Chapter Text
Luka Couffaine was one of the many heroes of Paris, and though he wielded the ability of Second Chance he wouldn’t be half the hero he was without his friends' help.
Perched atop the Louvre Pyramid he strummed a calm tune on his lyre, running his finger over one string after another as he watched the chaos before him unfold. His eyes darted to and fro across the field as he tried to make sense of Timetagger’s movements; watching him disappear and reappear seemingly at random as his friends defended against his attacks. They were trying to catch him off guard long enough to get his spray gun away from him, but Timetagger was a tricky one. And tricking him into stopping long enough by getting him to think that Chat Noir and Ladybug were going to give up their Miraculouses wasn’t going to work a second time, which is why they were here.
As Chat and Ladybug had been fighting Timetagger, and keeping his attention preoccupied on them Carapace and Bunnyx had been on clean up duty, secretly smearing and wiping up the markers Timetagger had been leaving all around outside the Louvre during his fight with them. Using Alix’s Burrow to teleport around the area they turned the markers into useless graffiti that he could no longer use. Slowly they were all pushing Timetagger into a corner as his avenues of escape disappeared one by one and Chat and Ladybug pushed him back toward a wall.
Viperion’s eyes flashed around the scene. Just a bit more and his plan would be ready. Chat Noir let out a grunt and a yell as he swung his staff pushing Timetagger back forcing him to teleport further back. Just a bit more. He was getting closer now. Ladybug swung her yoyo at him in hopes of trying to tangle his feet and once more Timetagger teleports back toward another marker and his back hits a wall.
Timetagger smirks at the heroes, “Ha! You think you’ve got me caught? I’m Timetagger! I can be anywhere, any when—!” And as he tries to teleport to another marker that’s when he realizes what’s happened. His eyes widen and he lets out a sharp yell, "NO! No! This isn't fair!"
“Now Carapace! Bunnyx!” Viperion calls out with a forceful strum of his lyre, the sound of the chords shrieking together cacophonously startled Timetagger. And in an instance all of the villain’s attention goes toward Viperion atop of the Louvre Pyramid, he hadn’t noticed him there amidst his battle with Ladybug and Chat Noir and instinctively he points his spray gun at Viperion, ready to send him back to the Cretaceous period with all the other reptiles.
Timetagger pulls the trigger and at the same moment a voice is heard calling out: “Shellter!” Nino yells, jumping out from one of Bunnyx’s burrows. A shield instantaneously surrounds Timetagger’s spray gun and encases his hand down to his wrist. His gun flashes with a bright light.
But Viperion is still atop the Louvre Pyramid with a proud smile on his face. It had worked, his plan was working.
“Nice one, Carapace!” Chat yells out with a whoop and a jump, clicking his heels together, but their job wasn’t done just yet as Ladybug pulled him back to attention with a tug of his arm.
In the next moment Alix’s voice sounds out with a loud call of “Burrow!” as the shield disappears from around Timetagger’s hand and a portal appears behind Timetagger. Alix shoots out of the burrow and tackles him down to the ground with a thud and a crash, the gun flies out of his hand and careens through the air as she struggles with Timetagger. With a leap Luka catches the spray gun and lands on the ground next to Chat Noir and Ladybug. He could have easily broken in two with his hands, or by throwing it onto the ground or with the force of his hands careening it down against his knee, but instead he holds it out toward Chat.
“You’re up, Chat.” Luka says with a satisfied smile, and one that is returned back to him as Chat smiles back at him and gives him a nod.
“Cataclysm!” Chat calls out with all of his usual flourish and pomp as he flexes his hands and claws before batting the gun with a light bat of his hand, shifting it mere centimeters in Luka’s hand like he truly was a cat.
“Wow,” Luka chuckles, ”How fitting for a cat.” He whispers at Chat’s display, earning a snicker from the cat himself as they watch the spray gun crumble into ash and dust in the palm of Viperion’s hand and falls to the ground from between his splayed fingers.
“Heh, you know it.” Chat grinned proudly, “I’m not called the purrrrfect Chat Noir for nothing.” He responds with a trilling purr and a playful wink that earns another chuckle from the older hero.
“Ooh ? My mistake then, Mr. Purrrfect.” He quickly whispers back the trilling nickname to him and shakes his head at Chat only to hear him snicker beneath his breath. Heh.
Adrien Agreste, man, what a guy he was. Luka couldn’t help but think as heat rushed to his cheeks. He really was just the kind of guy who lived to the beat of his own drum nowadays. From terrible puns you couldn’t help but laugh at to how he followed his heart without regret. It was just some of things he loved about him.
