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feminaexlux · 2 years

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Underneath (Pt 2/2) [Horizon: Forbidden West]

The ultimately weird part is, I have no idea why this took me 2 months to write. It was supposed to be cute and fun and the brain wasn't working. Anyway, I'm calling this done.

Read on AO3!

⁂

When Aloy kissed him the first time, Kotallo thought it was an accident.

When she kissed him the second time, he was just in shock. Disbelieving. But he pulled her back in.

It was the third time that his primal instincts kicked in and he was on top of her, pressing his body down hard against hers so she’d be trapped writhing underneath him as he tasted her lips, her tongue, her neck. She hooked a leg over his hip and a hand raked over his back, the other hand pressing his head harder into herself as she loosed the moans he conjured with his mouth.

Mere minutes before that she had just woken up from a nightmare.

Half a day before that: last night after supper she had fallen asleep against him with his arm around her. He had idly wished he had pulled her in closer to him and kept her safe from the world. He had wished that her mind would let go of the burdens for a little time, while he was holding her. He had wished that she would let him protect her.

He had given what was left of his life to her.

Kotallo honestly wished she’d use his gift.

But he wouldn’t be in love with her if she hadn’t been Aloy.

⁂

(Earlier)

Instead of indulging in the fact that she had fallen asleep on him, he shifted carefully toward her bedroll and laid her gently down on it, removing the bulky pieces of armor that might cause discomfort. He covered her with her blanket, then jogged out into the nearby forest and whistled closer a pack of Watchers, stealthily overriding each with the spear he borrowed from Aloy (without permission, but he'd apologize later).

Three Watchers and the Sunwing had to be enough to patrol their tiny shelter. They had flown east after all, which was ostensibly tamer. He stood out in the rain looking back to the fire, glancing over at Aloy occasionally to see the steady rise and fall of her breathing. He knew she hadn’t slept well recently by the flush of her skin when he first saw her, by how she hadn’t noticed that he’d been thoroughly distracted all through their flight being so close to her, closer than he should have allowed himself to be.

She must have been dead tired on her feet, he was certain. He really shouldn’t have been testing the reactions of his Commander the way he did with his lingering touches but… well, he was a little selfish sometimes.

But this was still a failing. He was not going to rise above his station. His sentiments, his feelings, weren’t a burden he wanted to put on her. His duty was to aid her to the best of his abilities. She hadn’t needed his protection after all, but he was still a strong back, a swordsman, a second set of eyes.

The Anointed, the Champion, the Savior - and she still called herself "some Nora girl." She was fascinating indeed to slough off the praise, to undermine her own legend.

What was underneath those lofty titles was a woman who had been given a spear, bows, a resilient mind, a overwhelming legacy, and used those weapons to save everything and everyone she could. His love was worthless if she failed her mission. He kept that love to himself, even if Hekarro had admitted to Aloy that Kotallo was lost as a Marshal since the day Regalla was rebuffed from the Kulrut.

It was utterly obvious now that he’d been afraid of her and hiding behind duty like Tekotteh had hidden behind the Bulwark. But what could he do about it anyway?

He took off his chest armor, pauldron, and headpiece and placed them under the shelter to dry. He washed off his paints in the stream as they had gotten blotted and tacky from the rain. He stayed up a few hours reading through Old World history, trying to grasp just how much raw might and power the ancient ones had access to before that same might and power swallowed everyone whole. His eyelids soon felt heavy and he let himself doze, knowing that the Watchers and the Sunwing would keep them safe for a little while. He was a light sleeper anyway, his senses always sharp. It was what made him such a valuable warrior to Tekotteh, and later Hekarro. Later still, and most importantly, to Aloy.

Kotallo wouldn’t wake her for her watch. Aloy being able to rest was more important than anything.

He woke upon hearing Aloy mumbling. He turned to her to make sure she was well, but what he saw worried him: how terrified she looked as her unintelligible whispers worked their way through her lips. Sleep had seemed agitated for her, beads of sweat on her brow and the blanket furled tight into her fists. She had been running full tilt at strategies to deal with the nigh insurmountable threat that was Nemesis, though she couldn’t quantify any progress and it frustrated her to no end.

She’d told him about it. She'd told every one of their motley crew about it. He was surprised that she still cared about this final embassy. Or that she remembered him at all, with all that was happening.

Her whispered words came out faster, more urgently. She stirred under her bedding, deeper lines etched onto her brow, pale and sweating and in distress. Out of the words that she breathed out, Kotallo only understood one that kept repeating. “No, no, no, no no no no no,” she panted.

He had had enough. His commander did not need to suffer this way. “Aloy” he called out, hesitating to touch her as he sat up. “Aloy” he said more firmly, finally reaching out and squeezing her hand. She batted him away at first but then latched onto his forearm in a panicked vice grip, her eyes still screwed shut. “Aloy, please wake up.”

She blinked, her eyes still clouded by remnants of her nightmare. She squinted up at him, confused, still gripping his arm. He was about to speak and ask if she was alright when she sat up and placed both her hands on his face to look into his eyes. Something softened in her gaze and he forgot to say anything at all. “Your eyes… they’re so… is it you, Kotallo?”

The paints and armor. She’d never seen him without his paints and armor. He smiled. “Yes, I’m here.”

She looked utterly relieved and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pressing her cheek against his neck. “Don’t go. Don’t leave me, don’t leave me alone.” she pleaded. Was she still dreaming? She couldn’t still be dreaming.

His face felt hot, hotter than could be explained by the fire. It was worse knowing he was without the face paint he usually wore. Dekka had told him once that he was "expressive beyond spoken words", but he thought he had more control over himself than this. “I won’t abandon you on your mission.” he answered.

She pulled back, a look of chagrin on her face after remembering where she was. She still left her hands on his shoulders. Not that he minded. "Is it because I’m your 'commander?' You know this isn’t an order, you don’t have to–"

“No,” Kotallo interrupted. “I make the choice to follow you. Go wherever you need me, do whatever is needed,” he clarified. He was repeating his pledge at the Grove, but if he said anything more it would be dangerous.

She pulled back further, dropping her hands to her sides and he found himself missing her touch already. “Thanks. I think I needed to hear that,” she smiled, but something seemed… broken. Her smile was not wholly genuine, as sad as she still seemed, and as small as she made herself.

It was painfully evident that he hadn’t said the right thing.

On a whim he held out his hand to her and she cautiously placed her hand in his. Her hand was delicate and fine, so small and soft in comparison to his: large, rough, calloused, and worked harder for missing its mirror.

“Forgive me. Those were not the right words. Truth be told, the mission is not the reason I’m here. Your rank does not compel me to act. What matters most to me is to be by your side.” He looked down at her hand and squeezed it gently, unable to look up at her eyes.

“Well, okay,” she breathed out. He thought it was his wishful thinking that made her sound curious instead of angry or appalled. He still couldn’t meet her eyes. “That almost sounded… romantic. Did you mean it like that?” she asked. She still didn’t sound angry, which was… confusing.

Step back, he thought at himself, letting go of her hand. Moving forward would be too great a risk. “I… don’t know–”

"Then maybe you can help me understand something,” she said, an edge of frustration in her voice. He had been avoiding looking at her like the coward he was but the way she sounded exhausted gave him pause. He finally looked up into her eyes. She was on the verge of tears and his shock hit him like a physical blow, making him flinch. “Just… keep in mind that I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what I’m thinking, and you have to tell me if I’m being crazy or stupid. The problem is I keep hearing the things you say and reading more into them because I think I… I’m in love with you. I need you to tell me if you don’t like me like that.”

He swallowed hard, his throat feeling almost too constricted to let anything through. His heart was beating fast, the pulses thrumming through his body and nearly drowning all sounds against the torrent. Even with the drumming against his ears he heard Zo's voice from a poignant memory.

"Tell her, you fool." Zo had sighed at him. "You two are the bravest cowards I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Your loyalty to Aloy speaks volumes, but you'll discover that burying your feelings in the Earth will grow weeds of resentment instead of the healthy, thriving relationship you both deserve. At least give her the choice of rejecting you before she crumbles under the weight of her tasks and is lost to us forever." Zo's voice had faltered at the end, her hand on her belly.

Never had he thought he'd take advice from an Utaru, but Zo seemed singularly wise. Particularly when it might not be a rejection as he feared. "No," he finally said. He watched Aloy flush in embarrassment and nod her acceptance, turning away from him. "I do like you like that. More than like. I was called a 'dumb tree' for never telling you of my interest, though I believed… I would not be welcome."

Aloy paused, sighed, and then frowned looking irritated. That was evidently also not the right thing to say. His anxiety spiked again as she drew her knees under her and made to stand up. Kotallo turned to give her room and then felt her lips at the corner of his mouth.

He blinked in surprise. "Wh--"

Aloy took his hand and pulled him back toward her, cupping his face with her other hand and pressing a harder kiss against his lips. "Is this 'welcome' enough?"

Champion. Savior. Anointed. None of that mattered. Aloy just kissed him. Twice, even. And he was stunned speechless.

Good thing he didn't need words for this. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her in. He did then what he had been idly dreaming about for months and pinned her down beneath him, kissing her back and more with this realized fantasy. He got lost in this indulgence, though still hyper aware of all her reactions so he wouldn't push too far. Aloy was surprisingly willing, her legs crossed over his waist, her mouth capturing his whenever she had the chance.

There was a ping from his Focus that he barely heard as he kissed down her neck. Sylens' voice came through, stopping Kotallo in his tracks as abruptly as if he was splashed with chillwater. "Aloy, had I known about your intentions to seduce Hekarro's most trusted Marshal and literal right hand man, I would never have bothered with Regalla. I could have moved up my timetable considerably. Do think about the consequences of dallying about like you are when the world is at stake." Why… was the cryptic asshole addressing Aloy over Kotallo's Focus? Unless… Sylens was addressing them both at the same time.

Aloy inhaled sharply. "Sy--"

Chaos cut her off. It sounded like someone spat out their drink and choked, the sound electrically garbled over the Focus. There was a blue-purple overlay of all of their companions staring at Kotallo and Aloy through their own Focuses. Sylens was broadcasting to everyone at the same time.

"Oh no," Zo sighed.

Erend was yelling. "FIRE AND SPIT is that why you're delayed?"

Alva covered her mouth but a high pitched giddy squeal leaked from under her hands.

Beta was screeching, one arm covered her eyes while the other was flailing. "OH MY GOD ALOY GROSS!"

Kotallo reluctantly sat up and pulled off his Focus, putting it away somewhere. Aloy rolled to her side away from him and covered her face with his blanket. "That was… unexpected," he said dryly.

"GAIA, please revoke Sylens' access to our internal network," Aloy muttered underneath the blanket. "Or at least restrict access since he says he's so obviously crucial to our planet's survival." She pulled off the cover from her face. "Except I haven't seen anything come out of this stupid arrangement." A moment later she pulled off her own Focus, tossing it into a corner of the shelter.

"Aloy--" Kotallo started but she cut him off.

"Don't! Don't say anything. I'm going to go… I'm gonna go kill something right now. Maybe Sylens." Kotallo reached out and touched her elbow and Aloy was startled. She turned to face him. "What?!" She yelled at him. He knew her yelling was out of panic rather than anger.

He raised his eyebrows still. "You asked me to not say anything. But I do need to speak." Aloy sighed and sat up again, nodding at him. "I don't know to what purpose Sylens intends in embarrassing either of us. Whatever that is, it does not change what I feel. I can only hope the same for you."

"Yeah, that certainly wasn't how I expected things to go," she huffed, looking into his eyes. "But I still want... this. If anything I just want to keep kissing you to spite Sylens more."

He couldn't help cracking a smile. "Then perhaps I should thank him," he chuckled. He reached out and placed his arm around her waist, drawing her into his lap again. "I look forward to your spiting Sylens time and time again."

She laughed, wrapping her arms around his shoulders again. She pressed her forehead to his. "I... I like this, but--" She stopped short of continuing. "No. No. I'm not going to let that worm make me doubt myself. Not again."

"Good. I have a vested interest in having you be sure of 'this.' And more, if you're willing."

Aloy pulled back a little to look at him. "I'm in for 'more.' I think I'm in for everything."

"Everything, hmm?"

She raised her eyebrows a notch. "I can handle it. Try me."

⁂

(Later In Meridian)

"Is it just my old eyes or is the Savior perhaps walking a little strange?" Marad commented quietly to his companions. Both Talanah and Erend burst out in laughter. Again.

"By the damned forge, man, you just can't -- ah blast it Talanah shut it -- your face! You're making me laugh--" Erend gasped, having difficulty breathing in between his guffaws. "My sides," he wheezed, his arms wrapped around himself as he doubled over.

Talanah was brushing aside tears of mirth from the corners of her eyes. "Ahhh, my Thrush has… has said that she--she's sore from riding all day," Talanah nearly screeched out. "Riding 'the Sunwing,' she said."

"I see," Marad said evenly. "And you two are implying the Savior has been involved with another type of mount."

Erend laughed again and bellowed out "Blast it Marad! Blast you straight to HELL! 'Blameless' my ass. You flamin' heap of scrap, you're just as bad if not worse than Vanasha or this one." He pointed at Talanah with an accusing finger.

"Sure, Aloy's said nothing about that Behemoth of a man she brought from the West," Talanah said, her voice still slightly shrill. "But that Tenakth Marshal's the 'mount involved' with the Savior, that's for certain." Talanah took a deep breath and sighed. "Reach whatever conclusions you need to, Marad. Sun and Shadows, I haven't had a laugh like this in years."

