A Few Notes

Holding Back

Marinette snuggled into Luka's shoulder, her face tear-streaked again. The pride she had gained from standing up to Lila had immediately dissipated after the fiasco with her notebook.

Luka's black and white guitar was starting to weigh heavily on his back, and he saw the pause in their embrace as his chance to finally play her song. Switching the strap around, he positioned his fingers on the neck of his instrument, gazing at Marinette with soft eyes as he began to play.

She was enchanted. The notes, simple as they were, sent ripples of color out into the world and created waves within her soul. Marinette clasped her hands together, fighting to stand still as every nerve screamed at her to dance.

The song came to an end, and Luka had just enough time to swing his guitar out of the way before she vaulted into his arms.

"Good?" he murmured, grinning down at her.

"Yes," Marinette giggled, "Absolutely yes. It was beautiful." She closed her eyes with a sigh. "Thank you."

"Sure."

"No, really. Thanks. You're always here, helping me, comforting me. Holding me." She bit her lip. "I don't know what I would do without you."

Luka gulped. He hoped his response wouldn't ruin the moment. "Marinette..." His sentence wavered.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I know I said you didn't have to tell me anything if you didn't want to—and that still stands!" He squeezed her shoulders. "But I might be able to help you more if you told me why you're so upset."

Marinette pressed her lips together, her gazing sliding over to her closet, where she had hidden the Miracle Box underneath a pile of fabric. Between becoming the new Miraculous Guardian, trying to get over Adrien, and Lila's torture, she hadn't had a chance to relax for weeks. Or maybe it was months? 

Perhaps even further, since her inherent stress had begun the moment she was chosen to be Ladybug.

Every last bit of her life tied together to create the emotional, stumbling, stressed-out Marinette she was that day. Sure, she could suffer the embarrassment of trying to explain to Luka exactly how Lila had executed her earlier taunts, but everything else was completely off limits. Truly, if it meant others were kept safe, there was no longer any single person in the world she could talk to. Because Master Fu was gone.

And there was no turning back.

Marinette felt her eyes welling up again, struggling to speak. "It was Lila. You've met her, right? We've been at war since the beginning of the school year, except its more like I'm chained to a post and she's shooting at me." She choked. "And there's so many other things that have been going wrong and I'm just not ready! I'm fourteen, for goodness sake! I'm just fourteen-"

She was cut off but a pair of hands on her cheeks. Luka caught her tears with his fingertips, quick to apologize. "I'm sorry. You don't have to say anything else, okay?"

It was all Marinette could do to force a nod, and when Luka pulled her back into his chest, she made no complaint.

His phone buzzed in his back pocket, signaling a call from Juleka. Luka reluctantly stepped away, leaving Marinette standing alone as he raised the device to his ear. A moment later, he turned back, more apology written on his face.

"My mom wants me home now," Luka said, his eyes downcast. "I wish I could stay."

"It's okay." Marinette brought up a smile. "You've already done so much. I'll text you?"

"Yeah." Giving her one last hug, Luka waved over his shoulder before heading downstairs, a million thoughts circling his mind. Most questions were without answers. "She's holding something back," he murmured as he mounted his bike, "I just wish I could help."

Fastening his stark yellow helmet under his neck, Luka revved his bike once, twice, three times, then sped into the late-night traffic of Paris, France.

A pair of cat-green eyes watched him go.

Despite himself, Chat Noir had paused in his retreat home, his stomach turning as he thought about how close Marinette and Luka had become.

...Why did he care?

Kagami was currently holding his attention as Adrien, and as Chat, he was still struggling with his love for Ladybug. Everything was mixed up inside and he was all the more confused by the angry, antagonizing pitter of his heart that went off at the sight of Marinette with Luka. She was a very good friend to him, only a friend, so why was Chat feeling so blue, so betrayed by his own emotions? He sought to find out.

There she was, surrounded in pink light. Marinette was standing alone, her arms folded across her chest, seeming small and lusterless. One tap at her window gained her attention, and their eyes met with a magnetic snap that could not be explained. She graciously let him in, a smile planted on her face that became instantly familiar. It was the same as his when posing for a fashion shot.

Chat hated that grin. Hated that Luka had been able to comfort her first, only to leave her just as empty as she was before. He knew the secret behind her smile. He knew that, somehow, Marinette was feeling broken.

After all, he was exactly the same.

"What brings you here, Chat? I don't think I've been akumatized." Marinette made a subtle emphasis on "think," likely not even noticing herself. Her arms were back in front of her chest again, as if she was guarding herself, putting up a wall.

Chat shook his head, putting on a smile of his own. "I know that, but I didn't get the chance to-" To comfort you at school. To hug you first. To stand up for you. "To get to know you, Miss Multimouse."

"Oh," she laughed, a tinny sound that was wrong coming from her lips. Marinette had all but forgotten her ruse with the Miraculous, in which her civilian self had supposedly helped Chat and Ladybug. All in an effort to keep her identity, and the lives of others, safe. "Well, you're meeting me now." She brushed a hand over her cheek and past her nose, trying to clean herself up.

"Is this a bad time?" Chat blinked.

"No," Marinette sniffed, still smiling. "Not at all."