Chapter Text
2017
Luka walked to the kitchen to get some water and found Marinette hand mixing in some yummy concoction in a large bowl while his mother's electric mixer agitated some heavenly smelling blend of sugar, flour, and whatever it was that was made that made that smell. He looked on the counter and found three batches of different pastries cooling. Lucky day! That had definitely been a bonus of dating Marinette, best 2 kg he'd ever gained. He reached for a madeline but before he could even get near it a silicone spatula hit the top of his hand.
Rose's hand held the spatula and she looked up to Luka, "Nope, those are for Alix."
Luka would have laughed but he could tell she was serious. Then he realized what she meant, "Is she doing some kind of fundraiser or marathon?"
Marinette walked over after adding something to the bowl and stirred while whispering, "No, her father and grandmother are making her come out at le Bal des Débutantes."
Luka truly thought they must be joking this time. Alix was the most put together of Julika's friends. But a debutante she was not. "I can see why she would be angry but why is she upset?" Normally the girls were busy comforting Marinette but today everyone was furiously comforting Alix. And although he couldn't see her, he could hear her. She wasn't crying but her voice sounded quiet and miserable, nothing like her normal boisterous happy voice, only her cadence was the same.
Marinette answered, "Her father has already started buying replacement clothes. His only concession is black clothes and he gave her her mother's designer snake earrings early. After the debut he told her she's expected to dress, 'like a young lady of quality,' whatever that is supposed to mean. He's making her get rid of everything, like a- a tyrant!" Marinette stirred the cookie dough with agitated strokes until his mom came over and put a hand on her wrist.
"That looks delicious," Anarka complimented her, "Why don't you get it in the oven and I'll take over from here."
He tried once more to see what was going on but the girls looked like they were in warrior mode, protecting their fallen friend. He turned to his mom but she just smiled and shook her head at him as if to say, this wasn't the time. He nodded and went back to his room with the large glass bottle of water. When he got there he saw he'd gotten a text
Fifi: Where are you?
He looked at the time at the top of his phone. Practice! How could he have forgotten?
Secondary Account: Sorry! I'll be there in 5 minutes
"Sass! We gotta go, I forgot about practice Rena is gonna be upset."
Sass came over but he knew Rena herself was in the next room along with quite a few of their team. Practice might as well be canceled.
¤¤¤
When he arrived at the Calisthenics Park under Pont de Grenelle the lack of the heroines was obvious. Only Queen Bee, Fidélité, and Ryuko represented the girls while all the guys were there except Chat. Rena had made it clear their practice sessions were not for Chat and Ladybug. She said they got enough practice just doing their jobs on a daily basis.
Fidelite was looking at her phone. "Does anyone know where the rest of the team is?"
Viperion knew where Ladybug was, and he had a pretty strong feeling about Lace. No, he knew his little sister was Lace he just couldn't prove it.
Fidelite was furiously texting, "It's fine, I'll just send a mass text."
He stepped forward and put his hand over her phone's screen, "No, if you do you'll reveal their identities."
Everyone perked up.
Fidelite stopped, "What do you mean?"
"We've talked about who we think everyone is, well all of those people are at my-" he backtracked, "Uh, I saw them together. Something happened and they're all comforting one of them."
Fidelite rolled her eyes, "Marinette is such a spaz."
Viperion became irritated. "Is that necessary?"
Fidelite looked him straight in the eye, "If you knew her, you might not be so quick to defend. She was dating the hottest guy ever, the bassist of Kitty Section but she broke up with him because she's a spaz, she had it all but she just wants more."
Pegasus strolled over, before Viperion could say anything, "Sounds like jealousy."
Fidelite blushed, "It's not."
Yang, Ziggy's chosen, who'd been listening to the conversation since Marinette's name had come up. She was not only his friend but she had introduced him to his boyfriend, comic book partner and now they even got to work together as heros he thought smiling over at Oilarra. But he understood Fidelite, over the weeks he'd gotten to know her he'd realized she wasn't quite ready for the world to judge her for a choice she was perfectly happy with herself. Maybe today was the day, maybe it wasn't but it wouldn't be because of an accident or because of someone hurting her… even if she was being nasty about Marinette. He got up from stretching with Fort the large boy and chosen of the ox miraculous and walked over to change the subject, "So, are we getting started?"
