Happier|| A Lukanette story

Chapter Twenty Two

      A month or so had passed and Marinette’s life seemed to be going uphill. She went through therapy as Alya suggested, Luka got the brace removed from his foot, Marinette got her own apartment, and Adrien had mostly returned to his normal self.

    Sunlight warmed her face as she sat just outside of the coffee shop. It was early March, so mother nature was still deciding if she wanted it to be winter or spring. Today was one of the warmer days. Birds chirped as they came back from the south, and the streets were full of people wearing light jackets and shorts.

  Marinette hummed as she took a sip of her caramel latte and looked down at her sketchbook. She had decided to help the elementary school with their costumes. Though she bit off a little more than she could chew, she had to design and make eighteen outfits. She tried to keep them simple, kids in only elementary would have to wear them. It would be better for everyone if it only took one or two minutes to put the costumes on. But each had its own unique quality. The elementary had been pleased when they heard one of their old students would be helping.

     She was also helping spread the news about the play. When she went out she hung up fliers and told the cashiers at the store about it. Sometimes when she would be stitching up a design, Luka would bring Weylen over to talk about the play and rehearse his lines.

  Weylen played Gregory Goose in Jack and the Beanstalk. It was hard to design a few outfits, some of the kids were acting as things that weren’t even human.  But she managed to make it work because the smile Weylen had on his face when he saw his costume was one of the reasons she had gone into the fashion business.

     “Look who I found.”

    Marinette looked up to see familiar red hair. Nathaniel had black ripped jeans and a grey jacket that had a bisexual flag patch on his right arm.

   “Look who’s come out of his cave.” Marinette teased as she sat her pencil down.

     “Hey, when the cold is away, Nathaniel can play. Do you mind?” The redhead waved towards the seat across from her.
  
   “Not at all.” He sat down and looked at the street. “So how are you and Marc?”

    “Eh, you know, the usual. He’s at home scrawling down words to his heart’s content.” He shrugged and tilted his head towards her. “How about you and Adrien.”

     Marinette pursed as lips. “We’re not together anymore, but we’ve come to good terms. We kind of had to anyway, we share the same friends.”

    “I’m sorry it didn’t work out.” Marinette waved it off. “Has anyone else caught your eye yet?”

    Marinette raised her eyebrows and sighed. “It’s kind of hard to catch anything when your eyes are closed.”

       “Fair point. Do you have a reason, or is something holding you back?”

       She paused to think about it. She found that her mind drifted towards Luka when she thought of someone to date. But she wasn’t sure how ready she was to date yet.

         “Are those your designs?” Marinette focused her eyes on the redhead. He smiled as he dug through his bag and pulled out his sketchbook. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

    Marinette rolled her eyes as they traded sketchbooks. His was worn down, the corner was torn apart and stray pages were sticking out. Flipping through the pages, she remembered why she had been so amazed at him in high school,

     “Graffiti?”

    “I was going for a loose aesthetic. Breakfast food-based clothes?” Marinette leaned over to see what he was referring to.