Starlet • Lukadrien [Miraculous]

Chapter 27 | starting over

Adrien thought he was used to fame from growing up in the spotlight, and to an extent he was. But this was very different to what his game used to be. While he probably wouldn't ever be able to escape parts of his past, the majority of talk about him in the past weeks had been entirely about his book. Aside from the discussions about the shady side of the modelling and entertainment industry that he'd explored in his book, people weren't really talking about Gabriel anymore. It was just him, just Adrien. He wasn't really being called an ex-model anymore, he was being called an author.

It was refreshing.

Finally, he was something he wanted to be. The label of author wasn't only correct, but wanted. He was an author, he wanted to be an author, people were calling him an author. It felt good. To be something other than an ex child model and a victim of his father. With several interviews booked in the coming weeks, Adrien has decided to beat everyone to the punch when it came to the inevitable questions about what he was doing aside from writing for the past years. People already knew he'd reconnected with his high school friend, the speculation on the real nature of their relationship would start soon enough if he didn't beat the tabloids to it and announce it himself. And after Luka's input in it, it was time. Given the proposal was, well... accidental, they didn't actually have matching rings. Luka wore Adrien's twin ring for his own safety, and as a symbol of the impromptu engagement. So they ended up getting some proper matching rings for actual engagement reasons to wear along with their usual ones. The twin ring on Luka and the miraculous on Adrien. Now joined by matching ones.

The post went up on the first of the month, only a few weeks after the release of his book.

@adrienagrestebrand✅:

@adrienagrestebrand✅: Surprise. I like men. Ti amo @lukaKS <3
No we don't have a date yet, we're unorganised as all hell.

It wasn't just the public that lost their minds, it was their friends back in Paris too. They'd only told Luka's family (+Rose). So it was news to them that anything beyond Luka simply having run into Adrien while in Italy had occurred. Adrien has dropped off the face of the earth to most of his Paris friends once he moved, only very sparely talking to some of the closer ones.

So when not even five minutes after he hit post, he got a video call from Nino, he knew immediately what was coming.

"YOOOOOOOO YOU'RE FUCKING ENGAGED?! TO LUKA!?"

Adrien just laughed, he knew it. He and Nino had become those friends who can go months never seeing each other, but when they did catch up once in a blue moon, it was like no time had passed. They could catch up on each other's gossip for hours, then not talk for three months. Then talk again for a whole day.

"Yeah, it kinda happened by accident" Adrien laughed.

Nino physically got up from his seat, doing a lap around the room in disbelief. That was SO Adrien, getting ACCIDENTALLY engaged.

"Bro how do you ACCIDENTALLY get engaged?" He asked, amused and stunned.

"I don't know man, we just kind of realised that me giving him my mums family heirloom ring to keep safe for me was... basically a proposal. So we just went with it" Adrien replied.

"You gave him your- your MUM'S ring? The one that's like SUPER important in your family. And you DIDN'T realise the implications until AFTER?" Nino repeated, taking an exasperated breath and sitting back down to stare at Adrien through the screen "Adrien-"

"I KNOW! It was my most dumb blonde moment I've ever had. But it worked out so let's just pretend it's intentional"

If Nino has a dollar for every time he was dumbfounded by Adrien's sheer obliviousness since they met, he'd be able to pay for the whole wedding. He loved Adrien and all, but GODS he was dumb sometimes.

"Am I the best man? I've gotta be. Please, I'm your first guy friend ever" Nino chuckled.

"You're definitely on the very small list of potential candidates. I uh... gotta sort shit out with Felix, I still don't know what the fuck is going on with us..." Adrien replied.

"Fair enough. Cousins are family, usually family takes priority. Although who fucking knows what's up with your family man"

"Gods, I don't know man. We haven't spoken since... just after the trail I think. Been years. He still has the other ring, there's no way he'll give it to me. I don't expect him to... it was his mums. I'm technically breaking part of the family tradition by not keeping them together, but I know damn well my mum would have wanted me to use it in my own wedding"

"Man, fuck your whack ass family traditions. Your happiness is more important"

Blunt and crass as he put it, he was right. Adrien had nothing but problems with his damn family. All expect for his mother. His mother was the ONE person who truly and unconditionally loved him, he was keeping her ring in his line even if it meant separating the twin rings. Luka would wear that ring, because Luka was his beloved. And if they ever had kids one day, the ring would be passed down to them. As long as his life was tied to that ring, it wasn't leaving Luka's finger.

"Also dude... Luka. Somehow I'm not shocked" Nino added.

"What gave it away?" Adrien asked.

"You were always... like... oddly close with him back in school. Like there's us friends, and then there's you and Luka. The friendship was... different. Homoerotic"

Adrien couldn't help but snicker, he was right. Looking back on it all know, he had the FATTEST crush on Luka as early as age 14, and he just hadn't realised it at the time. There were a few moments... especially as Cat Noir, where their interactions were barely contained yearning and mere centimetres away from a kiss or hands wandering.

"Yeah, that checks" Adrien laughed.

"Even when Mari had a major crush on you, you were completely oblivious to it and longingly gazing over at Luka" Nino teased.

"Oh gods, don't remind me just how fucking blind I was to her crush. Gods, it was so obvious and I was too busy dissociating and being a dick liker to even realise"

"Wild that you're marrying him now. The guy you had a crush on, who is the ex of the girl who was obsessed with you"

Certainly a twist, one he wouldn't have expected back then. But this was so much better than the oblivious yearning and shit show that was his teenage relationships.

"Oh yeah, and the book- fuck man" Nino added.

"Oh, you read it?" Adrien asked.

"Of course I read it! Me and Alya dropped everything to go get it when the book shop opened on release day. I have... like a million thoughts that I can't even begin to articulate, it's that good"

"That's the goal"

He couldn't help but feel a little proud of himself, the more feedback and reactions that came in with the exact reactions he was aiming for was making him a lot more confident in his writing abilities and more motivated to keep going.

At last, things were going well for him. At last, he was famous for something he actually wanted to be known for. It felt like starting over, like he'd been reborn or shed his skin. It was about time.