Starlet • Lukadrien [Miraculous]

Chapter 17 | the first drafts

Luka had been invested all day. He had an assignment to finish on the stringing of an organ, but Adrien had sent him the file for the first draft of his book. It still didn't have a title yet, but a whole 30 chapters of raw talent and emotion were typed out into a document and Luka had been reading it over since he was sent the file last night. He was a quick reader, so he was already almost done. But he could already tell that when Adrien had added extra points and rearranged chapters by the time the final draft was done, it'd be even longer and more impactful.

Several times he'd had to stop, put his laptop down and simply just stare into the void. It was just so... raw. It was like seeing directly into the worst of Adrien's traumatic memories from the perspectives of the fictional characters he's created. Luka found himself on the brink of tears several times, needing to grab a glass of wine to get though it.

But fuck, if this first draft was this well done and full of raw emotion, he could only imagine how incredible the final product would be.

When he finally got to the last page at around 4pm the next day, he simply leaned back in his chair and sighed deeply. What a read. That a gut wrenching but eye opening read. He was only snapped out of his daze by the sound of the cat meowing at him demanding dinner.

"Hold on Quinn I'm having a moment-" he said.

The cat jumped up onto his lap, pawing at him for food like the demanding prince he was.

"Quinn it's not even 5 o'clock yet"

Didn't matter to the cat, he just kept demanding dinner. Deciding hey, may as well go see Adrien anyway, he caved. Gave Quinn his food early so he could leave the house and head over to Adrien's. He took his bike, the sun setting over the ocean mixed with the fresh images in his mind of everything he'd just read was giving him a million ideas for songs and soundtracks that would fit the story, and pictures for the books cover art. But all that could wait until Adrien was further into the writing process, it was still the first draft after all.

Plus, he needed to praise the shit out of Adrien for that absolute masterpiece of a first draft.

When he got to Adrien and Nathalie's house, the front door was open with the fly screen door unlocked to let the evening air in. He could smell something absolutely amazing coming from inside, no doubt Nathalie had gotten some amazing recipe from the Nona that lived next door. Luka let himself in, as he'd come to be allowed to do.

"You finished the draft have you?"

Nathalie was in the kitchen, dinner in the oven and currently mixing ingredients for dessert.

"Yep, I have... words" Luka sighed.

"So did I. Adrien always has been a good writer, but... fuck-" Nathalie muttered.

"Getting all that out must have been therapeutic... but it's definitely a gut wrenching read"

"I don't doubt it'll end up a bestseller, not just because of his famous family name but for the subject matter as well. It's hard to read about, but a conversation that needs to be had"

She was spot on there. No one liked hearing about such horrors happening to kids, especially by their own parents. But it was unfortunately something that happened, something that Adrien experienced. And it was a conversation that needed to be had even if it was a hard one to sit through.

"He's in his room, you staying for dinner?" Nathalie asked.

"If that's ok?" Luka replied.

"I made too much for just us, please stay"

Seems like the Italian way of cooking way too much and having days worth of leftovers was starting to get to Nathalie. Not that Luka would complain, if she sent him home with leftovers he'd not have to cook himself and have some really good food for a few days.

Luka headed upstairs, Adrien's room being an attic style one with the slanted walls that made up the roof of the house and skylight windows that opened out to the roof. Luka liked Adrien's room, it was cosy and when it was late afternoon-early evening like this, the sun would shine through the skylights and create beautiful rays. He found Adrien at his desk, already working on the second draft, clearly having been doing it all day. Still in pyjamas and in that classic 'bisexuals can't sit in chairs properly' position.

"Luka!" He smiled, hearing him walk in and turning to face him.

Luka simply walked up to him, put his hands on his shoulders and have him a look of awe.

"Adrien holy SHIT-" he said.

"You like it?"

Luka was speechless for a moment, he had so many thoughts he couldn't figure out what to say first.

"I fucking love it. You had me physically getting up and walking away from the computer in shock" Luka said.

Adrien snickered, glad to know he was getting the exact reactions he was looking for.

"Nathalie said the same thing, I must be doing something right" he replied.

"Something? Adrien you're doing EVERYTHING right. I have a million things to say but I can't... like my brain won't... there's too much I can't articulate it" Luka said.

"Good. That's what I want, I want to shock people with hard truths"

Adrien got up to greet Luka properly with a kiss, placed on his lips and then bought into a hug. That had become their standard meeting since officially dating. Although usually it was a quick hello hug, this time Luka refused to let go. He could see so much of the Adrien he knew in high school in his character of Darien, that hurt teenage boy betrayed by those he loved. Those who were meant to love him back. It saddened him to know Adrien was going through all that while he was oblivious to just how bad things were. But he was at least glad Adrien could finally tell his story without having to give away anything too personal. Darien, the character, wasn't a direct mirror to Adrien. More like a vessel Adrien could project onto and use to get his message across without revealing anything too close to home.

Luka just wanted to keep him locked in his arms and never let him go, so he'd never ever have to feel like that beaten down teenage boy ever again.

"I love you Adrien" Luka said, placing a kiss on his cheek.

"I love you too" Adrien replied, sensing his story had struck something within his boyfriend.

"Never forget that"

"I won't... thank you for- well, everything"

There was still so much to unpack, but at least Adrien felt safe in Luka's arms enough to start slowly unpacking it all. No one on this planet loved him like Luka did.