For the Lady's Favour
A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction
By Mintaka14
Chapter Three – Playing Games
The first time Marinette herself came into the café, she hesitated in the doorway as if she wasn't sure she was in the right place, but the moment that she saw Luka her face lit up in a smile. He couldn't have stopped himself from responding to it if he'd tried.
"I was hoping you'd be here today," she said when she reached the counter, and Luka's smile grew wider.
"Well, now I'm glad I am."
"I've been wondering something. I've been in the same class with Juleka for a few years now. How did I not know that she had a brother?"
"I'm her deep, dark secret," Luka told her. "I'm pretty sure she wishes she was an only child."
"I always wanted a brother or a sister," Marinette sighed.
"She's talked a lot about you, though. I always thought she must be making you up, because no one could be that amazing, but now that I've met you, I believe it all."
Marinette hid her face in her hands. "Luka!"
"Did you really design Jagged Stone's Rock Giant cover?"
He coaxed the whole story out of her as he leaned on the counter, the cleaning forgotten, as the conversation drifted from the work that she'd done for Jagged Stone to their shared musical tastes and her interest in fashion design.
Luka teased her gently about clothing being just clothes, just so he could watch her eyes spark with blue fire as she grew more and more impassioned, explaining just how wrong he was. He laughed outright when she called his bluff, her eyes narrowing as she pointed at his blue hair.
"But you already know that, otherwise why dye your hair? If it didn't matter, why go to all that trouble?"
"Because I like the colour, and it's a reflection of who I am," he conceded the argument.
"Exactly!" she said triumphantly, and then jumped as the bell over the door jangled and someone came in. "But I'm keeping you from your work."
"You're welcome to stay," he said hopefully as the new customer approached the counter. "Feel free to grab any table you want, and I'll bring you a coffee in a minute, if that's what you'd like."
"Not hot chocolate," she said, the corners of her mouth flickering in a quick, mischievous smile that he returned. By the time he'd dealt with the customer, Marinette was sitting at a table nearby, looking a little awkward. She glanced up at him as he slid the steaming cup in front of her.
"I nearly forgot. Is… is there … did someone leave a message here for… Ladybug?"
"Cute name. Lucky." Luka reached over to unpin the letter on the noticeboard.
"I think this is for you." He held out the envelope, and felt his heart twist as she took it. She stared down at the letter in her hands without opening it for a long moment, and the coffee sat untouched in front of her.
"May I join you?" he asked, and Marinette looked up quickly. She waved a hand in welcome at the chair across from her.
"Your friend Alya told me a little bit about the letters," he added gently, and sat down. "So, was it your idea, or hers?"
"Sort of both," she admitted. "It was Alya's idea, but she got it from something I said. She thought it might help me, because I turn into a stuttering mess. I had a massive crush on A-Adr- someone, and it didn't go well. I could never talk to him, let alone tell him how I felt, and it always seems to go like that whenever I like someone like that."
"You're talking to me," Luka pointed out. He didn't want to think too hard about the implications of that in the context.
"You're easy to talk to. You don't make me feel like I want to throw myself under a bus when I trip over words, or my feet."
"You probably shouldn't date anyone who makes you want to throw yourself under a bus," he said, and a hint of a smile teased at the corner of her mouth, and then it faded again.
"I know," Marinette sighed. "But after that crush crashed and burned, I was upset that I was always the one trying to make something happen, so Alya came up with this idea for a sort of anonymous challenge. It's kind of a way to meet someone and get to know each other without having to actually meet, and now… I don't know, it's kind of fun. Someone's actually interested in me," she said, sounding a little stunned at the thought. "You probably think this is dumb. This is dumb, isn't it?"
"It's not dumb," he said gently. "You deserve to feel special, and if a bit of mystery and adventure makes you feel that way, then there's nothing wrong with that."
Her eyes were still downcast, and Luka nodded at the envelope.
"So what's this challenge? You know now that his taste in drinks runs to sweet, what's next?"
"I invited him to an online game," she muttered, and started picking the envelope open. "Ultimate Mecha Strike."
"I imagine you can tell a lot about someone from how they play."
Marinette was reading the letter, and he watched the expressions chase themselves across her face. He really should be getting ready for the late afternoon rush, but he stayed where he was.
"I know he has a sense of humour," Marinette said uncertainly, and Luka took the letter she held out to him. His eyebrows rose as he read it.
"So… many puns," he said slowly. He wasn't sure how Marinette wanted him to respond.
She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything something thwacked Luka across the back of his head. He turned to find his boss giving him an exasperated look, a teatowel in his hand.
"Flirt on your own time. You're supposed to be refilling the cake trays in the cabinet right now."
Marinette was turning bright red, and Luka gave her a sheepish smile.
"I guess I'd better get back to work," he said, and reluctantly got to his feet. By the time she'd gulped down the rest of her coffee, a handful of customers had come in and Luka was too busy to do more than give her a smile and a quick wave as she shyly called out a goodbye to him.
When Marinette logged on to Mecha Strike at the agreed on time, and saw the enthusiastic, pun-filled greeting waiting for her, she couldn't help thinking about Luka and the look on his face when he read that letter. It had been funny watching him trying to come up with something diplomatic to say.
The moment the game started, though, Marinette forgot about everything else in the challenge. Her mystery guy was a surprisingly strong opponent, and she needed all her wits about her to defeat him.
