I Won't Let You Down
The Moxie Fox
Luka walked in the door and rounded the small table into the tiny apartment kitchen. She was standing there, holding a cup of tea between her hands on the counter, staring off.
"I wish that we could just talk, but I don't really know where to start," she said by way of greeting.
"Well, a simple 'hello' and 'I'm sorry' would probably both be good places."
She stared at him for a moment, not quite a glare, but a look that implied she definitely wasn't in the mood for jokes. She breathed out a huff of air before launching into a grade A Marinette ramble-speech.
"You've got every right to be mad, after all of the lies that I told. I know I didn't deal with things properly, but I'm trying to make you see that I did it to protect you, to protect us and our relationship. If anything ever happened to you because I failed to hide this part of me from you, I would regret it for the rest of my life, but of course I regret not telling you because I hate that I left you upset! There are things that we cannot change, and we can't go back in time. But I hope that it isn't too late to give it another try."
He tossed his keys on the table. "You know, you're pretty ungrateful Mar."
She gasped, clearly caught off guard by his statement.
He could see the slight tremble in her chin, but her voice was strong, despite the tears welling in her eyes.
"I'm sorry Luka, I know I've hurt you. I never meant to. I love you!" she said, her voice quaking with emotion.
He chuckled, but there was no humor in it. "You have no idea how much I've longed to hear you say that. But for you to tell me now, to stop me from leaving, just drives the knife deeper into my heart."
"Please Luka, just give me another chance! I won't let you down, I promise!" she begged, letting a single tear escape.
He sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. "You know this is our third time dating? We've been at this attempt for two years now, and things still aren't harmonizing. And it's not because you were hiding your secret identity from me. It's never going to work because your heart's duet isn't with me, it's with him, and we both know it, we've just been fighting against it all this time, hoping that something would change."
"That's not true," she stated, skirting the table to sit on the couch in the attached living room. "He's with Kagami, they're literally perfect for each other! And they're both my friends. I fully support their relationship, I would never get between them."
"You literally fell for him three times! That I know of. Maybe more. And you will every time. He's your black cat, Ladybug!" he said, voice rising with each statement to the point he practically shouted out his final admission.
He heard her sharp intake of breath and immediately wished he'd used second chance before entering the apartment.
Frantically, he crossed into the living room. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that, I just-"
"How long have you known?" she demanded, cutting him off.
After no answer came for a long beat she asked again, more forcefully, "How long, Luka?"
He sighed deeply as he dropped onto the couch beside her. Turning towards her, but not able to quite look at her, he simply stated "Since Wishmaker."
"Eigh!" Marinette let out a strangled sound before clearing her throat and trying again. "Eight years?! You've known for that long?!"
He nodded solemnly. She took a deep breath and he could almost see the steam coming from her ears as she began calculating, the red slowly fading from her cheeks as she cupped her chin in her hand, processing this new information.
After what felt like an eternity of silence, he finally ventured to ask "well?"
She dropped her head into her hands before sighing heavily. "Well," she said, looking up at him. "My initial reaction was to be mad that you kept this from me for that long, but honestly you were just doing your duty as the holder of the snake miraculous and I can't imagine that was an easy secret to keep bottled up for so long." She paused, furrowing her brow momentarily, before her expression lightened.
"To think, all the hurdles I jumped to keep you off my trail while living with you, and how hard it was to finally confess the truth to you, only for you to have already known all along."
She locked eyes with him, marine to aqua, took his hand in hers and said sincerely, "I'm really sorry you had to bear that burden for so long." She snorted, quirking up the corner of her mouth. "Now I see why you called me ungrateful."
"I didn't mean to say that out loud. I'm sorry. You know I've never been great with words."
"No, I'm glad you did. We finally had the talk we desperately needed to have."
They smiled at each other. "Well!" she exclaimed before setting her hands on either side of herself on the couch, drumming once with her fingertips. "Now what?" she asked, looking around as if the answer was somewhere within the tiny apartment.
He smiled a sad smile. "Now I set the one I love most in the world free to let her be truly happy." Fighting back tears, he pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and kissed her cheek, lingering just a beat too long, holding that last precious moment.
"I'm giving you another chance," he whispered.
"I won't let you down."
Fin.
AN: Hey guys! I hope y'all liked it! I know this one was very short, but I am kind of dusting off the writing cobwebs! I sort of rediscovered HRVY's songs this past weekend and was once again inspired to write this while listening. I am also publishing a sort of sequel to this sometime this week, so look for that very soon! And please, as always, if it would please you, follow me for more stories and I would love a review to let me know your thoughts and to keep me encouraged to write! Ciao for now!