Designing Your Melody: Chapter 17 - Riff

Marinette didn't have to wait for long on Saturday for Luka to show up. Apparently, he was just as excited to see her as she was to see him. In fact, she had barely gotten dressed for the day before she heard her mom call up, informing her that she had a visitor.

In a way, she was glad for his unexpected arrival. It left her very little time to work herself up into a panic at seeing him once again. She still wasn't quite sure where she stood with the musician and their date had done very little to clarify the situation. All she knew at the moment was that she had a job to do, and by god, she was going do it.

Upon hearing his footsteps on the stairs to her room, she ran her hand over her hair one last time and waited for his arrival. When his head popped up through her trap door, a grin found its way onto her face without her knowledge when she spotted his ever-present guitar strapped onto his back.

"Hi, Luka," she greeted. "I'm glad you could make it on such short notice. I know how much this means to you, so I wanted you to see the finished product as soon as possible."

She fidgeted nervously in front of the dress form that she had covered with a white sheet. She knew that she was prolonging his anticipation, but she wanted to see the look on his face when he finally saw the creation that he had found himself so focused on. It was a point of pride for Marinette, and she was nothing if not dramatic.

As for Luka, he could hardly contain his excitement, but his face betrayed none of the eagerness he felt. He knew that under that sheet was the outfit that had started his obsession, the inspiration for the song that still played – unfinished – in his mind. Perhaps today would finally be the day that he learned how the melody concluded.

With his eyes riveted on the sheet behind her, he barely heard her ask if he was ready. Slowly, unblinking, he nodded his head.

With a flourish, she ripped the sheet off the form and revealed her creation.

Luka shoved his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching out. It was everything he had hoped for and more. For a moment, his mind went silent. All he could hear was the sound of his own heartbeat as he stared at what Marinette had made for him with her own two hands.

She watched him stand there and stare at her design for a few moments before she began to worry. Had she messed something up? Was something not right? As his silence stretched out, her concern grew.

"Luka? Are you-"

"You're amazing." He interrupted her with a breathy whisper.

Ok, now she was confused. "What?"

He ripped his gaze away from the dress form and stared intently at her. "You're amazing, Marinette. You've taken something that you'd only imagined on paper and breathed life into it. You've managed to make a physical manifestation of your creativity and I'm blown away by your talent." He carefully slipped his guitar case off his back and set it against her polka-dotted chaise lounge, then he slowly approached her to fully inspect her design. He couldn't wait to put it on!

"I'm actually surprised at how quickly this went together," she admitted. When he shifted his focus from the clothes to her face, she felt her face start to flush at the intensity of his gaze.

"Why is that?"

"Usually, I second guess my design choices when it comes time to put it together, but when I was working on this for you, it just went right together. Something this complicated tends to take me a few tries to get it perfect, but this time, everything just fell right into place." She smiled at him and ran a hand down the supple leather of the jacket. "It felt like it was meant to be made for you and couldn't wait to be finished." She giggled a little at her own silliness, but then swallowed thickly at the expression on his face.

"Maybe because it was meant for me," he mused.

The atmosphere between them was becoming a little too heavy for Marinette's comfort, so she decided to change the subject. "Well, all I need is to do a final fitting and then it's done. Do you want to put it on for me so we can get it finished?"

There was nothing Luka wanted more than to put that outfit on, but he held himself in check. He wasn't used to feeling so strongly about things outside of music, but there was just something about this design, this outfit, this girl that made him feel with such intensity. He needed to take a step back before he scared the poor girl, something he wanted to avoid at all costs.

After she carefully removed the garments from the form, she handed them to Luka and pointed to a screen in the corner of her room. "You can get changed over there, if you don't mind."

While he changed his clothes, it took all of Marinette's will power to not peek at the screen. She pressed her hands to her warm cheeks as she listened to the rustle of cloth against skin as he took his clothes off. To distract herself, she walked away to check her phone.

Not surprisingly, there was a message from Alya.

Alya: Hey gurl! Let me know how it goes with Mr. hottie!

