Violets & Bluebells

A Julenette Fan Fiction

Cover Image by StarrdustCrusader

Chapter 4

AN: Thanks for all the love! Sorry for the delay getting this chapter finished. I was having a bit of writer's block trying to tie in some details with future chapters and was trying not to write my story into a corner. Anyway, on with the next chapter! ^_^

Only mere minutes had passed since Juleka's close call with an akuma and amok but to her it had seemed like an hour. In Marinette's arms, time seemed to come to a standstill and she never wanted it to end. Being this close to her was everything she had hoped it would be and more and she wanted to savor every single moment of it.

When Marinette finally did loosen her comforting hug and slowly let her go, she did her best to not resist. Fortunately though, she didn't move from her position straddling Juleka's lap and stayed there with her hands draped over her shoulders. Juleka let her hands slide down her back and rest on Marinette's hips and decided that she liked this position too since they were still so close.

"How are you feeling, Jules?" Marinette asked her softly.

Jules…

Juleka definitely liked the sound of that and smiled a bit when she heard it. It was a pet name that Rose called her mainly because they were such good friends and had known each other so long. Hearing Marinette say it to her though had a much greater effect on her than when Rose said it. It seemed to confirm that they were now closer than they had ever been since Marinette had never called her by that nickname before.

"I haven't felt this good in a long time," Juleka told her. She honestly hadn't. Marinette had such an overwhelming effect on her emotions and it was like night and day compared to how she felt a little while ago.

"I can't tell you how good it is to hear that!" Marinette beamed, giving her a bright smile. "I was so worried about you!" She instinctively pressed her fingers into her shoulders in a massage-like manner when she said this and Juleka felt a shiver go down her spine.

"Y-you were?" Juleka asked a little shakily.

"Of course I was! You're one of my best friends, Jules!" Marinette brushed her violet bangs out of her face and held her cheek gently. "Don't you know how much I care about you?"

Jules…

She could get used to hearing her call her by that pet name. That combined with her delicate touch had Juleka's heart skipping a beat and turning her cheeks a light crimson shade.

"I-I guess I didn't realize how much you did." Juleka shamefully admitted. "I'm, so sorry, Marinette. I've just been… so upset… for a long time and...I just forgot how much everyone cared." Juleka almost didn't get the words out but when she finally did it felt as if a weight had been lifted. She had finally been able to tell someone that she was dealing with problems.

"Ohhh, Juleka!" Marinette exclaimed when she heard this. She immediately wrapped Juleka up in a tight hug and rubbed her back affectionately. "You have nothing to apologize for, okay? You didn't do anything wrong!"

Juleka tightened their embrace and gave a fierce, quick nod in reply. She could feel her eyes welling up again from the swell of emotions between them. They parted a moment later and Juleka saw that Marinette's eyes were watering as well as her own.

"I'm just sad that you've been going through this all alone and I wasn't able to help you. Am I difficult to talk to?" Marinette asked slowly.

"No!" Juleka blurted out almost instantly, startling Marinette a little. "I mean, no, you're not," Juleka continued in a gentler tone. "I wanted to talk to you and Rose… so many times… but I'm just not good at sharing my feelings sometimes…or all the time really."

"I understand," Marinette nodded, "and I know just the thing that will help…" she trailed off as a coy smile spread over her face.

"W-what?" Juleka asked, unsure of what to make of her playful smile.

"Well, why don't you come over to my house and we can talk about it and…"Marinette trailed off, her grin getting bigger, "have a sleepover!" She suddenly yelled, pumping her first into the air.

Juleka jumped from her sudden outburst but she knew immediately that she loved the idea. "Really?" She asked, almost feeling like it was too good to be true

"Yes! I don't think we've ever spent any time together, just the two of us. After everything that's happened, I think it would be a good idea for us to get… well, closer." Marinette's voice went really soft at the end.

Juleka immediately picked up on what Marinette had said and her breath caught in her throat. The way she said it made her cheeks flush and she wasn't sure how to interpret exactly what she was implying. She didn't want to jump to any conclusions and assume the wrong thing so she decided to agree with her until she could be sure.

