Lukadrienette Love: A Lukadrienette Story

Chapter Nine: Lukadrienette

·Couffaine's Houseboat·

Purr-fect Couple

Marinette had mulled over the idea of meeting Chat in person all of the previous day. When Luka had stopped by on his way home to let her know Chat was who he'd suspected, she agreed to meet him. Luka had asked her a few more times throughout the day if she was sure and when she continued to say yes, he told her to come to his house the next afternoon and he would tell Chat to arrive later.

Marinette was extremely anxious as she approached the Couffaine's houseboat. When she stepped onto the boat, she silently and slowly made her way to where Luka was playing his guitar on deck.

When Marinette stepped into sight, Luka greeted her. "Hello Marinette, I'm glad you came. How are you feeling?"

"Honestly, not so good. I've been thinking about backing out all morning," Marinette admitted.

"Being here suggests you want to go through with it though. You're just anxious," Luka replied. "I think you will be fine. Just take a seat and I will play something I know you'll find calming."

Marinette nodded and took a seat next to him. As he began to play a calm and soothing melody, Marinette felt her stress melt away. At least for the moment she was calm and worry-free. They stayed like this for two or three songs before Luka stopped.

"Feeling better?" Luka asked with a calming smile.

Marinette nodded. "Yes, I still don't know how you do that. It's like your music is magic."

"Well, considering we both know magic exists, perhaps it is." Luka teased as he rose to his feet, guitar in one hand. "Well, it's getting close to when I told Chat to arrive. Should we head inside before he does?"

Luka offered her an arm to hold onto and she took hold of it with a smile. "I would prefer that, thank you."

"I thought you might like a little bit of control in this situation," Luka began as he headed for the door; Marinette in tow. "Which is why I'm going to let you stay in my room until you're ready to meet him."

"Wow, you'll really do that? What if Chat isn't willing to wait?" Marinette asked worriedly as they headed down the stairs.

Luka chuckled. "He will wait because he respects you. Despite how much he wants to meet you, he would rather you do it on your own terms than on his. Even if you decided not to go through with it anymore, I'm sure he would forgive you eventually."

Marinette fell silent as they moved into his room and she began pacing back and forth in thoughtful silence. Marinette glimpsed at Luka who was messaging on his phone.

"Is that him?" Marinette asked.

Luka looked up and gave her a smile. "Yes, it's him. He's just leaving his house. He will be here soon."

As time dragged on, Marinette began to panic. She found herself thinking of all the things that could go wrong. When she couldn't take the silence anymore, she started rambling. "Oh my gosh. Luka, am I really going to meet, Chat Noir? Have I lost my mind?! What if he doesn't like me? What if he doesn't wanna be my partner anymore? I don't think I can do this!"

"There is no way he won't like you. You're amazing, trust me. He will love you no matter what." Luka assured but could quickly tell she wasn't taking his words to heart. He pulled out his phone and scanned the screen. "Alright, he just arrived and is on his way down. I'm going to head out and meet him."

Marinette grabbed his hand and squeezed tightly. "I can't do this. There is no way I can walk out there on my own. I'm too afraid I will trip over my own feet or something, and he'll laugh at me."

Luka swiftly pulled Marinette into his arms and kissed her. After her confusion cleared, she wrapped her arms around his neck and held tightly to him as the kiss continued. Luka didn't allow the kiss to last long though and pulled away, keeping her in his arms.

"Marinette, everything is going to be okay. I promise." Marinette nodded, still in a stunned silence as Luka released her from his hold and gently forced her to sit down on his bed. He tilted her head up so he could look her in the eye, a blush clearly dusting her cheeks. "If you don't want to go out there, you can sit right there and I can have him come to you. I'm sure he won't mind. The only thing that matters to him is that you meet him, not where. He won't care."

Marinette nodded once more. "Promise me you won't let him come in before I'm ready?"

Luka leaned closer. "I promise." He quickly pressed a kiss to her forehead before he exited the room. "Hey Chat, I'm glad you could make it."

"Me too! Is she here yet?" Chat asked, hopefully.

"She's here, but she's still not quite ready. In the meantime, how are you doing with all this? Are you sure you still want to do this?"

"Of course. Sure, I'm nervous that she could hate me and I kinda feel like throwing up, but I think it's worth the risk because what if she doesn't? I have wanted to know who M'Lady is pretty much since I met her. I wanna know if we know each other in real life. Are we friends? Have we spent any time together?! And no matter what, I plan to be by her side until we put an end to Hawk Moth's reign of terror."

