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It starts with curiosity.
Luka knew Marinette had lingering feelings for her classmate Adrien, and maybe he’s curious. Maybe he wants to know why this boy is the one holding Marinette back from thinking about being with him. It’s just curiosity.
He sees Adrien walking by the houseboat, and he calls out to him. It’s not like they were strangers - they’d been in the same vicinity before, but it was always with Marinette as a buffer. Luka’s wondering if it it’ll be weird, but then Adrien brightens and practically bounds over.
And, yeah, Luka gets it.
Adrien’s a model. When he smiles, he shines like gold, and when he held his eyes on Luka, there was a certain intensity that no doubt came from years of presenting himself before cameras with little to no shyness.
Of course, Luka knew Marinette wasn’t the superficial type, so the fact that Adrien was a model wasn’t enough to really convince him.
But actually talking to the guy? Being in the same room, breathing the same air?
Luka gets it.
“I don’t think I can stay long,” Adrien admitted, sitting down gingerly on Luka’s bed and looking around his room with wide eyes. It was the first time he’d been down to Luka’s room, and Luka could tell he was taking in the slight mess and myriad of band equipment and merchandise. When he turned his eyes back to Luka, there was a warmth there. “I have fencing lessons soon, and Chinese after that. I’m actually supposed to be in basketball right now, but my coach ended practice early and forgot to tell my father.”
Situating himself on his desk chair and picking up his guitar, Luka hummed. “Sounds busy,” he said, plucking out a few notes. “Aren’t you tired?”
Adrien blinked. “I haven’t gone to all my lessons yet.”
“Still,” Luka said with a shrug. “Aren’t you tired?”
For a moment, Adrien was silent, and Luka looked up from the guitar, watching all the little micro-expressions travel across Adrien’s smooth face. Finally, he spoke. “I don’t think so.”
That was a lie, and that fact made Luka’s heartstrings pull uncomfortably. He got up from his desk chair, going to sit beside Adrien on the bed. Adrien started to move to make room, but Luka just waved his hand. They were close, but not too close. It was okay.
“You know what you need?” Luka asked, and Adrien shook his head. “A way to relax. Do you play guitar?”
“I play piano.”
“Well, I know that,” Luka said, rolling his eyes and bumping Adrien’s shoulder with his. “You played with Kitty Section that one time, remember?”
Adrien’s face colored as he looked down at his lap. Luka’s heart skipped a beat. “I didn’t think you remembered that.”
“Of course I did,” Luka said, not letting his heart’s strange falter bother him too much. “I was asking if you play guitar.” He handed his guitar to Adrien, who took it in nervous and clumsy hands.
“I don’t,” Adrien responded sheepishly, starting to hand the guitar back to him. Luka shook his head, pushing it back.
“I’m gonna teach you,” he said, and Adrien raised his eyebrows. “So you can relax.”
“I don’t really understand,” Adrien said, but he was already shifting the guitar in a semi-playable position and looking up at Luka for instructions.
Gently, Luka reached over and adjusted his hand placement, wondering why his chest fluttered when he touched the skin of Adrien’s warm hands. “You don’t have to be good at it. In fact, feel more than welcome to be awful at it.”
Something about that made Adrien laugh, and Luka found himself looking up at Adrien’s face, careful exterior cracked by the smallest snort. “How does that make sense?” he asked, shaking his head, and Luka leaned back.
“Being good at everything is stressful,” he said, and then paused, his mouth twitching up into a smile. “Trust me, I would know.” That made Adrien laugh again, and a little thrill went down Luka’s spine. “Just be bad at something for a bit, Adrien. Relax.”
Adrien’s lips twisted into a rather cute smile, and then he looked down at the guitar. Hesitantly, he plucked a string, releasing a quiet hum. He looked up at Luka, and Luka nodded his encouragement. He looked back down at the guitar and strummed a little bit more confidently at the strings, releasing arguably one of the most vile chords Luka had ever heard.
Stopping the awful sound with the flat of his hand, Adrien looked up at Luka with something akin to horror. Luka couldn’t help but laugh.
“Congratulations,” Luka said, still trying to stifle his laughter, “you’re awful at it.”
The look of horror melted into an infectious smile, and then Adrien was standing, holding up the guitar and taking bows like a true rockstar. “Thank you, thank you.”
“Encore,” Luka said, clapping his hands, and Adrien slung the guitar strap around his chest, holding the guitar and strumming out terrible chords as he danced around the room. Every so often, he hit a good chord, but it was always replaced by something worse than before. It was amazing.
Even more amazing was the smile that bloomed across Adrien’s face when Luka clapped for him and whistled for him. When Adrien’s phone rang and he had to put down the guitar to take it, the smile was still on his face.
“I have to go now,” Adrien said after hanging up, turning to Luka and giving him that blinding smile.
“Fencing?” Luka asked, finding that he was smiling back at Adrien.
“Then Chinese,” Adrien agreed. His smile faded, replaced by something softer. “Thank you, Luka.”
“No problem,” Luka said with a shrug, finding that he was having difficulty tearing his eyes away from Adrien’s luminescent green eyes. “We should hang out again.”
