Chapter Text
Okay, another Luka VS. Félix (possible) two-shot. May be longer depending on the situation.
When Marinette indirectly gets her heart broken by her crush/obsession, Félix Graham de Vanily, she finds solace and healing in violin lessons... Not to mention her ultra-sexy violin teacher, Luka!
And Aged-Up, No Miraculous Music AU with some S4 spoilers. Nothing too much, though.
Song(s) Included, With/Without Modifications:
Show Me The Way - Jem and the Holograms
*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!*
"Mmph... Ten more minutes..." A voice mumbled. The annoying sound of the alarm clock kept beeping. "Fine..."
Up in a pink loft bed was a girl of about seventeen. She had dark hair in pigtails, fair skin, and as she blearily opened her eyes, they were revealed to be as blue as the ocean on a summer day.
She yawned before sitting up. She blinked away the sleepiness in her eyes before shaking her head. She leaped out of the bed and stumbled (read: slid and fell) down the stairs to her loft bed. She landed on her stomach and groaned. She got on her knees, sat up and smiled at the sight before her.
All over the walls of her room were pictures of a young man around her age with blonde hair that was heavily combed back, wearing a black, sleeveless vest over a long-sleeved, grey dress shirt. He had a black necktie, he was wearing black pants and and black dress shoes. He was also blonde with tanned skin and bright green eyes. There were other photos of him in different outfits, and they were all snapshots of movies he was in.
She stood up and went to her computer. She turned on the screensaver and there were more pictures of the boy.
"Good morning!" She squealed as she made kissing noises at it. She giggled before pushing herself away from the table, spinning in her chair while laughing.
She sighed as she swiftly got dressed in her signature clothes. A white shirt with a floral design under a dark gray blazer that had pale pink polka dots around it. She was wearing pink pants and flat shoes as well as a pink purse that had the same flower design on her shirt.
Marinette smiled as she grabbed her backpack, giggled, and ran down the stairs that led to a trap door to her bedroom. She went into the kitchen, grabbed a croissant, and said, "Bye mom, I'll see you later!"
"Have a good day, honey!" Her mother, a smaller Chinese woman with short, dark hair and silver eyes said as she worked in the kitchen.
"Thanks, mom!" Marinette said as she ran out of the bakery storefront and started to the street. She looked up and saw her school, François-Dupont Lycée.
Once the crossing light turned green, she ran for the gates for her school. She felt her heart go on a high, excited for the day.
In her classroom, Marinette was sitting with her group of gal-pals, consisting of her BFF Alya Césaire, a girl with dark skin, dark red, wavy ombré hair, hazel eyes behind glasses, and wearing an orange flannel shirt; Myléne Hapréle, a shorter, somewhat plumper girl with golden eyes, and golden hair in dreadlocks in different colors behind a bandana, wearing a green jacket over her clothes; Rose Lavillant, a fair-skinned girl wearing mostly pink with big periwinkle eyes and blonde hair in a pixie cut; Alix Kubdel, the shortest of the bunch, who had pink hair in a spiky ponytail, blue eyes, and was wearing mostly black athletic gear.
"So girl, he isn't here yet. What'cha got planned to tell him how you feel?" Alya asked, her face neutral.
"Well, I'm gonna write a card to him with a love poem, and when I get the chance, I'll just hand it to him and get out of there." Marinette said.
"But don't you wanna see his reaction?! Don't you want him to tell you to your face his true feelings and sweep him off your feet?!" Rose asked, her eyes alight with idealized romance.
"Oh, I do, but..." Marinette said as she tried to imagine how he'd respond to her confession.
The door opened and in walked in another one of their friends, Juleka Couffaine, who was a girl primarily dressed in purple and black with copper eyes.
When the girls looked up, they gasped at the sight in shock. Juleka's ankle-length, black hair with purple tips had been cut to just below her neck, and it looked like someone had just hacked it off with a knife like in "Mulan".
"Juleka!" Rose gasped as she ran up to her girlfriend. "What happened to your hair?!"
"It got cut..." Juleka mumbled, fingering it in distress.
"Well, whoever did it did a crappy job," Marinette pointed out. "It looks terrible. We should schedule a hair appointment to fix that until your hair grows back."
"Thanks." Juleka mumbled again, with everyone nodding in agreement while Rose and Juleka went to their shared desk.