“You’re up next, Ladybug!” Chat calls out as the akuma reveals itself from amidst the ashes and flies out from the ashes of the spray gun.
“Way ahead of you, kitty!” Ladybug calls out, already spinning her yo-yo, “Time to de-evilize!” And with a flourish of the upward swing she swipes the Akuma as it flits about the air and swipes it from out of the air in one swift movement, “Gotcha!” She smirks satisfied as the yo-yo returns to her hand and with a trace of the yo-yo with her finger, it springs open like ladybug wings to reveal a white butterfly as Timetagger returns to his normal self as Chris Lahiffe.
“Bye, bye, little akuma.” She waves to the butterfly and with her lucky charm in hand she throws it into the air with a call of her signature, “Miraculous Ladybug!” and the damage across the city, the objects and people that had been affected by Timetagger’s latest bout of time displacement was fixed in an instance.
As Chris comes to and is helped back up to his feet, Chat, Carapace, and Ladybug go over to talk to the young man to figure out just what happened to him this time. Nino had mentioned that Chris had been getting bullied a bit at school about his desire to get more into graffiti and art in general. The mix of the pressure of what to do with his future clashing with his deepest desires and the world around him telling him his dreams were far fetched must have had something to do with it. Holding in all of that cacophony in one’s heart and body must have made him an easy target for Hawkmoth. It was hard after all. To balance other's expectations, how the world looked at you, with being honest with yourself. Wanting what you wanted and actually going for it. It was hard to be brave and reach out without fear. Luka knew that feeling himself. Not knowing what to do with yourself when you wanted something so much…But with a brother like Nino and his family to support him he sure things would be alright.
He lets out a sigh as his gaze drifts over to Adrien, and to his surprise he feels an elbow prod at his side. It was Alix.
“Well, well, well, now isn’t that nice?” She smirks at Luka as she throws her arm over her favorite and fellow tattooed time-traveling hero. “First he vouches for your plan with all he's got and now you two are sharing secrets and snickering together? I swear you two are soooooooo cute together.” She laughs.
Luka rolls his eyes playfully. When Alix noticed something she certainly liked to tease, but he would give it to her. After all the time they spent together dealing with time-anomalies he knew her just as well as she knew him. When you were the two in a group of nineteen that remembered the alterations to the time stream it was nice to have someone who could understand what you were going through. The pair of them had become close after countless close calls that only they remembered. Some worse than others. Some that still stung, but they had each other at the least.
“Pffffft!” Luka lets out a laugh as he leans into Alix’s side, “What are you talking about?” He asks as he holds her arm there around him as they watched as the others talked to Chris and checked in with him. The two of them had bonded like a pair of raucous siblings. The rest didn’t understand how hard it was to time-travel. He might deal with time travel in seconds, but those seconds added up with each Second Chance he took. Years of effort and opportunities and scenarios that hadn’t come to fruition or succeeded filled his memories and at times it was hard to live with the weight of some of the mistakes he had made. Thankfully for him, Alix understood, and she understood it well from her own experience. Dead-end time lines lived in her memories as well, some even the same as Luka’s own, and through that the pair had become close friends. They were also similar in a lot of ways from their taste in music to going to the same tattoo parlor. He would even get Alix’s opinion on tattoo designs he was considering getting. His last one had been a large back piece depicting a snake intertwined in the flowering limbs of a magnolia tree.
“I’m talking about you two being the cutest couple this side of time-stream, Couffaine.”
Luka lets out a loud laugh at that. Him and Adrien a couple? He might have wished deep down in his chest. Adrien was a sweet guy, nice, but as if that would ever happen , “Good joke, Alix. Really. Adrien and I? A couple? Heh, that’s a good one.” He asks as watches the three other heroes talk to Chris and help comfort him.
“Oh, coooome on . You two can’t hide it from me. I knooooow you two are dating, duh . You don’t need to hide it from me of all people.” She says with mock hurt in her voice, “Seriously, man, I mean I swear how long did you think that you two could keep it from me of all people with how you two flirt with each other and go off with each other after missions.” Memories flashed behind those blue eyes of hers. Seeing Chat Noir and Viperion in and outside of their costumes all over each other, sharing jokes that only they knew, they were a quintessential couple all the way down to nicknames. Though really no one else could pull off calling Adrien ‘ Chaton ’ or ‘Kitten’ in public without flushing like Luka here. Luka was just that kind of guy. A dangerous mix of cool and genuine that had undeniable sex appeal that made Alix roll her eyes when ladies would flock to him in the clubs and bars. “I swear you two did that so many times last week . You two are so sweet and goo-goo eyed for each other that it makes me and Juleka sick. I sw ––”
And suddenly Alix stops as she sees that look on Luka’s face. A deep flush that had crept up the back of his neck and settled clear as day looked wrong on his usually calm and collected features. Luka’s eyes were wide and his expression had dropped like his heart had sunk to the bottom of an abyss.
