"So I'm guessing..." Luka trails off, sending a pointed look over to the corner where her towels are sitting in a bloody heap.
"There was an Akuma," Marinette starts nudging the cigarettes into Luka's hand. He just shakes his head, letting her keep...
Inspired by all the hours teenage me spent smoking in my friend's bathtub.
As always feel free tomessage me here or on my tumblr Eat0Crow to tell me what you think
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It's a side effect of being the Ladybug, Marinette naturally makes others feel safe.
She's never been sure just what it is about her that creates this effect. She's a ball of nerves on a good day, a panic attack on a bad one. Fear is an ever-present friend by her side, keeping her company when no one else will. Afterall, Marinette has not felt truly safe since she was thirteen. Since she slipped Tikki's Miraculous into her ears and felt the first tiny bits of divinity flow through her veins.
She tends not to question things. The answers scare her more than the unknown
At the very least, she's happy that she can take her teammates into her arms, that she can banish away their anxiety just by holding on tight. Even if it means taking the worry into herself.
Marinette hears the doorknob turn, her heart leaps into her throat. The panic, usually an ignorable white noise rises in tempo. The rhythm forcing her body to tense and tighten with each stanza. Unconsciously, she pulls her two companions closer against her chest. Adrian's purr picks up in volume as Kagami rubs her face against Marinette's stomach.
The door opens and Luka pops his head in. "Well, aren't you just snug as a bug."
Luka, Luka is one of Marinette's people. Yards past being her teammate, miles further than being her friend, he is one of her chosen. His presence makes her being sing.
Marinette smiles and forces her body to relax back against the bathtub. It's cold and unyielding, not the least bit welcoming. She has to resist the urge to shift around as Luka makes his way further into the door frame. About an hour ago the pins and needles had spread from her thigh up to her hip, leaving her blissfully numb.
"That's one way of putting it sure," Marinette says into Adrien's hair. She sends a pointed look over to her hands, still curled into a vice tight grip that's leaving her knuckles white on Kagami's back. She won't relax her grip, not when the door is still open and their nest is exposed.
Most days, the instincts that come with being tied so tightly to a god first, a spirit second, and an animal third are easy to ignore. Today hadn't been most days, it had been brutally violent and somewhere around three pm, Marinette lost the will to even want to defy Tikki's subconscious gifts.
Luka notices her hands, nodding his head in understanding. "I'm gone for a few days and this is what I come home to."
He takes them in- Marinette with deep-set shadows under her eyes, Adrien and Kagami asleep on top of her, all of their limbs tangled up in a heap in his tiny bathtub.
"Your living in the world of gods and monsters now, is this really what surprises you." Marinette stopped being surprised by things along time ago. Even when days get just a touch past miraculous with miracles escaping through her breath, a Kwami gave her secrets to the world after all.
