Title: The Snake, The Ladybug, and Second Chances

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Summary: Luka reveals he knows Marinette's secret identity after she finds herself friendzoned by Adrien. Luka learns to master Second Chances in more ways than one as he works to win back Marinette's heart and protects both his precious friends as they work together to protect Paris.

Marinette learns that the boy she needed was already there, biding his time until she truly saw him.

Luka isn't the calm, easy-going person he seems. He's a raging storm that works hard to maintain his cool persona, luckily for him Marinette's very presence soothes his soul.

Adrien is being sent to boarding school in London and the only person he'll know is - Chloe. Will he take Luka's advice and try to help the Queen Bee become a kinder person?

Aged up, starts with Marinette 16, Luka 17.

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Friendzoned definition: come to regard (someone) solely as a friend, despite their unreciprocated romantic interest.

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Luka laid back on his bed, arms behind his head, staring at the boathouse ceiling with half-closed eyes. Juleka practiced on their father's old base guitar in the room next door, the thin walls did nothing to insulate the sound. His baby sister's confidence had grown by leaps and bounds over the past few months. She no longer had to keep the secret about Rose's immune suppressed health. Their parents were getting along sort of — they actually had a relationship with their father, Jagged Stone. Juleka had been called by Ladybug a couple of times as Purple Tigress to fight against Shadow Moth. He'd never seen his twin so comfortable and in her element.

Luka was at peace with what happened between him and Marinette. It had been two months since they broke up. He'd written some pretty epic lyrics, but otherwise tried to maintain his usual optimistic attitude. Ever since Wishmaker, he understood that Marinette was in fact Ladybug. It explained all her terrible excuses and her chronic tardiness. The best birthday present he received had been her ending her blatant avoidance of him. He knew that she blamed herself about the couple of times he became Akumatized. He couldn't help that he had strong emotions about Marinette. And while they'd broken up, this emotions hadn't just ceased to exist.

She was Marinette — sweet, thoughtful, creative, adorable, beautiful Marinette. There was nothing he enjoyed more than riding through the streets of Paris on his bike with her thin arms wrapped around his waist or sitting on his bed, strumming his guitar and just talking with her. Though, he was also coming to enjoy the times he helped her save Paris — when she came to him with Sass' bracelet and asked for his assistance. She was so confident and sure of herself as Ladybug.

His and Juleka's birthday party had been the first time in a long while that he'd seen her as Marinette and him as Luka. They'd seen each other quite a bit under the guise of their Super Hero personas— it did seem that she requested his assistance much more often than the other Miraculous holders— aside from Chat Noir of course.

While he'd been sad to not be visited as Luka, being called into action as Viperion knowing Ladybug was Marinette had made the whole situation tolerable. He wanted to be her harbor in stormy weather. He was glad that she depended on him at least as Superheroes.

He still wasn't sure exactly what had happened two weeks ago. Sass had used his powers to go back in time without a holder. As Sass' most frequent holder, Luka shared a special bond with the kwami and had a memory of receiving the call from Marinette telling him to go to her bedroom and find her sewing kit. He knew he'd been the one to ask Sass to reverse the flow of time — back to when Ladybug and Cat Noir were supposed to reveal their civilian identities. It seemed most logical to assume that if Marinette and Adrien were to find out they were in fact Ladybug and Chat Noir that somehow Shadow Moth found a way to defeat them.

The question was — did it make them vulnerable to Shadow Moth because they were distracted by a teen love affair, or was Shadow Moth close to one of them. He still strongly suspected Gabriel Agreste was the supervillain. Ladybug had ruled him out as he'd been akumatized at least on three different occasions. The fashion icon just seemed to Luka to have a negative vibe, but what did he know about overprotective parents? His mother was a free spirit and his dad was a stranger — but that had started to change.

Luka's phone chimed indicating a text message.

Lazily, Luka stretched his arm out and grabbed his phone off the nearby desk. His stomach fluttered with butterflies of anticipation as he saw Marinette's name and picture fill the tiny screen.

"Luka! Hi! I got a moped electric scooter for my birthday! I'm not totally confident riding on my own and I know it's a lot to ask, but would you please consider going on a ride with me while I practice? Oh, this is Marinette!"

He chuckled, reading her text a second time. No typos, no grammar errors. How long had it taken her to type it out? He suspected a while. Her adding her name at the end was superfluous. Did she really think he didn't have her contact saved to his phone? Did she not know she was saved as his "favorite" and that he had lyrics to the song he wrote about her saved in the notes section? Or that in the address section her family bakery and home was linked to his favorite in maps?

