Marinette woke up disoriented, a little sleep-deprived, and wishing she hadn't woken up at all. She'd been kept up late by an unexpected akuma attack that left her fighting in the dark of the night, and it had taken a lot out of her. The moment she'd returned to her house she'd dropped into her bed and was asleep immediately.

"Good morning," Someone said as Marinette looked around sleepily for her phone, and she realized it was Tikki.

"Good morning, Tikki," She returned as her fingers closed around her phone. Marinette squinted tiredly at the screen, finding it to be nearly eleven in the morning. Well, at least she slept enough.

Just then, a notification popped up.

Lila 3: [image file] just got a haircut :D

Marinette sat up immediately, inputting her password as fast as her tired fingers allowed. The thumbnail that the notification showed wasn't big enough, and she couldn't see Lila's new look very well. But she quickly made it to the texting app and put the picture full screen.

Marinette stared.

Lila's thigh-length hair had gone, and now her hair only reached a little bit past her chin. She'd moved the hair ties on the locks framing her face a little bit higher, maybe around eye level. The result was a short but fluffy hairstyle that looked pretty much… amazing. Her cut fluffed out around her cheeks, and it made her hair seem light and cloud-like.

Marinette bit her lip as she brought the screen closer to her face, almost mesmerized by the photo.

"Woah there," Tikki laughed, "you look like you've seen the best thing in your life,"

Marinette blinked.

"I think I did," She said, eyes wide as she saved the photo.

"Oh my!" Tikki exclaimed and Marinette realized what she'd said and turned a little red. But after a few months of actively dating Lila, she'd said plenty of other similar things and endured Tikki's lighthearted teasing many times.

"It's true!" She protested, moving to type a reply.

"Well, she is very cute like that," Tikki agreed, floating a little closer.

Mari: (thumbs up emoji) i didnt think u could get cuter but u proved me wrong (three thumbs up emojis)

"Aren't you forward?" Tikki giggled, peering over at the screen.

Marinette smiled, laying the phone down on her bed so she could actually get up.

"I am, aren't I?" She stretched her arms out, relishing in the comfortable pop of her spine.

"Well, you're certainly more forward than before," Tikki corrected. With Marinette's relationship with Lila and the struggles she'd gone through, she had changed.

Marinette nodded her agreement as she walked to her closet. But before she could open the door, she heard her phone vibrate and she went back to pick it up.

Lila 3: i try ;). u wanna meet up today?

Marinette smiled as she went back to the closet, phone in hand.

Mari: definitely! we should go out for lunch. maybe u can sleepover here after ^_^

Although the two of them had definitely gone on several dates and hung with their friends, they hadn't had another sleepover since the first time.

That had been a good time.

Marinette pulled some clothes off their hangers, putting together a simple outfit that consisted of pants rolled up to her calves, sandals, and a loose white tank top. In the summer, she'd had more free time to actually make some more clothes, and she'd tried out tons of new patterns. So her closet was even fuller than before.

Lila 3: yess! Id love to!

Marinette smiled before setting her phone down so she could go shower and change. But as always, her mind just ran circles once she was underneath the hot water. Memories and ideas floated by, twisting together.

"Lila's the only person who has been akumatized three times," Marinette said, brows drawn in worry as she bit her lip, "Are you sure there aren't any side effects to that?"

Tikki smiled reassuringly.

"She's a fairly strong girl, Marinette. It's been a few days already, and she seems normal. I don't think anything is wrong," she answered, but it didn't really do anything for Marinette.

"If it still worries you, I'll try to keep an eye on her whenever she's with us. If something really is wrong, then I'll sense it," The kwami offered, and Marinette nodded.

That actually was reassuring.

Despite how long ago that conversation had happened, it kept hovering at the edge of her thoughts.

There probably was nothing to worry about.

But still.

Marinette heaved a sigh, and washed her hair.

It… was more frequent. Lila looked down at her hands as she waited in the park. It was true that she felt better than she ever had before. She felt stronger and more confident and more at peace with herself.

It was just that one small voice. Was it a leftover of herself from before? Back when she'd always lie and wear a mask?

Maybe… but it was different. The voice seemed like it wasn't her own, and it was more fleeting. It'd come and go and whisper and vanish. It had an indifferent tone to its voice, as if it was merely stating facts rather than trying to convince Lila of falsities.

It had been there since a little bit after Game Over's defeat. Was it from being infected by akuma so many times? Maybe, but nothing had happened after her second infection. Furthermore, she had seen Ladybug purify the butterfly.

It could just be hormones and feelings being wild during teenage years, anyway. In the end, it was kind of harmless because Lila knew she was better than what it said, and a lot of times it was easily ignored. The only change was that it came more often than before, and even then Lila was capable of giving it no attention.

