Disclaimer: Don't own and never will.

AN: Written for Jade_Pearl of the Miraculous Fanworks Discord.

It started with the rain.

Well actually started with one of Juleka's classmates being turned into a giant stone monster and the superheroes who stopped him. Or perhaps it was the day that the Butterfly Miraculous was lost and fell into the hands of Gabriel Agreste. Or when Emile Agreste fell into her magical coma.

But as far as Luka was concerned, it started with the rain.

Well the rain and his decision to pick his little sister up. (He was a full eight minutes older, so yes he was the older brother. And yes it did count. No matter how many times Juleka liked to say otherwise.)

So when his fourteen year old daughter Emile looked out at the grey September skies and groaned, he smiled to himself.

"It's not the end of the world you know," he said and Emile gave him a deadpan look.

"It's going to rai-i-in!!" Emile moaned melodramatically and Luka inwardly grinned. She was so much like her mother just then. It was almost uncanny. "It's going to rain and I'm going to get soaked and I'll look like a drowned rat in school! And what if that's the day I meet my soulmate and I scare them away because I'm soaked and a mess and I end up doomed to die alone with only my million cats for company!"

"If your soulmate is so easily put off, then they're not your soulmate," Luka said gently. "Besides, when I first met your mother, it was raining as well." He paused and gave her a gentle smile. "And she thought that Uncle Adrien was her soulmate. The path to true love is more than just the first meeting you know."

"Auntie Rose and Auntie Juleka did," Emile said with a pout. Luka suppressed a small laugh.

"Your Aunt Juleka spent six months just working up the courage to confess to your Aunt Rose. And it was more than just the first meeting. They knew each other for years before they realised," Luka reminded her and Emile frowned. She looked at the clock and then at Luka. There was still an hour left before she had to go to school. (Neither Luka nor Marinette had any idea how their daughter inherited her sense of timing from. It certainly wasn't from them!)

"Can you tell me the story again?" she asked, looking sideways at him. "You know, the story of how you and mum met and fell in love?"

"Are you sure?" he asked with a slightly teasing smile. "You don't want to be late to school."

"Da-a-d!"

Luka grinned and continued while Emile sat down on the sofa.

"Well it all started with the rain." He paused and frowned. "Well technically it started with the very first akuma and me being overprotective of your aunt Juleka really. But I like to think that it really began with the rain that was pouring down that fateful day all those years ago. As the older brother, I was worried about your aunt Juleka." He paused and smiled briefly.

"It was back when Ladybug and Chat Noir were starting out as superheroes and nobody really knew much about them. Or the new supervillain Hawkmoth. Your aunt Alya believed enthusiastically in them, but not everyone was convinced. Not even after Ladybug's iconic speech on the Eiffel Tower."

"You didn't see it until later that night," Emile said and Luka nodded.

"And I didn't know what had happened. I heard background noises and snippets of conversation, but nothing clear. More like background noise than anything else. And definitely not enough to feel any safer or more reassured." He sighed wistfully. "If I had seen your mother up there giving her historical speech, I would have been inspired too. But then again, I wouldn't have met your mother that day either."

"And you and mum would have never met." Emile said with a smile.

"Yes. It's a good thing that I didn't know," Luka said with a smile. "But... I like to think that it would have happened, one way or another."

"I wonder what would have happened if you didn't go that day?" Emile wondered with a thoughtful expression on her face. Luka let her ponder for a few minutes before continuing with the story. (If he let her disappear down THAT particular rabbit hole again, she'd complain about him not finishing the story!)

"Anyway, my school allowed me to get out early that day, so I decided to get on my scooter and drive down to Collège Françoise Dupont to pick up Juleka from school." He smiled at his daughter. "I knew that your grandma would still be at work and I wanted to be there to make sure that she was safe. And it was starting to rain. I knew that she would appreciate the lift home in that weather." He leaned back and smiled fondly. "It was an old fifty cc Honda that I haven't seen in years. It was a good old thing."

Emile pointedly cleared her throat and Luka continued with the story.

