Compass

This is a one shot! I am currently working on a personal project (which I am almost finished! EXCITEMENT!) and promised myself that I would not post anything on FF until I was done, but then Luka happened….

Why did she have to go and say something like that? Really? And why was she even thinking about it? She liked Adrien, she knew she liked Adrien, she had liked him right from the start! I mean he was cute and nice and caring and he was… he was… Well he was cool right?

Marinette Looked at the posters on her wall and frowned a bit, why was she finding it hard to look at them now? Why was she suddenly wondering if what she felt towards the blond was nothing but a shallow crush? Alya had seen her reaction to Luka that day, and she asked if her compass had a new statue. No one else knew what that meant but the two of them, and she had laughed it off in the moment.

But did she have a new statue? And if she did, what did that mean for Adrien? She looked away from the poster and lay back on her bed with a flop. Tikki was looking at her from across the room while munching on a cookie, the little kawami had no idea what was going on in Marinette's head, but she wanted to help her in any way she could. 'Why are you sad Marinette?' her small friend asked, and Marinette looked at her and smiled softly.

"Not sad Tikki, just confused. I don't know what to do, I like Adrien, but I think I like Luka too" she said, and as she said the latter part her cheeks turned a bright red. Tikki just giggled and floated over to her 'why are you confused about that? There's nothing wrong with liking two people at the same time, don't worry about it too much, whatever is meant to happen, will happen'

The young hero just blinked stupidly at her little sidekick and smiled a bit brighter. "I guess your right, but I feel weird having Adrien's posters all over my wall now. I think I am going to take them down."

Just let whatever was meant to happen, happen. Thinking like that made everything a bit easier, she wasn't even as nervous around Adrien anymore, and they were actually able to have normal conversations. Well more or less. "Hold on, are you telling me you have never cooked anything before? Like at all? In your life?" Marinette asked him in a tone of disbelief, and Adrien looked embarrassed and a bit amused all at the same time. Nino who was sitting next to him laughed and leant back against Alya "Well think about it dudette, you think his Dad is gonna risk him getting hurt in a kitchen, when they pay people to make the food for them"

This time Adrien really was embarrassed and he gave Nino a long hard look before he spoke up "I mean, yes we do have cooks (plural) in my house, and I guess my father wouldn't be thrilled at the idea of me cooking, but it isn't like I want to be waited upon hand and foot" The blond said and Marinette just laughed. She couldn't imagine what that felt like, it was a whole other world to her, they continued chatting and Adrien told her a lot about how he lived in his home. Private lessons, etiquette classes, modelling appointments, his life was so hectic it sounded like he didn't have a moment to breath.

"Well, there must be something you do to unwind?" she said and Alya tilted her head as she wondered at her friends new found confidence and Adrien smiled and said "I mean yeah of course, when I am running around with La-a-a… I mean, driving, Driving around with My bodyguard it's fun" Marinette just raised her brow and then laughed. "Sounds like you need a day out Adrien" she said and both Nino's and Alya's jaws dropped. She looked at them and then realised why "N-n-n-no! I- what I mean is, not that I was saying that we should have a day, I mean I would like it if we did have a day out, but not that I am asking you to go on a day out or anything, that would be weird right, not that going on a day out with you would be weird, I mean it would be nice, I mean you are nice and all so-" She was flailing her arms as she said this and Adrien took a hold of her hand and held them still, he was smiling at her and she felt her face growing hot.

"I would love to spend the day with you Marinette, we are friends after all right?" His words filtered past her blush and instead of the happy feeling she should have been feeling, another one was creeping in, doubt. "Yeah… yeah we are friends" Her embarrassment faded along with her smile and she stood up and excused herself. Alya followed her not long after, finding her sitting on a bench in the park holding her chest. "You okay gurl? Not quite the ending I expected there" she asked and Marinette looked at her "We are friends. That's what he said, I mean, we ARE friends, but…" Alya sat beside her as she realised that was going on in her friends head.

"Adrien is a nice guy Mari, but Gurl, he is a bit stupid when it comes to you. Give him time, I'm sure he will figure it out" She offered Marinette a reassuring smile and patted her on the back "And now that you asked him on a date, I am sure you will have plenty of time to make him realise it." She looked at Alya in abject horror as the realisation hit her like a ton of bricks. She had hadn't she! And Adrien… he had said yes!

Adrien had called her later that day to arrange their day out together, he suggested movies, but there wasn't really anything on that they both wanted to see, then after that she suggested a concert, but only Jagged stone was playing and it turned out that Adrien while liking his music, was not a huge fan. They bounced back and forth with each other trying to figure out what to do, and eventually Marinette suggested that he come over to hers and she would teach him how to make bread, and they could do some gaming afterwards.