Adrien tilted his head to the side. “Sure.”
When Adrien left, Luka collapsed onto his bed, laying his guitar over his stomach and plucking idly at the strings Adrien had abused earlier. This was the boy Marinette stuttered and turned red around, the boy that she had real and true feelings for.
He smiled.
He definitely got it.
---
Being with Marinette made Luka feel soft and warm inside, like he had blankets wrapped around his heart. Like a hug, but on the inside.
She was sitting on the steps that faced the Eiffel tower, her nose nearly touching her sketchbook as she drew, and Luka felt that warmth spread through his veins. He changed his course so that he was walking toward her, his footsteps already feeling lighter.
When he reached her, he didn’t say anything, simply sitting down beside her and looking over her shoulder as she worked. He’d interrupted her while she was sketching once, and he’d scared her so badly that she screamed loud enough to alarm all of Paris. He thought it was a little funny, especially with how her cheeks had turned an adorable shade of pink when she’d realized it was only him, but decided that he’d never do that again.
Marinette lifted her pencil to her mouth, chewing on the end and looking up from the sketchbook. She set her electric eyes on the tower, glaring hard enough that Luka wondered if she was capable of burning a hole through the iron from so far away. Muttering something to herself, she tore her eyes away from the tower, pulling the pencil out of her mouth and making a slash on the paper in what seemed like frustration.
Finally, she sighed heavily, snapping her sketchbook closed and shaking her head. Luka decided it was then he should make himself known.
“Hey, Marinette,” he said, and she startled. (Though she didn’t scream, she did release a small squeaking noise that made Luka’s heart thump sweetly.)
“Luka!” she said, brushing the hair out of her face. “When did you get here?”
He pretended to check a nonexistent watch on his wrist. “About five minutes ago.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” she asked, her pale cheeks starting to redden.
“I didn’t want to startle you,” he said, and her expression softened. “What were you working on?”
“Oh.” She looked down at her sketchbook a little sheepishly, avoiding eye contact with him. “I wasn’t really working on anything, I was just… thinking, I guess.”
“Then what were you thinking about?” he asked, bumping his shoulder with hers.
She bumped him back, screwing her lips to the side. “Well,” she said slowly, staring a hole into the pavement, “I was thinking about you.”
His heart leaped. He smiled. “Oh?”
“Yeah,” she said, glancing up at him with a small look that sent warmth tingling to his toes. “I was thinking about you and what you told me a couple months ago. About…” She trailed off, her face red, and she looked at him, as if she was hoping he would finish the sentence for her.
“About what, Marinette?”
“Well, about how you felt. And all that.” Her eyes flicked away from him. He leaned against her.
“You mean about how I said that you’ve been the song in my head since we first met? Clear like a music note? Sincere as a melody?”
She swatted at his leg, but she didn’t make him stop leaning on her. “I can’t believe you memorized that.”
“You would only know I memorized it if you had memorized it too.” She swatted at his leg again. He laughed, letting his head rest on hers. “So why were you thinking about that, hm? Why was that on your mind?”
She was silent for a moment, her fingers picking at the edge of her sketchbook. “Do you still feel the same?”
He lifted his head, looking down at her. “Of course I do. My feelings for you have only grown stronger with every time I see you. Every time I think about you.” She glanced up at him, her eyes wide like she didn’t believe him. He touched a finger to her chin, rubbing his thumb over her bottom lip. “You’ve been the song I play without even thinking about it. The song that makes me smile. The song that stays in my heart even when I go to sleep each night.”
“Luka…” A pained expression crossed her face, and Luka let go of his gentle hold on her chin, giving her space. “I really do like you.”
“I really do like you, too,” he said, but he knew there was something more she wanted to say. He waited for her.
“And I want to be with you, but I… I still have feelings for…”
“Adrien,” he finished, and she closed her eyes tight.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I’m not being very fair.”
Very slowly, slow enough that she could pull away if she wanted to, he cradled her face in his hands, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. “I don’t mind,” he said softly, because he really didn’t mind. He understood. “You can give me what you have, and I won’t ask for more.”
She opened her eyes, her eyebrows furrowing. “Luka, I don’t want to hurt you. It’s not fair for me to want you when I still want someone else.”
“Maybe it’s not fair,” he said with a shrug. “But I could never hate you. And I’m in love with you, Marinette. I want to be with you as much as I can be.”
For a moment, she was silent, and Luka was afraid she would turn him away again. But then she was surging forward and her lips were on his and her hands were on his cheeks and he was reaching for her waist and he was vaguely aware of her sketchbook falling down the steps and-
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, breathless, “I should’ve asked before I-”
“I wanted it,” he interrupted, leaning his forehead against hers. He was close enough to see the splatterings of freckles on her cheeks, close enough to see where the mascara she was wearing had rubbed off under her eyes, close enough to feel her breath brush against his lips. “Ask me now, and I’ll say yes.”
“Luka,” she said, his name falling from her mouth like a sigh, “can I kiss you?”
“Yes.”
And she did. And he kissed her back.
