognize shouted, "Everybody out! Akuma!"

Chloé blinked at the sudden chaos, before looking down at the floor where her petit fours and macarons now laid, broken and crushed, before growling in annoyance. "Aw c'mon! I didn't even do anything!"

At least, not this time.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh," Marinette groaned, flopping backwards on top of the nearby roof after that fight.

"Yeah," Chat Noir agreed, flopping down beside her. "Ugh."

The two looked at each other, before breaking out into snorts.

"Can you believe we fought an actual magical girl?" she asked, snickering. "And...and a giant unicorn?!"

"I nearly got murdered by a Goku clone!" Chat Noir added, and the two of them continued laughing. It was maybe slightly hysterical after a stressful battle, but honestly, the sheer goofiness of the fight more than made up for it now that they weren't in fear for their lives. Marinette would take it, honestly.

When they finally managed to calm down, Marinette continued, "Ugh, I really hoped it wouldn't happen today, you know?"

"Yeah, me too," he agreed, sighing. Then, a bit hesitantly, he asked, "Part of me is...terrified? Of going back where I was earlier? Because..." He sighed. "I'm a coward, I think."

"No you're not," she admonished him, reaching over to lightly whack him on the arm. "As someone who has fought akumas with you a hundred times over, you are definitely not a coward."

Chat Noir sighed. "Well the regular me is. The regular me just...he always screws things up, saying the wrong thing or not say anything at all when he should. And he...he ends up letting people down as a result." He sighed. "I don't think I'm a great person without the mask on."

Marinette frowned at that, sitting up and looking at him. He was staring off into the distance, his head tilted away from her, and she wondered if she was going to have to fight someone.

"Well...without the mask, I'm clumsy. All the time, in fact. I end up tripping over my feet a lot, and I've made several messes as a result." She shrugged. "I'm also not nearly as confident, and I second guess myself a lot. Sometimes I just spiral into an anxious mess because I keep overthinking everything. But..." She looked over at him and smiled. "I think one thing that helps me is remembering that the mask is just a mask. The miraculous might give me cool superpowers, but I'm always Ladybug, whether I'm transformed or not."

He frowned. "But...how do you manage that?"

"Well...I had to learn to trust myself," she said with a nod. "Trust myself to be able to do the right thing when it counts. That, no matter how scared I am, I'll remember to step forward and do the right thing. And sometimes I screw up."

"No," Chat Noir asked, in mock horror, and she nodded in faux seriousness.

"Yeah. So then...then I have to have the courage to own up to what I did wrong. Even when it sucks." She shuddered. "It really does suck. But...that's just what you have to do."

He looked at her with wide eyes, before giving her a soft smile. "Yeah...thanks, m'lady." He jumped to his feet and offered her a hand, pulling her up after she took it and adding, "Well, I should probably head back. See you at patrol?"

"You've got it, kitty." With that, the two split off, and Ladybug hoped that, whatever was going on with Chat Noir, it would work out.

Adrien barely managed to make it back to the theater before he was suddenly surrounded on both sides.

"Where were you?!" Kagami and Felix both proceeded to shout at the same time, before giving each other a suspicious side-eye.

"Hiding?" he practically squeaked, a bit intimidated about being cornered.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Marinette getting tackled by three people, who he vaguely remembered as the people who had walked in with her and his cousin. But he didn't have time to think on it before Kagami and Felix began practically talking over each other, ultimately in a mishmash that translated to, "Don't disappear on us again, are you crazy, there was an akuma out you idiot!"

"Sorry," he said sheepishly when they both had to stop for air, rubbing his arm awkwardly. "I didn't mean to scare you guys like that."

Kagami sighed, pinching her brow. "You are a complete and utter menace."

He laughed a bit nervously. "Sorry."

Felix gently whacked him upside the head. "Stop apologizing."

Adrien bit back another apology, and he could practically feel Plagg's silent laughter under his suit jacket. "I'll be more careful in the future, promise."

"You'd better," Kagami told him, giving him a dirty look. Then she looked over to Felix, before asking, "Do you need to kidnap him again or is everything alright now?"

Felix blinked, then sighed. "Could you excuse us for a moment?"

"Of course," she told him, looking over at Adrien and adding, "See you when the movie starts." Then, she walked over to where Marinette was with the rest of her friends, and he could see Marinette greeting her cheerfully.

"Did you have to get a crush on my best friend?" Felix asked, raising an eyebrow at him, and Adrien jumped, before rubbing the back of his neck.

"I...uh, whoops?" He laughed a bit nervously. "I'm not...uh, stepping on any toes?"

Felix's face twisted in disgust. "Absolutely not." Adrien laughed a bit as Felix shook his head, seeming unnerved by even the suggestion. "Trust me, I am not and have never been interested in Marinette like that. It's...off." He grimaced. "Like if you were interested in Chloé."

Adrien winced. "Oh yeah, I see what you mean." I've known Chloé so long it would be weird to view her romantically. I don't even think she liked me so much as she liked the fact that she could brag that I was her boyfriend. "Uh...we aren't actually friends anymore though."

Felix blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah, uh..." he sighed. "It was kind of a lot of things, but it got to a point where I couldn't really make excuses for her anymore. She was hurting my other friends, and I couldn't condone it anymore, so...at that point I just stopped."

