Ed notes: This is the next chapter of my Dash & Lily inspired ML AU fic. It is miraculous-free, and Lukanette. I hope you enjoy.

For the Lady's Favour

A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction

By Mintaka14

Chapter Two – Complicated Plans

"Delivery order," Luka's boss said laconically, and pushed a takeaway cup and a slip of paper across the counter towards Luka.

Delivery orders weren't uncommon, but the address on the slip was, and Luka's eyebrow climbed as he read it. His boss just shrugged.

"The customer paid extra for this one, so you'd better get going."

At least it was a nice day to be making a delivery to the Trocadéro, and Luka headed out into the streets towards the gardens.

There were plenty of people clustered around the first bench from the northern entrance of the park, and the second, but there was only one at the third bench. He could see pigtails, and a girl bent over the sketchbook in her lap. As he got closer, he caught a glimpse of an assortment of clothing, notes and scribbles and odd sketches around the edges.

"Delivery for the lady at the third bench?" he called out, and his attention was caught by the figure she seemed to be working on. Was that… Jagged Stone? This girl had good taste in music, clearly, and the coat she'd sketched on him looked amazing.

"Hey, that's really –" The girl looked up, and Luka completely lost his train of thought as he found himself staring into endlessly blue eyes. Holy shit.

"Is that my coffee?" she asked with a tentative smile, and Luka jerked back to attention. He looked down at the chocolate and fluff with extra everything and all the froufrou his boss had been able to jam into one cup.

"Not exactly."

The girl's eyes fell on the cup in his hands, and she let out a soft breath.

"I guess he has a sweet tooth," she said, and he handed her the cup, trying not to react to the brush of her fingers.

"You didn't see who placed the order?" she asked a little wistfully. "It- it wasn't you, was it?"

"Me?" Luka was still reeling under the impact of those blue, blue eyes. "Right now, I wish it had been."

He nodded at the cup of chocolate and marshmallow fluff in her hands. "Although I'm more of a coffee guy."

She lit up in a smile, and any semblance of rational thought that Luka had left was gone. Damn, she was just too gorgeous.

"Me too, to be honest. I wouldn't get half the things I need to do done without a regular caffeine hit. Are you a night owl too?"

"Too often, yeah. It kind of comes with the territory."

She raised an eyebrow at that, and he found himself talking more.

"I play in a couple of bands, and I'd keep falling asleep over my guitar in the middle of a gig without coffee to keep me going."

"You're a musician?"

He grinned and ducked his head in acknowledgement. "What about you? What keeps you up at night?"

It was only after he'd said it that he realised how that could have sounded, but the girl didn't seem to notice.

"Design and sewing." She let out a faint huff. "The middle of the night always seems to be about the only time I can focus on my projects without something interrupting me, so… coffee." She pulled a face at the mountain of fluffy chocolate in her hand, and then seemed to realise that they were still standing in the middle of the park. She backed up a reluctant step. "I should – I should stop holding you up. You probably need to get back to work, and here I'm – Sorry. Thanks for bringing me the hot chocolate."

"You can hold me up any time," he sighed, but only when she was out of hearing. He turned and headed back towards the coffee shop, but he came to an abrupt stop at the sound of running footsteps and the touch of a hand on his arm.

"Sorry, sorry!" the girl gasped. She held out a raspberry red macaron wrapped in cellophane and ribbon. It was a work of art. "I nearly forgot. Could you give this to the person who ordered the hot chocolate for me?"

"It looks like a ladybug," he said stupidly, and she blushed again. "No, it's cute. Lucky."

"I could use a bit of luck," she muttered, then she met his eyes and her smile grew brighter. "It was really nice to meet you, Luka. Thanks for my sugar rush."

Luka's malfunctioning brain caught on that. "You know my name?"

And the girl's face flamed into embarrassment. "I don't… you… the thing…" She gave up and nodded at his chest, and the name tag that was still there.

Ah. Of course.

"I'm Ma-ma-marinette," she offered, tripping over her own name.

"Pretty name. It suits you." Judging from the way her cheeks burned even brighter, his tone had been a little more heartfelt than he'd intended, and, reluctantly, he backed up a step. "Guess I'd better get back before my boss notices I'm missing and decides to fire me."

The smile she gave him almost knocked him on his ass, and he turned away before he could make even more of an idiot of himself. There was something niggling at the back of his mind, though.

Luka stopped and turned back.

"Marinette," he said. "Wait, do you know Juleka Couffaine?"

"We were in the same class for a few years," Marinette admitted. "We hang out sometimes."

"You're Marinette! I heard all about you from Jules after that thing with the school photo." He could have kissed her for what she'd done for his baby sister's self-confidence, and if half the things he'd heard from Juleka were true, this girl was every bit as incredible as he'd just been imagining. He realised he was beaming at her like a fool, and tried to dial it back a bit.

"Nothing too bad, I hope," she said, sounding a little alarmed, and he felt his smile soften.

"Nothing bad at all."

When he finally got back to the coffee shop, Luka had barely had time to slide behind the counter and sling an apron around his waist again before the door swung open with an enthusiastic peal of the bell. He looked up to find Adrien Agreste heading towards the counter with an expression of barely concealed nervous anticipation on his famous features.

Luka gave him an easy smile, but before he could ask what the model wanted, Adrien had blurted out, "Did she like it? Did… were you the one who delivered the hot chocolate for me? Was she there?"

So Marinette's mystery hot chocolate was Paris' beloved poster boy.

Luka silently handed him the macaron that Marinette had asked him to deliver, and watched the model's face light up like Christmas had come early.

Marinette was not surprised when Alya burst into her bedroom without so much as a greeting.

