#mlb julerose

"Assertive." Rose says.

"Aggressive?" Luka questions.

"Pushy." Juleka offers.

"Alya is Alya." Marinette shrugs, eyes bouncing between all of them and stopping, staring off into the distance. "You're not."

Juleka stares at Marinette, pulling Rose closer to her as she shivers. Marinette wasn't looking at any of them, a sign that she's lying, except nothing out of her mouth had been untrue. Including the fact that although Alya was Marinettes' best friend, she hadn't argued or denied any of their descriptions for Alya.

Lukas' music fills the air and Juleka glances down as she hears a soft snore, smiling down at a sleeping Rose. She looks back at Marinette, sees her watching Rose, the hidden sadness not as hidden now.

It's weird, Juleka thinks, that as quiet and as scared as Marinette had been, that she had been found. She knows that Marinette can hide, she knows that Marinette can be invisible when she wants, almost as invisible as Juleka herself. And yet, Juleka had seen her, had found her.

"You wanted to be seen." Juleka doesn't realize she's spoken until Marinette looks at her, eyes wide and mouth open a bit. Rose stirs, eyes blinking open. Juleka winces, hiding behind her bangs.

"I didn't know what I wanted, I knew what I didn't want." Marinette shrugs, curling in on herself, a self hug that Juleka recognizes from her own habit. Juleka peeks out, sees Marinette frowning, and looking away from her.

"Everything was feeling wrong?" Rose says, slowly.

"Nothing felt wrong." Marinette shakes her head, quickly. "It was…" She trails off.

It's silent, and Juleka shifts, looking over at Luka. He's frowning, hand posed over his guitar, and he sighs, shaking his head. Juleka knows, he'd said they wouldn't push and they won't, but…Marinette is hurting and she doesn't like that, it's not really safe to hurt and she looks up for a minute before looking back down.

Juleka jumps, having looked back down into Marinettes' eyes, eyes which are a comforting warm sky blue and now they're more a glacier ice blue and Juleka wonders for a second what would happen if Marinette was ever…she doesn't finish the thought. The answer isn't something she wants to know.

"I won't be." Marinette says, a slight smile on her face and Juleka wonders how she knows what she was thinking.

"Marinette?" Lukas' voice is soft, but Marinette still jumps. Juleka frowns. "Do you want to play a game or watch a movie?"

Marinette opens her mouth…then closes it, raising a hand to her throat.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk yet!" Rose says. "There's days I prefer silence too."

Marinette huffs, softly. She shakes her head, makes a few movements with her hands…Juleka tilts her head, is she miming a gaming stick? Then points at Luka, holding up two fingers.

"Cool. Movies it is. Action? Thriller? Comedy horror?" Luka asks. Marinette shrugs.

"Scream." Juleka offers.

"Insidious." Rose offers, before pausing. "Wait, that might be too much for tonight."

Marinette huffs slightly, smiling. Rose smiles back, then points to a corner.

"Monty Python and the holy grail."

Marinette and Rose both perk up at that, and Juleka huffs a laugh. They move over to where Juleka and Luka had set up a mini movie projector, and set up the movie.

(Movie stuff)

Juleka smiles at hearing Marinette laugh, glancing over to where she's curled up by Luka. Quiet laughter fills the air and Juleka relaxes, hugging Rose tighter. As the movie ends, silence descends and Juleka shifts uneasily, looking over at Luka, who's staring at Marinette.

"Marinette…" Luka pauses. "Can I ask a question?" He waits until Marinette nods. "Why did you come here? Not Alya?" Marinette shrinks down and Luka raises his hands. "You don't have to tell us, I'm just curious." He grabs his guitar and strums quietly.