Did she not know he had an entire album in his google photos dedicated specifically to her? Images of them at the ice rink, having ice cream on the bridge, riding on his moped, with the band on the houseboat, in the costume room at his dad's last concert, at the picnic they had two months ago before the breakup? Her face had been his wallpaper for months. He thought about changing it after she ended things, but his feelings for her hadn't changed — why should he? If she were to happen to see it — well, he did enjoy watching her cheeks tint in a pink blush.

Thumbs flying over the keyboard on his phone's screen, Luka consented to the impromptu hang-out session. He had to remind himself that they were just friends. It was hard to ignore the song that played through his mind anytime he thought of Marinette. Unrequited loves were hard, but it didn't make him love her any less.

"Good afternoon, Marinette! I would love to join you for your inaugural driving session. I can be at your place in twenty minutes. Want to get dinner after? Luka." He added a blue guitar emoji, a motorcycle emoji, and a sunset emoji. He couldn't resist adding his own name, he didn't want her to feel embarrassed when she re-read the conversation a thousand times later. He didn't want her to second guess herself.

He laughed as the dots showed her typing, then they deleted, they started again. Knowing it could take a while, he got dressed. He grabbed the navy blue shirt that Marinette had made him for his birthday and changed his shorts for a pair of pants. He added combat boots, just in case it was a bit of a rough ride. Then he grabbed a leather jacket — it was cool enough in the evenings that it would be tolerable. He didn't know if Marinette had any protective jacket, so he might need to let her borrow it.

His phone chimed again and he read her message. It was a bunch of emojis. A heart bursting with a rainbow, a unicorn, the moon, a dinner plate, and a carousel.

With a smile on his face, Luka shoved his phone in his pocket and headed out. "Hey Mom, Juleka, I won't be home for dinner. I'm meeting Marinette. She just got a moped for her birthday and was hoping for some tutorials from me."

His mom's eyes shown with a familiar knowing glint behind her glasses. She was a very observant woman — it's where Luka inherited his intuition. "That's fine, dear. Tomorrow's Sunday, so you can stay out as long as you like. Just remember, I'm not ready to be a grandma!"

Luka rolled his eyes. "We're just friends, Mom." He caught Juleka's hesitant excitement. "I'll tell you everything if you want," he promised his baby sister.

"It's her birthday today and she asked to spend it with you," Juleka pointed out in her quiet voice. She never stuttered with him, but she spoke at a very low volume. Luka was used to it and had attuned his hearing to her years ago.

Luka's lip twitched with a half-smile. "I know."

"Don't blow it." Juleka's lips twitched in a tease.

He straddled his long, lean legs over his moped and before he settled his helmet over his inky black hair with electric blue tips. He looked back at his twin. "I won't!" He was about to take off when he noticed someone driving towards their dock. He took off his helmet and waited as a familiar woman with a pink helmet drove very slowly on a pink moped.

Her balance looked pretty stable, but once again, he could identify the problem from afar. Marinette was nervous and unconfident.

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OoO

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Marinette drove cautiously towards the boathouse. She was grateful the pink helmet she wore had a visor to block out the setting sun's rays, but also hid her bloodshot eyes. She'd finally mustered up the courage to confess her feelings to Adrien earlier that afternoon. Needless to say, it didn't go as she'd hoped.

It was terrible of her to reach out to Luka, but it was either him or Chat Noir. Since she'd practiced her confession for "Buttercup" with Chat Noir, she didn't want him to feel bad about how she blew her chances with Adrien. Ladybug depended on him being at the top of his game. Alya was so Team Adrien, she couldn't deal with the disappointment her best friend would feel.

That left her best buddy/ex-boyfriend Luka. He was friends with both her and Adrien, and he was always such a calming influence. She knew she'd feel better after talking to him. And he'd been sincere in wanting her to reach out to him when she needed, but then would he have false hope now that things didn't work out with Adrien? Was it false hope? She would not treat him like a consolation prize.

It was a fine July evening and it was her birthday, she was going to gift herself with not overthinking things.

Her thoughts cut off short as she parked outside the dock and saw Luka waiting there, wind tossing his dark blue-tipped hair about. He was so very handsome and maybe if she'd met him first, she never would have felt the crushing disappointment of today. The orange of the setting sun backlit him like a spotlight on the stage. He could be every bit a superstar like his father.

