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It's Complicated - Alternate Lukanette Ending

Summary:

How my fic "It's Complicated" would've ended if I had gone for the Lukanette endgame.

Notes:

This picks up after Chapter 7: Seam Ripper of It's Complicated

Chapter 1: Frayed Edges

Chapter Text

When he knocks on her window, Marinette’s head pops up. She seems flustered, and he watches as she scurries around, picking up various objects off the floor and shoving them in the chest in the corner of her room. She shuts the lid on it before she walks back over to let him in. As he steps inside, he notices right away that something is different. 

Marinette is steadfastly avoiding his eyes. She’s never avoided Chat’s eyes before. She shuts the window behind him and slips past him to sit in her desk chair. That’s when he notices that Luka’s hoodie is draped over the back of the chair behind her. Luka let her wear it home. Gave it to her, probably. His teeth are instantly on edge again. He falls into his feline crouch. Why did he come here, anyways? 

Because she’s his friend and he’s worried about her. Because he still doesn’t know if she saw him transform or not. Because if she did see him, then he has to tell Ladybug that he screwed up and Marinette is in danger. 

She’s brought her heels up onto the chair and wrapped her arms around her knees. Is she hiding from him? 

“What’s wrong, Chat?” 

How is he supposed to answer that? Marinette doesn’t know that he’s been trying to figure that out for himself all night. Between Kagami and Marinette and Ladybug, he can’t seem to say or do anything right tonight. But there is something bothering him. And she knows it. It would be pointless to try to misdirect her. Just take a deep breath and ask. 

"I was wondering if you… if you know who I am. You know, under the mask.” 

She pales and looks away. That’s not a good sign. He can feel his tail flicking behind him impatiently. It seems to take forever, but Marinette gathers herself and hides her forehead into her knees. 

“Yes,” she whispers, “yes, I know who you are, Adrien.” 

For some reason, his heart lifts knowing that he doesn’t have to hide anymore. But that also means that whatever issue Marinette has with Adrien, he can’t hide behind the mask anymore. She’s not looking at him, and he’s fully suited up, but he feels exposed. He drops to the floor to cross his legs. 

“Plagg, claws in.” 

The green light washes over them both. When Plagg appears, he looks between Adrien and Marinette, horrified. 

“It’s okay, Plagg. She knows.” He means for his words to be comforting, but Plagg’s eyes widen farther still. Marinette is surprisingly calm at his appearance. She’s uncurled from her ball on the chair and she’s holding her hand out for Plagg. Even more surprising, Plagg flies into her hand and perches like he’s known Marinette forever. Like they’ve met before. 

“It really is okay, Plagg. I’ve been talking with Tikki and... I think it’s time,” she says. 

“Tikki?” Adrien asks. “But Tikki is Ladybug’s kwami. How do you know-” 

Marinette winces and that’s all Adrien needs to connect all the dots.

“I never asked how you knew it was me.” His voice sounds hollow. Ladybug is Marinette. Marinette is Ladybug. The events of the night start to click into place in his head. That explains a lot of what he's been feeling all night long. He's been jealous of Luka. Because of the attention Luka's been getting from Marinette. 

Because he's in love with Marinette. 

“I never showed Chat the finished jacket.” She gives Plagg a small pat then points with her head to where Tikki is. He floats away to follow her direction. “And Adrien was the only one missing from the group.” 

“Besides you.” 

Her cheeks flush. “Besides me.” 

He takes a moment to absorb this. She’s been right behind him. The entire time. His heart starts hammering in his chest. Does that mean the other boy she’s been in love with is Luka? His eyes flick again to the hoodie hanging off her chair. It certainly seems like they’ve gotten close. His throat starts to feel tight again. 

“So, what now?” He can’t keep the waver out of his voice. He clears his throat. 

“Now… I have to tell you something.” 

“Is this about what happened earlier?” 

She nods and he can feel his heart sink. This doesn’t seem like good news. 

“Bunnix asked me not to tell you. But she also said there’s a time for everything and… I think it might be time. Time to have no more secrets.” 

“Bunnix?” He blinks up at her. What does Bunnix have to do with any of this? 

“I don’t know much about it, really. She dragged me to the future and just told me to fix it.” 

