"Too Close for Comfort"⎯⎯𝘈 𝘔𝘈𝘙𝘐𝘊𝘏𝘈𝘛 𝘍𝘈𝘕𝘍𝘐𝘊𝘛𝘐𝘖𝘕

Two

Marinette busted out of bed in a cold sweat, she felt herself inhaling and exhaling rapidly, sweat rolling down her forehead. "Tikki?" Tikki didn't respond, she was fast asleep on a cushion next to Marinette's bed. Marinette sighed and walked over to the circular wood-framed window, "What do I do?" She squeezed her eyelids together and felt tears peak out from under them--

"Marinette?"

A chill ran down Marinette's spine as she looked out to see who it was, "Chat Noir?" She muttered expectantly. The cool night air spun around the room and filled Marinette with curiosity. She reached out to the roof and climbed upward onto the deck, relaxing her arm against a slender line of a railing. 

"Marinette?"

The voice came again and she peered over the railing to see who it was, muttering her name at the front of the bakery doors. She spotted a boy with blue hair waving up at her with a bike, his smile faltered a bit and his eyelids were melted together in lack of sleep.

"Luka?"

Marinette answered his calls and he stared up at her dreamily, "Marinette! I had no idea you'd be awake and-" Marinette stopped him, "Luka..." Luka frowned, something was on her mind. Whenever something was on Marinette's mind--something that she would eventually need to rid herself of--her mouth would twitch and her cheeks would pale.

"Marinette, what is it?" Luka said. He didn't look so happy now that she hovered a hand over her mouth when looking down at him. Marinette felt her breath escape from her as she breathed in a long breath, "Luka I-" She stopped, "I've been wanting to tell you this for some time but..."

"Marinette I've noticed something in you," Luka said, his eyes burning back up at her. Marinette felt a cool pink rise to her cheeks, but she ignored it quickly. "You...you still love someone else and I've been thinking-"

"No! Luka...I never meant to hurt you! I'll always be your girlfriend! Forever and ever! Until we get married!"

Luka let out a low chuckle and Marinette frowned--he disagreed with her. Luka moved some of his hair out of his face and shook his head, "I don't...I want you to be happy, Marinette, and I can see that you aren't right now so..."

"Luka! Please don't say something bad, I've wanted to be with you and I can't even..."

Luka glared at her differently this time, "Hold your tongue, Marinette." Marinette stopped talking. She silently bent down to her knees and peered through the spaces in between the bars on the railing. She held her tongue--and she decided she'd do it very well for Luka.

"Marinette...You've always been something, and I've recognized that. I know you have feelings for someone else, don't argue. I don't want you to feel locked up tight in a cage having to date only me. I want you to be happy. And if that means us just being friends, then that's fine. I don't want to have to be part of a relationship I'm--you're not meant to be in. You belong with someone else and that's different from what we are right now. I think...Marinette...I think we should leave each other and find new paths."

Marinette's lip quivered and she reached out in between the bars toward him, she couldn't speak even if she had wanted to, but she supposed it was a topic Luka had left on his mind for weeks without telling her, something she wished to never happen--they had kept their feelings from each other.

It was stupid, indeed, to think that Marinette Dupain Cheng, the master of love in Adrien's sweet green eyes, wouldn't know a thing about love. 

Marinette was still, not a vein in her body dared to slide an inch aside. She had gone completely blank to the outside world.

Marinette had always thought she would be with Adrien before that turned out to be a total bust between them. She hadn't been able to keep up with her words and everything would've been much simpler if they had stayed friends in the first place and had never set eyes on that lovely golden boy beneath that grey umbrella.

"Marinette?"

Marinette smiled back at Luka, ignoring the pain she was guilty of on the inside, "It's okay, Luka. I know you only want me to be happy and...I don't want you to have to fall asleep every night thinking about something. I suppose it's best for the both of us in some reasonable way that we break up," Marinette took a deep breath, feeling all her weight slip from her legs and the rough concrete beneath her fists, "We'll always be friends though, right?"

Marinette paused, watching Luka smile under curved eyebrows, "Yes, Marinette. Always."

Marinette sighed, "Thanks, Luka." Luka waved to her and tucked his bag under his arm, "No problem, Marinette." He flew off just as drops of rain began to fall from the dark sky above, but Marinette didn't find the courage in her to take a step back down into her bedroom. She balled up outside and felt tears streak down her cheeks.

Marinette didn't stop them.

They fell, and fell, and fell. The rain grew harder and poured down hard, rolling off her pajamas and falling to the concrete--cold, wet rain.