Lucy yawned as she entered the classroom. As always, it had been a long night for her and had the misfortune of waking up with a pounding migraine. Adrien was the first to notice her presence and raised an eyebrow at Lucy's appearance, noticing her usually well-groomed hair a little more on the unruly side while the majority of her face was covered by a pair of large black sunglasses.

"Whoa, dudette. Lookin rough. Party too hard last night?" Nino joked earning a jab from Alya who was seated beside him. Instead of answering Nino, Lucy stood in place silently for a moment. She observed Nino's placement next to Alya instead of Adrien who currently sat alone with a mild look of concern resting on his face. As she gazed around the room, she noticed that many students sat in seats that differed from the ones she had seen them in every weekday since she started. Pointing her finger and moving it to and fro around the room Lucy tilted her head.

"What uh...what's this? Am I missing something? Pullin an old switcheroo on me here? Did my seat change? Where do I go? Guys today is not the day to make me solve a seating chart puzzle alright?"

Marinette came into the class and was also visibly thrown off by the change in seating. As she saw the seat next to Adrien open she immediately thought that perhaps Alya had worked something out so that she could sit next to Adrien. Marinette quickly and discreetly made her way over to her best friend to ask how she had pulled off such a thing only to find out she in fact was not moved next to Adrien at all but instead in the back row.

"At the back? Why? What's going-?" Marinette paused as she was startled at the sight of Lucy sitting on the desk in front of Adrien while looking like she was hungover from a night of heavy drinking.

"Well since she's got a hearing issue, there's no way she can sit at the back of the class, right? Which means she needed a place up in the front." Nino explained.

"So to make it work Ivan sat next to Mylène, Nate sat next to Alix, besides she came up with the idea of moving Nino here, so now we get to spend more time together." Alya finished, though not completely clearing up anything for Marinette.

"Who is she?"

It was then that Ms. Bustier came into the room and greeted everyone with a smile. "Good morning, students. I'm sure you've all heard by now, but Lila's home from her trip to Achu, and she's back in school with us again."

"Hi everyone!" Lila greeted cheerfully. She quickly spots the free seat next to Adrien and smiles. "Oh, a seat in the front row! You all remembered my hearing issue! You're such sweethearts, all of you." She told them, blowing kisses around the room. Lila froze momentarily as Lucy peered over her sunglasses at her.

"Oh, hey Lila. Back from...the place...that you were...with the...people. Cool. Welcome back."

"Lucy are you alright?!" Lila asked while bringing a hand to her chest. Ms. Bustier knitted her brows together in concern as they awaited Lucy's answer. The blonde girl shrugged.

"Eh...I...I would very much like to take a screwdriver and shove it inside my ear so that I could relieve the pressure of my brain pressing against my skull, but other than that..."'

"Oh my." Ms. Bustier cooed while Lila looked at her sympathetically.

"Do you need some medication? I think I might have some in my bag somewhere. I sprained my wrist not too long ago. The doctor told me to keep Ibprofine on hand, but I don't like putting medication in my system unless I really have to. I had an uncle who sadly got addicted to painkillers when he had to have back surgery after falling out of a tree for trying to save a kitten. No good deed goes unpunished one way or another I suppose." Lucy blinked at her as she tried to absorb the mass amount of unnecessary information Lila had felt to include in her offer.

"Right...um, I actually took some before I got here. Just hasn't kicked in yet, but thanks."

"You have a hearing problem, Lila?" Marinette finally managed to ask as she listened to Lila's lies in agitation.

"Yes, I suffer from tinnitus, a constant ringing in my left ear. I've had it ever since the sound of an airplane engine burst my eardrum on the runaway when I was saving Jagged Stone's lost kitten."

"Isn't Jagged Stone's pet a crocodile?" Marinette countered, but Lila was quick.

" Now it is, yes. But he had a kitten until he found out he was allergic to it. The best part is since you're such an excellent student, Adrien, you'll be able to help me catch up with all the schoolwork I missed while I was traveling with my parents. Would you do that for me?" She asked batting her lashes at the boy who scooted away but also agreed in an attempt to be polite.

