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Paris was unexpectedly warm for September. Despite the falling leaves and browning greenery, summer was going out with a sudden rush of humidity that promised a stormy finale. It was likely the holdover from New Zealand that made it bearable to Lila.
Ease or not, though, the heat had an effect. Though she woke up from a well-resting sleep, the words and stories she had planned for her first day flowed from her mouth with the grace of mud. It was so hard to seem particularly cool and special when literally everyone else was also a new student and had their own cool stories to share.
Fortunately, her story of knowing the Adrien Agreste garnered her some curious ears in her class, and for a good ten minutes, she had the attention of half her homeroom.
That was, until a blonde girl pushed her way through her audience, looking particularly furious, and jabbed a finger in Lila’s face.
“You!” The other girl snarled, light eyes flashing. “You’re the one spreading lies about my Adrien, aren’t you?!”
Someone poured a refreshing bucket of regret over Lila’s head, and though the heat clung to her skin, a chill travelled through her insides.
“E-Excuse me?”
There was no way this girl could know Adrien Agreste. The model had no real life presence. For how much anyone saw of him, he might as well not exist.
“You heard me, you liar,” the stranger spat, hands on her hips. “You’re lying to everyone, ‘cause I’ve been friends with Adrien since we were five, and he definitely doesn’t know someone like you!”
Lila always thought she was too clever to be caught. She was wrong. She had only been lucky.
And her luck just ran out.
“Lila, is she telling the truth?”
“Well… I…”
“Were those things about Prince Ali and Jagged Stone lies too?”
“It… You...”
Lila looked around. Faces that once beamed with admiration and awe now frowned in judgement and disgust. Only the blonde smiled, now, arms crossed in pride at breaking down Lila’s facade.
There was no salvaging this.
Lila rose and shoved her way out of the crowd. She needed to leave.
“Yeah, run back to Italy, liar,” the blonde taunted, laughing behind her.
Fate didn’t even deign her worthy of a clean exit, for she collided head-on with someone entering the class.
“Excuse me,” she said, in the wrong language, her head ducked towards the ground. She sprinted down the hallway and leapt down the stairs.
She burst out of the front doors, and fled into the stifling humidity.
Marinette stared after the brunette, and looked back into the classroom. Chloe was boasting about some famous friend of hers, again. After four years, Chloe’s uncanny ability to ease between making someone run off in tears and bragging about herself ceased to surprise her. Marinette was sure goldfish had better object permanence than Chloe.
She should go check on that girl, but it looked like she’s already left the school. Quite bold of her to risk being late on the first day, but Marinette would skip class with Chloe too if she could.
Damn school districts.
The first day wouldn’t officially start for another ten minutes. In any case, the girl still had time to return.
Marinette straightened her back and stepped into class.
They’d be all right.
She’d barely even sat down when a hand slammed on her desk.
“Marinette Dupain-Cheng!”
Never mind.
She wasn’t going back to Francoise Dupont. She was going to transfer to an international school again, it wasn’t too late for that.
But, how to explain to her mother? Dupont had dozens of language courses, and it was easily one of the best public schools in the arrondissement. And it had been Lila who begged to be put in a local school. Her mother would sooner deck a politician than let Lila transfer out.
Lila meandered blocks away from the school in question. In her rush, she’d forgotten her bag, all she had were her phone and wallet. A good thing, her bag was only full of supplies, no chance of her classmates doing any major property damage.
Still, she had to attend class, the school would call her mother if she didn’t show up.
God, no.
A young boy sprinted down the street to the front of the school. To any witness, it seemed like he was any other panicked student who’d overslept on their first day, until a limousine screeched to a halt ahead of him, and a woman shot out of the passenger side. She was cleanly dressed, but intercepted the boy easily, latching onto his arm.
“I’m sorry, Adrien, but you know what your father wants,” the woman spoke firmly, despite her frazzled state. A hulking man exited the driver’s side of the limousine and joined her in blockading the boy.
The teen clenched his fists, trapped.
“But this is what I want!” he pleaded, staring at the doors instead of his guardians. He could still make it, he could, but...
The man rested a hand on his shoulder, and the boy slumped.
He couldn’t.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured in defeat, “I just want to be like everyone else.”
“You can discuss that with your father,” said the woman. Despite her actions, she was sympathetic.
The boy surrendered.
The three piled back into the limousine, and it sped off, passing by a tardy student.
