Work Text:
Lila sighs, looking down at the dead body. It’s a good thing it’s Halloween — no one will think about the light splattering of blood on her clothes as anything else more than a costume, as though she’s just left a party. She’s been planning this on purpose. Even the scene of the crime — where she chose to do the deed is close to a club holding a costume night for Halloween. It’s not really a formal or countrywide celebration, but it’s popular in media, and dressing up in costumes is fun year round for some people.
She can find some drunk person willing to stick up for her presence. A group, if she’s lucky. With an alibi, they’ll never find her guilty, especially since she’s going home and washing these clothes.
She’s unrepentant for this murder. He deserved to die, though there are a lot of people who believe murder is never justifiable. The police will be closing up this case without much fuss since they won’t find a single fingerprint on the knife, and they won’t be able to find anything. They’ll let it lie — the man she killed will not be missed, since he’s fallen from grace after exposure for corrupt business practices.
This plan is multifaceted — she was the one who exposed those practices, after all. She was the whistleblower. And if a couple of those documents were forged…what of it? The documents existed at one point, even if they don’t anymore.
She leaves the knife in the body — too much blood to risk taking out, and she’s wearing gloves anyways. The seed of evidence there will bear no fruit.
The problem with murder is that it’s very messy and underhanded. But assassins are expensive, and so she’s stuck doing things herself. Gabriel might have been a supervillain, but he was never a creep. She could work with a supervillain — the Butterfly Miraculous in her pocket is a reminder of that. Gabriel ’s new CEO is a simple creep to her and everyone else. She could’ve exposed Gabriel Agreste, but she legitimately respects him, even now after he’s fallen from grace.
She goes to the club, leaving the body to rot — or be found, whichever comes first.
She flashes her ID to the bouncer, who lets her in without another glance. It’s always paid to have an air of confidence.
She makes her way over to the bar and orders a soda — she doesn’t want to inhibit her instincts. Not now.
She’s done a good job, but now she needs to make sure she talks to someone too — some drunk person who will remember seeing her but not precisely when. Autopsies aren’t that good at getting an exact time of death, after all. She’ll be alright. Maybe she can even get a good night out of this with someone. Find some pretty girl (she’s not in the mood for guys, not tonight). If she can attract someone well enough…
The songs playing are typical for this sort of establishment. Lila looks around for a likely mark, spotting a stranger who reminds her of Ladybug.
Lila can’t say she’s never thought about what it’d be like to get with Ladybug. Ladybug’s bisexual, if you take her appearances at Pride as truth, but Lila knows Ladybug is too uptight to do anything other than fight in the costume.
The woman she’s spotted looks like Ladybug visually, but also somehow manages to present the same kind of easy confidence Ladybug does, as though she has everything under control.
With Ladybug, Lila knows it’s an illusion; she always has a method of throwing Ladybug off-kilter. Control — even the veneer of it — at a place like this is strange. Lila finds herself enticed, interested. So she makes her approach.
“Hello there,” she says in a husky tone of voice, trying to be seductive.
“Who are you?” the woman responds. It’s in a relaxed tone more than anything else, which indicates to Lila that everything should be fine. “You here to show me a good time? I should let you know, I’m not into blood.”
Lila looks over the stranger’s outfit. The fact that the stranger noticed the blood probably means she isn’t drunk. The outfit she’s wearing reminds Lila of something, but she can’t quite place it.
She smirks in response to the stranger’s receptiveness, deciding to gamble. “I’m only here to establish an alibi,” Lila whispers. The stranger laughs at that — she must have taken it as a joke, considering the atmosphere around tonight. “What’s your name?”
“Call me Marinette,” she says.
Lila mentally freezes. She’s heard that name before — what are the odds that Adrien’s ex is standing in front of her? Adrien had a girlfriend named Marinette for a couple years. Lila wonders what happened. But Lila doesn’t see Adrien anywhere around here, so Marinette must be single, because she doubts Adrien’s girlfriend would really cheat on him with another woman.
“I’m Lila,” she says. “It’s quite nice to meet you.” She conveys intent in a way that’s almost impossible to miss, sensuality and attraction. She just hopes that Marinette isn’t too drunk. The way Marinette’s acting makes her seem sober, but…
“How much have you had to drink?” she asks, just in case. “I don’t want to take you back to mine if you’re too drunk.”
Marinette shakes her head. “A couple shots through the night. And who says it had to be yours? I was hoping we could go back to mine. I’ve got everything set up.”
Oh, now Lila knows for sure she’s going to have a great time tonight.
“I’ll bite,” Lila says. “I walked here anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Good,” Marinette says, kissing Lila quickly. “I’ll see you outside, Lila. I have to tell my friends I’m headed home.”
Lila waits outside the door for Marinette, and they take a cab back to Marinette’s. The wait is excruciating, but they stumble out and head up.
The next morning, Lila sees the news all over the place about the murder. The police are investigating, they say.
She runs, but leaves her number on a post-it on Marinette’s fridge.
Just in case.