Daminette December

2021:14-Nice

Luka could feel his cheeks heat up when he noticed her: Marinette Dupain-Cheng. He hadn't seen her in years, not since she was fifteen. The bakery had mysteriously shut down without warning. He had tried to call her, only for a recording to claim the phone number had been disconnected.

'Someone has to know what happened, right? Marinette wouldn't leave without saying anything. Where would she even go? What about the bakery; her parent's loved baking!'

Luka decided the best thing to do was ask his bandmates and her classmates.

"Marinette?" asked Rose, "I don't know. We noticed the bakery was closed, too."

"She didn't say anything at school?" questioned Luka, "She just upped and left, her whole family?"

"Well, when you say it like that." Juleka mumbled.

"We don't talk with her anymore." Ivan spoke up, "She started bullying some girl who was getting close to Adrien."

"Yeah." Mylene whispered, "We never knew Marinette could be so mean, just because someone else liked Adrien."

"I have never heard such a bold face lie!" Luka announced, capturing the band's attention, "Marinette jealous? She went on a double date with Adrien because he asked her to go. Juleka, Rose, Mylene; you all told her not to go, but she went anyways. I should know; I went with her! She never interrupted their date; she stayed with me the whole time. Once during the session, Marinette fell and left the rink; guess what, Adrien was the one to chase after her. He left his date to check on his 'just a friend'. Not to mention, Adrien is still dating Kagami Tsurugi, his fencing partner. Marinette got them together last year!"

"Lila wouldn't lie to us!" Rose shouted, " She's been really nice to everyone in class; she knows Prince Ali and Jagged Stone!"

"She told everyone how she saved Jagged Stone's kitten on the airstrip and got tinnitus from it." Ivan commented, "He even wrote a special song for her."

"Okay, I take back what I said before." Luka inhaled, "This is the biggest bold face lie I have heard! Jagged Stone has never owned a kitten. He had a dog when he was a kid and up until ten years ago, when he hatched Fang, his pet crocodile. Besides, there's no people allowed on tarmacs unless they work for the airline companies. Tinnitus is something people develop over time from loud exposure to loud noises. The amount of force and pressure not only could have made her deaf, but could have killed her."

"But-" Mylene panicked.

Luka pulled out his phone and pressed 'Dad'.

"Luka, why are you calling me right now?" Jagged questioned.

"Apparently there's some girl at Juleka's school telling lies about you. She's telling everyone how she saved 'your cat' on an airplane runway, that she developed tinnitus from this heroic event, and that you wrote a 'special' song to thank her." Luka declared, "Not only that, but Marinette and her family suddenly moved."

"Send me the girl's name and I'll get Penny to handle her. Since she's a minor, we'll have to have her mother there when we hand her the lawsuit." Jagged sighed, "As for Marinette, I already know. She's been my designer for a couple years, now. Her parents told me she was getting bullied at school so I pulled some strings with an old friend and she got into a really good school. They even offered to have a place ready for her parent's bakery. All I can say is, she's no longer in Paris."

"Where?" Luka questioned.

"I'm sorry, but she said she didn't want anyone from Paris to know." his father answered.

"Dad." Luka pleaded.

"Bye, Son." the rock star whispered, before hanging up.

Kitty Section was horrified realizing they had believed a liar. Marinette had warned them that Lila wasn't telling them the truth. Lila cried and told them all how Marinette was bullying her; was that even true? They quickly pulled out their phones and began to text the class one by one about talking with Jagged and how he was gettign ready to serve Lila with a lawsuit for lying about him. They all agreed to not say anything to Lila. The truth would come out. Some of the class found it hard to believe Lila had lied to them this long so the lawsuit would be the proof.

 Come Monday, Lila had her head down as she stood next to her mother, apologizing for lying to all of them. They called out names of celebrities and places Lila claimed she knew or had been and her mother shot them down one by one. As punishment, Lila was to be held back a grade and put with a stricter teacher. When the class turned to them for questions about Marinette, they only said she left Paris. They didn't know where she was. The class sat in somber silence the rest of the day. They wanted to apologize for everything they had done, everything they had said, but no one knew where to find her.

Luka smiled, feeling like he won the lottery. Never in a million years did he think he would find Marinette Dupain-Cheng in Gotham. There she stood, looking delicious in a grey dress that hugged her top half, like a second skin, and her hair cascading down in waves. Luka steeled his nerves and began to walk towards her. Off to the left, he noticed a man in a suit ignore everyone else in his path and beeline for Mari. When he reached her, he placed his hand on her lower back. Marinette turned in shock, but it was quickly replaced with a smile.

"Dami!" she cried, "You're here!"

The guy leaned down and captured her lips, "I wouldn't miss one of your many achievements, Angel."

Luka froze. He could hear the deepness in the man's voice, his desire, the sinister chords of music. They sounded like they were attempting to shackle Marinette to his side. Mari's tone, on the other hand, was the same uplifting, calm, melodic it always was. It was like a punch to his gut when she grabbed his hand and their music combined, turned into something beautiful.

Luka watched as they walked away from their spot and over to his father. Even his father had known Marinette was potentially seeing someone, but Luka couldn't wrap his head around it.

'How did the nicest, sweetest girl I have ever met seem to be in love with some 'bad boy'? His aura screamed 'talk to me if you dare'!'

Luka looked back up to see if they had left Jagged's side only to find Marinette glaring daggers at him. Her once bright blue eyes hardened to stone, her music shifting to ice. His eyes flickered to the man with her and found him staring at her in happiness. His own melody had changed to light and airy.

'They're the same. They need each other.'

Luka nodded his head and walked out of the party. He quickly sent Jagged a text saying he was going back to the hotel and a gif of a mouth being zipped up. When he reached his room, Luka flopped onto the bed.

'I guess nice guys really do finish last.'