Anyway, now school had started back up and all the French heroes were busy thanks to Hawkmoth or Scarletmoth, who was showing up more and more. that added with Bob Roth’s brilliant plan to overload kids just starting new phases in their life and you ended up with Luka passing out in the middle of writing an essay so suddenly, Tikki freaked out and risked being seen to go find Juleka. Their mom was working in the middle of the French Riveria, and was ready to try and come back. Only, her current contract had actually been for charting the moving catwalk for a Fashion Week event, which turned out to be an unasked favour Jagged was doing for her. The pay check would set them up for their mom being able to stay around for a while, which they wanted, so Luka told his mom to stay put. Online classes were still done, but it did involve needing to replay recorded lectures over and set up a word document to text-to-speech live classes. Lying in bed meant he had time to work on assignments when the cold hadn’t muddled his mind. Tikki tried helping him speed along in healing, but like Plagg’s bad luck powers were a bit unpredictable, Tikki’s good luck powers were precise. She’d end up making him feel warm after shivering rather than break his fever. He appreciated the help non the less.

He was dozing off to the sounds of a book series Marc had recommended, an older one about fairies, their changeling warriors and the hidden princess of both Seelie and Unseelie courts, when the words about a war horse hiding behind long hair and beads was interrupted by the sound for an akuma attack warning. There had been one other attack during his illness and he almost ended up passing out before the fight even started. Bast Luck had to be the one to come up with a plan with his him, Scarlet Bug, Tigresse Poupre and Venom. He did well, but Luka didn’t want to place any of that stress on the others, not when they weren’t ready.

But moving…

After the noise from the notice stopped when he acknowledged it, the story started to continue only to be interrupted again by Juleka calling him.

“I don’t want you anywhere near that fight but you’re also the only one to get the akuma and make the charm, so listen ok? This is the plan.”

______________

Adrien wanted to throttle Hawkmoth on a daily bases but today was extra desirable because Luka was sick, nonna had sent the recipe for her miracle soup for her favourite devil boy and instead of making a pot to drop off to the liberty – between homework, cosplay pattern making and trying to word an email to Roth for the pictures he was promised for Kitty Section socials – he was here, actually dealing with an akumatized XY. The DJ was jealous of the popularity Kitty Section was getting and was taking it out on his father. word of targeting the band only just came up thanks to the balding yapping dog throwing them under the bus.

“I think I should go look after Luka.” Adrien suggested, while the group of them sat crouched behind an XY billboard. It was the only thing the overgrown baby wouldn’t try and destroy. “The guitar player? He’s like the true leader right?”

“Only cause he’s older. Rose is the front man.” Tigresse said before shaking her head. “I can take care of him, or better yet, get Scarlet to look after him.”

Adrien wanted to point out that Rose was less likely to be targeted because XY seemed to forget she existed half the time but Vixen interrupted him. “Where is Scarlet anyway? I asked that like 4 times already.”

Tarasq spoke from his collar. “He’s the only one who can get the akuma, unless you know of some other way?”

“I think having the person capable of destroying the item with the main person targeted is a better idea.” Adrien interrupted, trying to get their co-leader to listen to him.

“Why not focus on Adrien Rossi? He’s gone up against XY.” Tigresse reminded.

“He was also akumatized and stole XY’s voice after insulting him. I think he’ll be fine.”

“Does that mean the drummer is fine? I mean, he was the first akuma and he’s big.” Venom asked.

“Ok, but what about Juleka and Rose? Juleka is Luka’s sister and like you said, Rose is the front man. Shouldn’t we go after them?” Tarasq asked.

“Couffaine!” the akumatized XY screamed. “Show yourself, you fucking blueberry!”

Bast Luck gave Tigresse a look that screamed ‘see?’

“Ok, fine. Bast Luck, you go protect Luka. I’ll take care of Rose and Juleka. Venom, you keep an eye on Ivan. You two,” she pointed to Vixen and Tarasq, keep him distracted. I’ve got a plan, but it’s not gonna work if he has hostages or keep making a mess.”

“At least the ScarCat program will get to be used if Scarlet Bug doesn’t show up.” Vixen said, nodding to Tarasq. “Come on. think you can play keep away with a fake guitar player?”

Adrien didn’t wait much longer for Tigresse’s instructions, heading towards the Liberty. Last he heard, Luka was going to try and work on assignments, maybe sleep for as long as he could. Adrien knew his relationship with Luka was public knowledge, so he wondered if XY would go to Adrien’s house looking for Luka. the DJ was an idiot, so maybe they could luck out. how he was going to explain Adrien being missing, he didn’t know, but maybe he could expose his old Cat persona’s identity. But that might make the older one not trust him if he was willing to give out secrets so easily.

