Marinette was still kind of jarred from her dream from before. She wondered if it meant Lila was liking her less and less. She wondered if Lila would be leaving her.

Maybe she hadn't been a good enough girlfriend. Maybe Lila didn't like having to deal with the trouble of having Ladybug as a partner. Again she picked up her phone and she stared uncertainly at the screen.

Sometimes she texted Lila right away.

But she only put the phone back down. She didn't know what to do. Lila kept saying she was fine whenever Marinette asked. Would she be bothering Lila if she texted her?

Maybe they needed another date.

"What's wrong?" Tikki asked as Marinette paced back and forth, and Marinette looked up at the kwami sadly.

"I'm worried that Lila's hiding something from me." She confessed. "Or that she doesn't like me anymore."

"Perhaps you should talk to her." Tikki suggested, flying over to Marinette.

"But everytime I ask if anything's wrong, she says she's fine. But I think she isn't. She's acting differently and she's speaking less to me." Marinette said. "It's hopeless."

"Well," Tikki said thoughtfully, "you can't force her to share her problems. But maybe you should make it clear that you'll always be there for her when she wants to talk about it. That might encourage her to open up."

"What if-" Marinette broke off, feeling her heart lurch as she thought about it. "What if she wants to break up?"

And it was out.

"Oh, Marinette!" Tikki exclaimed, moving closer, the sympathy clear in her voice. Marinette felt embarrassed just hearing it, and she put her hands to cover her face.

"Hey, it's alright to be worried." Tikki said, putting a hand (flipper?) to Marinette's knuckle. "But I'm sure that's not the case." She continued reassuringly.

"How can you be so sure?" Marinette asked, unconvinced as she peeked between her fingers. Tikki smiled up at her.

"I haven't steered you wrong before, have I?" Tikki said. "I just have a hunch."

Marinette felt a bit more at ease at that.

When Lila had gone to sleep, she had done so with resolve to talk to Marinette the next day, and she had been able to go to sleep with confidence.

But this morning, as she rose to confront the alarm on her phone, she was shaken with the beginnings of uncertainty.

What if she thinks I'm so unreliable that I can't even handle my own problems? How do I even bring it up?

But Lila knew that she had to do it soon. Since meeting Marinette, her facade had come and gone in phases. First it was hard to keep it up because of her suspicions about her being Ladybug. And then sometimes she was torn between being so at ease with Marinette that she didn't need to act, and wanting to impress to Marinette so much that she absolutely had to. She had let the facade fall away for several weeks and for a moment it seemed like it would never come back.

And then the bigger fights had started and the facade returned with a ferocity. Lila wanted to hide her own troubles and the best way she could protect herself was to return to the Lila that had arrived at Paris on the very first day.

But it was had been and will always be difficult to lie around Marinette. Her mask might come off again, but not in a single, intact piece as it would before. Lila passed in front of her mirror.

This time, it was crumbling to pieces. Lila could tell the cracks were there. She reached up to her face with her fingers, touching her cheek lightly. There was only so much she could contain in herself. And she would rather she told Marinette before the small pieces fell away, revealing the wreckage that lay behind. Before she just broke down.

It's important to trust your partner with your worries.

Silvia's words played in her mind. Lila trusted them. She just hoped that the line between sharing worries and burdening someone else wasn't so thin. She was still scared she might just be annoying Marinette.

I need to trust Marinette, too. Lila thought to herself. She had to trust in Silvia's words, and she needed to trust in Marinette.

Marinette deserves to know, Lila added to her mantra as she pulled on her jacket.

She wished she had someone here she could talk to. But as the morning light slipped through the shades and cast lines on Lila's bedroom floor, she was alone.

Marinette was feeling anxious as she walked alongside Alya to school. She was going to try and get Lila to open up to her finally. She didn't know how it would go, how Lila would react, if Lila would even say anything.

She hoped that at least she would take the mask off again.

"Yeah, she's acting weird again." Alya commented as they walked up the steps. "You're not the only one that noticed."

"I'm going to try and find out why today." Marinette said. "I think she might be having some problems."

"Maybe you should ask her on another date." Alya suggested, a glint in her eye. "Maybe you should be alone somewhere to talk about it. But you have to text me the whole time."

"Not if you're going to spy on us from afar." Marinette said sternly, before remembering she wasn't supposed to know about that.

