Marinette's favorite regular customer arrived at 4 pm on the dot. He was her roommate that had a punk exterior but a soft interior. His sleeves rolled up exposing faded multicolored snakes coiled around his arms. The outlines were solid black as the faded colors were due to the markers starting to wash off. The day before he volunteered at an orphanage and the kids enjoyed "coloring him in." He read stories and sang with them as he felt like all of them needed something to look forward to.
"You're boyfriend's here." The pink-haired girl teased as she nudged her.
"ALIX!" She scolded as she was not fond of her friend making jokes that she and Luka could ever be an item. The Couffaines had taken her in when Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng passed. Anarka Couffaine grew to be like a second mom to her coincidentally her two children Luka and Juleka became like siblings to her.
Luka leaned onto an empty counter space. "Marinette, is that guy bothering you?" He whispered. He pointed to a blonde man most likely in his mid-twenties dressed in a black pin-striped suit that was sipping quietly in the corner staring. This raised many red flags for Luka. Perhaps she was in danger? Or was this just his overactive imagination?
"Not really, no need to intervene," She hugged Luka as she was prone to do as she learned when she lost her parents that she didn't know when the last time she would get to hug that person.
"It's kinda my responsibility to watch out for you. What else is big brother's for?" He added as Marinette believed that there was good in everybody. A childish belief that would undoubtedly be her downfall.
She rolled her eyes. "I know, you told me that plenty of times,"
ChatNoir bit his tongue. Irritated that his business partner had stood him up and was forced to watch as this Mari, the girl hugged a strange man. He thought that they might be a couple as the man with dyed hair clearly had a fondness for Mari. He could read it in his body language, a useful skill he picked up while he worked on his so-called night hobby. He tapped his fingers impatiently on the wooden armrest.
"I can look after myself, Luka,"
She said flexing her arm as she had been taking boxing lessons from one of her coworker's sisters. For about a few months, enough to start to build muscles.
Luka understood but he was torn. He had feelings for Marinette that he considered unhealthy as he was supposed to love her like a sister as that is what his mom had told him. He knew the best course of action was to bury these feelings before they even sprouted.
Luka understood Marinette but the older he got he questioned whether pursuing the women he did was worth it. His current girlfriend or lover as she didn't like to be labeled was Chloe Bourgeois. She was considered the Princess of Paris and quite a handful to deal with as she despised Marinette. He thought maybe she was the key to solving his Marinette dilemma but it wasn't working.
"What man wears that to a coffee shop? He could be a trafficker or something worse."
"I don't know but it's his first time in the shop, I understand you're looking after me but I can stand up for myself. And your girlfriend's spamming me,"
"Probably pissed about her Prada bag. It's not my fault her ugly ass dog mistook it for a fire hydrant." Luka sighed as Chloe complained about her dog constantly but kept the thing around for the clout. Having adopted a Chinese crested dog made her an internet sensation. She named the thing Louis Vuitton hoping that would boost its confidence.
Luka thought it was a stupid reason as it was a dog. It could be called barf face and it would still have more self-confidence than half the humans in existence. He sighed before deciding to call Chloe as the longer he waited the more she would find roundabout ways to get a hold of him. "I'll be back, better have a hot chai when I return."
"Of course I will!"