Marad sighed. "Leave it to the Savior of Meridian to bridge East and West by aiming straight at the Tenakth and foregoing the Sundom entirely."

#fxl fic #fxl hfw #kotaloy #aloy x kotallo #kotallo #aloy #sylens #zo #erend #alva #beta #talanah #marad #harley asked for spice and I instead gave comedy #whoop

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feminaexlux · 2 years

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Perfect 😍😭😍

Some sweet and spicy Kotaloy commissioned by one of my dear friends over at the Kotaloy Discord server. I still can’t get over these two. <3

#horizon forbidden west #hfw #kotallo #aloy #kotaloy

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feminaexlux · 2 years

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Luka and Bach

Happy belated birthday @quickspinner!! 🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

#fxl art #fxl ml #luka couffaine #bach #puppy bach!

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feminaexlux · 2 years

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Here's a smug asshole for your enjoyment

(Edit) ugh I hatelove drawing this smug asshole so much

#kotallo #horizon forbidden west #my arts

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feminaexlux · 2 years

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Full work is here! https://feminaexlux.tumblr.com/post/680372428114968576/underneath-pt-1-2

Six Sentence Sunday: 2022.03.20 (Horizons!)

So this isn’t Miraculous related at all, so feel free to skip.

I love love love the Horizon series and now I can’t get this Kotallo fucker out of my head and you know what? I’m okay with this. Give me all the soft boys.

⁂

“By the Ten,” he breathed out. Kotallo grabbed onto Aloy’s proffered arm and hauled himself behind her on the Sunwing with her assistance. “You sure this… machine won’t attempt to shake us off when we are in flight?”

She snorted. “You’ve got nothing to worry about, Marshal. I’ve got it. I thought you trusted me?”

“With my life. It is why I’m on here,” he said, his voice low.

“Good. Hold onto me. The takeoff is a bit rough but that’s the price we pay for air travel. Chief Hekarro!” Aloy called out, performing a tiny salute to the Tenakth chieftain atop her Sunwing. “I’ll have to borrow your best Marshal again, sorry!”

“He is no longer mine to lend, Aloy,” Hekarro said back in his deep dulcet voice, smiling up at them. “I borrow him from you, Champion.”

“What is he talking about?” Aloy asked Kotallo under her breath. It was easy to whisper when Kotallo was right behind her.

“Hmm,” Kotallo answered in his usual way, non-committal. It almost sounded embarrassed, as if the grumbly Marshal behind her knew anything of embarrassment.

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feminaexlux · 2 years

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Underneath (Pt. 1 / 2?)

Okay so just to clarify I'm pinning Kotallo's age down at 27 and yes I know Aloy is 20 but she carries the weight of the entire world on her shoulders and acts as if she's twice her age a lot of the time so she's a Cougar in spirit in this fic. Girl can get it from her local sassy beefcake sweetheart yanno what I'm sayin'

Quick shoutout to my beta @vanorablogs 🧡

This is largely the same snippet as before but there's more text underneath I swear

Read on AO3

⁂

"By the Ten," he breathed out. Kotallo grabbed onto Aloy's proffered arm and hauled himself behind her on the Sunwing with her assistance. "You sure this... machine won't attempt to shake us off when we are in flight?"

She snorted. "You've got nothing to worry about, Marshal. I've got it. I thought you trusted me?"

"With my life. It is why I'm on here," he said, his voice low.

"Good. Hold onto me. The takeoff is a bit rough but that's the price we pay for air travel. Chief Hekarro!" Aloy called out, performing a tiny salute to the Tenakth chieftain atop her Sunwing. "I'll have to borrow your best Marshal again, sorry!"

"He is no longer mine to lend, Aloy," Hekarro said back in his deep dulcet voice, smiling up at them. "I borrow him from you, Champion."

"What is he talking about?" Aloy asked Kotallo under her breath. She didn't need to speak above a whisper since Kotallo was right behind her.

"Hmm," Kotallo answered in his usual way, non-committal. It almost sounded embarrassed, but Aloy doubted the grumbly Marshal behind her knew anything of embarrassment.

"O... kay then," Aloy chuckled. "Let's go!" The Sunwing reared onto its legs and Aloy hunched forward to brace and keep her head level, but she wasn't expecting that a man easily twice her weight was using her as a brace on their ride. "Oof," she grunted, feeling the air get squeezed out of her as his arm pressed into her midsection.

"Sorry," Kotallo gritted out. She could feel his legs strain trying to wrap harder around the Sunwing's plated exterior and easing off some of the pressure he was putting on her with his single arm by grabbing at the Sunwing plates in front of her. He managed to grab the ridge of plate right in front of her crotch. "Sorry," he said again, half-chuckling.

"It's fine," she hissed out, a blush rising to her cheeks. "Just... need... to--" Finally the Sunwing got enough lift. It beat its wings down and after a couple of intense seconds climbing at a steep incline Aloy leveled out the beast. "Whew," she breathed out, Kotallo's arm settling more comfortably against her stomach. "I didn't expect how hard that was. I need to get used to how additional passengers affect takeoff."

"You... have not done this with the others?"

"No, you're the first. I thought you might enjoy it," Aloy grinned, though she wasn't certain Kotallo could see. "Seeing as you were inspired the last time I flew one?"

"It is an honor," he said, his voice sounding awed. Aloy's smile widened. It was too bad she couldn't see his expression, she thought. His little smile would have been a treat.

"And now that we're alone, you mind telling me what the Chief meant?" She knew she had him as a captive audience and he knew she never backed down. It wasn't a surprise when she felt more than heard him sigh behind her. Several months with the terse Tenakth Marshal had allowed her to understand and enjoy these wordless exchanges more than she thought she would. He was expressive in his own quiet way.

It meant he didn't choose his words lightly. "Chief Hekarro understands your mission to save the world. It is no easy task to take on by a single warrior. Even if you won't ask for it, you need all the help you can get," Kotallo said, lightly teasing. "So I am here. With you. Until the end."

She smiled again, still hidden from him. "So you are." Aloy banked the Sunwing around a mountain range, taking on more altitude. Going too high would make the air harder to breathe and skimming too close to the land would only attract trouble, so she had to balance the reach of any cannon shots and human comfort. It felt wonderful to fly without worries and have the wind pass through her hair, though she idly worried that her hair would be buffeting Kotallo in the face. "Are you alright back there?"

"It is... more than acceptable," he said simply. She rolled her eyes. "Thank you. For bringing me with you. For letting me fly." He sounded sincere. He always sounded sincere because he was, when he wasn't teasing her. It was his best trait. She loved that.

And ultimately she didn't mind the teasing either.

"We'll see if you're still thankful after we get to Meridian," Aloy mused. "I get sore after riding for a couple of hours." She felt a soft snort behind her. What was funny about that? "But thank you, Kotallo. Establishing the embassy was important for Tenakth and Carja both. And now it should be easier since Regalla won't be there to interrupt."

"And I will be meeting this Sun-King Avad himself?"

"More or less. Me and Erend have already vouched for you since you're Hekarro's envoy, and one that was at the original embassy. You'll need to talk official things with Avad but I think that's it."

"I won't be held captive for five years, will I? I remember Marshal Fashav had agreed to those terms."

"I don't think so... but if that does happen we still have the Sunwing to make our escape. If I never have to step foot in Meridian again it will be too soon. But try not to have any diplomatic incidents."

"Hmm," he grunted, sounding amused. Aloy was continually surprised at how much Kotallo could convey with just one hum. "For you I will try." Aloy smiled to herself again. "I should ask, this has nothing to do with Nemesis, does it?"

It was her turn to sigh. "No. But this is a problem that can be solved."

He didn't say anything for a few heartbeats. "Of course." He hugged her a little tighter and relaxed his hold. A comforting gesture, Aloy thought. It was nice. They fell into a comfortable silence.

Aloy wasn't sure when it started but her little squad at the base had given her the gift of touch. Varl had rested his hand on her shoulder. Zo had embraced her. Erend had drawn her up in his crushing hug. Alva had sometimes reached out to grab Aloy's hands when she was excitedly explaining things. Beta herself had run up to give Aloy a hug after she was freed from the launch tower.

Far Zenith were gone forever. But so too was Varl.

The remaining squad had each other and they reminded Aloy through their touches. Except for Kotallo, who gave his touches more sparingly than his words. That made it more meaningful in a way. She was soaking up what she could get with his arm against her stomach and his chest against her back. He was warm and solid and here and those experiences meant more to her than she knew.

She tried not to think about how much she was enjoying this.

And she tried not to think about how she could have just taught him the override to get his own Sunwing. A tide of guilt rose up in her and she put it on her mental to-do list. He'd get his own. She owed him that for all that he'd done. She'll help him catch one when they got back to the base.

She got a notice on her Focus that the Sunwing's battery was running low. Oh. Right. Extra weight meant extra load on the battery. And there was 3 times the usual riding weight. Whoops. She spotted a nearby fire pit with a basic shelter and turned toward it. "Sunwing's running low on power, we'll need to camp for the night."

Kotallo gave a grunt of acknowledgement. As they were coming down and the Sunwing reared up to land on its legs, Kotallo grabbed the ridge plate in front of Aloy again. Again she blushed at how close his hand was to... a place, but wasn't like he had much choice in the matter and she didn't have to think about it too long.

Aloy landed the Sunwing and tapped on her focus, connecting out to Erend. "Hey, slight delay, we ran down the battery on the Sunwing. It should be recharged tomorrow afternoon."

"Oh, hey Aloy. Alright," said Erend, sounding slightly surprised. "Still faster than on foot so no worries. We'll see you when we see you, then."

"What was your original estimate for reaching Meridian?" Kotallo asked after dismounting from the Sunwing. He reached out his arm in an offer to help Aloy down.

She smiled a little and grabbed his arm, letting him guide her to her feet. "I figured it was half a day of riding. We'll only be late by one day." There was a distant clap of thunder and Aloy sensed the change in air pressure of incoming rain. "And it sounds like we got to shelter in time. I hate flying through storms."

"To travel by sky and soar over mountains, crossing vast distances in a single day. I have lived as one of the Ten. I will never stop feeling blessed." He chuckled softly. "Tonight I'll hunt for dinner. Will you set camp?" Kotallo asked.

Belatedly Aloy realized she was still holding onto his arm. She let go immediately. What was wrong with her? "Yeah, sounds good, thanks," she said, feeling mildly embarrassed. Aloy took their bags and placed down the bedrolls under the shelter. She lit a fire with blaze and foraged nearby, filling their water-skins with fresh water from a nearby stream.

Kotallo was already there when Aloy came back to camp. They sat down next to each other in front of the fire, having a simple meal together with the turkey he caught and the fruits she found in their comfortable silence. The rain came in soon after and the fire sputtered but blaze kept it lit.

"What is Meridian like?" Kotallo asked after they finished cleaning up, surprising Aloy a little. She assumed he hadn't really cared at all with it being the Carja capital.

"It's… crowded," she replied, feeling the chill settling in around her as the rain came down around their shelter. "It's a big city. I guess it's pretty? There are people everywhere, mostly Carja but also a lot of Oseram. And too many petty Carja nobles who think they're better than you."

"You saved their kingdom and they still think they're better than you?"

"Some Nora girl stopping Deathbringers and Corruptors from razing their city doesn't fundamentally change how they look at outlanders."

He frowned. "I suppose I understand that. Perhaps there's some similarities with the Tenakth."

"All tribes are like that," Aloy shrugged. "And that's why I need this embassy to happen. We'll need everyone working together to have a chance against Nemesis." She sighed and hung her head, feeling exhausted.

"I will be on my best behavior," Kotallo said, adding a little humor and nudging her with his shoulder. "Be charming. Witty. Noble."

Aloy looked back up at him with a smirk. "I need you to talk with Avad, not sleep with him."

"What a union that would make. The esteemed Sun-King Avad taking a Tenakth barbarian to bed? Bawdy drinking songs would be sung for generations to come."

"Stop that," she laughed, slapping his right shoulder. "And you're no barbarian."

"I may be charismatic but I doubt I'd be appealing to the Sun-King nonetheless."

"Well, he does seem to like people who could snap him in half," Aloy said absently.

"You know of his interests?" Kotallo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He uh… was in love with Ersa, Erend's sister. She led the Freebooter mercenaries that helped him overthrow his father. He also asked me to stay with him," she answered, feeling awkward. "I didn't want that, or him," she added a little hastily, watching as Kotallo's brows ticked down in... annoyance? Concern? Maybe... jealousy? Aloy's heart strangely soared at the idea that it could be jealousy.

But for the love of GAIA, she didn't want Kotallo thinking she was interested in Avad.

Kotallo smiled sadly. "Ah, I think I understand him. A single person making the difference in your people's survival. Appreciation turning into something more…" he said, trailing off. Aloy's heart fluttered in sudden despair. If Kotallo liked her, saw her, only because she saved his people?

She needed a partner, not an admirer.

It took a lot to admit she needed a partner.

"You would have been trapped by duty to a single land," Kotallo said, solemn. Aloy nodded, not trusting herself to speak. "It would be suffocating."

She scoffed bitterly. "Yeah. But what's one more problem to add to the pile? I'm only trying to save the entire world from total annihilation because I'm one of only two people who can unless there's more surprise clones of Elisabet out there."

"It is my belief that you and Beta will save the world," he said simply, choosing to ignore the comment about more clones.

Aloy felt a different kind of despair. "How do you even know?"

