After Marinette and Lila had shared a hug, Lila felt relieved and was able to easily fix Marinette's necklace, and she managed to do it in a fell swoop just like before. Having made the uncool mistake before, she'd thought that was the end of her. But Marinette had taken it in stride and as she was re-clasping the necklace, Lila thought about the beginning of her meeting with Marinette, and she wondered how necessary it was that she acted cool. Although she had previously thought that Marinette had come to her as a nice person, she now knew that it was just guilt driving Ladybug to make amends. Perhaps if the whole Volpina thing hadn't even happened, Marinette would never have initiated conversation.

Marinette knew of her past folly, and she had also witnessed Lila at her worst. She had been there when Lila started crying and she had been there when Lila was overcome with villainous emotions. And yet she still said that she liked Lila. And she had thought Lila was cool even before Lila was actually trying to be cool. Despite her past lie and true personality, Marinette liked her anyway.

On the other hand, Lila was just trying to be a nice girlfriend to Marinette. She'd never dated before, and she wanted to make Marinette blush and feel special. And she wanted Marinette to keep liking her. Even though Lila never wanted to lie again after becoming a villain, Lila thought that she needed to act desirable so Marinette wouldn't dump her. But perhaps she hadn't needed to act at all because Lila in her true form was already desirable to Marinette.

Lila thought about that, but she couldn't accept it. No one found her desirable if she didn't supplement herself with fashionable clothes or acquaintanceships with celebrities. And even though she did those things anyway along with studying hard, it had little effect on her parents. The most they did for her was buy her gifts with their lofty diplomat salaries, and rarely did they actually spend time with her. And Marinette had only started talking to her with other motives in mind, not out of an attraction.

The thought of someone liking Lila for being Lila was just unthinkable. The only exception seemed to be her grandmother, which Lila chalked up to family (completely contradicting any of her thoughts regarding her direct family). Lila did what she had to in order to keep Marinette's attention on her, and all the while she was unaware of the fact that Marinette would have preferred a Lila who acted honestly around her. She was unaware that the unthinkable thought was, as a matter of fact, a truth.

Marinette was well-acquainted with Volpina and with Lila, and she knew that much of Lila's life included lies, which is why Volpina's powers revolved around illusions. For some reason she had thought that after she began to date Lila, the lies would cease. But it seemed that they only began to grow in number, although the lies were not made in malevolence. And they weren't exactly direct, obviously false lies like asserting she knew Ladybug. It was more like she had just started acting and trying to be charismatic.

It appeared as if Lila was trying to act cool around Marinette, similar to how she'd tried to impress Adrien, and Marinette wished she would stop. Lila kept forcing herself to say things that were flirtatious, but it was clear to Marinette that she looked uncomfortable saying them. And she'd previously forced herself to learn about Marinette's interests (at least, Marinette assumed that was the case).

Part of the reason Marinette had disliked Lila earlier was because of her lies (most of it had been jealousy), and she had come to like the Lila underneath them. But Lila was still lying, and Marinette didn't know how to make it stop. She didn't want to cause another Volpina, and she didn't want to ruin their short-lived relationship by criticizing Lila over something that wasn't even hurting anyone. Marinette wasn't a fan of provoking or initiating sensitive topics. She could already tell from her previous comment about Lila lying wasn't received that well; Lila had looked like she was about to cry for a second there.

So she decided to steer clear of talking about anything like that, and just prayed that with time Lila would loosen up and drop the act. That Lila would realize she didn't need to act the way she was. Marinette, on the other hand, would try to act in a way that put Lila at ease, like the hug she had given earlier. She was feeling kind of proud of herself there, and hoped she might even initiate a kiss later that date.

The two had left the bench and walked to another store with their hands together, and Lila had been considerably brighter after their embrace, and she had suggested browsing some clothing shops for summer clothes.

And that was how Marinette found herself waiting outside of the changing rooms for Lila, looking down at the outfit Lila had picked out for her. There were still other pieces of clothing left in the dressing room, but Lila had said that they would each try on one set and come out to show each other. While Marinette liked very much clothing design, it was kind of rare she actually went out clothing shopping with a friend and showed said friend (although this time it was her gal pal) all of the outfits. Normally she went out fabric shopping and went home to design her own clothes instead. And she didn't really think she was the best person to actually wear fashionable clothes; she preferred seeing other people wear them. Marinette didn't really think she was that attractive (despite having grabbed the hearts of Nino, Nathanaël, and Lila).

So she was kind of nervous waiting for Lila to step out. She was wearing a sleeveless white blouse and high waisted shorts that were of a bearable length, and she'd been pleasantly surprised by the reflection she saw in the mirror, albeit a bit embarrassed.

"You're so pretty, Marinette." Tikki said while they waited.

"Thanks, Tikki." Marinette said shyly, glancing down at her purse.

"I'm surprised that Lila hasn't asked about the whole Ladybug thing." Tikki mentioned, glancing thoughtfully to the door, and Marinette frowned.