"So?" Alya said impatiently. "How did it go?"

"He sent me hot chocolate. I think I'm still in sugar shock, Alya, but the boy who delivered it was so funny and sweet about it –"

"Never mind the delivery guy," Alya cut her off. "Your mystery guy came through! You had your first date with him… feel free to tell me I'm a genius any time now. This is a good start. The whole idea is for you to get to know each other before you meet, so you need to write to him and get him to do something to show he's serious here."

"Like what?"

Alya shrugged. "You're the one with the plans. You just have to come up with something you can get him to do that doesn't involve you meeting face to face, something he can do to win your favour."

"Yes, but it's not like I can ask him to fight a duel for my honour or something…" Marinette trailed off. "Fight," she repeated thoughtfully.

"I know that look," Alya nudged her shoulder. "That's a plan happening, isn't it?"

Marinette grabbed a sheet of notepaper from her desk, and her favourite pen.

"Ultimate Mecha Strike," she announced.

"What?"

"An online challenge. It's perfect. We don't have to meet in person, but we can play each other online and find out a bit more about each other."

Alya was looking as if she wasn't sure if it was a bad idea or brilliant.

"What if he doesn't play UMS?"

"Then I can teach him."

"And what if he doesn't like getting whomped?" Alya asked sceptically. She was very familiar with Marinette's playing style, and Marinette made a face, still concentrating on the note she was writing.

"Then it's better to find out now that he's a sore loser, before I get too attached."

Marinette read over the note, and folded it, presenting it to Alya with a flourish. Alya grinned, and tucked it into her bag.

"Right," she said, getting to her feet. "Let's see if he'll fight for your hand. I'll let you know how it goes."

Once Alya had clattered down the steps again, Marinette buried her face in her pillow and screamed quietly. This was a bad, bad idea.

Luka was wiping down the counter when the bell chimed over the door, and he paused as Alya came in. It wasn't unusual to see her in the café, but it was unusual to see her there without Nino or their friends. He watched curiously as she sidled almost furtively towards the noticeboard and tacked something up between the band posters and lost and found notices.

"What are you up to?" Luka asked, and Alya leaped, her hand going to her chest as she spun around.

"Jeez! You startled me."

Luka tipped his head at the envelope she'd just pinned up. "I saw you the other day, when you put that letter on the board, and now this one. What's that all about?"

"Aren't we allowed to use the public noticeboard?" Alya asked, her hands going to her hips and a defensive note in her voice.

"And that hot chocolate delivery the other day?"

Alya huffed in response, but Luka just kept watching her with a look of mild interest, until she said, "It's just like this game. Sort of. Like a blind date, without actually knowing who you're dating."

Luka's eyebrow climbed.

"Look, we have these friends who'd be perfect for each other, but she can't talk to him, and he's completely clueless, so we're trying to set them up."

"Right," Luka said slowly. "Does Marinette know about this?"

"Well, she doesn't know who it is," Alya muttered. "But she's had this huge crush on Adrien for ages. We're just getting them to set each other challenges, doing stuff like that coffee delivery, or… I don't know, looking for a painting at the Louvre, something like that. Like dates, where they don't actually meet." Alya gave a sudden grin. "It's going to be so hilarious when they finally work out who they're writing to."

"Is this some kind of practical joke?" he asked flatly, his heart sinking a little for Marinette's sake, but Alya's angry reaction was somewhat reassuring.

"Like I'd do that to my girl!" she said indignantly. "This is just… a creative way to help her get past some stuff. You met Marinette, so you know how she trips all over herself and stutters?"

She'd certainly stumbled over their names when she'd gotten flustered, but Marinette had been perfectly coherent through most of their conversation. Alya must have taken Luka's expression as agreement, though, because she barrelled on.

"Well, imagine that, but like a million times worse. Girl just cannot string a sentence together around a guy she likes. And Adrien, well, he's great with knowing what to say to his fans, and being polite to other models and his father's business contacts, but not so good with," Alya gestured vaguely, "normal stuff. He's never really noticed Marinette like that, because he's not real good with subtle, but he buys into that whole romantic movie, big gesture, winning the lady thing."

"And that's where this comes in?" Luka asked drily, nodding at the letter pinned to the board.

"Exactly!" Alya smacked her hands on the counter. "It's like something out of one of those old movies. We get Adrien's attention with the whole romantic mystery thing, and in the meantime, they can get to know each other. Marinette can talk to Adrien, because she doesn't have to actually talk to him and she doesn't know it's him anyway, and Adrien can get to see how amazing my girl really is."

"This seems like a very complicated way of doing things," he pointed out as neutrally as possible, but Alya waved away the observation with a flip of her hand.

"You don't know Marinette. Everything tends to be complicated with her."

"If Marinette can't actually talk to him in person, maybe he's not the right one for her."

"Oh, please! She's been in love with him forever. Love makes you do stupid things, and she just needs a bit of a push in the right direction. I know Marinette." Alya narrowed her eyes at him. "And what's it got to do with you anyway?"

Luka just shook his head, not trusting himself to respond. He was honest enough with himself to admit that the pang of disappointment he'd felt when he found out that Marinette was interested in someone else might have had something to do with his judgement here, but even so, this had all the makings of a trainwreck of epic proportions. He didn't, however, need Alya's measuring gaze to know that it was none of his business, not if Marinette wanted this.

He shrugged, and turned away to straighten the coffee cups.

"It's nothing to do with me," he told her, and the note stayed pinned to the board until Adrien came in again some time later to collect it. And if Luka's heart sank a little at the eager expression on Adrien's face, and the thought that maybe this ridiculous plan might actually work, then he kept that to himself.