"I don't, but you've shown me things I'd never even dreamed before. I've witnessed countless miracles in the time I've known you." He shrugged. "I know it won't be easy. It is why I intend on knocking down whatever obstacles we come across that would impede you, much like your actions for me at the Bulwark."

She buried her face against his shoulder. "Thank you," Aloy said softly, slightly muffled. He drew her in closer, putting his arm around her shoulders. Aloy got shifted in to rest her head against the crook of his neck. "I'm so fucking terrified, Kotallo."

"The wisest warriors are, when faced with uncertainty."

She groaned. "I could use a little less rhetorical goatshit."

"My apologies. Yes, it's fucking terrifying," he chuckled, ending it with a weary sigh. "I'm scared too. We've survived such incredible adversity and overwhelming swarms of enemies, each time pulling through with your - and your sister's - knowledge and ingenuity. But I wonder, how much of that was... luck?"

Aloy closed her eyes and stayed quiet for a bit, replaying over the events of the past 2 years. Life was so damn simple back before the Proving, when all Aloy wanted was to know who her mother was. "Not all of it was luck, but... but maybe some of it was," Aloy admitted.

She felt so lost.

As her teacher, Rost had made her focus on her goal of becoming the best at the Proving, honing her mind and her skills to the sharpest edge, driving her to the very brink of her capabilities... and then letting her realize for herself that she was more capable than she believed. Aloy knew that Rost had loved her in his own way, but there was no denying she had felt alone and unwanted for most of her life. He had been her father. But she had not been his real daughter.

Aloy knew she was needed by the world. She'd been created by a dying GAIA, given a dire purpose to unlock hidden mysteries with her genetic code serving as key.

People like Petra and Avad wanted her… for her skills and fighting prowess and symbolism to bolster their own tribes.

She was no longer alone in her role now that she had Beta, but Beta was still fragile, learning to be part of this world after being isolated for so long.

Where could Aloy feel safe when the Earth was dying?

"Aloy?"

A voice, both distant and yet so close. She half remembered she was having a conversation but she must have been falling asleep. "Mmm sorry," Aloy breathed. The fire was still going and the meal she had was filling, satisfying, lulling her closer to slumber. There was someone? incredibly warm next to her, holding her, touching her skin. The heat suffused through her, easing the bone-deep weariness of her thoughts.

There was a low hum by her ear, a familiar rumble. "Rest well," Kotallo said softly.

#fxl fic #fxl hfw #aloy #kotallo #hekarro #kotaloy #better start ignoring the fxl hfw tag if you just want ml stuff... sorry #erend #whoops forgot erend #aloy x kotallo #i'm pulling the trigger now and making a fool of myself #🥲#horizon forbidden west

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feminaexlux · 2 years

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Six Sentence Sunday: 2022.03.20 (Horizons!)

So this isn't Miraculous related at all, so feel free to skip.

I love love love the Horizon series and now I can't get this Kotallo fucker out of my head and you know what? I'm okay with this. Give me all the soft boys.

⁂

She snorted. "You've got nothing to worry about, Marshal. I've got it. I thought you trusted me?"

"With my life. It is why I'm on here," he said, his voice low.

"He is no longer mine to lend, Aloy," Hekarro said back in his deep dulcet voice, smiling up at them. "I borrow him from you, Champion."

"What is he talking about?" Aloy asked Kotallo under her breath. It was easy to whisper when Kotallo was right behind her.

"Hmm," Kotallo answered in his usual way, non-committal. It almost sounded embarrassed, as if the grumbly Marshal behind her knew anything of embarrassment.

#six sentence sunday #WIP otl #horizon forbidden west #kotallo #aloy #aloy x kotallo #there's no ship name yet i think?#guerilla games gives me one beefcake with a heart and eloquence and expect me to NOT drool all over?#living vicariously through aloy #another ship holy shit

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feminaexlux · 2 years

Text

Just Be: Honest (Part 4)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

For @milahidee and @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers

Read on AO3 here

⁂

Marinette was cordial when they met for dinner. Luka was polite. They got a table, had their wine poured into their glasses, and a bottle of still water was left behind at her request. They'd placed their orders and the waitstaff left them alone. She might as well launch straight into it now. "Tell me why you didn't admit we'd met before last night," she asked him, hoping she put enough daggers in her glare.

Luka's wine glass was halfway to his lips and stopped there for a solid 5 seconds. He put his wine glass back down. "Alya told me you forgot things. I didn't want to push it."

Spectacular. Marinette folded her arms. "Do you think I'm Ladybug? Is that why you wanted me to talk with you? Is that the only reason you all care about me? You and Alya and Adrien." There was a lot of spite in that sentence and Marinette felt her blood boil.

Luka shook his head and said "No."

"No to what?"

"All of it." He leaned against his arm on the table. "When we were younger you were one of my best friends. I looked forward to every time we got to hang out. Things got complicated when we got older and we stopped talking 2 years ago." He looked down at the table for a second, then back up at Marinette. "You don't remember me." It was a simple statement. No inflection. No real emotion behind it at all. Marinette felt chills down her spine.

"No. I don't," she admitted. "Should I?" How could she forget a best friend? The way he said it maybe she was more important to him than he was to her. Something felt deeply wrong about that though.

His lopsided smile was bittersweet. "No. It doesn't matter."

Marinette furrowed her eyebrows. "It doesn't matter? Why doesn't it matter?"

"If I can be honest," he sighed. "You had wanted to forget me. And... it happened."

She shook her head. "And why exactly do you say that? I wanted to forget you?"

"The last thing you said to me 2 years ago was 'I wish I never met you.'"

What he had said last night came back to haunt her. “Honestly I’m happy you’re talking with me.” Another sudden, deep pang of hurt and regret and self-loathing. Marinette kept control over her emotions this time and tried to not let it show on the surface. Her face kept neutral, she asked "Any idea why I'd say that?"

"You were… upset that I got too involved in your life. Does that ring a bell?"

She frowned. "No. Look, Luka, the thing is everyone's convinced that I'm somebody else. My best friend told me I was a superhero. You'd think I would know if I was a superhero, right?" He nodded. "But I'm not. I'm not Ladybug, I'm not a superhero, and I don't want to be."

"Alright," he said.

"So. I don't know. Maybe someone who was using my name or something told you she never wanted to meet you. That wasn't me. I'd never even met you before…" Marinette trailed off. This supposed missing memory/impersonator thing was pretty fucking annoying to think about and keep straight.

"Alright," he said again. He looked tired. "Do you know Juleka?"

"Of course, she's one of my GirlSquad from back in Collège, but I think you'd know that being her twin brother and all. I haven't kept in touch with her though. Can you tell her Hi and I'm sorry? I've been kind of… under the weather for a long time."

"Sure, I'll let her know." He paused to contemplate. "You never wondered about Juleka's family?"

"I mean, I've met her mom and Jagged and--" Marinette cut herself off. A molten hot needle pressed in from her eyes to the back of her head and her vision started to fade out again. Shit. No, not now, not when she was getting answers. Please, no, she needed to know! She shut her eyes closed tight and tears were forming at the corners from the pain. "And…" she breathed out, trying to regain her senses. "And I've met you last night, finally. I should have done that earlier."

"Are you okay?" Luka asked, sounding concerned.

"I'm fine. I'm okay. Just... sometimes I get these... migraine attacks." Marinette poured out water for herself into a spare glass and drank a bit of it. "I'm okay now."

"That's not a normal migraine."

Marinette shrugged. "I've seen a doctor. They told me to take it easy."

He still looked worried. "You don't have to be here if you don't want," he said quietly. "Don't force yourself."

She took another sip of water and looked up at Luka. "Right now I don't want to be anywhere else." She sat back and realized it was the truest thing she'd said. "I want to know who you think I am. What do you remember of 'me'?"

He let go of a breath and she knew he felt pain and sadness. It was in the way he backed up in his seat and slouched down subconsciously. She almost cut in and apologized to wave it all away but he looked into her eyes and started speaking. "You were the most amazing girl I'd ever met. You're smart, you're funny, you're brave, you're amazing. The way you made sketches and brought everything to life was magical. I liked you a lot." He took a breath. "No. I was in love with you. I'd been in love with you for a long time. But you had someone else.

"We tried dating, if you could call it that. It wasn't for long. You were in love with someone else and that was pretty much it for my shot with you. But we stayed friends. Until you said you couldn't anymore."

Marinette blushed deeply. Oh my God someone this cute and sweet and caring had been in love with her (or some version of her)? And she'd ignored him? Who the fuck was that someone else that Luka thought she was in love with? She'd never been in love in her entire life! Infatuated, sure, but in love? No. "Oh," she said numbly. "Okay." Except it was very much not okay.

"Maybe that wasn't you," Luka said softly. "Maybe that was some other girl."

"Maybe," she said miserably. "It sounds like you miss her a lot."

"I do." A minute went by in uncomfortable silence. He cleared his throat. "You... are still a lot like her, to me."

Marinette took her wine glass into her hand and swirled the wine in it. "Well, I can't be that much like her if I'm talking to you. Whoever she was told you she wished she never met you, right? She probably wouldn't want to speak to you again, but here I am. Talking. To you." God this was getting confusing.

"I guess you're right."

"A-Are you still in l-love with her?" Marinette asked, nervously sipping her wine.

He laughed a little. "I love her, sure. She'll always be important to me. Can't say I'm in love with her since she cut off contact. That and she's not here anymore." It was simultaneously the best and the worst thing Marinette had ever heard.

"You know, I think I'm kind of done talking about this magical mystery girl that shares my name. I haven't had the pleasure of getting to know you. So can I get to know you, M. Couffaine?"

He sat back up in his chair. "You're more than welcome to."

"What do you do outside of rocking out in dingy bars on some weeknights?"

He smiled. "I like making instruments. I make guitars, bass, violins, any stringed instrument. I've been working on a monster 20 string guitar for a while."

"You can play that?"

"I can try," he laughed. "I have a few tips from other luthiers but there's always different opinions and setups to try and understand. Plus you have to be able to work with it. A guitar you can't play isn't a guitar I want to have. I've gone through 3 different variations of the 20 string so far, working on those in my free time. I get a decent amount of regular orders a year to keep me busy. Hate to say it but it helps getting referrals and personal orders from good old Dad."

"I'm kind of surprised you didn't follow in Jagged's footsteps. You're really good at playing the guitar and you've got the star power. A-And by that I mean you're ho-- You've got a presence." She almost said he was hot to his face. That would have been embarrassing.

"Well," Luka sighed. "Dad left his family behind to be as famous as he is." Oh fuck. Good going Marinette. She immediately blushed realizing she brought up something sensitive. Luka shrugged. "It was probably what he needed to do for himself." Awkwardly, their entrees arrived right then.

"Does that mean you're saying no to being in the spotlight?" she asked, starting to eat. Maybe if she stuffed her face she wouldn't be able to put her foot in her mouth.

"I get enough of the spotlight being on stage with my band here. One day I want a family for myself." He got quieter and more intense than before. "I want to be here for them." Ugh, how was he getting more and more attractive? She was halfway melting inside with the way he said it. She could almost imagine an older Luka taking care of their young children. Their children? Oh God, Marinette. Cart. Horse. Calm down now. "And that's pretty much it," he said, chuckling a little. "And now it's your turn. What does Marinette Dupain-Cheng do when she's not hanging out with a guy who sometimes rocks out in dingy bars?"

She smiled at him as he took a couple of bites of his meal. "As you already know I'm a designer, and I can make sets and stage costumes for people like Jagged. Most of the time I make smaller clothing pieces for an online store I'm running. I get repeat customers asking for things like scarves and tee shirts and dresses. I just really want to make clothes for people that they're proud of wearing." She sighed. "Except materials for clothes are too expensive so sometimes I help out at the bakery. The money's not great but it's easy and I love my parents and they need the help."

Luka raised an eyebrow. "I can tell my dad you're not getting paid enough."

She snorted. "Pfft, no, don't. I'm okay. It's all contract based anyway and I already got part of the commission. I'm just complaining that I don't have infinite money to buy all the silk and cashmere and Egyptian cotton I want. But don't worry, I'm making enough to keep going. It's just me at home, you know?" Marinette said wistfully. Oops, was she implying she wanted to have someone at home with her? Not that it wasn't true but maybe it wasn't the best thing to casually inject into a conversation on a first date. Was this a date? Marinette hoped so. "Anyway I made some headway into that project for your dad. It's... hmm..." she trailed off again.

"What's up?" he asked around a bite.

"I think it's going to be Ladybug themed. The... the first part. Later it's going to be more... human. Or at least that's the word I keep coming to."

"Going from superhuman to human?" She nodded, sneaking in another bite. "That makes sense to me for... the anniversary." He paused to see if she'd react but she just nodded again. "Is it a costume change?"

"Sort of. I kind of had an idea where it would be one changing costume depending on the set list. I need to check if that'll make sense and work with his songs, but I'm really hoping it will."

"That sounds pretty cool. I like the idea. I think people will connect with it."

"I hope so. I just want to tell everyone that... that the hard part's over, right? We don't have to put up our shields anymore? We don't have to be... burdened anymore?" Tears sprang to her eyes. "It's okay to move on?" she continued, her voice wavering. She had reached out to him subconsciously.

"Yeah," he said gently, reaching back out. He squeezed her hand in his. "It's okay to move on."

Shit, why was she crying. "Ugh, I'm sorry. I don't mean to keep getting all weird on you." She let go of his hand and pulled back. "I swear I'm not always this way," Marinette inhaled deeply and sighed, looking down at her plate.

"I don't mind. You're dealing with stress and processing everything, and... I'm glad I can be here with you for that."

