Chapter Text
Marinette Dupain-Cheng silently cursed herself as she pushed her legs to carry her faster towards the theater in the 12th Arrondissement where she was supposed to have met her friends fifteen minutes ago. She was late, and she already knew from the number of texts she had received over the past thirty minutes that they had decided to go with a later showtime and would be walking over to a local cafe when she arrived to eat before their movie started. But somehow, that didn’t make her feel any less terrible for ruining their plans. Especially when they had been planning this outing for two weeks now! It was the first day of summer break, and with Junior year finally behind them they had wanted a way to celebrate their temporary freedom before summer jobs and internships got in the way.
With University rapidly approaching, most of them had gotten positions, paid or otherwise, with companies that were related to the field of work they eventually wanted to enter. Alya would be shadowing Nadja Chammack at TVi News, Juleka would be modeling for Audrey Bourgeois, Nino would be attending some special summer camp for aspiring DJs, and Rose had gotten a job at a local Flower shop. Adrien would still be working for his dad, and Kagami was spending the rest of the summer in Japan with her family. As for Marinette, she had finally agreed to work for Audrey Bourgeois and would be starting her paid internship with Style Queen Magazine in three days. She knew she would likely spend the majority of the summer in New York, so this was probably one of the few days she would actually see her friends before Senior Year started. Which made it even more important that she made the most of the day! Lungs burning, Marinette rounded the corner and nearly heaved a sigh of relief as the theater and her friends came into view, finally allowing herself to slow from a sprint to a light jog. Adrien spotted her first, lifting one hand in greeting which prompted the others to turn as well. Finally reaching them, she stopped and bent double, hands on her knees as she struggled to regain her breath.
“Sorry… for being… late. Had to… finish… birthday presents…” She gasped out between breaths, finally managing to straighten up and pull off her bag. From within, she produced two boxes wrapped in shiny silver wrapper. One had a royal purple ribbon and bow, the other navy blue. Smiling weakly she offered the one with the purple ribbon to Juleka, who stood with Rose near the back of the group. Her hair was pinned back, as rare an occurrence as Marinette wearing her hair down, and she had a subtle smile on her face as she took the present and thanked Marinette.
“No worries, girl. We know how you are,” Alya brushed off, grinning from where she stood with Nino.
“Yeah and besides, I was starving so eating first makes way more sense,” Adrien piped up from where he stood, arm wrapped loosely around Kagami’s waist. Marinette nodded slowly, gaze bouncing over the faces of her friends and coming up one short. Her fingers tightened reflexively on the shiny package in her hand, anxiety briefly filling her as she found Juleka’s copper gaze in question.
“Is Luka running late as well?” She asked hopefully. If Luka was running late, then she almost didn’t feel quite so bad about being late herself. He was almost always punctual. But Juleka grimaced and Rose’s face reflected a sadness that told her all she needed to know before the taller black-haired girl responded.
“Luka’s sick. Mom wouldn’t let him out of bed. He told me to tell you he’s sorry and that he’ll make it up to you, though,” Juleka apologized before nodding at the present. “I can take that to him, if you want?”
Marinette’s shoulders drooped. When her friends had first suggested this outing, she had been a bit hesitant to accept. It seemed like everyone she knew was starting to couple up leaving Marinette to often be the third or fifth or in this case the seventh wheel. Then Juleka had casually mentioned the day also happened to be her and Luka’s birthday, and Marinette decided to invite Luka along. Luka and Marinette had become close over the last year, especially as the raven-haired girl moved away from her childish, borderline obsessive crush on Adrien. It was rare these days to not find them hanging out after school while Luka played his music and Marinette worked on her designs. And it was even rarer not to find them at one or the others homes on the weekends, watching movies or working on homework together. People no longer thought of them as separate entities. It wasn’t just Luka or just Marinette. Now it was Marinette and Luka. Luka and Marinette.
While neither had said as much, she had almost hoped that maybe this could turn into their first date. Even before her crush on Adrien had been dampened by his passive attitude towards the Lila situation two years ago, Marinette couldn’t deny there was a natural chemistry between her and Luka. They just worked . And the more time they spent together, the more times she heard them referred to as a package deal, the more she kind of wished they were a package deal. Like a real one. One where they held hands and cuddled and kissed for real. Not just affectionate cheek and forehead kisses, or hugs that were always over way too soon for Marinette’s taste. The plan had been to go to the movies and test the water. See if Luka still felt the way he had once said he did and go from there. They would sit together, and she would try to hold his hand. And if she rejected her advances that was okay. Or at least she would try to make it be okay but she definitely wouldn’t hold it against him. And if he didn’t reject her advances well, she hadn’t thought that far ahead because she was trying this whole non-obsessive approach where she didn’t try to plan out their entire future together. But they would go from there and maybe she would ask him to be her boyfriend. That was as good a start as any, right? Except that Luka wasn’t here. Because he was sick.
“Hey, cheer up girl! You’ve still got us, right? We can still have fun,” Alya said brightly.
“Yeah, dudette. You’ll see him again soon. It’s not like you’re leaving forever, just the summer,” Nino added.
“And I’m sure Luka wouldn’t mind talking on the phone or video chatting as much as you want,” Rose chirped eagerly.
“He’s an idiot, but he’s definitely your idiot,” Juleka mumbled.
“Don’t worry too much about it. We’re here to have fun,” Adrien added. Kagami didn’t say anything, just nodded along in agreement to what the others said.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Marinette mumbled. It wasn’t alright, but there wasn’t much she could do about it.
“That’s the spirit!” Alya cheered before gesturing down the street. “Let’s go eat before the next showtime starts.”
There was a chorus of agreements as everyone turned and followed Alya and Nino toward the cafe. Marinette took up the rear, watching her friends dejectedly as they chattered animatedly amongst themselves about their upcoming jobs and plans for the summer. They would all be here, together, while she was almost four thousand miles away from home. They would get to spend time together, enjoy their summer on their days off. Knowing what she did of Audrey Bourgeois, she didn’t anticipate she would get a whole lot of free time. This summer was going to be intense and cutthroat. The fashion world was a shark eat shark world and Marinette would have to fight her way to the top. She had an upper hand over most young hopefuls in the form of Audrey Bourgeois but she would still have to prove to herself, to Audrey and to the whole of the Fashion World that she deserved this leg up. It was the opportunity of a lifetime and she didn’t mind sacrificing a summer for that. She just really hoped she would get to see Luka and tell him how she felt before she left. Luka who was home alone and sick on his birthday. She didn’t notice she had stopped walking until Adrien turned back and asked if she was okay.
She wasn’t. She wasn’t okay, not at all. This didn’t feel right and suddenly the need to seem him was overwhelming. She might have mumbled an apology for leaving, but then again she also might not have. All she knew is suddenly her feet were carrying her in the opposite direction of the cafe and her friends were shouting at her to come back, to talk to them. She didn’t go back. She couldn’t explain to them what she could hardly explain to herself, so what was the point? This visceral need to get to Luka was all that mattered. Marinette had enough presence of mind to stop at Luka’s favorite cafe on the way, grabbing a tureen of soup, some fresh bread and some hot tea. She stopped at the market as well, practically buying out their medicine section as well as grabbing Luka’s favorite ice cream. Weighed down with her purchases, she continued the rest of the way to the boat at a more sedate pace, not wanting to risk a spill.