A few minutes later, the door opened again, and Marinette looked up when she saw him: blonde, green eyes, sharply-dressed.
Félix Graham de Vanily, the son of the Graham Films' owners and a movie star in his own right.
He'd appeared in multiple films of his family's making, either in cameos or minor roles. He had the occasional supporting role, but he was never the protagonist, which was a case of him insisting to want to earn the role himself (or so he claimed).
Marinette all but swooned at the sight of him as his usual cold frown seemed nonexistent to her. He merely walked to his desk and sat down at it, his bag on the table.
Marinette propped her face up in her hands as she stared at him with hearts fluttering around her head... Unaware that Juleka and the girls were giving the boy subtle glares.
Later in the hallway, Marinette was hiding near the locker area. She looked in and sure enough, Félix was there, gathering materials for his next class.
"Girl, are you sure you wanna do this?" Alya asked.
"Yes, I am." Marinette said.
"No, are you really sure about this?" Alya repeated, as if trying to warn Marinette about something.
"What do you mean?" Marinette asked.
"Well... I guess I just... Have my doubts about this." Alya said.
"Have your doubts?" Marinette questioned. "But Alya, I have to tell Félix how I feel, or it's just gonna eat at me until there's no room in my brain."
"I think you're already at that point," Alya sighed, a deadpan expression on her face. "But you're right, getting it out of your system will be healthy."
Marinette peeked in and as she saw the lighting in the room illuminate his hair and eyes, Marinette could feel her eyes turn into hearts. Her real heart was pounding and she tried to suppress a giggle.
As he made to turn around and leave the lockers, Marinette's brain froze before going into overdrive, and she immediately turned around. She said to Alya, "Abort the mission! I'm not ready! I can't do this! Not now!"
Marinette grabbed Alya by the wrist and dashed off. Her face was redder than a tomato and she felt so embarrassed.
Alya shook her head, never bored with her BFF's embarrassed antics.
About two days later...
Marinette was sitting in the art room. She'd folded a bit of red paper and cut a heart out, making sure it could open up into two hearts. She had a black glitter pen and was doing her best to write her best calligraphy.
"Okay Marinette, this is the day!" She said to herself. "Today, you're going to march right up to Félix Graham de Vanily, give him this card, and then you'll begin your fairytale with him!"
But thoughts began occurring to her, ones that she was afraid of.
"But... What if he doesn't feel that way about me?! Or what if he does like me like that, and he just didn't know how to show it before?! Or maybe he does care, just on a platonic level and-?!" Marinette began fretting aloud.
She shook her head as she tried to clear her mind before saying, "NO! I'm not gonna chicken out! Not today, not ever!"
Marinette furiously wrote her message, which composed of a poem with her best handwriting.
"And... DONE!" Marinette said as she held up the card and red it over. "Yes! This is perfect!"
Her phone beeped with a text alert, and she looked at it. She saw it was Alya, and the message said, "Come to the classroom. GF meeting."
Marinette texted Alya back, put her materials away, and she picked up her card with the most tender touch before leaving the art room.
Meanwhile, Alya was with the girls in their classroom, including the newer members Kagami Tsurugi, a transfer student from Japan, with shorter black hair, almond-shaped eyes, and wearing a school uniform. There was also Zoé Lee, the half-sister of the mayor's daughter/school bully Chloé Bourgeois, who had blonde hair with a pink fringe, blue eyes, was wearing a black blazer over a white shirt with a flower, white pants, and decorated sneakers. She also had a blue beanie on her head.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Alya?" Myléne asked.
"Yes, I'm sure," Alya said, her arms crossed. "She'll wind up getting hurt if we don't."
"Hey girls!" Marinette said as she dashed into the room. "Sorry I'm late! What's going on?"
She saw the uncomfortable/concerned/worried/anxious looks on her friends' faces, and they all looked to Alya to get the conversation going. Alya took a deep breath and faced Marinette.
"Girl, we need to talk." Alya said as she sat Marinette down.
"What's up?" Marinette said as she held her red heart card to her chest. "Whatever it is, let's get it banged out! I gotta get this card to Félix!"
"About that... You know we always have your back when it comes to your love life, but... This time, we need to draw the line." Alya admitted.
