#((''Okay so Luka and Marinette go here and do this and then--[immediate written piece]''))

[mc-lukanette]

I knoe you said you only post things if people ask for them which I totally understand, but at the same time I also wonder if maybe you could give an estimate of how many times is too many times to ask? or something?? bc there is def stuff I'd like to ask for but I can't help worrying about being a bother, since I'm very aware that you have a life & no one is paying you for any of this; so it becomes very hard to ask for something when you might not want to give, if that makes sense??

Oh my gosh, the fact that you felt so polite as to ask is precious.

Anyway, I wouldn’t say there’s really a rule of how much is too much. If you’re worried about stressing me then you could always ask me to give more details rather than giving actual written pieces, but really, I have ideas all over.

My private index of ideas is basically extensive ideas (fleshed out ideas, usually some tiny written bits here and then), expendables (ideas that will never see the light of day outside of me giving them away - not bad ideas but just not my favorites because I’m picky even with my own work - but I figured no one really wants them so I haven’t done much there), and ideas that are more thoughts than fleshed out things (you’ve seen such things in posts like 42 Lukanette ideas).

I get notes when I post stuff about them and that’s great but I really don’t need people to reblog if they don’t want to; that’s why I just ask for asks since it doesn’t require any extra effort on their blog’s part. I don’t require any sort of validation via notes, so if people just wanna be like, “hey, can you give me more details on [x],” or, “oh hey throw out some more random thoughts,” or, “show me some of your scraps just because,” that’s totally cool and I'll probably provide!

Honestly, the only reason the “this blog runs on asks” exists is because I literally wouldn’t know what to do if it didn’t lol. You guys would be getting different Lukanette ideas, like--daily, and that’s not an exaggeration!

It would be very overwhelming and I’m not about that life ahaha, so really, asks are okay! At worst, I’ll let it stew in my inbox for a while so I can think about whether I can provide anything or not. This is MC-Lukanette so I will never be like, “okay guys you need to stop talking about [x],” provided that it’s Lukanette related.

[colonel-insomniac]

Symphony

Hey geeks, this is my first time writing for miraculous ladybug, but i think this is a good debut piece. This was written to the song “I Hear a Symphony” by Cody Fry, so do with that what you will. Anyways, this is dedicated to @pawsomelybuggy. Onwards friends.

TW: CHARACTER ILLNESS AND TERMINAL ILLNESS

“I used to hear a simple song…”

Sure, Luka was considered a “villain,” but he felt it was a classic “right reason executed in the wrong way” sort of thing. He wasn’t a villain because he wanted the Earth to shatter and crumble. And if people knew how guilty he genuinely felt when he stole the snake miraculous behind Ladybug’s back, their opinion on him might change.

He shoved his hands in his pocket, head downcast as the grey sky above released its crystal drops. Luka scoffs, because why should the universe even be surprised at this point? He would assume that the universe was detached from all the second chancing he’s done as Viperion. He hates the black suit he’s currently wearing, and the uncomfortable pointy shoes he walks the streets of Paris in. But for Adrien Agreste, he would do anything. Basically almost has done everything. Nothing’s worked.

Adrien had been sick for a while. At first, no one was sure what was wrong, not even Adrien, who brushed it off as a cold. But things progressively got worse, to the point where he was consistently fatigued and weak. He became a shell of what was the model of good health, frail and bony. It all came to a head when he was at the Couffaine residence, practicing in Kitty Section, when tiny red spots covered his skin, bruises littering the spaces in between. No one should be able to bruise that much unless something severe was going on. Everyone had thought maybe Mr. Agreste had overstepped a boundary and gotten physical in some fit of rage, so no one was prepared for the verdict they got.

“Leukemia.” The doctor said. Instantly, Luka felt as though the air was knocked out of him, and would have fallen to his knees if it weren’t for Marinette and Alya standing on either side of him.

He had both wanted to see Adrien, and desperately wanted to turn around and run, jump in the Seine, hide in his room. Something so that he wouldn’t have to face the fact that Adrien had this terrible sickness. Luka had resurfaced to hear the grim news—Adrien hadn’t been diagnosed in time to stop it. The doctor’s said the most they could do would be to make what time he had left comfortable.

Then came the one time Gabriel Agreste has probably ever been kind to his child. He immediately abandoned his work to come to the hospital, his face still stone cold and blank as he threatened the hospital if they didn’t at least try to help Adrien.

He thinks back to when Adrien started losing his hair. He had been so upset that he wouldn’t let anyone in the room, had his bodyguard see to it that that stayed true. Luka still doesn’t understand how he’d managed to get in that day, but he remembers walking in quietly, seeing the side of Adrien’s head, his hair nearly gone. A look of desperation was etched on his face, with a mixture of hopelessness as he stared out the window.

“That was until you came along…”

He’d been mad at first, and Luka had felt guilty about disrespecting Adrien’s wishes. But he knew, more than anything, that being alone was worse than disobeying what the boy wanted. Luka had given him his first beanie that day, the first of many to come. He’d also given Adrien a rose, white with a black ribbon.

Long after the rose had wilted and been thrown out, Adrien had kept the black ribbon, and had it tied to his wrist like a bracelet. The gesture had made Luka’s heart skip a beat, and so he kept bringing Adrien roses, if only to bring a smile to the boy’s face.

Through this, no one had seen Chat Noir, which on a whole was not an issue, Hawkmoth hadn’t really created any new akumas. Mostly, they had seen the return of Mr. Pigeon, who was an easy person to best, someone Ladybug could defeat on her own. Chat had attempted to show up the first couple times, but upon seeing his pale tone and unatural sweat plastering his hair to his forehead, Ladybug had promptly told him to go home and rest. He’d had to be pushed off the scene, but after the third or fourth time, had stopped showing up. Ladybug had voiced her concern to Alya as the author of the Ladyblog, but no one had seen any trace of the cat themed superhero.

“Now in its place is something new, I hear it when I look at you…”

Luka numbly walked on, not paying attention to his surroundings. There was no point, in all honesty, not when he knew where he was heading. It played out this way dozens of times now, so he figures he can afford to be absorbed by his thoughts, at least until he reaches… he shakily inhales, unable to admit even to himself where he was headed. The rain fell faster, the universe seemingly weeping with him, mourning the loss of a soul that definitely did not deserve their allotted fate.

Luka was barely able to bite back sobs, his brisk pace halting to a complete stop as he hugged his sides. The world felt permanently grey, endless and hopeless.

Those last days with Adrien the first time were the worst. They were cast in a golden glow, the spark that had always lived in Adrien’s eyes had dimmed. He seemed tired, but scared. Luka stayed by him practically 24/7, the boy leaning into the warmth that Luka’s body provided. “I’m scared.” He whispered, and Luka bit his lip hard enough to bleed. What were you supposed to say to someone who’s dying? “It’ll all be okay, except that it won’t because you won’t be here?” Absolutely not, instead he opted for “I’m scared too.” Days later, and Adrien would succumb to the cancer, leaving Luka in what felt like a vacuum devoid of all happiness.

Much to Luka’s torment, the boy had passed while Luka was asleep, and assumingly was asleep as well. At least, that’s what Luka had convinced himself so he could find some sort of peace. He had woken up to a voice, pleading for Adrien to not be gone, but when he opened his eyes, he couldn’t see anyone. He’d soon find out that Adrien was Chat Noir, and it was Plagg who had been begging for Adrien.

“With simple songs, I wanted more, perfection is so quick to bore…”

Plagg had loved the boy dearly, it was evident in the way he didn’t want to part with the boy, and would have rather been buried with Adrien over getting a new holder, Luka, having been Viperion previously, knew exactly what Plagg was, and scooped him in his hands, gingerly slipping Adrien’s ring off as nurses rushed in to try and resuscitate Adrien. Soon, Luka found his way to the roof, and sat dangling his legs off the roof, silently crying and sharing the pain with possibly the only other being to understand what fully loving Adrien felt like.

That’s where he first had gotten the idea to go rogue and steal Sass to save Adrien. Plagg was quick to discourage the idea, but his hesitance was enough to push Luka in the opposite direction. Getting Sass was easier than he thought it’d be, and that was when he rewound time for the first time. He was back to holding Adrien, and quickly rewound again, to get to a couple days before. This is where he’d start again.

For the first hundred times, he quickly realized he was dancing on a thin line of morality. Attended Adrien’s funeral about a hundred times. Rewound time dozens more. Nothing changed besides Ladybug realizing the missing miraculous and declaring Viperion an enemy. People grew to hate him time and time again, and not once had he bothered to try and clear his name, he just took it. Over and over again, publicly fighting Ladybug at one point and barely hanging onto his sanity through the fight.

“You are my beautiful, by far, our flaws are who we really are…”

And now he walks again, failed again, Plagg and Sass peeking out of his breast pocket with sad eyes. By this time, he’d told Adrien several times that he was in love with him, kissed his cheek dozens of times, and just held the boy to comfort him many more times. Nothing ever changed and Luka was getting to a point in his frustration where he wanted to throw something, and being a generally mellow person, that was saying something.

Getting lightheaded at the thought of being in that field again, he sat down, putting his head in his hands and trying to regulate his breathing. Luka glanced at his wrist, at the snake miraculous ready to pull him back again whenever he decides to. Normally, he’d rather stand and get through this feeling, but he simply just does not care anymore. If it’s going to rain on him let it rain. The only thing that matters anymore is saving Adrien. And that’s all he can think of doing anymore.

He can’t make it to the funeral, he knows that now. He might have forced himself through the torture of it several times before, but it’s worn him down. Luka looks down at the kwamis, mutters a monotonous “sorry,” and pulls the bracelet.

“I used to hear a simple song, that was until you came along…”

The feeling of light ripping through his body is impossible to get used to, but he soon opens his eyes to find himself in the middle of a hospital courtyard dappled in sunlight falling through the trees. Adrien sits beside him, had begged Luka to let him sit in the grass and not the wheelchair, so now the both sit in the grass. The blonde haired boy leans against the tree behind him, eyes closed and a peaceful smile gracing his face. It brought Luka a hollow joy to see his love smile, if only for a little.

“Luka.” Adrien cracks open an eye, a hint of a mischievous glint residing in them. He patiently waits for Luka to muster the courage to respond. When he does, Adrien swiftly pulls two blades of grass to his lips and blows, creating a piercing whistle. Luka jumps, startled, but mulls over the resonating melody that it creates in the world. Perfectly descriptive of Adrien as always, and that never ceases to baffle Luka.

Adrien laughs, the sound pulling a smile from Luka. Later, he gets scolded for giving into Adriens pleas to sit in the grass. “What harm can it do,” he snaps. “He’s dying and we all know it. Why shouldn’t he be able to enjoy what little time he has left.” That gets the nurse to stop and nod. Maybe it’s just the tears in Luka’s eyes coupled with the desperation and sorrow in his voice.

Adrien holds Luka’s hand in his after the blue haired boy convinces Adrien to eat some food. Luka has some bright green nail polish on the bed tray per request of Adrien, who had conveyed to Luka he at least wanted to be rebellious in his dying moments a couple days prior. Luka had withdrawn after, much to Adrien’s displeasure, and had then found how affected Luka was from all this. Breaking out of his trance, Luka feels the weight of Adrien’s head on his shoulder, and Luka turns to press his cheek against his head.

Luka stares at the bottle of green polish before raising his knee to put Adrien’s hand on it. “Hold still so I don’t mess up,” he warns Adrien, but has a feeling the other boy will do something to mess him up anyways.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Adrien responds, just minutes before he jerks his hand, resulting in a bright green streak across his hand.

“You took my broken melody, and now, I hear a symphony…”

Days later, and the outcome doesn’t change. Luka resets time again.

Adrien cups Luka’s cheek in his hand, his cool palm causing a stir in Luka, who subconsciously leaned into the embrace. “You look tired, dear.” Adrien mumbled. Luka squeezed his eyes tight so Adrien wouldn’t have to see him cry.

With a shaky inhale, Luka leaned down, resting his head against Adrien’s shoulder. ‘I’m so tired. Please, stay with me this time.” He pleads, knowing it’s not up to Adrien to decide.

“I promise I won’t.” Adrien whispers, wrapping his arms around Luka.

Many times later, and the doctors finally find a viable solution.

“And now, I hear a symphony.”

[hermionemonica]

So, who’s gonna watch you die?

Thank you so much for 300 followers!

And here’s what I promised, a heart-wrecking piece of fanfiction!

This is a The Notebook AU, so you can pretty much guess what to expect. But I would like to mention: Trigger Warnings for Memory Loss, Cardiac Attack, Major Character Death. Do not proceed unless you’re absolutely comfortable with all that.

This was pretty much a challenge for me, because as you all know, I’m pretty new to writing. This is my first time creating an AU based on another piece of fiction, and it was also a challenge to deal with the bittersweet angst. I hope I have been able to do justice to this! And this goes to you all, all 300 of my followers and friends, because without you all, I’d never be here! And now, let’s get into it!

.

AO3 link

This is set in the future. Hawkmoth had been defeated. Over the years, Adrien and Marinette had got married and had made a family of themselves. They had three children: Emma, Hugo, and Louis. Eventually, they gave up their Miraculous and passed them on to their next generation.  

As time passed, Adrien and Marinette had realised that among the children, Emma would be the best one to shoulder the responsibilities of the Guardian of the Miraculous. When she had become of age, Adrien and Marinette had begun training her for the role. After a period, and after mutual agreement, Marinette had passed on the responsibility of the Guardian to her daughter Emma. And with it had come the inevitable, Marinette had lost all memories of her life as Ladybug. She had knowingly signed up for this. But it would be wrong to think she had not prepared for this beforehand. Before she lost her memories, she had given Adrien her diary, the one where she had written all accounts of her and Adrien's adventures as the superheroes of Paris.  