---
Marinette was sitting on his bed, her homework taking up all available space on the bed. She flipped a few pages in her textbook a little too violently, and a rush of papers fluttered to the floor. Cursing, she extracated herself from her homework nest and gathered the papers off the floor.
Luka observed with affectionate amusement.
“How come you aren’t drowning in homework?” she asked, voice hot as she climbed back into her homework nest and reorganized everything. “I thought third year homework was supposed to be unbearable this time of year.”
“It is,” Luka admitted. “But I don’t put it off like you do.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. He stuck his tongue out back.
“Come help me,” she said, reaching her hands out for him. “I’m dying, Luka.”
“I don’t think you’ll be very productive with me so close,” he said, but he still wheeled his desk chair closer to the bed, peering down at her homework.
“Are you saying you’ll distract me somehow?” she asked, taking his face in one of her hands and squeezing his cheeks.
“Most definitely,” he replied, making his lips pucker like a fish.
She laughed, leaning in and giving his fish lips a quick peck. “Help me with my homework, loverboy.”
“Will do, Maribug.”
He tries his best to keep her on task, and she does get a lot more homework done than Luka thought she would when she asked if she could do her homework with him earlier that day. When it starts to get later, he helps her pack up all her homework, sorting it out between the finished and unfinished, and he walks her home.
“Thank you for helping me,” she said as they reached the front door of her parents’ bakery.
“Of course,” Luka said, brushing her hair behind her ear. Her gray earrings glittered in the lowlight from the streetlamps, and he wondered vaguely why she was always wearing that specific pair.
The chime of his phone interrupted his thoughts, and he pulled away, checking the notification. Something in his heart jittered.
“Who is it?” Marinette asked, her expression fond as she hooked her pinky finger with his.
“Adrien,” Luka replied, showing her the message. “He says he has some free time tomorrow, and he wants to hang out.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “With you? Just you?”
“Yeah,” he said, and then bit his lip. “Unless that makes you feel weird.”
She shook her head quickly, giving his pinky finger a squeeze. “Of course not! I just didn’t know you two were that close.” She paused, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “Actually, it may be a little weird.”
“You still…?”
Guilt threw a shadow over her features. “A little.”
His heart softened, and he brought her hand up to his mouth, brushing his lips over her knuckles. “That’s okay, love. I can tell him I’m busy if it bothers you.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head again and using the hand that he’d kissed to cradle his face. “No, I won’t hold you back like that. And I think it’s great that you’re friends with him. Adrien… Adrien needs people like you in his life.”
“People like me?”
“Good people,” she said, tracing her thumb over his cheekbone. “People who are honest and have loving hearts.”
He leaned down, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips. “I love you.”
“I…” She trailed off, her eyebrows furrowing.
“You don’t have to say it back,” he said, giving her another kiss. “I just want you to know.”
Instead of answering, she simply pressed a kiss of her own on Luka’s lips, and he got the point. When she pulled away, she brushed the hair out of his face, smiling gently. “Have fun tomorrow.”
“Make sure to set your alarm,” he said, and her smile grew a little wider.
“Goodnight, Luka.”
“Goodnight, Marinette.”
---
“My piano lessons teacher called in sick today,” Adrien explained as they ascended the staircase of his grand mansion. “I still have to practice, though, and I told Nathalie that it would be better if I had someone to try and teach.”
“So this is your definition of free time?” Luka asked as Adrien pushed open the door to his room.
Adrien’s cheeks colored. “It’s more free than usual.”
They walked into his room, and, even though Luka had been in there once before for a party that all of Adrien’s guy friends had organized, it was still a sight to behold. Spacious and filled to the brim with various types of entertainment, the room was the epitome of what one imagined when thinking of a rich person’s room. But with just Luka and Adrien there, it seemed a little… empty. Lonely.
“Do you know how to play piano?” Adrien asked as he led him to the piano by the floor-to-ceiling windows.
“No,” Luka lied.
“Fantastic!” Adrien said, his eyes brightening as he sat down on the bench. He patted the space beside him, gesturing for Luka to sit. “That means I get to actually teach you.”
Luka smiled, sitting down beside Adrien. The bench was a little small, and as Luka relaxed, his thigh pressed up against Adrien’s. His chest froze, and he glanced over at Adrien, but he didn’t seem to mind that much. Luka forced himself to relax.
Adrien lifted the lid on the piano, launching into a very thorough and informative explanation on how to begin playing the piano. Luka only half-listened, finding that he was getting very distracted by the shine of Adrien’s hair in the sunlight filtering through the windows and by the shape of his lips as he spoke.
“Can you press this key for me?” Adrien asked, and Luka pressed his finger down on the key Adrien was pointing to. “Great job!” Adrien praised, his voice warm and soft.
Luka was starting to feel a little bad about lying to him.
“I lied,” he said, and Adrien stopped, furrowing his eyebrows.
“What?”
“I lied,” Luka repeated. “I do know how to play piano.”
“I know.”
Luka blinked. “What?”
“I know,” Adrien repeated, a small smile forming on his lips. “Marinette mentioned it once.”