"You're right, Marinette. We could be a lot closer." Implications aside, Juleka couldn't believe she was able to even say those words aloud.

"So, is that a yes?" Marinette asked with a grin, her fingers crossed playfully in plain view so that Juleka would know she was hoping she'd say yes.

"Yes, of course,"Juleka replied with the happiest smile she'd had in a while. Her day just went from being the worst ever to the best ever and she could barely contain her excitement at the thought of spending so much time with Marinette.

"Yay!" Marinette cheered. "Then how about we get out of this dreary boiler room?"

Juleka nodded and enjoyed the thought of being able to walk out as herself instead of an akumatized villain. Marinette stood up and graciously offered her hands to Juleka, gently helping her up to her feet.

"Do you think Chloe's still here?" Juleka wondered aloud as they headed down the hall to the exit.

"No, but I'm here so you have nothing to worry about," Marinette told her with a comforting smile.

Juleka gave a brave face as they pushed the boiler door open and stepped out into the courtyard. They glanced around but there was no sign of an akuma, amok or Chloe and figured it was safe to proceed. No one was in sight except a lone janitor sweeping the second floor balcony.

"Oh, I left all my stuff on my desk," Juleka suddenly remembered.

"I'll come with you. I need to stop by the locker room before we leave anyway. I left my backpack in there when I was looking for you earlier," Marinette replied.

They headed up to their classroom first and were happy to find it empty. Marinette hung back near the doorway while Juleka went to her desk and started packing everything up into her bag. She closed one of her textbooks revealing her phone underneath where she had forgotten it. She slowly picked it up and saw that she had a missed call and a text from Rose, begging her to call her back.

"Everything okay?" Marinette asked when she saw her looking at her phone intently.

"No…," Juleka trailed off. "I'm sorry but I need to call Rose and apologize."

"Yeah, of course," Marinette replied, happy to hear she was going to patch things up. "Take your time and I'll go get my backpack and wait outside the classroom until you're done."

Marinette headed downstairs and into the locker room where she'd left her backpack on one of the benches when she went looking for Juleka earlier.

"That was a wonderful thing you did for your friend, Marinette!" Tiki exclaimed suddenly, popping out of her purse.

"Oh, thanks, Tiki." Marinette replied as she grabbed her backpack off the nearest bench and slipped it over her shoulders.

"It was a really close call though. Did you see how close the akuma and amok got to you?" Tiki asked.

"No, I wanted to give Juleka my complete attention so I risked not checking so I could focus on her." Marinette said, letting out a sigh.

"Marinette! That was incredibly dangerous!" Tiki scolded. "They were only a few feet away! You could have been akumatized with her!"

"I know, I'm sorry, Tiki!" Marinette apologized with folded hands. "I couldn't let her get akumatized again. Not after what I saw in class today."

"What did you see in class?" Tiki asked curiously.

"She was crying in class today and…" Marinette couldn't even say it without a pained expression washing over her face.

"And what?"

Marinette took a deep breath. "And the expression I saw on her face when she thought no one was looking…it looked like she was suffering…like she was in agony…"

"Oh, Marinette! That's terrible! I'm so sorry!" Tiki exclaimed in shock.

"Not as sorry as I feel. I'm supposed to be one of her best friends and somehow I didn't see this. Somehow I missed all the signs." Marinette sat abruptly on the nearest bench and let her head fall in her hands in exasperation.

Tiki floated over and landed on her shoulder. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Marinette. You have a lot of friends and you're always trying to help them all. You can't be everywhere at once."

"Maybe not, but I can sure do a better job at knowing when my friends need help," Marinette moaned in frustration.

"If I've learned anything from all my years observing people, it's that they are good at hiding their emotions." Tiki replied, trying to comfort her. "She always seemed like a very quiet and reserved girl from what I've seen and heard so it would seem that she was really good at it."

"Yeah, but…"

"No butts, Marinette!" Tiki interrupted snappily. "If you're serious about helping your friend, then you need to stop dwelling on things you could have done to help her if you had known and start focusing on things you can do to help her here and now. If you don't, you're going to just keep getting more and more upset until it's you getting akumatized."

