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“We could get arrested,” Luka says, watching as Marinette scales the fence. She’s swift, climbing up like she did this in her free time, and landing on the other side in less than a minute. Dusting her hands, she looks at Luka through the other side.
“No, we won’t,” Marinette assures him. “I cut through here, like, all the time. And, if we hop this, we should be able to save a few blocks of walking and make it to Alya’s party with plenty of time to spare.”
“Are you sure this is safe?” he asks, hands touching the fence. Luka can do it, he’s at least 50% sure, but there’s a little sense of fear coursing through him. What if his jeans got caught on the fence? What if he got stuck and hung there until Marinette had to call the authorities for help? What if he climbed it but got scared at the top? What if-
“Luka, come on.” Putting her hands on the fence, Marinette leans forward and smiles at him from the other side, face almost pressed through the fence’s holes and breaking his train of thought. “I did it, remember?”
“Well, I didn’t think the Marinette would be so down for fence hopping,” he says, looking at her face and wondering just how lucky someone was to be not only downright pretty, but braver and bolder than anyone else he ever met.
“And I didn’t think the Luka would take so long climbing a fence,” she responds, letting out a small laugh. “C’mon, Luka, it’s not that hard.”
“That’s because you’re on the other side.”
“And how did you think I got here?” she asks, waiting for his response. Luka stays silent, finding the odds in her favor.
“Okay, okay, you win,” Marinette finally says after a moment, hands raised in mock defeat. “Why don’t we take the long way and come back to this shortcut another day?”
“Another day?”
“Well, yeah.” Marinette grabs onto the fence and begins lifting herself up, continuing to talk as she moves. “I’m not just gonna give up on you. If I could get Juleka to do this, I’m sure I could get the other half of the Couffaine family to do it.”
“Wait, Juleka scaled this fence before?”
“Did I stutter?” Marinette asks, finally landing back on his side and dusting her hands once more.
“You should’ve used that as your opening argument.” Gripping tightly onto the fence, he looks up. “I am so gonna scale this thing.”
When they finally arrive to the party, twenty minutes late, Marinette finds herself explaining to Alya that Luka got his pants stuck at the top of the fence, leaving him there until Marinette could get help.