So… Lila did think they were dating.

And then Marinette gasped as she blushed harder. She was at a loss for words. Adrien's eyes widened in slight shock, and then he put a hand to his head as he muttered something to himself. Had Marinette listened closely, she would have known that it sounded something like 'What the heck self. I was only joking about them being lovers earlier but I guess that's true. Nice one.' Then she would have realized that the boy sitting directly next to her was head over heels in love with her superheroine self. But since it's way too early in the fic, she did not listen closely (she was also preoccupied with the fact that a beautiful girl had just kissed her cheek).

Now Adrien thought the two of them were dating, and even though Marinette didn't technically mind that idea, she didn't know if they were. If Lila thought so, she supposed she was, too.

After Lila had kissed Marinette earlier that day and saw her true identity, she'd felt the conflict inside of her diminish. But it had still been there.

However, even if Marinette was Ladybug, there was no denying that she still wanted Marinette. She liked her so much. She wanted to keep seeing her smile. She wanted to go out with her. She wanted to hold her hand.

Lila realized that somewhere along the way she had crossed over from liking Marinette despite her possibly being Ladybug to liking Marinette even if she was Ladybug. Especially since it seemed that Marinette reciprocated those feelings. She'd helped save Lila from akumatization, she'd accepted Lila's kiss, she'd shown enough trust in Lila to transform right in front of her (and reveal whatever the heck that tiny red creature was, seriously what the heck).

Now that Lila knew that Marinette liked her as well, she wanted to flirt more with her. She'd flirted several times before, but never had she done it while her own heart thudded in her chest. Never had she done it while wanting a response this bad. She wanted to make Marinette smile and blush and she wanted to kiss her again. She would just have to put all of the Ladybug stuff aside for now. Even the strange red creature that was no doubt in the purse directly to the right of her.

So the game plan was to make Marinette fall further in love with her. Lila knew she had made many others do so. And she wanted to be cool and attractive to Marinette. So when the two of them had returned to their group of friends, she had clamped down on her urge to start skipping through a meadow while picking flowers and simultaneously crying in joy, and she had pulled on her normal mask. Her confident and strong mask that she wore often that carried her through emotional times and made her attractive to all. She hadn't wanted to see too desperate, so she refrained from doing much more until they entered the theater, even if she wanted to.

But then Adrien had noticed their hand holding. She'd felt kind of possessive for a moment, because Lila had previously thought that Marinette was in love with Adrien.

Then he'd called them friends, which annoyed her because she knew that wasn't true. She still wasn't sure what she had with Marinette but she knew she wanted it to go further. She wanted to be girlfriends.

And thus it was time for flirty and cool Lila to make a reappearance. She had leaned forward and brushed her lips against Marinette's face, resulting in a much-desired reaction of blushing. And then she'd claimed that they were girlfriends. Which she hoped very hard they were. But then Marinette had fallen silent. Suddenly Lila was very worried that maybe she had gone too far yet again, but there was no going back. She was past the point of no return. The final threshold…

"Yea." Marinette finally said, breaking out into a small smile. "We're dating."

Marinette's agreement with Lila's statement sent her heart soaring. Then they definitely were a thing. Right? Right.

"Well."Adrien said, only vaguely surprised, "you two look good together."

"If you ask me, I think Marinette is the one here who looks good." Lila then replied, and squeezed Marinette's hand again. She hoped she was doing a good job of wooing Marinette. That was all she wanted to do, and she was worried she wasn't doing it well.

"She does! You're really lucky to have her." Adrien agreed. But he didn't seem to be trying to flirt with her or jealous, so she was content. "You know, she's a really great fashion designer, too." He added.

"Oh, I'm not that good." Marinette said sheepishly. "But thank you."

Ooh. That was something Lila didn't know. Then all of a sudden Alya turned around and put a finger to her lips. Whoops. She, Marinette and Adrien nodded back. Lila saw as Alya cast a glance at their hands, and then she winked at Marinette. Then she looked at Lila and for a moment Lila thought she saw a murderous look in her eyes. But it was gone when she looked closer.

Perhaps Alya was one of those protective friend characters.

But after everyone settled down again, Lila remembered that she still held Marinette's hand. To be honest, it was beginning to feel kind of sweaty but that barely mattered. She wanted to keep holding Marinette's hand forever. She felt more at peace, knowing that Marinette seemed okay with it. Marinette wasn't rejecting it, so theoretically she liked it, too. And she'd agreed that they were dating. But even this was getting a bit too much for Lila. She had indeed wanted to be assertive but even the small peck she'd given earlier was sending her over the edge. Anything more would be too much, and Lila would probably faint on the spot.

Lila realized that this definitely was a good way to start the best months of her life. They watched the whole movie like that, hand in hand (albeit sweaty) and both too embarrassed to say anything more.