Adrien and Marinette's love was nothing less than magical. And that's why, every time he read to her the story of their life, she would get back all her memories. But only for a little while. Everything comes with a price though, because after each spell of remembering, Marinette forgot everything all over again, to the point that she could not recognise her husband or her children. But for Adrien, those few moments that she remembered him, their love, their life, it was worth everything else.  

Hugo had married Kagami and Luka's daughter, Julie, and they had two children: Anna and Daniel. Emma was engaged to Alya and Nino's son Tony. But too many unknown faces in the house made Marinette confused and agitated, which is why they had had to come to an arrangement. Louis stayed with his mother, and took care of her, while Adrien stayed with the rest of the family in a house next door. Every evening, Adrien went over to Marinette to tell her a story. And every night, he returned with mixed emotions: happiness at having met the love of his life once more, sadness at having watched her slip away yet again and longing at having to be away from her.  

“It's a beautiful story,” she said. “Did you write it?”  

“I'm afraid no,” he replied with a smile. “Actually my lovely wife is the one who wrote this.”  

“Oh? That's so sweet. I think I'd like to meet her someday.”  

“I'm sure you'll like her.”  

“So what happened next? In the story? Who did she choose?”  

“Okay...”  

(flashback)  

Beep-beep.  

“Chat Noir, you're about to transform back!”  

Chat looked at his beeping ring, he was on his last minute.  

“We need to get you away from here,” Ladybug frantically whispered, sparing a glance at the crowd of reporters in front of them. She put her arm around her partner’s waist and pulled him along backwards. And then with a quick “Excuse us,” they had launched into the air.  

Ladybug realised with the reporters so close, it wouldn't be safe to detransform in the open. And with his injured leg, Chat couldn’t hold up much longer. Nor could Ladybug hold him up too long, for she was injured too. Her home was in sight, and while it might be risky, it was the best option right now.  

“Come on!” she urged.  

“But this is Marine-"  

“I know, I'll explain to her.”  

She pushed Chat in through the latch door so that he landed with a thud onto her bed. Just as she shut the door behind her, a green flash of light illuminated the room.  

Oh no.  

Stunned into immobility, Ladybug stared as the green light of detransformation passed over Chat’s body, and in his place sat...  

“A-Adrien?”  

He stared at her, then down at himself, and then back at her, a look of absolute shock on his face. “M' lady,” he whispered, “I'm so sorry, I didn't-"  

“Adrien,” Ladybug had got down on the bed and was kneeling next to him. She lightly touched his cheek, “It's you.”  

“Ladybug, I-"  

“All this time, it's been you!” Adrien noticed tears were beginning to form in her beautiful blue eyes, as her voice grew more and more emotional. “And I thought I had to choose? How could I?”  

Adrien was utterly confused. What was Ladybug talking about?  

Ladybug edged nearer towards him. Her face only inches away from his, she ran her hands along the sides of his face.  

“Why didn't I see it sooner?” A laugh broke from her lips. “To think that I fell in love with you twice!” Tears now flowed freely down her cheeks.  

“You- you love me?” Adrien asked incredulously.  

“Yes!” Ladybug’s face broke into a radiant smile as she touched her forehead to his. “I love you Adrien, Chat Noir. I love you.”  

“If this is a dream then I never want to wake up.” Adrien closed his eyes, basking in the warmth of their closeness.  

“Me neither,” Ladybug whispered back.  

They stayed like that for no one knew how long. When finally Ladybug pulled back, she opened her eyes to find herself looking into a very familiar set of emerald eyes. A strong desire arose in her, and without a second thought, she crashed her lips into his.  

She was surprised to find Adrien kissing her back with just as much love, just as much passion as she did. Their lungs were running out of air, but neither wanted to break away. They kissed as if their life depended on it.  

Just then a woman’s voice floated into the room. “Marinette, could you come down here for a minute?”  

Ladybug immediately broke the kiss to shout back, “Coming, mom!”  

She turned back to meet Adrien's eyes, but found him looking at her with disbelief.  

That's when she realised what she had just done.  

“Is it really you, Mari?” Adrien whispered, almost as if he was afraid to say it out loud.  

“It’s no use hiding it any longer, is it?” She looked away. Was Adrien disappointed in her? “I- I didn't mean for you to- mmph!”  

The rest of her words were muffled as Adrien's lips fervently caught hers in between his. And just like that, they were kissing again.  

This kiss was shorter than the last one, but in no way less sweet. When they broke off, Adrien only said “I am glad it’s you, Marinette. I love you.”  

(flashback ends)  

She looked up, her eyes glistening with tears. “I remember now,” she whispered. “It was us.”  

A tear rolled down his cheek. “My Princess.” He leaned across the table and cupped her face in his hands. “I love you so much.”  

“Adrien,” she whispered, and planted kisses on the palms of both of his hands.  

“Marinette,” he whispered back, savouring every syllable of her name.  

“What happened to me?” She cocked her head to the side as she looked into his eyes.  

“Nothing,” Adrien shrugged. “You just went away for a little while.”  

Marinette furrowed her eyebrows in an attempt to remember. And she did remember. “How much time do we have?”  

“I'm not sure,” Adrien spoke in a little voice. “Last time, it was no longer than five minutes.”  

A shadow passed over Marinette's face. “Okay,” she mumbled.  

“Hey,” Adrien brought her attention back to himself, “I brought along something.”  

Saying so he took out his phone from his pocket, and navigated with shaking fingers. Music began to flow into the room from the speakers fixed in the corners of the room.  

“May I have this dance m' lady?” he bowed slightly and extended a hand.  

Marinette’s cheeks turned a bright shade of pink as she smiled. “Oh, kitty.” She placed her hand in his and let him lead her from the table onto the floor.  

They held each other close in their arms while they danced. It was almost as if they were afraid that if they let go, this moment will slip away from them forever.  

Adrien occasionally planted kisses on every inch of Marinette's face that he could reach. “Oh, how I missed you m' lady!”  

Marinette nuzzled close to Adrien's neck. “I love you, my Prince.”  

After a while, she leaned back slightly to look at him. “How are the children?”  

“Oh they are doing so good,” Adrien said with fondness. “They were here today. Little Anna and Daniel too, they are getting so big.”  

“And the kwamis?”  

“Emma is taking good care of them. But they still miss you.”  

Marinette's eyes twinkled with tears. “Will you tell them all that I love them?”  

“Of course I will.”  

“And that I'm sorry?”  

“I'll tell them buginette. And hey,” he cupped her face with his hand, “don't you feel bad about this okay?”  

Marinette looked at him and smiled slightly. “I miss you all so much, Adrien. I am so sorry that I can’t be with you,” her voice shook, “Was this- did we make a mistake?”  

“No we didn't,” he kissed the tip of her nose. “This was the right decision, and we both know it. And we did have an amazing life so far, didn't we?”  

“Adrien,” her voice dropped to a whisper, “do you think we can borrow the Miraculous for tonight? Would that be alright? You know what we could do? We could run across the rooftops together, just like old times! And we could sit on the beams of the Eiffel tower and look out at the city.”  

Adrien sighed. What would he not have given to be able to do that? But time was short and uncertain. “I don't think so. Not tonight Princess.”  

“Come on, why not?”  

Just then the expression on Mari’s face changed. “Wait a minute... why did you call me princess? I don't know you, Sir. Am I supposed to know you?” She said in a painfully formal tone.  

Adrien gasped. It was over? So soon? But he didn't want to let go already! Couldn't he- couldn't he just hold on a little longer?  

“Hey Mari, I love you... stay with me, please don't leave.”  

“Excuse me, who are you?”  

“I'm Adrien, your kitty, and you're my Marinette,” he took a step towards her, but she stepped back.  

“No, Sir. I'm afraid I don't know you.”  

“Come on, bugaboo.”  

“Please Sir!” her tone was more insistent now. “I must ask you to stop calling me by those names now!”  

Despite himself, a smile crept up Adrien's face. Even now Marinette didn't like being called “bugaboo".  

As much as Adrien hated it, he knew there wasn't anything he could do now. This happened every night. After every spell of getting her memories back, Marinette forgot everything all over again. But with every passing night, the periods for which she came back grew shorter and shorter. And tonight, he felt an unexplained heaviness in his heart. As if he was going away from his Lady for a long, long time.  

Hugo woke up in the middle of the night, feeling thirsty. He raised himself up on his elbows and looked to his side; Julie was still asleep. Carefully, he got out of the bed and let himself out of the room.  

After getting a glass of water from the kitchen, he felt very much awake. So he decided to take a stroll through the house.  

As he passed by his father's room, he was surprised to see the lights on. He was not supposed to be awake at this late an hour.  

“Dad?” he cautiously knocked, so that he would not wake him up if he was already asleep.  

“Hugo, is that you?” came his father's voice. “Come in, my boy.”  

He slowly opened the door, and found his father was sitting up in bed.  

“What are you doing, Dad?” he asked.  

“Oh, just looking at some old photographs,” Adrien ran his hands lovingly over the pages of the notebook he was looking at. Hugo walked over to his father’s bed and took a seat beside him. He immediately recognized the notebook, he had seen it since he was a little child. It was his mother’s album.  

His Mom's album was a creative mess, just like her own self. It was filled with photographs of their childhood, photoshoot clippings of when his father used to be a model, magazine spreads of his mother's designs, special sketches of his mother's designs, and of course family photographs. Every page had little handwritten notes by Marinette herself. The notebook was titled “My Totographs".  

The page Adrien was currently looking at contained the sketches of his parents’ wedding dress and wedding tux. Hugo already knew everything about the time his mother had made them herself. But he listened on with interest as his father went on about all the details. He loved listening to when his father talked with so much love about something. Since his mother lost her memory, the light had gone out of his father’s eyes. It was nice to see him liven up, even if it was for a short while.  

After a few minutes, Hugo spoke up, “It's very late dad, you should go to sleep. You know what, let's continue this discussion again tomorrow.”  

“Alright,” Adrien said, shutting the album. Hugo turned down the lights of the room. “Good night dad,” he whispered before leaving the room.  

“Good night, my son,” Adrien whispered back, as he slid under the covers.  

After Hugo had left, Adrien reached out under the other pillow and took out a pink diary. He flipped over to the last page.  

“Read this to me, and I'll come back to you” it read.  

Adrien reached over and carefully placed the notebook inside his bedside drawer. Settling back into his pillows, he whispered, “Good night, m'lady.”  

“Hugo! Hugo wake up!”  

Hugo opened his eyes to find Julie leaning over him, looking on with a concerned expression on her face. He immediately sat straight up.  

“What's wrong?”  

“Dad has suffered a cardiac attack! Emma is calling the ambulance, we need to rush him to the hospital immediately!”  

Adrien was admitted in the emergency ward immediately. For hours, it was uncertain if he would make it. But miraculously, he survived the attack.  

“Surviving an attack like that,” the doctor said, “that too at such an age, it's almost unheard of. Mr Agreste is nothing less than superhero, I must say.”  

“That he is.”  

“There is something I had to ask, though. Is there anyone among you named Marinette?”  

The children shared glances. “That is the name of our mother, but she is not in a position to come.”  

“Oh, that’s okay, I understand,” the doctor smiled to himself. “That sure explains why Mr Agreste kept muttering her name while he was slipping in and out of consciousness. It is not every day that you get to hear of such a beautiful love story.”  

The doctor further said that they needed to keep him under observation for some time, just in case. So, Adrien had to stay in the hospital for a week after he was moved to the general ward. Even after he was released, he was not strong enough to stand up for too long or speak long sentences. The doctor said it was the toll the attack had taken on him, but he promised that it would wear away in a few days.  

Three days after being released from the hospital, Adrien was finally getting back his ability to think. And all he could think about was Marinette. He hadn't seen her in so long. He would not stop asking about her, and even though the children assured him that their mother was alright, nothing could put his troubled heart to rest. Not unless he could see her with his own eyes again. But no one would let him leave his room, let alone leave the house.  

“Where do you think you are going?”  

Adrien froze with his hand just short of the door handle, and whipped around. It was Plagg. It was too dark to see him, but it was difficult to miss his luminescent eyes shining in the dark.  

“I was just taking a walk,” Adrien said, “I can't sleep.”  

“You know you're not supposed to move around all by yourself.”  

“Yeah, I know.”  

Plagg floated over to him. “You weren't really going for a walk, were you? You were going to see Marinette.”  

“I miss her Plagg. I really want to see her. It's just next door, I can walk this much.”  

Plagg sighed. “Emma told me to keep an eye on you. But she’s asleep now, so maybe I can let you off this once.”  

Adrien's face lit up with a bright smile. “Oh Plagg, you are the best!”  

“Easy there kid. Now I'll go over and unlock the door, but be careful not to wake up Loius, okay?”  

“Thank you so much Plagg.”  

Adrien cautiously opened the door to Marinette's bedroom. The moonlight was falling on her face as she slept.  

She was so beautiful.  

He took a seat by her bedside. Running his fingers through her hair, he whispered “Hi.”  

Marinette slowly opened her eyes. “Adrien.”  

Adrien lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it lovingly. “Hey, Princess. I'm sorry I haven't been able to be here to read to you.”  

A tear rolled down from Marinette's eye. “I didn't know what to do. I was afraid you were never coming back.”  

“Oh, Marinette. I'll always come back.”  

Marinette tightly grasped Adrien's hand in both of her own. “What's gonna happen when I can't remember anything anymore? What will you do?”  

Adrien leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I'll be here. I'll never leave you.”  

Marinette lifted her head slightly and kissed Adrien's lips. It didn't take him a moment to kiss her back. Marinette smiled against his lips; it still sent sparks through him, even after all these years.  

Marinette was the one who broke the kiss. “I need to ask you something.”  

“What is it m' lady?”  

She took a deep breath. “Do you think that our love can create miracles?”  

Adrien smiled. “Of course I do. That's what brings you back to me each time.”  

“Do you-do you think our love could take us away together?”  

Adrien slowly lay on the bed next to Marinette. He wrapped his arms around her. “I think our love can do anything we want it to.”  