That seemed to go down a treat, and later on she asked her parents if it would be okay. Her mother smiled knowingly and said it would be fine, and her father was grinning wildly while nodding. It was clear to her that her parents liked Adrien ever since that first time he had been there and they had asked about him a few time since then, so her inviting him over was a big step.

But strangely it was not as exciting as she thought it would be. She returned to her room and sat to her desk, maybe if the made something it would help her to clear her head.

Later that evening Alya came to visit, they were chatting for a while, Alya was getting excited on Marinette's behalf over Adrien coming over, but then her bestie was not getting flustered over it, and was instead looking concerned, the ladyblogger became serious and took her friends hand. "What's eating you?" she asked and Marinette looked at her with a smile "Oh it's nothing really, I just, I don't know how I should be acting right now?" she said. Adrien was coming over the day after tomorrow and she was not nervous or excited, she was not anything if she was honest, and she didn't really understand why.

Alya seemed to have realised something and she looked around the room, it was more bare than she remember and she looked back to Marinette and leant in closer to her "This iiis what you wanted right?" she asked, and her friend went bright red, this caused her to laugh and relax "You're just thinking too much. Relax, I am sure everything will be fine"

Adrien was set to be over on Saturday morning, meaning that she had a while day of School to get through with him before the 'date' actually happened. She sat through class and stared at her books for the entirety of the day, she hardly said anything to him and he hardly noticed, and when she thought about it, she realised that it was nothing really new. When she really thought it over, even though they were in the same class, and hung out a lot, they didn't really talk all that much. The final bell rang and the class began to file out, Adrien smiled to her before leaving and said "See you tomorrow." She just smiled goofily and waved a hand, this was a usual reaction so she figured that she must have just been feeling unwell the last few days.

"Tomorrow? And just what is my adrikin's doing meeting YOU tomorrow?" said a voice from behind her and Marinette turned to face Chloe, the blond was fuming and Marinette could not help but smile. "Oh we are hanging out, just the two of us." Marinette said with a smile and turned on foot to bounce away happily. Little did she know that she had… once again, planted a seed in the jealous blond.

Chaos ruled over the city as heartbreaker, aka; Chloe as an akuma, turned lover against lover. Fights were breaking out all over the city, famous romantic spots were being ruined, and Chat noir and Ladybug were both fighting as best as they could to stop the Akuma from doing more damage, they realised, thanks to Noir pointing it out, that a charm on her bracelet seemed to be the catalyst. How he knew this was beyond her, but when she went for it, Heartbreaker became protective.

"Lucky Charm!" she called out, and an amp cord and two sets of ear plugs came down. It took her a moment to realise what she had to do, but once she did her eyes widened. "Luka Coffaine was watching from his home one deck. He had his guitar on him and the speakers from the music festival were still set up. She smiled and handed one set of the plugs to Chat and began to run towards the boat "Keep her distracted" she called out, and Chat smiled "Anything for you m'lady"

She landed on the boat and Luka stood up to greet her "Ladybug, do you need me for something?" he asked, and she felt her face beginning to burn already but she coughed it off and nodded, this was not the time to get love struck "Luka, do you think you can play something for me? As loud as you can?" she asked and he looked concerned for a moment, but as she handed him the cord and showed him the ear plugs, he smiled and nodded. "I think I can manage to come up with something"

He plugged in the cord and she ran back to the fight while putting the earplugs in. the cord rang out like thunder and Heartbreaker had to cover her ears to save herself. In that moment Chat snatched away the charm bracelet and destroyed it. Catching and restoring the Akuma was easy after that, and they finished with the usual 'pound it' while Chloe looked confused.

Her earing began to beep and she smiled sheepishly to Chat, he bowed to her and she ran off to a nearby alley way. Transforming back she let out a sigh, why did it have to be Chloe again, and she knew that it was her remark that had caused it, and while she did feel guilty over it, she couldn't help but be annoyed at the same time. After all it wasn't like Chloe owned Adrien, he could do whatever he wanted, hang out with whoever he wanted!