Carapace walked over with Oilarra the red head caretaker of Orriko the rooster kwami.
Monkey King looked at the water, "Do you think LB will give us the stuff so we can go underwater?"
Carapace clapped his hands, obviously Alya was busy, Adrien must have broken Mari's heart or something, he'd have to catch up with them after this. "Okay, let's just do one circuit around then take a run. Sound like a plan?"
Pegasus shook his head, "I think we should vote to see if we know who each other are."
Viperion looked at him sharply, Marinette would take their miraculi if she found out, at the very least she'd kill them, "I don't think that's a good idea."
Carapace frowned, "That's not funny, LB would kill us."
Monkey King nodded, "I want to know too!"
Pegasus told them the rules, "This is how it will work, but only if everyone agrees they know someone's identity does that person have to say who they are. For example," he pointed to Fort, "I've already ran the odds, statistically you are 98% likely to be Ivan Bruel."
Fort immediately turned pink and crossed his arms.
Pegasus, "That doesn't mean I'm right, although you should practice not being obvious Ivan. Then everyone else has to guess, if everyone guesses the same person then you have to say whether or not you are or aren't."
Carapace looked a little ill. He wasn't actually in charge but he had a feeling he was going to be blamed for this.
Monkey King piped up, "Ivan."
Viperion shrugged, "Sorry, Ivan."
Fort frowned, everyone guessed, was he that obvious? "So, now I just tell you who I am?"
Pegasus' face lit up, his eyes probably did too but they were hidden behind their pince-nez, "If you're Ivan, you say you are, if you aren't you say you aren't but it's up to you if you want to tell us who you are.
Fort sighed, "I don't think this is fair, the girls aren't here."
Viperion smiled, Fort was so obviously his drummer, "come on, the faster we finish this the faster we can get to work."
Fort frowned, "Easy for you to say, no one will know who you are." He grumbled under his breath, "yeah, I'm Ivan. Don't tell LB!"
Pegasus' smile disappeared, "This is a team secret! Ladybug and Chat have their stuff, this is just us, we aren't telling them. Besides, if I'm right, this will make our lives a lot easier. Okay what about me?"
"Max"
"Max"
"Max"
"Max"
"Seriously?" All the excitement left Pegasus as he noticed the team members who hadn't said anything were nodding their agreement.
Monkey King patted his shoulder, "Sorry, Buddy, you're really smart, and you talk about statistics too much."
Pegasus nodded, "See, that's the stuff that is important we are learning, and yes, I'm Max. Now," he looked at his phone, "Viperion, 72% probability it's Julika's brother Luka but I ran it again and it came out 85% Adrien other possibilities are Theo the guy who's with Luka in his Terminale and this one is really weird but Adrien's father."
Fort smiled, and Viperion knew he was in trouble, "Luka Couffaine, Julika's brother."
Monkey King frowned, "Adrien."
Pegasus looked thoughtful, "It doesn't really matter what I guess because we have conflicting answers, you don't have to answer."
Fort's mouth dropped open, "That's not fair, what if the girls were here, some of them might not have guessed."
The side of Viperion's mouth lifted in half a smile.
Pegasus looked at Fort, "Fort, they would have guessed and they would have guessed me too. But I guess it would be more fun with the girls. Does anyone want us to guess them?"
Monkey King patted his chest, "Do me!"
"Kim"
"Kim"
"Kim"
As with Pegasus everyone was either saying his name or nodding. the only difference was Monkey King was loving it. "How'd you know?"
Pegasus laughed, "You are exactly the same person in costume as you are out of it."
Monkey King laughed, "Cool."
Rena ran up to the group, "Sorry, I'm late!"
Over the next 5 minutes the rest of their team assembled
Queen Bee twisted her battle top open, "Rena, I'm going to have to go in 10 minutes."
Ryuko nodded, "I have to leave at 1700 too."
Rena nodded, "Sure, actually do you guys want to just cancel today since practice technically ends in 15?"
Everyone agreed.
"Or!" Pegasus interrupted, "We could play our new game."