"...Good for you," Felix stated firmly, and Adrien looked up to see he was being genuine. "I'm glad that you were able to decide for yourself that the relationship wasn't working out."

Adrien smiled, then let out a sheepish laugh. "We really need to check up on each other more, huh?" Then, quietly, "I'm sorry about your dad. And I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you when he died. But...I'm here now?"

Felix looked over him, as if determining the value of the remark, before nodding quietly. "Thank you, Adrien."

"Hey Felix!" a voice called, and both boys looked over to see Marinette, her friends, and Kagami looking over at them, a brown haired boy in a blue waistcoat waving over to them. "C'mon, the movie is about to start, and we're all in the same row!"

Felix gave the brown-haired boy a flat look, before sighing. "Well, best not to keep them waiting I suppose." He looked over to Adrien and gestured for him to lead the way.

After a series of very sudden, very quick introductions, the group ended up walking up to the doors, where Aunt Amelie was waiting.

"Adrien!" she cried out, pulling him into a hug and pinching his cheek slightly. "You just keep getting cuter by the day. Though I guess I'm biased, since you take after your mother so much and we are identical twins." Then she very carefully ruffled his hair, adding, "I'm glad you seem to be doing alright. I heard your father was actually letting you outside, and it definitely shows."

"Aunt Amelie," Adrien didn't whine, a bit embarrassed.

"She does that with all of us too," one of the boys, Alan, assured him, giving him a smirk. "It stops being as embarrassing when you realize she will do the same thing to all of your friends."

Marinette nodded sagely, adding, "She's been doing it since I was little. She's almost as bad as my own parents honestly."

Adrien blinked, then snorted. "Fair enough, I guess."

It seemed the brunet, Claude, had been correct, as they were all in the same row. And Kagami smirked at him mischievously as she sat in the seat between his and Marinette's seats.

"Traitor," he whispered quietly to her.

"Simp," she responded bluntly, and he flushed red with embarrassment and turned his attention toward the movie.

Oh well...despite everything, it was still a good movie.

Chapter Text

Xavier Ramier was really glad the police were no longer bothering him about feeding the pigeons. Keeping his feathery friends well-fed was something that he liked to do, and it was a good use of his time.

And, well, it distracted from how difficult things were at work at the moment. All of his coworkers kept watching him as if he was seconds away from getting akumatized, he had been passed up for a promotion several times due to his boss believing he "wouldn't be able to handle the stress", and he was pretty sure they were just waiting for the right moment to find something he had done wrong and fire him.

It was a vicious cycle, he had realized. His coworkers or his boss did something that made him feel insecure about his job or worried about the future, he fed the pigeons in order to deal with the stress and cheer himself up, something happened to the pigeons or him, he would end up akumatized, his coworkers or his boss would get nervous and do more things that made him feel insecure about his job, and on and on.

He sighed, shaking his head. He was just lucky he didn't have any family members to be adversely affected by his frequent akumatizations. He had ended up talking to Valentine Leclair at an akuma support group, and it was clear that August being routinely targeted by Hawk Moth had left her tired and on edge, terrified that any time her son got upset or started crying that Hawk Moth would akumatize him again.

"Hello again, Mr. Ramier!" a familiar voice greeted, and he looked up and smiled as Ms. Lenoir carefully sat herself down on the bench beside him, setting her cane beside herself.

While many people tended to be wary of him, Ms. Lenoir was not one of them. Ever since they had started sharing this bench during his lunch hours, she had been one of the few people to not ever mention Mr. Pigeon or express any concern about him getting akumatized while they were sitting together.

"How are you today, Ms. Lenoir?" he asked, genuinely interested. Ms. Lenoir had one of the most interesting lives he had ever heard about, having participated in the French Resistance during World War II, and even now she was still heavily involved in social justice. Hearing about her day was always a fun experience.

She smiled at him brightly, hopeful light in her green eyes. "Today's the day! I know he's coming...I can feel it!"

Ah yes, Ms. Lenoir's mysterious love. Xavier had heard much about him from her stories, and he was well aware that this man was the true reason Ms. Lenoir always returned to this bench day after day.

"He really is a very lucky man," Xavier remarked, going back to throwing birdseed to the pigeons. "He doesn't deserve you."

Ms. Lenoir let out a small laugh at that, before sitting back and letting out a content sigh, smiling at the way the pigeons gathered around the bench. At least, until a familiar red form swung in and dropped in front of the bench, the pigeons scattering.

Not that Xavier could be upset, considering just who it was.

"Hello ma'am!" Ladybug greeted. Then, a bit nervously, she continued, "I have a letter for you; the mailman asked me to give it to you because there was something wrong with hi-"

Only for Ms. Lenoir to laugh, shaking her head. "I know perfectly well who sent you, young lady!"

Ladybug jumped. "Oh!"

Xavier watched the exchange with wide eyes. It seemed Ms. Lenoir's life was even more interesting than he had previously thought.

Ladybug quickly handed over the letter, and Ms. Lenoir said, "Go now...the less we talk, the safer your secret will be...but thank you, Ladybug. I've been waiting for this moment for a very long time!"

The hero smiled brightly. "You're welcome, ma'am! It was very nice meeting you." Then, with that, she threw her yo-yo and swung away.

Ms. Lenoir sighed happily, holding the letter to her chest, before holding it up to read it.

