Luka's face is burning.
He ignores the whispers as he barges out of the cafeteria. He ignores Juleka's call as she attempts to follow him. He ignores the streaks of tears running down his face as he runs into the men's toilets, finding a cubicle to cry in.
Fuck. He's been outted. How did she know? How did she know? Luka had barely figured it out himself. Sure, Juleka had cottoned on, but that's because she's his twin sister. They know each other inside out. But Lila? Juleka would never have told her about it, Luka is one hundred percent sure of that.
Could Adrien have actually said that? Surely not? It was Vincent who invited Luka over right? Right? Except... Adrien and Vincent work together all the time. He could easily have made the request out of pity. It would explain all of Vincent's weird phrasing. This is so humiliating.
His cheeks burn, gut taut and twisting. He feels dirty. He feels filthy and wrong and all that resentment towards his queerness resurfaces in a way that he'd not felt for ages.
There's a creaking noise.
Luka doesn't look up, expecting it to be Juleka.
There's a thud.
As Luka looks up, he realises Chat Noir is now stood on the toilet seat cover, the window taken off it's hinges behind him.
"Um, hey. Are you alright?" He outstretches a hand to tap Luka's shoulder but hesitates, "Is this a bad time? Do you... need space?"
Luka shakes his head. He doesn't trust his voice, not right now. He doesn't need voice breaks in front of the most gorgeous boy in Paris right now.
Tenderly, the blond sits down beside Luka, back against the cubicle door.
Luka snorts, face still reddened, "You know this floor is definitely covered in piss."
"So?"
"To be fair," Luka wipes his face, with a tear tracked smile. "You've got the suit in the piss not your fancy model trousers."
Chat shrugs, before quietly utter, "Claws in."
"Excuse me." Adrien nudges him jokingly, "I will have you know these are Jack Wills cord chinos. They even have piss-stained pleats now."
"Oh, wow." Luka chuckles a little, "Staining your trousers for me? How gentlemanly."
"I know right?" Adrien laughs, the sound like sunshine, "I looked good in them too."
"You did." Luka murmurs.
Adrien takes in a soft breath.
There's a moment. An all too tender moment, that has Luka's chest beating harder than the drums in the middle of a concert. As they look at each other, as stupid as it was, he wishes they could be like that forever. No awkward conversations to be had. Just the two of them, together, happy, on a piss-stained floor in the men's bathroom.
Adrien brushes a strand of hair out of Luka's all too red eyes, "What happened?"
Luka is struck silent with gay panic for a moment too long, and Adrien hesitates, drawing his hand back. "If-if you want to talk about it, that is, obviously." He laughs awkwardly, hand going back to scratch his nape.
"Lila." Luka pauses, looking the boy up and down, "She said, you told her things, you know-" he scratches the cuticle of his thumb, "About me." He looks Adrien in the eye, "Did you, you know, actually tell her something about me?"
"Lila?" Adrien laughs, "Absolutely not. I haven't spoken to her since she lied to me about being best friends with Ladybug in her second week here." Adrien smiles reassuringly, "I'm some who is all about second chances, but she has proven herself time and again to be incapable of telling the truth."
Luka lets out a breath he didn't even realise he was holding, before resting his head on Adrien's shoulder. It occurs to him, that this is probably the first time he's rested on Adrien, rather than the other way around.
He likes it both ways.
"What were you even doing, climbing in a toilet cubicle, anyway?" Luka teases good naturedly, "I didn't take you for a peeping tom."
"Oh, you know," Adrien flicks his forehead lightly, "Classified business."
"Oh, what kind?" Luka's eyes twinkle mischievously.
"The kind that shouldn't be discussed in toilets under any circumstances," Adrien bops Luka's nose, "Not when there could be nosy nancies listening in."
"Nosy nancies?" Luka laughs, "You got that from your slang book didn't you."
Adrien gasps dramatically, "How dare you make correct assumptions based on facts I've already told you."
Luka chuckles, before sitting up.
"Thanks, for this."
"Of course," Adrien peels his now wet trousers off the floor. Luka isn't sure how much of the puddle is from his tears, or from teenage boys with horrific aim, but nevertheless he applauds Adrien lack of hesitation to join him sitting in it. "You've supported me so many times already." He shrugs, "I really ought to return the favour more."
Luka smiles softly, before opening the cubicle and beelining it straight to the hand dryers, where he sticks his wet rear under the machine. The loud whirring noise begins, and the hot air starts blowing against his trousers. Adrien joins him not long after, and as they dry off their trousers, a boy from the year walks in. He stares at them mystified for a few moments, before shrugging it off and heading to a urinal. Luka isn't half surprised – weirder things have certainly been seen in the men's bathroom.
~
Lila is always alone at home.
Ever since she moved to Paris with her mother, her mother had thought it a great idea for her to have a small apartment nearer her school, whilst she had an apartment closer to work.
More convenient for travel times in a big city, and with her ever increasing salary (especially with the work flat being subsidised by her job), it was a 'smart' decision.
Aka, Lila's mother had finally achieved what she'd always wanted. Freedom from her daughter.