Marinette: He's getting naked in my room rn! Omg!

Alya: Dang Mari, workin fast aren't ya?

Marinette: … it's not like that! He's doing a fitting! Get your mind out of the gutter!

Alya: well he's definitely already fit ?

Marinette: ALYA! Not helping!

With an irritated huff, she shoved her phone into her back pocket and went to go check on Luka.

And stopped in her tracks when he came out from behind the screen.

The white tee that she had screen printed with a stylized snake was shredded at the bottom, giving her glimpses of his toned stomach. The leather jacket stretched comfortably across his broad shoulders and the sleeves hit perfectly at his wrists. The ripped black skinny jeans fit his muscular legs like a second skin, proving that Alya had been absolutely correct: he was FIT.

Seeing her jaw drop made Luka chuckle self-consciously. Hearing his amusement seemed to snap her out of her daze and she shook her head to clear her mind from the inappropriate thoughts that had begun circling. "So how does it fit? Anything too tight or too loose?"

"No, it's perfect." He ran his hand down the teal plaid lapel of the jacket before doing a flirty twirl. "How do I look?"

"Hot." Marinette's eyes widened and she slapped a hand over her mouth before she could vomit anything else even more embarrassing.

Luka grinned at her unintentional confession. "Do you have a mirror? It's not very often that I get to see myself looking 'hot'."

With a groan, she gestured to the full length mirror standing against the wall and then continued to cover her face in shame.

When Luka saw his reflection, he was shocked at the difference that clothes could make. He looked like something straight off of an album cover. As he turned an looked at himself, the music came crashing back into his brain.

He stumbled across the room in his haste to get to his guitar.

"Wha-" Marinette lowered her hands and watched as Luka frantically unzipped his guitar case and sat down with the instrument in his lap. "Are you al-"

"Shh." He felt bad hushing her, but he needed to get the music out before he forgot it. His fingers flew over the strings as the melody that had begun months ago when he first met her came to life.

Marinette was stunned. She'd heard him play his music many times before in the bakery, but never like this. This was like his soul was being laid bare for her to hear. She'd never heard anything so beautiful in her entire life. She never wanted it to end.

It was obvious to her that he was no longer aware of her presence in the room and she stayed rooted where she stood. She was afraid that any distraction would cause him to falter and stop his song.

When he finished his song, he opened his eyes to see Marinette wipe at her cheeks. His song had moved her to tears.

A little embarrassed at his behavior, he set his guitar aside and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry about shushing you. I had to get that out of my system."

She watched as he tried to come down from his musical high. "Was that the song? The one I inspired in you?"

"Yeah." He zipped his guitar back in its case and avoided looking at her. "I told you that you'd be the first person to hear it, after all."

"Wow, Luka," she breathed. "You're the amazing one here. I can't believe you just played that. It's like I could hear the sound of your soul or something. It was beautiful."

He glanced up at saw the admiration shining on her face. "I just played what you make me feel. That's all."

Her jaw dropped. She didn't know what to say to that. If what she just heard was how she made him feel, then that was the most beautiful confession of love she'd ever heard of.

"Urk-" She choked on her words. She had no clue how to respond to him, but she felt like she had to say something.

"Marinette," Luka caught her attention, "you don't have to say anything. I'm not putting any pressure on you. I feel what I feel and I don't expect anything from you in return. If you just want to hang out and be friends, that's fine with me. I just like being around you and I like the way I feel when I'm with you." He reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. "But if you can see me in that way," he slid his hand down her arm and laced his fingers with hers, "I think we'd make something beautiful together."

Well, at least now she knew where she stood with him. But Marinette wasn't sure if she was ready to be with him like that. She wanted to just focus on her career, but after his heartfelt confession, she didn't want to disappoint him either.

He could see by the look on her face that she was conflicted and not sure what to say to him. "Hey, don't stress about it." He tried to reassure her. "I meant what I said. If you want to just be friends, I'm fine with that. I'm not trying to push you into anything you don't want to do. I'm responsible for the way I feel, not you."

