Starlet • Lukadrien [Miraculous]

Chapter 23 | the final drafts

Months of late nights staring at a laptop screen and debating on weather or not to include certain details had finally come to an end. This was it, his final draft. All he needed now was a title, he had no idea what to call this book. It was a reflection of his life so far, although embellished with fictional characters and plot lines to keep particular details about certain traumas private.

Main character Darien, a teenage boy who'd been thrust into the spotlight at a young age is faced with the harsh reality of the fact his father is abusive and exploiting him for money and fame. Through it all, he meets a boy that's his complete opposite, Liron. Like a Yin and Yang, a sun and moon, they're parallels but end up deeply in love and have to decide- their own happiness and well-being or continuing to suffer to appease those around them. The story went into gruesome detail about the explorative nature of the entertainment and modelling industries, the trauma of being a child star, parental abuse, being a young closeted queer boy in an unsafe environment. And although Adrien himself could technically say he had a happy ending, escaping his father, the industry and getting the boy he loved. He was still mentally suffering from everything he'd endured. So he have the story a bitter sweet ending.

Darien and Liron manage to get out of their situation, but are left without a support system and heaps of trauma. The ending is left ambiguous as to weather or not they make things work and get better, or if things just get worse and they spiral.

So what kind of name does a book like that deserve? Something memorable but eye catching. Something that's reminiscent of the stories the book was inspired by. Lolita, the virgin suicides, valley of the dolls and so on. Something... tragically beautiful on the tongue.

Adrien scrolled through the document, skimming the pages waiting for some kind of inspiration to strike. Something that jumped out at him he could name the story after. Something that would catch a publishers attention. Sure his name was famous enough any publisher would pick him up just for the fame and sales, but he wanted to make sure it was picked up for the right reasons. So he was planning to submit it under a pen name and only reveal who he actually was once the deal had been made. He wanted to be picked up for his artistry, not his name.

Still unable to think of a title, he figured he'd just send the final draft out to his beta readers anyway and ask them for any title ideas. So he attached the file, and sent it off. To Luka, Nathalie, Juleka and Rose. All who'd promised from the very beginning they'd read through each draft and give their brutally honest feedback. It was because of them, Adrien was able to perfect the work. Taking out the unnecessary details, refining the important descriptions, fine tuning the dialogue and such.

He couldn't sit around pondering much today though, because he had bigger issues to deal with.

Waayyyy back in the hawkmoth days, there was a particular akuma that was jumping through time and in order to stop them future him and ladybug needed to be there to stop some things from happening. When it first happened, Ladybug was insistent on remembering the dates so everything would work out timeline wise, he'd been keeping todays date in the back of his mind for years. So he had to Astro Cat his way over to Paris today. He'd be back in Italy later that night, inevitability he'd be sitting around a while after the fight to catch up with the bug.

So after a see your later hug with Nathalie and texting Luka he'd be back in Italy that night, he was off.

Going back to Paris for hero related things always felt a bit odd. There was a lot of nostalgia in Paris, but also so much trauma. He remembered jumping across the rooftops as a young 14 year old cat all to well, those first few akuma battles when he still didn't really know what was going on but was having so much fun with the new powers.

Just as they'd discussed beforehand, Ladybug was already atop the Eiffel Tower waiting for him. They'd agreed to meet 15 minutes before the time jumping akuma was due to show up, just in case. Landing beside her and dropping the astro power up, his long time crime fighting partner gave him a smile.

"There's my stray cat, back for treats" she teased.

"As if I'd back out of something I promised what... 5ish years ago?" He replied.

They met in a tight hug, they didn't get to see each other face to face daily like they did as kids, so seeing each other every few months was always a nice little catch up.

"No time jumper yet?" He asked.

"Nope, should be 15 minutes on the dot" Ladybug replied.

As adults, their suits changed a lot to fit their grown bodies and developed powers. Cat still towered over the bug in height though. No amount of high pony tails she wore could take over his height. They felt like something had always changed since they last saw each other, weather it be in the suits or their general attitude.

"If I recall correctly, and I may not because this was like 5 years ago, kid us need current us to basically play tennis through time rips with this guy huh?" Cat asked.

"Yep, each time he tries to come to us we sent him back to past us. I also have to pass a note to past me, already have it written so don't have to worry about that"  Ladybug replied.

"Oh yeah I remember that note, what's even on it?"

"The location of the akumatized object. And some words of encouragement, past me was an anxious wreck who needed them"

That was the catch with time jumping akumas, they may think they can use time to escape but there was always going to be a ladybug and cat noir in the future who already knew their plans.

"And when this is all over, you'll finally stop nagging me about remembering todays date" Cat teased.

"Consider yourself lucky I don't have any more important dates to bug you with... for now" Ladybug replied.

Unless something came up in the future, Cat was pretty sure this was the last of the remnants from the hawkmoth era left to clean up. Leaving Ladybug and Cat Noir more helpers for the city than heroes needed 24/7. They'd not be revoking their miraculous or anything, just... waiting. Retiring until further notice, they weren't really needed if there was no villain to fight. If the city needed their help with something though, they'd come to their aid as usual.

"We still got like 10 minutes, anything interesting to update me on?" Ladybug asked.

"Uhh... I'm mostly just working at the moment, not much. Oh well... there's one thing- but it's a long story I'll tell you after the fight" Cat replied.

"Do I get a teaser?"

"I got engaged"

"You go- CAT! YOU GOT ENGAGED?! To the boy you reconnected with?"

"Yep"

Ladybug just stared at him stunned for a moment, not expecting that at all. Both shocked and exited for him.

"Holy shit- congratulations?! Man I wanna go to the wedding, to bad we gotta keep the masks on still. Save me some cake though" she smiled.

"Yeah, I'll save you some. We don't even have a date set, we have some other stuff to worry about first, it'll be a while yet. Again I'll explain everything after the fight. What about you though, how's that love triangle?" Cat replied.

"Weeell... it's more of a polycue now-"

"A polyc- god DAMN bug, look at you pulling bitches-"