"Miss Bustier, why do I have to sit in the back now?" Marinette pouted, to which Lucy turned to her.

"What's your beef with the back? I sit in the back..sat?" Lucy slipped off Adrien's desk and leaned down the center of the class to see Juleka and Rose sitting where she and Nathaniel usually sat. She glanced over and saw the only two open seats left were on the exact opposite side where Julika and Rose had sat originally. "I'm guessing that's where ya want me?" She asked, turning back to the teacher who gave her a small nod. "Hmmm." Lucy hummed as she began climbing the steps. "Closer to the window...closer to the sunlight...cool, cool, cool, cool, cool." She plopped down in the seat closest to the inner isle and sighed before looking over at Juleka and Rose. "So...any particular reason you guess decided to cha cha slide to the left?"

Juleka shrugged while Rose lent forward and flashed Lucy a smile. "Change in scenery!"

"Change in..." Lucy blinked and then shoved her glasses back up her nose and faced forward while leaning back in her seat to the point where her face was horizontal with the ceiling. "Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool."

"Do you have any trouble hearing or seeing, Marinette?" Ms. Bustier asks, seeing if there is a particular reason for the girl to not want to be in the back.

"Uh, I… I…" Marinette stuttered from being put on the spot. Of course, she could see and hear fine...she just didn't want to be in the back.

"My eyesight and hearing are good." Adrien chimed in, looking for both an escape from Lila's close proximity as well as an excuse to sit with Lucy. "I'll sit in the back of the class and you two can sit upfront. I don't mind."

"No!" Both Lila and Marinette shouted, earning a surprised look from Adrien as well a shush from Lucy.

"Indoor voices..." Lucy muttered.

"My return is causing so much trouble, maybe I should have just stayed on the other side of the world." Lila cried. "If Marinette has an issue too, then I should be the one to go and sit in the back. It's okay." The class let out a gasp and shot dirty looks at Marinette. The girl bit her lip and looked around nervously.

"I don't actually have any trouble seeing or hearing. I mean…"

"Good, so there's no problem then." Ms. Bustier dismissed. "You sit here, Lila, Adrien, you stay where you are and, Marinette, you sit in the back row with Lucy."

Marinette made her way to the seat beside Lucy and frowned as she looked down at the way Lila laughed and touched Adrien's arm. Her flirtation was so obvious. She shot a glance at Lucy who didn't seem to be noticing the interaction at all. Marinette let out a small huff. Lucy was the one person Marinette thought would be able to look past the rose-colored glasses that Lila had somehow managed to give everyone. Yet, as the girl pressed herself closer to Adrien, Lucy didn't even notice, nor seem to care. Seeing Lucy so ignorant to the affection Adrien had for her while Lila sat and attempted to sink her claws into him infuriated her almost as badly as Lila did herself.

"Don't you see what she's doing!?" Marinette whispered harshly to Lucy who tilted her head in the pigtailed girl's direction.

"What?" Lucy asked earning a frustrated sigh from her friend. Marinette gestured to Lila and Adrien down in the front with her hand as if to say 'duh'. The blonde girl glanced down at the two and then back to Marinette and shrugged.

"What exactly am I looking at?"

"Seriously?! Lucy, Lila is down there right now flirting with Adrien! She doesn't have a hearing problem or anything, it was all just an excuse to sit next to him! Doesn't that bother you?!"

Lucy rubbed her eyes from under her glasses and yawned. "Why would I? You clearly care enough for both of us."

"She's a liar."

"Yeah, I know. And so does Adrien." Marinette stopped and blinked at Lucy in question. "Adrien and I were helping Lila with some homework or something back when she first came to school. She ended up trying to tell us that she had been friends with Ladybug. We went to the park after school and she tried to feed us some story about how Ladybug saved her and how after they became BFFs or whatever. Coincidentally enough, Ladybug showed up and called Lila out on her lies. Seriously ripped her a new one." Lucy frowned at the memory and so did Marinette. "Anyway, I'm assuming her lack of attendance has been more due to embarrassment than anything else. She probably expected Adrien and I to go tell everyone what happened but luckily for her neither of us really saw the point. I don't know if she came back hoping we both forgot about that whole thing or what but I didn't and I'm sure Adrien didn't either."