Marinette rested her head on Adrien's chest. “I love you, Adrien.”  

“And I love you Marinette.”  

They both leaned back to look into each other's eyes.  

“Good night mon minou.”  

“Good night my lady. I'll be seeing you.”  

Saying so, they closed their eyes and nestled closer to each other.  

Louis woke up to a phone call. It was Emma.  

“Hey, Emma.”  

“Is Dad there?”  

Louis sat up in his bed. “What?”  

“Dad isn't here! Is he with Mom?”  

“B-But he hasn't been over for a week,” Louis said, already getting out of bed, “and he most certainly didn't come last night.”  

“I know, but could you please check once? Otherwise, I have to call the police,” her desperation was ringing clear in her voice.  

“Okay, just hold on a second.”  

On his way to Marinette's bedroom, Louis leaned over the second-floor railing onto the living room. His dad wasn't there.  

Please be in here dad, Louis prayed as he slowly opened the door to his mom's room.  

He heaved a sigh of relief as he saw his parents lying on the bed, cuddled close to each other. He tiptoed into the room, taking care so that he would not wake them up. As he stood by the side of the bed looking at them, he smiled. His parents had always been the ideal lovers, just like in the movies. Their love was magical, beautiful like a fairy tale. Even after so many years, he had seen it with his own eyes that their love for each other had not diminished a bit.  

Just then, his expression changed. Something was wrong. Everything was too still, too silent. His heart stopped as the scariest thought crept into his mind. Praying fervently that he was wrong, he stepped closer to the bed. He placed a shaking finger in front of his father's nostrils. He sensed nothing. As tears began to form in his eyes, he put a finger in front of his mother’s nostrils, but there was nothing again. He sunk to his knees, shocked, unable to acknowledge the tears that now streamed incessantly down his cheeks.  

Picking his phone up to his ears, he sighed into it.  

“Louis?” came Emma's voice.  

“Dad...”  

“Is he there?”  

“Dad and Mom...”  

“Oh, he's with mom? That's okay, I'm coming over just now to take him home. Is mom alri-"  

“They are not breathing, Emma.” Louis declared in a whisper.  

“Wha- what are you saying, Louis?”  

No reply came from the other side.  

“Hang on bro. I am coming.”  

They had not expected so many people to turn up at the funeral. But then again, they were Marinette and Adrien Dupain-Cheng, there wasn't anyone in the city of Paris whom they hadn't inspired or supported in some way or the other. Even if no one knew that they had been Ladybug and Chat Noir, the saviours of Paris once, they had been nothing less than superheroes in their civilian life.  

“Even in death, nothing could separate them,” Emma whispered.  

“I am sure wherever they are, they are happy with each other,” Tony put an arm around her shoulders, and she wrapped her arms around him.  

Hugo and Julie embraced each other as well, Hugo sobbing silently into Julie's shoulder.  

Louis looked from one to the other and smiled. “And I have no one?” He joked, attempting to lighten the atmosphere.  

“Come here,” Julie and Emma laughed and pulled him into a group hug.  

[scattered--pages]

Nothing Broken, Nothing Thrown (1/?)

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Characters: Luka Couffaine, Anarka Couffaine, Juleka Couffaine, Couffaine Dad, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Additional Tags: Dysfunctional Family, Family Feels, Hurt/Comfort, character backstory, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst, Family Issues, Childhood Trauma, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Past Abuse, Family Abuse, Will be followed with lots of comfort and support by Mari as the story progresses I promise, But there's a heapload of pain and trauma in between, just as a warning

Ao3 link: here

Notes:

TRIGGER WARNING !!! Unfortunately, this fic is going to get quite dark at times. It talks about how I envision the Couffaine family history. From their life with their father to how Luka and Juleka, as well as Anarka, ended up dealing with the aftermath of getting away from him. In between, there will be sweet moments of Marinette comforting Luka through each step of her finding out more and more about his past, but in between, this might get a bit too much for you if you are triggered by mentions of: family abuse, alcoholism, violence, self-harm, self-destructive behavior. Part of this was written based on some of my own painful experiences from the past.

Please everyone, stay safe and do not read this if you're worried that a mention or a description of any of these might trigger any negative feelings or responses in you.If you do decide to read through, you'll get a view into how I see what made the Couffaines what they are now, ultimately stronger, happier and more free and basically the entire last chapter will be Lukanette Hurt/Comfort fluff.

As always in my fics, music inspires a great deal of my writing and the writing of this first chapter was very much accompanied by Suzanne Vega's "My Name Is Luka", as well as Hozier's "Cherry Wine", both tragic but lovely and utterly amazing songs, and listening to them while reading might complete the experience. ♡Once more, stay safe and I love all of you. ♡

Summary:

"There is something very true about that saying that talks about how the happiest and kindest people often hurt the most inside, or how they've at the very least been through such hell that you would never guess that all of that was some time ago hidden with great effort behind the ever-smiling, protective, compassionate face that they always seem to wear flawlessly. And Marinette had no idea just how heartbreakingly this was true for the boy she cared for."

There is something very true about that saying that talks about how the happiest and kindest people often hurt the most inside, or how they've at the very least been through such hell that you would never guess that all of that was some time ago hidden with great effort behind the ever-smiling, protective, compassionate face that they always seem to wear flawlessly. And Marinette had no idea just how heartbreakingly this was true for the boy she cared for. For the happy, ever-supporting and bright boy for who she has now finally without any more hesitation started to develop incredibly strong feelings for. And she suddenly felt incredibly selfish and blind when she realized that there was a reason he was somehow always her shoulder to cry on and her biggest confidante lately, to such extents that even Alya could no longer compare. Because there was something so soothing, warm and accepting about him. Something that melted her in his hug every time, making most of her worries and troubles just naturally untangle themselves right in front of him, only for him to support and listen and hold her tight through it all. But he never did the same in return. In fact, as close as they were becoming, Marinette failed to realize how little she actually knew about a huge aspect of his life or his past. And perhaps, somewhere in the back of her mind, she just convinced herself that he just didn't have anything to let out as she did, that this was why he was as he was, it only made sense. But now, her heart shattered in face of her own ignorance. Now, this was what was suddenly obvious the entire time. The sheer amount of emotions, pain and trauma that one boy had to learn to suppress and move on from.

And how did she find out? By being too nosy for her own good and taking a peek at a tattered notebook that was hanging from the pile of things they had to move to the upper deck where a former ship drawing room was being re-modeled for a new room that he could have all for himself, much to Juleka's quite equal joy who now had the entire lower deck room for her own drawings, designs and horror posters wherever she wanted them.

But one old, tattered notebook put a sudden halt to a happy moving event on the Couffaine ship. Because, as Luka, Juleka, Anarka and a few of their other friends were helping with painting the room above, Marinette was clutching at her mouth, trying desperately not to alert attention to herself, trying desperately not to sob.

The old, tattered notebook with blue and green action heroes drawn all accross the front page – was a diary.

-------

"January 7th, 2012

Today, we went back to school. I’m kind of happy about it, though. I get to see my friends again. I get to secretly buy Juleka and me a candy bar each day on our way from school with the change money mom sneaks to us. I know dad doesn’t like us spending money when there’s not enough for all the bills, but mom convinced us it’s okay if it’s just one candy bar. That’s why I usually just buy Juleka one and maybe steal a piece. I’m worried about mom, though… Her recording studio is only booked from the end of January and dad doesn’t go on his tour til February… I hope she’ll be okay. I love mom and Juleka. I love dad, too. Even though it hurts a bit to love him in the past couple of years. But he says he loves us in spite of everything and says sorry and smiles after every time he does something bad. Mom says he just has ‘bad dad’ days and that he’ll get better once he stops taking those weird pills and drinks. I really want to become a cool musician like dad one day.

Luka”

-------

Snow was falling delicately against the cold Paris ground. The after effects of Christmas holidays could still be felt in the air all around. Most of the decorations haven’t been removed yet across the city and they made this chilly winter day enveloped in fog seem just a tad bit warmer. In one apartment, however, the interior didn’t match the fancy structures covering the modern building on the outside, nor the still-loving atmosphere left behind everywhere by Christmas and New Year’s Eve. This particular fancy apartment was a mess. Instruments and bottles laying about everywhere, even though Anarka cleaned them up just the night before. The air seemed to be icier than the one outside, even though you couldn’t feel it that way on your skin. But, all things considered, today’s dinner was going by fairly peacefully. Something she was very grateful for.

“Luka, Julie?”, Anarka’s cheery voice broke the silence, “How was your first day back at school?”

The raven haired little girl looked up behind her long bangs, but seemed to be too shy or perhaps too reluctant to speak. Her father noticed that and frowned. Immediately, Luka spoke up.

“It was fun”, he fiddled with his spoon around his plate and mustered up a small smile. “We’re having a talent show in two weeks organized at school”, his eyes carefully moved up to his dad, his smile still intact, and now quite hopeful, “I was thinking about applying as a contestant.”

Gaspard’s looked up and huffed out a chuckle. “To do what?”

The little boy’s smile dropped slowly. “To… Play guitar.”

Another grim chuckle.

“Don’t embarrass yourself, kid…”

“He won’t embarrass himself!”, Anarka interjected, her face baring anger and hurt that she’s been keeping down for so long that it was now slowly seeping through the cracks each time it rose up again. “He’s really good, Gaspard!”, she reached out across the table to place a gentle hand across Luka’s. “You’ll be as good as your dad one day, won’t you?” His mother’s proud smile lured his own back onto his face, but only for a moment.

Another snarky laugh. “Merde!”

“Gaspard! Not in front of the kids, again!”

His spoon made an angry clang against the ceramic before his fist met the table. “If you wanted a fucking sweet rural gentleman for a husband and a father of your kids, Anarka, you should have stayed in the middle of fucking nowhere by the southern coast and married a fucking fisherman!”

“Dad, NO, it’s okay, you’re right, I-I… I’m not good, it was a stupid idea, I won’t sign up for the competition…!”, Luka nodded, trying to stay calm and convincing even though, underneath the table, his hands were trembling. Juleka just kept staring at her plate, face down, long black hair hiding her from the world.

Seemingly satisfied with this outcome, Gaspard smirked and continued to calmly eat his soup, like nothing had happened.

-------  

“January 16th, 2012

I’m a bit scared of dad these days. He got angry at Julie for stepping in his way when she was playing and swung his hand over her, but I managed to run in front of it and took the blow instead. She’s much smaller than me and it would have hurt her really bad. It didn’t hurt me a lot, just that my cheek was a bit purple for a couple of days, but it would have really, really hurt her. It was better this way. Dad never hit Julie before. He hit me occasionally, when he was really, really angry or drunk, and a few times he hit mom. But never Julie. He seemed to have felt bad when he realized what he almost did, it was really obvious, and he even apologized. He seemed really shaken. He even knelt down to hug us. I think he was close to crying. I was kind of happy, it was closer to how dad was a few years ago, it’s a shame Julie doesn’t even remember that dad. The fun dad. The hopeful dad. Dad’s been really, really bad since his band reunion didn’t work out and he stopped getting revenues from their music because of some issues that I didn’t really understand… I know dad can be better, if only he can stop worrying over his producer so much and if he stopped drinking. I know it. Deep inside, he’s a good dad, he really is. He gives us toys. He’s always sorry when he hits me and mom. He’s just going through a rough time, because his band isn’t as popular anymore, that’s at least what mom says. She says he’ll get better one day. I hope so too. Because sometimes I’m worried that mom is only saying that cause she’s scared of him. And my mom is never scared of anyone else, except him. I’m a bit more scared than usual, too. I’m not being very good, because I decided I really want to sign up for that talent show anyway and I’m going to get mom to get dad there by saying it’s a teacher-parent meeting or something. Cuz I really like playing the guitar. And if I show to my dad how good I am, he’ll finally be proud of me, too.”

-------

“I will not hear any of that, last month we had enough money, what the hell are you doing anyway?!”

“I only start recording in ten days, I’ve been practicing and gathering enough songs and material until that day comes, Gaspard!”, Anarka was collecting the pile of unpaid bills that she organized on the table an hour ago in preparation to talk to her husband, although now they were thrown astray. “Gaspard, I love you, but you need to realize we’re not young anymore, both of us, we can’t afford this place, we can’t afford this whole lifestyle! We can’t afford your… y-your…”, she faltered, her lower lip quivering in regret of even letting that slip out. Because sadly, nothing good will come of it. Nothing ever does.

Her husband advanced towards her and the usually brave and bubbly woman in front of him now instinctively took a shaky step backwards.

Gaspard smiled a wicked smile, twisted in the terrified irony of him being almost happy that she was able to make him mad again. Another release, another situation to explode in order to make himself feel better. “No-no, Anarka… Sweetie… Finish that sentence…”, he cocked his head in faux inquisitiveness as he continued quite literally backing her into a corner. “My? What? My d-d-drugs…?!”, he mocked the way her mouth quivered, too terrified to know if she should speak or not. “My booze?!” His hand slammed against the wall next to her. “You think you’re so much better than me, don’t you?”, his voice quieted town but the venom that dripped from it now seemed thicker. His head whipped back at Juleka holding her doll and her knees against her chest on the sofa, “All of you do!!!”, he bellowed, his voice filled with rage, breath filled with gin and head filled with complete disbelief of how his entire family could be so vicious and not see that he was, in fact, the real victim here.

“You!”, he pointed at his wife, “You were just Jagged’s lost little groupie when I found you!!! ‘Nanarky’…”, he imitated Jagged’s voice like a child imitating that one kid they really didn’t like, “Give me a break! And now he is being a superstar and I’m being a failure, I’m being forgotten?!”, he laughed, but it sounded so wrong that it filled Juleka’s eyes with tears, “Were you fucking him before me, Anarka?”, he tilted her chin up, “Is that why he even placed you in his band?! You were his whore, I know you were!!!”, he was screaming again and the shaking woman in front of him was suddenly filled with gust of courage as she pushed him away, whiping the tears off of her eyes in one swift movement before she faced him again.