"Why are you so nice to me? Is it because of her?"

"Her?"

She looked up at him. "Whoever used to be your Marinette. It's like I'm occupying the same body."

He was silent for a bit. "Yeah. Honestly, yeah. You're just Marinette to me. Before and now. I don't... see a difference." He looked away half ashamed. "Probably not what you wanted to hear."

"I don't know what I wanted to hear." She took another sip of her wine, not sure what to do. She didn't hate hearing that. "What... I remember of the past is... strange. I can remember a lot of things. I remember meeting your mom during a music festival. I can remember that the speakers got so loud that the Liberty got fined a million times by Officer Raincomprix and then... akuma.

I remember when it turned out Jagged was Juleka's dad. Well, that he was yours and Juleka's dad. You must have been there. Both times. But... I don't remember you at all. And I feel bad that I don't remember you. It must seem like some kind of cruel joke."

"You don't seem like the kind of person who'd joke about this."

"I'm not. And unless you were an asshole 2 years ago I don't know why past me would ever want to forget you."

"Maybe I was an asshole. I don't know. I was going through what... past you said over and over in my head wondering what I could have changed if I had the power. But I didn't. And you… past you… left." He shrugged helplessly.

"What would you change?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. Wish I could have said something to try to change your mind. You were angry and it was because of me. I didn't know what to say then."

Marinette thought for a few seconds. "Okay... I-I'm just throwing this out there but... wh-what if this is some kind of opportunity? Maybe my mind has literally changed. And I'm not angry at you at all. This could be a second chance? A chance to tell me anything you wanted to tell me for the years you didn't get to. Do you have anything you want to tell me?" Damn it, wasn't this super weird for him? But... Marinette was definitely more than a little bit curious about what Luka might answer.

He drew his hand to his mouth to cover it. Marinette wasn't sure if he was embarrassed or had nothing to say or was thinking or… was about to laugh at her. He just looked at her with his stunning blue eyes. He seemed... worried. "I..." He sighed softly, letting his hand fall back down. "I want you to be happy. And I want to be part of your life." He shook his head again. "I guess that's what I wish I said. It was pretty simple after all."

"Well I did put you on the spot. And I'm so sorry, that was a really weird thing to make you do."

He laughed. "I don't mind a little weird."

She smiled. "Thanks for answering anyway." She looked down and played with her remaining food. "You know, if I'm at all like Past Marinette, I think she would have listened to you."

"What do you mean?"

"About you wanting to be a part of her life. A part of my life. You seem like… a really great guy. Why wouldn't I want you in my life?" She blushed a little, looking back up at him.

For a moment he looked sad, then he smiled his lopsided smile. "I'm with you now. We're talking now. Hopefully I'm not coming across as an asshole."

She snorted again. "God, no. You're waaay better than the asshole I ran into earlier today. Like, who just comes up and harasses someone about-- Hmm, wait. Do you know Adrien Agreste?"

Luka's eyebrows furrowed in concern but he nodded. "I'm friends with Adrien."

Okay, Alya and Luka knew each other. Luka and Adrien knew each other. Great. "Adrien shows up out of nowhere and tells me we need to talk. He keeps insisting that I'm Ladybug. It's why I was pissed off earlier."

Luka blinked and looked more concerned. "He insisted?"

"Yeah. And I ran away after that. I'm pretty sure Alya told Adrien that... I wasn't Ladybug so I don't get what his problem was."

Luka frowned. "Once things settle down I think you should talk to him and tell him your side of the story," he said somberly. "When you're ready. And when he's less anxious."

"What? Why?"

Luka looked at her for a few seconds with an expression Marinette didn't know how to parse. "Adrien was Past Marinette's… friend too. I'm sure he meant well and fucked up trying to communicate that. I can tell you more about… Past Marinette and Adrien's relationship if you want."

This time she felt it before it was unbearable. There was the prickling sensation of another hot needle forming right over her eyes. She swallowed, a sinking feeling in her gut. Don't, a voice told her. Enough. "I think that's enough for today."

He nodded. "Alright."

A realization dawned on Marinette. "You know, you haven't insisted that I was Ladybug. I mean. Who knows, maybe Past Marinette was Ladybug. But you didn't mention it at all."

He took a few seconds to just look at Marinette. "Do you think Ladybug would trust me?"

"Oh. I... I figured yes? I-I guess you don't know. Sorry. I don't know why I assumed you would know. I guess it seemed like the people who would want to talk with me are the ones who thought I was Ladybug."

Luka frowned again. "The truth is I do know who she was. And... I wanted to talk with you."

Marinette raised an eyebrow. "So you're not interested in Ladybug?"

"Whoever Ladybug was, she was a normal girl most of the time." Luka smiled another bittersweet smile. "Or she tried to be. She was definitely a hero, but no one person can be a hero all the time. It drains you. It makes you a martyr. She was called out to do a job, a fucking brutal one, and the more that people depended on her and expected her to make everything alright again the worse the stakes got." He shook his head. "All I know is that she tried her best. Fighting over and over again, it breaks you as a person. What I cared about was the person underneath who was going to deal with all of the leftover shit when the job's done. The emotions, the hurt, the frustration, the pressure, the pain.

Ladybug had Chat Noir and the other heroes. Who did that girl behind the mask have?"

It felt like someone was squeezing her throat tight.

Marinette was breathless, choking back emotions she didn't understand. Marinette slapped her hands over her mouth, preventing the words that were trying to escape from coming out. "She could have had you if she didn't leave!" Ah shit. She should talk to a psychiatrist. Putting this off was not going to help at all.

"Marinette?" Luka asked. God with all of her random outbursts and fucking weirdness he should have been running by now. This was the worst date ever.

"I've got to be putting you through the worst date ever," Marinette muttered after putting her hands back down. "Luka, I'm… not sure what's going on with me. I've been feeling like there's echos… I don't even know of what. Every so often when I talk with you I feel like some part of me is… Is… God I don't know. Regretful? Not regretting being here with you but regretting the things that… might have happened. Something like that. Damn it I'm not making any sense.

Anyway, I just… wanted to say that you're a wonderful man and thanks for answering my questions and being patient. I don't think I'm in a state to keep seeing you--"

"Wait. Wait, please," Luka interrupted, panicked. He closed his eyes, took a breath, and then looked back up at her. "If it's hard for you to be around me… I understand." He looked helpless and then resigned. "Let me take care of the bill and I'll head out," he said.

Fuck, why did this feel so wrong? Wasn't this was the right thing to do? Marinette should be figuring out what the hell was up with her emotions. "Nnnnnng no no, don't go, I… I-I like you. I'm-I'm just kinda fucked up at the moment. I can't believe myself really. I want to keep seeing you but it's not fair to you."

"I still mean what I said about being a part of your life. You, the things you do, the things you make, how you see the world. You're fascinating to me."

"You don't deserve to have to deal with my shit," Marinette groaned.

"I still want what I want."

She blushed. "Then I think maybe you're a little weird yourself."

"Probably," he chuckled, then sighed. "I'm not intending to brush aside your concerns. I'll leave whenever you want me to leave. But I'm here to listen and I will be."

"It's going to be awkward when you turn out to be an axe murderer or something. You're suspiciously nice."

"The only axes I have are my guitars. Promise."

"Sure, sure. At least I have plenty of people who'll look for me if I go missing. Aaand morbid humor aside I… want to thank you again. For being nice. And answering things. And I guess… maybe I can ask for another date? So that one can be way less crazy?"

"This wasn't as bad as you think it was." He put his hand to his neck, looking sheepish. "I… didn't let myself think this was a date."

Marinette pounced on that idea. "Okay maybe it's not and the next one can be the actual first date."

He smiled, blushing a little. "Sure, I like that plan."

#fxl fic #lukanette endgame #endgame lukanette #pro lukamari #marinette dupain cheng #luka couffaine #holy crap this dinner's intense

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feminaexlux · 2 years

Text

Just Be: Patient (Part 3)

Part 1 | Part 2

For @milahidee and @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers

Read on AO3 here

⁂

Marinette had half a breakthrough with Jagged's stage costume for his upcoming tour. It was something she knew seemed important and revelatory but it was also sort of an easy cop-out? Regardless, it was a step forward and Marinette put her tired hands to work typing up the notes.

Jagged's costume would actually be a few different ones put together. A costume with stages! One that'd flow from one stage to the next and hopefully have some awesome flashy transitions to mesmerize his audience with. Maybe if she'd incorporated the songs he'd be playing into each stage? That would be amazing! Okay, great, this idea was starting to build some steam.

Not that it solved just what the costumes would be exactly, but sometimes giving the abstract idea some attention and TLC would lead her to discover the right answer. She looked through her sketches, trying to imagine in her head what kind of elements would work best for a staged reveal. And she had to think of Jagged's mobility and comfort too: no point putting him inside of a bulky suit if he wasn't able to sing and play his instruments.

She opened up another workbook of designs and flipped through the pages rapidly, trying to get a sense of animation and seeing how one design might flow into the next. It'd have to get simpler with each stage reveal, not more complicated... hmm...

It ended up that she stared blankly at her sketchbook for 10 minutes. Ugh. Okay. Her creative juice was running low and she needed to stretch out her legs. Marinette got up and went to her balcony, pulling back the curtains and sliding the glass door open. The air was crisp and there was a slight breeze picking up the scent of the nearby restaurants that made her mouth water. She hadn't had lunch yet.

The thought of having lunch alone sucked. She'd been depressed and isolated for a long time and Marinette was finally starting to come out of her shell again. Maybe she should call Alya and see if her bestie wanted to grab a quick bite? But at the same time, she did just get a number from a cute dude who said he'd make time for her. Plus she wanted to tell him that she had made some progress with the whole Jagged project and he had some part in that.

Well, no, he hadn't actually... but Marinette was dying to talk to him anyway. He seemed so sweet and so easy to talk to. She'd text hey, I made some progress with jagged's project and he'd text back awesome, you're so talented and beautiful and they'd get lunch together and she'd find that he brought flowers and wrote her a song so he could confess his undying love for her and they'd get married and get a house and have 3, no, 6 kids and a huge, fluffy white dog they'd name Bach as a pun and--

Holy fuck she'd lost her mind.

Marinette wasn't sure Luka even felt anything for her outside of pity, maybe a sense of duty to do right by her on behalf of his dad. He had mentioned wanting to talk to her earlier in Jagged's studio but never took that chance so... he noticed her? But not been enticed enough to reach out? Had she ever seen him before? And wait, Alya had implied--no, outright stated that Marinette might have problems with her memories somehow. She did have some funkiness with blacking out after her business with Su-Han. The Grandmaster did say she chose to forget something.

Would she want to try and remember what Past Marinette was desperate to forget? No, not yet. Please not so soon, a voice echoed softly.

Holy fuck she really had lost her mind… But she was... physically okay. Mentally okay. Maybe not all there emotionally if she blew up or shut down these past few days with different triggers. Ah, shit.

Wait. Wait wait wait. Wait one fucking minute. Alya knew Luka. Alya knew Luka! He was one of those people that Alya had wanted to reach out to, to talk about Marinette. Why didn't Marinette remember that when she'd actually talked with the guy? Well, actually, it was because he was charming and sweet and cute and Marinette was all levels of Distracted.

Unless it was another Luka. Luka was an uncommon name, but there could be another Luka.

Oh hell, why not send Alya a text.

Marinette: Hey Alya, do you know Luka Couffaine?

Alya: Yeah

Alya: Of course I know Luka

Marinette: Couffaine

Marinette: Jagged's son

Marinette: Like personally?

Marinette: You talk with him?

Alya: Yeah

Alya: Why

Marinette: Oh nothing just saw him playing with a band last night

Why the fuck was she lying. She hated lying. Although it wasn't completely untrue... She did see him at the bar last night playing with his band. Alright, so Alya knew Luka. Mmmmaybe it was that everyone knew Luka, he was Jagged Stone's son after all. But he seemed pretty low-key and quiet? He just seemed like a down to earth and introverted kind of guy. It didn't seem like he wanted to be popular.

A minute went by and Marinette got another text from Alya.

Alya: Oh shit wait do YOU remember him?

Alya: Whys it sound like maybe you don't?

Alya: You don't remember LUKA????

Oh what the fuck. Oh fuck. Oh no. Oh fuck no. Marinette got up and started pacing around the room with her phone. What was Alya implying???

Marinette: No I know him. I forgot you did that's all

Marinette bit her lip. She hated lying but she hated feeling like she knew so little of herself even more.

Alya: Hell I almost had a heart attack

Alya: Alright girl ya got me

Marinette herself was ready to have a panic attack. She'd apparently known Luka from before? And apparently Marinette had known Luka so well that Alya was shocked that Marinette didn't remember Luka? Jeez. Okay. She took a deep breath in, letting it out slowly. Another breath. Nice and slow, like she'd been taught before. It felt like someone was coaching her through his meditation practice, so similar to the one she'd done with her mom but she felt so much more at ease with him because he knew the shit she'd been going through, way more than she'd ever let her mom know. The boat was rocking gently and he'd been timing the breaths with the soft laps of the river. In, then out. In. Out. And he'd touched her hand so delicately and she'd looked up through her tears at his stunning blue eyes and his lopsided smile. "I'm here for you," he had said.

A memory. Another half-remembered memory. She heard those words so clearly but she still couldn't place the voice. She couldn't see his face. But she missed him, whoever he was.

Okay, she felt slightly better. Less jittery anyway. Ugh, what was she going to do with this information? Just... what happened with her and Luka? And... did it matter now? He hadn't commented on her not knowing who he was. Did it bother him? Was he putting up an act?