“And you just let me lie to you?” Luka asked incredulously, and Adrien laughed, bumping his shoulder with Luka’s.
“I was wondering how long it would take you to admit that you lied.”
“What would you have done if I never admitted it?”
“Taught you how to play piano.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“If you were paying attention to the key information, then maybe-”
“Was that a pun?”
Adrien grinned.
“That was so awful,” Luka said, laughing. “I can’t believe you.”
“You can criticize my puns,” Adrien said, and Luka saw his expression twist in mischievous excitement, “but you don’t have to duet so rudely.”
“Oh, my God,” Luka said, shaking his head. “Puns are you secret… forte.”
The laugh that burst from Adrien’s mouth was entirely unattractive and yet Luka felt his heart race.
“Since you admitted that you can play piano,” Adrien said, reeling himself back in, “let’s play something together.”
“I don’t really do classical stuff,” Luka warned as Adrien shuffled through the sheet music on the little reading ledge.
“Feel free to be awful at it,” Adrien said, shooting Luka a wink that made Luka wonder if his organs were shutting down.
Adrien counted them down, and then they started on a piece. It was something warm and light and not too hard, and Luka felt his chest tightening.
Luka understands why Marinette was having such a hard time getting over Adrien. He understands. Really.
Maybe he understands a little too much.
Their hands brushed against each other while they were playing, and both of them froze, their hands stationary above the keys. Luka stared down at their hands, at the place where skin touched skin.
“You…” Adrien started, and Luka looked up, finding Adrien’s intense eyes steady on him, something new and heavy residing there in the green. “I-I heard,” Adrien said, taking his hand away and clenching it tight in his lap, “you and Marinette. I heard that you two are together now.”
“Right,” Luka said, coming back to himself. “Yeah. She’s great.”
“She is,” Adrien said, and Luka knew he meant it. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” he said, removing his fingers from the piano keys. He felt off-kilter, like he was sitting a little bit to the right of himself. He needed his guitar to sort this out, to sort himself out.
And then something crashed into the window, and Luka somehow ended up on the other side of the room, his back slamming into the rock wall. He landed on the floor with a grunt, and when he was able to stand, he saw debris was blocking him off from the rest of the room - the rest of the room that Adrien was in.
“Adrien!” he called, running up to the blockade of debris (which looked like it had once been part of a building and also a few cars rolled into a ball) and trying to see if there was a way to get through. “Are you alright? Can you hear me?”
For a sick, terrifying moment, there was no answer. And then.
“Luka!” He didn’t sound like he was in pain. Luka breathed a sigh of relief. “Get somewhere safe, okay?”
“What? What about you?”
The door was on Luka’s side of the room. He couldn’t leave Adrien behind.
“I’ll be okay. Ladybug and Chat Noir will probably sort it all out soon anyway.”
Shaking his head, Luka tried once more to find a way to get to the other side. “I’m not leaving you, Adrien. Not when you could get hurt.”
There was a space of silence, and Luka wondered what kind of face Adrien was making. “You need to find Marinette,” Adrien finally said, his voice sounding closer, like he was standing close to the debris. “You have to find her and make sure she’s alright.”
He was right. Of course he had to be right.
“When I find her, we’re coming back to figure out a way to get you out.” He put a hand on the debris, feeling the strange new emotions curling around his stomach and his heart as he leaned his forehead against the cool metal. “Do you hear me? We’re coming back for you.”
“I got it,” Adrien said, his voice close. Luka closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He could sort out these feelings later. He needed to focus. “Go, Luka.”
With great difficulty, Luka tore himself away from the sound of Adrien’s voice, sprinting out of the room and out of the mansion until he was running in open air, fumbling with his phone as he ran in the general direction of Marinette’s house.
He pulled her contact up from his favorites and pressed the phone to his ear, hearing it ring and ring and ring.
“This is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. If this is about my fashion line, please email me at-”
Cursing, Luka hung up on the voicemail, attempting to type out a text as he ran. Something in the corner of his eye came closer and closer and when he finally looked up, he was facing a ball of debris racing toward him and he was wondering if Ladybug’s powers would bring him back to life if he died and he was wishing he’d told Marinette he loved her more and he was hoping he’d get a chance to figure out what that feeling he’d felt with Adrien was and then he was in the air and something warm was holding him and-
“Got you,” said a low voice in his ear as they hit the ground. He felt a hand cradling the back of his head and blonde hair tickling his face. Chat Noir lifted his head, grinning down at Luka. “That was a close call, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Luka breathed. The appearance of Chat Noir - with his sunshine gold hair, slight dimples, and bright smile - was too jarring so soon after the incident with Adrien. Luka wondered how much of his breathlessness was accredited to his fall and how much was because of the appearance of Chat.
Helping him stand, Chat pulled him into an alleyway, settling a gloved hand on his shoulder. “Get somewhere safer. It seems like this street is filled with akuma activity, so run a couple of blocks down, okay? I’m the only one with nine lives here, you know.” He winked. Luka laughed, a punched-out sound he wasn’t expecting.
“Thank you, Chat Noir.”
“All in a day’s work,” he replied, giving Luka a cheeky salute before vaulting away.