“I will not let you insult me or my children anymore, I will not let you talk like that again!”, she roared and, for a second, he seemed genuinely shocked by the sudden shift in the usual way she reacted to situations like this. He could usually control her, no one else could, but he could. And he really didn’t like that he didn’t succeed in doing that now. “I was a good musician, a great one, you were the one that made me leave the band, you were the one who made me believe you actually cared about me…”, the tears started rushing in again, her voice breaking but not faltering, “That you wanted a family with me, that we could do this together! YOU are the one who ruined us all!”

Suddenly, she collapsed into a chair next to her and started uncontrollably sobbing into her hands. Tired, desperate, scared, and hopeless. For a minute, there was no sound other than those heart-wrenching muffled sobs, echoing across a living room far too big for the financial status of their family lately, and the wind outside. Gaspard leaned against the table, his head in his hands. It was so quiet. Too quiet. Because it was quiet enough for one sound to finally be heard in the other end of the apartment…

His fists clenched.

“I fucking swear…”, he turned towards the hallway, “If that is a guitar I hear… That boy is dead…”

“GASPARD, NO!!! YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HIM, YOU WILL NOT HURT LUKA AGAIN!!!”, Anarka all but screamed as she flew after him, chasing his raging footsteps as they stormed down the hallway, grabbing at his shirt to pull him back, “You can’t be jealous at your son, Gaspard, he is your son, you can’t hurt him again, y-!” – a loud thud was heard as he flung her across the narrow space into the wall behind them and slammed open the doors to Luka’s room.

There, on the floor, sat the little shaggy haired boy, guitar in his lip, frozen in fear.

“D-Dad, I-I didn’t mean to, I-I…”

Gaspard took a deep breath and took a much calmer tone, “Give that guitar… to me, boy…”

“Dad, no! I-!”

“You will OBEY me, you little shit, or you’ll become a worthless piece of shit like your mother there!”, he pointed back at Anarka, her hands covering her mouth, eyes staring at Luka, afraid that if she moved, she would doom her son even more.

Luka stood up. Jaw trembling and eyes filling with tears, but his shoulders were straight and his head tilted up. “No.”

“Luka…”, Anarka let out a horrified whisper.

“What… did you say to me, boy?!”, the old rocker let out another one of those chilling laughs before it stopped as abruptly as it began its bellowing and in one swift step, he took a step forward, snatched the guitar roughly from his son and turned to the side, holding it by its neck and swinging it above his head.

“DAD, NO!!!”, the little boy cried out, and Anarka used the chance to run over to him and take him in her arms, “NOO, PLEASE DAD, PLEASE, I WON’T PLAY IT AGAIN!!!”, he tried in vain to try to wrestle out of his mother’s arms, “DAD, NO, PLEASE, IF YOU JUST HEAR ME, YOU’LL BE PROUD OF ME, AND IF-IF NOT I’LL NEVER TOUCH IT AGAIN JUST DON’T, DAD, PLEASE IT I-“

For a second, it seemed like everything turned completely quiet and still... Until a deafening sound broke the eerie silence, loud, sharp, violent.

Hundreds of splinters flew across the room.

CRASH.

The strings held the remains of the broken pieces, sticking at each side like ruffled hay.

CRASH!

Luka’s whole body went loose in his mother’s arms as she held him even closer to her, sobbing into the back of his head. He could feel wetness gathering in his eyes, but somehow, felt completely numb and empty in that moment. His one escape, his one love, the one thing he was good at – was destroyed.

The old rocker dropped the wooden remains and ran a finger through strands of course long, half-grey hair and left the room in silence.

And Luka playing the guitar was never mentioned again, at least not in that apartment.

 -------

“February 18th, 2012

I don't talk to dad much anymore. He doesn't like me talking much anyway, I annoy him all the time and it makes me sad that I can't do anything good enough so I kinda stopped trying for awhile. I wish we could be happy. When we were younger, Julie and I, it was better than now. Things weren't perfect, but we were kinda happy. Happier than now. Dad was happier. And mom wasn't crying all the time. I wish dad still loved mom. And mom him. I wish dad loved us. I don't really think he loves me at all. I feel really empty and sad... Teacher asked me if I'm okay because my grades aren't really okay anymore. They've been going bad for awhile now, but I actually failed a few tests lately. I begged her not to tell my mom and dad and she seemed really worried, maybe because I cried, and she promised she won't, if I try to make those grades better. She asked me if I was okay. I said I was and smiled. But really, I don't really think I am. I kind of just want to disappear all the time lately.

Luka"

-------

The once fancy and happy apartment on the second floor was more messy than usual. But not the kind of creative mess that Anarka liked. And neither did Gaspard, even though he was mainly the one who caused it, proceeding than to attack his wife for why things aren't tidier around here. However, oddly enough, the air in the apartment was a bit calmer these days, but Luka and his little sister still had trouble sleeping every night so Anarka re-started the tradition of reading them bedtime stories. They would all huddle up in Juleka's room in the evening, wrapped up in a blanket on each side of Anarka as she quietly told them stories about her hometown by the French coastline. About the ships there, about how there was a legend that it was built by pirates long ago after a very powerful and successful group plundered so much throughout their journeys that they decided to settle down here and after generations and generations, their families and descendants still live there. About how her father taught her how to tie sailor's knots and how to perch up a sail when she was about Luka's age, and about how the sea was always a place where she felt the most free and peaceful. How when you're in the middle of the blue water, lulled by the quiet murmur of the waves, you don't need lullabies or bedtime stories, it is so serene and perfect that it can ease your soul into a blissful sleep within seconds on calm, starry nights. Eventually, she started promising them how, if things ever get even worse, she would take both of them and they would sail away, like her ancestors, and they would fight and plunder evil people, overcome even the worst storms because, when the waves get so high and dark that you can already feel the salt suffocating your throat before it even hit you, than, in that moment, is when every true sailor can use their inner strength to its fullest and find a way to take control of the sea and survive. Because there is no storm that a pirate can't defeat. And they are, after all, pirates. So no storm can ever do them any harm.

A lot of the time, Luka and Juleka's father wasn't even home these days, and when he came home, he was cold as ice, but at least he was mostly quiet and unphased. He didn't like them bothering him, he didn't really even want to see them occasionally, and occasionally, Luka would even see him cry and then, for a moment, he would hope again, just briefly, that maybe, just maybe, he still cares. Maybe there's still a way to reach to him, to fix all of this. But Luka never tried, and he didn't even know how. Somehow, these moments only made him feel even more miserable afterwards. And then he would lock himself up in his room, he'd crawl under his blankets, he'd push away his action figures and notebooks and he'd cry as well. Sometimes for a very long time. Sometimes he wasn't even sure why. But he did feel a bit better, from broken to numb, when the rush of tears was over. He started re-telling their mother's stories to Juleka, convincing her that truly, one day, they really would all escape all this, sail away from Paris, and then everything would be okay. Because the sea fixes everything. And because they can beat any storm, because they're pirates, mom said so.

One of these evenings around a very tension-filled mid-February, things seemed like the usual. Or at least what 'usual' meant lately. Outside, Paris was still decked in bright, crimson colors, snow covering happy, bright Valentine's day decorations strewn across every cafe veranda and against many windows in the city centre apartments. Inside their apartment, once again, it was just cold. And not much else. This time, the chill reached both figuratively and literally into the tenants of the large apartment on the second floor of the condominium complex. They shut off their heating a few days ago because Anarka couldn't pay their heating bills anymore, but a kind neighbour borrowed them two moveable electrical radiators that they mainly used in their bedrooms and in the kitchen in the morning when she made them breakfast. It had to be plugged into electricity, which they still had, but it never went outside of Anarka's mind that next month, she won't have enough for electricity either, third month in a row, and then, she didn't know what she would do and how she would keep her children warm. But their lives now were lived day by then, built on promises of everything somehow getting better, on enduring everything like they did so far.

Gaspard, however, wasn't as happy with this. But he didn't really have enough will-power to do anything about it, which only fuelled his rage, making him spend the little they had on alcohol and colorful tablets that Luka thought looked like bonbons but he knew how dangerous they were and had to keep Juleka from accidentally eating them a few times, thinking they were candy. Because Gaspard no longer cared enough to at least hide them or keep them away at all. They were strewn all over the place, just like the bottles, clothes, dishes, and the pieces of their family that seemed to never have been quite whole at all.

One night, Anarka made sure Luka and Juleka washed their teeth and got ready for bedtime, one of the radiators, a bit old but practical and doing what they were intended to do, was buzzing idly in the bathroom as she helped Juleka get into her pyjamas. It got so cold that they all slept in one bed in her room. Gaspard usually passed out in the living room, fully clothes, wrapped in his coat, so he didn't mind anyway. Sometimes, he wouldn't even come home for days at a time. But today. He cared. Or minded, to put it better. The last resort he had to feeling alive and fine with this whole situation was an abundant combination of brandy and those colorful tablets, but there wasn't enough money left for him to steal from their savings anymore to buy as much as he needed and slowly, but dangerously, Gaspard was breaking along the edges.

"Anarka!", he bellowed from the living room, his voice laced with alcohol - 'fortunately' for him, that, was still fairly cheap to obtain, so his solution was to simply replace the role of pills in his daily concoctions by just consuming a double dosage of liquor in whichever shape or form he could find and buy it. "It is fucking FREEZING here!"

His wife adjusted her glasses shakily and peeked from the bathroom doors, gesturing for Juleka not to come outside. Luka peeked from their bedroom and instantly slid back behind the door frame as well. "We didn't have enough for heating this month, Gaspard", she said carefully, "You know that."

"How?!”

“Gaspard… There hasn’t been enough money… I got my pay for the recordings I did, but… Your revenues still haven’t started coming in again and this apartment costs a fortune just to maintain and-and…”

“Jesus fucking Christ, woman, that doesn’t answer my question!”, he spread his arms wide and turned around, looking around the place with a murky gaze, “I’m the guitarist of the world famous Dark Concords, we should be able to afford double as big of a place than this!”, he stared of into the distance, eyes focused on an unidentifiable spot on the wall. Anarka’s eyes teared up.

“Please, mon cher, you’re not well, you’re not sober…”, she sniffled quietly, weary of any noise she was creating, any annoyance she may be presenting. “And you haven’t been a part of the Dar Concords for a few years now, mon cher… You know th-“

“ I was a STAR, Anarka, I was bathing in money, we had enough for CENTURIES, what did you buy, where the fuck did it disappear suddenly?!"

"It's been disappearing for awhile now, Gaspard...", still calm and cautious, she attempted to muster up a brief explanation, like she was talking to a dangerously disobedient child that she didn't want to upset again instead of to a husband who, when he was sober, already knew all of this all to well, "I didn't buy anything out of the ordinary, you know that..."

"HOW is that possible?! Where the fuck did it go then if you didn't waste it?!", he advanced towards her, arms clenching

"Gaspard, please... We-We've been over this... We'll talk about this again when you're not like th-"

"Like WHAT, Anarka?! You don't like me like this, I KNOW that, I know that you've started abandoning me ever since things went even a BIT away from picture perfect!", his eyes almost seemed teary, but the way his frame shook was so violent and terrifying that wasn't capable of awakening any sympathy. Anarka gently pushed Juleka inside the bathroom as the little girl with the long black hair scuttled behind her to peek out. Her mother made sure to quietly but securely close the door to keep her away from what was happening, again, on a night she really thought would be able to pass through without this.

"You know that's not true, Gaspard...", her voice broke, tears rolling against the corners of her lips, "You can't claim that, you know it's not true...", her voice was gentle, almost forgiving, "You know I would give everything for our family, I'm still here...", she nodded her head, "We all are... We all want you to get better and come back to us..."

"Better?", his lip quivered in a way that sent shivers down Luka's spine as he carefully watched from the barely opened door of the main bedroom. "BETTER?! After everything I've done for you, I'm still not good enough for you or the world, huh?!", his voice thundered and Anarka extended a shaky hand towards his cheek, "Gaspard, please..." -- but it was all she managed to say before her body was flung against the hallway cupboard, the side of it breaking under her as she slammed against it, blood pooling beneath the skin of her eye and cheek on the side where she was struck, blood pouring out from her nose, deep crimson as it smudged against her pale skin. Luka couldn't take it. Not anymore. No more forgiveness. No more trying. No more hoping.

"I hate you...", he hissed through clenched fists, face dark as the face of a child his age shouldn't be capable of being. "I. HATE. YOU!", the boy screamed, a second before patters of bare feet started violently running against the cold tiles in front of him as he basically charged at his father in full speed. What followed happened so fast that, within a second, an angry hand pushed back, full force as well, but this time coming from a much bigger and more dangerous source, just a small shove, a throw for the man, a movement that almost seemed easy from how quick and effortless it was, but the damage it left proved a stark, chilling contrast to this. All that could be heard in one moment was the loud, shrill smashing of broken glass of the door leading from the hallway to the living room, before a sharp metallic smell filled the air. Red soaked his teal pyjama shirt in such amount that made it quickly started cling to his skin like a wet tissue, pouring from his head, side side, his back, it was horrifyingly difficult to tell.

"LUKA!!!", the scream of a mother, broken, was shrill and so engulfed in pain that it would break even the hardest heart. Her own pain didn't matter anymore because, somehow, she was by her son's side in a flash, trying desperately to cradle him as carefully as possible in her arms, not minding the shards, but minding not to make them stick into his skin even further. "No, no, no, no, no... My baby boy... My sweet, brave little boy... My angel, no, no, no, what did you do... What did you do?!", her words were dragged along with her sobs, directed at the man now holding his hand in his hands, suddenly confused, dazed and afraid as his family had never seen him. He tried to say something, mouthing words akin to 'I'm sorry' over and over, but Anarka couldn't even look at him, she just cradled her boy and repeated the last words she said like a torn mantra a few more times, before she snatched the phone from the broken cupboard and dialled the emergency services.