Lila paid no attention to the extravagant vehicle, of course such high-class people lived around here. She started for the doors, when there was a heartstopping thud.
An old man had fallen on the sidewalk, his walking stick rolled out of reach. He grasped for it, then recoiled in pain.
Lila looked around. The street was empty. How was she the only person here?! It was Paris!
“Monsieur,” she rushed down the stairs, her heart in her throat. “Are you all right?”
She retrieved the cane, and helped the elder to his feet. His arm felt frail in her hand. “Thank you, miss,” the old man wheezed. He steadied himself on his cane, but his hand was shaking visibly.
“Please be careful, that sounded like a terrible fall,” Lila said, eyeing the man’s tremors. “Is there anyone I can call to pick you up? You should go to the hospital.”
The old man shook his head and waved his free hand dismissively. It was shaking violently.
“No, no, I’m fine, thank you,” he said, still waving his hand. “Besides, shouldn’t a young mademoiselle like you be in school right now?”
“Well, I--”
The bell rang. She was officially absent for her first class.
Oh, screw it.
“I’m already late,” she said, “It’s okay.”
“Mademoiselle…” The old man shook his head and waved his hand again in dismissal. “I promise you, I’m all right. Thank you for your aid.”
Lila pursed her lips, looking the man up and down. She bit the inside of her mouth.
“Are you certain, monsieur?”
The old man nodded. She inhaled.
“Please, mademoiselle, it wouldn’t do well for anyone for you to be late.”
She was already late, and she didn’t want to go anyway, but here she was.
“Please be careful, then,” she said at last, meeting the old man’s eyes.
“Of course, I will.”
Lila bit her lip, turned and sprinted back up the steps.
The great doors opened and closed, and the old man pulled out a hexagonal box.
“Thank you, mademoiselle,” he smiled at the shut doors.
He stuffed the box back into his pocket, swung his cane over his shoulders, and walked away.
Lila really thought the day couldn’t get worse, as she slunk out of an ‘I’m disappointed in your behaviour’ lecture from Mlle Bustier. She was to go to the library and catch up on the worksheet she missed.
But, as she made for the steps to the second floor, the stairs- no, the entire building shook, and something crashed.
“What was that?” a teacher called from their classroom door. A hall monitor sprinted across the courtyard to the source of the crash: the principal’s office.
“Get the second floor cleared, now! The wall’s blown out!”
A surreal cold washed over her.
Great. Just great.
In the library, hugging a table’s leg and praying the shelves didn’t collapse on her, Marinette Dupain-Cheng really wanted to go home.
The culprit was some stone giant supervillain, according to the local news. The army had been dispatched - not hard, it was Paris after all - and civilians were told to stay indoors. Lila’s mother called to tell her to stay home, as the embassies were all locked down.
At home, watching the action from behind her chair, Marinette hoped to every higher power there was that things would be okay.
Wait a second, what was that box there?
The two girls picked up their matching finds, and pried the lids open.
Lila swore at the red sphere of light, and Marinette screamed at the green.
Tikki blinked up at Lila. The girl blinked back. Then:
“Okay, I’ve seen enough mahoushoujo to know where this is going.”
Plagg ducked the various items Marinette hurled at him.
“IT’S A MOUSE! A BUG! A BUG-MOUSE!”
“Excuse you, Marinette,” the creature crossed his forelimbs petulantly, “I’m clearly a cat!”
The girl chucked a book at him.
“IT KNOWS MY NAME!”
“Do you understand now?” asked Tikki, hovering before Lila.
“Yeah, yeah,” the girl said, rubbing at the earrings. She turned the box around in her hands. “Break the thing with the akuma, save the poor guy. I got it.”
“Your power is the Lucky Charm,” Tikki continued, gesturing, “it’ll give you an object that will help you.”
“So are these Miraculous-things Japanese or Chinese?” Lila asked, calmly looking up from the box, “‘Cause this sigil looks Chinese, but akuma is a Japanese word - or is it neither and someone was just feeling particularly inspired?”
“Lila,” Tikki smiled, “There’s a supervillain to stop?”
“Oh, right! I’m a superheroine now. Got it.” Lila tossed the empty box onto her bed. “So what’s my transformation phrase?”
“Well, since we’re speaking Italian,” Tikki tilted her head, “for you, it’ll be…”
The girl beamed.
“Awesome!” said Lila, pumping her fist. “All righty then: Tikki, transformami!”
