It was with an odd sense of relief mixed with disappointment that Marinette returned to school after lunch to find that Adrien was gone and wouldn't be returning for the rest of the day. Resolved not to dwell on it, Marinette set herself to a razor sharp focus on her classes in an effort to get ahead of her homework so she'd be able to enjoy her evening with Alya. Her parents had approved it so long as her homework was completed and she was home before ten, so it was with relief that she finished her chemistry worksheet in the library during study hall.

The final bell brought Alya to her side immediately, "Let's go girl! We've got homework to do if we want to have any fun tonight."

"Way ahead of you," said Marinette as she scooped her papers and books into her bag and stood with a bright smile, "I just finished my last assignment. All that's left is the storyboard presentation for Mme. Bustier, and that's not due for another month."

Alya mock scowled at her, "That's not fair! I still have to do Mme. Mendeliev's chem worksheet and those 50 word problems."

Marinette smacked her face with her palm, "I forgot about the word problems!" she moaned, "Are you sure they're due tomorrow?"

"Uh, yeah. Unless tomorrow isn't Tuesday."

Grumbling under her breath, Marinette redirected her footsteps to the locker room so she could pick up her math textbook. Alya trailed behind her, shaking her head with a half smile, "Marinette, Marinette, Marinette... how could you forget so quickly? She just reminded us about it this morning."

A blush crept it's way up her neck, "Uh... was that when I accidentally lost my stylus?"

A burst of laughter made Marinette's blush deepen. "Yeah, I guess it was. Girl, sometimes you amaze me."

Feigning annoyance, Marinette flounced to her locker to open it, but her act was ruined when she managed to trip over a shoe that someone had left on the floor. Some quick arm flailing saved her from a face plant, but she couldn't help but join in with Alya's laughter. "Alright, alright! Let's just get what we need and get out of here then okay?"

Alya just grinned at her.

A few hours of dedicated work later and their homework was done. Alya lay sprawled across her bed with her head hanging off the edge, looking at Marinette upside down where she lay on her stomach on the floor with her feet crossed in the air above her, staring into space with a troubled expression.

"Alright!" Alya flipped over and twisted to sit up on her bed, clapping her hands together. Marinette jumped and let out a squeak. "Who's ready for... Challenge Time!" Alya reached down to pull a notebook out from under her bed, waving it at Marinette. She smiled to herself when she saw Marinette's anxiety start to fade.

"Oh? You have a challenge for me?" asked Marinette, pushing herself up to set cross-legged.

"You betcha!" Alya tossed the pink notebook to Marinette, who just managed to snag it with the tips of her fingers. "Tonight's challenge is... Pockets!"

Marinette raised an eyebrow, "Pockets?"

"Yep!" She narrowed her eyes and widened her grin, "Specifically, hidden pockets in formal wear."

Her pencil tapped against her lower lip as her eyes shifted out of focus again, "Hmm..."

"Wait!" Alya said, extending a hand to reclaim Marinette's attention, "This challenge is broken into three parts! Your first piece is a classic men's suit, but instead of adding pockets, cause really, there's already what, eight or nine in a typical suit right?" she shook her head in mock disgust, "You only need to have five pockets, but they all need to be hidden." With great formality, Alya straightened herself to look down on Marinette with the straightest face she could manage, "Do you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, accept your challenge?"

Lips twitching, Marinette also straightened up and struggled to look formal, "I accept!" Humming slightly to herself, Marinette's eyes slipped away for a moment while she thought. Alya felt a twinge of anticipation as she waited for her own challenge. A devious smile spread across Marinette's face and Alya felt her anticipation shift into apprehension. "Alright Mademoiselle, your challenge is also in three parts. You will right three articles, each about a famous individual with an unusual quirk. But!" She held up a finger in emphasis, "You must provide three sources for all information that you include. Do you accept your challenge Alya Cesare?"

"I do!" A giggle escaped her, "I'll write as many articles as you want girl." Alya hopped off her bed and made her way to her desk she should would have better access to her computer. "And who is my first subject?"

"Clara Nightingale and her habit of rhyming everything."

Alya let out a pfft of amusement, "Please, I thought this was supposed to be challenging!"

Marinette laughed, "Oh just wait for it..."

"Then we've got..." Alya pulled out her phone to check the time and quickly calculate how long they could allow for each challenge and still get Marinette home in time for curfew. A few taps later and she was ready to start their timer, "Half an hour. And... go!"

She saw Marinette's pencil begin to fly across the page before turning to her computer with a smile, ready to research and write.

