Wingwoman chapter 3: A Conspiracy in the Kitchen

A Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction

By Mintaka14

It turned out that Juleka had a taste for sabotage, but then, she was her mother's daughter.

Messages went astray. Times got mixed up. Plans got changed. And Juleka tucked her phone back into her bag and stayed silent behind her curtain of hair.

If her brother noticed that his sister was texting him to pick her up a lot more often, and that she'd just happen to be with Marinette when he arrived, or that he'd get there only for Juleka to realise that she suddenly needed to do something somewhere else and abandon them together, he didn't say anything. And Marinette never seemed to mind. Sometimes it took a lot of throat-clearing on Juleka's part before they even realised that she was back.

Alya, however, was getting more and more frustrated by the mysterious whims of fate that kept foiling her plans to bring Adrien and Marinette together.

The crisis point came on the day that Adrien asked Nino if he and Alya wanted to go to the movies with Adrien and Kagami. The way Alya's eyes narrowed and her mouth pinched suggested that she wasn't happy with this, but Adrien didn't notice.

Alya and Nino also didn't notice that Juleka was still there in the classroom after everyone else had left and Alya rounded on Nino, one finger stabbing fiercely at his chest.

"We are not double dating with Adrien and Kagami," she insisted as Nino backed up a step. "I'm not doing that to Marinette, and if Adrien can't see for himself who he's supposed to be with then we need to set him straight now before things get out of hand. Drastic times, drastic measures."

Juleka stayed silent, frozen in the middle of putting her books back in her schoolbag.

"What do you have in mind?" Nino asked uneasily.

"I'm thinking it's time we shut them up in a cupboard together until they work things out." Alya must have finally noticed Nino's expression, because she folded her arms and fixed him with a determined look. "It worked for us, didn't it?"

"But-"

"Ooh! Better yet, you tell Adrien we're going over to the bakery for a cooking lesson. I'll tell Marinette we're all coming round this afternoon – she won't say no – and there's that cool-room there. They can keep each other warm until either Marinette works up the nerve to confess to Adrien, or he realises what he's missing out on."

"But isn't that-"

"It's perfect!" Alya must have finally registered Nino's doubt, because she flashed him a reassuring smile. "Look, we'll be right there. It's not like anyone's going to get hurt, and if it finally gets her together with Adrien then Marinette won't mind. It's all in a good cause."

She gave Nino a quick kiss and shooed him towards the door. "You get Adrien, I'll grab Marinette. Go!"

By the time Juleka had gathered her books and her nerve, Alya and Nino were already out of sight. She was still in the doorway, trying to work out what to do, when her art teacher hailed her cheerfully, and Juleka was stuck, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot while her teacher chatted about her latest assignment.

The corridor was emptying of students, and her teacher was still talking.

Just say it, Juleka scolded herself silently. Just tell him I have to go. But the words kept catching, and fading away in a mumble that her teacher must have taken for interest, until finally Mr Duchamp dismissed her with a wave and strode away to the staffroom.

Juleka bolted before anyone else could stop her.

Outside the school, Luka was leaning against the lamppost at the foot of the stairs, his black-nailed fingers drumming idly on his thigh, and Juleka clumped rapidly down the stairs towards him with a sigh of relief. She swung her bag at him.

"Hey, loser," she muttered, and he gave her that half-smile of his.

"What's up, goth girl?"

"You'll love this," Juleka told him drily. "Alya's latest plan to get Marinette and Adrien together is to lock them in together until they figure something out. Or kiss. Alya wants them to kiss."

Luka was frowning.

"But I saw them all heading for the bakery a little while ago," he said slowly.

"Yup. Alya suggested that they have a baking lesson or something, and then she's going to shut them both in the cool-room. So they've got their love to keep them warm, or something like that," Juleka said disdainfully.

"Wait, what?" Luka cut her off, pushing himself upright abruptly. "What … how … What kind of a friend would do that?"

Juleka shrugged. "The kind who thinks she knows better than everyone else, and that all Marinette needs is enough of a push."

But Luka was already running, dodging cars, towards the bakery.

"You're welcome!" Juleka called after him. She shouldered her bag and followed at a more leisurely pace, now that Luka was dealing with it. Mrs Cheng – call me Sabine, dear – gave her a distracted wave and a quick "Are you here for the baking lesson?" before she turned back to the line of customers. There was no sign of Marinette's father when she pushed through the door into the bakery kitchen, but Juleka got there just in time to see Luka shove Alya out of the way.