Was this a mystery she wanted to solve?

Marinette: Hey Luka, this is Marinette. I was wondering if you'd like to get a coffee sometime?

She hit the send button.

Marinette wasn't sure what to feel. Alya and Su-Han implied that Marinette had lost her memories. There were the vague impressions and whispers and feelings of things that may or may not have happened. But Marinette also remembered so many real, verifiable things too. She knew who she was and what her experiences were. She was real. She was Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

But what about Luka? Who was he? What were they?

Luka: I'd love to. I'm available today

"Great," Marinette started typing out. "You can tell me how you *actually* know me and why you decided to keep that to yourself and pretended we met for the first time last night you jerk" -- She sighed and deleted everything. Better to have that conversation face to face.

Marinette: Actually have you had lunch yet? I'm going to grab a bite to eat and if you're nearby we can have lunch together

After telling him where she was, Luka texted back that he was unfortunately not nearby and expressed his regret. Which was fine. Actually kind of good. She would have probably blown up at him if they did meet right then, and... she didn't want to do that. Not to him. Luka would have a good reason for playing dumb and somewhere down deep in her soul Marinette knew that to be true.

Somehow.

But with the mood soured Marinette didn't feel like she wanted company for lunch anymore. She sighed again, grabbing her purse and slipping on her flats. She locked up her apartment and went downstairs two flights to the ground floor, walking out and letting the noise of every day life wash over her. Eating alone was her normal thing for the past year and change anyway. She was fine with it.

It would just be nice if she had someone to share her table with.

She grabbed a quick meal and paid. She walked toward the Seine instead of her apartment on autopilot, her feet leading her toward the water. A silver car drew up alongside her after a few minutes and the rear tinted window rolled down. A blond man leaned out the window a little and called out "Marinette?"

She turned to face him. He looked like he saw a ghost. She frowned and after a few seconds realized it was Adrien Agreste. "Yeah?" she replied, feeling a little awkward.

He visibly deflated, a disinterested "Yeah" wasn't what he'd been expecting. "Can... can we talk? Somewhere? Here, let me get out of the car. Simon, please, I'll call you when we're done." Adrien climbed out and there had been some kind of grunt from the front. The silver car drove off.

He was dressed nicely, his black button-up shirt neatly pressed with crisp edges, strategically rolled up sleeves to show off his forearms. His bright white slacks were similarly treated along with his black and white leather oxford shoes. and he wore a silver ring on his right ring finger. His hair was tousled back in a professionally casual kind of style. The whole thing was manicured and precise.

Marinette was instantly annoyed. "What makes you think I want to talk to you?" she asked angrily. Who the fuck was he to assume she'd talk with him now? Or ever? Okay, no, she did know who he was. He was Adrien Agreste and an international supermodel. And she was a fledgling fashion designer. Blowing him off was probably a mistake but she didn't feel like talking to him.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng knew better than to ignore her feelings.

Adrien grabbed her arm. "Please, Marinette. It's been... it's been long enough, hasn't it? Do you really still hate me?"

"I don't know you, asshole," Marinette snarled loudly enough to yell. She pulled back a little, hesitating at Adrien and at herself. She was annoyed at being grabbed when she clearly didn't want to interact with him, but she didn't think she was so annoyed she felt any heat behind it. What had come out of her, though, was angry and raw and red-hot.

Okay, another point in the why-the-fuck-am-I-so-emotional column.

Was she overreacting? What did she really care anyway if she got interrupted by Adrien Agreste, International Supermodel? She was just initially going to daydream on a bench along the Seine and had some free time. Then again, maybe she had a right to be angry. Irrational though it was, she felt upset at not being able to meet with Luka for lunch. She just needed clarity and a few answers from the one bearded guitarist who gave her just the slightest hope of a romantic opportunity. She also needed the entirety of the universe to stop fucking around with her, starting with this blond guy.

Oh fuck. He looked like he was about to cry. Adrien still held onto her arm which pissed her off, but her anger was all but puffed out when she looked at him. "Oh, kitty," she said softly. Kitty? Where did that come from?

Actual tears spilled over from Adrien's eyes onto his cheeks. "Milady," he breathed out. "Please. Just... a few minutes. Please."

Marinette closed her eyes and breathed out through her nose. She opened her eyes again to look up at him. "Fine. What is it?" Adrien looked shocked again, but recovered. He let go of her arm, finally. Marinette tried to relax a bit. She was so damn tense and wired up around him.

"Do you remember me?" Adrien asked.

"Remember you? Remember what about you?"

He pointed at himself and then at her, alternating. "Me. Me and you. Chat Noir and Ladybug." He was indicating he was Chat Noir.

Oh shit Alya wasn't making it up. Marinette's eyes went wide after having that weird bit of lore from Alya confirmed. "Y-You're Chat Noir?"

Adrien nodded and he looked more hopeful than he had before. "And you're Ladybug."

Marinette pulled back a little again. "No. Nope. I'm not her. Sorry." Adrien's posture shifted a bit and she felt the need to clarify. "I was never Ladybug. You have the wrong girl."

"But you're lying! You're lying, Marinette," Adrien asserted. "I know you. You're Ladybug."

Marinette just laughed at him. "Adrien, it's not my problem that you don't believe me. I'm just Marinette, not Ladybug. And I'm going now. Bye." She turned and tried to walk off quickly.

"No, wait!" Adrien ran up beside her. "Okay, okay, okay, I'm sorry, Marinette. Is that what you want to hear? I'm sorry. I am."

Marinette kept walking quickly. "Great thank you bye."

"Do you remember me?" Adrien stopped and yelled, frustrated. "Do you remember us at all? How we used to be?"

"Nope. Leave me alone now, please. Thanks."

"Marinette..." He groaned. He didn't follow her though, and good. That was what she wanted. She continued on and walked a block further down along the Seine than she usually did and then sat down at a bench. She closed her eyes and took a breath to calm down.

Whatever that was, that sucked. And she mentally kicked herself for telling off one of the most popular supermodels in the entirety of the world. No, it wasn't like she needed any help at all in boosting sales of her fashion boutique, no not at all. Fuck. Living in le cinquième wasn't cheap, even if her apartment was all paid for after draining all of her savings plus her parents' and relatives' collective large sum gift.

But Adrien was crazy. Marinette had some basic-ass standards and she wasn't going to work with crazy people. That was just common business smarts. God, she wasn't Ladybug. Why would she ever want to be a superhero? Even just thinking about it was way too fucking stressful. She'd have to carry the burden of having to save every single soul in Paris and beyond, and she could barely support herself. Though to be fair, she could probably do it if she pushed herself hard. She was talented and smart. Just... she didn't want to? Wasn't that okay to just not want to?

Couldn't she be important and meaningful and fulfilled just by being herself?

She also had a life. She had so much to do as herself, for herself. Being a superhero would just be too damn much.

Hmm.

Wait.

Interesting.

Maybe she could make Jagged's outermost costume be superhero themed. Maybe even Ladybug themed. Then it gets less flashier and more... human as he gets closer to his... real self? Peel off the masks, one at a time? "Thanks, Adrien," Marinette smiled to herself. She got something out of their conversation after all.

She started letting her mind wander and daydream, letting her imagination roam over ladybugs and Jagged Stone and Paris. After a while she got another text.

Luka: Are you free for dinner around 18? Here's something in 5ème that I've been to before. Good food if you're interested.

He linked a location pointer to small restaurant Marinette had been to before. She wasn't sure how to feel about the coincidence, but at least it was a public place and she knew the area well. If she had to bolt really quickly she knew her way around.

Not that it would come to that. She wouldn't need to run away. Not from Luka.

Marinette: I'll see you there for dinner then!

Trap sprung. Bait taken. It was on now. Marinette was going to get answers on her terms.

⁂

Part 4

#fxl fic #lukanette endgame #endgame lukanette #pro lukamari #marinette dupain cheng #alya cesaire #luka couffaine #adrien agreste #DRAAAAAMAAAAAA

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feminaexlux · 2 years

Text

Photo Op

For @spikartxx and @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers! Happy very late Valentine’s day. Apologies for the lateness, the mods and I weren’t sure if we were going to get a late entry or not. I did a pinch-hit since I loved one of your prompts :)

Also it's Thirsty Thursday ;)

Original Prompts:

A Lady Noir / Luka kind of dynamic? Where Marinette gets to be the one flustering Luka instead of the other way? Delicious Idk just kind of hungry for a playful flirting between them (maybe with a brave Marinette at the end being as flirty with Luka in her civil form and them together lol I JUST WANT A HAPPY ENDING WITH THEM)

Read on AO3 here!

⁂

Luka was desperately pedaling his bike as fast as he could toward danger. This was happening more and more often in his rather short career as a human being (that he seriously hoped he didn't just make shorter). But he had to do something to try and alert Ladybug and/or Chat Noir when there was a new akuma. Two new akumas. Luka was pretty sure he could legitimately help the superheroes with these two akumas because they were his Ma and his sister before Shadowmoth got a hold of them.

Juleka had become Reflekta (again...). His mom became a sentient flying pirate ship called The Nanarchy after merging with the Liberty. They ganged up and the duo was wreaking havoc on Paris as akuma were wont to do, shooting Reflekta-cloning beams at every person and firing speaker-cannons at every building. All because Jagged wouldn't stop being Jagged.

Jule and Luka's dad had popped in for an unexpected visit (again...) and this time, he brought Fang! Both man and croc made a new, personal doorway entrance through the side of the Liberty, giving Jagged direct access to his progeny and Fang direct access to Juleka's yummy looking stuffies and clay models. The situation deteriorated rapidly with the twins' Ma coming down to get into a yelling match with Jagged and making things way more confusing due to an increasingly thick Scottish accent, and Juleka simultaneously wailing at and wailing on Fang for her toys which of course lead to everything tearing and breaking when Fang panic!death-rolled to get away from Juleka. Poor Luka had just been caught up trying to mediate both and failed miserably to help either!

And now he was biking as fast and as far as his lanky legs would take him, praying to every God in every Pantheon he knew that he'd find one or both of Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng soon (but mostly Marinette, if he was gonna be honest). Luka wasn't sure if it was his luck or just... because he was Luka that he hadn't gotten hit by Reflekta beams nor blasted by Nanarchy speakers. Maybe his Ma and sister were giving him a pass? But in case they forgot about that pass any time soon Luka had put in earplugs and duct taped a mirror to his bike helmet and strapped another mirror on his back.

He made his way to Tom and Sabine's Boulangerie, panting hard and sweating profusely. He burst through the bakery door and rolled from a tumble off his bike, wheezing out apologies and promises to clean up after while he climbed the stairs up two at a time to get to Marinette. God, why were there SO MANY STEPS to get to her? And he had to climb a ladder to get to her room! He slammed his fist against her hatch door three times to give her a heads up. "Sorry Marinette! I need you to--" The hatch door flung open to his surprise and he got pulled to her room up by his lapels.

He was suddenly eye level with a very shocked pair of intensely green cat eyes. Except the owner of the cat eyes was a full head shorter than Luka was so he was still partially dangling through the hatch. "H-Hi?"

The girl apparently knew him? "Luka?!" The sound was muffled and he realized he still had earplugs in.

"Is... Is Marinette here?" he panted, exhausted as hell, removing an earplug from one ear.

"Why are you looking for Marinette?" the Black Cat Hero asked, taking his arm over her shoulder and helping walk him across Marinette's room to sit down on Marinette's chaise.

"She... Marinette's usually able to get Ladybug and Chat Noir, there's... there're two akuma out there now," he wheezed, pulling out the other earplug and blushing when he became suddenly intensely aware that there was a super hot girl in a skin tight black cat suit right in front of him holding onto his arm while he probably smelled of awful teenage boy and wheezed awful teenage boy breath on her with his awful teenage puberty cracking boy voice. But where was Marinette? "Uh... why are you in her room? And who are you?"

"B-Because sh-she called for me and she wanted me to make sure that her family was safe b-before she took off to hide!" She pulled back a bit and pulled out a baton from her back to fiddle with it. She was stupid cute and the way she moved and sway of her thick braid of black hair reminded Luka of a song that said something like you are a cinema, I'd watch you forever. "M-My name is La-Lady Noire. I'm Chat's um... substitute for today? Maybe forever," she said, a little unsure of herself.

Once he stopped being so mesmerized by her Luka asked "Is… Chat Noir okay? And Ladybug knows about the change? Are you okay with this?"

She sighed. "Yeah, everyone's okay, it's… just new. Ladybug... even suggested this change up! I'll… I'll be fine, I know it. And Mr Bug will be fine too, I'll make sure--"

"Mister Bug?"

"Oh, yeah. Um. Yeah new hero there too," Lady Noire said. "Well, he's Ladybug's substitute. He's handled it once before, now he can handle all of it," Lady Noire said a little cynically with an eyeroll. "Yeah. Anyway! Um! Marinette's okay, she's just... hunkered down somewhere and she'll be just fine. Thank you for checking up on her, Luka." Lady Noire smiled at him and he noticed just a tiny bit of fangs. His tongue passed over his own canines, wondering how the fangs would feel if he kissed her...

Oh God why was he imagining that? Oh jeez he needed to calm down. He needed to... to focus on the akumas! "The-The akumas are my mmm…" Luka said distractedly, staring at Lady Noire's lips as they curled upward into a smirk.

"Mmm?" Lady Noire teased, leaning in toward Luka. "Are your…?"

He felt fresh sweat on the back of his neck as he blushed harder, forcing himself to look up at her eyes. "Mmmy sister and my... Ma."