Her mind was so abuzz with these thoughts that she didn't hear her name being called, and she jumped a mile when a hand touched her shoulder. "Sorry, I thought you heard me calling" she turned around to see cool teal eyes looking at her with concern and her heart skipped a beat "Ah-Kalu, I mean Luak. No!" Her eyes widened and he just chuckled "Kalu? Still funny, Guess I shouldn't have worried about you after all" he smiled down at her and she smiled back, his hand was still on her shoulder and she looked at it for a moment, then his words sank in "You were worried? About me?" she asked and he nodded

"Well, yeah, after you helped us last time, I wondered if you always act like that. So whenever I hear about a new attack, I just, well worry about you and hope you are safe." She felt her face burning as he said it and he noticed "Sorry, I tend to say whatever comes to mind, No filter, maybe that's why I am better with music." He said as he looked down ashamedly and Marinette felt a wave of Panic wash over her "N-no! I like it! I mean I don't like being teased, and you don't have to worry about me, but I mean I don't mind if you do but you don't have too" he was chuckling again and she smiled at him, feeling strangely more at ease now "I was just finished making cookies with Juleka when the attack started happening, would you like to come back for a bite and a cocao?"

It was odd how easy it was to say yes, and he smiled and took a hold of her hand as he led her back. She looked at it with burning cheeks and smiled softly as she let him guide her. On deck Juleka was waiting, and she gave a small wave to her friend. The sullen girl cast her eyes over the joined hands, but she said nothing and just went to prepare the drinks. Marinette sat on a beanbag and Luka went back to help his sister. This gave Marinette time to call her parents and tell them where she was. After she was done with the conversation Luka was walking back in with a plate of cookies and sweet bread. "You called your folks?" he asked and she nodded "Yeah, they get worried if I don't check in."

He smiled and Juleka came out with three mugs in hand "Her parents are nice. Her Dad is a pretty famous baker, he brought in treats for our class before." Luka's eyes widened as his sister said that and he looked at the plate he was holding "Ah, well, I will just bring these back inside and" Before he could get away Marinette was already on her feet and had grabbed a bread roll, she shoved it in her mouth as he began to protest and took a large bite from it.

He looked a bit nervous as she chewed on the bread and she knew that he had to be the one that had made it, and it was nice, sure not to her father's standard, but it tasted good. She smiled a toothy smile and he smiled back "I know it's not great, but I like baking" it was her turn to chuckle and she took a mug from Juleka. "it tastes good Luka, don't worry" after that the three of them ended up chatting for the rest of the night, Juleka was telling stories of the many many failed attempts her brother had made at cooking and he was insisting that cooking was an expression of artist flair and that he should not limit himself to the confines of a book.

Marinette could not remember the last time she had laughed so hard, and she had entirely lost track of time, it wasn't until her mother rang wondering when she would be home, that she realised just how late it was. "Oh no! Sorry Maman, I will be go home right now!" Luka and Juleka looked at each other and nodded. "Let me walk you home." Luka said, Marinette was about to say that it was alright, but he was already pulling his hoodie on "Well, okay, thank you Luka."

It had already gotten dark and Marinette wrapped her arms about herself, she wasn't really cold, but there was something about the dark to just made you feel like you should be. Without warning she had a hoodie put over her shoulders and she looked up to Luka who was purposely not looking at her, she smiled to herself and gripped to the edges of it. "thanks" she said, and she could almost feel his eyes on her. "No biggie" Silence then, and her heart began thumping again, it seemed so loud she was sure he would hear it, it wasn't a very long walk back to her place, but it seemed like it was taking longer for some reason, so she tried to make conversation "So urm… What do you… like?" she said, and after a moment of silent she turned to look at him, he was looking at her with an amused expression and she went completely red and looked at the ground. Next thing she hears is his soft lovely laugh "Well, I like music, but you already know that. And cooking, but you know that one too. I have tried drawing, but I suck at it. And I like gaming, but not good at that either."

He smiled at her and she looked at him again with a smile. "How about making clothes?" she asked and he scratched his cheek as he thought on it "Never tired that, sounds like fun." She smiled and said without thinking "I could show you sometime if you like?" and his eyes widened "yeah? You really are amazing Marinette, Thanks!" he stopped walking and just looked at her, and she turned to face him, it felt like time was at a standstill and all she could see were his wonderful mesmerizing eyes. "Ah there you are! I was worried sick!" came a voice beside her, and Marinette's eyes widened as her father gripped her into a bear hug. Her mother was at the door too and she gave Luka a once over and then a smile "Thank you for walking our daughter home" she said and he smiled to the short woman. "No problem, I would never leave a girl to walk alone at night, not even one as capable as Marinette" This seemed to win over her parents as they both nodded in approval.

Luka said his fairwells and Marinette felt a pang of hurt as he walked away, she turned and went up directly to her room after that.