After the akuma attack, Luka got a text from Adrien saying Chat Noir had saved him. Shortly after, Marinette called to say she’d accidentally left her phone behind while trying to find shelter.
He breathed a sigh of relief. They were both okay.
---
Luka strummed out a tune on his guitar, staring up at the ceiling. He knew he loved Marinette. That much was obvious to him. Being with her was like hooking his brain up to a serotonin machine - she made him so happy, and every kiss she gave him felt like heaven.
And of course she was beautiful. Thinking about the shape of her lips and the brush of her eyelashes and the slope of her nose and the curve of her chin sent shivers down his spine. He loved the way she looked, and he loved the way she was - inside and out.
Then there was Adrien.
The tune he was strumming changed to something stranger, something less familiar, something a little scary.
It’s not like Luka had never thought about the possibility of liking boys before. He saw some boys and was able to appreciate their bodies or their smiles, but the attraction had always stopped there. He’d never met a boy who had made his heart race, and so he’d contented himself in being comfortable in the gray area of heterosexuality.
But now he found that the thought of Adrien made his stomach twist in knots. He would get texts from him and he felt his chest tighten, like breathing suddenly got a little harder. He would think about Adrien’s quick wit and slow smiles and the shape of his mouth when he talked and the curve of his dimples and the shine of his hair and the structure of his hands, and he would feel his heart race.
This strange, new sensation was there, existing alongside the comfortable and bright sensation he felt alongside Marinette. He felt both at the same time.
“Luka, stop thinking so loud,” Juleka said from across the room. “It’s distracting.”
He stopped strumming, closing his eyes. “I don’t know how to think any quieter.”
“Fine,” she said, putting down her pencil and twirling the desk chair around to face him. “Rose’s song will have to wait. What’s on your mind?”
Opening his eyes, he turned his head to raise an eyebrow at her. “Isn’t that normally my line?”
“Yes,” she said, rolling her eyes, “but your thinking is so loud I feel like I can almost hear words jumping out of your head. You might as well talk about it.”
“Fair point,” he admitted, turning his head back to the ceiling. He tried to decide on how to start, but he wasn’t really sure. He knew Juleka would listen to him, even if he was being crazy right now, but he still found himself hesitating. “When did you… know? Like with Rose. When did you know?”
“When I loved her or when I realized I like girls?” she asked, and Luka somehow wished they didn’t have to speak this conversation out loud and he could just somehow transmit his thoughts some other way. Like through his guitar.
He plucked out a note. “Yeah. Both.”
Juleka breathed out a sigh, seeming to think. “Well, I knew I loved her when she kissed me for the first time. And I knew I liked girls when she wanted me to write a lovey-dovey song for the band, and I could only think about her.” The ease with which she said these things made Luka feel warm. Rose had helped her to be more in tune with her emotions, and for that, Luka would always be grateful. “Why are you asking?”
“I don’t know,” Luka said, even though he did. He strummed out an ugly chord. The sound made him smile.
“Yes, you do,” Juleka said, rolling her eyes. “Spill it.”
“Fine.” He opened his mouth to explain, and then found the words caught in his throat. He remembered when Juleka had first told him that she was in love with Rose, remembered how it looked like the words had gotten caught behind her teeth before she managed to force them out. Taking a deep breath, he tried again. “I think I’m starting to realize that I might like boys.”
The sentence came out far more confident than he was feeling.
“Okay,” she said slowly, leaning her elbows on the bed. “Do you have a particular way you’d like me to react?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Just, um, tell me what you think?”
“I’m thinking about Marinette.”
“Me too.”
“You still like her?”
“So much.”
“Okay.” She paused. “Have you told her?”
“No. You’re the first person I’ve told.”
She placed her hand on his shoulder, comforting, and he relaxed. “Thank you for telling me.”
He let go of the guitar strings, placing his hand on top of hers like he could figure himself out by getting some of her stability through contact. “What do I do, Juleka?” he asked the ceiling, voice quiet.
“Whatever you want to.”
Marinette was in his mind, gentle and sweet. Sharp and quick. Beautiful.
Adrien was in his mind, soft and kind. Warm and shining. Beautiful.
“Is it possible to like two people at once?”
Juleka squeezed his hand. “I don’t see why not.”
---
“Hey, Marinette?”
She had her head resting on his chest, and he knew she was starting to fall into a comfortable mid-afternoon nap.
He had so many things on his mind. He needed her to know.
“I think I also like boys.”
She shifted, resting her chin on his heart and looking over his face. For a terrifying moment, she said nothing. But then she brushed the hair from his forehead and stroked his cheek. “Thanks for telling me,” she said gently, her expression soft, and he couldn’t help the sigh of relief.
He knew she wouldn’t have said anything bad, but the fear of something new was still there, lurking.
“I still love you.”
“I know.” She gave him a soft, chaste kiss on the lips and then settled back onto him, closing her eyes.
Running his fingers through her hair, he closed his eyes, thinking.
“There’s something else.”
She hummed in question.
“I...I think I like Adrien.”