Marinette eased into a stop near him. Luka plucked the helmet off his bike and settled it on his head. "That was a good stop," he complimented. "I thought I would meet at your place. You didn't tell me you were already almost here."

"I meant to, but I deleted that message and I only had so much time to type while I was at the light and then I was almost here. And it's pink," Marinette pointed out. "You won't mind riding on the back of a pink moped?"

Luka laughed softly, his smile easy and his eyes kind. "I won't mind riding on the back with you." His eyes scrutinized her face behind the visor. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not yet. I just want to ride around." Marinette waited until Luka climbed on the scooter behind her. She was grateful for his easy-going nature and steady friendship. She knew she was a terrible girlfriend to him, but he'd been a perfect boyfriend to her. His strong arms banded securely around her waist and it felt nice — even if it was just for balance.

And while she broke up with him two months ago, ironically she'd actually spent more time with him now as Ladybug and Viperion than they had when they were dating.

Marinette didn't have a particular destination in mind and was surprised to find herself driving back towards the bakery. She parked across the street from her home at Place des Vosges. They climbed off the scooter. Luka removed his helmet, but Marinette hesitated, not sure if her face was still swollen from crying.

"It's generally more comfortable without your helmet," Luka said, a slight smile tugging his lips. His hair was a little wild- sticking up all over the place as the mid-summer's warm breeze caught it.

With a deep sigh, Marinette removed her helmed, setting it carefully inside the compartment under her seat. She quickly rubbed her hands over her face, hoping for the best. She turned towards Luka and his eyes darkened in concern immediately.

He offered his hand and Marinette took it out of habit. "Let's go check out the carousel." It was one of their favorite pastimes when they dated — Luka would meet her at the bakery and they'd hang out at the neighborhood park riding the carousel for hours - talking about nothing and everything.

"I did it. I finally confessed my feelings to Adrien," Marinette admitted. She glanced briefly at Luka, but looked away when he met her gaze with those patient, kind cyan eyes. "It didn't go well."

"Was it one of your elaborate plans or were you straight forward?" Luka asked. "You've had plenty of your elaborate plans go haywire."

"I told him I'd been in love with him for a while. That I was always so nervous around him, my words come out a jumbled mess and I often make a fool of myself. That life was too short to wonder - what if? And I told him I wanted to be more than friends." She paused, taking a deep breath to tell Luka everything. "I wanted with him what my parents have. What Alya and Nino have with each other," Marinette whispered. "I wanted a future with him where we shared a pet hamster."

Luka gritted his back teeth- there was jealousy and yet also sadness, but it passed quickly, he wasn't about to let himself be Akumatized again. "A hamster, huh?" He knew that Marinette loved Adrien, even during the time they dated, she loved Adrien. When he had been Akumatized last time, wanting to know her secret, which led to their breakup, everyone he questioned said her big secret was the crush on Adrien Agreste. He'd made his peace with it. He'd settled for being her backup. When he learned her secret, that she was actually Ladybug, it made him love her more.

"I'm glad you finally confessed," Luka said, honestly glad she was straight-forward instead of involved in another bizarre plot to gain Adrien's attention. The poor guy was probably constantly confused by Marinette's antics.

Marinette buried her face in her hands. "He just wants to be friends," she mumbled.

A large part of Luka was pleased that Adrien didn't reciprocate Marinette's feelings. She never acted like herself around his bandmate. He would have been surprised if Adrien wasn't a bit overwhelmed, especially given how socially inept he was, having been practically kept locked away in his family's mansion by his overly protective and manipulative father, Gabriel Agreste.

"Maybe now you can act more like yourself around him," Luka suggested. "The pressure is gone and he'll fall for you more naturally — instead of some far-fetched scheme like project Buttercup." He took Marinette's hand and started to lead them towards the carousel, picking out their favorite steeds.

Marinette groaned. "Juleka told you about that?"

"It's hard to keep things from your twin on a houseboat," Luka admitted. They settled onto the golden lion and the purple unicorn. "What did he say, exactly?"

"He said that I was one of his dearest friends and he cared about me a great deal. However, he doesn't feel he's in a point in his life where he can date." Marinette began waving her arms as she spoke, but quickly latched onto the center pole of her unicorn when the carousel began to rotate. "There is too much going on with his father and he's not recovered enough from the loss of his mother. It had been a mistake when he tried dating Kagami and it made him realize he's just not ready for any sort of romantic relationships."