Twenty minutes later, Alya was grumbling to herself as she searched for sources to back up Lila's anecdote about how she'd inspired Clara to add constant rhyming to her regular conversations. She suppressed a growl and glanced up at Marinette who was still absorbed in her design. She'd promised no boy talk tonight, so bringing up Lila when Marinette was clearly still jealous of her over Adrien was not an option. With a soft sigh, she deleted her last paragraph, then went back to change her search terms.

Results started filling in immediately. Scores of early interviews where Clara had been repeatedly asked about her constant rhyming and dancing all gave the same answer: Clara had always enjoyed rhyming games as a child and struggled with sitting still for any length of time. After being diagnosed with ADHD, her parents had started using dancing and rhyming as coping methods to direct her excess energy and keep her focused and controlled.

Brow furrowed, Alya blinked at her screen in confusion for a minute. She must have mixed up her story a bit. Maybe Lila just meant that she'd helped Clara come up with more rhymes so that she'd be able to continue rhyming. Doing it constantly must be exhausting! With a quick mental shake, Alya brought herself back to her article and had just finished citing her sources when the alarm sounded. "Time!" she called as she spun to face Marinette again.

Marinette hesitated, pencil hovering over something she was clearly considering changing. "Mari..." Alya said, raising an eyebrow. With a sigh, Marinette lowered her hand without marking her paper.

"Alright," Marinette studying her sketch for a just a moment before carefully turning the page and looking up. Her eyes slid to one side again and Alya waited in amusement for her friend to come up with her next subject. "Um..." Marinette paused, then met Alya's gaze with a smile, "Challenge number two! Same rules, new subject: Jagged Stone and his pets."

Alya rolled her eyes again, "You really are determined to make this easy aren't you?" Marinette merely smiled, and Alya felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Something about Marinette's smile was off. It wasn't quite as friendly as usual. Brushing it off as part of her friend's competitive nature, Alya shrugged her shoulders, "Alright then, your second design – oh BFF of mine – is a formal gown to match the suit you just made, but! It must have just as many pockets as the suit."

Marinette was non-plussed, "You want me to discreetly hide five pockets in a dress?"

"Yep!" A few quick taps to reset the timer on her phone and Alya looked up with a smile, her finger hovering over the start button, "And go!"

Alya noted with satisfaction that Marinette's brow furrowed as she refocused on her new blank page before turning back to her computer to begin her own challenge. One quick search later brought up dozen of results about Jagged Stone's infamous pet crocodile. And 15 minutes passed quickly while she wrote it up.

Next, the kitten! New search entered, Alya eagerly began scanning through the results, but her excitement ebbed quickly as she reached the fourth page without any useful hits. Finally, a video link caught her eye and Alya eagerly followed it, slipping in an earbud so as not to disturb Marinette.

Nadja's face filled the screen, "So Jagged, while your fans are all familiar with Fang, they have been wondering... have you ever had any other pets? Maybe a cat or a dog? Or maybe a hamster?"

Jagged recoiled slightly, his arm sliding off the back of the couch, "You're joking right? Cats and dogs are totally not rock 'n roll! Why on earth would I want one? And what would I do with something tiny like a hamster? You need something big to really capture the spirit of rock 'n roll! A tiger would be kinda rock 'n roll, but can you imagine the mess from the fur? No, Fang's the only one for me!"

Alya stopped the video and rewound, watching it twice more before finding herself just staring at the now black screen. But what about Lila? An uncomfortable feeling started to nudge the back of her mind and she flashed a look back over her shoulder to Marinette, Could I be wrong about Marinette's dislike of her?

A sudden buzzing noise broke her thoughts, causing Alya to jump and nearly fall out of her chair. Trying to be non-challent, she quickly closed her browser window and hit the Stop button on her phone. As she turned to Marinette she was relieved to see her friend was still looking at her sketch, though she had put down her pencil. Alya cleared her throat nervously and tried to act normal as her heart rate gradually evened out.

"Last challenge!" Marinette's head came up, eyes narrowed, having obviously detected something off in her voice. Alya quietly cleared her throat again and started over, "Last challenge. A man's formal skirt with pockets!"

Alya cheered internally as she successfully distracted her friend. "That's not exactly mainstream..." Marinette slowly flipped to a new page in her notebook.

"Ah, girl? Forgetting something?" Marinette blinked in surprise and Alya laughed, "What about my challenge?"

A faint blush crept onto Marinette's cheeks, "Right. Uh..." She tapped her pencil against her nose for a moment. "Prince Ali of Achu and his charitable projects."

Alya tipped her head to the side and grinned, "Running out of ideas? I don't think charitable projects qualify as a 'quirk'."

Marinette shrugged, "Then consider it an easy challenge."