Then, her eyes went wide with surprise, before she closed the letter again, pressing her lips together and seeming to be...shaking?

"Ms. Lenoir, is everything alright?" Xavier asked, concerned.

And then she broke, bursting in to hysterical laughter that made Xavier jump. Her eyes welled up with mirthful tears as she did her best to control herself, though it took a few moments.

"Oh...oh I'm fine," she assured him, waving off his concern with a few giggles. "In fact, that was the best laugh I've had in a long time." She shook her head, sitting back with an almost mischievous smile on her face. "I think it's best to wait here until Ladybug realizes her mistake."

He blinked, frowning. "Mistake?"

But neither of them had to wait long before the hero swung back over to the bench, her face bright red in embarrassment as she said, "I am so sorry, ma'am. There must have been a mix-up, I should have-"

"Oh don't worry," Ms. Lenoir assured Ladybug. "Accidents happen, of course. It was honestly pretty funny." Passing back the letter she had received, she added, "You should inform your friend Mr. Chen that an old woman had a good laugh at his expense today, and that I hope he feels better."

Ladybug blinked, before dissolving in giggles. "Don't worry, I will." Then, passing Ms. Lenoir a different letter, she said, "Here, that should be the right one this time."

"Thank you, Ladybug."

As Ladybug disappeared, Ms. Lenoir opened the letter, reading it with a smile that grew progressively more soft and lovestruck as she went. Then, she closed it and tucked it into her trench coat.

"What did it say?" Xavier couldn't help but ask, and Ms. Lenoir gave a delighted laugh.

"...Well, I suppose I have kept you in suspense for so long," she decided, before leaning in conspiratorially. "He confessed he is hopelessly in love with me, and that he wants to meet up again after all these years."

Xavier couldn't help the smile on his face. "Well Ms. Lenoir, I guess you were right after all. Today was the day."

"...Yes," she answered, leaning back and looking up at the sky with a fond look. "It really, truly was."

Chapter Text

Juleka reached up, fingers lingering over the hair clip in her hair, before taking a shaking breath. Right...she could do this. She could do this.

She could see Marinette at her locker talking quietly with Sabrina as she did. "Thanks so much for volunteering to help with the photography this weekend, Sabrina. Allegra and Alan are also going to be there to help with setting up and such." She sighed. "Still need to figure out what I'm going to do about models though."

"You could always model your own clothes?" Sabrina suggested, but Marinette sighed.

"Maybe, but I was hoping to have at least two models to show off the clothes," she explained. "It's gender neutral clothing, so I wanted to have a couple of different models so I could show off how it looks on different people. And it helps to have some variety with the models on my website too."

"Hmm, that's true," Sabrina agreed with a nod. "How come Allegra and Alan can't do it?"

"Allegra prefers doing make-up over modeling when I'm doing shoots for my website, though she'll do it if she needs to, and Alan is the best photographer I know. He always does the photos for my website and they always look amazing. If he's modeling then he won't be able to take the pictures." She closed her locker and slung her backpack over her shoulder, adding, "Maybe I can ask some of our classmates, or put up a poster asking if anyone would be interested? What do you think?"

Juleka bit her lip. This was the perfect opportunity. She just had to approach and say something. Just...say something.

"Um, excuse me?" she began, but just as she did, Adrien appeared beside her, calling, "Hey, Marinette!"

Marinette and Sabrina both jumped, looking over at them with wide eyes. Then, Marinette asked, "Hey, what's up?"

"I, uh, overheard you needed models for your website?" Adrien explained, a nervous smile on his face, which surprised Juleka a bit. She had never seen Adrien so nervous before. "And I...I thought I might offer my services?"

Marinette blinked, surprised, "Really? Are you sure about that? This isn't a professional shoot or anything, and with your professional career I'm not sure if it's a good idea?"

"It'll be fine," he promised, seeming...almost pleading. Juleka's eyes narrowed, before she realized what was going on and had to bite back a giggle. She had never seen Adrien so awkward before. She was going to have to mention this to Rose later.

"Well...okay, if you're sure it'll be fine." Marinette let out a shaky chuckle, smiling weakly. "I really don't want to get into legal trouble with your dad."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure it won't happen," he said, smiling happily. Then he glanced over at Sabrina and added, "It's been a long time since we've been able to hang out too."

Sabrina blinked, then brightened considerably. "Yeah, it'll be fun!"

Juleka watched the scene, wondering if she had been completely forgotten, and already the anxiety was starting to overwhelm her again. Maybe she should just leave while they weren't paying attention, so she wouldn't disturb their fun. She'd probably be intruding, wouldn't she?

"What about you, Juleka?" Marinette asked, looking over at her, and Juleka nearly jumped. "Did you need something?"

"I, uh..." She stammered a bit, close to burying her face in her hands. "It's...um."

"Don't worry, take your time," Adrien assured her, giving her an encouraging smile.

Sabrina nodded, adding, "Yeah, no pressure, right?"

Juleka looked at the three of them, before taking a deep breath. It was like Luka had told her. She was made for this. She'd be okay.

"Um...if you need models, I'd like to volunteer?" she managed, unable to avoid the way her hands shook nervously. "If that's okay?"