Lady Noire looked more serious now. "Oh, I'm sorry. But don't you worry, Luka, Mr Bug and I will handle it. Thank you for giving me that information. I'll save your family!" She started turning to get ready to leave.

He started reaching out for her but pulled back before he grabbed her hand. "Wait! W-Wait, can… Can I come with you?" Luka panicked a little because she was going to leave without him! And he... he could help? It wasn't at all because he found her cute, no...

Her eyebrows furrowed. "That's a bad idea, why would you want to do that?"

Surprisingly it didn't take too long to come up with a reason because he had been thinking about this all through his journey. "I know why they got akumatized, I was there when it happened. I can talk to them and get them to calm down (hopefully)! Make it easier on you for your first time? I think they'll listen more if it's coming from me. I'll try to not get in your way."

She frowned a little but nodded. "I guess we can try, but I'm putting you somewhere safe the moment it gets dangerous." Lady Noire grabbed a hold of his waist after putting his arm over her shoulder, leaping up onto Marinette's bed and through the opened balcony entrance.

His heart was going to explode sometime soon. Luka's pulse was racing and he wasn't sure if it was because he was several hundred meters in the air or because Lady Noire had winked and whispered into his ear to hold on tight. He was certain that if he wasn't focusing on his being airborne and almost falling to his death even with Lady Noire holding onto him, he'd be incredibly awkward about being bodily pressed up against a super hot girl.

She must have seen where Mr Bug was because she changed direction after a few leaps. The baton extended and slowed down their descent to meet up with the other hero.

"You sure took your time getting here, Kitten," Mr Bug scowled as Lady Noire let Luka down, all three on the roof of a building nearby the action.

"No later than you usually do, Mr Bug," Lady Noire shot back. "But I brought a friend!"

"Yeah, I noticed. Hey there... civilian. I see you brought some mirrors, that's smart," Mr Bug said, patting Luka on the back after pulling off the mirror from Luka's bike helmet. "Looks like we have a flying pirate ship. Someone's gotta be up there piloting it."

Luka nodded. "Yeah, my sister's on the ship and the ship's my Ma, both of them are akumatized."

"What happened?" Lady Noire asked. "Forgot to ask earlier."

Luka frowned. "... Jagged."

"Ahhh," both of the heroes said simultaneously. Luka nodded sadly.

"Do you know what powers they have?" Mr Bug asked Luka.

"Yeah, my sister shoots lasers from her hand to turn people into copies of her and my Ma's... a flying pirate ship that shoots cannon balls that blast noise at people."

Mr Bug put his hands on his hips. "What were the chances we'd have to fight Reflekta again like this? Alright, let's see what Lucky Charm we get." He called up the Lucky Charm and a red and black bicycle wheel fell into his hands. "... Huh? What... do I do here?"

"Think fast, Mr Bug. It's time to get a move on," Lady Noire said, coming across rather unhelpful to Mr Bug. "We only have 5 minutes now." Luka couldn't help but sense a tiny bit of smug satisfaction coming from Lady Noire.

Mr Bug sighed. "I know, I know, I'll figure out what to do with this thing. Look, can you get Lu--the civilian to safety?"

Luka chimed in quickly. "Wait, let me see if I can get my Ma down here. I can call them over and then you two can board when the Liberty's grounded," Luka suggested.

"Not a bad plan, I guess," Mr Bug shrugged. "Lady Noire, I'll leave that to you." Lady Noire nodded and took Luka by the waist again and leapt off the building, landing them safely next to the Seine banks.

Luka noticed that the akumas were zeroing in on other civilians and he yelled up at them, trying to get their attention. "MA! JULEKA! HEEEEYYYY!" Luka yelled at the top of his lungs. He sprinted at a group of people and just barely managed to push out his mirror and bounce off the Reflekta laser beam away from them as they fled the area. He desperately hoped he could actually do his part to draw the Nanarchy down closer so that Mr Bug and Lady Noire would be able to board.

So far it wasn't going as expected. "Luka ye daft landlubber get ye away from here! Git!" Nanarchy boomed, shooting the speaker cannons near him to force him to run. All of a sudden there was a blast wave and he got knocked off his feet--wait no, Lady Noire was the one who had jumped at him and rolled them both away from the cannons. And now they landed in the precarious situation where she was on top of him with his hands in her hair trying to protect her head.

She looked at him and cracked a smile. "I could get used to being like this."

"Being shot at?"

"Being on top of you," she winked. He must have blushed something fierce because she giggled.

"Hey! Get your dirty paws off of my brother you stupid stray!" Reflekta yelled, aiming the ship down to shoot at Lady Noire. Okay, oddly that worked in drawing the ship down. Luka would take what he could get.

"Looks like Plan Grounding is working," Lady Noire said quickly, getting them to their feet. "But we need to move on to Plan De-Evilizing!" She took his hand and they took off running, dodging cannon and laser blasts coming from the Nanarchy. "And now it's getting dangerous so I need to get you somewhere safe!"

"Maybe if you tear Ma's sails down she won't be able to fly off again?!" Was that true? Luka hoped that was true.

"Alright, I'll try! But you!" They ran to a photobooth and Lady Noire pushed Luka inside, ejecting two earplugs from her baton. "Stay here, use these! I'll come back for you after we're done, stay safe!" She reached out her hand to let him take the earplugs and booped him on the nose before closing the door.

Luka set the earplugs in and laid back in the booth, not totally sure that a photobooth was the safest place to lay low. He heard a few distant booms and the ground shook and vibrated a bit, so it was probably okay to assume that the heroes were still dealing with his akumatized family.

The next few minutes had Luka sitting alone with his thoughts, filling his mind with images of Lady Noire. He didn't figure he'd be saying this so soon but… maybe he was interested in someone other than Marinette Dupain-Cheng and moving on already? And Lady Noire seemed to be interested in him, with the way she was always touching him? That was a sign that girls liked you right?

But ugh it was just like 20 minutes that he met Lady Noire jeez. And she was a hero, what would she do with a boy like him anyway? Would she date him as a superhero? Wait, did she even want to date him? But even if it'd just been 20 minutes he was pretty sure she was touching him like 90% of that time. If she did like him and want to date Luka was maybe willing to try, it wasn't like he--

A flash went off and he realized that the photobooth had taken a picture. After a couple of seconds another flash and another picture. He nearly jumped through the roof when another face showed up next to his in the reflection and flash. He turned and looked into the bright green eyes of Lady Noire. She leaned in and he figured she was going to tell him something and instead felt her kiss him on the cheek. Flash.

She gently plucked out the earplugs from his ears. "Haha, I'm so sorry I scared you!"

He could feel that his face was on fire. "H-Hey Lady Noire," he said lamely. "It's--I'm fine. What's up?"

"The tip you gave me about tearing the sails came in handy! Mr Bug and I were able to stop the ship from taking off again. We've defeated the akumas and your mom and sister are fine now. I'm here to take you home," she winked.

But… wait, did he just spend the last several minutes spazzing out over Lady Noire? Oh jeez. And he kinda just left his bike at the Dupain-Cheng's. "I… I left all my stuff at the Boulangerie on Rue Gotlib, I should go back there…?"

Lady Noire looked a little nervous but tried to hide it. "Um, you know I'm good friends with Marinette, I'll ask her to get your stuff back to you! Plus I think you need to get back to your family right away, right? Make sure they're okay with Jagged?"

Oh shoot, there was still his dad to deal with. "Yeah, you're right." Luka said, sighing.

"Great! Let's get you out of here. Oh, wait," Lady Noire grabbed the pictures from the photobooth and tucked them in Luka's front pocket. "A souvenir!"

⁂

Marinette pulled up to the Liberty with Luka's bike less than an hour later. Even though Luka was taller than she was, her legs were still long enough to reach the pedals. She got over the gangplank and laid the bike against the ship railing, placing the bike stand down so it didn't tip over. She also unbuckled her pink helmet and set it in the bike basket.

Luka had bought her her own helmet. Because of course he had. And he'd brought it somehow when he was panicking and trying to find her so she could get Ladybug. Or, in this case, Lady Noire.

It seemed like things were settling down and she heard some guitar strumming from behind the stage. She walked around and saw Luka lying back in his preferred chillaxing spot playing his acoustic. "Hey Luka," Marinette greeted.

He smiled up at her, beatific. "Hey Marinette. I'm glad to see you."

She blushed a little. "I brought your bike back. I-I mean Lady Noire asked me to get your stuff back to you so I thought I'd do just that and h-here I am!"

"Thanks," he said. "I really appreciate that." He sat up and she noticed he seemed a little unsure of himself. "If you want I can walk you back home? Unless you needed to talk to Juleka."

"Kicking me out already?" Marinette teased.

He blanched. "No, no, nev--no. I... was just... uh."

"Maybe I also want to talk with you for a little bit, too." She sat down right next to him. He blinked in surprise but didn't move. "Maybe I wanted to know what you think about Lady Noire?"

He blushed and turned away a bit for some reason. "She's... nice."

"Nice?" Marinette probed. "Is that all? Do you like her? She seems to like you a lot."

He looked at her, eyes opened wide. "Sh-She does?"

"She told me she thinks you're cute," Marinette giggled, leaning in a little.

Luka blushed harder. "... She did?"

"And what's this?" Marinette reached over and pulled something from his front jacket pocket and looked it over. "Wow, I'm jealous."

"Wh-What?"

"Look, the camera captured the moment Lady Noire kissed you!"

He looked dumbfounded. "She kissed me?"

"In this picture here," she pointed at the last picture.

He blushed hard, taking the strip of pictures in his hand and staring at it with his mouth hung open for a few seconds. "She kissed me," he said in disbelief.

Marinette sighed. "I have some stiff competition," she muttered out loud.

He looked dizzy. "Wh-What was that?"

She took his face in her hands and kissed him. "There, now I'm even with Lady Noire."

#fxl fic #lbsc exchange 2022 #lukanette #pro lukamari #lukanette endgame #endgame lukanette #luka couffaine #lady noire #mister bug #marinette dupain cheng

45 notes · View notes

feminaexlux · 2 years

Text

Just Be: You (Part 2)

Part 1 here

For @milahidee and @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers

Read on AO3 here!

⁂

(A little more than a week ago)

Alix held out the silver pocket watch to Ladybug as the heroine landed on her apartment roof. "Thanks for making it easy, Alix," Ladybug said, taking the pocket watch. "But I guess you knew this was happening."

"Hey, I already lived 300 lifetimes in the In Between. I did my job and I'm done," Alix shrugged. "And yeah, I saw this coming. For what it's worth, I'm proud of you for finally getting your act together, Marinette. The others will come around soon enough."

Ladybug chuckled bitterly. "You shouldn't spoil the future for me, Alix. That's not very professional of you."

"You're not even gonna remember this, Dumbbug," Alix grinned.

Ladybug stood still for a minute in contemplation. "Th-Then you can tell me this 'cause I need to know… How do you not go crazy, Alix? You had the worst job out of any of us. How did you keep it together?"

"Pfft, that's easy. You gotta live in the moment, Bug. Once your duty's done you gotta live for yourself. When I'm not Bunnix I'm just Alix, and Alix fuckin' kicks ass."

"Can you tell me about me and… Adrien? Will this work?"

Alix shrugged. "You knowing doesn't change what you're gonna do. It doesn't matter what I say."

"Can I hear it anyway?" Ladybug huffed.

Alix rolled her eyes. "Fiiiiine, fine. It works. You both are much, much happier."

"Oh thank God," Ladybug sighed.

"Just… not together."

Ladybug froze. The corners of her eyes glistened with tears. "I knew it," she said under her breath.

⁂

(Now)

Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly, Marinette didn't find herself too bothered with the fact that her past might or might not have been lived by someone else. What was she going to do with that information anyway? Whoever "she" was now, she was here, she was making the decisions, she was going to live for herself.

She wasn't some superhero and she didn't have any magic powers. She was a pretty normal girl other than her gift of design talent and passion for fashion that she'd put toward running her boutique store. And she was really, really behind on managing that front.

She had put a pause on her tiny trickle of commissions when she decided to journey overseas and finally return that jewelry box to the Order. At home in her room, Marinette pulled up her to-do list on her desktop and checked the project statuses and deadlines, prioritizing the ones that were labeled "ASAP" to the top and sorting the rest by nearest deadline.

She noticed one fell to the bottom as she'd previously slapped on a deadline of 3000-12-31. Why did she do that? Only a vague sense of shame and regret settled on her when she tried to remember what it was. She opened up the attached project file and it expanded out to several pages of sketches of apparel with snakeskin, lightning bolts, electric blue and magenta coloring, and grungy/punk rock themes. That stuff didn't look half bad, but maybe she didn't have a client? Or the client fell through? Oh well. Once she got organized and back on track, she'd revisit that. Maybe she'd be able to repurpose some of those elements into other commissions?

Anyway, what was more pressing was that she had an outstanding tour outfit commission for Jagged Freaking Stone and she'd just... fucked off to Tibet in the middle of it? But no, Jagged Penny knew that Marinette needed to take time off. They had such a long history of working together that Jagged had encouraged Marinette to go and find her zen.

And Marinette had found it.

The request from Jagged was... nebulous and spacey even with Penny's additional comments, but this was Jagged's usual way of telling her she had free reign to do what she wanted, so long as it ended up "Rocktastic." His upcoming tour was in a few months. Jagged Stone had asked for "Unity", "Paris", and "Awesome guitar riffs." Marinette had her work cut out for this particular project.