Her husband didn't stay to wait for her to finish the call. He backed away into the entrance door, opened it shakily and ran outside aimlessly. In that exact moment, Juleka rushed from the bathroom, shivering as she jumped down into her mother's arms, sobbing, whimpering, stretching out a small, shaky hand to clumsily but tenderly smooth it against her brothers dark hair, wet with blood, as he mumbled out words they couldn't understand... to her? To his mother? Was he even conscious? Were they pleas for help? The sounds were so disfigured that Juleka thought her brother must have forgotten how to talk from the blow of the fall, but she still tried to make him feel better, tapping at his hair with her little hand like their mom used to do when she would put them to sleep every night. Slow, calming, humming.

It was an aching image of love, tragedy and family in the worst, most wrong way possible, hurting and seeping at the edges, tearing apart. Of three people trying to make each other safe when they couldn't even protect themselves any more at this point. And so they remained, the three of them, together, until the emergency workers tore them apart and placed Luka's screaming, desperate, terrified mother into one van, a kind nurse administering something that she kept promising would calm her down, they wrapped Juleka in a blanket and placed her beside her mother on the stretcher in the first vehicle, as they rushed Luka into another, bandages, panicked personnel and I.V. tubes blocking the view at the boy's broken frame. As Juleka watched them closed the door, for some reason, a sheer surge of terror coursed through her and she felt this incredibly strong fear that she may not see her big brother any more after this and immediately broke into tears again, this time even louder, more terrified, her quiet voice suddenly spilling into screaming, gut-wrenchingly painful sobs that out-voiced even the muffling, loud roar of the red and blue sirens of the emergency vans that were rushing them away from the hell of broken glass, broken promises and a home that seemed to have never really been a home at all...

-------

The last few pages was Luka writing up what the nurses, his sister and mother told him about the whole event after he woke up a few days later, with a lot of stitches, an arm broken in three places, hip fractured, head throbbing, his small body heavy and tired, and skin still ghostly pale and aenemic from the lack of blood that still didn't quite fix itself back to normal even after a couple of days of transfusions and I.V. treatments and horrible headaches that couldn’t pass from even the strongest medications that they were able to give him. But he was alive, and they all said it was a miracle that he was after how his tiny frame smashed through those doors. He was concussed and hurt and broken, but alive. And he will be okay. For Anarka and Juleka, this was enough, and the poor woman started yelling at the doctors when they offered to explain to Luka himself the state he was in. Instead, she was intent on somehow making her children forget all about what happened. She said one of the boats stationed at the Seine’s shores is being sold and that her family will borrow her some money to buy it. They’ll finally have their boat, they’ll finally be pirates, free and happy and away from everything bad, taking life as it is, never staying at one place for too long and never having to worry about anything. She assured them of this. And Luka thought that, perhaps, she was just trying to shelter them, or at least to distract and shelter him from remembering all that happened that night, but in fact, she didn’t even need to try too much, Luka didn't remember a single thing from that day. At least at that point when Juleka secretly told him about everything, with teary eyes and hands that clutched at his hand on the bed so tightly that he thought she would never let him go. But he didn't ask her to. If all he could do now to make her feel better was to let her hold his hand for as long as they let her, he didn't mind in the slightest. And if all that helped calm his mom down was to avoid the topic of what put them in this mess in the first place, well that wasn't a difficult task either.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking part of this particular entry though, and the conclusion of the entire journal, was the final note about how he wondered, still, after they've told him about all that transpired, if his dad will come to visit him. Because he missed him...

"Marinette...?", a soft voice with only hints of panic woke her up from her trance. It was only than that she realized she set there on the floor, the notebook in her lap - which Luka most definitely recognized - hand over her quietly sobbing mouth, tears pouring for what could have been an eternity after she finished that last page.

Hesitant and careful, Luka stood at the entrance to the room on the boat that he used to share with his sister, in times that marked the beginning of much happier years than those whose end was described in that small journal, written in that large but cold apartment further uptown in Paris. He wasn't sure how much she read of it and it was as if he didn't know how to react. Of course, deep inside, in a way, he felt exposed, embarrassed, as one would of someone, especially someone he cares about discovering a darker side of his life that he tried very hard to hide and bury deep, deep into the past, but more so than any of the self-consciousness he might have felt, he was worried at the state that diary left Marinette in.

But just as he parted his lips to say something, the small, shaken figure on the floor sprung up suddenly, closed the distance between them and leapt into his arms, holding him more tightly against her than she ever did. If this was in any other circumstance, he might have blushed, he might have chuckled, but right now, the only meaning this embrace had was a consolation and validation of how horrific the things he went through were, as well as of how, in spite of them, he was still here, someone knew about this, or at least about a part of it, and they still loved him and accepted him instead of judging him or feeling sorry for him. Because that wasn't an embrace of pity. It was of support, of love, something he never got outside from Juleka and his mother because he never dared tell anyone about this, his 'new' life completely replacing his 'old' one in a way that he didn't even dare mention it in fear of ruining everything. Maybe people would have even judged him for how broken he got after it all because maybe other people had it even worse.

But someone else knew now.

Someone finally knew, and they accepted it with love and, for the first time in forever, Luka was the one being cared for, consoled, cradled in someone's arms, instead of it always being the other way around. And he didn't mind it being the other way around, hell he made sure it was always mainly the other way around but, god. This gripped him to his core and brought him back into the state of mind and emotion of that little boy, standing at the entrance of his room, scared and excited whenever he would see his dad come home, broken and hopeful, persistent until he became angry and terrified and heartbroken and nothing more.

"Marinette...", was all he managed to whisper, voice cracking against her hair, arms wrapped around her pulling her even closer, nearer... The girl who now exposed all of his cleverly hidden and masked broken pieces while instantly managing to hold them together and patch them up, bit by bit, teardrop by teardrop as they cried in each other's arms, second by second of desperate hands clutching at each other, unwilling to part as if they were holding onto one another for dear life.

And if a single punch, a throw, could have broken him so thoroughly, physically and emotionally, as that one did more than seven years ago, than this one embrace was enough to stitch together years of suppressed pain, fears and loss, blissfully, fiercely, all at once.

“Do… Do you want to know what happened afterwards?”

Gently pulling away to look at him, Marinette blinked her tears away and nodded firmly.

“Tell me everything, please.”

[takaraphoenix]

1, 6, 15, 17, 23, 41 aand 44 please

Thanks for playing! <3

1. What was the first fandom you got involved in?

The first I got involved in? Not wrote, but just... involved. Mh. It’s gotta be One Piece, that’s where I discovered fanart and fanfiction for the first time. First fic I ever read was some self-insert love-triangle between a Mary-Sue and Luffy and Ace and I absolutely loved it because the mere fact that here, for free, I just got to read about my favorite characters and my favorite anime was absolutely mindblowing.

6. List your OTP from each fandom you’ve been involved in.

Holy effing shit this one alone will take A LONG TIME. Okay. Cutting this short to actually involved in, as in I actively read or wrote in that fandom, not every time a ship caught my fancy. And only one OTP per fandom, the top OTP.

Also, alphabetical order.

Ace of Diamond: Miyuki Kazuya/Sawamura Eijun

Arrowverse: Mick Rory/Leonard Snart/Barry Allen

Avatar - Legend of Korra: Iroh II/Bolin (I never really got into TLA when it came to fanfiction)

Ben 10: Rook Blonko/Ben Tennyson (HIGHLY UNTERRATED SHIP!)

Beyblade: Yuriy Iwanov/Rei Kon (my second-ever fandom where I actually got active as a writer! ;^;)

Card Captor Sakura: Spinel Sun/Keroberos

Charmed: Cole Turner/Phoebe Halliwell

Chicago Fire: Kelly Severide/Matt Casey

Danny Phantom: Danny Phantom/Danny Fenton (...and here, you can see exhibit A as to how I got into selfcest)

Death Note: Yagami Light/L

Descendants: Prince Pen/Carlos de Vil

Detective Conan: Kuroba Kaito/Kudou Shinichi

Digimon: Motomiya Daisuke/Takaishi Takeru

Dragon Prince: Soren/Callum

Entourage: Ariel Gold/Eric Murphy

Eureka: Nathan Stark/Jack Carter

Fairy Tail: Loke/Lucy Heartfilia (it’s my OTP, but it’s not the ship I was reading xD)

Fast and the Furious: Dominic Toretto/Brian O’Conner

Free!: Yamazaki Sousuke/Nanase Haruka

Glee: David Karofsky/Kurt Hummel/Noah Puckerman

Grimm: Eddie Monroe/Nick Burckhardt

Haikyuu!!: Kozume Kenma/Hinata Shouyou

Harry Potter: Fred & George Weasley/Harry Potter

Heroes: Gabriel Gray/Peter Petrelli

Hetalia Axis Powers: France/Germany

Hunger Games: Cato/Peeta Mellark

Imposters: Richard Evans/Ezra Bloom

Inuyasha: Kouga/Inuyasha

Jungle Book: Shere Khan/Bagheera

How to Train Your Dragon/Rise of the Guardians: Hiccup Haddock/Jack Frost

Killjoys: Prima Dezz/Johnny Jaqobis

Kim Possible: Shego/Kim Possible

Kingdom Hearts: Axel/Sora

Kuroko no Basuke: Takao Kazunari/Kuroko Tetsuya

Lord of the Rings: Gimli/Legolas

Lucifer: Mazikeen Smith/Chloe Decker

MacGyver: Jack Dalton/Angus MacGyver

Magi Legend of the Labyrinth: Sinbad/Alibaba Saluja

Marvel: it’s a tie between Loki/Tony Stark and Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark

Maze Runner: Newt/Thomas

Merlin: Gwaine/Merlin

Miraculous Ladybug: Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Adrien Agreste

Musketeers: Porthos/Athos/Aramis/D’Artagnan

One Piece: Trafalgar Law/Monkey D. Luffy

Percy Jackson: Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson

Pitch Perfect: Kommissar/Beca Mitchell

Prince of Stride: Suwa Reiji/Fujiwara Takeru

Psych; Carlton Lassiter/Shawn Spencer

Ranma 1/2: Ryoga Hibiki/Ranma Saotome

Riverdale: Jughead Jones/Archie Andrews

Road to El Dorado: Tulio/Miguel

Royal Pains: Boris Küster von Jürgens-Ratenicz/Henry Lawson

Sailor Moon: Kou Seiya/Tsukino Usagi tied with Tenoh Haruka/Tsukino Usagi

Scrubs: Percival Cox/JD Dorian

Shadowhunters: Magnus Bane/Jace Herondale

Sky High: Warren Peace/Will Stronghold

Sleeping Beauty: Maleficent/Aurora

Smallville: Oliver Queen/Clark Kent

Teen Wolf: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski

Transformers: Ironhide/William Lennox/Sam Witwicky

Trollhunters: Draal/Jim Lake

Twilight: Edward Cullen/Jacob Black

Vampire Academy: Mason Ashford/Christian Ozera

Voltron: Takashi Shirogane/Keith Kogane/Lance McClain

Wicked: Elphaba Thropp/Glinda of the Arduennas

Young Justice: Roy Harper/Dick Grayson

Yu-Gi-Oh!: Kaiba Seto/Jonouchi Katsuya (the first ever ship I wrote for!!!)

15. Is there an obscure ship which you love?

I mean. 75% of the ships I love are “obscure”. I... I always find the very obvious mainstream ships... boring. I mean, sometimes I find them nice in canon, but mostly I find canon to provide enough about them that I don’t really need fandom to get more of it, you know? Or, which also often happens, I find the mainstream ships have more of a very strong friendship-dynamic, or even a sibling-dynamic in some cases, and I just can’t really find it in myself to want to see them in a romantic way.

So, if I have to pick an, as in one, obscure ship, I will have to go with my top OTP. Jagnus. Jace and Magnus literally lived together, in both the show-canon and the book-canon, yet somehow it is an “obscure” ship. I mean, not somehow, we all know why. It’s the unwritten fandom rule of “canon mlm shall NEVER EVER BE BROKEN UP HOW DARE YOU SHIP ONE WITH SOMEONE ELSE”. You have no idea how often that rule has come between me and my OTP. Basically every time there is a canon mlm ship, really.

And this in no way or shape means to criticize those who only ship canon and are content with it, you do you, but I do find the lack of creativity in shipping in fandom where there is a canon mlm ship... really damn boring. Fandoms without canon mlm representation have the wildest constellations of ships, have a far broader variety of content, but when there is canon mlm, the majority of a fandom tends to just happily sit down with it and hug it and prefer not to be creative with the content and the shipping. And as a certified multishipper, I don’t really get that - like, even if you like the canon, you could have multiple ships?

17. Who was your first OTP and are they still your favourite?

My first OTP was Shere Khan/Bagheera, because gods do I love Jungle Cubs. And while other ships I interact more with have pushed it off the throne, if I see any form of Sheregheera content, I am immediately sucked in, no questions asked, no hesitation. I am utterly in love with this very rare, small, very obscure actually, ship and I will always love it and it still is one of my favorites.

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

Ooof. Interesting one. I’ve done a variety of PJO fics I’m particularly fond of in previous versions of such a question, so let’s go with something else this time. “The Lost Soulmarks”. It’s, at this point, probably my own personal most reread story. I just reread it the other night, actually. It just - it hits all of the right spots in what I want from a fic. Very often, I write to please my readers, with “What do my followers like most?” in my mind at least to a certain degree, but some things are absolutely self-indulgent. And I should really write more absolutely self-indulgent fics because those are the ones I myself keep coming back to. It has ABO-verse, it has soulmates, it’s Jace-centric, with lots of love, misunderstandings but not the kind where one of them is to blame but rather where it’s due to the circumstances, it’s really emotionally painful, but pays off in the end. It’s... seriously those are all the things I love.

