The Identity Problem •Luka x Reader x Adrien•

Don't

She smiled softly at me and brushed a black braid out of her face then pulled out a navy blindfold from her emergency pack that sat on her belt.

"It's see-through, but no one can see your face. A lot of people use this fabric in show business."

"Thanks."

She pulled it over my eyes and tied it tight, bobby pinning it and then adjusting my hair into place. Finally, the outfit is complete. I take a deep breath and begin to follow Jenny to the backstage area.

After the dress rehearsal this morning the conflict between whether I should perform the song or not was brewing in my chest. It felt like a rot taking hold of my heart, a mix of guilt and bleeding hurt from what Trevor had done. I wanted to hurt him back and it scared me.

By the time I had zoned back into what was going on I was doing vocal warmups next to Poppy in the backstage area. Workers for the set of 'Side by Side' were bustling around, I could feel their gazes on me, admiration evident. They worked on putting the lights in the right position and micing everyone.

A short blonde man with freckles doting across the bridge of his nose and a nervous expression knit into his brows came up to me just as I was finishing my fifth tongue twister. He motioned to the mic in his hand.

"Um, do you mind if I?"

"Of course go ahead."

He went about attaching it to the back of my dress, Poppy breathing down his neck as he did so. I ignored it and listened to the show behind the large blue curtain.

"I'm your host Nadia Chamack, and this is 'Side by Side'! Where we sit down with your favorite celebrities of Paris! We have a special guest today that I will be introducing soon, but first TV 5 has a few announcements for you..."

I turned out as she introduced a sponsor, Poppy looked at me concerned then glanced again at her iPad. My eyebrow raised at the rarity of anything making her look even slightly flustered but I chose not to push and continued my vocal warmups. Eventually, she couldn't seem to take it any longer, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"You need to tune out everything else for this appearance, you already know how to answer the questions, just stay calm and collected."

"Why are you so worried? I've lost count of how many times I've done interviews live."

"Gabriel Agreste is allegedly in the audience. We have been trying to get him to design a line for Blue Moon for almost a year now. You must impress."

"Adrien said he never leaves the house, why would he come to some live show?!"

"Your friends with his son?!"

Poppy's face was starting to blush beet red from a mix of stress, surprise, and anger. Before she could question me further a stagehand came forward ushering me to follow her. I gave Poppy a forced thumbs up before fleeing with my makeshift savior.

I was led to the circular platform that I had practiced on during the rehearsal this morning. The stagehand lent me her hand as I stepped up. I made my way through the scattered wires connecting to the assortment of instruments and microphones. At the front stood an old-fashioned ribbon microphone, I stood at my place in front of it as another stagehand double-checked it was set up.

"You guys ready?"

I aimed it at the small band behind me, consisting of a drummer, pianist, bassist, and guitarist. They responded with a mix of yeses, the bassist spoke up.

"Can I just say, it's an honor to play for you."

He was tall, couldn't be older than twenty-five, and had dark skin and hair. Visually different from Trevor but my heart clenched at the fact that it wasn't him. I always hated performing without the band. I responded while I turned to face the curtain separating the crowd from us.