“Fix what? What are you talking about?” 

She takes a deep breath and avoids his eyes. “Chat Noir was akumatized.” 

Her words feel like a wave that crashes on top of him and pins him to a rocky shore. They seem to echo in his head. Akumatized. That’s the one thing. The one thing he never wanted to happen. The whole reason they kept their identities secret. What if he told Hawkmoth everything? What if Ladybug had gotten hurt because of him? The thought stabs into him until he feels like he can’t breathe anymore. 

“Did I hurt you?” He hears the words leave his mouth. He doesn’t want to hear the answer, but he has to. He has to know. 

She pulls her eyes back to him and they’re brimming with tears. She doesn’t even have to say it. Please don’t say it. 

A slow nod. 

His head falls forward into his hands. Whatever else he did doesn’t matter. He hurt Ladybug. The love of his life, his partner, his best friend. No wonder she panicked when she met him earlier. No wonder she ran to Luka as soon as she found out. No wonder. 

He feels Marinette’s cool hands over his on the sides of his head. 

“It’s not your fault, Chaton. It’s Hawkmoth’s.”  

“Why?” 

“Why what?” 

“Why was I akumatized? What happened?” His voice is gruff, it doesn’t even sound like him. 

Marinette hesitates. He manages to pull his head up and she’s kneeling across from him, reaching out to him, holding him. But she still feels so far away. Her thoughts are back in whatever timeline, whatever damage, he caused.

“Like I said, I don’t know much about it.” She’s hedging. She’s hiding something. 

“Please tell me.” 

She pulls his hands away from his face to hold them in hers. She takes a deep breath and lets it out as a sigh. “All I know is you wanted the Miraculous to fix everything. To put things back the way they were.” She raises her eyes up to meet his. “So we could be in love again.” 

“Again.” 

She nods. “You said I broke your heart. You said…” she takes another long pause and he holds his breath. “You said it was our love that destroyed everything.” 

Another wave crashes over him. This. This whole night. Has been a nightmare. One after the other. And now he knows why his question made Ladybug react earlier. He knows her answer. He knows her like the back of his hand and he knows how her mind works. His thoughts are spinning, chasing hers, looking for any way out, any hope of surfacing. He pulls away from her to stand and pace, hoping that moving his feet will give him a way to shake off the buzzing in his head. 

Finally, he stops. He’s arrived at the only conclusion. The same conclusion she must’ve reached. There isn’t any other way.  

“Which means the answer to my question is, ‘for the sake of everything, we can’t be in love.’”

She nods. The sadness in her eyes is enough to make his heart break. She had tried to tell him before.

I can't be in love with you Chat Noir, you know that.

It’s not even an issue of if she does love him or not at this point. She can't. It’s just the logical conclusion. It makes sense. But he can’t help it. He still wants to know. If they weren’t superheroes, if the fate of the world weren't at stake, if they were just two people. Would she have loved him? Or has Luka always been her target? He picks the hoodie up off the back of her chair and offers it to her.

“So, Luka? He’s the other boy?” 

She blushes before she takes the hoodie from him and holds it close to her, digging her fingers into the fabric. “What makes you think that?” 

He shrugs, like it doesn’t matter to him either way, but his heart is in his throat. “You two seem close.” 

She nods, thoughtful, then her blush intensifies until her entire face is red. As he waits for her answer, every second passing feels like it’s a year being taken off his life. The pressure in his chest builds. If she would just say something. Relieve him of this torture. Is it Luka or not? 

The wind gusts against her window, and she turns her head to look outside. He follows her gaze. It’s a beautiful night, if just a bit cold. He feels the pull towards the rooftops. He wants to run. Like he always wants to run when he’s thinking too much. Marinette’s room suddenly feels too small, too closed in. He wants to keep talking to her. But he also needs to be out of this room. 

“Do you want to take a walk? I feel like I need some air,” he offers. 

She turns back to him and nods, then flips the hoodie over her shoulders and pushes her arms through the sleeves, pulling them down over the heels of her hands like he’d seen her do before. He tries to ignore the way his jaw is clenching again. 

She looks up at him expectantly. “Lead the way, Chat Noir.”