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"I hope you're happy," Lila muttered, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.
The beloved super heroine of Paris was banging on the barred door of the closet, her frantic efforts interrupted only by the beeping of her earrings. "I was just trying to save you!" Ladybug snapped.
"Yeah," Lila growled, "because that went sooooo well."
They would have been glaring if they could see each other, but only a tiny strip of light came in from the bottom of the door. Ladybug's earring let out another beep.
"Well sorry for not being prepared for a second akuma!"
"Apology not accepted."
"Why you little-!"
A flash of pink light blinded them momentarily as Ladybug's transformation faded before leaving them both in the dark once more.
"Did you just... revert?" Lila questioned, her voice a bit more panicked than she meant to let on.
"...Yeah."
Marinette dug around in her purse, hoping to find a cookie or anything, but the first Akuma had taken two transformations to defeat, leaving Tikki exhausted and Marinette cookie-less.
"Oh great," Lila huffed. "So I'm stuck in a closet with you now, and by the sound of it, the Akuma is long-gone."
"Yeah, the enthusiasm is mutual," Marinette mumbled.
Tikki gave a little "Hmph" noise, disappointed with her charge.
"What was that noise?" Lila squeaked.
Marinette sighed. "Just my magic fairy complaining."
Lila snorted. "Fine then." She clearly didn't believe the heroine.
"Go on, Tikki. We could use the help."
Tikki head butted Marinette's palm, but complied. She flew over to Lila, perching on her shoulder, making the brunette squeak again.
"Hi, I'm Tikki. I help Ladybug."
"Oh my god. Oh my god!" Lila freaked out, resisting the urge to swat at the little thing.
"Yeah," Marinette laughed, "I freaked out pretty bad when I first met her too."
"Ladybug," Tikki said, trying to keep Marinette's identity secret, "I might be able to phase through the door and look for food, until then, you'll have to stay here."
"Are you sure? That's dangerous, especially when you're this tired."
"It's better than staying here until I manually recharge, which could take a whole day. We can't afford to do that! The akuma is still loose and Chat will need you help!"
Marinette sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Alright. Good luck, Tikki."
Tikki giggled. "I am the incarnation of good luck."
And then Lila and Marinette were alone in the closet.
Marinette slid her back down against the door, sighing again.
"This is not how I saw my day going," she muttered.
"Tell me about it," Lila agreed, also sliding to sit on the floor. "I was finally going to talk to Marinette today. Oh my god! Marinette! She was in the direction the akuma went."
"I'm sorry, what?"
Lila seemed to remember she wasn't alone. "Not that it's any of your business, but she's the prettiest, sweetest ball of sunshine I've ever met. Well, at least I'm sure she is. I've never really gotten the chance to speak to her yet."
"You want to be her friend?"
Lila snorted. "No." Marinette heard the other girl sigh. "I have a crush on her."
Marinette was glad for the dark otherwise her flaming cheeks would have been plainly visible. "You- you like girls?" she squeaked.
"I'm bi. Got a problem with that?" She could hear the defensiveness in Lila's voice, and she realized how that came off.
"No," Marinette murmured, her tone much softer. "I understand. I am too." Alya and Adrien came to mind.
"Oh..."
"Yeah...It's just that I thought you liked Adrien."
"I do, but my chances with him were ruined," Lila needled, but her tone was not as sharp as either of them expected.
"I'm really sorry about that." Marinette bowed her head, shame resurfacing. "I like him too, that's why I snapped and treated you so terribly back in the park. I know that's not an excuse, but yeah."
"He is pretty cute," Lila said softly.
"So tell me about Marinette, how did you fall for her if you haven't even gotten to know her?" Marinette's mind was screaming "BAD IDEA! DANGER!" but she wanted to know.
"Only if you tell me something in exchange," Lila bargained.
"Anything, as long as it's not about my identity." The words were out before her brain caught up.
Lila sucked in a breath. "Well, Marinette is who I want to be. She's really sweet, just based on the few times we've interacted. Plus she's just so genuine. She's always so expressive- you can just look at her face and know what she's feeling. I feel like I'm always hiding who I am because no one would like the real me."
Marinette felt a pang of loneliness from Lila's words, her heart twisting.
"And she's also super clumsy in the most endearing way. I once saw her trip over her own feet and then fall two more times while trying to stand back up," Lila continued with a laugh.
Marinette felt her cheeks heating up again. So someone had seen that...
"I hope things work out with her," Marinette said, feeling very confused about Lila now.
"I hope so too..."
"I believe it is your turn to ask something now."
"Right." Lila gave a thoughtful hum. "Do you dislike me?"
Marinette was surprised by the question. "No. I don't dislike you at all. I was just frustrated with you before. I don't like when people lie about being close to me because I feel like no one would like me when I'm not Ladybug."
"Really?"
She chuckled. "Yeah. I'm a total spaz who's always late, and I just feel like I can't live up to myself, you know?"
Marinette sighed, letting out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "Approaching Adrien was just the tipping point. And I'm truly sorry about how I treated you."
"I believe you," Lila said after a minute. "I-"
"Ladybug!" Tikki cheered, her high voice appearing next to Marinette, effectively cutting Lila off.
"Tikki!" Marinette cupped her kwami gently and nuzzled her.
"Quick! We have to transform, Chat needs you!"
"But how should we get out? The door is blocked with debris?"
"Chat used Cataclysm on debris when I told him you were stuck here. Now it's just the door you have to get through. He wants to respect your identity, so he left the door for you. He's recharging right now, so we have to go!"
"Okay," Marinette stood, turning away from Lila. "Tikki, transform me!"
Once she was freshly suited up, Ladybug kicked down the door, the light of the hallway stinging her eyes.
She turned back, offering a hand to Lila.
"It's been fun, but let's not do that again," she quipped.
Lila rolled her eyes.
Just as she was about to leave, Ladybug was stopped by a tanned hand on her shoulder.
"Look, Ladybug, I guess you're not that bad." Lila was blushing, her eyes on the floor.
Ladybug smiled. "You're not so bad yourself," she teased, but she was blushing too.
"Good luck," Lila said, letting go and stepping back.
Ladybug laughed. "Always."