Unexpected Meeting

Complications

🐞Marinette POV🐞
My smile doesn't fade the entire swim back to the reef. When I had come out of the tunnel, I had found Alya already gone home. I wasn't surprised. I was gone all night after all. Tikki meets up with me and I hug her small form.
"So? How was it Mari?" she asks me. I blush and nod
"He was really nice. I didn't know humans could be so sweet and funny."  she giggles and dawns an expression I don't really recognise.
"Come on" I say as we start the swim back to the reef. "I've got to get to sea studies."
After I've swam quite for a long while, a thought hits me. I don't have a home now. Where should I go? Now that I know the castle is owned, i can't possibly live there anymore... I look up at the sun through the water. It's position tells me the time. Whatever, I don't have time to worry about a place to stay right now. I have to get to school, I can't afford to be late again.
I hurry to get the cavern system that our studies are held at. Each cave holds a different class, and the pathways in between are always crowded with mers headed from one to the other. The undertow is strong enough that wild fish have learned over time not to so much as approach the mer-made caverns. Construction mers built this system using their unique mermagic abilities and over time it has become streamlined.
I join the crowd and ride the currents to my first class; mermagic. Honestly, I love learning how to harness my power. Water levitation is one of the less common abilities. Most mers have things like siren songs, water boiling/freezing, or speed swimming. The less common ones are storm taming, water levitation like I have, mer to fish shapeshifting, or fish communication. Less than 1 percent of the mer population have been reported to have more than one ability.
Unfortunately for me, there is one merman in my class that has that blessing. His name is Luka and he has both speed swimming and siren song. Though those are both common abilities, but the fact that he has both makes him exceptional, and that fact leads him to be the quiet but popular kind of merman he is.
To make matters worse, for some reason he has a thing for me. He hits on me all the time and although I hate being rude, I have no feelings for him so I always find an excuse to turn him down.
Tikki swims beside me and no one pays her any mind. I once asked her why and she told me it was because she had cast a kwami spell on herself that made her invisible to all but me and those I trusted. Alya had met her, as had my parents, but she was a secret to the rest of the known sea world.
I take my seat on one of the small anemone cushions placed near a window and look outside. As the summer is right around the corner, the entire campus is decked out and preparing for the blue moon gala. I'm really excited for it even though I don't have a date. For some reason my mind wanders back to chat noir. I wonder if he's ever gone to a gala before...
My cheeks heat up at the thought of having him as a date to our summer dance. Wait what!? Why is my mind taking me there?? I can't possibly be falling for a land dweller... can I?
My thoughts are interrupted as an all to familiar hand and arm support the body of luka as he leans up against the wall in front of me. He gives me a wink and I try to resist the urge to roll my eyes.
"Good Morning marinette." he says casually. "You seem tired. Were you up all night dreaming about me again?" this time I can't help but scoff and roll my eyes. I hate being rude but that's just crossing a line. Still, I'm going to try to keep this as civil as possible
"Good Morning Luka. while I appreciate your concern, I assure you I am fine. Now if you don't mind-" he cuts me off by grabbing my chin and pulling me closer.
"I don't mind at all. I'd love to." he has a dangerous smirk and I'm nervous about what it means. I know tikki can't do anything about this as she is invisible to him, but I can feel support radiating off her as she floats beside me.
I take a deep breath and remove his hand from my face. I swim back to give myself a little room to breathe before continuing.
"So you're willing to leave me alone and pursue one of the other many mermaids actually interest in you?" that's a bolder move than I've ever taken with him before, but he seems unfazed by it. Instead he laughs. That's kind of the opposite reaction I wanted.
"Oh mari! You're so funny sometimes! Don't worry, I'd love to go to the summer moon dance with you" ok forget 'kind of', that's absolutely the opposite reaction I wanted. I'm left stunned and he leaves before I can respond saying over his shoulder;
"Wear something pretty, I've got quite the night planned for you." he winks again before sitting down on his seat across the room. Class starts and ends in a blur. What have I gotten myself into?? Things definitely just got a lot more complicated.