"What? Why?!" Marinette asked, confused.
"We don't think Félix is a good match for you." Rose admitted, her usual smile gone.
"He's big time bad news." Juleka mumbled as she rubbed what was left of her hair.
"What do you mean?" Marinette questioned. "Why are you contradicting yourselves like this?! You've always supported me before."
"That was then, this is now. You need to see this." Kagami said before snapping her fingers to Alya, who pulled up a video on her phone and handed the device to Marinette.
Marinette hit the play button, and she watched the video. The first clip depicted Kagami and Félix fencing. Unsurprisingly, Kagami wiped the floor with Félix, but after the fact...
Kagami was at her locker, putting her things again. She had her practice bamboo bokken at her side.
"Kagami." Félix stated as he came into the locker area.
"Félix, hello. Nice match back there." Kagami said.
"You too... Is what I wish I could say." Félix said, his face going from neutral to angry in a split second.
Kagami's eyes widened at the sight, and she asked, "Excuse me?"
"You heard me. Your victory today was a fluke," Félix said. "I'll bet you cheated."
"Me, cheat?! My mother would kill me if I did such a dishonest thing. That's against my code!" Kagami said.
Marinette gasped and quickly paused.
"Hold on, this can't be right..." Marinette began.
"Just keep watching." Alya instructed.
Marinette bit the bullet and hit the play button again.
Félix's eyes went to the bokken. He maneuvered around Kagami and grabbed it.
"HEY!" Kagami shouted. "Put that down!"
"Oh, I will." Félix said with a laugh as he took the bokken into both of his hands and snapped it over his knee.
"NO!" Kagami screamed.
He threw the busted weapon to the ground before saying, "There, I put it down for you. Not so useful anymore, huh? Maybe you'll think before beating me in a match next time."
Félix cackled in amusement before turning on his heel and walking away, leaving Kagami reeling, tears streaming down her face.
"What?!" Marinette asked, surprised.
"That's not the only clip." Myléne said as the video transitioned over to the next scene.
Myléne was in the art room, working on a few protest signs with her boyfriend, Ivan. They were planning a small group demonstration outside the Hôtel de Ville over a new bill that had been introduced that would create limitations in planting tree saplings in areas within Paris that didn't have as many buildings. While some of those limitations were understandable (the bill would prevent any species that weren't indigenous/native to the area from being planted, for example), other limitations caused outcry amongst the people, which was where Myléne and Ivan were stepping in and speaking out.
"Okay, so we're going to need a tree on the sign, obviously..." Myléne said as she started writing "Plant More Trees - Help Us Breathe!" on the sign.
"This is gonna be a good one, Myléne!" Ivan praised as he gave her a hug.
"Thanks, Ivan." Myléne praised back.
They heard the rustling of papers and saw someone pick up the sign. They looked up and saw Félix had picked the sign up and started looking it over.
" Seriously? "Plant More Trees - Help Us Breathe"? What's this about?" Félix questioned.
"It's about that new bill that's been introduced. If it passes, tree planting could really suffer. Trees provide so much oxygen, and with how populated the city is, the more trees, the better." Mylene explained.
"Even though trees take forever to grow?" Félix asked.
"True, but Nelson Henderson wrote that the true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you don't expect to sit." Mylene argued.
"That's bullcrap," Félix scoffed as he waved the sign in the air. "As if the mayor's gonna reject the bill. The only people he listens to are his wife and daughter. The minute one of them says sign the bill, he's gonna do it. I wouldn't bother protesting."
He crumbled up the sign in his hand before throwing it against the wall and making it bounce into the recycling.
"Félix, what the hell?!" Ivan barked.
"Just saving you some time that you'd be wasting with this fallacy of a protest." Félix said as he turned on his heel and left.
"The hell?!" Marinette asked, both confused and angry at the same time.
"There's more." Alya stated.
Alya was sharing an article with her boyfriend Nino Lahiffe, that she wrote for her assignment.
"Well, what do you think? I wrote a pretty damn good article for the school newspaper, huh?" Alya bragged.
"It's well-written, babe, but..." Nino began, not sure how to break the news to his girlfriend.
"But...?" Alya asked, only for someone to take the paper away from Nino.
"Hey, Félix," Alya said as she saw him reading her article. "That's a badass article for the newspaper, huh? Gotta do some final touches before I send it in."
