A/N: Luka definitely rocks the boat
GUYS IMPORTANT: ART FOR LAST CHAPTER WAS ADDED GO SEE (or on insta @/snacc_noir follow me babes there's extra enemies content)
-
"But I looked so good."
"We're not swapping miraculous again! That was dangerous and we had no other choice."
Chat Noir held out his wrists. "Red just felt like my colour for a moment there."
"Oh yeah, Buga-boy? The other week you said black made your eyes stand out."
He planted his hands on his hips. "It's not my fault I look good in everything."
"How about you start looking more for who could be a good Hawk Moth? As much as I loved that time you saw how hard being Ladybug is, we have to use this time off to do our job."
Chat scoffed and a piece of his short hair blew out of his eyes. The afternoon sun dipped between buildings and spread their makeshift workplace atop East Avenue with clean light, which bounced off Chat's black suit in her peripheral as she paced.
The last time they had free time together, he was pausing her life-altering confession to – in the most perfect-masculine-gentlemanly way – fire an AK-47 at her hopes of a romantic pursuit of him. Add "friend-zoned by a hot furry superhero" on her achievement list under, "eaten by a dinosaur", "swam through Paris" and, "aggressively made out with her (non-superhero-related) enemy". That last one, no comment.
Chat Noir saw her as a friend and nothing more. Maybe forever. She hadn't debated how times could change. What if one day they shared identities? What if he was actually some despicable person she ended up loathing, then she could heal, and realise his perfection came with the mask?
Honestly, even if he was a nightmare as a civilian, she betted that her idiot self would find a way to fall in love with him again regardless.
For now, the charming smile and absence of nicknames would distract her from remembering the vermin that came to school today, the too-short a kiss, and the fact she'd be meeting Adrien at Luka's house an hour from now. Or two, since being late came more naturally than getting herself into inhumane situations.
All teens had stress. Some had slipping grades. Some were named Kim. Some were in love with and rejected by their superhero partner while nursing a burgeoning temptation towards their enemy-slash-fake-boyfriend-slash-new-deskmate-slash-maybe-friend? And was also responsible for everyone's lives in Paris, daily.
Despite everything, she had an unpaid job to do. Investigating the leads, motives, and likely drugs to do with Hawk Moth could get them closer to the final goal of his capture. That way, she just so happened to never have to see Chat again... which had nothing to do with her being a responsible Ladybug!
"I say we rule him as an underground nutcase and call it a day." Chat shook his short mane. "I gotta be somewhere in an hour."
"What? That's plenty of time."
He extended his staff discreetly and it caught up under her feet, causing her to yelp and faceplant on the roof before a cackle filled her reality. "I like to be early. Late people always get tripped up," he giggled.
Cheek to the cement, seeing his bright face reminded her that this idiot somehow managed to woo her. Once upon a time. "That was so lame it's not even funny."
"I know," he laughed. "I've just been waiting for a good time to do that. You haven't stopped walking in circles for thirty minutes now."
She groaned getting up. "It's important we unmask him, that's all. We have no leads. Gabriel Agreste got akumatised and now we have nothing!"
Chat twirled a pen and stared at the single white sheet between them. They'd accomplished nothing but avoiding the existence of their midnight interaction and getting distracted reminiscing about old battles while 'sifting for evidence'.
"Don't worry M'l- Ladybug. We're not detectives. We do our jobs the best we can and fight the same pigeon guy twice a week. Though it's not pretty on my allergies, we make a great team and stop Hawk Moth every time!"
She smiled sadly. "Yeah, we do."
"But really," he continued, "I can't think of anything besides anyone who hasn't been akumatised yet. Like some lonely dude who needs to get a life. I mean, what old man sends vulnerable people out to fight teenagers for him? That's beyond sad. No way that guy doesn't have a massive leaving-the-house problem."
"Hey! That's a good start," she said, like they hadn't already been discussing 'good starts' for half an hour that lead to, 'Hey! Remember that time in battle when...'
"Write that down Chat. We'll start looking into creepy recluses with a jewellery fetish."
"Purrr-fect..." he muttered as he scribbled. When he looked up, she was no longer pacing, but sitting before the city with her long, red-streaked ponytail stirring behind.
"Hey," he tilted his head, "you feeling okay?"
She smiled weakly because he always knew. "Unfortunately yes. My health is fantastic. So I still gotta go to school every day."
His claws against the brick scratched as he came closer. He swung his feet off the ledge and beheld the city's unchaotic abyss beside her. "Is it about that guy who keeps pestering you? You haven't brought him up in a while."
She just looked at him.
"Ok 'pestering' was putting it lightly. The prankster? Gaslighter? Terroriser? Stalker?"
"No, no, stop. It's—" Agh. Those names. She really described him as all that? Adrien? The same Adrien...
Chat's words were like gasoline to a hurting flame.
"—I don't know. Sorry. Yeah. It's sort of about him..."
"Oh," he said eloquently.
Ladybug let go of her yoyo off the five-foot building, then brought it back up.
"Is he giving you more trouble? Because you know L-B, I will cataclysm your school if I have to. His house. Anything. Just tell me what's going on."
She drew a long sigh while her yoyo came back into her hand. "I hate not being able to tell you everything."
He set his hand on her shoulder. A gesture like that used to give her butterflies. Why not now? "Same. You have no idea."
He swung his legs like a kid, just sitting beside her, before she asked tentatively. "Uh, that girl? Is she still the bane of your existence?"
The liveliness of his expression evaporated, like some harsh reality crashed over him. She didn't mean to remind him of her – The way he used to go on and on about this cretin of a woman that followed him around then denied it, that publicly destroyed a present his family gave him, and tampered with all his stuff. Oh goodness, she sounded like a nightmare that could rival a character like Lila. But since with all their saving the city and stuff, they had less time to vent to each other about their respective civilian lives. At least, that's why she'd assumed he hadn't brought her up for a while.