"That sounds reasonable," Luka said. They rode the carousel in silence, listening to the soft music playing over the speakers. When it ended, he held his hand to help Marinette down, as her unicorn had ended high in the air. Marinette fell against Luka's chest and then with only a moment of hesitancy, hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her back and tried to be the buddy she needed while she soaked his shirtfront with warm tears. "Not all teenagers are ready to date and you'd still have the problem of missing your own dates and having to make weird excuses."

Marinette looked up at him and seemed to realize she'd been crying all over her ex-boyfriend. "Are you saying you don't think I'm ready to date?"

Luka led them off the carousel and towards a bench. "I'm saying that when we dated, you really struggled to balance your obligations. Being the son of Gabriel Agreste can't be easy," Luka explained. "You'd both be running out on each other."

"But Adrien is so sad," Marinette lamented. "I really thought that maybe I could help him find happiness."

"You still can, but as his friend— for now. He could develop feelings for you — or he might already have them, but not be ready for a relationship — which is what he told you," Luka said. "He never said he wasn't interested in you. He's fifteen years old Marinette, cut him some slack."

Marinette chuckled. "You're only saying that because you turned sixteen before the rest of us," she teased.

Luka grinned, his bright blue eyes sparkling with humor. "Guilty."

"At least I tried," Marinette said, straightening her shoulders resolutely - in that way she did that he loved to watch. "I can move on. Focus on other things now." She stared out towards the west, the last rays of the setting sun fading. "Oh! It's getting late. Are you hungry? I'm sure my parents' won't mind setting an extra place for you."

"Are you sure? Your parents might get the wrong idea," Luka said. "Don't turn me into your rebound. I'd be okay grabbing a pizza together."

Marinette gaped at him. "Rebound? Luka! No!"

He held his hands up, palms facing her placatingly. "I'm teasing. I'd love to have dinner with your family." As they walked alongside each other towards the bakery, occasionally bumping shoulders, Luka thought to himself, 'If you love someone let them go. If they come back to you -it was meant to be. If they move on, they were never yours.'

He really hoped somehow Marinette would find her way back to him.

"I'm sorry that things didn't work out like you imagined," Luka said. "However, I'm very proud of you for having the courage to be straight-forward about your feelings."

"I learned that from you." Marinette opened the door to the bakery and smiled at her mother. "Maman, Luka will be joining us for dinner if that's okay."

Sabine looked up as she closed up the pastry display case for the evening. "Tonight is your father's turn to make dinner and he always makes plenty." She smiled at both Marinette and Luka. "So glad to have you over again, Luka." It was obvious she wanted to ask if they were a couple again, but was resisting.

"Thank you, ma'am," Luka said politely. "It's always nice to invited."

"It's no trouble, why don't you two go hang out in Marinette's room? Dinner should be ready in about twenty minutes," Sabine said with a warm smile.

Luka had the strangest sense of deja vu as they climbed the stairs to the attic bedroom. His gaze swept automatically towards the sewing box by the desk. There was something important about it, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He kept some of his memories during Second Chance, but not all of them. He'd go crazy if he did that.

"Are you okay?" Marinette asked, her eyes shifted nervously towards the sewing kit.

"I've just got a strange sense of deja vu is all," Luka admitted. It probably had to do with his connection to Sass. He wasn't sure what had happened a few weeks ago, but thought that the next time he bonded with Sass he might remember.

As the Miraculous wearer of the Snake, he often dealt with overlapping memories as time re-wrote itself. The last time he'd been in Marinette's room, he'd had no idea she was Ladybug. Knowing her true identity, he saw her room differently. He could sense Sass, but he suspected the other kwami were watching him and Marinette with interest, especially with the way she kept flicking her hand back and forth as if she were shooing away tiny flying creatures.

Luka resisted the urge to grin. Maybe Marinette would consent to let him keep his Miraculous. He'd love to see the whole picture.

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"Luka's here? But I thought you were confessing your feelings for Adrien!" Fluff complained. Marinette shooed the kwami away from her face.

"Personally, I feel Luka is a more steady partner," Kaalki huffed.

"Both are fine humans," Sass said, as he'd worked with both. "Though, I do feel a stronger affinity for Mr. Couffaine. Can he please go on patrol tonight?" The snake hovered right over Luka's shoulder eagerly.