"What? Me?" Alya said in surprise. "How did- I mean, why would I do that?" She recovered, making a face.

"Uh-Well!" Marinette spluttered before words came to her. "It just seems like something you would do." She finally said sheepishly.

"How rude." Alya finally replied, a little affronted, and she laughed.

Marinette laughed back, feeling a little more at ease as she joked around with Alya.

"Oh! Speak of the devil!" Alya suddenly exclaimed, and for a second Marinette was weeks away, standing in the same spot as she looked up at a girl with long brown hair, thinking how she should befriend her.

And then she was back in the present.

"Go get her." Alya whispered, and lightly pushed Marinette forward. "This is probably something you should do without me, so I'll go on ahead." She continued, and Marinette suddenly was terrified at the prospect of confrontation alone. Too many times she had tried to talk to Lila about things and she started crying. Once she was akumatized, so that was also kind of awkward.

"Wait! Don't go!" She gasped out as Alya winked and started to rush up the stairs at in inhuman speed. Marinette stretched out her hand in a fruitless attempt to keep Alya with her, but the girl walked past Lila and disappeared into the school. At the sound of Marinette's voice, Lila turned from the top of the stairs to see her and Marinette froze, heart racing.

What do I say? How do I bring it up? She thought, no words coming from her mouth as she locked eyes with Lila. Now that she had something fairly serious to talk about, she didn't know how to go about it.

Lila was the first to break the silence, and she put on her model-esque smile as she extended a hand to touch Marinette's.

"Hey, Marinette." Lila said, and Marinette knew that the mask was up by the tone of that voice. Lila's fingers wrapped gently around Marinette's wrist and pulled her up the steps.

"Hi, Lila." Marinette managed to say, mind still racing with how to bring it up. A few weeks ago Marinette might have blushed, but she was so accustomed to this facade that it no longer fazed her.

She wished Lila would just be herself.

As she was brought close to Lila, Marinette's eyebrows came together in concern. The two walked through the school courtyard side by side, their hands swinging separately until Lila worked her fingers through Marinette's.

It was just like routine now. An image Lila kept up. They held hands all the time but recently it felt like Lila was just maintaining the act. Like she was doing it out of obligation.

It didn't feel like anything. They walked in silence.

Marinette didn't want to break the perfection they upheld by talking about the thing. But she knew she had to. She hoped Lila wouldn't get annoyed by her continuous asking, or by breaking up the routine.

Too soon they reached the locker room, and Marinette couldn't find a time to bring it up. As she looked through her own locker, people came and went, talking to her and Lila and preventing any suitable moment to talk.

It wasn't too long before Marinette found herself parting ways with Lila and sitting next to Alya in homeroom.

"Did you talk?" Alya asked.

"No…" Marinette answered glumly. "There wasn't a good time." She awaited Alya's disappointment, but there was none.

"Hmm," Alya said thoughtfully, "maybe you can find a time during lunch. It is two hours."

"You're right." Marinette decided.

"Hey." Alya said. "If you're really having trouble talking about it, I can ask Lila about it." She offered, and Marinette wondered how she could have such a wonderful friend.

"Really?" She asked in surprise, and Alya nodded. But Marinette thought twice. "That's alright." Marinette declined, smiling, "I appreciate it, but this is something I should do myself."

And then that her new resolve.

She would do it at lunch,

Lila wasn't sure when she would open up to Marinette, but she thought that perhaps she could ask to speak with her privately during lunch. She also considered talking about it to the whole gang, but she wasn't sure she could handle that. Maybe after she first confessed to Marinette.

She was getting more agitated over the whole thing. Marinette was unaffected by everything Lila did that morning; would she even care about what Lila had to say?

No, Lila thought. Trust in Nonna. Trust in Marinette.

She couldn't let self-doubt get in the way. She had to talk to Marinette about it.

As she walked to the lunch table that she, Alya, Marinette, Adrien and Nino always frequented, she thought about what to say.

I can do this. I am Lila. I'm strong. I'm not weak. Lila mentally said as she looked down at her hands, flexing her fingers. She stood by the table, waiting for the others to come. I can do this.
Lila looked up and then she saw her. Marinette was exiting her class. Beautiful, sweet Marinette, side by side with Alya as they made their way here. The girl who deserved to know what was going on with her girlfriend.

Who deserved someone better than Lila. Her eyes widened.