Marinette blinked, then grinned widely. "Of course it's okay!" She pulled out her phone, tapping it a few times and holding it out to her, saying, "Here, put your number in my contacts and I can send you all the information about where we're meeting this weekend and everything. It's going to pretty casual, just us four and a couple friends from my old school, so it shouldn't be too stressful. I'm also going to bring snacks and drinks, so if you could text me any food allergies I should look out for that would be great."

Juleka blinked, blown away for a moment by Hurricane Marinette, then smiled. "I...okay!"

I did it!

"Okay, so we're going to go pretty casual with the make-up," Allegra explained, opening up her make-up bag after making Adrien sit down on the bench. "Because this is a fun, casual outfit, not any of the ridiculous fancy stuff you're probably used to. Sound good?"

Adrien smiled. "Fine by me!"

She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, before shrugging and noting, "Good thing you came already wearing concealer and foundation, so I can just focus on eyes. Anything you personally don't want on your face?"

"Nope," Adrien answered, though he averted his eyes for a moment. She frowned at that, looking at the contents of her bag. She placed a hand over her eyeliner. No reaction. She shifted to mascara and...yep, a small but noticeable cringe. She pushed the mascara tube aside at that, already throwing it out as an option, before grabbing a palette of warm browns and nudes. No crazy colors or blending, she definitely didn't want to upstage the clothes.

Once she was done, she grabbed an eyeliner pen, drawing quick, clean lines, and asked, "Water line?"

"Sure," Adrien told her, though there was that cringe again. Jeez, did she know him well enough to have a talk about setting boundaries? Probably not, but still.

"Seriously, you can tell me if you don't want me to do your water line," she told him, and he blinked with surprise. "I never do mine, it's too uncomfortable for me, so I'm not gonna to be upset it if you don't want me to do that." He frowned, almost as if he was unsure if he could believe her, so she simply sighed and put the eyeliner away, saying, "It looks good without it anyway. Want to use my setting spray?"

He opened his mouth, closed it, thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Not really. Thanks Allegra."

"No problem," she told him, and he gave a small smile, his shoulders falling slightly.

"Hey, over here!" Sabrina suddenly called, and Allegra and Adrien looked up just as a bike skidded to a stop by the camera. And Allegra's heart nearly stopped as the girl who had been sitting backwards on the cargo rack of said bike hopped off and removed her helmet, shaking out her long, dark hair and giving a bright, hopeful smile as Marinette stepped away from where she and Alan were setting up to greet her.

Oh shit she's pretty, her brain managed to compute before needing to reboot, and she immediately ducked her head, digging through her make-up as if she needed to find something other than her dignity. Marinette didn't prepare me for this, oh no, oh fuck.

"Hey Luka, I didn't know you'd be here," Adrien spoke up, and she braved a glance to see there was another person there too, a boy with teal hair who was now leaning somewhat on the back of the bench. She guessed he was also somewhat cool looking, with the punk aesthetic.

"I'm just here to drop Juleka off," the boy, Luka apparently, explained, seeming somewhat relaxed. "She mentioned you were also modeling today, so I thought it'd be a good time to catch you and see when we can kidnap you for another Kitty Section practice. Mom may not have been joking about the kidnapping though, even if the rest of us were. So if you see a boat on the Seine approaching you, you should probably run."

What the fuck???

Adrien let out a snicker at that, standing as he said, "If there's not a shoot during the next practice, I can probably sneak out or something? I have been working on the sheet music Rose sent me though."

Luka nodded. "That's good. We'll be glad to have you back with us. It's been a while."

"Yeah..." Adrien let out a sigh, shaking his head.

"Hey Allegra!" Marinette called, and Allegra looked up from her make-up bag to see Marinette looking at her, along with the girl from before. Shit. "Can you help Juleka with her make-up?"

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

"Sh-Sure!" she stammered, before wincing and turning her attention back to her make-up bag. Dammit, not now. Come on, Allegra, don't lose your cool! "Come on over!"

"Oh, I'll introduce you to Marinette before you go!" Adrien added brightly to Luka, like the traitor he was. If he said anything else as he and Luka walked away, Allegra didn't hear, too busy mentally screaming.

You can do this. Just do something similar for her that you did for Adrien, thank all that is holy that you didn't do anything crazy with the eyeliner, and try not to stare so much that you get a restraining order or have to flee the country. This isn't another Colette situation, you're fine. You're fine.

"Uh, hi?"

Allegra looked back up to see the girl, Juleka is a really pretty name, just as pretty as her, standing there, holding her arm awkwardly.

"Oh! Hi!" Cool officially lost. Fuck. "Just sit right on the bench. Uh..." She looked up, doing her best not to look too creepy as she looked over Juleka's face. Up close she could tell she was wearing foundation and concealer but had foregone anything else, just like Adrien, and also her eyes were a very pretty shade of red-no, focus! "Okay, so I think I'll only need to do the eyes then? Anything you don't want?"

"Uh, no, I'm fine with whatever you use," Juleka answered quietly, her voice a soft and low alto. Unfortunately, her voice was pretty too, because Allegra's gay ass couldn't catch a break.

"Right! Nice!" Nice? Seriously? You're trying to not end up changing your name and moving to Germany! Dumbass! "Okay, let me just..." She quickly tracked down the palette that she used for Adrien, opening it up and grabbing her brushes. I've literally taken on a wave of hyperactive supervillain children and two supervillains. This is nothing! I can do this! She then looked up at Juleka, meeting her eyes, and immediately her heart started picking up again and she blushed. Okay so maybe that's different and I was also a superhero at that point, but it's fine! I can do this! Probably!