He reached the Liberty, confused when he saw Kagami’s red car and Luka getting into it. He didn’t feel bad jumping down onto the hood like Black Panther, just that the shaking startled them so bad it sent Luka into a coughing fit.

Kagami opened the sun roof, so he didn’t feel bad putting his boots all over the windshield, ignoring the computer’s voice about something being on it. “What are you doing?”

“I’d like to ask you that. My mother might be blind, but she will know if there’s a dent in the car. This thing senses everything that goes wrong with it and gives a report.” Kagami said, looking annoyed.

“Luka is being hunted by XY and he’s climbing into a car with you. I’m allowed to be concerned. Also, the city can pay for any damages Scarlet Bug can’t fix.” Adrien said, ignoring his friend to focus on his boyfriend.

Luka finally caught his breath, his eyes glassy but still looking determined. “My boyfriend’s place, I was going to go there, but Kagami’s house has better protection. We’re going over to Adrien’s apartment now to get him. My sister is with her girlfriend and Prince Ali at Le Grand Paris. I don’t know where Ivan is, but he texted that he’s ok.”

He was going to have to text the accurate locations to the others, but first… “Don’t you think XY knows about your boyfriend? Isn’t he a diplomates’ son? The Embassies have the same standard protection as things like the Mayor’s office.”

Adrien didn’t know why, but Luka got this look in his eye. he normally got it when he was keeping a secret from Adrien for a surprise.

“I’d rather just be with him. I’d feel better if I knew he was safe.”

That was so sweet. And so not helpful. Adrien wasn’t home as he was currently staring at his boyfriend, trying not to get red.

And why the hell was Luka smiling at him like that?

“I’ll bring him. Adrien. You just go to Kagami’s house and I’ll make sure Adrien gets there safe.”

“Really? See, I’ll always be a fan of Catseye but I think this is one of the reasons I love you Bast Luck.” Luka said, resting his chin on the drivers’ seat as he stared up at him, giving him the soft smile Luka gave him when he thought Adrien was being cute.

Ok, time to go. Adrien was never approaching his boyfriend as a hero ever again. Luka wasn’t even flirting, not doing a single thing that could be considered that and Adrien was nearly a mess from a few comments and looks.

_____________________

Luka felt a little bad making his boyfriend confused. He knew Kagami was going to get pulled in to fight since he and Juleka had to disappear to appear as themselves to keep XY on his toes. He had expected after Despera, Adrien wouldn’t want to split up – he had actually come to Kagami’s place, excuse that Bast Luck had to disappear to get back to the battle – but Juleka probably gave him some insistent demand that he needed to be there. As far as Adrien was aware, he’d left his boyfriend to rest inside the Tsurugi movie room while he took a while to get tea and get lost. While they were both gone and the house was empty thanks to Kagami’s mother being at the Japanese Embassy for some event or meeting, Luka was able to sneak back out onto the street. if everything was going well, Bast Luck should have XY’s item in hand with a Cataclysm and Scarlet Bug was going to show up to catch the akuma, before it spawned more.

The area by the fight was quiet except for XY’s yelling and the rumbling of buildings. He stopped by the front stoop of a building, trying to catch his breath. His hoodie was making him hot and the fuzzy pants was a choice but just a few more minutes and he could actually go back to bed.

“What are you doing here?”

Luka turned to see Bast Luck extending down on his staff.

Shit.

“Shouldn’t you be fighting?”

“Shouldn’t you be at Kagami’s house? I dropped off Adrien like I promised.”

“There you are, you blueberry!”

Fucking hell. XY, in all his weird, cheap Daft Punk look managed to get away and landed practically right on top of him. Luka spotted his sister, dress in her purple suit, looking panicked. Everything moved at once, XY screaming in anger, Bast Luck jumping towards them both, Tigresse yelling something and then the whole world spinning. Luka had to close his eyes to not be ill, only opening his eyes at the sound of Bast Luck’s staff. He was in Bast Luck’s arms, watching Ryuoko and Tigresse attack XY, rather violently. Kagami didn’t like XY and well, he’d do the same if the DJ tried attacking his sister out of costume.

The two landed on a roof a decent distance away and Luka felt worse at the worried look on Adrien’s face. “Are you ok? He didn’t get you did he?”

“No, no. I’m fine. thank you for saving me.”

Bast Luck looked annoyed, which, fair. “I wouldn’t need to if you stayed inside. You knew he was looking for you.”

“I know. I just…got worried he’d go after everyone else to get to me. I’m not exactly his favourite person.”

“I don’t think your boyfriend will exactly be happy with you when he hears about this.”

Luka knew that but if they wanted to end this now, Bast Luck had to get back to the fight. “He’ll be less thrilled if he finds out Team Miraculous couldn’t destroy the akuma in time.”