Marinette pouted her lips and thought over her kwami's advice for a moment. "You're…right Tiki. I know you are…but it's hard not to get upset about this. I-I really care about her…"

"Then why don't you show her how much you care by doing whatever you can to help her," Tiki encouraged.

"The issue I'm having though is that I already know how to help her but I can't unless…she gets akumatized again. I couldn't let that happen to her, Tiki. I just couldn't," Marinette said with sadness in her eyes.

"You're referring to your magical charm?" Tiki asked.

"Yeah, that's right."

"I know you just created your first one recently but do you think that you would be able to create one under different circumstances?" Tiki suggested.

"What are you saying?" Marinette asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"I mean do you think you could create one at another time besides right after you used your lucky charm?" Tiki clarified.

"I don't know, Tiki. It's a good idea but I don't know if I'm able to do that. I thought that I was able to create them in response to using my lucky charm and cleansing the akumas of dark energy," Marinette pondered. "Do you think I could do it?"

"You won't know if you don't try, Marinette, and it can't hurt to try. What if the reason that you're able to create them isn't actually because of what you think it is?" Tiki proposed.

"If that's not the reason, then what else could it be?" Marinette asked curiously.

"You're always so selfless when you're trying to help or save people, Marinette. Sometimes I think that there isn't anything you wouldn't do to help your friends, family or the people of Paris. Your heart is by far your greatest strength of all," Tiki told her proudly.

"Awww, Tiki!" Marinette blushed, gently cradling her kwami in her hands and giving her an affectionate kiss on her head. "You are so sweet! I think I understand what you're getting at. You're trying to say that I might be able to create a charm if it's done out of an act of lo…"

"Marinette?" a familiar voice asked out of nowhere.

Tiki immediately dashed back to her holder's purse and Marinette glanced up with a look of panic as Juleka suddenly walked into the locker room.

"Oh, there you are. I didn't see you outside the classroom so I came looking for you," Juleka stated. She had a puzzled look on her face and seemed to be eyeing Marinette suspiciously.

"Oh, hahaha! Here I am!" Marinette laughed nervously. Had she seen Tiki or heard her talking to her?

"A-are you okay?" Juleka asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, of course! I'm doing great! Why wouldn't I be?" Marinette rattled off a bit too loudly.

"Oh, I just...I thought I heard you talking to someone right before I came in?" Juleka glanced around the locker room for any signs of another student or teacher.

"What, oh that? I was just talking to...myself!" Marinette declared like it was the most natural thing in the world. Inside she breathed a sigh of relief that Juleka hadn't seen Tiki. She hated having to lie to her like she always did in these situations but it had to be done to protect her secret.

"You…talk to...yourself?" Juleka asked somewhat curiously.

"What, you don't? I talk to myself all the time!" Marinette laughed with a goofy grin on her face. "It really helps me focus and figure things out when I say whatever I'm thinking!" Marinette thought she was going to die from embarrassment but she kept up her charade and added some dramatic hand movements for emphasis.

This was one of Marinette's classic features when she acted all goofy and silly like this. Juleka absolutely loved it and didn't even realize how contagious Marinette's mannerisms were when she suddenly blurted out, "You're so cute."

Juleka immediately felt her cheeks burning in embarrassment and she quickly lowered her eyes, avoiding Marinette's gaze. Did she really just say that aloud? What was happening to her that she would just say something like that, to Marinette of all people? Juleka suddenly realized that she was going to have to be more careful what she said around her, as being around Marinette was starting to have an effect on her. Even so, she couldn't hold back the small smile that had spread across her lips.

"Oh...you think I'm cute?" Marinette asked slowly. She was completely caught off guard by the compliment. Was Juleka just being nice to get or was there something more in her voice she was detecting? The blush on her cheeks seemed to indicate that there might be.

After letting such a flirtatious compliment slip out, Juleka didn't think that she would be able to speak. She bravely lifted her eyes up and met Marinette's curious gaze, giving her a small nod.