And with a final squeeze to her fingers, he let go of her hand and walked behind the screen to change back into his own clothes.

She released a shuddering breath. 'Oh boy' she thought.

"By the way," came Luka's voice from behind the screen, "do you have plans for next Saturday?"

"Next Saturday? No, I don't think so. Why?"

He came out from behind the screen and handed her the clothes. "I was just wondering if you'd like to come to a show on Saturday. I'll be playing, but you can bring some friends if you want."

She looked up at him and clutched the clothes he'd handed her to her chest. "You want me to come see you perform?"

He smiled down at her. "I've seen what you can do." He gestured to the bundle in her arms. "I want you to see what I can do."

She nodded and smiled at him. "I'd like that."

He grabbed his guitar and slung it over his shoulder. "I'll text you the details. I'll see you soon, Marinette."

Watching as he walked toward the trap door, she called out to him before he left. "I'll let you know when I'm done with the final touches."

He turned to look at her before he descended the stairs. "I'll be waiting."

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

Across the city, Alya Cesare had cornered her boyfriend and was interrogating him on his suspicious behavior.

"Okay, Nino. What's your deal?" she asked, her hands planted firmly on her hips as she stared down at him as he tried in vain to scoot away from her off the couch. "The last couple of times we've played with everyone, you've been acting strange, like you know something that we don't. So spill!"

"It's nothing, babe, really." He shifted his eyes away from his girlfriend's piercing glare. "Really, it's not my place to tell."

"Aha!" She'd caught him now. "So you do know something."

He cursed under his breath, knowing that there was no way for him to get out of this conversation now. His girlfriend was like a dog with a bone when she smelled secrets. He mentally apologized to Luka for throwing him under the bus.

"You know Luka?" he asked.

"Juleka's brother? Yeah, he's the one Marinette had a date with the other night. What about him?"

"He's actually been looking for Marinette for a long time."

Her head tilted as she narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend. Just what was he trying to say? "What do you mean 'looking for her'?"

He sighed, and then relayed the story he'd heard from Luka about the first time he and Marinette had run into each other, and Luka's search for the mystery designer.

"If you knew that, then why am I just now hearing about this?" she demanded. They were talking about her best friend after all.

"It wasn't my place to say anything. He told me about Marinette not knowing that I knew who she was."

"I'm confused. How could he not know that you know Marinette? Everyone knows that you, me, Marinette, and Adrien are best friends."

"You've never actually met Luka before Marinette's fashion show, at least not IRL."

"What do you mean, 'not IRL'?" She was getting frustrated with her boyfriend's vague answers. "Do I know him elsewhere?"

"Yeah," he replied. "He's Viperion."

Her mouth gaped. "Are you telling me, that the boy that we've been playing online with for months, the guy that Marinette is low-key crushing on for weeks, the guy that was gushing about his date the other night with this amazing girl, that guys is LUKA?!"

He looked smug as his girlfriend paced around their living room and ranted. "Now you understand why I thought the whole thing is hilarious."

She stopped in her tracks and gaped at Nino, the pieces all falling into place. "Oh my god. Adrien was encouraging Luka to go out with Marinette! She was getting jealous of herself when Luka was talking about their date! Oh man, that is priceless!"

They both began howling with laughter, in disbelief at the ridiculous situations their friend always finds herself in.

"You realize that she's going to just die when she realizes the truth." Alya sat next to Nino on their mustard yellow couch. "Should we tell her? End her suffering?"

They stared at each other for a moment before laughing again, agreeing that it was way too much fun to watch their friends torture themselves instead.

-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-xXx-

*I hope this chapter finds you all well in these trying times. I'm happy to say that I'm finally feeling better (Don't worry, I didn't have Coronoa Virus, just your every day, garden variety flu, horray!)

I'd like to thank everyone who reviews, follows, and favorites this story. I'm probably going to be wrapping this up in like, three or four chapters because I really want to work on my next story. If i can get ten people leave me some love in the form of reviews, I'll give you guys a sneak peek at the new story (there be mermaids!)

Until next time, my lovelies! Stay healthy XOXO*