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trixxiephantomhive · 1 year

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LBSC Valentines Exchange

This one is for @airi-p4!!! Violin Valentine Ch1

Prompt/Summary: Alya invites Marinette to a piano contest because Adrien is playing. It turns out that she ends up fascinated by the blue-haired violinist accompanying his playing instead (and completely forgets about Adrien).

“Hey, girl! I just found out Adrien is going to be in this super hard to get into piano contest. You have to come and see him!”

“Y-Yeah Yeah! Of course I’ll come”

Those were the ill fated words that lead her to this moment. Her fading crush is constantly being re-sparked by her friends. Obviously she doesn’t mind. She and Adrien would look great together. But, her daydreams of marriage and three kids no longer seem so perfect. Yet, she still puts on her favourite red dress: knee-length, flowy sleeves, and black details. Perfect for a formal concert.

She sits and does her makeup as she waits for Alya to come and get her, hyping herself up.

By the time Alya does arrive, she’s fairly excited. Good music, good friends, and probably some yummy snacks. Tonight will be great!

“Hey, girl!” Alya smiles and gives Marinette a hug. Marinette, of course, looks at Alya's outfit to see what her friend decided to wear. Her outfit is an orange ankle-length Boho dress made with tons of ruffles, she brushes her friends bare shoulders and looks at her.

“Aren’t you going to get cold? Also– Hi!”

Alya laughs, “I’ll be alright, I can always borrow nino’s jacket. He’s meeting us there.”

Marinette smiles, and thinks “oh, great. I’m the third wheel again” but just laughs with Alya as they leave for the event.

Once they arrive the room and decor is breathtaking. Not surprising for a young pianist competition held in the Philharmonie de Paris. A large lobby awaits the girls as they stand by the doors in search of Nino. He finds them within a few minutes.

“Hey, girls!” He calls out and smiles, wrapping Alya in a close hug. Marinette smiles and waves.

“We should head in, Marinette and I wanna get good seats so we can see everything” Alya looks over and winks at her best friend, while Marinette puts on a smile, not really caring about seeing the “everything” that Alya wants her to.

She doesn’t feel any ill-will towards her friend though, she never explicitly told her best friend about not feeling so inclined towards Adrien anymore. Since as a lycée aged girl, she’s supposed to have a crush, right?

They walk into the theatre and sit down. Three seats in the middle section, five rows from the stage, Marinette takes the aisle seat with Alya on her left. If an akuma strikes during the contest, she’ll need to be able to get out quickly. She leans back into her seat and watches the stage. The show won’t be ready to start for another 5 minutes, and people are still filing in.

“No flowers for Adrien?” Nino asks Marinette teasingly.

“Wh-what? No, no, I didn’t think about it. Should I have?” Marinette asks back, worried she may have made a mistake or that it was impolite to have not brought him anything.

Alya then glares at Nino, “Girl, He’s just teasing. Adrien will be happy we came to see him.”

Marinette sighs in relief, silently cursing herself over getting so worked up. Her need to please other people is a constant annoyance in the back of her brain.

As she’s thinking and calming down, the house lights go down as the stage lights come on. Two young men in red tuxedos introduce themselves as the hosts of tonight's show, The hosts begin thanking the night’s sponsors and of course thanking the GABRIEL brand for the use of the tuxedos.

They then introduce the name of the first pianist and the song they’re playing. The first contestant is a girl with long black hair, and a uniform-like outfit of navy blue and gold. She plays an original piece called ‘Requiem 1 of 9, for each life of a cat’’. A weird name, Marinette thinks, and that is that. She sits down to play a piece that starts playful, but by the end sends chills down Marinette’s spine. After around five minutes of music she exits the stage and a new contestant sits down to play. The only flair of the event is the change in coloured lighting and occasional addition of extra accompaniment. A few players had violinists with them, one or two had a cello, And one was announced to have a viola, but Marinette really couldn’t tell the difference between it and a violin

After many performances, the awaited time came and Adrien himself walked onto the stage, announced as “Adrien Agreste, son of the famed Gabriel Agreste. Tonight he will be playing Chopin’s ‘Raindrop Prelude’ Otherwise known as Op. 28 No. 15.”