She forced herself to focus on the make-up itself, instead of Juleka's gorgeous eyes and gorgeous voice and gorgeous silky hair and focus you useless lesbian, and if she had to do a second pass with the eyeliner to even it out then it was just because Juleka was a bit taller than the people she usually did make-up for and she wasn't quite used to the angle. Obviously. She managed to compose herself enough to get the mascara done (minimally, as she didn't want it to look too different from Adrien's eye look) and she kind of wanted to pat herself on the back for not stabbing Juleka in the eye accidentally.

"Setting spray?" Allegra asked, going back to her bag and internally grateful that she could finally look away, she swore her heart was going to beat out of her chest.

"Yeah," Juleka answered, somehow even quieter than before, and Allegra might have noticed something off about that if she wasn't focusing on make-up like her life depended on it. "I...I can handle that myself, if you want?"

Allegra blinked, glancing up at Juleka before having to immediately look away again because fuck I think I did too good. "Are you sure?"

She saw Juleka nod out of the corner of her eye, and so she dug through her bag and found the bottle of setting spray, handing it to Juleka and trying not to pull her hand away too quickly when their fingers brushed.

"Hey Allegra!" Alan called, which cut through her mental screaming that had begun in earnest at the brief contact. "Can you come help me with the camera?"

Alan I owe you my life. "Coming!"

She glanced at Juleka again, who was carefully misting her face with setting spray, and said, "Uh, just...go ahead and put it in the bag when you're done!" That handled, it took all she had in her not to bolt.

Once she made it over to the camera, Alan raised an eyebrow at her, and she buried her face in her hands, letting out a whine.

"You can do it," he assured her, patting her on the shoulder. "Just a couple hours and then Marinette will have the pictures she needs."

"Thanks Alan."

He shrugged, adding, "Can't have our make-up artist having a heart attack out of lesbian blue screening."

"...thanks Alan."

Juleka wondered if this was a mistake as Luka waved to her before biking away.

She wondered if she shouldn't have volunteered at all as she looked in the bathroom mirror at the first outfit, a long-sleeved white button down dotted with ladybugs and a pair of fashionably patched jeans.

She wondered if maybe Luka was wrong as Marinette, with an analytical eye, rolled up her sleeves, gave her some simple silver jewelry, and set a hat on her head, angled to frame her face.

She wondered if she had done something wrong as Allegra loosely braided her hair as quickly as she could before darting away back by the camera.

She wondered if she wasn't made for this at all when Alan stood behind the camera, calling out instructions she couldn't hear.

She wondered...she wondered...

She wondered why she felt so lightheaded.

"Juleka?" Marinette asked, immediately concerned, and Juleka wanted to scream and cry and there wasn't enough air, she couldn't get enough air. Everything was too bright, too loud, and everyone's eyes were on her. "Alan, turn off the camera."

Everything was going wrong, and it was her fault, wasn't it?

Marinette was beside her now, while Adrien was guiding the rest of the group away, leaving just the two of them. And Marinette quietly asked, "Can you tell me five things you can see?"

And, as Marinette coached her back to breathing properly, as all the panic and nerves and fear died down, all she could feel was anger and shame.

She ruined everything, didn't she?

Sabrina took out her expendable notebook and a pen as the group, sans Marinette and Juleka, gathered around a bench next to the bakery. The ink flowed on the page with her thoughts, and she let her mind clear.

Juleka had had an anxiety attack. While Marinette was helping to coach her through it in the moment, she'd probably be exhausted afterward. If they were lucky, she'd be okay to go on with the shoot, but if not then they would need to figure out a solution.

"This is my fault," Allegra said, having wrapped her arms around her chest. "I must have been making her uncomfortable."

"It's not your fault," Alan insisted, a hand on her shoulder.

Adrien nodded, adding, "Anyone's first time modeling is going to be stressful. It's a lot of attention on you and how you look and if you're doing everything right. And we all should have noticed that she wasn't okay sooner." He grimaced, glancing down at the ground. "She's my friend, I should have noticed."

"It's not anyone's fault," Alan continued, holding up his hands towards Adrien. "And even if it was, it's done now. We can only move forward."

Sabrina nodded. He was right. They were getting too caught up in the could-haves and should-haves, and that wasn't going to help anything right now. What would help was figuring out where to go from here.

Juleka could be fine enough to do the shoot after this, but operating on the assumption that she wouldn't be, what could they do? Rescheduling would mean being subject to the whims of Gabriel Agreste, who was infamous through Ms. Bustier's class for scheduling and rescheduling all manner of events at the drop of a hat. Switching out one of the models would just hurt the person doing the modeling, and it didn't solve the problem completely.

The problem was that Juleka didn't like being forced into the center of attention, and the awkwardness of new people she didn't know very well probably didn't help. Deciding to model was probably a big step out of her comfort zone, and Sabrina respected that, but they needed to figure out a plan that could allow Juleka to make that step successfully without putting too much pressure on her.

...Oh.

"What are you writing about?" Alan asked, and Sabrina instinctively shut her notebook with a squeak. This was her expendable notebook, so it wasn't really necessary, but she was used to hiding what she was writing at this point. "Oh, sorry."