Chat had no idea that he was putting all of Marinette's fears to rest with his words. She knew exactly how he felt. She was glad to hear he intended to stay her partner against akumas, no matter what he thought about her.

"That's good, but just as I have told her, I'm certain you two will be pleasantly surprised."

"I trust you, Luka."

"Good, because you two will make the perfect couple."

"You mean purr-fect couple," Chat teased.

Marinette could be heard lightly chuckling from the other room. Now she was paw-sitive whoever it was outside had to be Chat Noir.

Are you ready?

Luka just chuckled as well. "Do you mind waiting here for a moment while I check on her and see if she's ready?"

"Of course," Chat said.

A few moments later, Luka re-entered the room. "So, what do you think? Are you ready?" He asked softly so Chat couldn't hear.

"You're right, Luka. He has all the same worries as me. I think it's time to meet him. You can bring him in," Marinette replied.

Luka gave her a reassuring smile. "You're gonna love him and he's gonna love you. I just know it." He moved to the door and looked out into the main room. "You ready to finally meet your Ladybug, Chat?

"Yes!" Chat replied excitedly.

Luka glanced towards Marinette who was still sitting on his bed, offering her one last chance to back out because after this, it would be too late. Marinette gave him a distinctive nod.

Luka turned back to Chat with a grin. "Alright, she's ready. Come on in."

Marinette heard Chat take a giant breath and she did the same. This was it; no turning back now. She was going to meet Chat in person - no masks. As a tall blonde boy rounded the corner, Marinette gasped. She didn't even need to see his entire face. With all the hours she'd spent staring at him from a distance, not to mention photographs of him all over her bedroom walls, she had practically every feature engrained in her memory. She blinked in disbelief.

"Adrien?!" Marinette exclaimed, drawing his attention.

When Adrien's eyes met hers, he had about the same reaction. "Marinette?! You're Ladybug?! How did I not see it?!"

Plagg darted out of his shirt. "Well, it's like I said before, people are blind! Hello, Marinette! I'm Plagg! You smell like fresh bread and cheese! You wouldn't happen to have any cheese on you, would you?"

Tikki darted out of Marinette's bag. "Plagg! Leave her alone! She just found out her crush is your chosen!"

Luka chuckled. "Hey Plagg, Tikki. It's just us here on the ship at the moment. If you would like, you can go raid the kitchen."

"Do you have cookies?" Tikki asked.

Luka nodded and both kwami's faces lit up. They took one glance at each other before they darted out of the room and zipped this way and that in search of the kitchen.

Adrien and Marinette were grateful to Luka for distracting their kwamis so they could process without the interruption.

Adrien recovered first and glanced at Luka. "No wonder you were so certain we would get along. You knew this whole time that we already do." Adrien surmised before turning his attention back to Marinette with a grin. He made his way over to the bed and sat down next to her. He took her hand in his own and kissed the top of it. "I knew I loved the girl beneath the mask. I just didn't realize how much!"

Marinette's heart was racing and her mind was running a mile a minute. She was internally screaming as her cheeks darkened to a rosy blush color.

Suddenly she blurted. "This whole time... I was you... rejecting! Of all the people in Paris, my crime fighting crush partner just had to be you!"

Adrien was soon laughing one of his genuine and rare laughs, and despite her awkwardness, she couldn't help but laugh right along with him. "So apparently, I'm still going to get the star-struck fan treatment even though you talk to Chat just fine." Adrien teased as Luka watched them from the doorway. Marinette couldn't help it; her shyness outweighed her boldness when it came to Adrien. "I sure hope that doesn't mean you're going to clam up when we're fighting akumas; that would be cat-astrophic."

Marinette giggled. She never thought she would find cat puns so adorable, but knowing it was Adrien who was making them made it a hundred times better.

Lots of Stolen Kisses

Marinette's eyes widened as she recalled a memory of a specific day. "I kissed you!" She nearly shouted in realization.

Adrien gave her an odd look, trying to figure out why she was so shocked. "Of course you did. I remember you kissed my cheek when I called you our everyday Ladybug. Which turns out was rather ironic." He only now realized her kiss had a lot more meaning than he'd originally thought.

"That kiss, no! Ladybug kissed you and you... don't remember!" Marinette explained.