"What the hell, Couffaine?!" Alya snapped.

But he already had the cooler door open. Marinette stumbled out and into Luka's arms, shivering, as if she'd been leaning against the door when it opened. Over Marinette's shoulder, Juleka could see Adrien's bewildered face, but Marinette's expression when she turned it on Alya could have stripped paint. Luka hadn't let go of Marinette yet, and his eyes were pure ice.

Juleka leaned back against the wall and folded her arms. This was going to be fun. If Luka or Marinette had been looking at Juleka like that, she would have been running by now, but Alya clearly had no sense of self-preservation.

Luka looked down at the girl in his arms, and the ice in his eyes melted a little.

"Are you okay, Marinette?" he asked gently, and the eyes Marinette gave him were pure Disney princess. She didn't even look around when Adrien climbed out of the cool-room with a confused frown on his pretty face. Luka was rubbing her arms gently to warm them, and Marinette definitely didn't seem to mind.

"How about you, Adrien?" Luka finally remembered to ask, and spared the boy a quick glance.

Adrien was still frowning, his eyes shifting from Alya to Marinette and back again.

"Was that on purpose?" he asked Alya. Anger looked strange on the sunshine boy's face, but Juleka had to assume that that was what it was. "Not funny, Alya. Marinette was really upset."

His arm went around Marinette's shoulder, and Juleka's eyes narrowed as the girl was sandwiched between her brother and Adrien. Oh, hell, no.

"Your driver's here," she announced, and everyone jolted at the unexpectedly loud interruption. "You'd probably better go and check. I think he was double-parked."

Luka was still focused on Marinette as the model reluctantly headed out the door.

"Why don't you head upstairs and get warm? I'll come up and we can hang out for a while, if that's okay?" Luka suggested.

The tiny smile that Marinette gave him suggested that that was more than okay, but when Alya reached out and touched her arm, Marinette pulled away and her face darkened to a scowl.

"Oh, come on," Alya tried. "It was just a harmless prank. You weren't even in there that long."

"I'm not talking to you right now," Marinette growled, and Juleka found herself grinning behind her curtain of hair at the confounded look on Alya's face. Marinette shoved the door open with unnecessary force and marched out of the kitchen, and Luka turned his attention back on Alya, sparing a scathing look for the rest of the group gathered around the cool-room door. Nino was looking shamefaced.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" Luka asked the reporter in a voice of arctic calm.

Alya crossed her arms and glared at him. "Nothing was going to happen. It was just a harmless joke."

"I knew you were trying to get Marinette and Adrien together, but I didn't think someone who's supposed to be her friend would go this far. Have you even asked her if this is what she wants anymore?"

"Oh, and you're such an expert on what Mari wants? I think you're a bit biased here, Luka."

Anything that Luka might have said was cut off when Marinette's father filled the doorway and came into the kitchen.

"Well, hello everyone!" he boomed.

Tom Dupain's jovial smile faded as he took in Alya's aggressive stance and Luka's cool stare.

"What's going on? Where's Marinette?"

Luka didn't say anything. Those frozen eyes of his were fixed accusingly on Alya, and it was the reporter who looked away first.

"She's fine, Mr Dupain… Tom," Alya said to the corner of the baker's bench. "She's upstairs. She and Adrien might have sort of… got shut in the cool-room for a while."

Tom's large, friendly features slowly shifted as though a thunderstorm had passed over them.

"She what? What happened?"

And still Luka stared uncompromisingly at Alya. Juleka shifted uncomfortably, and wondered if anyone would notice if she made a break for the door.

"I don't know what you've all been up to," Tom rumbled, still frowning, "but I think it's time you all went home."

They all fled. It was only when she had reached the Liberty that Juleka realised that there was no sign of her brother. There was no sign of him at dinnertime, and it was full dark before he swung down the stairs and flopped onto the couch beside her, a stupid grin on his face.

"How's Marinette?" Juleka asked innocently, and he threw a cushion at her, but his grin grew wider. "Are you still planning to murder Alya in cold blood?"

His grin became more of a grimace.

"I haven't ruled it out," he said drily.

"Well, let me know when you make up your mind, so I can have your alibi ready."

Juleka slumped back down into the couch and hugged the cushion.

"You're all idiots," she decided.

xxxx

Juleka was on the deck of the Liberty when Alya made her way across the gangplank the next afternoon with Rose and Alix and Mylene close behind.

