Marinette, unsure of where else to go, marched off in the direction of the bathroom, eyes burning with tears she refused to shed in front of Lila. It had happened again. She had let her anger get the better of her and she'd tried to expose Lila for her lies, but Lila had her outgunned. Everyone believed Lila over Marinette, even Alya.
That hadn't been the worst part, though. The worst part had been when Adrien had refused to take sides, still reluctant to out Lila as a pathological liar to the class because he was hoping he could help her. So everyone had looked at her like she'd been the bad guy, and rather than sit in that environment and stew she'd stormed out.
She rammed into someone she hadn't seen and they both went crashing to the ground. The boy she'd run into groaned and sat up.
"Are you okay- Marinette, what's wrong?" Marinette looked up with surprise into Luka's face and blanched, hurriedly swiping away her angry tears.
"Oh, hi Luka, sorry I wasn't watching where I was going-" she spoke rapidly, picking up their fallen things as an excuse not to meet his eyes. He saw through it immediately.
"Hey," he said gently, taking her hand. She looked up at him, surprised. "If something is upsetting you, you can tell me."
"Okay." She hesitated for only a moment more before nodding and swiping up the rest of their belongings and dragging Luka by the hand into the library. Once they were sitting together at a table tucked near the back Marinette told Luka the whole story, trying to keep her narration objective and her voice calm.
"It's just so frustrating because everyone believes her, no matter what she says! When I try to expose her as a liar everyone acts like I'm the bad guy even though she's the one deceiving everybody!"
"Everyone doesn't believe her," Luka replied. "I believe you, Marinette. I know you're far too good of a person to just make something like this up."
Marinette sagged in relief, realizing only now how badly she had needed to hear that.
"I know I lost my temper and I shouldn't have gotten so angry," she said dejectedly. "Adrien says we shouldn't tell everyone that she's a liar because she probably just wants people to like her and it would be mean to ruin that."
"I think there are better ways for her to get people to like her other than lying. I'm really sorry that your classmates don't believe you."
"Thanks, Luka, I really needed to hear that." They sat in comfortable silence for a moment before Tikki shifted in her bag. Marinette looked down and Tikki was gesturing frantically towards Luka as if to say ask him out!
She hesitated for only a second.
"Do you like Ultimate Mecha Strike Three?" She blurted, startling him with her unexpected volume.
"Uh, yeah, I do. I don't play it often because I'm usually writing music, though."
"Well if you're not busy do you want to come over to my house and play with me? I have to warn you though, I won't let you win." Luka chuckled.
"I would love to play with you, Marinette." She grinned and got to her feet.
"Great! Will you meet me outside after school? We can walk home together!"
"That sounds great."
Marinette was in a much better mood when she returned to class than she had been when she left. Alya noticed and leaned over to whisper in her ear during class.
"What's gotten into you? You were super mad when you left and I couldn't find you anywhere!"
"Don't worry about it, Alya," she said with a smile.
"Hey, Marinette do you wanna walk home together?" Alya asked, approaching her as she stood at the foot of the stairs, watching the rest of the student body filter through the double doors.
"Sorry I can't today Alya, Luka is coming over to play Ultimate Mecha Strike Three tonight and I promised we'd walk together."
"What?" She cried, "since when?"
"Since lunch, I ran into him- literally- and we talked for a while and then I invited him over."
"Girl you invited him?" She leaned in closer and spoke in a whisper. "Does this mean you're finally giving up on Adrien?" Marinette hesitated for a beat.
"I don't know yet, all I know is the way I feel when I'm around Luka. He makes me happy."
"Would this little revelation be why you were in such a good mood after you stormed out of the lunchroom all in a huff?"
"Maybe," Marinette said mysteriously. Her face lit up when Luka appeared at the top of the stairs, searching for her. She waved merrily and called him over. "Sorry, Alya gotta go!" Alya watched Marinette and Luka walk away together, both smiling and talking happily. She felt herself smile as Nino appeared at her shoulder, asking what that was all about.
"Don't worry about it, Nino," Alya said, happy that her best friend had finally found someone who liked her back.
"Wow, Marinette, you're really good," Luka said after his sixth consecutive loss.
"Well, I didn't compete in the Paris Ultimate Mecha Strike Three Tournament for nothing!" Marinette said. "Sorry, I don't mean to brag."
"No, it's fine, I love to see people talk about things they're passionate about."
"Well I don't know if I'm passionate about it, I'm passionate about fashion, but I do really like Ultimate Mecha Strike Three!"
"Maybe you could show me some of your designs, then."
"Oh, I don't know, I'm not nearly as good at designing as you are at music."
"That's not true at all, you designed our bands costumes, remember?" She nodded. "Those are awesome!"
"I'm really glad you like them," she said. "I guess it wouldn't hurt anything to show you some things I'm working on."
They abandoned their game and climbed the ladder into her room and Marinette showed him a dress she was making and explained her plans to make a Chat Noir themed outfit that she hadn't even told Alya yet.
"You probably think it's silly, to want to make clothes that are based on superheroes," she said hesitantly.
"Not at all! I would love to wear something you designed that was inspired by Ladybug."
Marinette squealed inwardly.
"Really? You wouldn't rather wear something inspired by Chat Noir?" He shook his head.
"I like Chat Noir, but Ladybug seems really kind and caring to me." Behind Luka's head, Tikki's jaw was wide open in an expression of unashamed delight that mirrored very much the way that Marinette felt at this moment.
"Well you can be Ladybug and I can be Chat Noir and we could match!" She suggested.
"That would be awesome! I can't wait!"
A few minutes later Sabine called the two of them down for dinner and Luka enjoyed a meal with her family before heading home. Marrinette escorted him to the street.
"Thanks for inviting me over, Marinette, I had a really nice time."
"Me too! We should do this again really soon!" Luka looked a little surprised, but nodded. He leaned down to kiss her on both cheeks before waving farewell and crossing the street. Marinette watched him until he turned a corner then hurried up to her room.
Marinette managed to contain her squeal until she got to the day bed and buried her face in a pillow.
"Marinette I'm so happy for you! Luka likes you so much! And you're his favorite superhero!"
"I know! He can never know that Marinette and Ladybug are the same person, but it's good to know that he likes both sides of me!"
"Do you think you're going to ask him out on another date?" Marinette nodded happily. Her phone buzzed and she saw a message from Luka, asking if she wanted to hang out again tomorrow. She squealed into the pillow again and held her phone up for Tikki to read.
"Wow, Marinette, Luka really must like spending time with you!" Marinette bit her lip, cheeks sore from all the smiling.