Rena looked at Carapace who looked a little ill, "Game?"
Pegasus helpfully explained.
"And you've already played a few rounds I presume?" she asked.
"Four, Fort, Myself, Viperion, and Monkey King," he replied, not realizing Rena's voice had become scarily soft.
"Explain to me how as smart as you are, you thought playing a game like that would be wise under a bridge in a public place where anyone could be listening?!" she said her voice increasing in voluming with each word. She took a breath, "Did you get any right?"
"All but Viperion," he said no longer smug.
Rena stepped close and whispered through clenched teeth, "so what you are proudly saying is anyone could have overheard all of you saying that you are Max, he's Ivan and he's Kim? Sheesh aren't you supposed to be smart Pegasus?"
Pegasus felt his face flush with shame.
Lace spoke up looking at Viperion, "So let's go some place not public."
Rena looked at her, "Like?"
The tiger miraculous holder was much more commanding when she was transformed but she was always more comfortable when she was with friends, she looked at everyone, "If everyone can guess who I am, then we can go to my house," she said looking at Viperion again.
Oratrice the chosen of the pig kwami spoke up first in a whisper, "Julika!" then hugged her making it completely obvious who she was.
Multi Mouse looked at Lace closely, then walked around her then nodding she whispered, "Julika."
Bunnyx looked irritated, "It's Julika, let's go it's dangerous doing this out here, Rena's right, you all know better."
Viperion noticed for the first time the pink haired hero did not look like she was ready to step on the world and declare herself champion.
After opting to run since they were so close they made it to the Liberty in three minutes, Lace hid and de-transformed quickly to board and tell Anarka that she had met up with the Miraculous team and invited them over. Anarka agreed and gave them their space telling them she had intended to go out anyway.
The Liberty was a spacious vessel, a canal style houseboat moored along the Seine but unusual in the fact it could still sail when the mood took the captain, which it did quite often as she had a strong sense of wanderlust. So when Julika ushered her friends aboard they were all able to find places to lounge most in their typical locations making them easy to pick out.
Rena stood next to Carapace and looked to Pegasus, "I think the smart way to do this is if you've been figured out, de-transform. Ryuko and Queen Bee you have to leave so you two are next."
Fort, King Monkey and Pegasus detransformed and their Kwami's sat on Ivan's drum set watching with interest while .
Rena looked at Bunnyx, "Is this okay? Can you check?"
Bunnyx sighed, "I think it's okay, Fluff would have warned me if we were going to do something stupid."
Rena looked to Carapace who shrugged in response. "Alright Max, Queen Bee?"
Max pulled Markoff out of his duffle bag and let him take over number crunching. Queen Bee has a 96% probability of being Chloe Bourgeois again."
Max looked at his friend, "Those are some pretty good odds."
"I concur, if I had a vote, I would say it's her," Markoff said.
Max nodded, "I think it's Chloe."
Everyone agreed.
Queen Bee shook her head, "I'm not Chloe."
Max's jaw dropped, "But? Never mind, you have a choice you can tell us if you want or you can keep your secret."
Queen Bee nodded, "Can I choose at the end? After seeing how many people get revealed before I leave at least?"
Max nodded, everyone else seemed to think that was fair, "Sure."
Rena looked at Ryuko, "Okay Ryuko's turn Markoff."
"No data about Ryuko, you're more than welcome to give me a name and I can run it."
Multi Mouse spoke up, "Ooh! How about Chloe!?"
Markoff spoke up quickly, "72% probability."
"What about Marinette Dupain-Cheng?" Oratrice asked.
"4% Probability."
Ryuko frowned and pulled out her phone, "Guys, I really don't have much time."
Rena nodded, "Okay, I vote Chloe."
Everyone agreed.
Ryuko frowned and shook her head, "Seriously? I'm Asian. I'm Mireille Caquet, and I have to go, news at 5!" and she detransformed.
Queen Bee smiled, "No Way! I'm Aurore Beauréal," she said with a laugh, "That's why I have to go too! We'd better get going at least the station is close."
The girls laughed and waved to everyone and left so they could get to work. Mireille for the weather and Aurore for her segment on emotion management and akuma avoidance for teens.