“Ah!. Ok, stay here! I’ll take you back myself ok?”

Tikki poked her head out when Bast Luck joined in attacking XY. “Poor Adrien. He’s gonna have a heart attack if Juleka can’t keep him busy so you can get back here. I’ve had some crazy experiences where holders don’t know everyone’s identity, but this had to be the most convoluted plan ever. You do plan on telling him right?”

“I will, just not right now. Once Su Han is more established as Guardian. Besides, it’s kinda cute watching your superhero boyfriend try not to overly panic when his supposedly civilian boyfriend is in trouble.”

Tikki sighed. “And here I thought my Egyptian holder trying to hide this from Anthony was bad enough.”

______________

Adrien found Luka curled up on one of the reclining chairs Bast Luck had left him in. It was weird finding out he could easily lift his boyfriend when sporting cat ears, since he was so used to feeling Luka’s weight whenever he laid on him. Seeing him out in the streets, seconds before XY spotted him took years off his life. Scarlet Bug had really crap timing, taking so long, but thankfully Luka didn’t try any other crazy self-sacrificing ideas and was waiting on the roof after Tigresse insisted on talking to the whole team while Scarlet Bug disappeared after fixing everything and shoving an anti-akumatization charm at XY.

“Hey. Time is it?” Luka asked, blinking tiredly at him. He had seemed pretty exhausted when Bast Luck brought him back to Kagami’s house. As much as Adrien wanted to call him out, Adrien had been in the kitchen for 30 minutes getting tea, not fighting an akuma who was after him, his boyfriend and the rest of their band because he got jealous of the attention. As far as Adrien knew, Luka stay right there in his seat, not at all whisked away and scolded by a hero with cat ears.

“Not long. how you feeling? I was going to start making soup when Bast Luck came to get me. You do know it probably would have been safer to stay separated right?” Adrien said, putting the mug down on the flat armrest and managing to snuggle in with Luka on the chair, letting the older boy use his lap as a pillow.

“Juleka was with Rose. Besides, you can’t tell me you didn’t enjoy being whisked away by a hero.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow. “I’ve met Scarlet Bug, twice in a situation where I could talk to him. Wasn’t that big a deal.”

Luka gave this sleepy smile. “I don’t know. I think I really like Bast Luck. He was very nice. Cute too, up close.” Adrien cleared his throat, not annoyed at the comment but he had to keep the lie up. “but you’re cuter.”

Adrien ran his hands through Luka’s hair. “Go to sleep. Trust me, when you wake up, you won’t even think Bast Luck is cuter than me.” Not if he had anything to say about it. he was not about to compete with his hero persona for his boyfriend’s attention.

Juleka shrugged. “not like we haven’t made weirder excuses to escape class or mamman.”

True, except both siblings were 100% sure their mother knew what they were doing. The Kwami didn’t even argue against it, Tikki saying something about how some parents knew, though Plagg said some parents were morons. He respected the matriarch, so Luka couldn’t complain.

“Who would be in it? other than you, me and Rose?”

“Ivan plays the drums. Rose is really good at metal screaming, so that’s kinda what she was thinking. Ivan 100% could keep up with that. Besides, since Kim learned not to bully him anymore, he’s much more open to being friends with others.”

“I guess being Mylene’s friends help.” Luka said, digging his phone out from where it was buzzing in his pocket. “Ok, if you come up with a concept and a song and an actual workable rehearsal time, I’ll agree. But I still say we’re taking a risk. I got to go; someone placed an order for 3 different pizza places. For the same order.”

“People are weird.” Juleka said, moving her feet.

He looked at his sister who’d been cursed with not being able to be in pictures, loved horror and for a few hours sometimes, would wear a frilly black dress with cat ears and a tail. He was an empath who preferred music to words so much, that he went to an online school and would hop around Paris in a spotted sweatshirt.

His sister wasn’t wrong.

How it changed

Luka pushed the door to Dupain-Cheng Patisserie open, glad to spot a pigtailed girl carrying a tray of pastries – it looked and smelled like cherry turnovers – instead of her father. M. Dupain heard Marinette make one comment on Luka’s appearance and suddenly he was sure his daughter was interested in him. According to Adrien, Marinette had been interested in the blonde transfer student more, at least until Adrien turned her down.

“Welcome to – oh, Luka! Welcome. are you here for a delivery? Papa didn’t say we had one.”

“No, no.” Luka said, walking up to the counter, where Marinette met him after the turnovers were sitting on their shelf in the display case. “I was hoping to hire you for something. Rose mentioned that you opened commissions recently, specifically for graphic design?”