Shaking her head as she turned back to her computer, Alya reached out to restart their timer, "Your funeral. I think I'm going to win tonight's challenge hands down!" Even with an obviously incomplete article in the middle...

A few easy searches turned up more articles than Alya could handle to corroborate Prince Ali's many charitable efforts across his travels and she easily composed a thorough article. Glancing at the timer to see ten minutes remaining, Alya hesitated. She didn't need the extra material, but it would be nice to get some corroboration of one of Lila's stories to show Marinette, and if any of them would be documented, surely her work with Prince Ali would qualify!

Mind made up, she hunkered down again and resumed her searching. Eight minutes later, she was torn between screaming and pulling out her hair. Despite Lila's video calls to the class providing her exact dates for Lila's involvement with Prince Ali, Alya couldn't find anything. Finally, she removed Lila's name from her search parameters and began searching simply for Prince Ali's whereabouts on the days in question. As Lila had said, Prince Ali did return the same day as their video conference, but his official schedule showed that he had been gone from Achu before Lila's supposed arrival, and during his absence had managed to catch a nasty flu which confined him to his castle for the next week and curtailed all of his direct involvement in charity work for the next two months.

Well Lila wouldn't have known that he was sick yet right? So they could have been planning to work together and then his flu just got in the way... Alya scowled at her computer. Though her reasoning was sound, it didn't feel right, and if she couldn't trust her gut than how was she going to manage being a journalist?

Resigned, Alya looked back down at her phone just in time to catch the timer go off. "I don't know Alya, I don't think your challenge was as hard as you think it was. I might need to actually make one or two of these." Alya turned to see Marinette stretched herself out and rolling her head from side to side. Catching her gaze, Marinette flashed her a bright smile and Alya felt a small pang of guilt, followed by a flash of irritation. Could Marinette have been trying to turn Alya against Lila with her challenge? "Alya?" Blinking in surprise, Alya realized Marinette was now looking at her with concern. "Is everything okay?"

She slapped her thighs, using the mild sting to help ground herself, Marinette wouldn't do that... Right? Of course not! I think... "Uh... well then let's see them!"

Alya resolutely pushed aside her concerns as she picked up her laptop and crossed the room to sit on her bed. Marinette pulled herself up beside her and they both leaned back against the wall before exchanging notebook for laptop.

"I was going to redo the Zoot suit, but they really aren't formal you know? So I went with a Mandarin collar suit instead, and the high neck kind of became my major tie-in between the outfits," Marinette said, pointing to the suit's neckline.

"Hush!" said Alya, waved a hand at Marinette to silence her, "I'm supposed to get to do my own evaluation!"

Marinette giggled and settled back with Alya's laptop, "Sorry!"

Smiling to herself, Alya waited for a moment to ensure Marinette was actually reading before focusing her attention of the sketches in front of her. Double-breasted... high neck... reversed and hidden pockets... Alya gave a quick glance over Marinette's side notes, seeing her choice of a charcoal silk fabric with glossy silver buttons. "Gray?"

Marinette glanced up at her, smiled broadly, "Of course! The silk is for the luxury factor, but by using gray instead of black I can maintain the formality but give it a bit of character so that you wouldn't blend in with every other guy in a suit!"

Alya laughed, "Of course." She studied it for a few more minutes – noting the seams running down the front and back of the pants instead of the sides – while she waited for Marinette to finish reading, "This really is gorgeous girl. I hope it's one of the ones you're thinking of making."

Marinette shrugged, "Maybe. If I can find someone to wear it."

Alya grabbed Marinette's shoulder to get her attention, not speaking until their eyes were locked, "Girl, if you can't find a guy to wear it, I will." Alya held her gaze for a few moments before they both burst out into giggles.

"Okay, okay!" Marinette held her breath for a few seconds to calm herself, "Awesome work on your Clara article! I had no idea that she had ADHD! I mean it makes sense with her inability to stay still, but I didn't realize the rhyming was actually a coping method. That's pretty cool! Where did you find all this?"

Alya shrugged, "Research. Making me source hunt was surprisingly informative." Alya couldn't help but notice Marinette's quickly suppressed smile, but she brushed it off as her imagination. Mostly.

"Okay," said Marinette, "But what I really want your opinion on is the dress!" She flipped the page with the suit, revealing her coordinating dress and Alya let out a gasp as her eyes flew wide. She saw Marinette grinning out of the corner of her eye as she switched to the next article on Alya's computer.