Rena looked at Carapace, "So we probably have all of Kitty Section, and both teen tv stars. Too bad Adrien isn't Chat, we'd be teen heartthrobs and heroes." She looked over at Viperion, "They didn't guess you were Julika's brother?"
"Some did, some didn't," he answered cryptically.
She looked at the rest of the team, "Seriously? Who couldn't tell that's Luka?" She pointed to a picture of him on the wall then back to Viperion. "Seriously?"
Julika snickered.
Rena looked at everyone, "Who guessed someone else?"
Bunnyx spoke up, "It was probably Kim."
Kim frowned, "You weren't even there."
She smiled, "It was you wasn't it."
One side of his mouth lifted, "Maybe."
Rena frowned, "Who did you guess?"
"Adrien."
Rena walked over to Viperion, "Does this look like Adrien?"
Kim frowned, "Well, n-"
"Exactly, now change your answer so the rest of us can vote."
Kim sighed, "Luka."
Everyone else dutifully guessed Luka whether they thought it was Luka or not.
Viperion while mildly irritated couldn't help but find the situation humorous waited to be told he had to reveal himself.
Rena looked at him, "Well?"
Viperion looked at her, "Um, how would you all feel if I told you I wasn't Luka?"
Rena looked uncomfortable.
Viperion walked around the counter and picked up one of the cookies that had been cooling earlier and took a bite. He watched Ora give him a dirty look, she'd told him those cookies were for Alix, he gave her a cocky smile, "Yeah, I'm Luka," he said de-transformed then opened the fridge and pulled out a hardboiled egg and gave it to Sass and opened a cupboard and brought a box of cookies over to the kwamies sitting on the drum kit.
Ivan picked the cookie box up, "hey, no, no way, crumbs man, not okay," he said placing the box on a table and the kwamis descended on the box.
Luka walked over to pick up his guitar and looked at Fidelite, "And I'm the guitarist, Julika's the Bassist."
Fidelite turned as pink as Ora's outfit.
Rena had no idea what they were talking about, "Okay, who's next," her eyes landed on Oilarra's redhead, "Oilarra, you're up."
Markoff spoke up, "99% probability Nathaniel Kurtzberg."
Rena nodded, "Makes sense," she looked over at Yang, "and I'll just bet you're Marc."
Carapace nodded and everyone else followed suit.
Yang looked at Rena, "So, does that mean I have to reveal myself too?"
Rena nodded, "are you Marc?"
He nodded.
The two boys de transformed and smiled at everyone then sat down together.
Rena looked at the girl in pink, "Ora? I'm almost certain you're Rose. Honestly Ladybug should never have given the pig to a girl who wears pink... everything everyday."
Everyone agreed, and Oratrice de-transformed revealing herself as Rose.
Kim spoke up, "I'd say long time no see but, you know, I see you every week," he said referring to the fact she didn't go to school with them anymore. Rose, Sabrina and a few other classmates went to different schools for Lycee even though College Françoise Dupont was part of a Lycee. Rose had applied and been accepted to a musical conservatory and Sabrina was going to her father's alma mater on of the prestigious military academies.
Rose spoke up before Rena could say anything, "Okay, Rena's turn or should we all say Alya? Markoff?"
Markoff ran the information, "Alya Cesare has a 62% probability of being Rena Rouge, Caline Bustier has a 55% probability and Julia Dorff has a 22% probability."
Rose looked confused, "Who's that?"
Kim spoke up, "She's a girl in our European History class."
Multi Mouse spoke up, "Mme. Bustier? From College?"
Rena smiled wickedly, "Em guessed Mme. Bustier, next?"
Multi Mouse frowned, "I did not! Alya!"
Everyone agreed and after a bout of bickering Alya revealed herself then turned to carapace and pointed, "You."
Markoff never even had an opportunity to calculate everyone was so used to Alya and Nino's dynamic it was undeniable that Carapace was Nino and they quickly stated their guesses.
Alya looked at Multi Mouse, "Em?"
"92% probability Mylene Haprele."
Rena nodded, "I'll take those odds."