Marinette had plenty of inspiration for normal clothes, making sure to jot those down to flesh out later. When it came to Jagged, though, she knew he'd go for something... well, Jagged. Marinette spent most of the day thinking up costume ideas, each becoming more outlandishly flamboyant than the previous, but none of them hit the right kind of note she was looking for.

She looked over at her clock and it was already past 22:00. Fuck, she needed a drink.

Once in a while over the past few years Marinette had the guilty pleasure of heading to a low-key bar in the 4th arrondissement close to Notre-Dame. She loved walking down the the bridges across the Seine at night even though it struck her with a sense of melancholy. She stopped in the middle of the pedestrian bridge, imagining herself brokenhearted, hugging a lover for the last time as they said their goodbyes. The imagined scene felt so real, even though she was sure that hadn't ever happened to her.

A thought ran through her head like a half-remembered whisper, soft but distorted. "When you're ready, I'll be here, Marinette."

Her brain must have filled in part of the scene. She knew she let herself get lost in fantasies a little too much, but would be amazingly romantic if someone was waiting for her out there. Indulging in tiny bit of daydreaming was fine once in a while, right? She chuckled to herself and continued walking to the bar.

She heard muted music from below after she got inside the bar, a band was already in the middle of their set. She got herself a cocktail, going downstairs to the basement and sitting down at a free small table. The band was playing something fairly catchy and she closed her eyes, letting herself get lost in the music, feeling the drum beats and the electric vibrations of the instruments. Marinette reopened her eyes and looked over the musicians themselves.

Two guitarists, a bassist, and one drummer. They were all dressed fairly casually except for one guitarist in a navy blazer. It was hard to tell what the drummer in the back was wearing but Marinette spotted a lime-green mohawk and heart-shaped glasses, reminding her of a pineapple, oddly enough. The bassist was wearing funky orange plaid pants, black boots, and a simple fitted black shirt rolled up at the sleeves, showing off her tattoos. The lead singer/guitarist in the front was wearing a simple light blue polo and black pants and black shoes.

The second guitarist in the blazer stood next to an amp that had a spray painted blue heart on it. He wore a black undershirt, old/distressed gray jeans with rips at the knees, and a black leather belt. He was also wearing canvas top shoes with a flower pattern. Something caught Marinette's eyes as she looked over him: there was a triangular pendant of some sort, and when she focused on it she realized it was a turquoise guitar pick that he'd hung on a necklace. It stood out well against the black.

Then she noticed he was looking right back at her. Oh shit.

Marinette quickly looked away but felt the heat on her face after they briefly locked eyes. Her heart was beating so hard and she didn't know why. Well, he was cute though. Long black hair, neatly trimmed beard, incredibly striking blue eyes. He seemed oddly familiar... She surreptitiously looked back at him and he was still looking at her... Then he nodded and looked away after giving her a small lopsided smile. He kept on playing as if nothing had happened, so... okay, it was all just her being shy. He was probably curious about why she was looking at him. Marinette blew out a breath and took another sip of her cocktail.

Damn it, Marinette, this was some fucking basic human interaction. Time to chill the fuck out.

She listened to the rest of the songs from the band, enjoying her drink and the music, unwinding a little more as each minute ticked past. The set wrapped up after some raucous cheering and she watched as the musicians put away their gear with the venue staff helping out. She tracked three of the members from that band (their name being Remi and the Unrequiteds, Marinette noted mentally) getting a table and being beset with fans, but Marinette didn't know where the guitarist in the blazer was. That was a shame as he was amazingly talented and the one that caught her eye the most.

Then she spotted him. He was at the other end of the bar, facing away from her and the stage lights though she could still make out his strong features by profile. He was standing by himself with a single drink, leaning his back against the bar looking relaxed, smiling and giving his quiet thanks to the fans that talked at him. Eventually the fans left him by himself when he didn't seem to engage. By some inexplicable reason Marinette also wanted to go over and talk with him. Well, why not? She could just tell him that he was a great musician and cheer him on and leave it at that if he was uncomfortable talking with anyone.

Her heart was beating fast again. She took in another breath.

Her drink was finished anyway, she had the convenient excuse of wanting to get another one. She got up and took her empty glass to the bar, setting the glass on the counter next to the guitarist. She nervously brushed her loose bangs back over her ear and smiled up at him as he looked over at her. "You guys were great, I love the music," she said. God, he must have been used to this sort of play. She kicked herself mentally at how lame her attempt was.

He cocked an eyebrow but smiled at her. "Thanks, I appreciate that. I'll pass it on to the band." He paused a moment, hesitating. "I haven't seen you here before, is this your first time here?" Oh please let that be a signal that he didn't mind Marinette talking to him. Wait, was he flirting with her?

Marinette blushed and tried flirting back. "Hah, no, I don't come often. I only come here when I need a break! I might come by more often if you guys are playing again though."

"I definitely would have remembered seeing you here before. Glad to have you as a fan," he chuckled. Smooth! "What did you need a break from?" He turned to face her more. He continued to talk with her! Good sign!

"Work, I guess?" Marinette shrugged, slipping into the bar seat next to him. That was smooth too, right? Right? And the work comment was true enough, she supposed. "I just wanted to hear some music to get some inspiration for something I'm working on. I'm really glad I came here tonight and was able to catch you--you guys."

"Were we able to help?" he asked with a lopsided smile.

"Um," Marinette said nervously. "N-Not really. Maybe a little bit? B-But I still enjoyed listening," she followed up quickly. He just laughed. "It's a really tough project. You are really talented, don't get me wrong, but I just have a-a really difficult client."

"If you want to, can you tell me what kind of inspiration you're looking for?" he asked, leaning toward her a bit more. Another band had started setting up their instruments and it was getting louder. The bartender came by and Marinette slipped in another order of her cocktail. The guy next to her also got another of his now-drained drink of a whiskey sour.

"I'm a designer and… I just have to design something… ugh, my client asked for something…" She got in closer so she could whisper. "'Rocktastic,'" Marinette cringed. "Like I have any idea what that means!"

He raised an eyebrow. "This client wouldn't happen to be Jagged Stone, would it?" Oh wow. How did he guess that in one? "Rocktastic" seemed like any sort of generically ambiguous client buzzword, or maybe not, actually… The surprise must have registered on Marinette's face because he shrugged and backed away a little bit. "I'm very familiar with Jagged," he sighed. "It sounds exactly like the kind of fanciful shit he asks for without ever explaining what it means." The guy didn't sound like he was bragging, and Jagged was pretty much as described… Still, it made Marinette wary.

"Well… Mmmaybe. How do you know Jagged?" Marinette asked, a little suspicious.

The guitarist smiled his lopsided smile again. He held out his hand to shake for Marinette. "Hi. I'm Luka Couffaine, Jagged Stone's son."

Oh fuck, that's why he seemed familiar. Jagged did have a son named Luka. And now she started seeing the similar facial features between the two. Where Jagged was extreme angles Luka seemed more... filled out and rugged at the same time? Holy shit. "O-O-Oh! Hi! I'm M-M-M-Marinette! Marinette Dupain-Cheng!" Marinette timidly placed her hand in his. "N-N-Nice meeting you!"

A flash of… something went through his eyes and he dropped his smile for a half-second. He regained his composure and shook her hand, letting it go after. "I know my dad is all kinds of out there. If you ever need help trying to decipher his bullshit I can give you my number."

Ohhhhh he was pulling a fast one! Marinette laughed. "You're too good at this. Do you always pick up girls this way?"

"Not in the habit of that, no," Luka said quietly, his tone surprisingly serious. "Sorry, am I making you uncomfortable?"

"No, no! I'm... just surprised you're... talking to me," Marinette admitted. "I figure you always have fans coming up and trying to get a signature or something."

"I'm known as the quiet one," Luka shrugged. "I don't have a lot to say. People get discouraged."

"You seem to be saying plenty to me," Marinette smiled.

"It's easy with you," he said simply. "Honestly I'm happy you're talking with me."

"Well, you're not discouraging me. And if you're serious about the Jagged offer I might take you up on it. I swear, he doesn't make any more sense even after working with him for years." A second later it got a lot harder to hear anything as the next band had started playing their music at the same time Luka said something and laughed. Marinette didn't hear and cupped her ear with a hand to indicate that. "Sorry, what?!" He pulled out a pen from his blazer and wrote something on a bar napkin, handing it to her when he was finished.

"Table upstairs?" it asked. Marinette bit her lip to hide a smile. She looked up at him and nodded. She followed him upstairs, the both of them taking their drinks. He found an open spot at the corner and he tilted his head in that direction. "Is that alright?"

"Works for me," she replied. They sat down across from each other at a small table. The main floor was less crowded as most of the people had gone down to the basement for the music.

"I was saying earlier that Jagged's never been easy to understand," Luka said easily, continuing the conversation from earlier. "Even as my dad. What did he ask for? I know he's going on tour 3 months from now."

"I guess you do know about his upcoming tour... I mean of course you would! Um Jagged asked me to work on his costume and he gave me some direction. 'Paris,' of course. 'Unity.' 'Awesome guitar riffs.'" Marinette added air-quotes to all of the requests.

Luka snorted and covered his mouth with his hand. He had black polish on his fingernails and a wide black ring on his index finger. "Riiight," he sighed. "Alright, so it's timed with the 2nd anniversary of..." Luka paused for a second, hesitating again. "Of Hawkmoth's reign of terrorizing coming to an end." He was looking intently at her for some reason.

Marinette just nodded. "That makes sense. God, I'm so upset I didn't make the connection earlier," she sighed.

Luka raised his eyebrow a bit but continued, watching her. "And Paris is definitely still celebrating that. But it's also been hard on everyone to adjust back to a normal lifestyle after years of Hawkmoth and the threat of being akumatized."

Sudden, deep pangs of hurt made it difficult for Marinette to breathe. There was something right in the middle of her throat that ached. She tried to swallow but it made it hurt even more.

Luka reached out and placed his hand over hers -- she realized in surprise that she was clenching a fist on the table with that hand. "Marinette? Are you alright?" he asked gently.

"S-Sorry," she managed to hiss out. Why did his hand feel so warm? Why was his voice so calming?

"We're all still healing in our own way," he said softly.

Marinette nodded mutely. Why was she locking up?! Why was she being weird?! None of this really made any sense but at least he wasn't upset at her. She hadn't been THAT affected by Hawkmoth, had she? God, this was the same as when she burst out suddenly at Alya. Ridiculous. Utterly RIDICULOUS.

Well, apparently she was affected by Hawkmoth more than she knew. And thankfully Luka was… surprisingly understanding here. That was sweet of him.

"I apologize. I don't mean to make you upset."

Marinette found her voice. "No, no, don't apologize. I… I-I just. It's okay. I'm okay, I promise. You're… you're helping, actually," Marinette admitted. "Things make more sense with you."

Luka pulled his hand back and Marinette was saddened by that. "Dad can be pretty fucking obtuse at times. Glad to hear I can help you a little."

Marinette laughed. "You're a godsend. Thanks, Luka."

He smiled back at her a little hesitantly. "I gotta confess. I knew you were working with Jagged before we started talking."

Marinette's eyes opened wide. "Oh really now?"

He chuckled. "Yeah. I've seen you at dad's studio a few times and I never had the guts to say hi. Jagged loves your stuff and I heard Penny talking about you the other day. I've known you for a while." His smile was bittersweet.

Well, shit. Maybe he wasn't flirting with her after all. "W-Well, I'm glad we're talking now," Marinette said cheerfully, trying to hide her disappointment.

He pulled out his pen again and wrote on another napkin. "Hey, if you think I can continue to help out with your project, feel free to message me whenever. I'd be happy to hang out for another drink, or coffee." He slid the napkin to her. It was his number! Score!

Marinette giggled. "I have a feeling I'm going to need a lot of your advice for this one! I'll try not to take up too much of your time," she winked. What the hell. Why did she wink.

Luka smiled back. "If it's you, Marinette, I'll make time."

⁂

Part 3

#fxl fic #lukanette endgame #endgame lukanette #pro lukamari #marinette dupain cheng #alix kubdel #luka couffaine #see I said the lukanette would be here

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feminaexlux · 2 years

Text

Just Be: Done with it (Part 1)

Happy Valentine's Day, @milahidee and @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers! Hope you enjoy, I focused on the "drama" and "suspense" lol

Original Prompts:

where marinette loses her memory and luka helps her and falls in love again, It can also be something like fantasy where luka is a snake king and marinette knows him because it helps juleka (etc.) some drama, suspense

Something where it contains Suspense and a lot of drama between luka and marinette, where they separate and later meet again and fall in love again Where everyone is against them but doesn't care about luka and marinette*

Rating: T+ (I know you asked for nsfw but I think you're 17 so I toned it down :sweats:)

Part 1 out of 3-4 or something iunno. There's no Lukanette just yet. Consider this the preface :)

Read on AO3 here!

⁂

Marinette opened her eyes and… just was. She imagined she was floating in an ocean of white, drifting along in a subtle current. It was blissfully silent. It wasn't frightening or oppressive or blinding at all. It was just something she found herself in. She checked herself over as she started realizing that maybe she was in a dream? But no, she moved her hand to her chest and she felt fabric against her skin. She felt her heart beating steadily.

She was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, age 24, unhurt and feeling okay. Well, feeling slightly better than okay. She couldn't explain where it came from but there was a huge sense of relief that something heavy and incredibly taxing was taken off of her shoulders.