“And that’s it.” Plagg said, with a flourish of his limbs. “Got it, Marinette?”
“NO!”
“That’s the spirit!” He said, grinning brightly. He halted. “Wait… What’d’ya mean ‘no’?! You’re a superheroine, and a pretty cool one, if you ask me-”
“I’m not a superheroine!” Marinette howled. “I’m just, me! Clumsy, stupid, foolish Marinette!”
“Oh, no,” Plagg facepalmed, as much as a kwami could. “You’re one of those heroes.” He sighed, and regarded his panicking human. “Okay, kiddo, have you ever been a superheroine before?”
Marinette paused. The question threw her off. “What? No, of course not.”
“Then how’d’ya know you’ll screw it up if you don’t even give it a shot?” Plagg raised his limbs.
“Because there are people’s lives at risk!” Marinette retorted. “And I don’t want to mess that up!”
Plagg deadpanned:
“Okay, but there’s a ladybug hero out there who needs your help. You are the only one who can help stop this akuma. Your partner can’t do it all on their own. Sure, you might botch this, but at least you tried, then kid. But, if you refuse to help at all? Then this is over before it even starts, Marinette.”
Marinette stared.
“...I’m not the first one hero you’ve had to convince.”
“Nope,” Plagg lazed in the air and shut his eyes. “I’m ancient, and each and every one of those heroes proved themselves wrong, and so will you.”
Marinette looked down at the ring in its box. She clenched her fists, then picked the box up.
“...All right, then. I’ll do it.”
Plagg unfurled from his resting position, looking very much like the cat that ate the canary.
“Knew it!” he cheered, as Marinette slipped the ring onto her finger. “Now, uh… what language is this?”
“Um… French?”
“Oh, okay, then you’re just gonna say…”
Marinette regarded the ring and sucked in a breath.
“Here goes, then…” She clenched her fist. “Plagg, transforme-moi!”
“Holy crap.”
Lila stared at the bathroom mirror. Instead of frills and lace and tulled up skirt, she got spotted skin tight fabric, a caplet, coat-tails and an old-school domino mask. It was cool, but it felt a lot less “cutesy magical girl” and more “modern day superheroine with sensible clothing”. Tikki had even put her hair up in a ponytail, tied with a ribbon that resembled a bug’s antenna. Even so, she still looked like herself.
“Dude, how the heck is this supposed to stop someone recognising me?” she asked the air.
Oh, right. Her fairy companion had disappeared too.
Well, this was a good start.
“Um, Plagg? How do I take this off?”
It wasn’t awful, fashion wise. It gave her a rugged roguish look, but the literal catsuit was weird to touch, and what was with the tail? At least the ribbons and fake ears were cute…
Things would almost be okay if Plagg hadn’t vanished after the transformation.
“Marinette?”
Oh, now her parents heard her?
She fled to the rooftop.
“Okay, I’m a superheroine, and I have a magical uh…”
She stared at the weird cylinder. What was she supposed to do with it?
Marinette pressed at the green paw print.
Both sides of the cylinder extended. The bottom end stuck the ground, but the baton kept lengthening. Magic or not, the weapon obeyed logic, and so shot Marinette off her feet and into the sky.
BAD START! BAD START BAD START BAD START THIS WAS A TERRIBLE IDEA WHAT THE F--
All things considered, it was probably a good thing she didn’t have a fancy skirt or something, otherwise she’d probably flash a couple of people while flinging herself across Paris’ rooftops and kicking ass.
Her magic yoyo also had Internet access and Google Maps, which were the real lifesavers in tracking down the supervillain. With that aid, Lila followed it to some huge stadium in Paris.
“All right, stone guy, it’s you and me.”
She reeled her arm back, ready to fling herself off the rooftop and into the stadium, when a high sound reached her ears. She paused, and looked up.
Wasn’t that someone screaming--?
Lila turned, and someone crashed into her.
It took a second to get her thoughts in order.
“Oh my god I’m so sorry I have no idea what I’m doing it just threw me I’m so sorry--”
One, she was upside down.
Two, she couldn’t move.
Three, there was someone else stuck with her.
Lila pried her eyes open.
Behind a black mask, neon green eyes darted around frantically, and their owner struggled to free them.
“Ah, you must be my new partner,” Lila said, a lot calmer than she felt. She was way out of her element. “I’d say I caught an angel, but ladybugs are the ones with wings.” Ah, crap.