He nervously tugs at his tie as he sits down and prepares to play. Marinette is surprised to note there is a violinist on stage, a blue haired boy in an older looking suit plays along. The melody is a gorgeous but sorrowful one. The lights sparkle behind him, in the colour of a pale blue, almost reflecting the hair of his violinist.

Marinette doesn’t know why, but her eyes seem to unwillingly give this boy a spotlight.

The way he grasps his instrument with a firm hold and keeps his head tilted at such a thoughtful angle; Marinette doesn’t know much about musicians or how to play violins, but she can just tell out of the others, this boy is by far the best.

Marinette is pulled out of her examination as a burst of sound hits, Adrien’s playing becomes more dramatic and starts to feel louder even if he seems to be keeping a bit of a consistent volume. Her gaze sweeps back towards the boy, his closed eyes and pursed lips reflecting each change in the song. When it switches to a lighter melody he seems to stand up straighter, his face seems more relaxed. Every motion is so subtle, yet so perfect. It seems as if he could play forever. But just like that, the song is over. The two boys bow and walk off stage. She claps along with everyone, but her mind is focusing solely on that particular violinist. She decides, in a brash thought, that after the show, she must get backstage. It’s a fact cementing in her mind. His calmness compared to the sweat on Adrien's brow, his subtle gestures compared to that of Adrien forcing out some flair.

It was as if crushes could jump to one person from another like a flu. It almost could be true. She never knew it could happen so quickly. Adrien be damned, another boy she’s barely met has taken his place in a heartbeat. But now she has the pesky problem of finding out who he is.

The rest of the competitors go by, if one were paying attention you could almost giggle about how obvious the difference between the students who had paid to perform and the students who are here on talent is. Marinette though, was not. —Much to her friend Alya’s dismay when she tried to crack several jokes.—

She was too preoccupied with thinking about the best way to get backstage, and how she hoped the blue-haired violinist of her dreams had not yet left.

Finally, the concert ends and Marinette bolts up from her seat and makes her way towards the backstage entrance.

“Where’s the dudette going?” Nino asks Alya, watching their friend sprint away

“Probably going to find Adrien!” Alya says with a smiles.

Meanwhile, two older gentlemen sit in the back row, quietly muttering to each other. One is a stocky man with a short build and not much hair. The other is tall and slim, with a moustache that can only be described as villainous.

During the show they had remained uninterested, though only until Adrien appeared. But it may have not been him they were focusing on. As the show ends, they make their way towards the backstage entrance whispering something about a violin.

When Marinette reaches the entrance she is stopped by a large but familiar bodyguard. Dressed in all grey and frowny as ever, Gorilla stands in front of Marinette, raising a hand to inform her that “no one is allowed backstage.”

But Marinette is not one to be told no by this man once again. So she stands back to create a plan.

At the same time the two shady men continue to walk forward. They watch the young girl denied entry by a tall and bulky man. They’ll have to find another way in.

“Wait,” The shorter man says “Look at that girl, she seems determined. Maybe she’ll find us a way in.”

“Are you sure?” The skinny man replies “How do you know she’ll be any good?”

“Doesn’t matter. We can just wait a moment. We’ll get caught if we rush.” The two men nod at each other and stand behind a large potted bush, waiting for this determined girl to act.

Marinette glances around the room and takes a few steps back. She looks down into her purse to get a view of Tikki, attempting to force her brain into Ladybug mode.

That is when she notices the desert table and a fan nearby. Staring at those items, she comes up with a plan.

Marinette smiles and walks over since there's a few people getting snacks at the moment. She grabs the fan and places it at just the right angle to blow the smell of the fresh pastries towards the bodyguard. They may not be from her parents' bakery, but hopefully any dessert will suffice.

The fan blows the lovely sweet smells over towards the bodyguard and he immediately perks up, looks around and doesn’t see anyone by the door, so he strides over to the dessert table for a long awaited snack. Marinette smiles at her success and sneaks right in through the door, searching her way backstage.

｡.｡:+* ﾟ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡.｡:+* ﾟ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ゜ﾟ *

The two men witness everything and nod to each other. They creep their way to the door. Marinette seems to have other plans, she makes sure the door closes behind her to avoid the guard getting into trouble. Unfortunately for the men, the door doesn’t just close. It slams, so the bodyguard, hearing the noise, whips his head over and sees the men trying to get in. He storms over and pushes the men away with a glare.