41. List and link to 5 fanfics you are currently reading:

Uuuhm so like five WIPs where I am desperately waiting for updates?

Shadowhunters, Jagnus: “Non-Fat Frappuccino With Extra Whipped Cream” by @kimmycup - it’s my top OTP and my best friend gave it to me but now she is slowly murdering me with the wait for part 2

Shadowhunters, Jimon: “Strings” by annhamilton - I looove this story, only recently discovered it and fell in love with it and am now not-quite-patiently waiting for the next chapter

Avengers, WinterIron: “(Iron Is A) Star Killer” by RayShippouUchiha - a fic I read... a while ago and recently rediscovered with the latest update and am now desperately waiting for more!

Avengers, WinterIron: “An Unempty Nest” by gryvon - same as the one above, I read this a while ago and forgot about it and recently rediscovered it for myself and still love it

Avengers, Steve/Bucky/Tony/Tony: “Second Chance (at happiness)” by SailorChibi - I got this fic recommended and devoured it in one sitting and have since then checked nearly daily for updates because I greatly enjoy it!

44. What ship do you feel needs more attention?

*bangs potts and pans together* JAGNUS JAGNUS JAGNUS SERIOUSLY THEY LIVED TOGETHER. THEY LITERALLY WERE ROOMMATES. IN ANY OTHER FANDOM THAT’D HAVE TAKEN OFF LIKE NOTHING ELSE. THE PARALLELS BETWEEN THEM!! LET. MY. GOLDEN. EYED. BOYS. FIND. HAPPINESS. IN. EACH. OTHER.

Fanfiction Ask Game

[necer0s]

So I’m catching up on Miraculous Ladybug at long last (I finished season one when it was out and never got around to watching later episodes when they came out) and I thought I’d just put all my reactions in one post so as not to go overboard.  

So first off, I really like that they opened the season with the Gabriel=Hawkmoth reveal?  Obviously it wasn’t much of a reveal at that point, but it’s good that they didn’t waste any time.  And they immediately set us up for future speculation by revealing that Nathalie knows about Hawkmoth at the same time-- also good!  Plus, I like how GabeMoth deceived our heroes about his identity.  The conclusion they reached about “he was akumatized so he can’t be Hawkmoth” seems a little shaky to me (how do they know that’s not just another application of his power-granting powers?) but the deception was well-crafted and well-acted, and I can absolutely see how it would fool two children who desperately want to believe the best of him.  

Despair Bear:  I like seeing Chloe’s softer side (one-dimensional bullies bore me) but I love seeing Hawkmoth literally go “ah yes, people in close proximity to Chloe Bourgeois, the perfect opportunity to akumatize someone.”  

Riposte:  God, Ladrien is my favorite dynamic in the love square.  They’re both with the person they like… but they don’t want to act like they’re interested in that person in their current form… how terrible!  

I also like the “akuma alert” that shows up in this episode.  Paris has gotten really used to this, huh?  (I guess it’s not surprising, since there’s literally never any lasting damage.)  

I have to say, I really prefer these episodes that spend most of their time on fighting the villain rather than on the high school drama.  

Also… there are people who ship Ladybug/Kagami, right?  Because Kagami staring at Ladybug when she tells her everything is alright is just… *chef kiss* perfection.  That’s the kind of wonder-filled stare that crushes are built around.  (Of course, as a big fan of poly resolutions to love triangles, I’m hoping that Luka will have a similar moment with Adrien so I can build a proper shipping tesseract.)

Befana:  I haven’t actually started watching the episode yet as I write this, but seeing the blurb say that Marinette’s grandma gets akumatized is giving me Thoughts about Paris’s culture and society in the wake of the whole akumatization thing.  Like, insulting someone or being overly cruel to them is just actively dumb, obviously-- you might not suffer permanent harm, but the next couple hours probably won’t be pleasant for you if Hawkmoth is paying attention.  In a non-kid’s-show universe, anyone with common sense would be unusually concerned about hurting people’s feelings at all times.  There’s a lot of “utopia-looking dystopia” potential in something like that....  (Of course, as I watch the episode and it transpires that Grandma is deeply out of touch with current Paris, this seems oddly prophetic.  Kagami was from out of town as well… hmmm….)

  Also: Marinette’s parents fistbumping is Super Cute and I love it.  

Random thought while watching:  Do you think one of the reasons people always run away from Akumas is to give Ladybug and Cat Noir plausible deniability?  

Another aside:  It’s always kind of weird when the dub is Really Obvious about having changed something.  They really think we can’t recognize that the “fairies” here are supposed to be angels?  

My new favorite part of this episode:  Befana making Hawkmoth say “please”.  God, I love her.

Tangent:  I wish they would do more with the purified butterflies.  If they can’t follow them back to Hawkmoth, is it at least possible that they could destroy them?  Hawkmoth seems to have a limited number of them.  Maybe normal damage wouldn’t do anything, but if Cataclysm happens to have not been used yet in the fight, surely that would be enough to destroy the butterfly?  If that became a thing, it would add two interesting new elements to every fight:  a slow countdown to Hawkmoth eventually becoming powerless, and a struggle for Cat Noir to not have to use his power.  

Robostus:  ...The technology level in this is kind of weird.  Not super weird, given how recently this was made, but at least a little weird.  

I really like this akuma?  He’s asking questions of Hawkmoth, unlike most people.  And his tech-control may be the most powerful akuma we’ve ever seen. 

And he’s the first akuma to betray Hawkmoth!  Damn, I love this little guy.  I wonder if this is why Hawkmoth usually hands out relatively weak powers?

Glaciator:  I hate episodes where Marinette is the cause for someone’s akumatization.  I mean, it’s good to have flawed heroes and all, but it’s just so awkward to watch.  Though I do like that she immediately recognized that she was cruel and felt bad about it, instead of needing a hamfisted moral.

I know I said before that Ladrien was my favorite dynamic, but Marichat is pretty great too.  Removing the pressure of the crush from both sides gives us a great chance to see how they work as friends.

Sapotis:  Random thought:  What does Hawkmoth do with his cane when he’s using both hands to infuse a butterfly?  Does it just stand on its own?

Here’s another akuma that I really like.  Multiplying powers are perfect for overwhelming the heroes and for protecting the core object.  “When they eat” is a decent limitation to make it possible for them to eventually be defeated, too.

I like that handing out the Fox Miraculous wasn’t an easy choice.  It’s kind of a big deal!  I do think that it’s kind of a weird choice, though-- why should Marinette particularly think that illusions will be helpful in dealing with this?  (For that matter, what makes Fox Illusions important enough to be one of the five central Miraculouses?  The Butterfly makes sense-- handing powers out to other people is a huge power-- but illusions just don’t seem to measure up against stuff like the Rabbit’s time travel.  I have to think that the Fox has more powers to unlock, just like the Ladybug and the Cat.)

Huh, Alya detransformed faster than Marinette even though she had spent less time transformed and used her power later.  That seems to suggest that practice extends how long they can use their powers…  Which makes sense, given Hawkmoth’s ability relative to theirs.  That’s probably why his powers (and Fluff’s, later in the series) are so much stronger, as well… it’s just that it’s hard to judge the strength of most of the powers we’ve seen so far.

Gorizilla:  Hey, Gabriel Agreste?  Do me a favor and DIE HORRIBLY.

Captain Hardrock:  ...So, is Luka being written as autistic-coded?  It seems like he can communicate more easily through music, which (while I’m not entirely sure if that’s a real way autism can manifest) is definitely a way it gets written in some stories.  

Alya: “Some of us are still chained up here, could you stop flirting for one second?”  (I love her so much)

Okay, I’m not a musician, but can Adrien and Gabriel just… play a solo piece as a duet?  Don’t you need a song written for that purpose?

Everyone already knows that Adrien and Luka had just as much a meet-cute as Luka and Marinette did, right?  Good, good.  The Ship Tesseract is a go.

Frightningale:  Marinette is very cute when she gets excited about her idols.

Tikki explicitly and casually saying that she’s proud of Marinette is A+, very excellent.

Plagg: “That costume is what you really wanted deep down, isn’t it?”  What.  WHAT???  So… Miraculous costumes are shaped by the desires of their holders?  I love it.  I love it!  That opens such a delightful future opportunity for showcasing character growth, it’s perfect.

Adrien shows up dressed as Cat Noir:  Marinette.exe has stopped working.

...I really wish they would take this episode as a chance to explicitly say that Miraculous Magic helps protect their identities.  That really needs to be canonized if people are going to stop looking like morons.

Syren:  Wow, we’re jumping right into this akuma.  Very promising for my enjoyment of the episode!  And a delightfully interesting akuma, too-- I’m a big fan of terrain control as a power.

New transformation sequence!  New powers!  I love this whole episode.

And Adrien getting to meet Master Fu is also Very Good.  He deserves it.

Zombizou: Another excellent episode.  I love this Akuma’s power… all the cute of a romance with all the horror of zombies.  A delightfully unusual combination that could only occur in Miraculous Ladybug.

And some delightful character growth for Chloe, which I love. 

 Frozer:  Okay, Cat Noir grabbing a rose to give to Ladybug is cute and all, but… roses are expensive, you know?  It’s like he just swiped a few dollars out of this guys hand.

Kagami, who ships Marinette/Adrien as much as anyone else in the school:  Change targets, Adrien.  Adrien:  *hands her a rose*  Kagami:  Wrong target!

...Yeah, Adrien does not have a lot of good options for love advice around him.  But wow, going to Marinette is hands-down the cruelest and dumbest thing he could do.  

God, I love Marinette’s friends.  They have their own personal fandom going on here, don’t they?

Aaaww, Gorilla Bodyguard is nice.  It’s a shame that he never talks, honestly.

You know, I’m really trying to ship this poly quartet, but it just isn’t doing much for me tbh.

I do like the different forms (and the different transformation sequences) but I have to wonder what the rest of them do.  Surely they can’t all be for dealing with different kinds of environments? There just aren’t that many environments that need magical assistance to deal with.  Underwater, on ice… I can imagine flight, fire resistance, and maybe digging, but that only gets us to five out of seven potions.  It’s hard to think of two more environment adaptations that wouldn’t be covered by the first five.  There must be at least one that has a different kind of power.

Remember how I really enjoy episodes that spend a lot of time with the akuma?  That goes in reverse for episodes that spend a lot of time on stalling relationship drama.  If anyone was actually making any kind of progress, that would be one thing, but as it is…

Style Queen:  Tikki playing Marinette’s crush on Adrien against her crippling insecurity is just hilarious to me.  I don’t know why.

...I really hope this interview isn’t going out live.  Poor Chloe.  She doesn’t deserve that.

Tikki:  *encourages Marinette in every possible way when she’s anxious*  Plagg:  You feel awkward?  It’s because you look dumb.  

How the heck did all of Marinette’s classmates and family get seats in this highly prestigious fashion show?  Front-row seats, no less?  (I could understand a couple tickets for close family and friends, but this is a little excessive.)

Wow, Nathalie is really good at this “accidental” infuriation thing.  

(Side note:  I really like the touch of having Chloe so thoroughly imitate her mother as to even walk like her.  It serves a delightful dual narrative purpose of both explaining much of Chloe’s cruelty and of making Audrey’s cruelty to her daughter even more heartbreaking.)

Okay, again:  How did Nino get the gig of doing music for this highly prestigious fashion show?  Like, did Adrien cash in every favor he had with his father?  And why are all the other rows of the audience still empty?  I normally don’t notice or care about animation shortcuts, but this is all very glaring.

...God, Chloe wants to please her mother so much she’ll even help her akumatized self.  That’s just depressing.

Plaggaclysm is an absolute goddamn delight.  (And, you know, utterly terrifying.)  It makes me wonder what Tikki’s unrestrained power looks like.

Okay, as someone who’s been spoilered a lot, I always wondered how Marinette managed to lose a Miraculous so badly that it ended up in Chloe’s hands, but this is actually a really good explanation-- she thought that the magic clean-up of Miraculous Ladybug would have sent it back.  Which makes sense!  That’s the kind of put-things-back-where-they-were that we might often see from a Miraculous Ladybug.  It’s not great that she just assumed that without checking, but it’s not unreasonable either.

Troublemaker:  ...So, is this out of order or something?  Or is there a deliberate gap between the two Queen episodes?

You know, it’s hard not to wonder sometimes why Hawkmoth keeps trying all these useless-seeming akumas all the time, but Troublemaker does a pretty good job stating their case-- sometimes you just get exactly the right circumstances for victory, even with a power that wouldn’t do much good anywhere else.  Intangibility wouldn’t be impressive outdoors or even in the Agreste mansion... but in a cramped Parisian apartment, she’s one of the most successful akumas ever created.

It’s nice that they’re actually showing us some emotional aftermath of an akumatization for once.  You can just feel that shame radiating off of Penny-- that sense of “how could I do that?  What will they think of me?”  It’s a nice thing to address.

You know what I just realized I desperately want?  I want post-reveal shenanigans where Tikki hangs out with Marinette’s other female friends.  They have such a great girl group, and Tikki would be so much fun hanging out with them.

Queen Wasp:  It’s interesting that Gabriel mentions a “promise” between him and Emilie.  That certainly seems to imply more than just him wanting to resurrect her.  I’m starting to see where the “maybe Emilie was evil too” headcanons come from.

Yay, Marinette’s getting what she deserves!  Boo, Chloe doesn’t deserve to have this happen in front of her!  Very mixed feelings.

...But wow, Chloe did not choose a great way to react to that.  I can’t blame her at all, but still…

I wish they’d given more time to the Queen Wasp fight.  I mean, I get that obviously they couldn’t do much since a single strike on her part would defeat them, but such a powerful akuma deserves more attention.

Chloe saying sorry is just… That’s Growth!

Reverser:  I’m enjoying this episode, but the number of people who seem honestly confused about the fact that Marc is an akuma is baffling.  It feels like this really ought to be a Season 1 episode.