“I’m-- really sorry!” her partner repeated desperately.
Something beep-booped, and they crashed into the ground.
“No worries,” Lila wheezed. Superhero or not, falling from a height hurt, with or without another person on top of her.
Her partner gave something of a quiet scream to herself, and pried herself out of the string.
“What a start,” she mumbled.
“Hey, we’re both new to this,” Lila rose, reeling her yoyo back in. It really was magic, if it didn’t even get tangled. She checked out her new associate.
A literal catsuit, huh? And--
“Oh my god, you have cat ears! Those are so cute!”
Her partner flustered, and Lila caught herself.
“Oh, sorry, I haven’t even introduced myself.” She stepped back. “You can call me…”
Coccinelle was too normal in Paris, and Coccinella might be too personal… Maybe…
“Ladybird,” Lila grinned. “Call me Ladybird.”
“Nice to meet you, Ladybird,” her partner said. “I’m… I’m...” She shrugged and smiled weakly. “I don’t know yet. It’s been really fast, all of this stuff.”
“Don’t sweat it, cat girl,” Ladybird said, reeling her yoyo back, “We can talk superhero stuff later. Let’s go take down this giant rock first.”
“What are you waiting for, cat girl? The world is watching you!”
Alya…
Marinette clenched her teeth. She was a superheroine, and Ladybird needed her help, she had to help everyone, she had to…
Jeez, this rock guy had one hell of a grip. Ladybird couldn’t even reach for her yoyo to summon her Lucky Charm.
The giant shuddered, suddenly, and Ladybird slipped right through his fist and onto the turf. Someone bowled into her, swept her up into their arms, and made a sprint across the other end of the field.
“Sorry to make you wait,” her partner said, setting her down.
Ladybird steadied herself, eyeing her saviour. “How’d you get him to let go of me?”
“Well, if he doesn’t expect it, when his fist gets bigger, so does the space in his grip, so if he doesn’t expect it-- you slip through his grip, and uh-- yeah…” The cat girl shrugged. Physics, technically.
“Good thinking, partner,” Ladybird said, patting her back. “Okay, my kwami said I gotta find some sort of object on him that has the akuma. All we gotta do is break it and everything will go back to normal.”
“Look at his right hand, he’s got something there.”
“Signorina, you’ve a got a good eye.”
Green eyes lit up.
“I also have a plan. It’s risky, but I think we can pull this off.
“I’m all ears.”
Maybe it was blind faith, maybe it was a stupid idea--
Okay, Marinette thought, charging straight at the akuma. It was definitely a stupid idea.
But she was within grabbing distinct, so--
“You want my ring? You’re gonna have to come get it yourself!”
The rock giant growled at her, and raised its other hand.
The fist opened, and a small dark object fell from it.
“Ladybird: there!”
A blur of red intercepted the object. Ladybird threw the object on the ground, and a dark butterfly fluttered free.
The giant rumbled, and its grip on Marinette vanished. She hit the ground cleanly, and was immediately tackled by Ladybird.
“We did it!” her partner screamed into her ear, squeezing her tightly. “We did it!”
Marinette hugged her back. They were both shaking.
“Yeah, yeah we did.”
“That- was- awesome!”
Oh, shit, Alya was recording everything. Marinette pulled away.
“How’d you get your powers?” The girl asked, pushing her camera phone in between them. “Radiation poisoning? Secret family heirloom? Super advanced science you’re keeping from the rest of the world?”
Ladybird laughed, and slung an arm around Marinette’s shoulder. She winked at the camera.
“Come on, we’re not gonna tell our secrets that soon!”
“Well,” Alya looked over the screen. “Can I at least get your names?”
“Now that, I can say,” Ladybird did a two-fingered salute. “Nice to meet you, Paris, I’m Ladybird.”
“And I’m,” Marinette started, without thinking. “I’m… just Chat Noire.”
“‘Sup, just Chat Noire,” Ladybird turned and pulled her closer, “I’m your new partner.”
Chat Noire turned red behind her mask.
“She memed at me,” Marinette cried, burying her face in a pillow. “She freaking… memed at me!”
“She really seems to like you.” Plagg asked, inhaling a cheese croissant.
“Yeah, you and half of twitter thinks that.” Marinette tugged at her hair. “Alya thinks she’s definitely gay.”
“You humans and your constant need to name things,” Plagg sighed, licking his whiskers.
“What? How do kwami work?”