At the end of it, Marinette stretched while dots came up in the chat panel and resolved into words. +Good game. Congratulations on your victory, m'lady.+ There was a pause, then, +Can I take you out to dinner to celebrate? I'd love to meet you in real life.+
Marinette had reached out automatically to respond, but at that she yanked her fingers back. She wasn't ready for this. What if it all went wrong? What if she couldn't talk to him in real life? What if he was disappointed when he met her?
+Not yet.+ she sent back in a panic. What could she say to him? +It would spoil things if we met too soon. It's your turn to set me a challenge next.+
She could feel her heartrate speeding up uncomfortably as she watched the dots pulse on the screen for what felt like forever before his reply came through. At the back of it all, she could hear Luka's voice saying, "You probably shouldn't date anyone who makes you want to throw yourself under a bus."
+My letter will be waiting for you in the usual place, m'lady. I look forward to our next round.+
+So do I.+ she sent back. +I have to go now, but I'm looking forward to your challenge.+
The last thing she saw before she shut down her computer was the big-eyed kitty gif he sent her. As the screen went blank, she pressed her fingertips over the hysterical giggle that bubbled up, and found herself wondering what Luka would have thought of it.
That was one of the details that she didn't include in the blow by blow analysis of the online meeting with her mystery guy that she gave Alya later, or the way that Marinette had been thinking about Luka so much since the last time she'd talked to him that it almost felt as thought she'd summoned him when she saw a familiar head of blue hair pass the bakery the next day. She bolted out the door and called out to him before she'd thought about what she was doing.
"Luka!" she called again. He stopped at the sound of her voice, tugging one of his earphones out, and turned with a soft, slow smile as she came to a panting halt.
"I thought that was you. I'm glad it was you," she gasped out, and Luka waited patiently while she drew a breath and straightened. Then she took in the shirt and black pants that he was wearing. "But you're going somewhere, and I stopped you."
"I'm just heading home from a catering job I was working today, at the Grand Paris Hotel." He reached up to tug at the collar of his white shirt a little self-consciously, and Marinette's flicked down and up again.
"You look good," she said, and then blushed. "Not that you don't usually look good. But this suits you too."
"How did things go with the Mecha Strike challenge?" he asked, and she shrugged.
"It was fun. He's a good player, but he didn't seem to mind too much when I beat him, at least."
"I take it you're a gamer," Luka said with a smile.
"I'm not bad," she said with an attempt at casual indifference. He laughed, and she grinned back at him. "What about you?"
"I've never tried."
"Never?" she asked incredulously, and when he shook his head, she said, "Oh, but you have to give it a go! It's so much fun. If you're not busy, you could come round, and I could show you if you want."
He would have happily cancelled everything on the spot at the hopeful look in her eyes, and if it meant spending a bit more time with her?
"Why not?"
Luka was helpless to resist, and followed as she grabbed his hand and towed him back the way he'd come towards a patissierie that he'd passed. She opened the apartment door beside it, and pulled him inside.
"You live above a bakery?" he asked, and she glanced back over her shoulder.
"My parents own it. They're bakers."
"Lucky you."
The warmth and that glorious smell of yeast and sugar was something he could easily get used to. Upstairs, Marinette steered him towards a couch, and walked him earnestly through the mechanics of the game.
It turned out that Luka was fairly inept with a control in his hands, but it didn't matter. He was too distracted by Marinette's animated face and intense focus.
The best part was the happy little victory wiggle she did every time she won, and getting to curl up on the couch beside her afterwards while they compared plans for the future and theories on life. It was watching her gestures become more passionate as she forgot herself, and then letting her drag him upstairs to her room so she could show him her sketchbooks and her latest work in progress.
Surrounded by the pink and pattern and soft, warm light of her bedroom, Luka found his fingers itching with the beginnings of a new song. The only discordant note was the photos behind Marinette's sewing machine. She'd covered the wall with pictures of friends, and Luka could even make out a couple with his sister in them, but as he looked closer, he could see how many of the pictures were Adrien. There were magazine clippings, and professional modelling shots, and the odd school photo of the boy surrounded by friends and looking more relaxed, and Luka felt his heart sink.
It was those photos that Luka was thinking of the next day when the bell over the door rang, and the model himself came in. The boy was focused on the noticeboard, and barely remembered to give a perfunctory greeting as he hurried over.
"Hey, Adrien," Luka responded, and watched while the other boy took down the envelope pinned to the board. Adrien stared at it for a while, his thumb running over the ladybug sticker in the corner, and then he spun around.
"Luka? Do you know who she is?" the boy asked eagerly, and Luka sighed.
"Even if I do, I'm not going to give away the lady's secrets."
"Right, right." Luka didn't think Adrien was really listening. He came over to the counter and leaned his elbows on the polished surface, the envelope between them. "But say you did, she's amazing, isn't she? I bet she's amazing in real life."
She was all of that, but Luka didn't say anything.
"She's so brave, and forceful. I mean, the way she played me in Mecha Strike!" Adrien sighed happily, and Luka focused on the cleaning cloth in his hands, making slow, steady circles on the benchtop.
All he could see was blue, blue eyes and a sweet smile. Moments of uncertainty and stumbling words and feet because the mind behind them was racing so far ahead. Pages and hands full of insane creativity. His baby sister's face full of confidence, because this girl's caring heart had taken the time and effort to build her friend up. Marinette dancing triumphantly with a game control in her hands and a huge beam on her face.
He was so screwed.