So it comes as a big surprise to her, when in the middle of making a tofu stew (she is so grateful her father always involved her in meal prep in Korea, ever since she arrived in Paris and had to do all her own meals within her mother's allowance), she hears a bump and a small yelp coming from the living room.
Somebody is in her flat. She is alone, small and a teenage girl.
Lila grabs the biggest knife she has, and strolls to the living with the confidence of a marine. Hopefully she bluff the intruder into leaving. In her other hand, she's already got 112 ready to ring.
Slinking round the corner of the door, she surveys the room. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, other than the jumper Chloe had left when the girls had visited the apartment for the first (and last) time, several months ago. Sabrina had made a complaint about the smell, and Kagami had challenged Sabrina on it, albeit subtly enough that the ginger girl didn't really realise it was an objection. Chloe noticed. She did nothing to stop it. That's what Lila hated so much about her. At the end of the day, Chloe brought them all together. She wielded power over them, and the whole school. Yet she never used it for anything other than herself. One word from her mouth and Sabrina would never dare say stuff like that again. Yet she leaves the girl unchecked, so Kagami and Lila pay the price. It makes sense, of course. So long as the three Throne are always fighting each other, they never have enough time or power to try and depose Chloe.
As she checks the corner behind the bed, something darts out. Or rather, flies out. Turning around she readies her knife, only to realise what's floating before is some weird fairy looking creature. Its body looks like a tiny adult human, whilst its wings resemble a Monarch butterfly.
"What do you want?" she waves the knife closer at the creature, which seems to flutter away in response.
The creature trills, and produces a small pouch from God knows where, and places it down on her coffee table. Yes, her coffee table. She had saved up for months to replace the one that came with the flat, and as soon as Chloe came, she'd denounced it for being tacky, and 'so last week décor'.
The creature flutters away, onto the sofa opposite her, as she gingerly walks forwards to investigate the pouch. She keeps the knife ready, eyes on the creature in case this is an attempt at a distraction.
Opening the pouch with one hand takes her significantly longer than it would have otherwise, but the weird moth fairy in front of her doesn't seem particularly bothered by the wait time. What emerges are five marbles, each coloured slightly differently. The first is iridescent orange, with hues of yellow and red sprinkled through in a pattern eerily like a flame. The second is a pinkish purple, filled with a darker pattern that looks like an eye. The third is white and milky, almost as though filled with a misty fog, whilst the fourth is green with an almost scaly texture. The fifth is the most alluring of all, a dark almost black the swirls through the marble like ink in water, seeming almost as though moving within the marble and sucking in the light from around it.
She reaches out, taking the third marble, white and misty in her hand. As she does, she feels a power thrumming within it, almost like a subsonic sound that can only be heard when held. She reaches out to it, letting the energy rush into her. As she looks down, purple bubbles surround her and as she looks back up into the mirror across from her, she realises she looks a little bit like a cross of a white palette Rena Rouge and the Kumiho foxes from her father's bedtime stories. The marble now appears lodged within a small amulet around her neck, that appears embedded in the suit, and the thrum of energy that was once only in the marble is now felt throughout her body. It's exhilarating, and Lila realises
The shock is compounded as suddenly she feels a presence in her head. Before she can try to fight it, a voice echoes in her skull.
"Volpina." The voice is rumbling and deep, given an almost inhuman quality that feels distorted despite sounding clear. "I have gifted these Mothballs to you, in hopes that we might come to a mutually beneficial arrangement."
"Hawkmoth?" she whispers.
"Not quite." The presence in her mind feels almost bemused, like the psychic equivalent of a chuckle. "Shadowmoth."
"What do you want?"
"I have a simple deal to offer you." Shadowmoth begins, "Should you find the terms agreeable."
"And if I don't?"
"Then you are free to reject the offer, and the mothballs will evaporate before your very eyes."
"What are you offering?"
"Each one of these marbles contains a different power that I can grant you." The presence feels smug within her mind, and Lila almost gets the sense she's being talked down to. "You may only have one active at a time, and not whilst I have another villain akumatised. If you are smart, you can use them to fight Ladybug and Chat Noir, and retreat should the battle be unfavourable. It is paramount that your civilian identity is never revealed to them."
"What do I get in return?"
"For starters, I know you despise Ladybug."
Before Lila can object, she feels the psychic equivalent of a hush.
"Do not lie to me, child." Shadowmoth hums, "I can feel your emotions. The scent of your hatred for her and others suffuses your being."
Lila bristles.
"Now, now" Shadowmoth tuts, "Don't be impatient. You may also use the Mothballs for your own personal gain, at your discretion, so long as my power is not committed elsewhere."
As much as she tries to hide it, Lila is intrigued, and she can feel that Shadowmoth notices it.
"What are the powers?"
"The one you wield currently grants Illusion. The others grant Fire, Hypnosis, Shapeshifting and Absorption, respectively." As Shadowmoth speaks, each Mothball glows as its power is mentioned. "So long as you have at least one of these balls on your person, your transformation as Volpina will not be broken. Even if the one you are using is destroyed, another will replace it automatically, as long as you have it on you."
The voice pauses cockily, as if knowing that Lila is already hooked. Shadowmoth can probably feel her excitement. She's going to have to get better at concealing things from him.
"I find these terms, agreeable."