“Yeah! Jagged Stone had me do a poster for him for his latest tour and while he’s pretty easy to please, I thought if I got more practise with other people, that it would help me get better. That way, not even Bob Roth could try and get me to change things.”

Luka had remembered Marinette running around the hotel the day Jagged Stone was akumatized because of XY. He heard later the DJ was related to Jagged’s producer and since Luka himself wasn’t a fan of XY, he and Juleka had been theorizing if his fame was bought.

“Well, Adrien had brought up a good point when he asked if we were serious about doing Kitty Section. If we want to do this, we’re going to need a symbol to put on our social media. I’d like to hire you to design the symbol.”

“Oh, I’d do it for free.” Marinette offered.

“Nope. We’re going to pay you. Adrien has his hands full trying to get everything set up and still follow his mom’s rules for this, since it’ll be a public account, Rose is working on songs and I have to do melodies, Juleka is doing research for cafes or venues that’ll take auditions and Ivan is trying to convince his dad to be our roadie if we need to move our things and my mom’s out of town, who’s the main parent in charge. We need someone who knows our style to help us design a symbol. So, we are paying you to help make our lives easier because once we have that, a lot of the other things will fall into place.”

Marinette stared at him before smiling and nodding. “Alright. But I get to help film your first video. And make outfits!”

Luka nodded. “But symbol first. So, will you take the job, provided we’re happy with the price and timeline?”

“I will.” She said, holding her hand out so they could shake on it.

With Mme. Cheng taking over for her daughter, Luka sat with Marinette in her room, pictures Rose had texted him on his phone, along with blurbs the other members had written about the group.

“A band to show your colours and be free.” Was the main one she kept going back to.

With a picture of Lego Unikitty, Marinette decided to use it and the groups first song as inspiration. Pure white cat with rocker red eyeliner, horn and a heart shaped nose. She even did another with rainbow butterfly wings behind it.

“Ivan could have this version on his drums.” Luka suggested, when Marinette was about to scrap it.

In the end, Adrien had a symbol to make their profile picture, Juleka had something to attach to emails and flyers for places who were willing to accept amateur acts, Rose had something to reflect off of for them to write their band’s anthem and Ivan and Mylene ended up with a new date idea in figuring out how to press on the newly printed design to the front of Ivan’s drum set.

And Marinette had a significant amount of money in her bank account.

Luka using his last pay check – where he worked overtime 4 times –  was 100% worth it.

How it’s going

Luka loved the outfits Marinette made for their first music video, but sometimes, the jackets just made more sense. It was their first performance since opening for Jagged Stone and the restaurant’s owner had told them everyone who booked a table was there to see them. Adrien reposting clips Alya recorded from the concert seemed to be a major help. It was also a week after Fu wasn’t master anymore and Adrien said he loved him. Life might be insane but music was still his way of escape.

Their little group had expanded, with Nino and Alya helping Adrien with filming and Nino joining Max to get their equipment and sound set up. Nathaniel would help Marinette with any designs, Max getting them projected onto their backgrounds. Marc and Mylene were their roadies and assistants. Kim claimed to be their bodyguard, though Alix and Kagami could be more intimidating. After Scarlet Bug had rescued Chloe after she threw off being akumatized, she considered herself their ‘biggest fan’.

Luka didn’t actually believe she liked any of their music but he appreciated the effort.

“Hey.” Juleka threw her shoulder into his arm, Rooar letting out a squeak from where she hid inside Juleka’s jacket. Not hearing Plagg around his sister was taking some getting used to. He hoped Adrien was handling him alright. “How you feeling? Better?”

Since Luka didn’t attend classes in person, he had more free time, so he’d been taking a lot of the Guardian responsibilities, on top of being Scarlet Bug and leading a brand-new team. Juleka had been fighting him the whole way, like the best sister she was.

“Relaxed, for one. Do you think we can actually do this record deal thing with everything going on?” the thought had been running around his head all throughout rehearsal.

“I know we deserve it. you deserve it Lu. Music means the world to you and whether it comes from this or school or whatever you plan after, what we’re about to do, right now? You deserve this 100%. Rose might be the front man, but I like to think you’re the heart and soul of Kitty Section.”

Again, Juleka was the best sister.

She was slightly wrong though. It wasn’t just him as the heart and soul of the band, it was all of them.

“Ladies and gentlemen! We are Kitty Section!” Rose cried into the mic, her pink mask catching on the lights Max and Morvok programmed. The band was playing the opening for ‘Gimme Chocolate’, which Adrien and Kagami would test the singer on to make sure she still had the pronunciation right. “Are you ready to eat sweets and rock?”

It was the all of them, each member, all the people that helped with each performance. this was his main reason for loving music. For loving Kitty Section.