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Protection

Adrien got back to the houseboat as everyone was reconvening to practice the third song again.

It didn't go much better than before, with him making countless mistakes. Things got so bad that Luka had to end the practice early. And while Adrien was packing the keyboard up, Luka went over to talk to him.

"I'm really sorry..." Adrien started to say.

"Don't stress man," Luka interrupted. "We all have off days."

He exhaled. "Thanks. I promise that I'll do better next time."

"I know you will." Luka paused and then smiled. "So, what's going on with you and Marinette?"

And suddenly Adrien lost his grip on the keyboard, almost dropping it to the ground. Luckily he recovered before it got damaged. "M... me, and M... Marinette? Nothing. Ab... absolutely nothing. Nothing is going on between us. Wh... why would you say that?"

"Well, she mentioned that you keep asking her to go shopping with you. Not to mention, you keep looking at her every ten seconds. And let's be honest, every time you looked at her you made a mistake playing the piano. So, it sure seems like something is going on."

Adrien's face started burning up. "No, there's nothing going on. I uh, I'm just not feeling too good, like I'm getting sick. And I'm just feeling... weird."

"Weird? Weird how?"

"I..." he stopped to think before answering the question. "I keep getting this pain in my chest. And sometimes I'm having some trouble breathing. And I uh, I keep sweating, so I probably have a fever."

"Huh," Luka murmured. "When's the last time you felt the chest pain?"

"Wh... when I was playing the song just now."

"And what were you looking at?"

After a second to think, Adrien froze as he realized what, or who, he was looking at when it happened.

Taking his silence as a confirmation of his assumption, Luka continued. "And were you looking at Marinette every single time you felt the pain, or had trouble breathing, or felt feverish?"

More silence as he thought back, his stomach twisting up in knots in acknowledgement that he was right.

Luka sighed and put his hand on his shoulder. "I don't think you're getting sick, Adrien. I think that maybe you're in love with Marinette."

That suggestion finally got him to respond. And he responded by bursting out in laughter. "Are you crazy? I'm not in love with Marinette."

"It's okay, you can admit it, man. She's a great girl. Maybe you weren't in love with her before, but maybe you discovered something about her that makes you see her differently now. And that's okay."

Adrien shook his head. "No, definitely not. I'm not in love with her. And there's nothing else to discover about her either. I mean, I've always known that Marinette was kind." He stopped to look over where she was talking to Alya. Then he reached up to press the spot on his chest that panged again. "And beautiful. And sweet. And wonderful." Caught in her enrapture, everything started fading away again.

But Luka's voice pulled him back to reality. "Sure sounds like you're in love."

"I... I'm not in love with Marinette," Adrien said decidedly, looking at him. "I'm in love with..." He stopped and awkwardly cleared his throat. "With uh, someone else."

A pause. "Someone else?"

"Yeah. And I've been in love with her for a long time, so there's nothing going on with me and Marinette."