"Can I ask you something?" Luka worried his bottom lip.

"Anything." Marinette got up and sat next to him in a chair.

"Will you ever pick me? Or am I completely out of the race now?" His eyes spoke volumes and it made her heart ache.

Marinette sighed and thought of what to say.

"I like you a lot. I admire you. You're always so nice to me. You're talented…" Marinette took his hands in hers and smiled at him.

"But I'm not Adrien." The fact that she was holding something back made his heart ache.

"Not true. Well, I mean you're not him. But I don't mean it that way. I-" Marinette held her head in her hands. She was living through what she didn't want. "I-"

Luka looked at her and then over at Adrien to make sure he was still sleeping. He worried his bottom lip and looked back to her.

"I like you a lot. In some cases… I like you more. I like the lack of drama. The lack of secrets. I like how open you are." Marinette sighed. "I like the normalcy with you."

Luka cringed, unsure with how to take that last one. "Normalcy?"

Marinette covered her mouth. "I can't… explain that. Just know that you make me feel special… as myself." She smiled at him and brought her lips close to his. She touched his chin and looked into his sad teal eyes. "You make me feel less broken. Less clumsy. Less… Marinette." She kissed him on the lips and he pulled her into his lap.

Luka licked her top lip and wrapped his arms around her lower back. She rolled her hips along his and tangled her fingers into his hair.

Luka broke the kiss off. "We should stop. It's not right to do this now."

Marinette sighed and yanked him closer by the collar of his shirt.

Adrien let his eyes slowly open and he kept pretending to sleep. Her words stung, his mouth felt dry, and his stomach turned, but he tried to ignore it. He thought he had done a pretty good job talking about Marinette. But a big part of him realized he had spoken about Ladybug first. He internally cursed at himself.

He gave up to the sounds of their tongues against one another and Marinette's soft mewls. Adrien rolled over and stared at them.

Marinette jumped off of Luka in shock and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "A-Adrien. I didn't know you were awake."

Adrien cleared his throat and spoke. "Yeah. I've been awake. My mouth is dry." He cleared his throat again and Marinette got up to get him a glass of water.

She sat at his side and passed him the cup. Adrien took it and let his fingertips graze along her fingers. He took a sip and tried to bury his pain in the glass.

"I'm sorry." She looked down at her hands and twisted his silver ring on her finger.

"I know." Adrien sighed and set the cup down. He threw the sheets off of him and walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Marinette bit her bottom lip and buried her face in her hands.

Luka knelt down in front of her and placed his hands on hers. "Marinette?" His voice was soft, as if, he were to speak louder then she would shatter onto the floor. "Doll."

"I hurt him. I hurt you." She gasped and her heart burned and her eyes stung. "I'm breaking you two. I'm- It's all my fault. All of this is my fault." She burst into tears and Adrien came out of the bathroom with wide eyes.

"What happened?" Adrien rushed over to Marinette and held his head, as it spun.

"You need to sit down." Luka jumped up and grabbed his arm to get him to sit down.

"I- I'm fine." He sat and looked over at Marinette with worried eyes. "Is she?"

Marinette curled into herself and cried. "I caused everything. I caused the competitions…. I caused that dinner… I caused this!" She gestured towards Adrien.

Luka sighed and bit his lip. "You couldn't have have cause what happened with the akuma, M. You didn't cause us to compete." Luka looked at Adrien and he watched the other man sigh and rub his temples.

"I'm gonna head out. I'll leave you two alone for a bit. I'll be back in the morning. Get some rest." Luka put his hands in his pockets and left out of the room.

Adrien watched the door shut, before he pulled Marinette to his body and curled around her. "Mari…" He ran his fingers through her hair to try and soothe her.

"I caused you to get hurt. I hurt you. I just- I kissed Luka while you're like this! What's wrong with me? Why am I so fucked up?" Marinette let herself cry harder. "Why am I so broken?"

"Shh… Shh… Marinette." Adrien rolled her over to face him and she buried her face into his chest and gripped his hospital gown.

"I broke you." Marinette sobbed and the tears soaked the front of his gown. "You should have just let me be the one to get burnt the way you did. You shouldn't have jumped in front of me. You should have- You're the one with the job that requires you to look perfect. I'm the one that has the job behind the scenes. I could have afforded to be burnt and scarred. I could have taken the hit. I could have-" She hiccuped into his chest.

Adrien sighed and hugged her tight and he let out a gentle purr.

Marinette gasped and looked up into his eyes in shock. She soon relaxed against his chest and the gentle vibrations calmed her.

"Marinette. It's not your fault. You didn't cause the akuma and you didn't cause this to happen to me. It's not your fault your lucky charm didn't fix me." Adrien sighed and ran his fingers through her hair, letting his soft purrs ring out into the dark room. "You need to sleep, Bugaboo. Everything is fine. Everything will be okay. Just relax."

"I can't. Not when I know that- I-" Marinette could barely speak.

"Defeated another akuma? One that was stronger than the others?" Adrien smiled down at her and kissed her on the top of her head. "You saved tons of lives… I'm okay with being the only casualty. Besides I'll heal. I have nine lives." Adrien winked and she looked up at him with a mortified expression. "Oh, no. I've lost her. She's a goner. She no longer likes my jokes." He clutched at his chest and pretended to faint.

Marinette playfully threw a pillow at him.

"Ow." Adrien laughed and threw it back at her.

"Not funny." Marinette sniffed, but her voice broke into a giggle.

Adrien stroked her cheek with his thumb and smiled at her. "Glad I could make you laugh again."

Marinette rubbed her nose against his and brushed her soft lips against his. "Thank you, kitty."

He sighed and parted his lips to deepen the kiss and she sighed into him.

Song I wrote to: You're Somebody Else by Flora Cash