Everyone agreed and Mylene waved after de-transforming from Multi Mouse then walked over to Julika and Rose where she said, "Your turn Fidelite."
Fidelite looked nervous.
Markoff took a moment then replied, "No data for Fidelite."
Rena looked her up and down but Max spoke, "Run Sabrina Raincomprix," Markoff need not have bothered as Fidelite's body language proved he was right.
Bunnyx laughed for the first time that day, "Sabrina!"
Quickly everyone else agreed and Fidelite shrugged and de-transformed. "Why are we doing this again?"
Max spoke up, "So we can learn what we're doing that's making it so obvious to each other and fix it."
Rena nodded, at least it wasn't just a game. "Alright, Bunnyx, you're up, aren't you glad you joined us today?"
Bunnyx looked at Alya through narrowed eyes, "Not really."
Hidden in the trees above the room's glass ceiling a couple sat in the branches watched. Well the woman watched, the man was annoying the woman. Maybe annoying was too strong of a word. He had pulled her hair to the right and she felt his teeth rake across the back of her neck then his lips as he kissed her. "They're cute aren't they?" She said watching one of the most defining moments of her life.
He peered at the teens under her hair seeing himself, remembering he just wanted to go to his room, "I don't think I appreciate knowing that I was being watched."
She shrugged, "you'll be fine. It's only you."
He grinned, "Yeah, and I know what I was thinking about you once I realized who you were."
"Oh?" Alix teased.
He smiled.
" Oh?! That early? What a pervert. "
Luka looked offended, "Come on I was 18 cut me some slack! You were gorgeous."
Alix pretended to be offended, "Were?"
Luka would have laughed if they didn't have to be quiet, "Are stunning."
"Better."
¤¤¤
Markoff, "Bunnyx 68% probability Cailyn Bustier 96% probability Alix Kubdel."
Luka looked at the girl in blue and white, so that was why she seemed so off today. Was she Julika's friend whose father was making her give up everything to become a society darling?
Julika, Rose, Mylene and Alya all seemed to think so since they all voted that she was Alix then he realized they all had been late. And they'd all been here when he left, when it was his turn to vote he voted Alix as well he wasn't sure why but for some reason when she de transformed it was like seeing her for the first time. He'd seen her dozens of times over the years but today he realized he was about to lose someone real. If she became what her father wanted she would slowly change from the outside in.
¤¤¤
Above them Alix grabbed Luka's wrist, this was why they were here, to make sure it happened, an anomaly happened in the timeline and she needed to make sure they were going to be together, sure it was fun to watch but in reality they were watching because they were scared. What if 18 year old Luka didn-.
¤¤¤
Almost without thinking Luka strode forward and did something he never had done before he wrapped his long fingers around Alix's wrist, "Can I talk to you? Marinette told me about your dad."
¤¤¤
Above them Alix leaned her head back on Luka's shoulder, "Thank God!"
"I told you we had nothing to worry about. Now let's go home before someone sees us and calls the police. We would never convince people we're Viperion and Bunnyx at our age"
They quietly climbed down and left both the area and the time. They'd check on them, another time, both literally and figuratively.
¤¤¤
Alix looked down at her wrist following the black fingernails up long fingers to long hands to long arms and broad shoulders and a long neck was everything about this boy long even his hair was long? Whoa, she hadn't noticed Julika's brother's face getting so angular. He smiled gently at her and she remembered Marinette telling her privately that Luka was the gentlest person she had ever met and it was no surprise that he and Julika were siblings. Alix nodded and followed him. He never let go of her wrist but lead her around and she knew where he was taking her but by the time they got there she had no idea why but she knew she was blushing by the heat she felt on her face.
When Luka got to his room he sat on his bed and scooted over to make room for Alix on his clean and neat bed. She sat down on the opposite side of the bed. "Um, I know you're Julika's friend but if you're having problems at home Maman would let you stay here."
Alix smiled, "It's not like that."
Luka frowned, "It kind of sounded like it."
Alix frowned, "How much do you know?"
"Marinette said, your father said you have to debut at Le Ball this year and afterwards you aren't allowed to be yourself."
"Well, that's not 100% true. I have to be the modified version."
Luka tilted his head, "That's what I said."