This really seems like an episode where they should be handing out other Miraculouses to get some help?  I mean, Alix said it pretty explicitly.  I can imagine a lot of ways that Rena Rouge could help out here, for instance.  

Random thought:  How come Ladybug can capture and purify the akumas anyway?  It doesn’t really seem to fit Tikki’s theme of Creation.  Is it because she’s one of the top two Miraculouses, and therefore has some amount of power over the lesser Miraculous?  That would make sense, I suppose.  And I... guess it sort of counterbalances Plagg’s ability to destroy the Miraculouses.

Anansi:  Adrien excusing his father’s behavior as being “overprotective” is physically painful to me.  

Honestly, Nora has a point.  How are the people of Paris supposed to tell the difference between akumatized people and people in costumes?  (Well, presumably it’s easier to tell the difference in a non-animated world…)

Marinette being a Chaotic Good trickster is my everything.  Almost as much as Alya being all dramatic as she walks out is.

The irony of this ordinary, non-magical fighter saying that Alya, Marinette, Adrien, and Nino are clueless about the dangers of akumas is smothering.  

Is it just me, or does Marinette look unusually worried in this transformation sequence?  I thought they just reused the same thing multiple times, but this definitely isn’t her usual cheery transformation.

I’ve been waiting a long time for Cat Noir to use Cataclysm as a way to protect his Miraculous.  It’s a fairly obvious application of the power, and it’s nice to see that finally happen.

Ladybug:  This Cat empty, YEET!

God, Nino is a terrible liar.  Which puts him in good company in this show…

Malediktator:  Obviously we can’t have Chloe maintaining her positive character development.  Clearly, we need to backtrack that immediately!  /sigh…  I suppose it makes some sense in that she’s spending more time with her mother and learning from her.

I feel bad for the Mayor.  Audrey is too cruel to deal with, and Chloe follows her example.

I saw the “everyone celebrates Chloe leaving” bit coming a mile away, and I still laughed for a solid minute.  Of course, then Adrien has to come along and spoil it with her being his “childhood friend” and “the only person his age he knew for years”, but whatever.

God, I can’t believe the Lucky Charm in this episode.  Can we have more of that, please?  Massive laser gun weapons for the win.

The one thing I can’t stop thinking about is how Cat Noir’s Miraculous is clearly only saved by narrative convenience.  It’s frankly very jarring.

Sandboy:  Some interesting worldbuilding going on here.  Too bad it comes at the cost of Nooroo having to deal with Gabriel “Evil Bitch” Agreste.

Anyway, worldbuilding.  Miraculous holders can apparently control their kwamis!  That’s… awful.

And, as I’ve wondered for a while, it appears that the Miracle Box is in fact magical in and of itself, and not just a spiffy container for the Miraculouses-- it apparently has a kwami pocket dimension.  

Kwamis can’t say their owners’ names, which makes sense.

Nightmare!Adrien is horrifying.  

I’m a little disappointed with the singing kwamis.  That could have been a lot more mystical.

Adrien’s nightmare is… incredibly depressing and disturbing.  Yeesh.

Hawkmoth reverse-tracking the kwamis is hugely dangerous.  I hope Fu moves to a different apartment after this.  (And speaking of Fu, I’m a little disappointed by his nightmare.  I hoped for something a little more revealing.)

Have I told Gabriel Agreste to die in a fire recently?  Just in case… die in a fire, Gabriel Agreste.

Catalyst:  I’ve been looking forward to this one, yes I have…

God, there’s a statue of Adrien’s dead mom right outside his room?  Was his life not awful enough somehow?

Yeesh, Lila.  I probably should have rewatched Volpina at some point so I had a better sense of what’s going on with her, but there’s only so much Lila nonsense I want to deal with.  And apparently she’s lying to both her parents and to the school?  Honestly, why?

Ugh, Marinette lying.  Honestly, I just straight-up skipped past this.  Among my many personal problems with this, I also feel that having everyone say in front of the entire class what they’re doing for Heroes Day is… really weird?  I mean, that would be an unfair way to force children to compare themselves to each other even in a world without akumatizations-- and in this world, it’s an actively dumb thing to do.

Volpina(/Lila) is such an interesting character because she so entirely embraces the power Hawkmoth grants her, and is so willing to help him even when she loses that power.

Catalyst is a fascinating akuma choice.  I don’t think it would work for anyone but Nathalie, and for her it fits perfectly.  And from the very instant she appears, it’s obvious that she may well be the most valuable akuma ever created.

Watching people stare down the akumas is awesome, I have to say.  

I love these Miraculous handing-outs.  Alya once again proves herself the queen of everything.

Mayura:  Ohhhh yes. I’ve really been waiting for this one.

Dark Cupid + Scarlet Moth is a particularly inspired combination.  Honestly, at this end of the episode I can’t possibly imagine what would lead to Hawkmoth never doing this again.

Plagg sharing his cheese may be the most heartwarming moment this series has ever seen.

The Peacock Miraculous is fascinating in oh-so-many ways.  It creates (or maybe summons) creatures from strong emotions with a material focus, just like the Butterfly Miraculous.  What makes those two so different from seemingly every other Miraculous?  Is it something about the way they’re used?  And how was it damaged?  My initial guess is that some of the feathers were destroyed by a Cataclysm for some reason.

...It just occurred to me that Adrien probably thinks that Marinette is stammering and clumsy around lots of people.  (I feel like that’s been addressed in a previous episode, though…)

Having reached the end of the episode, I’m still not sure why they wouldn’t repeat the Catalyst -> Scarlet Moth -> Dark Cupid combo in the future.  As far as I can tell, there’s no downsides to this-- it seems to cost them no more than normal, and even if they can’t get Dark Cupid, the rest of the combo still works.  Why would Gabriel and Nathalie bring back Mayura and not Catalyst?  

Chameleon:  Ugh, Lila.  I honestly just skipped the first third of this episode and read a summary.  Her lying is painful in almost every way.

Fortunately, what she lacks in believability, she makes up in pure willing evil.  Grabbing an akuma and demanding to be akumatized?  That’s how you make a petty villain look dangerous.

(Also, “Oops!  I lied” is a fantastic line.  Slightly funny, dangerously unrepentant… delightful.)

Chameleon’s powers are an interesting twist on Lila’s usual Volpina powers.  They’re clearly weaker, but also more personal, and they allow the possibility of an actual attack with her kiss-- a capability that Volpina lacked.  On the whole, I find myself less impressed with these powers than with Volpina’s (not least thanks to Lila’s less-subtle actions this time around), but it at least opens up some future possibilities.  Still, I think for Lila to be a real threat in the future, she’s going to need to steal the Fox Miraculous.

Sigh… another disobedient akuma making things harder for Hawkmoth.  At this point, it’s less relieving than it is predictable.

Honestly, I really like the idea of Lila?  Marinette and Ladybug having the same dedicated enemy is something that the show otherwise lacks, and her use of lies morally opposes her to Marinette in an interesting way that could be used to explore the moral complications of the secret identity.  It just sucks that she’s so very poorly implemented.

(Side note:  I’m reading the Miraculous wiki of this episode, and it points out that Hawkmoth has tried to akumatize Marinette and gotten someone else twice now, and both times the new person has had kiss-based powers.  I wonder if that might be foreshadowing for what an eventual akumatized Marinette’s powers might look like?)

Backwarder:  Again, I’m skipping the first part and reading a summary.  I’m just… so tired of love square shenanigans.  There’s a reason I shouldn’t binge watch this show…

Hawkmoth in a train bathroom should be funny to me, but I just can’t comprehend that negative emotions are really so rare in Paris that he absolutely can’t miss this opportunity.

Hawkmoth is getting a dangerous amount of information about Fu from Backwarder here.  I’m increasingly starting to think that the first eventual Big Plot Development will be Hawkmoth finding Fu and either controlling him or taking some of the Miraculous or power-up potions from him.  

Really, Gabriel?  You couldn’t even skip your monologue on a public train?

I love that literally everyone who likes Marinette ships her and Adrien.  It’s adorable.

Weredad:  Listen.  Gigantitan was a cute gimmick once, when it was an accident.  And when Scarlet Moth showed up, there wasn’t any particular reason why he shouldn’t be re-akumatized.  But what could possibly possess Gabriel Agreste to repeat the event?  Gigantitan is almost completely incapable of stealing the Miraculous.

Anyway, skipping past the love square stalling nonsense…

Finally, an akuma who can grab the Miraculous when ordered.  

Eh.  I know it’s because I’m just so tired of the love square right now, but this episode did nothing for me.

Skipping Animaestro altogether.  I’ve heard nothing good and the summary looks to back that up.

Bakerix:  This really feels like it was supposed to come before Backwarder.  Is the train they’re unveiling somehow not the one the Agrestes rode in that episode?

You know, normally any plot that involves the words “get them back together again” worries me, but I find I have unusually high hopes for this one.  (Although the lying is not a great start…)

Marinette, you live in a bakery and you don’t tote bags of flour daily?  Pfft.  (Though with how huge her dad is…)

Granpda Dupain is seriously traditional.  They’re really playing that up.  Probably to distract from the otherwise-blatant racism metaphor of him disliking rice flour in the family bread.

Very cute ending!  And see, we can have a nice emotional episode without using the love square!

Silencer:  I debated whether or not to actually watch this, because Lukanette really doesn’t do much for me, but what the hell.

Wow, Bob Roth and XY are the scum of the earth.  

I love the Kitty Section visuals.  Armored death kitties is a flawless concept, without a doubt.

God, I love that Marinette sees this problem and her solution is just to go right to the top.  I feel like being Ladybug has altered her sense of scale.

It’s astonishing that Bob Roth can look at his son’s costume and unironically call Kitty Section an inferior garage band.

I am not thrilled with the way that Luka gets more coherent and talks less about music when he gets angry.  I don’t know why, but I don’t like it.

Huh.  I didn’t think Silencer could be an effective villain with his powers, but cancelling her active powers isn’t a bad move.

Cat Noir’s reaction to Ladybug’s loss of speech is priceless.  But boy, is he bad at charades.

...Shit, they really did make Silencer a scary villain.  Nicely done.

Aww, Lukanette is cute.  It’s too bad it’ll probably never get a fair shake.

Oblivio:  Another one I’ve heard a lot about.  Hell of a way to start the episode, that’s for sure.  

Adrien and Marinette “introducing” themselves is goddamn adorable.  Now this is my kind of love square content.

Ooooh, I love Oblivio’s design.  Super blank and creepy.  

Okay, question:  Is the highlight sight thing magical or not?  (Upon looking it up, it is apparently not.  I think we can all be forgiven for the mistake, given how it always shows up.)

“SuPeR PeNgUiNo”

Worldbuilding-wise, I think the most interesting part of this episode is the fact that two people can be akumatized into one villain.  There’s room for a particularly terrifying villain to be created in the future by combining Hawkmoth and Mayure...

Stormy Weather 2:  I’ve heard a lot of shit about this episode, but I like the start so far?  Let’s see where it goes.

Oh wait shit, is this a clip show?  Yuck.

Did Stormy Weather just summon a God Damn Volcano?  Holy shit.

This is frankly disappointing.  It’s not the worst clip show episode I’ve ever seen, but I wish they’d chosen a different villain to make a reappearance.

Locker Stalker Adrien will never not be funny to me.

Oni-Chan:  UGH, LILA.  Alright, let’s do this.  (Me, two minutes later:  UGH, LILA.)

Is the skylight above Emilie Agreste’s coffin new?  I don’t remember that being there.  It’s weird that they have two separate underground lairs with skylights.  How does no one notice that?

Adrien:  “I don’t have any girlfriend.  Plagg, claws out!”  Plagg:  Noooo there were so many things I wanted to say in response to that!

Huh.  Oni-chan’s powers are a little underwhelming, but very interesting.  And a reasonably interesting solution to fighting her, as well.

This is easily the cutest Adrigami has ever been.  If they were always like this, I would ship them a lot more.

Lila and Gabriel teaming up is honestly fascinating.  Each one of them thinks that they’re using the other, but Gabriel currently has the clear upper hand because he’s the only one who knows about Hawkmoth, which means he can play Lila from two different positions.  But Lila has an advantage of her own in that she doesn’t care whether Gabriel or Hawkmoth is manipulating her, because she’s already getting what she wants out of the bargain-- power and influence.  

Honestly, if it weren’t for the scenes where people inexplicably believe Lila’s more ridiculous lies, I would love her as a villain.

Miraculer:  Yet another episode I’ve been looking forward to!  I do love Chloe development.

Wooow.  That’s a dark scheming side of Nathalie we haven’t seen before.  I like it, but as always happens with Nathalie, I’m left wondering where her commitment to this plan comes from.  

Ah, Marinette.  So savage.  So delightful.

Remember me talking in the last ep about people believing the most ridiculous things from Lila?  Here we go again.

Mayura is using her power surprisingly freely all of a sudden.  I thought the Miraculous was broken and it damaged Nathalie to use it?  Hmm….

Okay, I hate to blame the victim, but for a professional lackey, Sabrina is terrible at figuring out what Chloe would want her to do, and worse at not saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Chloe fighting off Hawkmoth is super badass, I love it.  Only she could have the absolute HBIC confidence needed for something like that.

...Wow, I’m actually kind of starting to ship Sabrina/Chloe.  Or possibly wanting Sabrina to get out of the relationship she’s in with Chloe…

Hawkmoth being the one to tell an akuma not to take a hero’s Miraculous?  That’s new.

Dang, Miraculer is powerful.  It’s almost hard to imagine a stronger akuma.

And Mayura vs. Queen Bee is everything it’s been chalked up to be, of course.  I love it.

Damn, the sheer confidence in “I will always be Queen Bee”.  Magnificent, utterly magnificent.

Timetagger:  Poor Mr. Pigeon.  Constantly transformed by Hawkmoth and equally often getting the stuffing beat out of him by Ladybug and Cat Noir.