"Then why is he being so nice to her? Why are you?" Marinette asked, not understanding.

"The girl got chewed out by Ladybug and still is going around tellin' lies. Obviously, she has some issues. It's not with the trouble. Her lies are harmless. I'm friends with Ladybug, I have a hearing problem, I was across the country. It's just fabrications to make her seem more interesting and the longer she goes on the more she will have to keep up with and one of these days everything is going to come back to bite her in the ass. Everything will work itself out, don't stress about it so much. It'll give you wrinkles." She told Marinette, pinching her cheek lightly with her knuckles. Marinette swatted her hand away and took a breath. Maybe Lucy was right. She was overthinking it all.

OoOoOOoO

Adrien spotted Lucy laying on one of the benched in the School courtyard during Lunch. With Lila and the whole seating nonsense this morning he hadn't even had the chance to talk to her yet today. Walking over, Adrien lifted Lucy's legs and took a seat underneath them. Lucy lifted her glasses to see who had the audacity and quite frankly wasn't even remotely surprised when her eyes met Adrien's smiling face.

"How are you feeling?" He asked patting her thigh. Lucy lifted her hand and tilted it side to side to make a so-so motion.

"Better than this morning but these things like to stick around, unfortunately. How's your new desk buddy?" Adrien sighed and shook his head. "Don't even get me started. What about yours?"

Lucy let out a deep breath and sat upon the bench, swinging her legs off of Adrien and resting her back against the backrest, bringing her arms back over it as well. "She's fine. Worried about Lila and her need to be the most interesting person on the planet but fine now the less."

"I wonder how Marinette knew. About Lila I mean." Adrien wondered aloud.

"I don't know. I mean I had my suspicions before the whole Ladybug incident so maybe Marinette just feels the same. The better question is how no one else sees it really. It is what it is I guess. If Lila wants everyone to believe she is this super interesting person then I say do you boo. But eventually, people are going to want her to put her money where her mouth is and she's going to be looking really foolish when she can't pay up."

Adrien silently nodded before taking a look at the time on his phone.

"Lunch is about over, we should head inside."

The pair got up from their spot and made their way into the school locker room area only to be stopped by Lila herself.

"Were your ears burning or something?" Lucy asked jokingly only for Lila to look at her funny.

"What does that mean?"

"I-uh. Nothing, it was a joke." Lucy explained dismissively. Lila didn't question it any further and instead turned to Adrien with hooded eyes.

"Adrien, we'll have to figure when you're gonna help me catch up on all the schoolwork I missed. I also heard you play piano, my uncle's the great pianist Chuch Boroughchuck. He wanted to teach me when I was little, but I had to stop playing because of arthritis. But when my wrist gets better, I'd love for you to give me some lessons." She told him, running her finger along his chest.

Adrien glanced behind Lila to Lucy who stood with both eyebrows raised and an awkward smile on her face. As her eyes met Adrien's she stuck out her index find and her thumb and rested her chin in between them while biting her bottom lip and squinting at him. Adrien forced himself to remain impassive at Lucy's antics and instead brought his attention back to Lila.

"Lila, I'm perfectly happy being friends with you, and I'll gladly help you catch up on your schoolwork, but please don't lie to me like you did last time with Ladybug." Lila twitched at Adrien's words as the memories of her first day flashed in her mind.

"Ladybugs the liar." She snarled making Lucy tilt her head to the side and squint again.

"Is she though? I mean, of all the things Ladybug could or even have to lie about, would not being friends with you really be on that list?"

"I'm not judging you, Lila, but instead of making friends you're going to turn everyone against you." Adrien tried to explain gently. "You can tell me if there's something bothering you. I can help. But you need to be honest with me."

"Are you trying to be some superhero lecturing me just like Ladybug did? Well thanks, but no thanks. Ugh." Lila turns, pushing past Lucy as she did so.

