The Couffaine boat swayed gently on the Seine, the kind of quiet that only comes after a storm.
Luka sat on the deck, tuning his guitar. The river wind curled through his dark blue hair.
Marinette stood across from him, hands shaking.
"I have to tell you something," she said.
Luka looked up. Calm as always. Kind as always.
"I'm Ladybug."
A pause.
Luka blinked once. Then smiled.
"I know."
She almost fell over. "W-what?!"
"You're not as good at hiding as you think," he said gently, setting the guitar down. "I saw it a while ago. The way you flinched when someone said 'akuma' near the bakery. The way you always vanished just before Ladybug arrived."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because it wasn't mine to say. You deserved the moment to choose." His voice softened. "And now you have."
Marinette burst into tears.
Not because she was scared. But because someone finally saw her. Entirely. And stayed.
Luka crossed to her and pulled her into a hug — warm, careful, no pressure. "You don't have to carry everything alone anymore."
And for one golden second, it felt okay to be her.
Later that evening, Adrien showed up at the boat, hair messy, eyes tired, hoodie half-zipped like he'd run halfway across Paris.
"Luka," he breathed, "I need to talk."
Luka nodded, already stepping aside to let him in.
Silence at first. Just the creak of the boat, the buzz of river air.
Then Adrien looked up. "I think I'm in love with you."
Luka didn't react.
Adrien panicked. "I—I don't know what that means. I don't know what I'm doing. I just… when I heard that song, I couldn't breathe. And after the akuma, when you were hurt—"
"I wasn't hurt."
Adrien blinked. "You weren't?"
"You were. And I've never been more scared in my life."
Luka stepped forward. "You're Adrien. You're Chat. You're terrified of choosing anything that might hurt someone else."
Adrien froze.
"How long have you known?"
"Long enough to know you needed someone who saw all of you."
Luka reached up — fingertips brushing Adrien's cheek.
"And I do."
The kiss wasn't dramatic. It didn't need to be.
It was quiet. True.
They kissed like they had been writing it into the margins of their lives for years.
(WTF-)
Marinette never meant to walk in.
She came back to return Luka's scarf, heartbeat still warm from the comfort of his earlier words.
But when she stepped onto the boat…
She saw them.
Luka and Adrien. Lips just parted. Hands still touching. Eyes so full of each other it hurt.
Her heart cracked open so hard she didn't even breathe.
She didn't say anything.
She just ran.
Marinette burst into her room, collapsed against her bed, and sobbed.
Tikki hovered nearby but said nothing — because some heartbreaks couldn't be fixed with magic.
Minutes later — the hatch opened again.
Kagami.
No words. Just understanding.
She sat beside Marinette, still in fencing gear, and quietly pulled her close.
Marinette curled into her, crying. "I thought—I thought maybe I had time."
"You did. You just gave it away," Kagami said softly. "To a boy who couldn't choose."
Marinette laughed bitterly. "You say that like you haven't wanted him too."
Kagami shrugged. "I thought I did. But then I saw you."
Marinette looked up.
The air between them shifted.
"You've always been warm. Annoying ," Kagami whispered, brushing a strand of hair behind Marinette's ear. "And I never let myself feel it."
"But you do?"
"Now I do."
The kiss was slow. (HSKSJHDJSHKSKK??!@!!! WT-)
Tentative. But real.
A different kind of electricity.
When they pulled apart, Marinette whispered, "This is going to complicate everything."
Kagami smirked. "Everything already was."