Plagg shrugged. “We don’t have genders,” he said, simply, tossing another cheese cube into his mouth.
“Then…” Marinette paused. “How am I supposed to refer to you?”
“What’d’ya mean?”
“Uh…” Marinette gestured. “My language, French, we need to gender verbs-- you rarely hear the difference, but, we don’t have a neutral gender, unless you default to the masculine, and--” She was waving her hands frantically. Plagg laughed.
“Kid, chill out. Your language is weird, but if you gotta, refer to me as a guy.”
Marinette lowered her hands, and smiled.
“Okay then, Plagg.”
“Holy crap that was so cool!” Lila bounded around her room, phone in hand. “Chat Noire’s plan was insane, but it totally worked and she, like, trusted me to get the akuma before it would take her ring and it was just way too cool!”
“You did really well, Lila,” Tikki said, munching on some cookies Lila picked up on the way home. “You didn’t even have to use your Lucky Charm or Chat Noire’s Cataclysm.”
“I know! I think we can really do this whole superheroing thing together, I--”
Lila’s phone rang. She frowned at it. No way was her mom calling her to remind her to eat dinner already.
“Mom?”
Someone was yelling in the background.
“Lila, stay indoors,” her mother’s voice was frighteningly calm.
Something crashed.
“What?!”
“I need to go, but stay indoors.”
“Mom--”
The line went dead.
Lila threw the bedroom door open with such force it rattled off the adjacent wall. She made for the living room and turned on the TV.
“I don’t understand,” Marinette said, staring at Nadja’s report. “We released the akuma!”
“Did you remember to purify it?”
“Shit,” said Lila.
“If an akuma isn’t purified, it can multiply itself and give powers to a bunch of other people,” Plagg explained.
Lila swore again, and sank to the floor in front of the TV. The euphoria of winning vanished. She’d been so eager to be a heroine, so sure she could do it, she forgot her basic instructions and--
“What do we do, then?” Marinette asked, flapping her hands and jittering.
“We can’t do anything,” Plagg said. “Whenever that Ivan kid is reakumatised, then Ladybird can purify that akuma, but until then…”
“...all those people are stuck as statues.”
Lila stared at the shaky footage of what was once a tourist, now an immobile statue.
She messed up. She messed up. She messed up.
Unlike school, unlike every other mess-up in her life, she couldn’t run away from this one.
Actual people were hurt because she was so stupid.
“Lila, we can still fix this. We just have to wait until--”
“I can’t be Ladybird.” Lila said, flatly.
“Lila!”
“No, it was never gonna work out. I have to move in another year or so, you can’t have a superheroine who won’t stay in her city. I’m a compulsive liar, hardly superhero material. And I’m impulsive and dumb and--”
“Lila!” Tikki snapped.
Lila’s mouth clicked shut. For such a small kwami, Tikki was incredibly loud. Her indigo eyes bored into Lila’s green.
“If you want to make it up for your mistake, then staying as Ladybird and eventually purifying all these statues will be a good enough apology. After that, you can give up Ladybird, but if, and of your own admission, you made an error, and neglected instructions, you should fix it yourself. Am I wrong?”
Lila shut her eyes, and let out a slow breath.
Running from consequences… Running from mistakes… How long had she been doing that? Confronting those… It was too scary, the stakes were too high, and she was…
Her eyes opened.
She… wasn’t alone this time.
She wasn’t alone anymore.
“Get out of the way! You already failed once!”
Ladybird stepped back. The twisting feeling returned to her chest.
“He’s right,” her arms fell to her sides. “I thought I was going to be such a great superheroine, but I couldn’t even remember the one job I had.”
Chat Noire stepped closer, and grabbed Ladybird’s shoulders, turning her partner towards her.
Green met green.
“What do you think would have happened if you didn’t become Ladybird at all? We are the only ones capable of stopping Stoneheart, and you are the only one who can purify him. Can you imagine if I was on my own? We’d still be in this situation.”
“But, if someone else was chosen--”
“But someone else wasn’t chosen, Ladybird. You were chosen.”
Chat Noire shook her shoulders slightly.
“The fact is, this city needs you, and…” Chat Noire looked aside, then met Ladybird’s eyes. “I need you.”
“Chat Noire…”
Something rumbled above. The two split, and attention turned back to the akuma. A flurry of darkness erupted from Stoneheart’s mouth, and coalesced in the air.
Dark butterflies formed a head.