Oh.
“Oh no.” Alix utters out. She knew she had made a terrible mistake as she saw his mouth agape and how his lips quivered to speak.
And Luka knew it too. He knew instantly what this all meant because he hadn’t seen Alix at all last week. They hadn’t had any missions together, which only meant she had gotten him confused with a future version of himself.
He and Adrien ended up together in the future. It sounded like a joke in his ears as his heart raced and slammed against his chest like a drummer raging on during an endless drum solo.
“W-We…” He swallows, his mouth suddenly dry as he quietly croaks out the words like a wish he would never utter aloud, but in this case they were true or at least they would be true, ”We end up together?” He asks Alix, his blue eyes staring into here as they silently pleaded for an answer to guide him. A new kind of heat rushes through his body and in this moment he was glad Chat and the others were preoccupied with Chris. If any of them overheard this he…he wouldn’t know what to do. He wouldn’t know what to say. Because when it came to him and his own emotions the words, they just never came. He could help his friends out, but never himself. He gave but did not take.
Just like the snap of fingers, panic rushes through Alix as well. She couldn’t bear the look on her friend’s face, but she couldn’t let the present crumble all around her because of her mistake as well. It might have been an insignificant seeming part of the future, but even a flap of a butterfly’s wings could have dire effects upon the time stream.
So she did what she had to.
“No! Nononononono! No! Forget what I just said.” She tries her best to backtrack as she forces the loudest laugh out from her chest, but not one bit of it was genuine as she placed her hands on her hips and jutted out her chest with false confidence, “It was just a joke! A joke!” She weakly laughs, “I was just messing around…with my…favorite…time traveler.” But as fast as her attempt to save the moment came, it went just as fast. Weakness overtakes her as Luka stares at her with the same pleading and lost look. Even she didn’t believe a word of what she was saying.
“Uuuuugh .” She buries her head in her hands, “ Noooo , I can’t believe this! I can’t believe I fucked up this badly!” Her hands were balled up into tight fists, now pulling at her rabbit ears as she hisses out with panic. Never! Not ever! Had she revealed the future to anyone. She had always been so careful! Her perfect record was ruined! Gaaaaah!! This was worse than the time she had skated over her heirloom pocket watch. Even the insignificant seeming facts could have catastrophic effects on the time stream. She would have to Burrow again and, and, and….
Wait.
She raised her head from her hands and eyes skimmed the sky, Luka’s worried voice lost to her for the moment as she was lost to her thoughts and scanning the sky. There were no cracks in the sky, the world wasn’t suddenly tinged red, the sky wasn’t falling, the world wasn’t falling to bits before her. Alix’s eyes dashed too and fro and about her surroundings. Nothing was disappearing. Nothing seemed out of place. She peered over to where Chris, Nino, Ladybug, and Chat were standing. They were all fine. She takes Luka in her hands and shakes him by the shoulders. Even he was fine too.
Everything was still fine….So. Maybe. Maybe she hadn’t messed up?
Her hands clenched tightly around a confused Luka’s shoulders, the hero still reeling from being shook.
Where had she even heard that Luka and Adrien were dating? Her brows furrowed together deep in thought. She knew for certain that a future version of the pair were, she had seen them with her own eyes but how had their relationship started? She didn’t have a single memory of that.
Silence lingers between the pair of time travelers before suddenly Alix speaks like a woman possessed.
“Ask him out.”
"What? ”
“Ask him out.” She repeats, staring at Luka, her wide blue eyes filled with a clarity that didn’t match the situation at hand. It was like she was suddenly struck by lightning. It was crazy. She knew it sounded crazy. She knew she looked crazy grabbing him by the shoulders like this, but it had to be the answer. It was the only answer.
“What?! No! I can’t just ask him out! I–I–” Luka stutters trying to find some reason, any reason to deter Alix from this insanity. Everything right now was so crazy and out of hand, and unfortunately for Luka that seemed to be the norm for his life. Though right now this situation certainly took the cake.