"She might not still be okay with me being Ladybug. It's… probably hard for her to accept it." She replied quietly. Marinette had also wondered the same thing earlier, and she decided that she would wait for Lila to bring it up and then she would talk about it then. Lila hadn't done it just yet, and Tikki had had the good graces to remain hidden every time the two of them were alone.

"Marinette?" Lila called from behind the door and Marinette nearly leaped to attention.

"Yes?" She answered, and then nearly slapped her head because she sounded weird.

"Um." Lila began, and then her voice became stronger. "Could you come in and zip up this dress?"

Marinette's eyes suddenly grew in size as her cheeks were assaulted with a flush.

"Oh my." Tikki said as Marinette looked down at her in shock. Marinette had essentially frozen on the spot.

"Calm down!" Tikki leaped up to look at Marinette directly. "This is nothing! You fight villains all the time, you fly across Paris and you save the day! Surely you can use a zipper!"

Marinette knew that zipping up a dress was really nothing too intimate. She had zipped up her mom's dress, her mom had zipped up her dress, and she'd zipped up her friends' dresses. For some reason though, knowing that she would be zipping up Lila's dress made it about ten times more scandalous.

"...Marinette?" Lila's voice came again, sounding far more uncertain than she had previously.

Just zip it. You can do it. You're a fashion designer. You zip up the clothes on mannequins all of the time.

"Sure!" Marinette chirped, and moved to open the door.

"That's the spirit." Tikki somehow gave a thumbs-up despite not having fingers, and flew back down into her purse. Marinette sucked in a breath as she turned the knob and slipped in, closing it quietly behind her.

And then she turned to face Lila's backside, which indeed was a halfway unzipped dress. She was standing in a corner of the fitting room, her back to both the wall with the mirror and the wall with the door. Marinette remembered seeing that dress when they had picked it off the rack. It had a floral top and red skirt. Lila's hair was moved again over a shoulder, and Marinette numbly stepped forward, looking away as if she would miraculously be able to perform the action without watching.

"Did you try on anything?" Lila asked and Marinette almost missed her grab for the small plastic zipper.

"Yes!" She replied immediately, and winced, because she sounded just as nervous as she felt. Because Marinette was totally not in a small, closed room zipping up Lila's dress. "I'm wearing it right now." She tacked on, trying her best to focus on the task at hand. Luckily the mission was a fast one, and Marinette managed to pull the zipper up to the top and fasten the metal hook quickly. "Done."

Marinette was too relieved to have successfully done what she needed to move, and when Lila turned around and bumped shoulders with her she nearly fainted. Marinette stumbled backwards, spewing apologies as she stared at the ground until she hit the opposite corner.

"Wow." Lila breathed, ignoring the totally unimpressive show of Marinette's behavior. "You're beautiful." She said, and then Marinette felt all of the blood rush to her head as she slowly looked up, still pressed against the wall. She had never thought of herself as beautiful, and it hadn't made much of an impression when Chat Noir would always tell her that as Ladybug. But when Lila said it, it was a big difference. Lila had admiration in her eyes and an awestruck smile, and then Marinette was suddenly struck by Lila's beauty. Her expression was full of happiness and the dress she wore only amplified her attractiveness.

A solid second passed and then Lila's face turned equally red and glanced away, her hair gently moving with the motion.

Marinette swallowed hard, and then decided to take the initiative. She was letting her Ladybug determination fill her with resolve. She took several steps forward, her socked feet quiet on the carpeted floor until she had closed the distance between them. Lila looked surprised and her mouth parted in slight shock as it was then her who backed up to the wall.

"C-can I kiss you?" She asked quietly, looking up at Lila through her bangs, as if her hair would shield her from Lila's eyes. Lila's mouth opened further before she then swallowed nervously under Marinette's intense gaze. No words came from her, but she slowly nodded her head and that was all it took for Marinette to then gently place her hands on Lila's cheeks and pull her head down slightly and go up on her toes for their eyes to close and their lips to meet.

Lila's lips were warm, and then Marinette felt Lila's hands settle on her waist, which almost unnerved her but the Ladybug inside kept her calm. The kiss lasted only for a couple of seconds, and didn't involve anything more than just holding their lips together, but it was still enough to send both girls reeling. Marinette withdrew a little bit, still keeping her hands on Lila's pretty face as she watched her eyes open, and then she felt Ladybug slipping out.

Marinette was about to freak out under Lila's equally intense gaze, but it didn't have to last long because Lila moved her head forward and then they were kissing again. Lila's hands slid from her waist to around to her back while Marinette's arms came to wrap around Lila's neck. It was warm and nice and she felt like she could stay like this forever, in Lila's protective embrace. Lila pressed her closer, and Marinette began to feel dizzy because she had forgotten to breathe in the moment.

It was at this precise second that the floor began to shake, and both girls went down on the ground, their teeth clacking together painfully. The clothes hanging up on the walls were swinging left and right, people were yelling in the rooms around them and for a moment it felt like a severe earthquake had seized Paris. But in a second it had passed and Marinette was left on the floor underneath an extremely flustered Lila.

Of course it wasn't just an earthquake. There always had to be an akuma, huh?