"I drove down to school and parked in the little bike shelter that they used to have. Nowadays it's a lot bigger, but back then it was a lot smaller. I couldn't wait in there, so I went up into the building. By that point, the rain was coming down a lot more and I could hear the sound of thunder in the background. It was horrible out and I had a waterproof poncho on to handle the weather." He smiled at her. "I wasn't as organised as you are. I didn't carry an umbrella with me when I went out."

"Dad, you know that Emma borrowed MY umbrella on her way out to uni. How was I to know that I was going to need it?"

Luka decided not to mention the weather app on her phone and continued with the story.

"Your aunt Juleka was busy talking to Rose with a small smile on her face so I decided to wait for a few minutes." He smiled fondly. "I knew that she was in love. They both were. Their songs were in perfect sync, even if they didn't realise just how perfect at the time."

Emile gestured impatiently for Luka to continue.

"Well your mother was busy heading towards the door and she somehow managed to not see me." He chuckled. "You know what your mother is like. Anyway, she managed to charge right into me and knocked us both to the ground." He stopped and smiled as he basked in the memory. "I instantly picked up on her tune. A beautiful song that was as clear as musical note and as beautiful as a melody." He strummed a few notes on his guitar as he allowed himself to remember that moment.

"Your Uncle Adrien came rushing over of course. He helped Marinette up and Juleka and Rose helped me up. And somehow your mother managed to bump into me again. She promptly started apologising and blushing and Adrien started apologising and blushing and your aunt Juleka stood there with a shit-eating grin on her face." Luka grinned and his eyes lit up with amusement. "Not that she was any better with Rose. All those painfully obvious longing stares..."

Emile pointedly cleared her throat and Luka continued.

"Adrien had to go of course. He was very embarrassed and apologetic and gently waved at him with a slight blush on her cheeks. It was actually cute seeing her like that." Luka grinned, his smile threatening to split his face. "Your mother later told me that she didn't realise that it was me making her blush like that at the time. She thought it was him. Which led to all kinds of shenanigans as she tried to find the perfect moment to confess her feelings for him."

Emile giggled and Luka smiled. There had been a lot of extremely funny stories about him and her. And how oblivious she had been about her true feelings. And that wasn't including the whole love square that wasn't actually a love square at all, but a confusing tangled mess.

Yeah, Luka, Marinette, Adrien and Alya had a confusing love life to say the least. At this point, he was convinced that they were living in a romantic comedy. Or at least a running gag in some cartoon.

Luka continued with the story.

"Well we walked to the way out. I meant to talk to Juleka. Talk about her day, that sort of stuff, but I kept circling back to your mother. There was an inescapable, amazing magnetic pull that she exerted on people back then. It was...something special. Like nothing I've ever seen before, or since. I could sense it in the music around her." He paused and smiled again.

"Your aunt Rose picked up on it of course. She nudged Juleka and nodded at us, smiling brightly. Your aunt Juleka on the other hand, silently snickered and smirked. She realised before I did." He chuckled. "Ironically she didn't realise that she was just as oblivious."

Emile was sitting, eagerly leaning forward. They were reaching her favourite part of the story and even though she had heard it a thousand times, she still didn't want to miss it. It was kind of sweet really.

"We stepped through the door and it was raining. Pouring really. Quite heavily. And your mother didn't have any kind of rain protection. She didn't have anything, not even a hood." He took a deep breath as he remembered that fateful day, and that moment in particular.

"I gave her my raincoat and told her to take it. At first she touched it and jumped back, like she wasn't even sure what it was. Then she tentatively took it from me, blushing as she did. It was sweet really. Her melody became even more beautiful. We looked at one another for what felt like an eternity. Your aunt Rose almost cooed and your aunt Juleka rolled her eyes. And that, is how I met your mother."

Emile grinned and stood up.

"Thanks dad," she said, grabbing her bag and dashed out of the front door. With, much to Luka's amusement, half an hour earlier than she needed to go.

AN: Not sure if I managed to stick the landing, but eh, close enough.