“You like him don’t you? I‘ve seen the way you look at him, Luka.” She takes his hands between her own. She might not have truly noticed before the future version of them had started dating, and all the cute flirting that they did around each other, but seeing Luka now and how he looked when he saw Adrien, and whenever Adrien looked his way or talked to him, she knew that his heart was singing a melody he had never truly heard before in his life. And that he didn’t know what to do about it. This wasn’t like when he dated Marinette. He’s stuck and lost for some reason, he wouldn't let his own song be heard even by himself, and though she didn’t know why Luka was so tentative when it came to Adrien she wasn’t going to leave him in the lurch. After all, what kind of friend would she be if she stood by and didn’t do anything? Luka was one of her closest friends.
“I…” Luka starts, unsure of himself. The thing was that he did like Adrien. He hadn’t realized it when they were younger, but he had, he did, he couldn’t help but fall for the young man who had always been so terribly sweet and understanding and funny. With each day that he got to know Adrien just a bit more than the last his feelings began to snowball all together. From his cat-tacular puns that he even started to make outside of being Chat Noir, to the way his nose wrinkled whenever he laughed. Luka found his heart racing to the tune of a new beat. His eyes were always drawn to Adrien. He couldn’t help, but smile when he thought of him.
“I do.” He had to admit. Though he held his tongue back and tried so hard not to make his obvious crush even more blatant. He felt like a cup overflowing. Obvious. A mess. One he couldn’t keep up with or control as his feelings spilled over without him.
“Then why don’t you ask him out then?” Alix asks. The world wasn’t coming apart around them, so maybe it would be alright to help Luka out. If this was wrong then surely another version of herself would be able to stop her before it was too late. It would be fine. Surely it had to be fine. Or else she wouldn’t be here.
The world would be disappearing before their eyes if she was on the wrong track.
“I just–” He sighs, “I just can’t . I don’t even know if he –”
“Ask him out.” Her voice was firm but gentle as she urged. Alix just had a feeling this would work.
“No!” Discord rang in Luka’s chest like a guitar thrown to the ground, the cacophony of strings ringing with discordant noise that all clashed together. Fear muffled the sound of his heart. He had to say no, because how could this be real? How could he and Adrien actually end up together? It was a fantasy. A dream.
“Ohmygod! Ask him out! Look, I don’t know what’s going to happen exactly, but you two do end up together! I think you really have a chance, Luka!”
Luka let out a frustrated growl, as fought with himself. How could he do that, how? He wanted to, but– well, then why didn’t he? Because it didn’t make sense! He didn’t even think Adrien liked him! But he wouldn’t know if he didn’t try. He grit his teeth.
“All of a sudden?! I should just ask him out all of a sudden?! So what ?” He says exasperated by the mere idea, “I should just say I like him? I should just go right up to him and go, ‘Chat Noir, would you—’”
“Yeah, Viperion?”
And the words catch in Luka’s throat, as Chat smiles at the two of them unaware of what he had walked into. How had he done that both Alix and Luka wondered. If he hadn’t already been wearing a giant bell they would have told him he needed one. Badly. So there Adrien stood staring at the two of them completely unaware of what he had walked into.
“Um. We just finished talking with Chris. Ladybug and Carapace gave him some really good advice, and I think he’s going to be just fine now. So, uh, did you need something from me?” Adrien asks.
“I, um,” Luka stammers. Expressing himself through his words had never been a strong suit, sure he could give advice to his friends and help guide them, but now when faced with his own emotions and Chat he found himself floundering like he never had before.
“Um, well, you see…” He stammered as Adrien stared back at him with that perpetually understanding look in his eyes and smile on his lips as he patiently waited, “Um—” God. Why was it suddenly so hard to talk to him?
“We—!” Alix threw her arm over Luka’s shoulder as she chimed in as Carapace and Ladybug walked over toward them, “We…were just wondering if you wanted to come have a drink with us!” She intervenes with a grin, “It’s late so we thought we might end the night with a cold one. Play some pool, talk for a bit. It’s really been so long since we’ve all hung out after a mission! So what do you guys say?” She says extending the offer to all of them, though her and Luka’s eyes were locked onto Adrien. For just being a wingman in this scenario Alix could feel her heart racing. Hoooooo boy. Luka was going to owe her so many favors if she managed to get this to work out.
“Sweet! We haven’t gone out in soooooo long, dude.” Nino called out with a swing of his arm over Chat’s shoulders, “I’ll make sure Chris gets home alright and then I’ll definitely head over. Usual place? Snake Eyes?”
“Yeah! Y-yeah that right! Great!” Alix forces a grin. She loved Nino, but dammit this was not the time “What about you two? Ladybug? Chat ?”
