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When Jukela and Rose started dating, absolutely no one in Mrs. Bustier’s class was surprised. (Except possibly Adrien, because if he can't tell when people have a crush on him, how could he tell when other people were mutually pining?)
Nothing much changed between the two of them, although they did kiss more. Which they both absolutely loved. Rose was a bigger romantic than Jukela, but she wanted to set up something special. Which was why she had asked Marinette for help. What Jukela didn't expect was for Marinette to enlist the entire class. Which meant public speaking. Great. Although she was working on becoming more self-confident after the Reflecta incident, Jukela still wasn't the biggest fan of public speaking. Hopefully, Marinette would take the lead on this one.
Speaking of Marinette, she was awfully upbeat today.
“Hey, Jukela, I thought it would be a good idea to have a large group so we could brainstorm more ideas! I hope you don't mind!”
Well, it was a little too late for her to object now.
“..It's fine. You seem happy.”
“I've just figured out some personal stuff.”
Well, it wasn't her place to pry. If Marinette wanted to talk about whatever the personal thing was, she would probably go to Alya.
“So.” Marinette loudly clapped her hands together to get everyone’s attention, standing at the front of the classroom, “You already know why I called you here. Has anyone already thought of something?”
Alex instantly shot up out of her seat. “They should go to the new roller skating rink that just opened up. The one with the arcade.”
An arcade did sound fun, but that wasn't exactly what she was looking for.
‘Um..I was thinking of doing something a little.. quieter.”
“Alright.”
Adrien piqued up from the back.
“Maybe you could take her on a picnic?”
That was an idea Jukela liked. Rose enjoyed picnics, and a romantic picnic was a classic, if those sappy rom-coms Rose forced her to watch were accurate. They probably weren't, but she would still love something like that.
“That would probably work.”
Which was Jukela speak for that's an absolutely fantastic idea.
“Great! I can get you some pastries from my parent’s bakery!”
The rest of the meeting passes in a flurry of plans to make the perfect picnic. All Jukela had to do was give the okay for the ideas. Before she knew it, the meeting was over and all the details of the picnic had been decided.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rose had loved it and Jukela was ecstatic. She would have to come up with a way to thank everyone for helping her. When Marinette walked up to them before class started, she assumed Marinette was going to ask them how the date had gone. But the problem with assuming things was that they were often wrong.
“We're having another meeting. Same place and time. This time Nino needs help thinking of ways to confess to Adrien.”
Well, she did owe them one after how everyone helped her. And it was highly unlikely she would be the center of attention again.
“I'll be there.”
“So will I!”
“Great! If the two of you could help spread the word, that would be appreciated.”
And for this meeting, she was free to lurk in the back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The time before the class meeting passed with less urgency than the other day, at least for her. As soon as they arrived, Jukela made a beeline for the back with Rose. The majority of the class was sitting towards the front, with Marinette and Nino standing by the blackboard. Jukela figured that this had the potential to go on for a while, so she might as well get comfortable. Greeting Nathaniel with a nod, she sat down beside him and got out her latest book. (This week it was The Lord of the Rings.) She had become completely immersed in Frodo’s quest to throw the ring when someone turns their attention to Rose and Jukela. (It sounded like Alya, but she hadn't been paying that much attention.)
“How did you two get together?”
Jukela really hoped that Rose would answer the question, otherwise her plans of sitting in the back reading were shot.
“ Oh! It was after the Zombiezou akuma. When school closed early because of how many of the teachers and students had been scattered around the city, we went to Jules’s house to relax. We started talking about the akuma, and I felt super guilty about kissing her without permission. So I apologized, and then she blurted out that she didn't mind that I had kissed her. I was a little surprised by that, and we had a conversation about how we felt about each other.”
Rose was officially the best girlfriend ever.
“That doesn't really help much. Unless someone can get angry and become a love zombie akuma?”
“Just talk to him. Even if he doesn't return your feelings, he's still going to be your best friend.”
“I agree with Alya.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She really wasn't expecting to get approached by Marinette a third time. But this third time was different. One, Marinette had pamphlets, two, she was wearing a nonbinary flag pin. Marinette smiled at Jukela and handed her a pamphlet with Gender and Sexuality Alliance written across the front.
“What is this?”
“I'm doing an interest check for an after school club.”
Well..it did look interesting, but she also really wanted to go home and take a nap. The last two class meetings had been socially draining.
“If I get enough people to join, the first meeting will be next Monday.”
She could do Monday.
“I'll be there.”
They would probably only get the bare minimum amount of people needed to open the club anyway.
~~~~~~~~~~~
There was twice as many people as Jukela had expected at that first meeting. Great. At least she already knew most of the other people there. Jukela easily moved through the group of people, eventually sitting down next to Alix. Alix was surprisingly easy to talk too. She wasn't really expecting Alix to have such a strong opinion on sci-fi books. Well, Marinette did say that the agenda for this first meeting was to get to know each other better. It actually wasn't as bad as she thought it was going to be.
“Same time next week?”
“Of course.”