She smiled shyly, "you're pretty perceptive."
"Thank you."
"Well, here's what makes it difficult, do you know how exclusive it is to be a debutant at Le Ball?"
He nodded, "It's a pretty big deal."
"Yeah, well, in the history of the ball they've had no Africans."
Luka looked confused.
Alix nodded, "It's okay I know, I don't 'look African'," she smiled, "You've heard of Berbers right?"
Luka nodded, in school he learned about the indiginous brown peoples of northern Africa who lived there even before the Arab people came.
"Well, we prefer not to use that name, I'm Amazigh. I don't want to do this, but at the same time I feel like I'm letting down an entire people."
Luka looked confused, "Are you some kind of princess?"
She shook her head. "When you're a minority every opportunity is like a social responsibility. Every minority is an ambassador of their people, whether they realize it or not. Everything we do represents not just ourselves but our people simply because our group is small enough when people interact with us, we're the only person of our culture they may ever meet."
He nodded, he understood responsibility. Suddenly there was nothing to say but he didn't want her to leave. The quiet was comfortable, until it wasn't. Then it became an uncomfortable pause. Something he had heard of but never experienced, he'd always been happy in the quiet. "So, um do-"
"I should get going," she said simultaneously getting up and walking to the door.
Luka reached for her wrist and pulled her back as he stood up, she didn't resist instead she walked back toward him with a questioning look on her face. He slid his fingers down her wrist and palm the whole way leaving tingles from the calluses built up from years of playing. When his fingers reached their destination he threaded them easily through hers but she was the one who locked their hands together. He smiled down at her, as he realized, she was so tiny he reached up with his right hand and threaded his fingers in the hair near the nape of her neck and rubbed her jaw with his thumb and leaned down whispering, "I hope you know I'm going to kiss you now."
She whispered, "Yeah," on a sigh and his lips descended on hers. Only for a moment, then he pulled her lower lip into his mouth to give it special attention. She gripped his hand and wrapped her free arm around his waist. She pulled at his lips with her teeth and the sweet fight was on, the kiss lasted far longer than the simple peck Luka had originally intended and when they pulled apart he noticed they were both breathing heavily and she was on her toes. She rocked back and smiled but didn't look at his face, she seemed suddenly fascinated by his collection of picks.
He smiled, "I'm, I, I don't, I realized today, I like you."
Alix looked back to his face.
"I mean, I realized, I don't want to lose the opportunity to, that is to say, I," He nearly rolled his eyes, he'd never had difficulty communicating. Well that wasn't necessarily true but this was ridiculous. "I don't want you to change. I like you the way you are," the words rushed passed his lips as he looked at her shoulder length shaggy red and black hair. He realized she'd been slowly getting it evened up over the past year and wondered how long she knew she'd have to do this.
Alix smiled up to him. She remembered when she was a little kid, probably 11, Luka had been her first crush, at 12 he'd been so cool and after coming back from Egypt with her father and brother he was the first boy she'd seen in a year. Everyone she'd seen had been a university student or older. She'd been so excited to get to attend the exclusive collège Françoise Dupont, especially when she met the cute dark haired boy, then her father walked out of the building with a frustrated look on his face and told her she wasn't accepted due to her year away. She'd been held back a year and sent to ecole elementaire which had broken her heart. They said her homeschooling didn't count because her father didn't report her progress properly over the past year. However it was in elementaire where she had met Julika and through her she eventually met Luka again. Eventually, she'd let go of her bitterness and it was where she'd made all her friends. "I- um- I should go, my grandmother is expecting me."
Luka nodded as she walked to the door, "Wait! Can I see you? Like as more than everyone's friend?"
Alix looked over at him a smile over taking her face, "I'd like that. But I really have to go," she frowned thinking of the trouble she was going to get into, "Can you get my number from Julika?"
He nodded dumbfounded, her lashes were so long, was she always this pretty? He'd really never noticed her, she'd always been in the background at practices if she came at all, "Yeah, I'll do that, I mean, I'll text you tonight or call?"
She was already gone.
Luka looked at the empty doorway and smiled then ran the three steps to his vanity and pulled out his sheet paper.