"Badass?" Félix scoffed. "Try bad work. This is pathetic."
Alya's eyes widened and she asked, "I beg your pardon?!"
"Did you even triple-check your sources? Was it a reputable website with experts as the authors? Or were you just reading the one blog post and forming and basing your research on that alone? Some of these statements aren't even true, just perpetuated myths." Félix asked.
"I... Um, I..." Alya began, not sure how to respond. Her face turned red in embarrassment.
"Not only that, but this article is completely biased! This is supposed to be an argumentative piece that shows two sides of the argument! You're only writing about one side of the issue." Félix pointed out.
Nino looked it over and he winced when he muttered, "Um... He's right."
"What?!" Alya said as she looked at the paper again and she saw Nino had taken a pen and made some notes on it.
"You're not just a crap writer, but you're a shitty researcher, too," Félix said. "You'll never hack it as a journalist like this!"
He spat on the paper before tearing it up and throwing it on the floor.
Marinette's eyes got wide.
"He-!" Marinette began.
"One more clip to go." Alix said, cutting in.
Juleka was in another classroom, brushing her hair and looking at herself in her hand mirror. She was trying out different barrettes that would hold her bangs up and expose both of her eyes.
She was so focused that she didn't know that someone had come into the room. She passively heard footsteps behind her, but she also heard someone stumble with a shout, as well as feeling her long hair get moved.
She quietly turned her head to see Félix was standing there, one knee on the floor along with his hands.
"Hey! I nearly tripped over your hair, Couffaine!" Félix spat as he glared at her. "You're hair's liable to get somebody hurt, it's so damn long!"
"But I like my hair..." Juleka mumbled, quiet as usual.
A mischievous, cruel glint flashed in Félix's eyes.
"You know? I think I'll fix this little problem of yours." Félix said as he went to the teacher's desk and pulled out a pair of scissors. He opened and closed them, allowing the sunlight to shine off the blades.
Juleka' paled and scooted back as Félix came over to her. He grabbed her hair, yanked it back, and he cut all of her hair off below her neck in one snip.
Marinette gasped at the sight, covering her mouth.
Juleka's black and purple hair fell to the floor, and she looked at herself in her hand mirror, about to cry.
"There. Easier to manage, isn't it?" Félix cackled as he put the scissors away, stepped in the pile of hair, and he walked out of the room. Juleka was quietly sobbing in the room.
Once the video ended, Marinette looked up in dismay, with shock and tears in her eyes. Her heart was aching harder than ever, and the cruel verbal daggers that were Félix's words were causing her ears to bleed and ring.
"I... I..." Marinette spoke, her voice small and quiet. The scene behind her went black and the sound of shattering glass was heard. The girls were looking at her with expressions that combined pity and the obvious "we warned you" in their eyes.
"He... How could he do all of that?!" Marinette asked, her face and eyes in her hands. "Why?!"
"For kicks," Kagami said. "He thought it was funny."
"Well, it's not!" Marinette shouted as she stood up. "How dare he?! Ruining Myléne's protest signs, cutting Juleka's hair, snapping Kagami's bokken, insulting Alya's reporting?!"
"Granted, he had a point in my case..." Alya admitted with a wince.
"But even so!" Marinette cried. "He... He..."
"It gets worse," Zoé said as she pulled up another video showing Félix talking to another girl in their class, Lila Rossi, both of whom were badmouthing Marinette behind her back. "He also said that while you're a talented designer, you're just an overly-intelligent klutz with no organization in life and..."
"Enough!" Marinette screamed as she stood and kept weeping.
Her tears were streaming down her face, her breathing was heavy, and she was feeling her entire world collapse. The tears that fell from her face landed on the ink on the card, smearing the message's more important points, and warping the paper.
In a fit, Marinette snatched the card up, tore it to shreds, and threw it in the recycling bin before turning on her heel and running out of the classroom in tears.
The girls looked on in worry.
"Think it was too much?" Rose asked.
"I don't think so," Kagami responded. "It was cruel, yes, but if we didn't tell her now, what if she and Félix actually did start dating? She'd be living a nightmare."
"She's right." Alya agreed before looking after Marinette, worried.