Lila tried to crush the self-doubt before it was too much. There used to be much more, in the past. Self-doubt, that is. Uncertainty, self-hatred, all those rolled up into an emotional wreck that hid itself behind a facade. Before Paris. Before Silvia.

Before Marinette.

She didn't want it back. She didn't want to keep wearing a mask like this. Lila wanted to open up to Marinette. She wanted to be able to share things with Marinette. But she was worried that Marinette would be repulsed by what she saw. That she wouldn't care. That she would be annoyed with Lila.

Trust in Marinette.

Right. Yes. She had to.

"Marinette!" Lila called out, lifting the mask from her head. She walked quickly over, determined to do it before she lost her nerve.

"Hey!" Marinette greeted as she approached, and Lila couldn't help but notice that for some reason Marinette was more excited than before.

Maybe Marinette noticed that Lila had taken off the mask.

"Could we-" Lila began, but she was interrupted by a vibration in her pocket, accompanied by a short ringtone.

Lila wouldn't have let anything stop her from talking to Marinette, but someone calling her phone could only mean her parents were trying to contact her. And ignoring their calls was not something you did.

"I'm sorry, I have to take this. It's my parents." Lila said, regret in her voice as she pulled out her phone. "I'll talk to you later."

Lila hurried to an empty corner of the courtyard before picking up the phone.

"Mom?" She asked quietly, holding the phone close to her face.

"Lila? You're coming home early. I already called the principal." A stern voice came from the receiver.

"What?" Lila exclaimed, incredulous. "Why?"

"I know this sort of life has been stressful for you, Lila." Her mother began, and the fear came with it. "Your father finally understood what I've been saying all this time."

Lila swallowed thickly, dreading what was coming next.

"We're sending you back to Italy, Lila. You're going home."

Lila felt something heavy on her tongue. It was the lump in her throat. It came back with a vengeance. Self-doubt, self-hatred, uncertainty, self-blame.

I wasn't a good enough daughter. They couldn't stand taking me around. They don't want me around.

"Isn't that great?" Lila's mom continued.

Lila was leaving. She was leaving Paris. She was leaving her friends, her school. She was leaving Marinette.

The air weighed heavily on Lila's shoulders as she began to shake, a hand coming to cover her mouth. Her vision blurred as she clutched the phone tightly.

"Lila?" The voice asked, and Lila swallowed a sob.

"Yes, I'm here." She whispered hoarsely, and then the curtains were opening. She had a role to play. Lila let the mask fall back into place.

"Did you hear what I said?" Her mom asked, and Lila forced the lump in her throat away.

"Yes, I'm going back to Italy." She repeated calmly. The spotlight was on her, the audience was watching. She had a role to play.

But as those words left her mouth, she heard a gasp behind her.

When Lila turned around to see Marinette standing a few feet away, she didn't know she could feel a pain like this.

"Come home so we can discuss the preparations, Lila. I'll see you soon." Lila's mom finished, and then hung up without hearing Lila say goodbye.

"Lila…" Marinette said, eyes full of concern and surprise. "I- Are you okay?" She asked, and Lila stared at her, realizing that tears had fallen from her eyes. She reached up and wiped them away, blinking away the next ones as she fixed her mask.

"I'm fine." Lila said, in the most unconvincing lie she had ever said.

She was lying right to Marinette's face. And she knew that Marinette could tell.

Marinette made a pained expression at those words, hurt clear in her eyes.

"Why…?" Marinette said softly, and then Lila's breath hitched. She hurt Marinette. Marinette was upset. Marinette was angry.

Marinette deserved someone better.

Lila lied, and that hurt Marinette.

That was all Lila ever did, wasn't it? Lie, deceive and trick people into thinking she was someone she wasn't. That's all she was. That's all she ever would be.

The tears were coming again, faster and harder than ever before, but she turned away from the only girl who could stop them.

"I'm sorry." She gasped out, pressing her sleeve to her eyes.

And then, she pushed past Marinette, running out of the school and down the steps and she was gone.

im hosting lilanette week on tumblr! come check it out at .com

come participate and draw, write, or make any kind of lilanette (or volpinette, lilabug, or ladypina)

and the end is rapidly approaching! only a couple more chapters to go! or i might make one gigantic chapter. idk. we'll see. i will be posting the final chapter on the saturday of the lilanette week.