Adrien arrived via limousine the next morning and Marinette welcomed him with a bright smile, she was feeling relaxed and not nervous at all, and she didn't even wonder why, they talked for a bit about school assignments, and she asked him where he had learned piano. Home tutored of course and she facepalmed to that, of course he was tutored at home. He just laughed though and explained that he had wanted to learn because his Father played piano too, and that made her smile. "I never would have thought it, he doesn't seem like that type of person to…" she trailed off when she realised how rude that might have sounded and Adrien picked up on it "It's okay, actually he used to play a lot, before my mother died, after that he became colder."

They went silent after that and Marinette felt a bit awkward, she scurried away and began to get all the ingredients ready. "Sorry." Adrien said as she began to put things on the counter, she half dropped them and looked at him wide eyed. He looked so sad that she couldn't help but feel pain for him. "No, it-it's my fault for bringing it up" she said, and he looked at her with a small smile "You are too nice Marinette" he reached over and started fixing some of the things she had dropped on the counter, and while reaching for the flour his hand touched hers, she went to withdraw it, but he held on. "She was nice like you, My mom I mean, she was a bit clutzy too. You remind me of her, so I guess that's why I just feel comfortable around you."

She looked at him and he smiled a bit brighter to her "Thank you for being my friend Marinette" she smiled back to him and nodded, a faint blush was on her cheeks then and she turned back to the ingredients. "Say that after I have finished teaching you to bake!"

A few hours went by and a lot of laughs were had, Adrien was a quick learner, but very messy, the first few attempts tasted good but looked terrible, but by the end of the day Adrien had manage to make cakes even her father would be proud of! They were both covered in flour and laughing as he packed the sweets into a box to bring how to his father. "Thanks for today, I had a lot of fun!" He said as she cleaned the counter top "Yeah, maybe next time you can teach me something" she said and he chuckled "well why not come over tomorrow and I can teach you some piano?

She smiled and was about to agree but then the chime of the shop bell rang, and her Father called her "Marinette, your friend is here" He said and she looked at Adrien and shrugged, for a moment she thought it might be Alya wanting to get the gossip on how her day went, but as she and Adrien went out to the shop front she was faced with Luka. And once more her heart was thumping hard. He waved a hand to her lazily and she waved back a bit too quickly.

"Hey" he said, and then he nodded to Adrien "Hey Luka, what has you over here?" Adrien asked him cheerfully. "Mom found this on the floor this morning and Juleka said it was Mari's" He held up a sketchbook and her face went red. "M-M-My book, you d-d-didn't look inside did you?" she stuttered and it just caused both Luka and Adrien to chuckle. "What are you worried about? You are really talented" Adrien said, but Luka spoke softly "Oh it's probably because of the drawings she did of" Marinette was on him in a shot, hand over his mouth and grinning at Adrien.

"Nothing! Drawing of nothing at all! Luka and I need to have a little talk now Adrien, I… I will call you about tomorrow okay?" she said and Adrien looked concerned, but he just nodded and left to go to the waiting car outside. With his gone Marinette grabbed Luka's hand and dragged him up to her room while her mother chuckled behind her.

"Those drawings were reference only! They weren't" "Don't worry, I didn't look inside" he said and her eyes widened, she slapped him on his arm and he laughed as he rubbed it "That was mean Luka!" she said, but something in her tone said she wasn't angry about it, he smiled and then looked around her room. It was then that she realised that she had brought him up here with no explanation to her parents, that was going to go down well… "Pretty spacious up here, and it has nice acoustics." He said as he moved further in. She trailed behind him as he explored her room, and saw Tikki hiding in one of her drawers right where he was heading.

Knowing she would need to distract him she looked around in a fluster. "Oh yes! And balcony! That is way!" this did the trick as he turned to look at her, she was robotically gesturing to the balcony and he laughed and lazily strolled outside "You're a weird girl Ma Ma Marinette, but I dig it" he said as he moved past her. "She gestured to Tikki to hide under her bed and then followed him out to the Patio "Thanks for bringing my book back" she said, and he smiled to her. "No biggie"

He was leaning on the rail looking down at the people on the street, and she smiled and leant to the rail with him. "You like horror movies?" He asked her and she looked at him with a raised brow "Sure" she said, not knowing what he was getting at "Great he said. I'll pick you up tomorrow at eight then" that said he pushed himself back off the rail and left. She stood in silence as she processed what had just happened.

He had… was that… did she just… were they going on a date?!

Okay I lied…. It was meant to be a one shot, but my brain would not let that happen, and now it will be a two chapter thing…. NO MORE THAN THAT THOUGH! I HAVE A BOOK TO WRITE!

Also you can find out more about my books here www_facebook_com/theimmortalstrilogy dots instead of slashed obviously