Marinette had run out of the school, tears blinding her as she ran down the road away from home, not really paying attention to where she was going. The idea that the man of her dreams turned out to be nothing more than a hidden villain in one of the horror movies she detested was killing her. She felt her heart shatter with each step she took.
Feeling the need to give her lungs some relief, she stopped and started breathing heavily. After a few minutes, she looked around at her surroundings and realized that she'd run a fair distance from school.
She should've known. She was never that lucky. Why didn't she see it before? Her prince charming was nothing more than a filthy ogre and she needed to be whacked over the head with an iron skillet a la Rapunzel to see it.
"I keep going in circles, never know where I stand. A broken heart wasn't exactly in my plan!" Marinette sang as tears kept running down her face. She looked up at one of the metro maps, possibly for a route outside the city. "Show me the way, whoa!"
"Show me the way (show me the way), oh won't somebody show me the way? (show me the way) The right direction?!" Marinette sang as she saw a nearby digital billboard screen switch to Félix's face - another movie ad. She turned on her heel and ran.
"Show me the way (show me the way), the right connection?! Show me the way, oh, show me the way (show me)!" Marinette cried while maneuvering through the city streets, trying to get away from anything reminding her of Félix.
Just her luck, she ended up seeing more promotional material for Félix's next movie. Remembering all the video clips her friends showed her, Marinette was feeling tears prick the back of her eyes again. She walked away before sprinting.
"Almost fell into danger, seems I never win. Thought, "I'm safe", then saw the mess I'd be in!" Marinette sang, crying as she imagined what her life would've been like if she'd learned about Félix's true nature too late. "Show me the way, whoa!"
The scene changed and Marinette seemed to be falling through space, shattered hearts and crying face emojis everywhere around her. She was frantically looking around in fear, trying to find an anchor and save herself.
"Where in all this heartache do I go?!" Marinette sang as she saw film reels shooting at her. She tried to dodge them, only for them to wrap themselves around her, binding her arms.
"Baby, baby. If you know, whoa!" Marinette sang as she saw an opening to escape. Spools of thread and ribbons swirled around her. She squirmed her hand out and tried to grab at one, but they all vanished.
As Marinette was able to free herself from her bindings (mostly), she frantically looked around for an exit. Up ahead, she saw the silhouette of a young man around her age. Not seeing his face, she reached out to him.
"Show me the way (show me the way)! Oh won't somebody, show me the way, show me the way? (Show me the way) The right direction?!" Marinette sang as she tried to grab the guy's hand, only for the light to reveal him as Félix.
She screamed and wound up falling to the ground. She looked up and saw she was in a huge labyrinth. She looked at the entrance, which was labeled "Heartbreak," and she could vaguely see a sign that said "Healing" out in the distance.
She stood up and began running, but every wrong turn led to a dead end, Félix's face, or both.
"Show me the way (show me the way), the right connection!" Marinette sang as she pivoted and ran down another corridor.
After what seemed like hours, she found the exit, which led to what seemed to be a perfect flower meadow with birds, butterflies, and ladybugs flying around it. She also saw her friends on a picnic blanket with a basket on hand. Feeling relief, Marinette made a dash.
"Show me the way, oh show me the way (show me)!" Marinette sang as she reached the exit...
But it turned out to be a figment of her imagination, as the illusion morphed into another dead end wall, with Félix's face. Feeling despair, she fell to her knees and began to cry.
"Show me the way, oh show me the way (show me)!" Marinette sang before looking up at the sky and once again screaming in song, "Show me the way, oh SHOW ME THE WAY~ (the way, the way, the way)!"
After that scene...
Dusk soon came upon the city. Marinette was still wandering around Paris, her heart heavy with the burden and guilt of falling for the wrong guy.
'I'm so lucky the girls woke me up before it was too late...' Marinette thought, tears still staining her face. Another Félix poster came into view. She glowered at it. 'I should probably start by getting rid of all of his pictures in my room. Burn them, actually.'
But her rage once again melted into sadness as she walked right past the poster. Did she genuinely have such bad taste in men? Or was she just deceived that easily? Félix was an actor and magician. Illusions were part of the package, so maybe he was putting on a performance and she fell for it? Either way, seeing him treat her friends like that... It hurt. Bad.
