"Why pink?"

That was the question that escaped Juleka's lips as she and Rose sat at lunch. It had been a few weeks now since they first met, and their nascent friendship was to the point where Juleka had no objection to Rose sitting next to her at lunch. Though Juleka seemed to be a little more willing to talk now, she was still rather withdrawn and quiet. So when she asked this out of the blue, the small blonde girl looked surprised.

"Why do I need a reason to like pink?" Rose replied. "But if you need one, I just adore how kind it is. No one has ever been able to say no to pink."

"Not me," Juleka muttered. "Bright pink just isn't my style. Give me dark colors anyday."

They went back to their lunches for a bit, until a sudden glint of inspiration went off in Rose's eyes and she smiled. "You wanna try it?"

"Try what?"

"Try switching colors?" Rose explained. "You go a day in pink, I go in black, and see what happens."

"You really want to do that?" Juleka nearly choked in surprise. "I mean, we haven't even known each other that long and you want us to switch clothes?"

"C'mon, Juleka, it'll be fun. Think of it as my way of showing you what kind of friend I can be." Her eyes went wider than Juleka thought possible as she smiled. "Pleeeeeeease? Just one day? I promise you'll enjoy it." Juleka grunted, somehow finding it hard to say no to those big blue eyes.

The next day, their respective homeroom classes were cracking up as they saw Rose and Juleka's new wardrobes. Juleka was wearing an eye-popping pink t-shirt and jeans that Rose had bought for her. She even had her hair dyed with pink highlights. As to Rose, she had done the opposite and was wearing some black lace clothes which Juleka let her borrow along with dyed black hair. Rose's smile never seemed to fade, but Juleka looked positively mortified.

The day after, Juleka really let Rose have it. She snapped and argued for up to an hour over her humiliation. But in the end, she couldn't help but laugh with Rose over how ridiculous the whole idea was. That said, she made sure to reiterate: "That's the last time I let you talk me into anything."

It wouldn't be.

Present day...

"Kind of ironic now that I think about it," Reflekta chatted and she and Princess Fragrance hopped the rooftops. "Back then, I couldn't stand pink, but now I can't help but love it... in moderation."

"See, I told you," Fragrance replied. "Nobody can say no to pink, though black isn't too shabby, either." She spun around a bit to show off her Akuma wardrobe. "Say what you will about Hawk Moth, but he's pretty stylish in his costume designs."

Reflekta allowed herself a smile. "True. Anyway, you know he's gonna snap at us eventually, so we better get busy on luring Ladybug out."

"I got just the thing," Fragrance spoke up. As Reflekta listened to her friend's idea, she frowned in discomfort. Even as an Akuma, Rose's ideas tended to be questionable at best, but Juleka never seemed to know when to say no.

She wouldn't have it any other way.

Miraculous (c) ZAG