“I like him, too,” she murmured, and then she sat up, seeming to process what he’d meant by that sentence. She frowned, searching his expression. “Wait, did you mean…?”
“Romantically,” he elaborated, and she tilted her head to the side, looking away from him as she tried to understand.
“But you still…?”
“I still love you,” he said again, sitting up so that he could see her face better. Tentatively, he laced his fingers through hers. Her eyebrows furrowed, but she didn’t push him away. “And I like him,” he said quietly, his heart racing. “At the same time.”
She was quiet for a moment.
And then.
“Oh.” A pause. “Oh.” She squeezed his hand, something like amusement finding its way into her eyes. “You’re like me.”
He couldn’t help the relieved laugh that burst from his throat. “Yeah,” he said, pressing a kiss to the corner of her smiling mouth, “I guess that makes us the same.”
“What should we do?” she asked, but the question didn’t feel heavy in the air. It was open and light and sweet.
“I don’t know,” he replied, leaning his head on her shoulder. “What do you want to do?”
---
“I don’t think I get it.”
“We don’t really either.”
“Do you like us?”
Adrien blinked, looking between both Marinette and Luka, eyebrows furrowed. “I...I like somebody else.”
Luka glanced at Marinette only to find that she was already looking at him, a hint of a smile tugging at her lips. She looked back at Adrien. “We don’t really mind.”
Reaching forward, Luka touched his hand on Adrien’s, inwardly revelling at the warmth and softness of it. “We both like you a lot, Adrien. If you’d like to try, we’re willing to take anything that you give. We won’t ask for more.”
His brilliant green eyes met Luka’s and then flicked over to Marinette before looking back down at their conjoined hands. He frowned.
“You can say no,” Marinette said gently, her voice soft. “If you’re not comfortable with it, you don’t have to agree.”
“I…” He trailed off, looking up at Marinette. She gave him one of those smiles, one of the ones that Luka loved that said she was open and listening. Luka saw him relax. “Okay.”
“Really?” Marinette asked, her eyebrows shooting up. She’d been the one to suggest this, but it was like she was surprised that Adrien had actually agreed. Luka had suspected he would - he had seen Adrien’s face soften when he looked at Marinette - and Marinette’s surprise only served to cement in Luka’s mind how unaware of her own impact she was.
“Yeah,” Adrien said, sounding a little more sure. He glanced at Luka, bright eyes warm. “Really.”
Marinette let out a small, excited noise, leaning forward and pressing a quick kiss to Adrien’s cheek. Luka lifted his and Adrien’s hands, brushing a kiss to his knuckles.
Adrien looked a little overwhelmed. Luka gave his hand a squeeze, his heart wrapped in twice as much warmth than usual.
---
“Oh, my God,” Marinette giggled, leaning her head on Adrien’s shoulder as he strummed out the worst chords on Luka’s guitar. “I can’t believe I almost made you play for Jagged Stone that one time.”
“I think my skills would’ve impressed him,” Adrien said, sticking his nose up in the air.
“He would’ve felt so much emotion,” Luka said from Adrien’s other shoulder, squeezing Marinette’s hand.
“Bad emotion.”
“Darling, do you have to be so harsh?” Adrien asked, and Luka felt his heart warm at the pet name Adrien had started to adopt for Marinette. It was a recent thing, born from Adrien’s continued ease around them. Luka loved it.
“You’re being harsh on my ears right now,” Marinette replied. “I think it’s only fair.”
“Luka, back me up.”
“I think it’s my turn on the guitar now,” Luka said instead, and Marinette laughed at the same time Adrien groaned. “I’ve said it from the beginning, love,” Luka said, taking the guitar from Adrien, “you’re awful at it, and I think that’s wonderful.”
“You’re wonderful,” Adrien replied as Luka strummed out a gentle, loving tune. Luka pressed a kiss to Adrien’s temple.
“It’s cute that you’re bad at it, Adrien,” Marinette said, wrapping an arm around Adrien’s waist. “Very cute of you.”
“You’re cute,” Adrien replied, leaning against Marinette. She giggled, pushing against him.
“We’ll have to work on how you accept compliments,” Luka said idly, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Adrien’s cheeks flush.
“I don’t need compliments,” Adrien said quietly, shrugging his shoulders. “I get enough, I promise.”
“Nope,” Marinette said, shaking her head. “That’s not how it works.”
“It kind of is.”
“It kind of isn’t,” Luka said, and Adrien made a face.
“I feel like you two are ganging up on me today.”
“With what?” Luka asked, setting aside the guitar and grabbing hold of Adrien’s hand. “Love?”
Adrien pouted. “Yes.”
Marinette’s phone chimed, and she picked it up from where it had been resting on the bed, frowning.
“What’s wrong?” Luka asked.
“There’s an akuma attack in the Louvre,” she replied, her eyebrows furrowing. “Someone called Trickster is setting up deadly traps.”
“I hope Ladybug and Chat Noir get there soon,” Luka said, and Marinette’s frown deepened.
“I think my father wants me home right now,” Adrien said, checking the time. “I should probably head back.”
“But you can’t head out alone,” Luka said, shaking his head. “Not when there’s a dangerous akuma on the loose.”