"No, it's fine," Sabrina insisted, giving an embarrassed laugh. "It's just easier to figure things out when I write things down. But I think I figured out what we can do."

He blinked, then gave a small smile. "Oh, nice. What have you got?"

Before she could say anything, there was a distant crash, and the four of them looked up to see something forming out of dark blue fog in the distance, before solidifying into a pink and white doll-like mech.

Shit. Of course this would happen.

"Run!" Allegra shouted, and Sabrina shoved her notebook and pen into her bag before doing just that.

Chapter Text

"Marinette!" Allegra called out, even as people were running out of the park. "Marinette, where are you?!"

Alan quickly grabbed Sabrina and pulled her aside before one of the random shots from the mech could hit her. "You alright?"

"Y-Yeah," Sabrina assured him, brushing herself off. "Don't worry, those blasts won't hurt us." She gestured to someone who had already been hit, and Alan immediately recognized what was going on. "It's Reflekta's powers."

That was a good point. Unless Ladybug needed him or Allegra, there wasn't much risk to getting hit, especially if Reflekta was inside the mech. The biggest risk came from the mech itself, which was crushing trees beneath its feet and could very well crush them if they weren't careful.

"That's Juleka, right?" Alan asked, looking back over at Sabrina.

She nodded, a grimace on her face. "Juleka was Reflekta, so it makes the most sense. But the mech...that's new."

Alan thought back to Heroes' Day, when the huge butterfly creature had arrived, and his stomach dropped. Right, Ladybug had mentioned the Peacock's wielder. If they were still helping Hawk Moth, then the mech was probably a result from that.

"Where did Allegra and Adrien go?" Sabrina suddenly asked, and Alan realized she was right. Neither of them were within sight, just several Reflekta clones all looking around in confusion or diving out of the way of the mech. He hadn't heard either of them get hit, and even then Allegra at least wouldn't have split off without a reason. Maybe if Ladybug needed Red Piper, but that didn't explain where Adrien had gone.

Sabrina squeaked, grabbing his arm and pulling him to the side as a shot hit where he had been standing not long before.

"Allegra must have run off while we were distracted," Sabrina suggested, and Alan nodded. "Adrien always heads home during akuma attacks unless it's not safe to move, so Allegra and Marinette should be our top priority."

"Right," Alan agreed, looking around the park. "The bakery is close by. They might be taking shelter there."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could already see Ladybug on the rooftops, Chat Noir close on her heels. There was no Red Piper with them, but there was a good chance she was hiding nearby if she was here.

"Bakery it is," Sabrina affirmed, grabbing his arm. "On three, we run. Got it?"

"You must be pretty used to this, huh?"

"You have no idea."

Rose was weaving a friendship bracelet, using baby pink and black and white, when Alya's phone dinged.

"Akuma alert!" Alya called, and Rose's smile dropped, her hands faltering in the middle of her work.

Rose didn't like to say she hated anyone...but she hated Hawk Moth. She loathed him with a burning passion. Especially as she leaned over to look at Alya's phone and recognized the akuma on the screen.

Juleka.

"Wasn't she supposed to be modeling with Marinette today?" Mylène asked, leaning over Alya's other shoulder.

Lila let out a gasp. "Marinette must have played a cruel prank on her! I knew she shouldn't have agreed to model!"

Everyone in the group looked at Lila, and Rose couldn't help the way her eyebrows raised at the statement. Even Alya, probably the closest one of the girls to Lila, looked startled by it.

"Geez, way to assume much?" Alix remarked blandly.

Rose agreed, though she probably would have said it more nicely. Marinette was a nice person, even if she didn't know her that well yet. It was obvious in the way Sabrina had lit up again since Marinette had transferred to their school. Whatever had gone wrong, Rose didn't think it was because of any malicious intentions.

No, her biggest worry had been that Juleka was pushing herself too fast. She was proud of her, but Juleka never liked to be the center of attention, and jumping directly into modeling after only recently being able to have photos taken of her at all might have been too much for her.

Rose had offered to go with her, but Juleka had insisted it would be fine. She shouldn't have listened.

Alya was out the door when Rose jumped to her feet, rushing after her.

"I'm coming with you," Rose insisted as Alya glanced over at her while they hurried down the stairs.

"...Alright."

Allegra had no idea what she was doing.

Okay, that wasn't completely accurate. She knew exactly what she was doing. It was just such a startlingly bad idea that it was better to pretend she was completely ignorant of the idea of even having a plan.

This was her fault. She had been the one to make Juleka uncomfortable, she had been the one who couldn't not be weird for one day. Juleka had gotten akumatized because Allegra was a creepy weirdo and goddammit this was the Colette situation all over again.

This was probably the worst point to try and make things right, but after the trouble the monster from Heroes' Day had given them all, Ladybug and Chat Noir could probably use a distraction.

Both heroes were racing across the rooftops along side the mech, which was slowly stomping down the road. Anyone who hadn't been shot by the mech was desperately running in the opposite way, while those who had been shot were shielding others. One Reflekta clone grabbed Allegra's wrist and yanked her behind them, letting the blast hit the ground in front of her feet.

"What are you doing?" they asked, their voice rough and frantic. "You need to get out of here!"

"I know what I'm doing!" Allegra lied insistently, pulling her wrist from their grasp and ignoring their groan of exasperation as she continued to run after the mech.

