Arms swinging.

Hot sand under sandals.

Laughter.

Lila and Marinette walked hand in hand on the white beach, making their way to the sparkling water. Summer vacation had come to Paris, and our heroines had gone for a very deserving trip to the beach. After months of fighting crime and emotional turmoil, they finally had some time to relax.

On a triple date.

Well, a double date plus a couple-to-be.

On the same beach, Nathanaël was sitting in the shade and drawing a napping Adrien. Alya and Nino splashed each other in the sea, mouths stretched in big grins as they laughed.

"It's so nice to have summer vacation," Lila commented, glancing upwards at the sky. The sun was bright and warm and felt pleasant on her skin. She felt freer than ever before.

"Yea," Marinette answered, squeezing Lila's hand gently, "We can go on more dates."

At that, Lila blushed a little bit and smiled.

"And we will," Lila nodded as they walked.

The two had been through alot together. It hadn't been a smooth journey, but they'd persevered despite outside forces and inner conflict. And ultimately, they had grown as people.

As they approached the umbrella that housed Nathanaël, they took their sandals off. Marinette peered over the boy's shoulder to observe his drawing.

"Wow! Nathanaël, that's super good!" She exclaimed, and Nathanaël, who hadn't noticed the girls behind him, flinched a little bit.

"Oh!- um, thank you," He said quickly, face turning as red as his hair. He and Adrien had gotten pretty close, and though he had hung around their group a few times, he wasn't that comfortable yet. Lila predicted the two would get together fairly soon.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to surprise you," Marinette waved her hands in front of her apologetically, and Lila glanced over to see the sketchbook as well. Nathanaël had created a rather well drawn recreation of Adrien's sleeping face and chest, and Lila was impressed.

"But it is very cool," Lila added, and Nathanaël turned even redder.

"Thank you," He laughed nervously but happily, and Lila smiled back.

"When did he fall asleep though?" Lila inquired, straightening her back.

"He came straight from a photoshoot, so he was pretty tired," Nathanaël told her, "He fell asleep maybe twenty minutes ago."

"Awe," Marinette said, "he's really busy, isn't he?"

"Yea," Nathanaël agreed, continuing to draw, "Thanks to that, though, I can see his sleeping face."

Marinette and Lila looked at each other and then back at Nathanaël.

Nathanaël seemed to suddenly realize what he'd said.

"I mean! Thanks to that, I can draw sleeping people! Haha, most of the people I draw from reference are awake so!" He hurried to correct, reaching shades redder than his hair, "It's not that I like looking at his face!"

Lila held back her laughter.

"I get what you mean!" Marinette said, trying not to embarrass the poor kid anymore.

"Yup," Lila nodded her head, and Nathanaël just sighed and looked back at his drawing.

Just then, Adrien's eyes blinked open, and he sleepily lifted his head.

Nathanaël moved at lightning speed and slammed his sketchbook shut as Adrien looked around, and then sat up.

"I didn't mean to fall asleep, sorry," He murmured as he rubbed his eyes.

"It's alright! No biggie!" Nathanaël jumped to say , and Adrien laughed lightly.

"You wanna head out to the water? It might help you stay awake," Marinette suggested, and Adrien mulled it over thoughtfully.

"Yea, sure. Sounds good," He answered, and slowly got to his meet. Nathanaël tilted his head up, watching as Adrien stood up before realizing he was staring and jerked his head down immediately. Lila felt a little sorry for the lovestruck boy.

But then Adrien extended a hand down to Nathanaël, who blinked and looked at the hand for a solid two seconds, then up at Adrien, who was smiling warmly. Nathanaël averted his eyes shyly but took the hand, and then the two of them were up together.

The four set off the ocean, and Lila noticed that Adrien hadn't let go of Nathanaël's hand.

As they approached the water, Marinette took off after winking at Lila, and Lila just watched to see exactly what would happen. Alya was shielding herself from a deadly splash from Nino when all of a sudden she was pulled into the water.

Ah.

"Alya!" Nino called out, hurrying to where Alya had vanished.

But Alya resurfaced immediately, eyes determined to seek revenge on whoever had attacked her. Marinette popped up a little ways away with a devilish glint to her eyes.

"Mari!" Alya said accusingly as she spotted her, and then dove into the water and swam at a terrifying speed to Marinette's location, whose eyes immediately bugged out in fear and surprise.

"She has no fear," Lila observed appreciatively.

"Wow," Nathanaël commented.

The three of them stood at the shore, water gently lapping up over their feet.

"Well, let's go on ahead and join them," Adrien decided, and then pulled Nathanaël farther into the water.

Lila waded into the warm water, relishing the feel of the gentle waves on her skin.

She was looking around for Marinette when all of a sudden something seized her calf and she was yanked underwater. Lila waited until the grip loosened, and then she reached out with her arms and flung them towards where she presumed the assailant to be.

Sure enough, her arms came around a familiar frame and pressed it close to her chest. Lila pressed off the ground with her feet, and when she used one hand to wipe her eyes and opened them to the air, she could see she had caught Marinette in her arms.