“Oh! Me?” Ladybug’s shoulders jolt, “I, uh, er, well…” Her eyes glanced at Chat Noir and then to her yo-yo and she opened up the communicator and spied the time, “Gah! Sorry guys! I’d love to, really, but I can’t! I have a, uh, thing with K– I mean– Gah! I’ve got a thing .” She says taking a few steps back already swinging her yo-yo ready to grapple away, “Sorry! But I’ve got to go. I’m late! Next time! Promise!” With a throw of her yo-yo she latches on to a nearby rooftop and grapples away, jumping from rooftop to rooftop until she’s a speck and out of sight.
“Wow. I haven’t seen her that freaked out in a long time.” Alix muttered, earning a murmur of agreement and nods from her friends and fellow heroes.
“Got that right.” Nino muttered.
“Uh, so .” Alix claps her hands together, “What about you, Chat?”
“Oh. Um, I don’t know…” Chat scratched his chin as his eyes drifted to Luka. He could feel something was off here and it wasn’t because of Marinette’s whole thing, but as he saw Luka’s kind smile and how he mouthed the words ‘ No pressure ’ to him, he relaxed. These were his friends.
“Well, um, this is kind of embarrassing, but I, uh, I don’t actually know how to play.” He gives a sheepish grin. If the offer had been to play foosball then sure he could do that no problem, but pool was completely foreign territory for him. A bit of that old Agreste pressure to be perfect was getting to him. He didn’t want to embarrass himself or his friends, but he reminded himself that these were his friends. They loved him no matter what. Plus it would probably make for an entertaining story in the future too.
For all the anxiety and fear Luka had felt moments before something inside of him naturally relaxed as Adrien expressed his own doubts and worries. He never felt like he needed to hold any part of himself back with him.
“Well, that’s fine.” He reassured him, “I can teach you. It’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it. My dad and I would play all of the time.”
“Yeah?” Adrien asks, rubbing the back of his neck, a part of him still had to ask, “You sure it’s no problem? I wouldn’t want to ruin a fun night.”
“Of course. It wouldn’t be half as fun without you there.” Luka assures him, “It’s no problem at all. I’m sure you’ll be a natural. After all you’re Mr. Puuuurrfect, aren’t you?” A low trill sounds with the nickname, it was the sort of sound that raised the hairs on the back of your neck, and that wasn’t the only thing as Luka winked at Adrien just as the blonde had done so earlier in the night.
And Adrien smiles at him. (If there was any hint of a blush it was hidden beneath the confined of his mask.) “Heh! Yeah, I am. Alright, I’ll see you guys there.” That was all it took for him to be reassured.
“Yeah, you will.” Luka grins, and with a press of the button on Chat’s baton it extends in a staff and Chat launches himself up into the Parisian night sky, leaping from one rooftop to another until he disappears completely into the darkness of the night.
To anyone watching Viperion and Chat they had been lost in each other’s company. The world had melted around them like they were the only two people left and Luka was still submerged in that feeling as he thought of how he would see Adrien later that night.
“Holy shit.”
At least until Nino’s voice broke through his thoughts.
“That was so smooooooooth!” Nino called out as soon as Chat was out of sight and earshot.“That whole Mr. Purrfect thing? That even got me swooning. I could never do that.”
“Well, that’s because you’re not Luka here.” Alix gives Nino a playful nudge, “He’s got effortless cool guy vibes unlike yourself.”
“Heeeeey. I’m a cool guy. I’m just not the cool guy who’s trying to shoot his shot with our precious Chat Noir. Huh? Huh?” He raises his brows repeatedly at Luka giving him an excited look.
“Well, we’ll see I guess?” Luka answers, earning a laugh from his friends.
“That’s our Luka.” Nino grinned.
Luka looked from Nino to Alix. They were both so sure of him. His friends always looked at him with confidence. He was their pillar, their rock, but who was his? As Alix gave him a friendly punch to the shoulder and words of encouragement flowed from the both of them before they went their separate ways.
Luka was left standing alone with his lyre clenched in his hand.
He felt anything, but calm, cool, or collected. It was the furthest thing he felt when he thought of Adrien and the rumble of emotions in his chest like the swell of an orchestra signaling something huge and foreboding to come.
Left in the silence, only the wind blowing through the air, pushing at his body to leave, he was left with his thoughts and reeling in the aftermath of the evening.
“I need to get ready.” But despite the swell of emotions, the chaotic cacophony and swell of percussion his life had suddenly become with another bout of time travel trouble, beneath the surface of it all Luka found one thing to smile about.
He would get to see Adrien.