"Oh, that's right," Adrien replied, feeling a bit left out that he didn't even remember their first kiss. Not that it was his fault; he'd been hit by an akuma protecting her and he would do it again. Now Adrien wanted to know what it was like to kiss her.

The two sat in an awkward silence. Luka chuckled softly at their ridiculous shyness. "Well, if one of you doesn't remember, then you should kiss again," Luka suggested before he slipped from the room.

Marinette and Adrien watched him leave. Being left alone in the room just heightened their awareness of each other.

"I-I would, if you... I mean... Can if..." Marinette began.

Adrien decided to just go for it as Luka had done with him, and he quickly leaned in to kiss her. However, he wasn't quite as smooth as Luka and he ended up knocking his forehead into hers. The pair backed away and both reached for their heads.

Adrien blushed and rubbed his neck. "I guess that's what I get for trying to use a kiss to quiet your ramblings."

They heard a chuckle from the door. "Smooth Adrien, real smooth. Don't try to be like me. Be yourself. Don't forget; she likes you too." Luka insisted and this time he left for good.

"H-he's right you know," Marinette managed to stutter out correctly.

"Yeah, it just worked so well when he did it yesterday," Adrien mumbled.

"W-what happened yesterday?" Marinette inquired dramatically.

Adrien mentally facepalmed again. "Well, I was talking about Ladybug, well you, and he just kissed me without warning." Marinette broke into a giggle fit. "Why is that so funny?"

"Because just before you showed up, I was panicking thinking you might hate me or stop being my partner and he kissed me!" Marinette managed between giggles.

Adrien glanced towards the closed door. "Really?"

When Marinette finally calmed and stopped laughing, she replied, "Yeah, it's funny. We were both so worried one of us would hate the other that he had to calm us both down and here we discover we're best friends and had absolutely nothing to worry about. And he knew that!"

"He did! What do you say we get a little payback, M'Lady?!" Adrien suggested.

Marinette grinned. "What did you have in mind?"

The more Adrien acted like Chat, the more Marinette acted like Ladybug and the less shy she seemed to be. Adrien whispered his idea in her ear and waited for her reply.

"That's perfect! That'll get him for sure, Kitty."

♥♥♥

"Are you serious?! Of course, Adrien!" Marinette cried out.

A few seconds later, Luka walked into the room to see what all the shouting was about. What he found was Adrien down on one knee, holding out what looked to be his ring to her.

"Excuse me, but what's going on in here?" Luka asked as he moved closer.

"Isn't it obvious? I just asked Marinette to marry me!" Adrien replied as he slid the ring on Marinette's finger and wrapped her in his arms, giving her an unplanned kiss.

Marinette melted instantly in his arms and held tightly to his waist. They had planned the fake proposal but not the kiss. Adrien had left that little detail out as a surprise. Even if he was only asking Marinette to marry him just to mess with Luka, he did one day hope to marry her.

Luka stared at the pair in silent bewilderment, a single eyebrow raised. When the pair finally broke from their kiss, Marinette kept her arms wrapped around Adrien's waist and rested her head against his chest. Adrien kept his arms around her shoulders as they both looked over at Luka with giant grins. Luka stood frozen with a completely frazzled look.

"What's with the odd expression, Luka?" Adrien prodded, doing his best to keep his face in character.

Luka blinked a few times before he spoke. "Don't you think this is all a bit sudden? I mean, you're only 14."

Adrien frowned. "What are you talking about? Of course, it's not too soon. We've practically loved each other since we first met! We just didn't know it yet. Thanks for setting us up!"

"Yeah, it would have taken me a lot longer to decide I should show Adrien who I really am if you hadn't encouraged us to meet. We love each other so much; we can't imagine our lives with anyone else!"

Luka frowned. "Oh."

Marinette and Adrien kept their calm as long as they could but it didn't take long for their resolve to crack when they saw how upset Luka was. When they suddenly broke apart in pure giggles, Luka felt like he was on the outside of an inside joke - which actually he was. They quickly made their way across the room to Luka and wrapped him in their arms.

"We're not really engaged, Luka. We just wanted to play a prank on you as payback for stealing kisses from both of us," Adrien said as both he and Marinette planted a kiss on one of Luka's cheeks.

- - -

Credit where Credit is due:
Cover photo and art created by, [Miaouwow|http://aminoapps.com/p/c6p4s1] for me. ♥