The men go outside, wondering if there’s a backdoor with possibly an easier guard to sway.

“We need to get that violin. And soon.” The shorter man exclaims once the pair is outside.

“I know. I know.” The taller man responds to his partner with exasperation

“If the kid takes it back to the Louvre it’ll be a hell of a lot harder to steal.”

“I know, stop explaining everything. Someone will overhear.”

The crooks bicker,. trying to cement another plan. They do find a back door, several actually, and all they have to do is climb a fence. How hard can that be?

｡.｡:+* ﾟ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡.｡:+* ﾟ゜ﾟ *+:｡.｡:+* ﾟ゜ﾟ *

Marinette, now backstage, walks around looking for that mysterious boy, seeing him just about to exit the stage. She almost sighs in defeat, until she notices an open violin case holding the specific and well designed violin the boy was playing.

While Marinette spends time finding the boy backstage, the thieves make their way over the fence, and into the nearest door, which leads them into a room right behind Marinette. The crooks think they’ve won, as the Stradivaris is laying in its open case on top of a dressing table. They make their way to it, creeping closer. Just as they are about to grab it, Marinette gets the bright idea to reach out and grab the case at the exact same time. She closes it and excitedly makes her way towards the violinist.

“Hey uhm, I grabbed this for you! It’s a nice Violin!” Marinette exclaims, hoping she didn’t make a big mistake.

“Oh—thanks, I should be watching it better. It’s a Stradivarius on loan from the Louvre.” Luka sighs, tired after the show, but also interested in this strange yet familiar girl. It feels as if he’s seen someone like her in a picture before.

“Oh Wow!” she replies, “You must be pretty popular to get something like that…”

The boy shrugs, “I’m no one special, it was requested for the accompaniment of the contestant I was playing for. Oh, I’m Luka, by the way, What’s your name?”

“Oh— Uh, Ma-Ma-Marinette!”

“Nice to meet you Ma-Ma-Marinette,” Luka smirks and stifles a laugh, Marinette blushes yet frowns at the same time. “Oh, I’m sorry” he says, “I’m not great at introducing myself to people. Especially… ones so helpful” He takes the violin case from her hands and tucks it under his arm.

Meanwhile the Crooks are fuming. This is the second time this girl prevented them from getting to that violin.

Luka looks at his phone and frowns “Well, it was nice meeting you. I have to go to an after-party event. The concert hall donors and judges are going to be chatting up the pianists and their parents. I have to be there to discuss the music aspect of everything.”

Marinette feels a bit crestfallen, and it must show on her face, as Luka amends his farewell, “Although, I suppose I could give you the address and we could meet up again. If you’d like.”

“I would love to!” Marinette smiles and leans towards him a bit, but quickly tries to tone it down. “I uh, I mean that would be fun!”

Luka grabs a notebook from his pocket and tears out a piece of paper to write down the address and the time, which is around an hour from now, presumably to give the contestants a moment to adjust their outfits or to relax. Marinette takes it and waves as he walks off.

Our two crooks stare at each other. Having overheard the conversation, they realise hijacking this boy on the road might be their answer.

Marinette smiles dreamily, this fascinating boy asking her to a private reception. What fate is this, that in a matter of minutes she finds herself closer to a date with this Luka than three years of pining over Adrien. She walks back to her friends to tell them of her early departure. But on her way over, she runs into an unexpected classmate, her friend Juleka.

“Hi, Juleka!” she calls out, “What’re you doing here?”

Juleka smiles slightly and walks up to Marinette. “Looking for my brother,” she mumbles quietly.

“Oh gosh, I forgot you had a brother. Older right? Is he a pianist?”

“Actually a violinist… He was the one accompanying Adrien.”

Marinette’s jaw dropped, a flashback of Luka’s kind smile as she handed him the violin hits her, She thinks about his appearance and it’s obvious the two are siblings.

“Oh, cool!”

“Yeah, I think he was over the way you came from,” Juleka says in her quiet manner, “Have you seen him? Blue tips in his hair— Looks like he’s running off two years worth of caffeine?”

