A/N: "I was falling. Falling through time and space and stars and sky and everything in between. I fell for days and weeks and what felt like lifetime across lifetimes. I fell until I forgot I was falling."

― Jess Rothenberg

As they continued to work together, Marinette tried to pinpoint why it wasn't as easy for her to handle Claw in the same way she had Chat.

After all, Chat had flirted with her on and off near the beginning, but she had been able to be firm enough to get them on the track they had needed to be as partners.

Now, however, Marinette knew she was part of the problem. She couldn't seem to stop encouraging him, teasing him back herself when she managed not to end up stupidly flustered by him.

Perhaps it would have been different if he wasn't so much more respectful than she ever would have expected of the former villain. Despite his teasing, he never once made her feel uncomfortable, never actually tried to push for anything at all outside of the teasing.

No, he wasn't the Adrien she had once had a crush on.

But despite his former villain status and what he seemed to imply about himself even now, Marinette knew that he wasn't a villain at heart. Adrien clearly held tightly to his own set of inner moral values, even if they were slightly off-center. The care he'd had for his old partner, the dedication to the kids in his BJJ class, the responsibility he held onto for things that weren't his fault, and the respect that he gave her, his new partner, all showed Marinette pieces of him that impressed her greatly.

It didn't help that her desire to understand his tragic upbringing, and her need to support him in whatever way she could in order to strengthen their partnership, had left her heart more open than she'd meant it to be.

So no, with Chat Noir, there had been no crush to complicate things.

With Claw Noir, it was less a crush and more a slow fall, as she watched herself be snared with only a minor amount of resistance.

Several weeks after her arrival, Marinette finally found Luka Couffaine.

He'd been a difficult one to track down, with no easily found online presence.

There'd been no signs of him at any of the boats along the Seine, so she had moved on to another line of possibility.

She'd been slowly going through a list of shops related to music, despite knowing that her own Luka's love of the art didn't necessarily correlate to this one feeling the same.

Her hunch had finally resulted in success, however, as she saw the man leaving a guitar repair shop on the outskirts of town.

At first, she hadn't recognized him due to the fact that his hair was a very normal shade of black. But he met her eyes briefly as they passed each other on the sidewalk, and she knew it was him.

When she doubled back after getting out of sight, she followed him to a set of apartments, noted the location, and returned to Adrien to let him know.

"I found him," she told him in the empty lobby of her hotel.

He didn't seem particularly thrilled, crossing his arms as he leaned back into the couch. "Alright. Great."

She pursed her lips at him. "What's your deal, Adrien? This is good news. Why don't you like the guy?"

His mouth twitched, but he remained silent, until her unrelenting glare finally made him budge. He let out a breath and moved forward. "Look, Shady and I were partners, right? But before I got my Miraculous, she worked with him for a short time. He was the only other holder she seemed to get along with. I never understood it. I was...a bit of a dick to him afterwards. We're not exactly on good terms."

Marinette contemplated that one. "Made you a bit green then? More than just your hair, that is?" She was unable to hold back her grin at the thought.

"I wasn't jealous," he scoffed. "Just didn't like the guy."

"Sure. Of course." She tried to smother her smile as she moved on. "I'll keep watching him, see what else I can learn about him before we go for it."

After Adrien agreed, Marinette continued to do just that for another two weeks, trying to maintain her distance as she kept tabs on their target.

She discovered that he did indeed work at the repair shop, though not consistently.

While the Luka she knew was very mild-mannered, this one seemed to hold a quiet sort of fury within, mostly only becoming outwardly-apparent when he'd slam doors closed behind him.

The only times his mood noticeably lightened were the times she saw him meeting another familiar face for coffee.

His sister and her former classmate, Juleka.

On those mornings, she could see a change in his attitude, his features softening as he was with her, despite the fact that he seemed to spend most of his time arguing with her.

One evening, she and Claw even managed to catch him transforming into Cobrax, though they had fled quickly to keep him from discovering them spying on him.

"I think it's time," Marinette said after that discovery. "I think we should try to talk to him."

"You should talk to him, you mean. So I don't scare him off."

"I'd rather you were with me, just in case. But we need to do it while he's detransformed. I don't want to risk him using Second Chance on us."

Claw nodded. "Fine. We'll try it."

They both headed out early on one of Adrien's days off, untransformed, to try and catch Luka before he met with his sister. Marinette had noticed that his mood seemed to get worse after his meetings, strangely, so she knew that before would be their best chance.

Also hoping to catch him with other people around, they waited for him to get close to the café before Marinette slipped out behind him. "Luka Couffaine?"

Luka stopped walking, his head turning towards them.

As soon as he saw her, however, his eyes narrowed, and he did something Marinette hadn't been expecting just yet.

He turned and sprinted away from them, the suddenness of the move taking them both by surprise.

Adrien cursed as he took off after him, Marinette right behind as she called out, "Wait! We only wanted to—"

Just as suddenly as he'd disappeared around a building, Luka showed back up, walking resolutely up to them as they skidded to a stop to keep from running him over.

His expression was strangely calm as he looked down at both of them. "I'll do it. I'll join you. Let me have coffee with my sister and we can talk more afterwards."