"I'm still here if you need help catching up with your schoolwork," Adrien called out a little sad at how downhill that conversation went. Lucy placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled.

"You handled that well. Kind but firm. I'm proud of you." Lucy told him. Adrien gave her a small smile back.

"Well, I learn from the best."

"Now it's my turn," Lucy told him, turning away to follow where Lila had gone.

"Your turn to what?"

"Superhero lecture." She told him with a wink. Adrien chuckled to himself and shook his head. "Good luck." He then muttered before making his way to his locker.

OoOoOo

Lucy trotted after Lila while calling her name repeatedly. It was obvious the brunette girl was trying to ignore Lucy. As Lucy caught up she placed a hand on Lila's shoulder before she could ascend the steps. Lila whipped around and glared at Lucy, her dark green eyes piercing her in a way that was so different from how she looked at everyone else who had yet to oppose her.

"What Lucy!?" Lucy held up her hands.

"Easy tiger."

"If you're here to yell and call me a liar too, you can forget it, because I don't wanna hear it." She attempted to turn away from Lucy but the blonde was faster and quickly grabbed Lila by the wrist and spun her back to face her.

"First of all, Adrien did not yell at you. I don't think the boy has ever yelled at anyone in his entire life, he's too nice for his own good sometimes. If you want to see what yelling is, I can most certainly do that for you, mam. Secondly, you are a liar. You got caught in a lie in front of both of us, so I'm not understanding why you're acting as if we would have somehow forgotten that. And Thirdly, I don't give a shit about your fake life Lila. You wanna go around and tell everyone these crazy stories about your life, then hey, to each their own right? What I don't get is why? I mean...you lied to Adrien's face. He has watched you continue to lie to everyone else's faces too and he still offered to be your friend under the condition that you be honest with at least him. If no one else. And yet you tried to stand there and try to tell him he didn't know what he already knows. Why? Help me understand kid. Dumb it down for me."

The hard look in Lila's eyes never left but her lips did curl up to something of a smile. "I just tell people what they want to hear."

"The life of an imaginary person? It's called a book." Lucy told her, crossing her arms over her chest. "People want to know you, Lila, not a version of you that doesn't exist."

"They want enchantment." Lila argued. "To know someone who has seen the world and knows famous people. Someone interesting. Someone special." Her voice grew to a whisper.

"But you already are." Lucy told her. Lila squinted at Lucy in confusion, taking her words as mockery.

"Funny."

"It wasn't a joke. Thats what people are. Thermodynamic miracles... events with odds against so astronomical they're effectively impossible, like oxygen spontaneously becoming gold. In each human coupling, a thousand million sperm vie for a single egg. Multiply those odds by countless generations, against the odds of your ancestors being alive; meeting; siring this precise son; that exact daughter... Until your mother loves a man she met at random, and of that union, of the thousand million children competing for fertilization, it was you, only you, that emerged. To distill so specific a form from that chaos of improbability, like turning air to gold... that is the crowning unlikelihood. The thermodynamic miracle."

Lila scoffed. "If that is what makes a person special then you could say the exact same thing about literally everyone."

Lucy nodded. "Yes. Anybody in the world. ..But the world is so full of people, so crowded with these miracles that they become commonplace and we forget... I forget. We gaze continually at the world and it grows dull in our perceptions. Yet seen from the another's vantage point. As if new, it may still take our breath away."

"You sound like an old lady standing there trying to tell me to be true to myself. What are you a self-help book?"

Lucy shrugged. "Ive actually just been reading a lot of science-related books as of late. Thermodynamics being one, sometimes related ones, space theories. Been going through some weird things and- Im getting off topic! Lila, my point is, you don't need to pretend to be special because you are, and so is everyone else. If you keep going on with this charade it's going to bury you so deep that I don't think even you will know who you are anymore."

"I know exactly who I am." Lila spat. "And I don't need you, or Adrien, or Ladybug, or anyone else trying to tell me otherwise!" With that Lila yanked her wrist away from Lucy and made her way up the stairs. Lucy frowned and shook her head.

Then who are you, Lila?

