Miraculous Story

Part 14

Ladybug brought Viperion back to the side of the school. He detransformed and handed the miraculous to her.

"Thank you for your help tonight Luka," she said. Her earrings started to beep.

"You're welcome, Ladybug." He half turned to leave, but looked back over at her. "You know, you and Chat Noir really have something special. It's obvious that you're in love with each other." He paused. "Never let go of that."

Ladybug stared up at him and slowly nodded. "I won't," she whispered.

Luka smiled and walked away, disappearing into the school.

She waited a moment, trying to catch her breath before taking off. She raced home. As she placed the Snake miraculous back in the Miracle Box, her earrings beeped again. She quickly hid the box before leaving for the school. She landed in a classroom and detransformed.

Going down the stairs to the courtyard, Marinette saw Luka talking with Alya and Nino. She hurried over to them.

"There you are," Luka said, giving her a quick hug. "I was so worried about you."

"I'm okay. I was hiding upstairs." She grabbed one of his hands. "Listen, I need to talk to you about something."

He smiled. "I actually wanted to talk to you too." They walked over to one of the empty classrooms.

"Luka, I wanted to..." Marinette started, but Luka interrupted her.

"I'm sorry Marinette, but I think we should break up," he said gently.

Marinette's mouth fell open. "What?"

"I'm sorry. You're a really awesome girl, but we're not right for each other." He grabbed both of her hands. "You're not in love with me."

She didn't know what to say. "Luka, I..."

"No, it's okay. I knew when we got together that you weren't in love with me. I guess I was hoping that things would change eventually. But, it's obvious now that it's not going to happen... is it?"

Marinette stared up at him. She shook her head slightly. "I... I'm sorry..."

"No, it's okay, Marinette. We're just not meant to be together."

She slowly nodded.

"Are... are you going to be okay?" he asked.

She paused. "Yeah... I think I am," she replied, giving him a faint smile.

He smiled back. "Well, if it's okay with you, I think I'll go now."

She squeezed his hands. "Thanks for everything, Luka."

"You're welcome, Marinette." He leaned down and kissed her cheek before turning around and leaving.

Once he was gone, Tikki floated up to look at Marinette. She looked back at her kwami. "Well, this has been an interesting day," Marinette said.

"And it's not over yet," Tikki replied, smiling.

Marinette looked at her, returning the smile. "You're right, it's not."

************************************

Chat Noir detransformed as soon as he was out of view at the battle scene. Adrien had promised Marinette that he wouldn't remain as his heroic alter-ego once the Akuma had been captured, and he wasn't going to break his promise. But now he had to walk all the way back to the school.

He kept his head down as he went, hoping that no one would recognize him. His bodyguard called him several times, but he didn't answer the phone. He had no valid excuse for why he wasn't still at the school.

Night had long since fallen when Adrien turned the final corner. He was relieved to see that his bodyguard was not there waiting for him. He walked up the sidewalk to the front steps of the building. Everyone had already gone home. Everyone except her.

Marinette was sitting on the steps looking up at the sky. Adrien went over and sat down next to her. She didn't look at him as he sat down, keeping her eyes on the heavens above.

"There are a couple of stars out tonight," she said, still not moving.

Adrien looked up. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes. Finally, he spoke. "I guess everyone went home?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Alya and Nino left together pretty soon after the Akuma attack was over. Oh, and Kagami's mother sent a car to pick her up, so she's back home."

"That's good," Adrien said. He paused for a moment. "Did Luka leave?"

"Yeah, he left. I mean, you usually don't want to hang around after you break up with someone. It gets kind of awkward."

Adrien spun around to look at her, his eyes wide. "You... you broke up with him?"

"No," Marinette said, laughing a little. "He actually broke up with me."

Adrien stared at her with his mouth open. "He broke up with you?"

"I know, right?" she asked playfully, finally looking at him. "What a loser." She chuckled and turned back to look at the stars again. "You know I'm just kidding, Luka's a great guy." She sighed. "But to be honest, I only started dating him because I was trying to get over some other boy I was in love with."

"Did you get over him?" Adrien asked quietly.

Marinette nodded, still looking up. "I did."

Adrien's heart sank.

Marinette continued. "But instead of falling in love with Luka, all I did was fall in love with this annoying cat that kept showing up on my balcony."

Adrien stopped breathing. A huge smile spread across his face as Marinette kept talking.

"And when I say 'annoying,' I mean, really annoying. Like, so annoying that you..." Marinette didn't get the chance to finish her sentence.

She was suddenly pulled up to a standing position. Adrien threw his arms around her and picked her up, spinning them both around. Marinette laughed. When he placed her down again, he put one hand on her cheek, keeping his other hand wrapped around her waist.

"I love you so much, Princess," he said, staring into her eyes.

"I love you, too."

He looked down at her lips. Those beautiful lips that had been tormenting him for the last couple of months. He looked back up. "May I?" he asked softly.

Marinette nodded, smiling.

Adrien leaned towards her and closed his eyes just as his lips touched hers. He had never felt as much happiness as he did in that moment. Neither had she.