You're The Music That's Been Playing In My Head: Book 3

Luka Chapter Forty-One

"(y/n) hasn't come around for practice in a while is she ok?" I ask after we finish practicing one of our songs and everyone gives me a pitying look. "Yeah, she's fine. She's just...Got a lot of stuff going on," Alya tells me and I frown. "You can tell me the truth, she stopped showing up because she feels too awkward to be around me in a social setting." "Of course, not Luka, (y/n) stopped coming because rehearsal is the exact same time as her aqua pony class with Pom-Pom her favorite pony," Rose lies to me and talks about how upset Pom-Pom would be if she stopped going to aqua pony class. "I get it Rose, thanks..." I trail off walking away, I was really hoping that after the few times we've met recently, she'd at least try to be here. I head to my room and put in my headphones to try and cheer up.

Later Juls comes down and gets my attention. "Hey, I was thinking we'd have a party on Saturday after all." "That's a great idea," I tell her. "About (y/n)..." "Is she coming? Phew, I'm so glad, I was starting to worry she never wanted to see me, that's so cool!" I exclaim excitedly, my face brightening until I see my sister's downcast face. "Is something wrong?" "No..." "Juleka I know that look, you're holding something back that needs to come out," I say, getting up to pat her head reassuringly when there's a knock on the window and we turn to see Dad.

"Luka! Hey son, how's it strumming?" He asks as we fist-bump. "Ready for the chord of the day? The diminished D7," Before he could play Mom barges in with a furious look on her face. "Jagged Stone you scallywag! There's no stowaways on my ship. Get out now!" She yells at him and he waves nervously. "Anarka how'd you know I was here? I was being so sneaky." "Your tour bus is outside, you one-hit wonder!" "You can't keep me from spending time with my son." "I appreciate you wanna spend time with your children but you don't have my permission to be here!"

"With your permission then Mom, can Dad come to our birthday on Saturday? Juleka wants to throw a party," I ask, gesturing toward my sister whom Dad just now takes notice of and jumps behind Mom in shock. "Hi Huleka...I didn't see ya there..." "Juleka do you really want this old pirate to be at your birthday?" Mom asks and Juls quietly agrees before Dad leaves so I go back to practicing my guitar mumbling about how happy I was everyone will be there.

The next day I helped Mom set up for the party and waited for everyone to show up, my smile grew when everyone arrived and my eyes locked with (y/n), she took a deep breath and waved to me with a small smile that I return but before I could get up and say hi Marinette drags her down into the hold and I approach my sister. "Are they ok?" Everyone starts adding on questions, wondering themselves what was going on when I notice her face and I understand what happened. "I knew it, (y/n) feels too awkward around me, and Juleka didn't have the heart to tell me..." I trail off and my sister runs down into the hold while I sit on the couch with a frown. "Luka that's not true (y/n) told me herself she was really excited to see you." "You know Marinette too she loves taking on other people's problems when she doesn't need to and was just trying to make the situation more comfortable."

Everyone starts consoling me and I thank them. The party kicks off to lift the mood when Dad shows up surprising everyone. "Sorry I'm late to the party son, you got any wrapping paper I could borrow?" "Hang on Jagged Stone is Luka and Juleka's dad?" Cheers erupt in excitement as the party continues. I lead Dadl downstairs to wrap up my and Juleka's birthday gifts while he tells me how good of a condition the base he was giving Juleka was. "Go and hide this and of course not a word to your sister," I take the case when Marinette jumps up from the other side of the kitchen counter, (y/n) soon popping up as well trying to stop her from yelling before her gaze lands on my shocked face.

"Hey Luka, I know we need to talk and I promise we will where everything will be explained but first-" "We need to talk to your dad!" Mari cuts in, calling out Dad for the present. "Thanks so much for the amazing discretion Marinette. Very rock 'n' roll. But this base isn't for Luka, it was supposed to be a surprise gift to Juleka. I heard she plays base so I wanted to give her the very first base I've ever owned. Happy birthday, darling," He explains handing the base to my sister before handing me my gift when Mom comes barging in screaming at him, causing another fight about who did what.

They both start tugging on the disc, not noticing the akuma flying in before it breaks and the second we saw purple mist we all raced upstairs calling out for everyone to get off Liberty. Juleka and I watched in distraught as our parents were akumatized and started fighting each other in the sky when Alya fell to the ground, hissing in pain about spraining her foot. 

After the gang helps Alya up the steps and gets her to safety my sister and I watch our parents fight from the sky, the heroes trying to intervene with little luck when stray projectiles head our way and I pull my sister behind me before we're both tackled out of the way. "To think they were in love once..." Ladybug muttered and I told her "I'd say those feelings are long gone." "That's no reason to stop talking to each other, especially with kids involved," (s/n) says, shaking her head while Ladybug summoned her lucky charm.

She's given tape and Chat Noir jokes about that not being enough to fix things before Ladybug grabs my sister and they all take off, telling me to get somewhere safe. I hid out nearby and watched as my parents flew too high into the sky to see what was going on before checking in with everyone to make sure they were okay and as usual, Marinette and (y/n) had gone missing. "They really need to share that amazing hiding spot with the rest of us..." I joke to myself to keep my worry from bubbling over.

Thankfully it didn't take long before everything was fixed and we were all back on the boat with Mom and Dad still arguing when Juleka intervenes. "Stop! You two are going to apologize now and make up by talking not blaming and yelling. No one cares about who did what, it's in the past," They both shrink at her words before apologizing and starting another spat about who was more at fault.

"Hey, Luka? Now that everything's calmed down I owe you an apology and an explanation," Mari says nervously as she approaches. "What for?" "You know how it looked like (y/n) was avoiding you? She wasn't that was all me, I kept finding any excuse to make sure you guys would never meet until she was ready to see you but it ended up until when I thought she'd be ready to see you because I wouldn't listen. So please don't be mad at her, I'm the one that kept you two apart because I took it upon myself to solve the problem."

I rest my hand on her shoulder reassuringly and smile. "It's alright Marinette, I understand what you did wasn't done in malice and you were just trying to help a friend but next time remember to think how it's affecting others it hurts to not see her more than it does to see her and I'm sure she feels the same." "Thank you, Luka, I'll still make it up somehow," I chuckle before I ask "When are you going to let someone in and let them help tackle your problems instead of the other way around?" She falls quiet unsure how to answer before choosing to just awkwardly shuffle away. "I better let you go talk to (y/n) she's been dying to see you. Bye!"

I shake my head in amusement as (y/n) approaches. "I'm really glad to know you weren't trying to avoid me," I admit to her and she gives me a teasing grin. "Well I couldn't stay away from you for too long, life would be boring," I return the teasing grin as I tell her "You shouldn't say stuff like that, it'll make me fall in love with you more," She looks away from me and mentally huff a bit, she still wasn't ready to give us another shot, I just wish she could tell me what was supposedly keeping us from being together so we could tackle it together but for now all I can do is respect her wishes and hope one day she'll tell me. "Buddies?"

"Buddies."