"She's... well, she's..."
Confusion crossed her face. "Worse? Better?"
He held his face in his hands. "Both. Evidently."
"So... she's changed?"
He fell silent a long while. "Maybe I just have. All I know is, we're not what we used to be, and I intend to keep it that way. I don't want to go back to it all. But it sounds like she may have other plans."
Ladybug made a disgusted noise. "Wow. Like I thought, she's deciding to stay horrible. Good thing you're trying to change your way of going about her. That's a big thing to do. Keep at it until she realises what a tragic mistake it is not being able to be civil with you."
He laughed dryly. "So what about Mr. Evil?"
"Still evil. Now trying to be Mr. Nice guy."
"No way!"
"Yeah, he even gave me food the other day after trying to walk me to school."
"I hope you didn't fall for that."
She stretched her shoulders. "Yeah, I didn't know whether to believe it either. Like, it was a gradual change, but any change from him seems impossible. Then I thought it was just my trust issues but..."
"Ladybug, if all the previous stuff you've told me about this guy is true, then I wouldn't believe he's one-hundred percent genuine either. I mean, what if it's leading to a big prank?"
The yoyo caught in her hand and she flashed her face to him. "No. No he wouldn't do that."
"Oh. Are you sure?"
Was she?
"He's been different lately. Apologising for stuff, less hostile – we still argue like crazy! – but he's... what's the word? Softer..."
Chat furrowed his brows. "Sounds suspish. I say you keep your guard up. He could be trying to weaken you – don't let him do that. Remember all those stunts he pulled? You never know when he's going to go back to that and catch you when you're being vulnerable."
She didn't want to believe a word Chat said.
"Wow. I guess that's true..." she mumbled, her lips buzzing at a memory. "Thanks Chat, I'll keep doing that. We have strict agreements so just in case he's forgotten, I'll let him know I'm not changing what I think of him."
He nodded. "Queen behaviour. Make sure he knows who he's dealing with."
Yeah - Ladybug. Adrien was trying to have an effect on Ladybug it was working.
Chat Noir had good advice. And hair. And smile when he reminded her (more or less) that she had no feelings for Adrien – It was just euphoria because it burnt the rest of the world away. It burnt the memory of Chat away. By kissing her enemy, she was neutralising her angst with her greatest love. It was just science! Or math, or... bullocks, honestly.
Glowing from Chat Noir's pep-talk and untraceable delicious scent, Marinette was going to attend Juleka's house with two motives.
1. Remind herself and Adrien what they were.
And 2. Get Chat Noir off her mind.
Time to kill two birds with one stone.
Adrien had been to Juleka's... boat? houseboat? twice already. It was a grand mass beside the Seine with bulls-eye windows, a stage on deck, and a domestic interior.
And Juleka's brother. He lived there.
Last visit, he'd hung with Nino while Alya babysat and Marinette occupied herself with literally anyone else, all bubbly and spry, occasionally coming over to give him (possibly poisoned) food and drink followed by a kiss on the cheek. Minimal and safe interactions – they had seemed like the perfect couple, to everyone except –
"Luka! Great to see you again."
After that last visit, Marinette mentioned that Luka was asking about them like he didn't believe their story. Juleka had – evidently – never told Luka they were dating, but long beforehand, often complained about their bickering and 'palpable romantic tension'. This proved a) Juleka did actually speak, and b) Luka knew their history and seemed to think he knew how compatible they were.
"Adrien!" He shook his hand, taking a crocodile guitar pick out of his mouth with the other. "Hey man. Is Marinette with you?"
"She is."
His slit brows furrowed. He looked over his shoulder to streets bathed in the golden hour. "I can't see her."
"Oh! Oh, yeah, she's—" he rubbed his neck, "she's going to be with me later. She's running late. You know how my girl is."
The guitarist looked at him for a beat. "Right."
Adrien cleared his throat. One would think home-schooling made awkwardness imperceptible to him – No. He could tell Luka did not like him. "Are you guys practising any new music tonight?"
"I'd like to," he half-smiled. "I write a lot but it's hard to get the whole group in on it. I mean, could you imagine Rose's voice screaming about a sweet girl with midnight hair?"
The breeze stirred.
A slight crack formed in Adrien's polite demeanour. "I think I'd like to hear that one."
Luka shrugged, tuning his electric guitar. "The lyrics could be upsetting to some."
Adrien leant closer. "I'd like to hear them anyway."
He set down his equipment and hid a shy gaze behind drapes of blue-tipped hair. As he stood off his stool and commented about feeling thirsty and if Adrien wanted a drink, he'd planned not to let the emo-boy slink away so quickly. But an excited chorus of his name had him whipping around on the dock.
"Adrien!" Marinette leapt into his arms before he had time to adopt his character, then started peppering his frozen face with a few kisses. "You're here!"
"You're here? On-time?" The glow on her face – real or not – was enough to deteriorate Luka from his peripheral.
"One minute late, but who's counting? I just couldn't wait to see you." She planted glossed lips on his cheek again. Luka was two steps into his escape behind him.
"Luka! How's that songwriting you were telling me about going?" she said.
Adrien snapped his head back around.
"Oh, it's... I'm trying to find the right melody. I know one—" he hopped off the elevated stage platform and added quietly as he strolled off, "but I think the wrong song's already using it."
Wrong song?
Adrien wouldn't forget he said that.
And he'd make sure Luka didn't either.
-
A/N: Be ready for the next chapter soon!! You're gonna be screaming more again (and there's gonna be artttt)