He turned away with a bland wave.

Marinette stared at his back, her mouth hanging open for a moment before she closed it, looking over at the equally-stunned man beside her. "I suppose...he must have transformed and used his power after all?"

Adrien recovered quicker than she did, letting out a laugh. "We did it, Red. Good job, I guess?"

She snorted as she followed him into the coffee shop, noting that Luka had already sat down at his usual table with Juleka and was ignoring them once again.

Marinette ordered a tea, waiting awkwardly for Adrien.

Luka caught her eye and shot her a glare, motioning his head towards the door. She glared back for a moment before turning on her heel and leaving Adrien behind.

She walked down the block to the park on the corner, waiting on a bench with her tea until Adrien joined her.

"Easier than I expected," he said, leaning up against the side of her bench.

Another voice interjected. "More like, you got lucky."

Marinette stood up and saw Luka approaching, who she realized must have followed Adrien out of the shop.

The man looked pissed off as he walked right past the two of them. "You're so fucking lucky I was the first one you went for. Come on, follow me. And try not to look so damn obvious."

Adrien visibly bristled at Luka's words, but Marinette grabbed his arm, holding him back.

After following Luka through a row of carefully manicured hedges and into the cover of trees, Marinette and Adrien sat down in the grass along the path beside him.

"You used Second Chance, didn't you?" Marinette asked. "Can you fill us in? Why'd you run?"

Luka leaned back on one hand. "I knew you were following me. I thought it might have been the Supreme coming for my Miraculous."

Frustrated, Marinette pressed for more. "How did you know? I was careful."

His blue eyes narrowed on her. "I'm good at reading people. The first time I saw you outside of my shop, I thought something was strange. And I noticed you getting coffee a few days after that, and could tell you were watching me. You're going to need to work on that if we're going to make your plan succeed."

"Alright, snake boy," Adrien gritted out. "Rewind and tell us why the fuck we should trust you now. When we know nothing about you."

Luka sighed. "The bottom line is the only reason I am even using this Miraculous is to protect my sister. The Supreme got to her somehow, roped her into wielding one—and before you ask," he said, putting his hand up to wave away the question that had barely even started crossing Marinette's mind. "I know she's a holder because the Supreme told me. But of course, I can't tell her that, and she doesn't know I'm Cobrax. You told me you would help get her out."

Marinette nodded slowly, though she noticed Adrien was still glaring at the other man. Ignoring her partner, she clarified, "In one of the second chances? What else do you know?"

Luka gave her a steady look. "I know you aren't actually Shadybug. But I figured that one out myself."

"How?" Adrien demanded. "Because you're good at reading people?"His words turned mocking on the last phrase, the disbelief spilling out through his tone.

Luka glanced over at him, apparently unruffled by his attitude. "Yes. I worked with her for a time, early on." His eyes shifted back to Marinette. "I could tell something was different about you. Not that you did a bad job, acting as her," he amended. "Though I'm serious that we need to work on your surveillance."

"We already, huh? I'm not convinced." Adrien grumbled.

"Adrien," Marinette said sharply, but before she could get out anything more, Luka cut in, staring at Adrien.

"You told me about the goose incident."

Marinette's eyebrows scrunched together.

What?

One glance at Adrien revealed that hedidknow what Luka was talking about.

His mouth dropped open before he sputtered out, "I what? No fucking way, I don't know what you're talking about. There was no…"He trailed off as Marinette noticed Luka's mouth twitch as he held back a smile. Adrien groaned. "Aw shit, why would I tell you about that? Goddammit—"

"What goose incident?" Marinette asked, surprised to see that Adrien apparently was relenting, albeit reluctantly.

"Nothing," Adrien snapped, though Marinette was amused to see a slight redness appearing in his cheeks. "Fine, welcome to the team Luke, or whatever."

He jumped to his feet and stalked off, leaving the two of them behind.

Marinette turned back to Luka, her eyebrow raising."Goose incident?"

Luka merely grinned. "Best to let him tell you."

She let out a laugh, surprised to feel at ease around the man she barely knew. "How long did it take you to get him to come around?"

He shrugged. "A while. But I'm up to 15 minute intervals now, which helps."

"Wow, that's impressive. It's a good thing we've got you on our side now."

Luka's gaze shifted slightly as he focused completely on her. "I know you aren't aware of everything we've talked about in my loops. But you should know that I'll do whatever it takes to help keep my sister safe. You told me that a better world is possible, for her and for all of us." His eyes held hers in their intensity, keeping her quiet as she waited for him to continue.

His mouth quirked up on the side. "I decided I believed you."

He stood up to leave.

"Do you still play?" Marinette asked before he walked away, curious. "I know you work in the repair shop."

Luka paused. "No. I fix broken instruments when they come to me. But I haven't played in a long time."

"Maybe you should give it a try," she replied softly. "This world could do with more music."

He looked down at her, something unreadable in his expression. "You might be right," he said, before his tone darkened. "When my sister is safe, perhaps the melodies will come back to me. All I hear now is unending dissonance, waiting to be resolved."

A/N: Would love to know your thoughts! Also posting my Soulmates AU The Love of a Lifetime, if you haven't checked out that first chapter!