Now it was Marinette's turn to blush after seeing the look in Juleka's eyes. She saw something she had never seen before and felt a shiver run down her spine. "Because I talk to myself?"

Juleka gulped realizing she had opened a door that she wasn't quite ready to open and had to figure out how to explain herself. "Well, yeah...I mean...well, not entirely...I mean…" Juleka stammered, trailing off. She swallowed nervously and felt like the words weren't going to come out no matter how much she wanted them to. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and focused on saying one word at a time. "I just meant the way you act is…cute."

"Ooh, thank you Juleka. That's very kind of you to say." Marinette said sweetly, as she walked up to her and gave Juleka's arm an affectionate squeeze. She noticed the blush on her face deepen and really started to wonder if her compliment was more than friendly. Juleka looked a bit nervous and uncomfortable so she thought a little levity might help the situation out. "I'm glad you don't think I'm a dork or something for talking to myself," Marinette laughed.

"What? No, I would never!" Juleka assured her very quickly; so quickly, in fact, that Marinette was startled by how fast she responded. She seemed so sincere the way she said it that it was as if it would be the last thing she would ever think.

"Oh, I...uh, thank you, Juleka." Marinette didn't know why but she was suddenly having trouble finding her words. Perhaps levity wasn't going to help the situation out after all. She was still trying to process everything and didn't know at all what to say. Maybe a change in subject was in order. "Did you get a hold of Rose?"

"Oh yeah, I was able to reach her. We talked for a bit and I apologized for the way I treated her," Juleka told her.

"That's great to hear! You two are such good friends and I'd hate it if there were any problems between you." Marinette gave her a warm smile and another affectionate squeeze on her arm. She immediately noticed a reddening on Juleka's cheeks after she did this and wondered if maybe she should stop.

"Oh, t-thanks, Marinette." Juleka looked up and gave her a small smile before her eyes retreated back down. "Actually, Rose had already forgiven me before I even had a chance to apologize."

"Awww!" Marinette smiled brightly. "Rose is such a sweetheart!"

"Yeah, she is." Juleka felt the blush on her cheeks fading and bravely looked up, managing to hold eye contact with her. "Oh, I mentioned to her that I'm spending the weekend with you. She said she was happy that we were spending time together."

"Oh, that was nice of her to say," Marinette smiled. "Speaking of which, do you want to get out of here?"

"Yeah, that sounds good." Juleka nodded.

They headed out of the locker room together and walked the short distance through the courtyard and under the archway out of the school. As they were going down the steps, Juleka suddenly remembered something she forgot to tell Marinette. "Oh, I realized after talking to Rose that I'm going to need to run home first and pack an overnight bag."

"Oh yeah!" Marinette exclaimed. "I don't know why I didn't even think of that!"

"It's, okay. I didn't even think about it at first after we decided to have a sleepover," Juleka recalled as they headed around the corner of the school and over to the bike corral. Juleka dialed the combination on her padlock and pulled her bike out. "It won't take me long to go home, pack and get back here."

"Okay, sounds good to me."

"Anything special I need to bring?" Juleka asked softly.

"Oh, besides a pillow, clothes, toiletries...and yourself, that should be it," Marinette replied playfully.

Juleka giggled as she got on her bike and prepared to leave. Marinette suddenly stepped up and gave her a quick hug, almost making her lose her balance and fall off her bike.

"I'll see you soon, Jules."Marinette gave her a warm smile. "Just head on in when you get here and feel free to bring your bike inside as well."

"O-okay, Marinette. I'll be back really soon." She gave her a small wave before slowly pedaling away.

Marinette watched as she disappeared from view and felt a stirring in her chest at the thought of spending the weekend together with Juleka. She was such a quiet, sweet girl and Marinette really wanted to help her with everything she was going through. More than anything, she wanted to be there for her friend anyway she could and felt her emotions swell just thinking about her. Juleka deserved to be happy and she wanted to help make that happen and bring some much needed sunshine into her life. Marinette gulped as she felt a mixture of excitement and nervousness at the thought of the weekend. She quickly headed across the street to her home to get things ready as a small smile played at the corners of her lips.