"No more evil-doing for you, little Akuma!" Ladybug said as she broke the paintbrush.

A small, black and purple butterfly flew out of it. Ladybug caught the creature in her yo-yo. She opened it again, releasing the now-purified insect back into the world.

The Painter de-transformed to a twenty-something-year-old woman. Her long, brown, curly hair was in a ponytail. She had an old blue baseball cap that was sitting on her head backwards. Her face, white shirt, blue jeans, black combat boots, and teal apron were all covered in specks of paint. She was sitting on the ground, looking around in confusion.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug shouted, tossing the red and black paint can into the air.

The paint can exploded into a burst of pink light. Streams of energy in the forms of ladybugs swept through the city, repairing any damage The Painter caused.

"Pound it!"

The former Akuma stood up shakily. "What- what happened? Was I akumatized?"

"What's your name?" Ladybug asked.

"A- Ali."

Ladybug put a firm hand on the woman's shoulder. "Ali, what happened was not your fault."

Ali didn't look so sure. "I- my- museum curator… he wouldn't accept my new artwork because it was too 'bold' and too 'colorful'…"

"You'll get your dream one day, I promise," Ladybug assured her. "For now, keep doing what you love."

Ali grinned shyly. "Thanks Ladybug." She hesitated for a moment before saying, "Wait, before you guys leave, can I give you both something?"

She reached into her pocket and produced two tubes of paint, one red and one green.

"The red's the exact color of your suit, and the green's the exact color of your eyes," she explained, motioning to Ladybug and Chat Noir respectively. "I couldn't find the right color in the art store, so I had to make my own."

They laughed as they took their paint tubes. "Thanks!"

Chat Noir's ring beeped. "Oh, I gotta run! Thank you for the paint!"

He leaped to the next building, his baton spinning above him. The tube of paint was also in the same hand. For Ladybug and Ali, this was one of those moments where one can see the danger coming from a mile away but can't do anything to stop it from happening.

So as fate would have it, the paint tube promptly burst, dousing the black superhero in green paint.

"Chat!" Ladybug exclaimed. She swung over to the next building, making the exact same mistake as Chat Noir. A few short moments later, Ladybug was covered in red paint.

Ali, who was still on the first rooftop, was staring at the two brightly colored superheroes in utter horror. She looked like she accidentally killed someone.

But Ladybug and Chat Noir thought it was hilarious. They swung back over to the first rooftop and collapsed in fits of laughter.

"Don't worry about it!" Ladybug said to Ali.

"Yeah, no seriously, it's fine. This was our fault anyways," Chat Noir added.

"I guess we can just tell people we were in a paint store, and a tube of paint dropped on our heads," Ladybug said thoughtfully.

Chat Noir shrugged. "Yeah, close enough to what actually happened."

This time, both of their miraculouses beeped urgently.

"Can you make it home?" Chat asked Ali.

She nodded.

"Great! It was paint-astic to meet you, fair artist."

Ali laughed, but Ladybug just shook her head.

"You tried," the red superhero said.

"Paint puns are hard, okay?" Chat Noir said, feigning being offended. Then he swung off.

"Bye Ali!" Ladybug said after watching her partner disappear over the horizon. "Never give up on your passion, alright?"

Ali smiled. "I promise."

"Bug out!"

Adrien just managed to get to an empty alley before his transformation dropped. Plagg flew out of his ring, then burst out laughing.

"Oh my god! You look so stupid!"

Adrien rolled his eyes tossing him a piece of camembert. "Thanks, Plagg."

Plagg finished his cheese with a huge gulp. "Okay, but seriously, you look ridiculous."

"I'm going home to shower, alright?" Adrien said defensively. "Plagg, claws out!"

"Tikki, spots off!" In a flash of pink light, Ladybug turned back into Marinette.

She reached into her purse and pulled out a pink macaroon, which she handed to Tikki.

"You're awfully quiet," Marinette said pointedly as she watched her kwami eat the macaroon.

Tikki was clearly forcing down a smile. "What do you mean?"

Marinette pointed to her hair.

"Oh! I didn't even notice!" Tikki exclaimed, trying her best to sound surprised.

Marinette sighed. "Thanks, Tikki. I really hope I can wash it out."

After Tikki finished her macaroon, Marinette shouted, "Tikki, spots on!"

"No no no no no NO NO!"

Plagg pressed his ear against Adrien's bathroom door. "Is it coming out?"

A few moments later, Adrien came out of the bathroom wearing a change of clothes. His hair was still damp.