When Marinette finally returned home around the afternoon, she was feeling pretty giddy. She practically skipped into the bakery and took the stairs two at a time as she went to her room. Her parents weren't home, as evidenced by the emptiness in her house and the closed sign on the door, and she grabbed a couple (or six) pastries on her way up.

"Looks like someone's in love." Tikki said as they reached Ladybug's sanctuary. "Lila seems to really like you."

"Yea." Marinette breathed with a dazed smile on her face.

"She held your hand under the table during lunch, didn't she?" Tikki said knowingly. Marinette's smile grew wider.

"Yea." She put her hand to her cheek, feeling a happiness course through her. Earlier she hadn't really known how much she liked Lila. But just being able to hold her hand and talk with her was making her suspiciously happy.

"And you can actually talk to her." Tikki added with a grin, clearly alluding to her inability to communicate to Adrien before.

"Sometimes." Marinette confessed, blushing again. Part of the time she had almost been so overcome with the realization she was holding hands with Lila that she could barely speak. But she did her best.

The moment they parted, she'd wanted to start texting her. But then she thought that might be considered too desperate, so she held off on that. On the contrary, Alya was content to text her and tease her relentlessly all throughout the whole affair. Eating food was hard when one hand was occupied with Lila's and the other with her phone.

"And she knows your identity." Tikki continued, and then Marinette nearly started choking in the midst of her reverie.

"Yea…" She said uneasily. "How did she find out?"

"You should ask her." Tikki suggested as Marinette fell onto her bed. "I don't think it was your fault anyway. Do you think you can trust her with that information?"

Marinette paused, thinking. Sure, her past with Lila was short and marred with deception and lies, but the more recent events seemed to balance it out. "I think so, Tikki. I hope so." Suddenly she felt slightly uneasy about it. No one else was supposed to know, after all.

But Lila had also held the information from Hawkmoth when she was Volpina. Marinette had never been infected so she wouldn't know what it was like, but she knew that it must have been difficult to manage to hide something like that. And Lila hadn't told anyone else yet, either.

Suddenly she was hit with a decision. Should she text Lila, or wait for Lila to text first?

"Tikki, what do I do?" She asked, face falling as she considered the options. "Do I text first or do I wait?"

"If you want to make this relationship work you need to take the initiative." Tikki told her, smiling sympathetically.

"What do I say?" Marinette began to panic a little bit. Now that she was aware of her feelings, it had gotten a lot harder to interact with Lila if she had to be the one to start it. She wanted to talk more with her but she kept feeling embarrassed.

"Just be yourself." Tikki said, trying not to laugh. "You can do it, Marinette!"

Marinette held out her phone and made a face at it. She had no idea what to say.

"Also, if you're going to ask her about how she knew, you probably should do it in person. Someone might see her phone." Tikki added after thinking.

That was true, but it didn't seem as if Marinette was even going to be sending a text in the first place.

Just then, her phone buzzed and she nearly dropped it in surprise before seeing that Alya was the one who sent it.

Alya: so when did you and lila get so cozy? ;)

Alya: what happened to adrien lol ?

Alya was definitely someone Marinette could talk to right now.

Mari: omg i dont even kno how this happened

Then Marinette realized she literally didn't know how to explain this.

Alya: lemme guess, when she was at ur house during the whole screamer thing?

You know what, that wasn't too bad of a guess. She guessed it could have started there. That was when Lila had touched her face the first time.

A good time.

Mari: yeaa after i talked 2 her after school

Mari: she said she really wanted 2 be my friend. i think thats when i started 2 like her

Mari: u kno earlier 2day when she was Volpina

Alya: omg yea

Mari: she turned into an akuma bc she thought i didnt like her

She was smiling as she typed. While she knew it wasn't a good thing that Lila had even become Volpina for a second time, the events that happened near the end of it were nice. And the fact that Marinette had mattered so much to Lila.

Alya: bRUH

Mari: YEAA

Alya: bbrrruh brRUH thats hardcore!

Now she had to break the bigger news.

Mari: she kissed me when she was volpina alya

Mari: SHE KSISED MEE

Alya: WHAT

Mari: THE POWER OF LOVE SAVED THE DAY

Alya: didnt ladybug show up?

Mari: yea but the akuma came out before !

Alya: wtf ?

Mari: ikr. somehow it happened. ladybug came after and she was like wtf too. she still needed 2 purify it tho

Alya: wwwwwwwtttttffffff

Mari: mm

Alya: ok well all of that aside r u guys like dating now

Alya: ;) ;) ;) ;))))

Mari: idk i think so

Alya: just think? mari she held ur dang hand for like 8 years

Mari: uhh but like she never confessed or anything it kinda ambiguous

Alya: ok but did u not just tell me that u kissed

Alya: mari i stg. talk 2 her

Mari: wat do i say D:

Alya: MARI u just gotta text her

Mari: :'(