OoOoOoo

After class, Lucy made her way out of the room with Alya and Nino only for Adrien to be quickly approaching them with a malicious look on his face.

"Hey, Nino! I got something to tell ya! You don't deserve my friendship or your girlfriend!" He shouted, ripping Nino's hat off his head.

"Adrien what the hell?!" Lucy asked earning the blonde boy's attention.

"Lucy, I know you have the hots for me like all the other girls in Paris, but I need to be honest with you. It's not going to work out. You're way under my standards and I need someone a little more special." He shot at her. Lucy stared at him wildly.

"Ex-fuckin-Scuse me!?"

"Yeah, you see that foul language is just a prime example of how much of a peasant you are. Oh, you should see all your faces! don't miss my performance at the Eiffel Tower. You're gonna love it."

Adrien then jumped from the railing and down to the ground, only to jump out of the school entirely.

"What just happened?" Nino asked.

Alya rubbed her chin in thought. "I think Adrien...got akumatized?"

Lucy made a look of distaste. "Akumatized into what? Petty Man? Crappy-insult-super-jump-guy? Almighty-bitch-boy?"

"You should not come up with villain names." Nino told her only for Lucy to scoff.

"Well pardon me, Bubble Boy."

Nino glared at Lucy. "It was The Bubbler, and I didn't make the name up!"

OoOoOoOoO

It turns out, Lila had been the akumatized, not Adrien. Her power had been the ability to become a person she kissed while putting them to sleep. Kind of a creepy power. A simple touch would have sufficed, instead, she had to kiss them? Hawkmoth chooses the powers/ Lucy knew that much. She couldn't help but wonder what made him chose the abilities he gave people and how they affected others. Adrien found Lucy near the steps, watching as Lila told their classmates about her experience being rescued by Ladybug. She still insisted that she and Ladybug were close friends. Upon hearing Lila mistakenly mention her bad ear as her right instead of her left, Marinette, who had been sitting on the steps, watching with an annoyed face, had decided to call Lila out on her slip up only to be stopped by Adrien.

"Are you really going to go tell everyone?" He asked.

"'Course I am. Lila is—"

"A liar." Adrien cut off. "Yes, I know. But do you really think exposing her will make things better? If you humiliate her, she'll just be hurt more. Making a bad guy suffer has never turned them into a good guy."

"Ladybug and I are two peas in a pod." They heard Lila continue. Marinette looked at Lucy and Adrien in slight defeat.

"So we just stand by and let her lie?"

"As long as we all know the truth, does it really matter?" Adrien said gesturing to the three of them.

Marinette smiled a little. "You're right, maybe it's not such a big deal." As Alya waved over Marinette, the story coming to a close, Lucy continued to watch Lila carefully. looked over to Lucy, practically being able to hear the wheels turning in her head.

"You said it yourself. They are just petty lies." Lucy bit the inside of her cheek and hummed.

"It's not her lying that I'm worried about." Lucy knew there was something off about Lila. She knew Lila didn't mind being akumatized. She could feel it on heroes day. Lucy knew she'd be back to being akumatized when the time was right. No matter how elaborate its charade, Lucy recognized loneliness when she saw it. She had learned from experience that Need was a warehouse that could accommodate a considerable amount of cruelty.

OoOoOoOo

The next day Adrien made his way into the classroom and looked toward the back of the classroom to see Lucy already seated. Smiling, Adrien made his way to her and climbed in on the opposite side. Lucy looked at him up and down with a raised eyebrow.

"Whatcha doin?" Adrien gave a casual shrug.

"Change in the scenery." Lucy gave a hearty chuckle.

"Oh yeah? And do tell, what are you gonna do when Marinette comes up here and you're in her spot?"

"Give her a dazzling smile and ask if she wouldn't mind switching seats?" He said cheekily.

"You really wanna get away from Lila that bad huh?" Lucy joked. Adrien laughed and agreed but it was only a half truth. He didn't want to sit by Lila for sure, but he also never had the opportunity to sit by Lucy before. She was always in the back and he was always in the front. How could he not try and take the opportunity?