Plagg flew around Adrien's head. "It's kinda lighter than before," he said helpfully.

Adrien flopped onto his bed face-first and groaned. "No, it's not!"

"Well, what's the worst that can happen?" Plagg asked supportively.

Adrien rolled onto his back. "My father will get mad because I can't do photoshoots with green hair."

"Oh, yeah. There is that. Well, I'm sure it'll come out eventually."

"I really hope so."

Marinette sat on her bed, hair still wet from an hour-long shower.

"Do you know any solution for getting his paint out of my hair?" Marinette begged Tikki.

"I'm sorry Marinette. I don't know."

Marinette put her face in her hands and sighed in frustration. What was she gonna do? At least she had the excuse she and Chat Noir came up with to explain why her hair was red.

"I wonder if Chat's had any more luck getting this paint out," Marinette thought out loud.

The next day wasn't as bad as Adrien thought it would be. Nathalie didn't even ask what happened. She just took one look at Adrien's green hair and said, "All of your photoshoots today have been cancelled."

When he got to school, he got a lot of strange looks, all of which he ignored. Adrien spotted Marinette, Nino, and Alya on the other side of the courtyard and stopped dead in his tracks. Marinette had red hair. Not a natural orange-red, but red-red. Like…Ladybug red. Adrien's mind was racing. Could it be? Could Marinette possibly be…?

Adrien got all the way to his friends. They did a double take upon seeing his green hair. Nino and Alya laughed. But there was something more in Marinette's eyes. She had a million thoughts racing through her brain at once. It was a look that was so familiar to Adrien, that he was used to seeing on his lady…

"Dude!" Nino exclaimed. "What happened to your hair?"

Normally, Adrien was exceptionally good at coming up with lies on the spot. It's a skill that comes with being a superhero whose heroic activities lead to being frequently tardy and absent. But now, his mind was blanking. He rattled off the first thing that came to his mind.

"I- I was at the paint s-tore and- and the- head- dropped on my paint tube- I mean- paint tube dropped-on my head."

Marinette's bluebell eyes widened. Alya and Nino didn't notice.

"No way!" Alya said. "That's exactly what happened to Marinette!"

Adrien and Marinette made eye contact. There was a fierce and intense silent conversation between them that Alya and Nino didn't pick up on.

"M- Marinette?" Adrien said finally. "Can I talk to you? Over there?" He motioned vaguely to somewhere far away from where they were.

Marinette, unable to find words, just nodded.

Alya and Nino watched as Marinette and Adrien walked out of earshot for their "conversation." They couldn't hear what was happening. There was however a lot of arm-waving, mainly from Marinette.

"I wonder what that's all about," Nino thought out loud.

"Maybe Adrien discovered it was Marinette who stole his phone last week," Alya said.

"Wait, that was Marinette?" Nino asked incredulously.

"No, it wasn't," Alya retorted quickly. This is precisely why people don't trust her with secrets.

Nino laughed. "Don't worry, I won't tell them you told me."

Alya turned around and kissed him. "And that's why I love you, babe."

Her eyes suddenly widened. "Oh! Marinette will probably want me to film this. She's actually having a conversation with Adrien," she emphasized dramatically.

Nino chuckled. "Yeah, and from the looks of it, Marinette's speaking in cohesive sentences too."

That made Alya laugh. She whipped out her phone and started recording.

The couple watched in silence, until about a minute later, when the literal last thing Alya and Nino expected to happen happened. They would have thought it more probable that Ms. Bustier was Hawkmoth. They would have thought it more probable that Marinette and Adrien were Ladybug and Chat Noir. Heck, they would have thought it more probable that Chloé could be a nice person for a day.

Marinette and Adrien were embracing each other in a kiss. A kiss that lasted for several minutes.

Alya got it all on camera. Including a shriek of Chloé, who was on the other side of the courtyard.

Afterwards, Marinette and Adrien came back over, hand in hand, smiling. Nino and Alya still had not recovered from the shock.

Marinette beamed. "Can you send that to me, Alya?"

Alya muttered something along the lines of "Wudyoudrinkis," which Marinette took as a yes.

To this day, they refuse to tell anyone what happened during that conversation. It drives Alya crazy.

Unrelatedly, Ladybug and Chat Noir kiss a lot during missions now. Alya has a whole section on the Ladyblog dedicated to pictures of "Ladynoir" kisses (Alya was the one who coined the term, something she was very, very proud of).