Aaaw yeah Bunnix!  Honestly I’ve already seen this episode, but there’s nothing about it I don’t want to watch again.

I really thought that “what if today’s the day we grow up” was going to be a lead-in to Ladybug using her powers twice in one transformation as a sign of growth.  On a second watch, it’s really very disappointing to know that’s not the case.  This episode would have been the perfect opportunity to showcase Ladybug and Cat Noir’s growth and give a visible, power-related symbol of that growth.  Maybe it will serve as foreshadowing for their ability to do that by the end of the season…?  We can only hope.

[mc-lukanette]

Omg I am loving your dreaded string of fate au this is such an interesting take! As always your writing and ideas absolutely amaze me You are such a wonderful writer! If it isnt too much of a bother could we get some more writing for dsaf? Either way I hope you are staying safe, taking care of yourself, and that overall life is doing you good.

Thanks, everyone! And sure, you can have more!!

—————

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]

Luka wasn't sure why Marinette had called him over that day. As far as he knew, she was busy with projects, though he wouldn't complain about spending some time with her.

Still, he found himself tensing and steeling himself up as he walked up the stairs to her living room. The hum of her sewing machine could be heard as he got closer, reminding him of clothes, which led to the thought of thread, which then brought his mind to the red string of fate wrapped around her neck. His last venture as Viperion seemed to have improved his sensing, so now he could see someone's red string even if the person on the other end wasn't nearby.

Needless to say, he wasn't looking forward to it with Marinette.

He closed the living room door behind him, then went up the staircase, knocking to let Marinette know he was there. The sound of the sewing machine stopped, and he heard her footsteps come closer followed by the slight creak of the trapdoor.

Marinette's face was revealed to him, offering him a smile, and Luka tried not to stare too much at the red string still tied around her neck. He swallowed, but smiled back at her, which was genuine enough even if he was uncomfortable.

"Come on up," she welcomed, holding the trapdoor up for him. He nodded and walked up the rest of the stairs, hearing the trapdoor close behind him as he took a look around the room. He felt Marinette's eyes on him, but she voiced her thoughts before he could wonder about them.

"You didn't bring your guitar?" she asked.

He glanced at his back, then at her, having no way of telling her the real reason why he'd chosen not to bring it. "Yeah, I didn't. Sorry, did you want me to play for you?"

"Oh! No, it's okay—I mean, of course I love it when you play for me so I always want—but I understand!" She thankfully dropped the subject there, turning away to return to her seat. "You can make yourself at home or help yourself to the fridge downstairs if you want anything!"

"Thanks," he said with a smile, heading over to her chaise lounge and taking a seat on it. Even with Marinette's chair turned away from him while she used her sewing machine, he could still see the red string dangling off the side, though it faded into full transparency before it hit the floor.

In truth, he'd left his guitar behind to force himself to use less music and more words. He didn't want to hide behind it to try and ease his situation or make himself more comfortable with everything. The situation the love of his life - and more importantly, his friend - had gotten into through no fault of her own was horrible, and no matter how uncomfortable he was, he couldn't have been any more uncomfortable than her being strangled by fate itself.

He watched her, waiting for a lull in her work to ask, "Did you need anything?"

"Hm?" She looked over her chair to meet his gaze.

"I'm happy to be here anyway, but I didn't know if you needed me for something," he clarified.

"Oh." She understood. Waving a hand dismissively, she assured, "No! I just invited you here to hang out—" She gestured to her sewing machine, her eyes a bit shifty. "—with me, while I was busy but totally happy and relaxed and everything!"

Her wording was inherently suspicious. His eyes scanned over the room, noting the projects littered about that seemed so plentiful. He supposed he hadn't exactly been subtle in his concern for her, but he wasn't sure of exactly what tipped her off or made her feel like she had to "prove" her happiness to him.

Besides, he knew better, and he knew her. Even with the smile she gave him, her brows were furrowed and twitching, a tiredness to her eyes that definitely didn't show what he would call "happiness."

He gave her a nod anyway, not wanting to call her out when he was still piecing things together himself, and he didn't want to confirm her worries if she was merely suspecting that he felt that way.

He leaned back while she returned to working, his hand on the cushion underneath him as he considered what to say. If Sass was right in his beliefs, then Luka indeed had the power to change Marinette's fate, though there wasn't any specific method of how. He thought back to all of their conversations, wondering what he would've done differently if he'd known beforehand and trying not to get bogged down by "what if"s or blame himself for it.

He stared silently at the back of Marinette's head, remembering the day at the ice rink when he saw the same thing. She'd been running away, or more specifically running towards Adrien after he'd encouraged her to do so. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but from what he gathered from interactions he'd either seen or heard about, it hadn't gone anywhere. Maybe it hadn't even gone well at all.

Maybe he'd made a mistake?

Luka's mind grew heavy with the thoughts, his body falling back to lay down on Marinette's chaise. He didn't regret doing what he felt was right, but now he wondered if his wording could've been better.

"You should probably go over and talk to him."

He hadn't exactly been thinking at the time - a lot had happened that day - but he noted that he could've asked her how she felt. He could've questioned her on if she really wanted to go after Adrien. It was possible she'd wanted to go home on the subway with him, but was convinced to chase Adrien when he brought it up. Luka just imagined Marinette seeing Adrien and Kagami together, the red string tightening around her neck and then loosening when she was presented with the prospect of going after him.

He felt like he was the one being strangled, just thinking about it.

"Luka?"

He looked up, surprised, seeing that Marinette had stopped sewing at some point and had come to sit on the chaise lounge with him. She hovered over him, concern written across her features and the red string taunting him with its mere existence. Luka knew by now that she was very worried about him, and trying to wriggle or half-lie out of it wasn't going to convince her. He'd just really thought that she would've been sewing for longer.

He also jolted up into a sitting position upon realizing that he probably looked like he was making himself too comfy on her chaise lounge. She didn't seem to mind at least.

"...Marinette," he said slowly, trying to put his thoughts in order. She leaned closer as a sign that she was giving him her attention, and he continued, "Do you know why I let you go that day?"

She tilted her head and he belatedly caught that he hadn't been specific, still too lost in his own head. He opened his mouth to clarify, but realization struck Marinette before he could speak, her brows raising in recognition.

"Oh!" she gasped. Though the conversation was sudden, she didn't seem to mind rolling with it. "Um, yeah, I wondered about that sometimes. I mean, I knew that you knew that I—but I didn't know that you—but if you didn't back then, I—"

"No, your song was definitely in my head, even back then," he confirmed casually, smiling as he added, "Since the day we met, remember?"

She blushed at the mention of his confession, but nodded. "Y-yeah." Then, seeming to rethink the moment with that information in mind, she asked, "...Why did you let me go then?"

His eyes flickered to the red string, then back up to her face. "I want you to be happy, Marinette, no matter who it's with. I thought that Adrien would do that, but I hope I didn't make you feel like you had to go after him."

She blinked, the thought having seemingly not even occurred to her. She averted her gaze, her eyes darting around at nothing in particular. "Is...is that why you were looking like that?"

He didn't answer, but that was answer enough for her.

"Oh, Luka," she murmured sympathetically. "I—well—" She shifted uncomfortably. "—I shouldn't be talking to you about this. It'd be wrong when my feelings are so messed up. You..."

He shook his head. "You can talk about Adrien if you want. I'd be happy if you relied on me more."

He meant it. Even regardless of his fate sensing, he wanted Marinette to feel comfortable talking to him, even if it was about her love problems. He didn't want their relationship to be changed because of his feelings for her.

"Even more?" She raised a brow, the concept confusing her, but she didn't question him further. She hesitated, rubbing her cheek in thought, then dropped her hands to her lap and twiddled her fingers. "I-I don't know; about Adrien, I mean. I—" She sighed, giving a halfhearted shrug. "—he's not interested in me. He likes Kagami, but the girls kept telling me that I shouldn't give up on him because of how hard I tried." Then, stiffening, she waved her hands and rapidly assured, "N-not anything against your sister, of course! That's just what happened—and—" She huffed in frustration. "—it feels like I hit a wall, and I'm not going anywhere. Adrien doesn't notice me and I can't talk to him and... I'm tired."

Luka nodded silently to let her know that he was both listening and sympathetic towards her plight, also not wanting to interrupt her.

"Of course I tried hard, but Adrien and Kagami seem like they're good for each other and they should be happy together. Just, whenever I think of giving up or not trying, I..." She raised a hand to her neck in a gesture that he immediately understood. "It hurts, and Alya's always trying to get me together with Adrien no matter what I say. Maybe she knows best and maybe she's right, and that's why I always end up in crazy situations with him. Plus, everyone..." She looked away, her voice not having the enthusiasm one would imagine her next words would go with. "...everyone keeps saying we're made for each other."

Luka clutched his leg to ground himself while struggling to keep a straight face. He'd certainly never heard that one before, but it stung like his neck did just thinking about it. His lips pressed together, trying to contain his emotions, but he couldn't help blurting out, "No one's made for anyone."

She blinked at him, shocked, but he didn't take it back or apologize for saying it so suddenly. He recognized the fact that he was talking about destined love being nonexistent when he himself knew that "fate" was very much a real thing, but his actual opinion on the subject hadn't changed. As far as he was concerned, fate's "opinion" was about as valid as anyone else's when it came to someone else's relationship.

"No matter what Alya, or even Rose, say about you and who you love, Marinette, all that matters is you and who you want to play for. You deserve someone who makes you happy." He paused, lamenting the reality that she really hadn't gotten to think about it. "Does Adrien make you happy?"

He saw the string tighten, Marinette opening her mouth to respond before she seemed to stop herself. He felt like apologizing, but knew she wouldn't understand even if he did. She frowned, staring down at her lap and appearing conflicted with herself, so he reached out and carefully hovered his hand over her shoulder in a show of comfort. She glanced at his hand, noticing the gesture, but didn't immediately give him any sort of permission.

Then, to his surprise, she brought her hand up, gently grabbing his wrist and lowering it so his hand was placed perfectly on her shoulder. She didn't even let go, keeping his wrist held like she needed his hand there.

"...Luka," she whispered, her voice shaking, "I—no, you'll laugh, or think I'm crazy."

He squeezed her shoulder, not hesitating to insist, "I won't. I'm here for you, Marinette."

She finally met his gaze, and he saw a vulnerability there that wasn't there before. She was nervous, whether of his potential reaction to whatever she had to say, or something else entirely.

She took a breath, her fingers tightening around his wrist as she composed herself. The silence stretched, though he could tell that she was steeling herself up.

"The—the Adrien pictures," she began, tossing a pointed look to the wall where they were. "I don't remember putting them there."

He kept his expression schooled, not wanting her to overthink his reactions. Careful and quiet, he asked, "What do you mean?"

"I-I mean, obviously I started putting them there, back when I first met him," she admitted, "but I took them down. They'd been down for a while."

Luka could confirm that. He'd been to Marinette's room before when she'd been sending in their Kitty Section audition to Bob Roth, and the pictures weren’t there.

She continued, "I-it hurt when I did it, but I did, and I threw most of them away. But then—when I wake up sometimes, they're back, and I don't remember putting them up. I-I mean, maybe I did but I just don't remember it? I stay up late sometimes and I won't remember falling asleep, so it might be like that, you know? I-I know you're not exactly like me and I'm sure you don't sleepily put pictures on your wall but..."

He smiled as best as he could, even though he was hurting inside. "I know as well as you do that creativity doesn't have a schedule."

She managed a smile in return, but it returned to a frown as she dropped her gaze to her lap. "A-anyway, I can forget things, but it's never been that bad, and sometimes they'll be gone for a while but then they'll be back a few days later. There's just—there's no other explanation, so it has to be me, right? I-I don't know if it's a sign or what, but if it is then I don't know what it's telling me? Because whenever there are a lot of pictures—" She made a vague gesture with a wave of her free hand, cringing as she added, "—something humiliating always happens. That usually gets me to take them down again, but then... well, you know." She rubbed the back of her neck with a hand, blushing in embarrassment. "Sorry, I probably sound crazy. I-I swear, I'm not trying to—"

"I believe you."

Her mouth halted mid-sentence, hanging open as she stared at him.

"I believe you, Marinette," he repeated, giving her shoulder another squeeze. He didn't need any further detail to know what happened, as there was no way Marinette would take down those pictures and then put them back up the next day, or even the day before that. It didn't make any sense, and while he hadn't seen the wisps of fate move things or brush them aside, he had seen them trip Marinette, meaning they had some level of physical control. It explained it all: the convenience of the pictures appearing and disappearing, as well as the amount of them there'd be.

"T-thank you," she murmured, her lips briefly moving to form extra words but nothing coming out. She looked shy, possibly from admitting something she hadn't told anyone before, but she at least wasn't so nervous anymore.

"You don't need to thank me," he assured, "but you're welcome. Just know that you can tell me anything."

She ducked her head, peeking up at him to ask, "How much do you want to know?"

"Whatever you're comfortable sharing with me," he replied.

"Everything?" She'd said it quickly, as if she'd blurted it out, but she didn't panic afterward. She merely looked at him, hope in her eyes.

He nodded without hesitation, wanting her to be certain that he meant it. She searched his gaze for a few more seconds, one last shred of doubt remaining, but he knew he'd convinced her when her body relaxed and she smiled at him with her whole heart. Her grip on his wrist lightened, her hand sliding off and back down to her side. He pulled back as well, his heart a mixture of emotions but mostly just happy to see her happy.

"I..." She turned away, facing her trapdoor. "I'm going to get some snacks first."

He watched as she pushed herself up, then stood as well to follow after her. "Do you want any help carrying them?"

She looked at him, confused. "You don't have to."

Instead of responding with the obvious - that he wanted to - he simply replied, "You're not alone anymore, Marinette."

He didn't need to elaborate for her to understand. He let himself get lost in the warmth of her gaze, hoping that he might see it more one day if he could ever get her string removed, even if her warm gaze would end up being for someone else.