This little fanfic was inspired by the Discord chapter in Quickspinner's "A Little Bit of Warmth". If you haven't read any of Quickspinner's many and amazing works, go read them now. This is a Lukanette fic, with a dash of Lila salt.

Prelude, Agitato

A Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction

By Mintaka14

"How was the gig?" Luka asked without looking up from his guitar. The chord wasn't quite right, and he modulated it, but then something in the quality of the silence around the sound of the guitar made him pause, and he glanced up at his sister.

"We didn't get to play." The anger and devastation in Juleka's normally subdued voice was as clear as a bell. "Your girlfriend sabotaged us."

Luka carefully laid his guitar aside on his bed and stood. He wasn't frowning, not yet, but he met Juleka's furious golden eyes with a tense calm.

"Want to tell me what you're talking about?"

"We got there, and the owner said our manager had phoned and cancelled. I didn't even know we had a manager," Juleka spat sarcastically. "Turns out a Marinette Dupain-Cheng called, claimed to be our manager and cancelled the gig. And from the sound of it we won't be able to rebook there. Ever."

Luka's eyes narrowed. "And you really think Marinette did that?"

"Look, I know you think Marinette can do no wrong, but Lila said-"

"So Lila was involved." That name just kept popping up, like a blight.

"She was devastated," Juleka told him with a tilt of her chin. "It was supposed to be her first show with us, and now it's all ruined."

"And I just bet she put on a fine performance, even if it wasn't on stage," Luka said with just a hint of snap in his calm voice.

Juleka glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Let me see if I can guess how this went down. You were all upset, but instead of comforting you Lila turned on the waterworks and all of you spent the rest of the night comforting her while she got in a few digs about how Marinette had always hated her even though she tried so hard to be Marinette's friend, and she couldn't believe that Marinette would do this to Kitty Section. And at the end of it, she gets the spotlight on her, gets you to believe that a girl who would have done literally anything to help you has turned into a petty and vindictive bitch, and gets out of putting herself on the line."

Juleka was staring at him in open-mouthed fury.

"Tell me this, sister-mine. Have you ever heard her actually play? Ever? Has Lila turned up to any rehearsals?"

The silence was telling.

"I thought not."

He retrieved his guitar, settling the comforting weight of it in his arms, but it stayed silent.

"I'm going to take another guess. That the voice of Kitty Section's manager on the phone sounded a lot more like Lila than Marinette."

Juleka's breath hissed out in a rush. "Just because Marinette says-"

"Think, Jules! You're a smart girl." Luka reached out and deliberately flicked the kittycorn mask that Marinette had made that was dangling from Juleka's hand. "Think about what you've actually seen and heard yourself, not just what Lila's told you."

Before he could say anything he'd regret, Luka took himself and his guitar to the warmth of the bakery and the peace of Marinette's bedroom. His little sister would think about it. He had to believe that.

It was hard to avoid someone on the houseboat, and obvious that Juleka was Not Talking to Him. Luka shrugged, breathing out the feelings of irritation and hurt, and gave her space for a few weeks. He retreated to his bedroom when Kitty Section turned up to practise, and tried to ignore the shrill sound of Lila's voice when she finally arrived in a flurry of overdone apologies and excuses and poor me. Juleka stomped past him to get something, shooting him a pointed glare that spoke volumes of See? She did come. Luka just rolled his eyes. He knew that it had taken weeks of Lila's dramas and dodging, and Juleka's determination to prove Luka wrong and not taking no for an answer anymore, to get the girl here.

He rolled his eyes harder and put aside his guitar to listen through the walls as they stumbled through a handful of songs. Lord, it wasn't good.

He was still stretched out on his bed an hour or so later, picking out an idle tune, when Juleka stomped back through, avoiding his eye.

"She can't play," was all Juleka said, her voice a mutter of sharp disgust.

Luka didn't say anything. One hand still on the frets of his guitar, he reached out with his other hand and silently passed Juleka a familiar box of macarons. She bit into one savagely, and sighed.

"Fine," she growled. "You were right."

Luka paused, his eyebrows climbing.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard that."

"You were right," Juleka repeated with more force, and while he grinned smugly she reached out and stole another macaron. "Just don't get used to it."

He shook his head, and bent over the guitar again.

"So what was all that noise about?" he asked his sister without looking up. There was a gusty sigh, and he could almost hear the eyeroll she gave.

"Apparently she was playing an avant garde jazz style that Greg Gershwin taught her."

Luka paused at that and looked up. "Seriously?"

"She'd be happy to teach us," Juleka said drily. Luka just shook his head, and the siblings shared a look of incredulity.

Juleka absently bit into another macaron. "I think I need to apologise to Marinette," she muttered, her eyes dropping to the floor.

"I think she'd appreciate that," Luka said.

xxxxx

End notes: I honestly think that Lila would weasel her way out of ever having to actually play with Kitty Section and risk outing herself, but I couldn't resist the avant garde jazz line, and a chance for Juleka to see through Lila's games. Also, I took the title from George (not Greg) Gershwin's Prelude III: Agitato. It seemed appropriate. I hope you enjoyed Prelude, Agitato – any and all constructive criticism is gratefully received.