"Gotcha," She said as Marinette wiped at her own eyes. They probably should have gotten goggles.

Marinette pouted, and then lightning fast, leaned forward, pecked Lila who moved in surprise, but Lila didn't loosen her arms and only hugged Marinette closer to prevent her escape.

"You can't escape!" Lila said teasingly, and Marinette smiled.

"That's okay. Maybe I don't want to," She said as she touched her nose to Lila's. Lila felt happiness glow inside of her, and then she moved to kiss Marinette gently.

Lips and bodies pressed to one another, the two shared an intimate, sea-salted kiss.

But before it could go on for much longer, a spray of water splashed into their faces and then they were in all out war with Alya and Nino.

Eventually Adrien and then Nathanaël joined it, teaming up against the couples with coordinated attacks.

The six were having fun in the sea until suddenly Lila was aware that the water was receding.

Lila looked incredulously as the water moved away from the shore, leaving behind wet sand as it formed a giant sphere off in the distance. She stood up from the ocean floor, sand sticking to her knees as it did so.

"If I can't swim, then no one can!" A voice suddenly boomed, and Lila turned to look back at the shore. A figure with a butterfly mask and a light blue suit stood with a hand outstretched towards the beach.

An akuma.

She looked to Marinette, who looked back and nodded before taking off somewhere. Unsurprisingly, she saw Adrien look back and forth from Nathanaël and the akuma, and realized he wasn't sure how to leave Nathanaël to go transform.

The poor dude didn't know that she knew. Theoretically.

She was pretty sure he was Chat Noir, anyway.

"Nathanaël!" She called out, and he turned to her, eyes wide in anxiety. "Come help me move everyone out of here! It's not safe for us to be here!"

"I- okay!" He called back.

"Adrien, go help the others on the other side!" Lila then yelled to Adrien, who looked relieved and nodded, and then he was gone.

Nathanaël and Lila jogged to Alya and Nino, who were a little bit farther out.

"Let's get everyone out of here and hide," Lila said, and everyone nodded except for Alya.

"Are you kidding? I have to film this for the Ladyb- crap! Where's my phone?" The girl looked down at herself, and then out to the umbrella she had been sharing with Nino earlier.

"Let's go grab it, then," Nino suggested, and the two were off and it was Lila with Nathanaël.

"It's up to us, I guess," Lila said with a shrug.

Just then, a spotted figure ran out on the sand.

"Ladybug's here!" Nathanaël exclaimed, and then shortly after, a black figure dashed out next to her.

"They can take care of this," Lila said smartly, and then turned to Nathanaël, "I think we can go hide until its over,"

"Alright, but what about Adrien?" Nathanaël asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, he's a smart guy. He'll hide when he needs to." Lila jogged over the boardwalk and ducked into a restaurant, which was full of other sensible citizens.

As Lila and Nathanaël took a seat at the window and observed the chaos outside, Lila kept her eyes on the red blur.

Would Ladybug and Chat Noir ever get a rest? Lila rested her head on her hand and sighed sympathetically.

But even if akumas came and attacked every day and night, Lila knew that Ladybug and Chat Noir would be there to save everyone. No matter what happened, Marinette would defend the people of Paris with everything she had.

And no matter what happened, Lila would stick with her every step of the way.

Would she be?

Lila's eyes widened and her eyebrows came together. She looked left and right but couldn't find the source of the voice, like always.

It seemed that recently there was a strange, dark thought that hid in the corners of her head, darting in and out of her mind. Whisper that told of darkness and sadness and ruin.

But it would be gone after a few words, and it would feel as if Lila had imagined it.

And just like always, it was gone immediately. Her mind was clear again and she was focusing on Ladybug fighting outside.

"Is something wrong?" Nathanaël asked curiously, and Lila shook her head.

"I'm fine," She said, and this time she was convinced it was true.

No, you're not.

Lila didn't realize that she wasn't.

Hey all! I never thought i would come this far, but somehow i did it! This is the longest solo piece of writing ive ever done, and im kinda impressed that i managed to get to a whopping 70k words!

I never would have done it without all of your encouragement and comments, and im sincerely grateful to all who left me a kudoes or a fave or a follow or anything. Thank you all so much for coming with me on this adventure, and im sorry for all of those random month-long hiatuses haha.

Special thanks to: VIP, Chaton Jaune, AureliaandMidnight, fanfictionmakermachine, prettykitty luvs u, luschka, kiracles, coldgoldlazarus, and djkatt for commenting especially often; yall really helped me continue even when i lost inspiration.

That being said, im trying to put together a coherent plot for a sequel. When i wrote this fic, i just started it with whatever and i think its kinda obvious. I didnt plan anything out until at least halfway through, so it kinda goes everywhere. I think it gets much better in the second half after i planned it out, so i think i will try to do the same for a sequel. I dont know how long the sequel will be, but i do have lots of angst and fluff ideas. Please keep in mind that i am in college right now so i will not have a fixed schedule, and like before, the updates will be random.

Thank you all so much again! I cant wait to yall again in the sequel 333