Facing the Music - Lukanette (Miraculous fanfiction)

P r o l o g u e

"Hey, Marinette."

Luka was on his guitar when Marinette walked into the boat. Candles flickered around the ship, making Marinette feel like she was in the night sky, surrounded by stars. It reminded Marinette an awful lot of when Chat Noir prepared something like this for her. It was an awkward memory. 

She pushed her thoughts away and gave Luka a small smile. She walked over to Luka and sat down next to him, getting absorbed in his music. He was an incredible musician, whatever he played pulled Marinette's heartstrings. The music always felt amazing.

With his last notes, his teal eyes looked up at her and he let out a chuckle, "You look cute when you smile," Marinette let out a small thank you and looked down at her hands. She could feel Luka's mood shift next to her.

She looked up to find him with a small frown on his face. She had never seen Luka with anything other than a kind smile. She mirrored Luka's expression when she asked him, "Is everything alright?" Luka gave her a sympathetic smile and stood up. Not knowing what he was doing, Marinette stayed silent, watching him.

He leaned over the rail of the boat, facing away from her. After an awkward silence, he asked her something that caught her completely off guard, "Are you happy with me, Marinette?" 

She stuttered on her words, "W-what to do mean Luka? I-I am happy with you!" She silently groaned at her stuttering. She let out a small breath as she took ahold of herself, "What makes you say that?"

Marinette couldn't see Luka's expression, her stance went unsteady. She heard him sigh and he turned to face her. His snake eyes couldn't meet hers as whispered, "I heard that yesterday you attempted to write Adrien a love letter."

Her bluebell eyes fell to the ground in shame. A blush formed on her cheeks, she was meaning to tell Luka about her feelings about Adrien, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Tikki would be disappointed with her. As much as she wanted to be with Adrien, she didn't want to hurt Luka. He was always so kind and caring towards her and what did she do in return? She hurt him.

Marinette tried to explain herself, "I-I'm sorry Luka. It's just-"

Luka positioned himself next to her. "You don't have to explain, I know." He gave her a kind smile but it made Marinette feel more guilty. Luka saw Marinette's expression and told her, "Don't worry about me. I'll be okay, just tell me, what do you want?"

Adrien. That was all she had ever wanted ever since that moment with him in the rain. But since she had met this mysterious boy, she wasn't sure. She listened to what her brain was telling her and was going to tell Luka but her phone went off.

"Excuse me," She went up and walked over to the other side of the boat, checking her phone. It was Alya. She gritted her teeth as she brought her phone to her ear. "Hey, Marinette! So are you working on that declaration of love to Adr-"

"I'm on a date with Luka," Marinette responded dryly.

"Oh, I told you Marinette. You have to tell him-"

"He knows."

Silence filled Marinette's phone as Alya processed this new information. Marinette awkwardly stood giving Luka a toothy smile as she waited for Alya to respond. Alya let out a sigh, "I don't know Marinette. As much as I want to help you, this is up to you."

She hung up. 

Marinette pressed her lips together and knew that Alya was right. It was up to her. She wobbled back to Luka knowing what she had to do. They didn't say anything as different things went through their minds. They both sighed and turned towards each other.

Marinette opened her mouth to say something as Luka did the same. "Oh, uh, you go first." She told him quickly. She slumped in relief knowing that she had time to plan what she was going to tell him. What was she going to tell him? She could start with saying what a good guy he was, then she would go straight to the point. No, she wasn't good at that.

She could tell him first and run away screaming. But that wasn't convenient. Why was this so hard for her? I mean, come on! She was a superhero! She fought supervillains every day and now she was fazed by this. How lame she was.

"...with you." 

Marinette jumped in startle when she realised Luka was talking to her. With you... that didn't sound great. What if he was asking her out to go to a cafe? Yes, that would be nice but not now! She put her head down in defeat, "I'll need to look at my schedule to check for when I'm available. Gabriel Agreste just assigned me a job, something to do with..."

"What are you talking about?" Luka looked at her in worry, "I feel like this is a mistake..."

Marinette's gears started turning as she tried to make sense of the situation. "Hold up, weren't you asking me to go to some kind of cafe?" Once she said it out loud, she blushed in embarrassment realising how utterly absurd that sounded.

Luka rubbed the back of his neck in shame. Woah, what was that about? Marinette gave him a questioning look until she saw the answer in his eyes. "You're breaking up with me." Marinette realised.

"Look- I'm sorry but you deserve better. I know how you feel towards Adrien. I'm okay with that." He frowned but when Marinette gazed in shock at him, he changed his frown into a smile. He didn't want to show her his disappointment, she didn't need to know.

Marinette felt like jumping up and throwing her arms around him but she stopped herself. That would give the wrong message. "B-but we're still friends. Right?" She tried to read his face but the shadows hid his face. "Yes." Came the reply.

But Marinette didn't feel like celebrating anymore. But there was nothing else to say. She walked away in silence, looking back at the lonely boy who now for the first time ever, making mistakes as he played Marinette's tune on his guitar.