"Is Marinette here?" Alya asked, her expression an odd mix of shamefaced belligerence. "She's been avoiding me all day and I really need to talk to her. Rose said she was coming here."

She tried to go around Juleka, heading towards the bedroom below deck, but the taller girl didn't move.

"Yeah, I don't think you should go in there."

Juleka wasn't the only one who heard the breathy giggle, or the masculine voice saying something that was too low to make out through the closed door over the muted sound of guitar music.

"Luka!" Marinette's voice was clear, followed by a soft gasp as the guitar broke off with a twang.

Alya's eyes opened wide at the sound of Marinette's voice, and the faint noises that followed. Rose had two hands clapped over her mouth, and Juleka could feel her practically vibrating with excitement. Juleka almost shoved the growing crowd of girls back towards the deck.

"Your plan worked. Just not in the way you thought," she muttered with a certain amount of smug satisfaction at the stunned look on Alya's face. Alya's eyes narrowed.

"Did you know this was going on?" the reporter probed.

Juleka raised an eyebrow. "You didn't?"

Brushing back her bangs, Juleka allowed herself to smile. She was really enjoying herself in this moment. It wasn't often that anyone got to see Alya thrown completely off balance. And her stupid brother owed her. Big time. If he and Marinette were disgustingly happy together, that was just an added bonus. Not that she cared.

When Marinette eventually made her way onto the deck, looking more than a little dishevelled, she found herself the object of intense scrutiny and she blushed.

"Girl," Alya growled. "Spill. You're seeing Luka and you didn't tell me?"

Marinette's dazed look dissolved into exasperation, and she said, "I tried to tell you I wasn't interested in Adrien anymore, but you didn't want to listen. I've tried to talk to you about a lot of things."

That seemed to hit home, and Alya flushed.

"Hey, you know I'm on board for whoever you want, Mari. I just want my bestie to be happy," Alya conceded, and gave her a rueful, affectionate grin. "And I'm really happy for you. But I am not double dating with Kagami, I can tell you that right now."

"Who knows? You might enjoy yourself. Kagami's really sweet when you get to know her." Juleka saw the flash in Marinette's blue eyes as she threw Alya a look from under her dark lashes. "But if you don't, I'm not going to make you be friends. I can't force that."

Juleka suppressed the snort. It looked like Alya had missed that dig, and that was probably the closest Marinette would come to being bitchy about Alya's role in the situation with Lila. The snort became a grimace as Alya nudged Marinette's shoulder and raised her eyebrows.

"So, is Luka a good kisser?" the reporter teased. "It sounded like he's a good kisser."

"Oh, gross!" Juleka complained, loud enough to be heard. "That's my brother you're talking about."

Marinette was turning beet red.

"What's that tongue piercing feel like?" Alya asked slyly.

"Argh!" Juleka clapped her hands over her ears

"I think it's cute," Rose chimed in. "And you look so happy, Mari."

Alya's phone beeped a message at her, and the reporter glanced at it with a sigh.

"I've got to go if I'm going to make it home in time. Do you want to come too, Mari? I owe you ice cream, and you can give me all the deets," she suggested, but Marinette shook her head.

"Luka and I are going to watch a movie together."

Alya grinned at that, but Juleka rolled her eyes as the rest of the girls made their way off the boat.

"So now I've got to watch you two making out all night," she muttered good-humouredly under her breath, but Marinette heard her and flashed her a wide-eyed look of panic.

"We won't… I wouldn't…" she stumbled. "I mean, we don't have to stay here if it makes you uncomfortable. Oh, god! And he's your brother but what if it makes it all weird and you can't be friends with me because I'm kissing your brother, then you'll hate me forever and Luka will break up with me and I'll never see Luka again-"

"It's fine," Juleka cut her off nonchalantly. "I didn't go to all that effort to get you two together just to break you up, no matter how sappy it gets. And Luka's so into you, it's sickening."

She gently steered Marinette towards a box and got her to sit before the girl fell over.

"Tell him I said this and I will end you, but… it's kind of nice to see the dumbass looking so happy."

I'm Luka's girlfriend," Marinette said as reality sank in, and the grin she gave was as dopey as anything Juleka's brother had ever given.

Juleka sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I figured. Just remember I don't do pink," she muttered, and Marinette gave her a confused look.

"What?"

"When you marry my stupid brother. I'm not going to wear a pink bridesmaid's dress, not even for you," said the perfect wingwoman, while Marinette's face turned every shade of red.

But she didn't deny it.