There was a pleasant scent of jasmine green tea in the air. The universe started resolving itself around her, the white slowly getting less and less… opaque? What used to be vague shapes started getting outlined, then slowly the colors came in, and then she recognized things like lanterns and chairs and tables and tea sets and a person sitting at the table drinking tea by lanternlight. It was sometime in the evening, Marinette guessed. The tea-drinker person - no, she sort of remembered from somewhere that he was a Grandmaster - he was… Su-Han? His bushy gray eyebrows rose fractionally as he looked over at her.

"How are you feeling?"

How was she feeling? Why'd he ask that? She… she was fine. Felt pretty good, actually. Marinette wasn't quite sure what was going on. Maybe she'd missed something important? "I… think I'm fine, Grandmaster Su-Han."

His eyebrows rose further. "You remember me. How… unusual. Do you remember how you got here?"

Okay, now was the time to panic. How… she got here? Where is here? Okay, wait wait wait. She was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, age 24, from Paris, France and an aspiring designer and clothier. Here… Here was… she was in Tibet? She was in Tibet. Because she'd specifically sought out Grandmaster Su-Han. To return… a box. An important box of heirloom jewelry. Right. She must have passed out for some reason or another though. That was concerning.

Marinette had stalled for a few seconds as she processed things. "I had to return something, right? I… I remember having to return something and I'm so, so sorry, I must have tripped and knocked my head against something and concussed and you had to take care of me!"

God, that was probably exactly what she'd done being the clumsy dumbass she was. No wonder he was asking if she remembered anything, she must have knocked her head pretty hard. And that was why she was in a bed in all her clothes with a warm towelette on her forehead.

His eyebrows knitted but he smiled at her. The look was grandfatherly, like she'd just said something stupid and he decided to humor her. "You returned it, yes," he said gently. "The M-- box is back and safe in our hands. I am deeply thankful for your incredible bravery in returning the box to the Order. I--We have the utmost gratitude." Wh… what was that M word? It sounded like static. He pushed away from the table to stand and bowed to her. "You honor us, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. We will never forget the things you have done, even if you have chosen to."

Part of her head hurt when he said that last part. Part of her body hurt when he said that last part. She didn't know what happened there. "Th-thanks I mean no thanks needed! I don't know why I kept the jewelry box so long, they've always been yours--I mean the Order's right? So I'm just glad I was able to finally give them back, haha!" She had the sinking feeling that she was just going to get even worse headaches staying here any longer. Marinette decided she wasn't going to spend the energy trying to figure out why that was. "So I-I think I'm okay now, I should really get out of your hair--" Oh good going Marinette he's been bald for over a decade! Wait how did she know that? "--I mean out of your wayyyy so um. I'll-I'll get going!"

She took the towelette off her forehead and got out of the bed she was in. Su-Han helped her to her feet when she felt wobbly all of a sudden, but out of sheer willpower Marinette stood up straight and… shook his hand? It felt like the right thing to do. She saw that her bag had been left at the foot of the bed so she picked it up and slung it over her shoulder like she always did. She pulled out her phone to call her mom, more than ready to go home. Her home screen looked weird: did she really take a lame-ass selfie with Adrien Agreste? They weren't even close friends!

Wait. She was in Tibet. Why was she going to call her mom to get a ride back home? Well, okay, not a terrible first instinct to call her mom when she was feeling weird.

A few scattered details floated back into her brain from somewhere. She'd told her parents a week ago that she needed to head abroad to get some inspiration and insight for her designs, looking at the current fashion trends in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Xiamen. All of that had been half-truths just so she could leave Paris and spend a few weeks away anywhere else. Being in Paris made her skin crawl and had for the past couple of months for some reason. She took a break for herself.

She didn't remember if she had a plane ticket to get back home. Well, no. She hadn't even had a plane ticket to get here. That was super weird. Surely she hadn't walked all the way… Grandmaster Su-Han cleared his throat behind her. "Do… you remember how you got here? You seem to be having trouble."

Marinette's temples started throbbing. "I think I flew here from Paris," she said, shrugging.

Su-Han smiled faintly. "I could call for a… taxi," he struggled for a half second to find that last word. "We are much less remote here than before. The… airport is not close but will not take too long to get to." God Marinette hoped her credit card worked here, this was going to be expensive. "But it would be much easier if we asked Kaalki for assistance," Su-Han added a little reluctantly. "It is the least we can do." Marinette was about to ask who (or what) Kaalki was when her mind flashed an image of… Max? From Collège? That was random. She hadn't seen him in forever.

Su-Han rifled through a nearby box and fetched a pair of glasses to put on and suddenly Marinette's head exploded. Well, not really, but it felt like it: a searing pain went from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet like lightning had struck her. She flinched in pain and Su-Han apologized, for some reason. "I am sorry. But this would be easier for you, in the end. Kaalki--"

Marinette's brain decided to shut off and stop processing things right then. Which is why the next thing she knew she was waking up in the middle of Place de Vosges, sitting on a park bench facing toward a carousel in the middle of the afternoon. She felt rested…? She felt fine now. She must have needed a nap real bad. But it was a bad sign that she blacked out again.

She hadn't remembered getting into the taxi and going to the airport. She hadn't remembered getting on a plane to come back to Paris. She hadn't remembered her parents coming to pick her up. This wasn't normal. She should… probably go see a doctor. Okay, yeah, a doctor would be good. She pulled out her phone from her purse by habit. She looked at the screen and…

No, she remembered that she'd just looked at that stupid home screen picture. She remembered just talking with Su-Han. She also remembered that she had shown up somehow to the Order of the Guardians to return a box. She'd returned it, and then just a few minutes later she was here in Paris.

That was… that was supposed to be unsettling, right? Maybe even disquieting. But instead she found herself feeling the happiest she'd ever been in 10 long years.

She decided to not let it bother her. The world was pretty magical, anyway. She was just glad she didn't have to pay for a plane ticket. But still, it wouldn't hurt to drop by a clinic and get her headaches checked by a doctor.

⁂

Marinette took a taxi ride back to her parent's house after a visit to the clinic. The scans and lab work came back clear. Even after her GP told Marinette to take it easy and rest up and try to alleviate the stress that potentially caused her headaches and sporadic memory issues, Marinette decided she'd rather keep herself busy than sitting around doing nothing. After all, she'd been putting aside her boutique fashion shop for far too long, and she couldn't remember why she'd left the fledgling online shop by the wayside so many times. It was time to get serious about her dreams!

Then she realized she had gotten a text message from Alya during the checkup.

Alya: Hey girl, noticed that you're back in town already. Wanna meet up?

The text wasn't so creepy after Marinette remembered they'd been sharing each other's locations through their phones for over a decade. For some reason. Alya was her best friend… that was what friends did, right? Marinette had intended to say hi to her parents but if Alya reached out so quickly she was probably watching Marinette's location like a freaking hawk. Her best friend must have something important to talk about.

Marinette: Okay, do you want to meet at the café?

Alya: Gimme 20, I'll be there.

After saying a quick hello to her very surprised parents, Marinette walked to the café and grabbed a table and two teas. It wasn't long before she was joined by Alya. "Hey, how are you doing?" Alya asked, looking worried.

"I'm okay. What did you want to talk about?"

"Well… you," Alya gestured. "We'd all barely seen you for the past year and then just last week you showed up out of nowhere and told me you were 'done' with like, everything, and that you'd be gone for a while. You said I'd know when you'd be back and that we could talk then." Alya reached forward to take Marinette's hands in hers. "You looked so damn miserable and tired before you left but you didn't tell me anything. You said you couldn't. I'm so glad you're back and looking great, but… what happened, Marinette? Are you okay? Are you really done being--?"

Rage hit Marinette out of nowhere and she wrenched her hands from Alya's and yelled "I'm fucking done!" Marinette saw the shock hit Alya's face just as the shock registered to herself. Where the fuck did that come from? "Oh, I'm sorry," Marinette said, covering her mouth. "I don't know why I yelled at you. I'm sorry, Alya."

"It's… okay," Alya said, clearly unsure. "I… know you were having a lot of doubts these past few years. I didn't know it was getting worse," she sighed. "God I'm such a bad bestie. Are you doing okay now?"

"Y-Yeah, I think so," Marinette answered. "But I'm… I'm gonna have to be honest here, I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't remember having that conversation with you," Marinette said nervously.

Marinette saw her best friend pale. "Oh. Oh God. Okay. You said that you might have trouble remembering things when you came back. Shit." Alya bit at her thumbnail, furrowing her eyebrows in concentration. "What do you remember of last week?"

Marinette shrugged. "I wasn't doing anything, really."

"What… do you remember of the M--?" It was that staticky M word again.

"The what?"

Alya blinked. "M--?" Marinette just shook her head. "Oh fuck. Okay. What about Hawkmoth? Chat Noir?"

"I remember them," Marinette nodded.

Alya nodded as well. "'Kay, that's good. Do you remember being…" Alya leaned in and whispered. "Ladybug?"

Marinette's eyes widened. "What? I'm not Ladybug, that's crazy!"

There was a mixture of horror and sadness on Alya's face. "Oh shit," Alya sighed. "Oh, Marinette. I… I'm so… sorry I wasn't there for you. You shouldn't have had to do all this alone. I should have been there for you," Alya said quietly.

"… What are you talking about?"

"When you and Adrien were… God I thought I better stay outta both your business but I didn't realize… I never… I never asked… Goddamn."

"Me and… Adrien?"

"You don't remember Adrien?" she asked, looking more horrified.

"I remember him! Nino's best friend and he's the son and model of Gabriel, right? Wait, didn't Gabriel fold a few years ago? Crap…"

Alya scoffed. "You remember that?" She shook her head. "Gabriel was Hawkmoth. That's why the company dissolved."

Marinette gasped. "Oh no! Poor Adrien!"

Alya just shook her head again, looking incredulous now. "Yeah… you both took that hard. But I thought you'd recovered, you know? You both pulled through really well. But then maybe you and Chat Noir weren't doing so hot after all."

"Is… is Adrien okay?" Marinette asked, not sure what to make of Alya's resulting frown. "And… I only met Chat Noir a couple of times, Alya. What do you mean we weren't doing so hot? He seemed nice?"

Alya closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. "Marinette, you were Ladybug. Adrien was Chat Noir. You two were always together, until… until a year ago."

Marinette opened her mouth but realized she had nothing to say. This whole premise was ridiculous, how was she the one and only Ladybug of Paris? But Alya seemed to be deadly serious about this whole thing. "Nnnooo, no, I wasn't Ladybug," she said eventually. "I don't remember hanging out with Adrien that much either. We were friends, sure, but we didn't hang out like you're saying."

The corners of Alya's eyes were glistening with tears. "Oh, Marinette," she half-sobbed. Marinette went to her friend's side and pulled her into a hug.

"Alya, you're scaring me a little. I'm sorry… I'm making you cry but I… I don't know what to say? I'm not and have never been Ladybug. And… are you supposed to tell me that Adrien is Chat Noir? Isn't that supposed to be a secret? How did you find out? Did he tell you? Does everyone know?" Okay Marinette, your friend is having some kind of mental breakdown and you're asking about Chat Noir? Jeez. "Nevermind. Sorry, Alya. Sorry."

Alya chuckled softly. "No, no, this must be so… weird." She took in a deep breath and hugged Marinette back. "I'm… I'm just working through some things."

"Sorry if I'm not really getting it," Marinette said, leaving her hand on Alya's shoulder after breaking the hug. "And sorry I'm not Ladybug. But it's awesome that Ladybug and Chat Noir trust you with their secrets. You're just that cool!"

Alya barked out a pained laugh. "Hah! I'm so lame, Marinette. So fucking lame. But I'll be better. I promise you."

"O-Okay, sounds great," Marinette said, awkwardly shuffling back to the other side of the table. "I did get us some tea if you'd like it? I was going to have dinner with my parents, but I can put that off for tomorrow if you'd like me to stay and talk."

"Girl, I'm not even sure what I'd be talking about, if what I remember and what you remember of last week are different things." Alya pressed her fingers against her temple. "But I don't think you'd be lying to me. Something weird's going on." She sighed, shaking her head. "I'll need to call Luka. Or Adrien. Maybe both. Not that I can get a single thing out of that snake, but I'll be able to wring it out of that damn cat if I try," Alya muttered.

"Whatever you need to do," Marinette agreed, ignoring the weird animal references.

"No, fuck, maybe Alix," Alya continued to herself. "God, I hate time powers."

"Time powers?"

Alya snapped her head up, realizing that she'd been off in her own world. "Oh, nothing, nothing, just… thinking out loud on ya. Tea sounds delicious right now. Thanks for getting it, Marinette."

Marinette took a sip of her tea and stared into her reflection. "Look, Alya, I'm really sorry I haven't been around for the past while. I've… had pretty bad depression and I didn't want to see or talk to anyone outside of my parents. But coming back from my trip? I feel amazing, re-energized, you know? It just makes me wonder… if last week you remember me doing something I know I didn't do… did I maybe get impersonated by someone else? Was someone pretending to be me?"

"I… God, I don't know. This is some real comic book shit, girl," Alya sighed. "I know for sure I saw you last week. But that… that sounds like it might be something, I guess."

Marinette felt something heavy in the pit of her stomach. Something that hurt a whole damn lot. If Alya thought Marinette was someone else all this time… Who, if not Alya, knew who Marinette Dupain-Cheng was at all?

⁂

Part 2

#lukanette endgame #endgame lukanette #pro lukamari #lbsc exchange 2022 #lbscexchange2022 #marinette dupain cheng #grandmaster suhan #alya cesaire #yes this doesn't have lukanette in it yet #but y'all know I'll be adding it right #fxl fic

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