"Not for for much longer, however." A breath touched her ear and Lila leaped from the bench, heart pumping as she looked around for who had whispered at her side. Her hand flew to her ear, bewildered as she turned around.

But no one was there.

That was new. The same voice had moved from inside her head to right next to her, if only for a moment.

Lila shook her head, clearing up her thoughts, and moved to another bench. Time had already passed, and the experience seemed to have been imagined all along. Seconds melted into minutes, and Lila's breathing had returned to normal. Her hand fell from her ear and she glanced around anxiously, but nothing was out of the ordinary.

Everything was normal, and she was fine.

Lila hugged her bag close to her chest and rested her chin on it, hunching over as she thought.

Suddenly Lila realized a something touched her shoulders.

"Hey Li-"

When the breath hit her ear, Lila was on her feet immediately, whirling around as adrenaline pumped through her body. She looked around, eyes wide in fear until she realized that it was just Marinette who was standing behind the bench, mouth open in surprise.

"Oh!" Lila blinked and her grip on her bag grew looser as she saw that she hadn't been in any danger.

"Lila? Are you okay?" Marinette hurried over, eyebrows drawn in concern. Lila moved to meet her, ashamed that she'd reacted so wildly.

"Yea, I'm fine. I just didn't expect anyone behind me," She answered quickly, brushing her shorter hair behind her ears.

Marinette's expression changed to relief.

"I'm sorry," She apologized immediately, "I won't do that again in the future."

Lila smiled in response; Marinette was very responsive to Lila and her reactions, and it always made her happy to see it so.

"It's all good now. And you look amazing! I love your outfit!" Lila changed the subject, directing the attention to Marinette, who was wearing a cute summery set of clothes.

"Thanks! I made it last week," Marinette glanced down at herself, and then back at Lila, "But you look even prettier,"

Lila blushed slightly, a hand going to tuck a stray lock behind her ears. While she liked this haircut a lot, it was a lot easier for her hair to come loose and swing in her face.

"Thank you," She grinned back, happy to see Marinette again, "I don't know though, you're pretty beautiful yourself,"

"Not as much as you!" Marinette stuck out her tongue, and the awkward uncertainty that had been there before was gone. Lila chuckled and shrugged.

"I disagree," She merely said, "You're just… you know… perfect! How could I ever beat that?"

Marinette turned red at that, but acknowledged the challenge.

"No way! You're way more perfect than I am!" She said, gently prodding Lila with a pointed finger.

"Are we going to be here all day?" Tikki suddenly peeked out of Marinette's purse, an amused expression on her face. Oops.

"Tikki!" Marinette exclaimed in embarrassment.

"By the way, a certain someone forgot to ask Lila how exactly she knew that you were Ladybug," Tikki continued, raising an eyebrow.

Oh, yeah. She'd never explained to Marinette the how.

"Tikki!" Marinette huffed.

"It's been literally months, Marinette," Tikki returned with a teasing eyeroll. Marinette opened her mouth and then closed it, then opened it again and finally closed it again in resignation.

"Well, a lot was going on," Lila supplied, pitying her girlfriend.

"Yes." Marinette nodded, looking a little uncomfortable.

"I'm just a perceptive person, I guess. After lying about so many things, you come to know when other people are hiding things," Lila said truthfully. "I only suspected it at first, but the first time we hung out and split up, I tried to find you again and couldn't. In the end, I saw Ladybug come down behind a building, and you come out."

"I-I'm sorry," Marinette said quietly, and Lila blinked in surprise. She hadn't meant to hurt her.

It was all her fault, anyway. She did that to you.

Lila's eyebrows drew together in alarm, but pushed the voice away.

"It's not your fault, Mari. None of that would have happened if I hadn't lied in the first place," Lila hurried to say.

"I still caused you a lot of pain," Marinette frowned, looking down. Lila's face fell the slightest bit, and suddenly she didn't know what to say.

"It's fine," She decided on.

"It's not, though!" Marinette pushed back. "I was being mean and selfish. You didn't deserve any of what I did,"

"But I wouldn't have changed without it," Lila said firmly, and Marinette sighed, contemplating the words.

You didn't even change at all.

"You did what you thought was best," Tikki added, and Lila nodded in agreement. "Let's not dwell on the past, Marinette. We're in the present now, and I know you've always made the best of it no matter what. All we can do is move to the future and try to be better."

Tikki's words were encouraging, and Marinette made a small smile. Even she lost her confidence once in awhile.

"You're right," Marinette agreed, and Lila grinned.

"Let's go!" Lila took Marinette's hand and threaded their fingers together, relishing in the familiarity of the action.

You're a disaster waiting to happen.