“I’ll walk with him,” Marinette offered, already standing. “It’s about time I head home, too, anyway.”
“We’ll be okay,” Adrien said, giving Luka a sweet kiss on the cheek. “We’ll stay out of danger.”
He’d seen them both run towards danger to save someone affected by an akuma attack. He shook his head. “I’ll come with you.” If they were going to run towards danger, they deserved at least someone to help watch their back.
Marinette chewed on her lip, but then she nodded. “Alright,” she said, smiling a little. “Let’s go.”
They left the houseboat, and as they were walking toward Adrien’s house, Luka’s feet came out from underneath him, and he found himself falling into a deep hole in the pavement - a hole that was narrow as it was deep.
“Luka!”
“I’m okay!” he shouted up to Adrien and Marinette, who were on their knees peering down into the hole.
Some sort of music recording started to play, annoying and loud in Luka’s ear. “You’ve been tricked by the Trickster! You’ve been tricked by the Trickster!”
“We have to get help,” Adrien said, trying to reach down the hole to grab Luka’s hand, but falling short.
“That’s a great idea,” Marinette said, touching a hand to Adrien’s shoulder. “I think I see some policemen over there - you stay here, and I’ll go get them.”
“But-”
Marinette disappeared from view.
Adrien turned back to Luka, his face pinched with concern.
“She’ll be alright,” Luka said, assuring him as much as himself.
“I know,” Adrien said, reaching down for Luka once more. Luka raised his hand, their fingertips just barely touching. Something glinted on Adrien’s hand, and Luka couldn’t help but take that surreal moment to appreciate the ring that Adrien was always wearing. He never said why it was important to him, but Luka loved the look of it on his finger.
“I love you,” Luka said, and Adrien made a funny face.
“Are you saying that because you think you’re going to die right now?”
“I’m saying it because I haven’t told you before. And I want you to know. I love you.”
Adrien tried to reach a little further, brushing the tips of their fingers together. “If you weren’t stuck in a hole right now, I would kiss you senseless.”
“Feel free to do so afterwards.”
A mischievous smile pulled at the corners of his lips. “Count on it, darling.”
Luka’s heart leaped.
“Is someone trapped?” A different voice. Familiar.
“Ladybug!” Adrien said, pulling his arm out of the hole and turning to the superhero that Luka couldn’t see just yet. “Yes, my boyfriend fell down there, and I can’t reach him.”
Boyfriend. Luka loved him so much.
“Here,” Ladybug said, and she appeared in Luka’s view, lowering her yo-yo into the hole. “Grab on, and I’ll pull you out.”
Luka did as he was told, and when he was finally far enough out, Ladybug grasped his arm and hauled him the rest of the way out. He ended up flush against her, the familiar smell of cherry blossom-scented shampoo enveloping him. He looked up, and she smiled at him, her blue eyes warm and kind. He saw the magic earrings glowing on her earlobes.
“Thank you,” he said, his heart racing in confusion.
“No problem, Luka,” she said, letting go of him and stepping back. “Marinette told me you were in trouble, so I came as soon as I could. I told her to get somewhere safer.”
“Thank you so much, Ladybug,” Adrien said, wrapping an arm around Luka and pulling him closer.
“I should get going now,” Ladybug said, twirling her yo-yo around into a blur. “Chat Noir’s probably prowling about waiting for me.”
“Yeah,” Adrien said, his grip on Luka tightening just the slightest. “Probably.”
When she left, Adrien turned to him, something about his smile strained. Luka tilted his head to the side, brushing Adrien’s golden hair out of his face. “Are you alright?”
He nodded, leaning closer. “I believe I promised to kiss you senseless.”
Luka grinned, bumping his forehead with Adrien’s. “And I’m waiting for all my sense to be removed.”
Adrien smiled, and then his lips were on Luka’s and it was the first time they’d kissed like this - lips touching - and it felt so nice and perfect and good and Adrien’s hands were heavy and warm on Luka’s waist, thumbs rubbing circles into his sides, and Luka was holding Adrien’s cheeks and bringing him closer and closer and Adrien was smiling into Luka’s lips, his breath hot and sweet, and Luka really was starting to lose all sense and he couldn’t think about anything except the feel of Adrien’s lips and the heat of his cheeks and the gentle push of his breath and-
“Senseless?” Adrien asked, pulling away.
“What’s sense?” Luka breathed, and Adrien laughed.
Despite Adrien’s complaints, Luka did walk Adrien home. Before he ran inside, Adrien paused, cradling Luka’s cheek in his hand and pressing a sweet and chaste kiss to Luka’s lips. “Be safe,” he whispered, and then he turned and sprinted inside.
Breathing out an adoring sigh, Luka turned and started to walk back to the houseboat, holding a hand to his heart.
It should be illegal to be this happy. He didn’t even know what to do with himself to have two people who cared about him so much.
“Luka Couffaine!”
He stopped, frowning as Ladybug landed in front of him, breathless and holding out the same box she’d given him when she offered him the chance to become a superhero.
“Chat and I need you,” she said, pressing the box into his hands. “Will you help us?”