"Juleka!" a high-pitched voice cried out over the crowd, but Allegra didn't focus on that, instead on one foot in front of the other, side-stepping blasts and panicking people. The mech was slow and Reflekta clearly had no plan, so it was easy to catch up. She ran between the legs, her thoughts a chorus of "don't die don't die don't die" as the feet stomped down on either side of her.

Once she was a good distance in front of the mech, she turned around, shouting, "Juleka!"

The mech stopped.

"It's Reflekta!" Juleka's voice called from within the mech. "What do you want?"

Allegra winced, before taking a deep breath.

"I'm sorry!"

It was quiet for a moment, as the expression on the mech shifted. Then, Reflekta's voice spoke up again.

"Huh?"

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable!" Allegra continued. "It was just supposed to be a fun photo shoot but I ruined it and upset you, and I'm sorry!"

The mech frowned, its eyes widening. "But...I was the one making you uncomfortable, wasn't I?"

Allegra blinked. "Huh?"

"You seemed like you couldn't stand me! You wouldn't look me in the eyes and you did everything you could to get away from me! I thought I had done something wrong and ruined everything!" There was a pause, before Reflekta's voice continued, a bit more distantly, "Shut up, I'm trying to figure out what's going on."

"You...you didn't make me uncomfortable! I was just..." Allegra flushed in embarrassment.

Before either of them could say anything e.se, Ladybug and Chat Noir landed on the head of the mech, Ladybug carrying something large and round.

"Hey, get off!" Reflekta's voice shouted, the mech's hands swiping towards its head, but the heroes disappeared towards the back of her head. "Hey, stop it, you-agh, get out get out get out!"

The mech flailed, a few stray blasts shooting out, and Allegra squeaked, side-stepping one that nearly hit her in the process.

Then the mech disappeared in a dark blue cloud, with Ladybug and Chat Noir dropping to the ground, Chat Noir holding a flailing Reflekta.

"Let go of me, you mangy cat!" Reflekta shouted, moments before Ladybug broke the mirror on her hand, swinging her yoyo to catch the akuma that flew from it.

Allegra ran forward as Chat Noir set Juleka down and the black energy dissipated.

"Juleka!"

A blond girl dressed in pink rushed forward from behind the heroes, followed by a girl Allegra recognized as the Ladyblogger, and both girls tackled Juleka in a hug.

"Rose? Alya?" Juleka mumbled, eyes wide. "When did you guys get here?"

"We saw you were akumatized and came looking for you!" the blond girl insisted, releasing Juleka from the hug. "Are you okay? Lila thought the shoot must have been a prank, but I think she was overreacting out of worry for you! What happened?"

Juleka looked startled, before shaking her head. "No, the shoot was fine. Everyone was..." She looked over at Allegra for a moment, blinking in surprise, before quickly averting her eyes. "Everyone was really nice. I just...got nervous."

"Oh," Rose answered, frowning. Then, more firmly, she continued, "That's okay! It was a big jump for you, and what matters is that you tried! You always have another shot!"

"Hey, Allegra," Ladybug said, and Allegra looked away from the moment to see Ladybug standing there, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

Allegra laughed nervously. "Yeah, that was kind of dumb."

"Kinda is an understatement," Ladybug said sternly, and Allegra winced. Then, more gently, she added, "But still, thank you for your help. The distraction gave us an opportunity to catch up, if nothing else." She then rested a hand on her shoulder and leaned in, adding quietly, "Akuma don't remember what happened while they were akumatized. Make sure to clear things up with Juleka, okay?"

"...Right," Allegra agreed, nodding, and Ladybug smiled at her before turning and tossing her yo-yo, zipping away.

Right...

"Make sure to tell us all about it tonight!" Rose insisted to Juleka outside of the bakery, clutching her hands as she did.

She nodded. "Okay, I promise."

"You've got this, girl," Alya added, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "Knock 'em dead."

Juleka smiled nervously. "Thanks. Both of you."

She waved to them as the two walked back towards Rose's apartment, before taking a deep breath and going inside.

"Juleka!" Adrien called, smiling at her and waving from one of the tables.

"H-Hey guys," Juleka said nervously, waving to them. "Sorry about-"

"Don't apologize!" Marinette insisted, standing up from her seat. "I'm sorry. As one of the resident experts on anxiety here, I should have noticed before things got bad. I was too caught up in the shoot and not focused enough on how you were feeling, and that's on me as the person in charge."

Juleka blinked. She hadn't expected Marinette to apologize. The whole time, she had felt like it was her fault. It hadn't even occurred to her that anyone would feel that way.

"It's okay," Juleka insisted. "I'm...I'm still nervous but I want to try again."

"Sabrina came up with a plan, actually," Alan spoke up, gesturing for her to sit down in the seat next to Allegra. Juleka frowned, but he gestured insistently, so she slowly complied. Allegra glanced at her, but instead of breaking eye contact she gave a nervous smile, waving a bit to her, and Juleka blinked in surprise.

Sabrina opened her journal, drawing Juleka's attention, and explained, "I'm thinking we should expand the shoot. A big reason why Marinette wanted multiple models was to illustrate the clothing being wearable for anyone, but two white teenagers don't really fit the scope. So instead, I think we should all model in this session, and do a second shoot later with other models."

Juleka blinked.