It took so much will power to not answer back to the kwami. Marinette already made a fool of herself in front of Adrien today. She didn't want to look foolish in front of Luka too. She had remembered to tuck away her obsessive wall of Adrien before she left the house earlier. Plastered on her wall were sketches from her fashion designs and photos of her friends — including a few of her and Luka. She picked up her sketch book and brought it over to Luka. "I did a few more designs for Kitty Section. Would you like to look over them while we wait?"

Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to have Viperion included on patrol that night. She dreaded eventually having to tell Chat Noir how abysmal her confession to Buttercup went. But she rarely interacted with the superhero of destruction as her civilian self. She needed to make sure her alter ego didn't share with her partner that her love interest wasn't interested in her — it would give him false hope about Ladybug and she didn't want to do that to him.

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OoO

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"Plagg! What am I going to do?" Adrien cried out, plopping back on his bed. "I'm Buttercup!"

"You could just give her a chance," Plagg said. "Since Ladybug isn't interested, why not go out with her?"

"Because I'm a terrible boyfriend. Poor Kagami. I made her life miserable." Adrien looked over at the table where Plagg hovered over three different exotic cheeses trying to decide which to eat. "I can't do that to Marinette. She's been such a good friend to me and yet she doesn't even really know me. Everyone thinks I'm quiet, polite Adrien Agreste. But I'm silly and I like teasing and I love doing acrobatics through the rooftops of Paris!" He took his pillow and held it over his mouth and screamed. "I'm such a terrible friend! No wonder she and Luka broke up! He must hate me."

Plagg began munching on his favorite cheese of the three, Camembert. "Luka doesn't hate you. He's a good friend to both you and Marinette."

"Why would she choose me over him? He's got everything figured out. I'm just lost. I have no idea what I'm going to do with my life outside of whatever my father has planned," Adrien lamented. "Luka's dad is Jagged Stone and he adores Marinette! My father treats her like the hired help."

"Do you liiiiiiike her?" Plagg asked.

"I never thought about her like that before," Adrien confessed. "She's a good person, such a big heart, so very kind and a loyal friend. And of course she's pretty, but she's always so awkward around me. I can't imagine trying to be in a relationship where we can't even converse without things getting awkward. And there's just too much I need to sort through on my own. I just want to focus on my work, school, and trying to reconnect with my father."

"How hard can modeling be?" Plagg asked.

"Not that work, our work - you and me," Adrien explained. "Besides, I'm trying to act like myself around Ladybug. I wouldn't be able to truly give my heart to anyone else while I feel this way about Ladybug."

Plagg groaned.

Adrien grabbed his phone and scrolled through until he got to Marinette's name.

'I'm really sorry about this afternoon. I hope you know you can still talk to me about anything. I'll see you at school on Monday. Sleep well.' Feeling satisfied by the text, Adrien hit send.

He stared at his phone for five minutes. When there was no response he scrolled through his contacts and pulled up Luka's name.

'Hey man, I just wanted to say that I really appreciate your friendship. I never meant to get in the way between you and Marinette. I really think you two are great together and I hope she realizes that before it's too late.' Adrien hit send. 'Maybe we can hang out tomorrow on the houseboat. I'd love to play some tunes.'

Luka responded with a photo of Marinette's pink helmet. 'She got a moped for her birthday. I'm making sure she doesn't crash. She'll be okay eventually. You shouldn't feel pressured just because someone likes you. If you're not ready, you gotta speak your truth. I plan to sleep in tomorrow. Should be good after two if you want to come over.'

Adrien stared at Luka's text message. "She's with Luka," he said feeling incredulous. He looked at Plagg accusingly. "Why is she with Luka?"

Plagg shrugged. "Maybe because he's interested in something other than friendship?"

"Plagg, claws out!" Adrien leapt out his balcony and hoped he'd find something on patrol. It was a Saturday night in Paris — surely someone needed his help.

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A/N: So, I decided to re-write/ resume this story after finishing Season 5. We got to see Adrien and Marinette together and her awkwardness was explained by a traumatic bullying experience. Buuuuuut while I enjoyed Adrinette progress as a couple in the cannon, the episode with Luka stole the show— again. So, I'm revamping this original idea. I abandoned this story originally after a single chapter because life got too hard with a 2.5 hour commute and two young boys. The boys are older and I no longer have a commute. So I have time to write! Enjoy!