LadyBugOut AU (Snippets)

Seismic Gift

Summary:
Marinette meets with Luka in the park and gets a surprise.

Chapter Text
Marinette sighed blissfully, sitting on the park bench with Luka as he closed out the next song he’d been working on. Her tone was playful as she told him, “Please don’t tell me that you want me to pick a favorite out of everything you played.”

He grinned. “Why not?”

“Because everything you play is great and I wouldn’t be able to choose,” she replied, as if it were obvious.

He chuckled, and she took a bit of pride in how he brightened just by her words.

She briefly diverted her attention from him to pick up one of her snacks - a cookie - then took a bite and swallowed before adding, “Thanks for inviting me out, Luka.”

He tilted his head, but smiled. “No problem, Marinette. I wanted to.” He paused, a hesitant look on his face that she wasn’t used to. “I actually wasn’t going to at first, I’m sorry.”

Her brows furrowed with concern. “Why not?”

“I know I should’ve told you,” he admitted, hunching over his guitar with mild embarrassment, “but I didn’t know if you’d want that.”

Marinette raised a brow, truly and genuinely perplexed. “…To spend time with you? Did I do something to make you think—”

She cut herself off, briefly seeing herself in his metaphorical shoes as she realized what he meant. His confession brought heat to her face and she hoped it wasn’t obvious.

“No!” she blurted out, then calmed herself and repeated more gently, “No. I—I’d never. Luka, you can… um—” She went through about a dozen variations of similar phrases in her head, all of which sounded too much like ask me out romantically. Eventually, she settled on, “ask me to hang out… whenever you want.”

He smiled at her, though she couldn’t tell whether it was out of hope or amusement. “But I might ask you a lot, Marinette.”

She blushed, almost pouting as she waved off his smoothness. “I-I wouldn’t have given you permission if I hadn’t already thought it through.”

Luka’s smile widened, his teeth even showing. She hurriedly picked up a random treat from the box she’d brought out, holding it up to his face. She thought for a second that he might just eat it right from her hand, but instead, he politely took it and took an eager bite.

Before he’d finished chewing, a child’s voice called out from afar.

“May-ruh-nette!”

Marinette’s head jerked up; despite the obvious butchering of her name, it was clearly hers. Her gaze followed the sound of footsteps to see a little girl rushing into the park from the bakery, stopping in front of her with two presents clutched to her chest. A man - presumably her father - hurried over as well, though needed a moment to catch his breath.

“I’m sorry,” he managed. “She insisted on seeing you and your parents told us you were out here.”

Marinette glanced at Luka, who swallowed what was in his mouth and gave her silent support. She smiled, then looked back at the two, replying, “It’s okay. Did you need something?”

“Mm!” the girl replied affirmatively.

The father clearly realized that wasn’t enough of an explanation, going on to say, “Ladybug’s been her favorite hero for such a long time, and she goes on LadyBugOut all the time to check for new posts. She was shocked when she heard that it wasn’t just Ladybug behind the blog, but then she wouldn’t stop smiling about it.” He grins, practically glowing with pride. “Was so excited that Ladybug had a ‘civilian partner’ who really helped her, since she’s a civilian too.”

“O-oh,” Marinette said softly, a mixture of touched and shy. Was it wrong to feel bad that Ladybug’s “civilian partner” was actually just Ladybug herself, or did it not make a difference? Self-help was still help, wasn’t it? Or maybe—

The man continued, completely oblivious to Marinette’s intense pondering, “Anyway, that’s why she wanted to get something for you and Ladybug.” He looked down at his daughter, hands on her shoulders. “Right?”

“Yep!” The girl held out the two gifts, the smaller one on top of the larger.

Marinette gaped at the sight of the gifts, having not even considered that they might be for her until she was directly told as much. “I—wait—gifts? For me?”

She looked at the gifts, then the girl, then the man, and finally Luka, as if she needed advice on how to handle the situation. He was smiling warmly at her, as if to say, you deserve them.

She stood from the bench they were sitting on, but hesitated, half-considering saying that it wasn’t necessary or she didn’t accept gifts, but she knew that wasn’t how gifts worked; those gifts were for her and it wasn’t like they could be given to anyone else.

She breathed up, then bent down closer to the girl’s level and accepted the presents. The girl beamed at her, then studied the gifts hands before pointing and dropping to a more serious expression.

“The big one’s for Ladybug.”

The father, mortified, hurriedly pulled his daughter back to him. “I’m sorry again.”

Marinette couldn’t help laughing. “It’s okay, really! I’m…” Her lips pressed together in thought as she looked down at the gifts, running her thumb over the edge of the larger one. She wasn’t used to receiving gifts so suddenly, especially not from strangers, so it filled her with emotions she couldn’t quite describe.

Relief? Confidence? Hope? All of the above?

There was at least one emotion she could be sure of, and she voiced it as she looked back at the two. “I’m just happy I’m really making a difference here. Thank you.”

The father and daughter bid her adieu after that, the daughter having already gotten distracted by the merry-go-round. Marinette watched them go, then turned away and returned to her seat on the bench. She realized how tightly she was holding the gifts, so she set them off to the side for the time being, resolving to open them in a more private setting.

“Congratulations,” Luka said genuinely. “You deserve them.”

“You already said that,” she replied, then corrected a moment later, “I-I mean, you thought it, or it seemed like you did?”

The happiness on his face didn’t diminish, and she pretended to be distracted by the presents next to her.

“Do you…do you think I might get more?” she wondered aloud. “I’m not hoping for it or anything, but…”

“Maybe.” Luka played a tune on his guitar that gave off a mix of curious and happy. “You’ve done great work.”

There was a time where she might’ve dismissed the compliment, insisting that she hadn’t done much or that people were just being nice, but with her life slowly turning itself upright, she could feel the true weight of her accomplishments.

She smiled. “Yeah, I guess I have.”