Out of the air, violin music began playing. She looked up and looked at where it was coming from. The music sounded like it was in minor key, the sad tones of the song reminding her of someone grieving. She allowed herself to close her eyes and let the music soothe her, as it struck a cord in her heart and soul. Listening to the violin seemed to be the salve to the wounds. Her own distress over finding out her crush was an asshole, plus hearing that violin? It made her feel better.
Absently, Marinette started following the sound of the violin, her wounded emotions' starvation for the balm that the music seemed to provide being the motivations.
She found herself in the park near her house. Had she really run around the whole city, only to end up back near her home? That was a lucky streak for her.
Marinette looked around, the golden colors of the dusk bathing the area. She caught sight of the source of the music.
At the fountain was a young man about a year or so older than her, and his back was to her. From what she could see, he was a head or so taller than her, with dark hair that was dyed Caribbean blue. He was also wearing a navy blue jean hoodie jacket, ripped black jeans, and high-top sneakers. She could see that he had black fingernails.
Once he finished his piece, Marinette couldn't help but begin clapping.
Startled, the young man turned around to reveal he had a roman nose, black gages in his ears, and blue eyes like hers. Seeing her though, he seemed to visibly relax at the sight of her. He smiled in response.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Marinette said. "I... You're just so good at the violin."
"Thanks," He replied, his voice smooth and charming. "I wasn't expecting an audience."
Marinette giggled before saying, "I... I guess I was drawn here by your music. It made me feel better."
"Really? How so?" He asked as he walked over and sat down next to her.
"Well..." Marinette began, looking at him.
Was she really about to pour her heart out to a complete stranger? On the other hand, it wasn't like she could confide in her friends, who had to be cruel in order to be kind. She knew they meant well, so it wasn't any use being upset with them.
And her parents wouldn't be much help, either. Knowing her dad, he would get overprotective of her and beat the living daylights out of Félix.
So she had three options: vent to her friends who caused the mess, tell her parents who would rush to her side, or get a therapy session from someone she'd just met.
She took a deep breath and wiped away her tears. Choice three it was.
"I..." Marinette began, her tears about to leak gain. "I... I just got my heart broken not even two hours ago and... I guess the sad tones of your song soothed the pain a bit."
"That's not unusual," He responded, his face looking at her with worry and sadness. "I hear that listening to sad music cheers people up."
"Like the piece you were playing just now? What was it?" Marinette asked.
"Gluck's "Melodie" from Orfeo ed Eurdicie." He said.
"Oh, I know that: that's the opera based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, right? Where Eurydice gets bitten by a snake and dies?" Marinette said.
"Right. You know your stuff." He responded. He picked up the violin and put it into position again, playing a few happier notes, making her laugh. He chuckled in response.
Marinette looked him over as he kept playing. He had the looks to be a model, a movie star, or even a rock star. She had to admit that he was handsome, but her mind and heart were still in another tornado. She had to focus on getting her footing again.
"...So, how long have you been playing?" Marinette asked him.
"I've been playing music since diapers." He said as he went into a staccato trill, once again getting Marinette to laugh.
"Wow, you're amazing," Marinette said. "I wish I could play an instrument like that. All I know are a few notes on the flute."
"Hey, I have another violin at home," He said. "I can teach you if you want?"
"Really? You'd teach me?" Marinette asked.
"Yeah, no problem. Think of this like therapy. You can focus your emotions into creating music that will make you feel better." He responded.
"I'd love that!" Marinette said as she stood up. "When do we start and where?"
"Does tomorrow sound good? Here?" He asked.
"That'd be great! It's right near my house, so I can come right after school and we can start." Marinette confirmed.
"That's great," He said. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yes!" Marinette said as she turned on her heel to go home. But she paused in her step before turning around. "By the way... Your name?"
"Luka." He said, introducing himself.
She smiled and said, "Nice to meet you, Luka. I'm Marinette."
"Lovely to meet you, too." He said, winking at her.
She smiled with a giggle before bouncing on her heels to head home for the night. As she left, the idea of healing through music began to break through the cloudiness of her heartbreak...
Fun fact: I actually used to play violin myself! Now, it's been over a decade, so I need to refresh my memory with some research.
Coming up, Marinette and Luka start their lessons, and Marinette finds out a few other things about her music teacher while trying not to let Félix affect her.
Again, I deleted this by mistake, so please keep the comments and kudos coming!