"The idea was that you can model today if you're up to it, but if you need more time, there's always the other session," Marinette continued, a reassuring smile on her face. "And it's also not just on you to get things right, which should hopefully help with the pressure."

"The photographer for my shoots has been teaching me about photography, so I can take Alan's photos," Adrien added, "and I think we can convince Alya and Nino at least to model. Probably Kim too."

Juleka looked at all of them, who were smiling at her excitedly. Waiting for her input.

They wanted her here. She hadn't screwed things up.

They were making space for her.

"I think Rose and Mylène would be interested too," she added, and Marinette grinned excitedly. "And there's someone in another class who'd probably be interested in trying."

There was a chorus of cheers at that, and she couldn't help but smile.

She was made for this.

"Let's head back to the park while there is still daylight!" Marinette declared, jumping to her feet. "Juleka, are you good to help Allegra with make-up? We have four more people who need it and Adrien mentioned you've got experience."

Juleka grimaced. "Um, I..."

"I'd really appreciate it," Allegra spoke up emphatically, and Juleka blinked at her.

"I...okay."

The group headed back to the park, supplies in hand and an air of enthusiasm that even Juleka could feel in that moment.

Allegra showed Juleka the look she was going for on Marinette, simple, natural shades with light mascara and nothing crazy with the lips, and then the two did the same on Alan and Sabrina, which just left Allegra to do her own.

"Hey, Juleka?" Allegra spoke up as she put on her own make-up in a handheld mirror. "I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable in any way, or make you think you were making me uncomfortable."

Juleka blinked at her. "I...I wasn't making you-"

"No!" Allegra insisted, putting down her mirror and looking at Juleka. "No, it wasn't you at all. It's just..." She flushed with embarrassment, looking away. "Um...has anyone ever told you that you're really pretty?"

...Oh.

"Oh." Juleka winced in sympathy. "So you-"

She wasn't looking at her anymore, but Juleka could see the way her face had gone red. "Yeah. I'm...I'm very gay, and you're gorgeous. But I was really worried that I was acting weird or creepy and that made me act even weirder, which was a whole mess. But yeah, you're...you're really pretty."

Juleka flushed, embarrassed. "That's...really nice of you. But..."

Allegra audibly winced. "Straight?"

"No, I'm also a lesbian," Juleka explained, and Allegra went stiff. "But I've got a girlfriend."

"...Oh!" Allegra looked back over at her, eyes wide. "The blond girl from before? The one with the Ladyblogger?"

She nodded. "Yeah. We're, uh, we're not telling everyone yet. She's worried about her parents, and my mom can't keep a secret to save her life. It's just a few of our friends, some club members in the queer club, and my brother who knows. And you now."

"I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks." Juleka glanced over at where Adrien was taking pictures of Alan and Sabrina, who were posing on a bench and leaning back to back. "You weren't being creepy, by the way. You just seemed uncomfortable and nervous. I was just worried that I'd done something wrong."

"...Thanks." Allegra finished her eyeliner in her mirror, before glancing back at her. "I just...worry a lot. About that. That's why I was so certain it was me making you uncomfortable at first."

Juleka nodded, thinking about how awkward sleepovers with Rose had gotten when she had first figured out she was gay, how scared she had been that something she had been doing since they were kids was now something weird and wrong. "I understand."

"But dang if I didn't overcorrect."

"Yeah, you kinda did."

Allegra giggled, and Juleka did too.

"Friends?" Juleka asked, holding out a hand, and Allegra grinned and shook it.

"Friends."

"How'd the shoot go?" Alya asked over the video call, looking up from her homework to the screen.

"It was a lot of fun," Juleka said, smiling. "Everyone was really nice and doing their best to make sure everything was comfortable. Oh, Marinette is actually trying to get more volunteers for modeling?"

"Really?" Mylène asked, surprised. "I don't know..."

"You'd be a great model, Mylène!" Rose insisted, and Alya nodded in agreement. "Tell us more, Juleka! What was it like?"

Juleka grinned. "It was pretty casual, but a lot of fun. Adrien offered a lot of advice when one of us was unsure about something, and the pictures seemed to have turned out really well."

"Oh, that reminds me!" Lila spoke up, and Alya could hear Alix groan. "I was invited to this fashion event in Milan!"

Alya only half-listened as Lila went on about the designer who had invited her, about her internship with her last summer, and so on. Glancing at Juleka's screen, she could see the quietly disappointed expression on her face just before she received a text message in the group chat.

roserade: tell us more juleka!

Alya could see the rest of the girls muting on the screen and quickly joined them, turning her volume down until Lila's image was silently speaking. She nodded along to nothing as she checked her phone.

She felt bad, of course she did, but she'd much rather talk to Juleka about her day than be talked at by Lila for an hour about something that didn't matter. Alya liked Lila (of course she did, Lila was her friend, why wouldn't she?) but she didn't like this. She didn't like how Alix couldn't talk about something cool happening at the museum her dad worked at without Lila talking about a cool set of ruins she saw.

Did Rose help out at a soup kitchen over the weekend? Lila had been working with Prince Ali to help solve world hunger. Mylène was made an extra in a movie filming nearby? Lila had apprenticed with Steven Spielberg in the past.

No wonder Sabrina...

No. Alya couldn't think about that. Not now.

loislane: spill girl! tell us everything!

This was about Juleka.

If Lila couldn't get that, Alya would at least.

allaboutthatbass: ok!