Marinette didn’t notice the last part, but no matter, since she knows exactly where he’s going, “Yeah, actually he just went outside.”

“Damn it.” Juleka groans, “Sorry, I thought the idiot was going to wait for me. I have to go” Juleka gives Marinette a quick hug and runs off, leaving Marinette to continue searching for her friends. Once she finds them, she thinks about what to say. Not confident in admitting she’s going to an event with a guy she just met, she goes for a half truth.

“Hey, guys!”

“Marinette! Where have you been?” Alya looks at her friend with concern, always the caring, protective one.

“Yeah, dudette, you totally just ran out on us,” Nino laughs, not particularly caring one way or the other.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I got distracted.” not technically wrong, “But, I actually have to head home now. I’m getting stuffy in here.” also not wrong.

“Oh–” Alya lets out her small sound of disappointment but pulls it into a smile for her friend, “That's okay, girl, whatever you need. Do you mind if I head back with Nino then? We wanna run and get some ice cream first.”

Marinette nods and laughs, “Girl, it is way too cold for ice cream, but have fun with that!”

The trio departs, and Marinette makes her way home to fix up her outfit and figure out exactly where the event is being held.

The thieves also try to figure out where the event is being held, by sneaking around backstage until they’re inevitably thrown out by none other than the gorilla-sized bodyguard who blocked them earlier.

#LBSCExchange2023 #lukanette #pro lukamari #airip4 #art #miraculous ladybug #miraclous fanfic #lukanette endgame #valentine #violin

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verfound · 3 years

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They know where to find me?

...Airi, were you on the other night when I went Off about Marinette needing to go Full Slayer on the Guardians? 😂 This is that fic.

It's been festering since I raeg!typed it after..."Feast", I think. Before we knew anything about Su Han and the Guardians beyond They Kinda Suck. When fandom was first speculating about whether or not they'd come after Marinette now that they're back. And. Ok. Ranting for Everyone. 😂

I am Fully Aware of all that's come out about Joss Whedon the past few months. That being said, it does not change the fact that Whedon was a huge influence on my development as a storyteller. Buffy the Vampire Slayer came out when I was seven, and I grew up watching and rewatching and rewatching this incredible show. I followed Angel onto his own spinoff (I will never forgive Whedon for what he did to Cordelia and Fred). I followed Capt. Malcolm Reynolds and his ragtag crew across the 'verse. I stayed in the Dollhouse, I sent my application to Bad Horse, I laughed at Shakespeare, and I assembled when he stole Capt. America's shield. I know a lot of bad stuff has come out about Whedon, but that does not change how great an impact his stories had on me throughout my life.

That being said, "They Know Where to Find Me" was born from nothing more than my desperate need for Zagstruc to Man The Hell Up and have Marinette stand up to the Guardians Slayer-style (which, lbr, we know will never happen on a show like this, that totes 'female power' but cuts its female lead down at every available turn). In S3, the Watchers Council puts Buffy through a test where she loses her powers and has to defeat a strong (crazy) vampire they send her way. When all is said and done, Quentin (the Council emissary) tells Buffy she passed, and she tells him to bite her. "You sent that thing after my mother - I think you better leave town before I get my powers back." Two seasons later, when Buffy if fighting a literal god, Quentin shows back up to put her through another test to deem if she's 'worthy' of the information they have on Glory. And, once again, Buffy tells them to piss off.

I need that Moment for Marinette. I need Marinette to step into her own power, into her identity as Ladybug, and tell the Guardians to piss off. I need her to tell them, "If they want my Miracle Box, they know where to find me. I'm done following their rules. They're not fighting this war - I am. They want it? They can try and take it."

...which is about the only line I'm 100% committed to in this fic. 😂 The idea is the Guardians come to 'evaluate' Marinette (possibly sending a kwami emissary - I have notes about an alpaca kwami named Pacca), and by the end she's just Done. She calls a meeting with her team and the Emissary, and she drops her spots and tells the Emissary off. "I make the rules now. Hawkmoth is my enemy. You've been sleeping the entire time we've been fighting. You have anything useful, I'm right here. Otherwise get the hell out of my city."