"You should talk to Marinette more!"

"Huh?" Sabrina tore her eyes away from her homework, looking wide-eyed at Tikki. "Where'd this come from?"

Tikki sat on Sabrina's nightstand, a half-finished strawberry bonbon in front of her. She took another bite, pointing at Sabrina for emphasis. "It just makes sense. You go to her parents' bakery for all my food. She sees you every day at school and at the bakery. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt if you had a conversation!"

"We have conversations," Sabrina muttered, slightly uncomfortable.

"Sabrina, I don't think 'one bag of chocolate cookies, please and thank you' counts as a conversation."

Sabrina's face burned. "You know what I mean!" she groused. "I don't know her that well. She's just a classmate, and Chloé doesn't like her..."

She fell silent, able to feel Tikki's hard stare at her back. That was a poor excuse and they both knew it. And it wasn't really...well, like a ladybug to say something like that either. Some hero she was.

(She didn't voice that last part out loud, of course. If she did, Tikki would be quick to gently reprimand her. She always was.)

"I mean... And we've sorta-known each other for years and we've never spoken much. I can't just start now."

"And why not?"

"Because..." Whatever excuse she had died on her tongue. "Because..." she repeated in a smaller voice. "Because... because what if it's too late?" she finally settled for.

Sabrina folded her arms on top of her desk, not caring if it smudged her pencil marks. "What if I've stood by and said nothing so long that it doesn't matter what I say? What if I've somehow messed everything up so she doesn't trust me? What if she thinks I'm setting a trap? What if... There's a lot of what-ifs, Tikki."

Tikki hummed thoughtfully. "Yes, there are."

Sabrina turned, slightly confused. That wasn't like Tikki-

"But what if she's happy to speak to you outside of a business manner? What if she understands you're sorry? What if she'd like to be your friend too? What if this turns out to be one of the best things you could do?"

Ah. That sounded more like Tikki. Sabrina bit her lip and looked back at her work. "I don't know..."

"Well, think of it this way. You face down dozens of Akuma a month. Is talking to Marinette really that bad in comparison?"

She had a point... But... "I can't just walk up to her out of nowhere, though! That looks suspicious."

"Then you should find an opening, find something to talk about."

Sabrina frowned again as she turned back to Tikki-

-and then she snapped her fingers.

"Uhm, Marinette?"

Marinette looked up, blinking in surprise. "Sabrina. Where's Chloé?" she asked, leaning back in her seat to peer around the redhead.

Sabrina took a deep breath. "She's not here yet! I uh - actually wanted to talk to you about- I mean, I was wondering if-"

Marinette sat normally again, frowning up at her. "About...?"

Before she could lose her nerve, Sabrina thrust the Dupain-Cheng Bakery bag out at Marinette. "I uh! I ordered way too many bonbons yesterday! I thought I could eat the whole fifty, because they were so tiny, but it turns out I can't and Dad's allergic to strawberry so I was thinking maybe - maybe we could - uh - share? Them?"

The silence felt heavy, even though the rest of the room's noise level hadn't changed a bit. Sabrina continued to stand there, holding the bag out awkwardly, eyes trained on Marinette's face. 'It's just Marinette. You've faced Akuma. It's just Marinette. You've faced Akuma. It's just-'

"Sure!"

"-Huh?! You would - I mean! I mean, of course you would! I asked, and you said - ahaha, right, right, sorry, I uh... Let me divide these up, then!" Sabrina sank into the currently-empty seat next to Marinette, carefully and evenly dividing the little pink treats. A plastic baggie could hold her own portion, and Marinette could have her bag back. Easy.

Remembering that it took more actual talking to keep a conversation going, Sabrina began to speak again. "You know, uh, these bonbons are really good. Do you have any new flavors coming out?"

"Well...Mama is thinking of introducing a passionfruit one."

"Oh! I love passionfruit!"

"I'll tell her that's a vote for 'yes' then."

Sabrina looked up in time to see Marinette beginning to smile. She felt something like pride swell up in her chest, felt like a weight was lifted from her shoulders. She was talking to Marinette! She was...

Dare she say it...

She was making another friend.

And it only cost-

...Tikki's...recharge...snack...

Oops.

That night, Chat Noir pointed to the half-dozen pink bakery bags in Ruby Wing's arms. "Hey, uh, Ruby, what's-"

"Compensation for my kwami..."