Her finger traced the silhouette of the dress, cataloging the mix of elements: Halter top neckline, but with elbow-length sleeves... a-line floor length dress, but layered with an knee-length asymmetrical over dress... – she checked Marinette's notes – wine and charcoal, chiffon and satin... more reversed hidden pockets... "Wait a second–" Marinette looked up from the laptop as Alya frowned, "There are only four pockets on here!"

Marinette leaned towards her a bit, "Four pockets, yes." She grinned and pointed to the bottom of the dress, "But there are two pouches hidden at the hem of the dress, one on either side. Which frankly gives more storage space than any pocket ever could. Lipstick, tampons, keys... anything bulky really," she said with a self-depreciating shrug.

Alya was nodding slowly, "Nice work girl. I'd like to change my suit order to a dress order please..." Marinette laughed and leaned back against the wall again.

There was a moment of silence as Marinette looked back to the computer and Alya continued to admire the dress. "Um... Alya?" Alya pulled her eyes up to look at Marinette, who was biting her lip. "Did you run out of time on this one?" Marinette asked.

Trying to suppress a grimace, Alya glanced over at the computer screen to see her incredibly short Jagged Stone article. "Ah – er... kinda?" Marinette raised an eyebrow and Alya sagged a bit. "I was having trouble finding sources for the rest of what I wanted to write."

Brow crinkled, Marinette blinked at her for a moment. "You had trouble finding sources? I was pretty sure Jagged and Fang were very well documented." She grinned slightly, "That and his previous attempts to adopt some other er– rock and roll animals..."

"Yeah..." Alya looked away, stomach churning slightly. Was it an act? Or did Marinette really not think about Lila's rescue of Jagged's cat? She struggled for a chipper voice, "Okay, last one. Show me your man skirt!"

The grin faded from her face as Marinette studied her for a moment before reaching over to take the notebook. She hesitated fro a moment before resolutely flipping the page, "This one was hard." She glanced at Alya, who kept her eyes focused on the notebook. With a small sigh, Marinette held out the notebook towards her, slowly flipping page after page of abandoned skirt ideas. "I tried a kilt, a hanfu, a fustanella..." she sighed, "but they all looked out of place with the jacket and I really wanted to keep it with the style of the other two pieces so that it could be considered an alternative to the suit pants. I finally decided my best bet was to use a basic long skirt, like with a woman's military mess uniform. It let me keep the same pocket locations and I added overlapping knee slits to the double seems on the back for mobility." Marinette shrugged, "It's okay. I mean, I like how it turned out well enough, but it isn't really ground breaking you know?"

Pulling the book onto her own lap, Alya tapped her chin as she examined the man's skirt, "What if you made the skirt the same wine colour as the dress? Obviously not made out of chiffon anymore, but it might make it a bit more interesting."

Marinette blinked twice and twisted her head to consider her drawing, "That could work... though the silk might be a bit much that way... maybe worsted wool? I'd have to think about that..."

Realizing that she was losing her friend to the design craze again, Alya laughed and flipped the sketch book up to break Marinette's line of sight, "Hold on a second there girl! You haven't looked at my last article yet!"

"Oh!" Marinette blushed, "Right. Sorry, I got a bit carried away." She turned the computer towards Alya so she could pull up the last article, "Please proceed!"

Alya shook her head and laughed as she pulled up the article about Prince Ali and turned it back to Marinette. Alya waited silently, trying hard not to think about the link between Marinette's three choices of subject and Lila. It wasn't working very well.

"You're right Alya," said Marinette as she lifted her head to smile at her friend, "I did give you a bit of a freebie with this one. It looks like you had information and sources to spare for Prince Ali!"

"Thank you," said Alya primly. A moment later they both burst into laughter. Alya was the first to calm down, unable to completely banish her lingering suspicions about Marinette's motives. I will not ask. I will not ask. I will NOT ask!

"Okay, that's it." Alya's head snapped around with wide eyes to look at Marinette. "Something is eating at you. Spill." Marinette stared at her with narrowed eyes, awaiting her response. Alya opened her mouth to answer, then stopped herself. "Alya..." Marinette growled.

She searched her friend's eyes, trying to decide what, if anything she should say. Finally, common sense kicked in, "I'm sorry girl, I said we wouldn't talk about boys at all tonight, but I have to ask you something..."

The silence was oppressive and Alya swallowed nervously, watching as Marinette's expression shifted to become wary. "If this is about me freaking out around Adrien today–"

"No, no!" Alya quickly interrupted, "That's not it. It's not actually about a boy at all. It's just connected to a boy."

Marinette's wary look disappeared, transforming into complete confusion and the tension in Alya's room dropped a few notches. With a deep breath, Alya decided to just spit it out.

"Was your challenge for me about Lila?"