Lucy glanced down and spotted Marinette making her way into the class, automatically noticing Adrien's empty seat. The pigtailed girl frowned a little as she spotted him in her seat. Lucy quickly drummed her fingers on the desk before exhaling deeply from her nose. She looked at Adrien and sent him a smile.

"Yeah, I don't think that's gonna fly with Mari, after all, she kinda hates Lila if you couldn't tell. But no worries my darling boy. I've got both your backs."

With that Lucy stood and made her way down the steps and placed herself in Adrien's seat in the front of the class. Marinette looked from Adrien to Lucy with a confused expression. Lucy lightly toughed Marinette's arm and smiled.

"Adrien offered to move to the back so I didn't have to be near the sunlight when I have migraines. Thoughtful isn't he? Looks like you have a new desk buddy."

Marinette blushed as she brought her eyes back to the back where Adrien sat. His smile had flattered slightly at the sight of Lucy taking his old seat but quickly brought it back as Marinette approached, not wanting the girl to think he didn't want to sit with her. Marinette shly sat next to Adrien and looked down at Lucy who smiled at Lila as she entered the classroom. Lila looked from Lucy to the back where Adrien now sat and frowned.

"What are you doing?" Lila gritted through her fake smile.

"Taking one for the team." Lucy answered, turning her head around and winking at the pair in the back.

Glancing in Adrien's direction, Marinette's smile weakened. Being polite and kind was in Adrien's nature. It was who he was. The boy clearly didn't mind being her desk buddy, after all, they were friends but...bringing her eyes back down to the back of Lucy's head, Marinette sighed. She wasn't who he wanted to sit next to. Lucy might have said Adrien offered his seat but he had been sitting in hers, not Lucy's. Perhaps this was her opportunity to change things. Marinette could now have more reasons to talk to Adrien on a regular basis. They could get to know one another better and maybe then he would see what was in front of him all along. Someone who actually had romantic feelings for him, someone who actually wanted and craved his time and attention, someone like-

"Marinette!" Miss Bustier called out for the third time. "Perhaps you do in fact have trouble hearing? Lucy, be a dear and go back to the back please, and Marinette you can sit in the front with Lila."

Marinette frowns and dejectedly heads down to the front. Lucy gets up and pats Marinette on the shoulder. "Well, I did try."

"Miss Bustier, this is incredible. My tinnitus, I don't feel it anymore." Lila suddenly spoke. "It's gone. it's a miracle. It must be Ladybug's doing, I can sit in the back now so Lucy won't have to be near the window!" Lila then stands up and makes her way to the back.

"Lucy, actually, do you think I could sit next to Marinette? Me and Nino keep chatting it up." Alya asked the blonde who smiled and swapped spots.

"Nino-bo-bino." Lucy greeted.

"Lucy-goosey." He treated back and the two laughed. Lucy glanced back at Adrien who obviously looked annoyed. The two made eye contact and Lucy shot him a smirk pointing at herself before making a grabbing motion in the air and then pointing at him and then patting her back. "As a matter of fact!" Lucy said loudly to Ms. Bustier. "Me and this guy?" She said sticking her thumb at Nino. "This guy right here? Not a good combo. We are both way too immature to sit next to one another." Lucy told her, twisting Nino's cap backward and messing with his glasses. Nino laughed and swatted her away. She turned her head to Adrien.

"Oh Adrien dear, would you humbly return to your post beside Nino? We need balance."

Suddenly more hands shot up asking to move back to their original seats. In minutes everyone had reverted back, leaving Lila next to Ivan on the right side in the second to last row. Lucy fist bumped Nathaniel, happy to have him back next to her before her eyes were met with Adrien who sent her an appreciative smile. Lucy shot him one last wink before bringing her focus back to the lesson.

Season 3 has arrived! I hope you all enjoy this chapter. A little shorter than my typical but still around the 5000-word count. I am excited for a few specific episodes/ chapters in the future but of course, need to go through the motions to get there! Remember to like and comment and let me know how your feeling and thoughts about the chapter! As always I will see you soooooonnn!