“You know I’m here whenever you need me,” Luka replied, opening up the box. The little creature that turned him into a superhero zoomed out, smiling at him.
“You know the magic wordsss,” it hissed, and Luka slipped on the bracelet.
“Sass, transform me!”
Once his costume was on, Ladybug pulled him into a run toward the Louvre. “Chat hasn’t made his grand entrance yet, but hopefully he’ll come soon. I think Trickster is going to be a tough one.”
“Hence why you called me.”
“We have a guest today?” Chat asked, dropping down beside Luka and starting to run with them. “Oh, Viperion? Fantastic choice, my lady.”
“How nice of you to drop by,” she deadpanned, and he scratched the back of his head.
“I ran into some trouble,” he said with a shrug, glancing over at Luka.
When they reached a wall of thick green leaves, Ladybug held her arm out, stopping both Luka and Chat from running into them. “Trickster built this maze around himself, but it’s full of traps. The civilians I’ve seen get stuck in there have disappeared completely.”
“Puzzling,” Chat said. Ladybug shot him a look. Chat winked at Luka.
“How do we get inside?” Luka asked after he shared a small smile with Chat.
“We walk through the leaves,” Ladybug replied, chewing on her lip. “From what I could gather, the traps start immediately. There could be a pattern, but I don’t know for sure.”
“Easy enough,” Luka said, pulling back the trigger on his bracelet. “Ready?”
“When you are,” she replied, and Chat nodded.
They ran into the maze.
As Ladybug had suspected, the traps started immediately. Within seconds, Chat had disappeared. Luka pulled the trigger on his bracelet and restarted, pulling Chat back just in time the second round.
The next trap caught Ladybug, and Luka reset the time again.
This went on for a while, and on the next reset, Luka paused, touching a hand to the wall of the maze. He looked up at the edge of the wall, considering his options.
Going through didn’t seem to work, so maybe…
“Let’s go over it,” he said to Ladybug and Chat, and they nodded, trusting him without hesitation.
Once on top of the maze, they could see the way to the center where the Trickster had built a mossy dome to shield himself. They traveled to the center, and Chat used his Cataclysm to break through the dome.
They dropped down into the center, and almost immediately, Ladybug was pulled to the wall of the room, the Trickster cackling as his hands reached for her charmed earrings. She turned her head from side to side, blue eyes wide.
Chat slammed his baton against the Trickster’s leg, and he collapsed. Ladybug danced out of his reach as Chat and Luka distracted him.
“The button!” Ladybug shouted after a moment, tossing Luka a polka-dotted long hook. “The button on his lapel!”
Lunging forward, Chat snatched the button off the Trickster’s lapel. The Trickster, seeing his chance, started to wrap his fingers around Chat’s ring, and Chat cursed, snatching his hands away. The button tumbled onto the ground, and Luka used the hook Ladybug had thrown him to drag it closer to him before the Trickster could grab it. He slammed his foot onto it, breaking it into pieces.
The black akuma fluttered out, and Ladybug caught it with her yo-yo, purifying it and releasing her lucky charm so that everything could return to normal.
As the maze collapsed to nothingness around them, Luka breathed out a sigh of relief.
“We make a good team,” Ladybug said, grinning at Chat and Luka.
“Certainly do,” Chat said, his eyes warm on Luka.
There was something familiar about standing before them with Ladybug’s sharp blue eyes and Chat’s shining gold hair. Luka’s heart stuttered in confusion. He smiled, holding his fist out.
They bumped their fists with his, and Luka wondered.
---
“Is it possible to like four people at the same time?”
“That feels a little excessive,” Juleka replied.
Luka thought so, too.
---
Luka pulled a blanket over Adrien and Marinette. They’d all been watching a movie at Marinette’s house, and the two of them had fallen asleep before they’d even reached the halfway point. Fondness crept its way into Luka’s heart, and he smiled down at them.
Crouching down next to the couch, Luka tucked his chin in his hands, admiring the way they’d fallen asleep tangled together, like they’d been reaching for each other in their sleep. Adrien’s hand was hanging off the couch, and Luka gently took it in his, moving it so that it was supported by the couch. He traced his fingers over the line of Adrien’s piano hands, his pointer finger catching on the ring adorning his finger.
Tilting his head to the side, Luka examined the ring closer. It looked familiar somehow.
Turning to Marinette, he brushed her hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. He smiled softly at her open mouth and relaxed expression, buried in the crown of Adrien’s head. He fixed her hair a little more, and his thumb brushed against her earrings, the ones she was always wearing.
He frowned. They were familiar somehow.
He looked back at Adrien’s ring, and then back to Marinette’s earrings.
Electric blue eyes. Quick smiles and good heart.
Shining golden hair. Bad puns and soft eyes.
Oh.
It made so much sense.
Laughing to himself, he leaned down, pressing gentle kisses to the heads of his lovers.
He wondered if they knew about each other. They were masters at obliviousness - he knew that.
“I’ll wait for you two to tell me,” he whispered, smiling at them, at the beautiful irony they lived. “Goodnight, my loves. Rest well.”