“People of Paris,” the butterflies spoke, “I am Hawk Moth.”
The heroines echoed the name together.
“Ladybird, Chat Noire,” Hawk Moth’s voice was calm, smooth, too casual, “You’ve caused these poor citizens enough trouble, don’t you think? If you had given up the Miraculous at the start, no one would have had to go through such pain. But, it is not too late to fix things. Simply surrender your Miraculous to me, and everything will be returned to normal. It is your choice. You can save them all.”
Chat Noire scowled, and Ladybird bowed her head.
She took Chat Noire’s hand.
They were not alone anymore.
Chat Noire squeezed back.
Ladybird raised her head, and let go. She started towards the tower.
“Hot take there, Hawky,” she called out, “but I’m not a fan of victim blaming. If you hadn’t attacked first, neither me nor Chat Noire would even exist. If you’re willing to attack a child, then what will you do with our Miraculous?
“Listen carefully to me, Hawk Moth! No matter what you have planned, no matter who you threaten to harm, we will stop you, every step of the way, and one day, you will be the one handing us your Miraculous!”
Ladybird sprang into action, and Chat Noire felt a chill over her body, as her partner flung herself into the air and sliced through the projection with her yo-yo.
The heroine landed on the Tower’s support beams, and turned to the crowd of law enforcement.
“I promise, all of you,” she started, voice amplified by the Miraculous, “for as long as Ladybird and Chat Noire are here, we will do all that is possible to keep you safe. Hawk Moth will try to exploit your fear, but I am here to reassure you: we will be here to protect you, no matter what happens!”
Ladybird’s yoyo popped open. A flurry of light erupted from it, and dispersed into the air.
Bright butterflies faded into the sky.
The people on the ground cheered, and Chat Noire smiled.
There you go, my Ladybird.
Mother Nature granted Paris her promised reprieve of a harsh and constant downpour. Lila really didn’t fancy walking to the bus stop in the cold rain, though, but that was her punishment for not reading the forecast and forgetting her umbrella, though.
She idled at the doorway of the school. Perhaps there’d be a lull, enough for her to rush to the bus stop, but her phone said otherwise. Lila sighed. Fine, whatever, rain wasn’t the worst thing to happen to her in the past few days.
Still, she stood, watching the droplets force circles on the pavement. It was nice. The air was cooling.
In her peripheral, someone passed her, an umbrella in their hands. They stopped, and stared at her. Lila kept her eyes on her phone. Maybe they’d think she was waiting to be picked up, instead of bracing herself for the cold.
Marinette turned the umbrella in her hand. Did Lila even remember her from their first day?
Her hands tightened, and she took a step towards the other girl.
“Hey,” she blurted out, “You’re Lila, right?”
The girl turned. Lila squinted. She seemed familiar… A classmate, right?
“Yeah,” she said, coolly, “You are?”
“Marinette,” she answered, fidgeting with the umbrella in her hands.
“Pretty name.”
Marinette reddened.
“Look-- I--” She sucked in a breath. “Are you walking home?”
Lila hesitated.
Superheroines don’t lie. Not even white lies to make themselves seem less awkward.
“Yeah. Why?”
Marinette moved closer.
“Just-- take this.”
She pushed the umbrella into Lila’s hands.
“Wait,” Lila didn’t take it, “don’t you--”
“I only live a block away,” Marinette rushed out, eyes lowered, “I’ll be fine.”
They stood, Marinette trying to give the umbrella to Lila, and Lila trying to refuse it.
“I’m--”
Lightning flashed, followed by a crash of thunder. The French girl forgot the significance, and the Italian girl never knew of it.
Marinette looked up, and green held blue.
And gradually, Lila’s hands wrapped around the umbrella.
“Thank you,” she said, a smile forming, “Marinette.”
The girl smiled back, wider now, and began to pull her hands away, only for Lila to step closer and grab them back.
“Which…” Lila’s words came out accented, “Which way is your place?”
“It’s… Just… right on the street here. It’s the bakery.”
“There’s a bus stop past there,” Lila said. “We should… We could… I could walk you there.”
Marinette’s eyes widened. Lila pulled away, and opened the umbrella. She stepped out into the rain, and held it up in offering.
“What do you say, Marinette?”
“I…”
Marinette stepped out, and joined Lila under the umbrella. She reached past the handle, and touched Lila’s hands.
“I think I’d like that a lot, Lila.”
“...Me too.”