Chapter Text
With a crash of drums and the reverbating squeal of the guitar, Kitty Section brought their latest song to a close. Adrien sighed softly, flexed his fingers, and switched the keyboard to a different synth, as across the Couffaines' boat deck, their scattered audience clapped and cheered. It was only a rehearsal session, but he still felt the anxious thrum of his heartbeat in his neck, a pressure to not screw up. Flipping to the next page of sheet music, he glanced around at his bandmates and gave a cautious smile-- his gaze fell on Luka last, who was walking up to him. That made Adrien's heart race for a whole new reason.
"I was thinking for this next song," Luka said, sidling up behind the keyboard beside him, "maybe we could try a piano solo this time, instead of guitar?"
"A piano solo?" Adrien swallowed, his eyes glued to Luka as the older boy leant obliviously into his space. He wore a gentle cologne, something chemical enough that Adrien knew it was cheap, but nice enough that it wasn't tacky. The slightly artificial smell of forest greenery was so comfortingly Luka.
"Yeah." Luka looked up at him, smiling fondly. "Maybe a scale down here..."
He took Adrien's hand, gently, and led it to play a string of notes. Adrien's breath caught. He tried to shake the funny feeling off.
"B-flat major," he recognised.
"Right. When the cue comes, I'll drop the guitar into backing chords and you can freestyle something. Just play whatever's in your heart."
"Okay..."
Right now, Adrien's heart felt full of butterflies. Luka's hand still lingered over his, eyes as warm as his smile as he gazed down at him, and despite his nerves Adrien smiled back. He even giggled a little (embarrassingly) as Luka intertwined their fingers for a second before pulling back. If anyone else had asked Adrien to play a solo, he would've been reluctant... but for Luka...
He was just so incredibly cool. Adrien wanted to impress him.
"If you can switch to a walking bass for the solo, Juleka," Luka said, stepping back, "maybe Adrien could do a swing rhythm. Spice up the song a little."
Adrien tensed. "I- I don't know how to play swing. I'm only classically trained."
"Oh, that's okay." Another easy smile. "You don't have to do it if you don't want to, Adrien. But if you like, maybe I could teach you?"
Adrien thought about Luka's hand leading his on the keyboard. His face burnt red. "Sure... I'd like that..."
Luka winked, taking his position up again. "We can work on it together after practice."
In the audience, Marinette watched and seethed.
"Do you see the way he's looking at Adrien?" she hissed to her friends. "Something's up between them, right? He's hitting on him?"
Alya eyed her warily. "I don't know..." She didn't want to give more fuel to Marinette's fire. She'd only recently been broken up with by Luka, and was still sore about it.
"Why would he be hitting on him? He knows I'm still in love with Adrien! Is he just trying to get back at me? To make me jealous or something?"
"I don't think he's like that," Alya said with a sigh. "But y'know, if you don't want Adrien to be with someone else, you've gotta get the nerve up to actually talk to him. We all respect girl code, we've tried helping you out-- but it's been several months and you're barely even friends. Eventually, someone's gonna date him."
Mylene and Alix, beside them, nodded.
"He is popular," Mylene said softly, trying to spare her feelings. "We've all been rooting for you, Marinette, but honestly..."
"Honestly, we'd hoped you'd moved on with Luka," Alix finished, more bluntly. "It seemed better for you, until you guys ended things all of a sudden."
"Yeah. What happened with that, anyway?" Mylene asked.
Marinette flushed, a hurt pout settling on her face. She'd only told Alya the story-- that Luka had dumped her because he could tell how she felt about Adrien --but even then, that was just half of it. Nobody needed to know, though, that his main issue had been her... researching him. For self-assurance. He'd lost it when he found out, and even disclosing her trauma to him hadn't made him understand. He hadn't told anyone what happened to spare her relationship with her friends, but clearly, he was still nursing a grudge.
"He just lost interest in me," she said sadly, earning a look from Alya.
Kitty Section were halfway through the song, Rose belting out the chorus before the instrumentalists took over. Adrien took a deep steadying breath, trying to come up with a melody on the spot.
A few bars in, he realised he was playing the wrong scale. He pulled his hands away like he'd burnt them, cringing back, and stammered, "Sorry!"
The rest of the band came to a stop. They all looked at him.
"You said B-flat major, but I was on A-flat, I completely forgot. I'm so sorry, I should've known better."
"It's alright, Adrien. It happens," Luka said. He turned to the rest of the band. "Let's take that section from the top?"
They started over from the chorus, and Adrien ran through his chords just fine on muscle memory. But as his cue came up, the nerves built in his stomach again-- and he froze. His fingers stopped, his breath catching, eyes locked on his sheet music searching for instructions that weren't there. At his silence, the band disjointedly came to a halt again. He dropped his head in apology, folding his arms around himself.
He heard Luka set his guitar down on its stand.
"Maybe we should take five. We've been playing for a while now. I'll go get us some drinks."
Adrien peeked up at him, expecting annoyance, but only finding a calm look on his face. Their eyes met.
"Adrien? Can you help me carry things up?"
They entered the cluttered kitchen below deck, the ground swaying slightly in a way that was unnerving when you couldn't see the water. Adrien stood aside awkwardly as Luka fetched some glasses, passing them to him before opening the fridge.
"I'm really sorry," he mumbled. Luka looked up, but he avoided his gaze. "I- I promise I'll work on it at home. I'll write a solo and make sure I have it down perfect before next time. And if I keep slowing everyone down, you can take the part back-"
"Adrien." Luka put a hand on his arm, finally making him look up at him. He was frowning, but when their eyes met, his lips turned up in a smile. "It's fine. Seriously. You know, I messed up a few notes back there too."
"You... you did?"
"Mm-hm. Bet you didn't even notice." Luka's grin quirked lopsidedly. He turned back to the fridge, grabbing out some juice and cola. "That's the thing with music: the audience doesn't know how every last note should sound, so if you just keep playing confidently, they won't even notice your mistakes. It doesn't have to be perfect."
"That's not how I was taught," Adrien mumbled. He couldn't keep the bitterness from his words.
Luka paused, eyeing him.
"Well... what attitude makes more sense to you? What makes you happier?"
Adrien blinked. Before he could come up with a response, the door slid open and Juleka stepped inside, shooting him a smile before grabbing some snacks for the group. They headed back upstairs, Luka mumbling as he passed him, "Let's talk about it tonight."
-
"I think there was something wrong there," Marinette argued. "The way he was squeezing into his space, caging him in-- Adrien looked so uncomfortable! Like he was too scared to tell him to stop! And all that just to try and spite me-- he's such a... such a snake!"
Her friends on the video call exchanged awkward glances. Most perturbed of all was Juleka, who looked like she wanted to push back, but was too anxious to get the words out. The first couple times Marinette had talked about people orbiting Adrien like this, they'd all wholeheartedly believed her: Chloe obviously was actually like that, and even with Kagami, she'd seemed cold and nobody knew her, so they'd naturally taken Marinette's side and helped shun her until she left Adrien alone. But now this?
"I think they're just good friends, Marinette," Rose said timidly. Out of everyone, she'd been the most invested in her and Adrien's love story-- but even for her, it was getting less cute. "We spend a lot of time together when you're not there, and Adrien always seems happy around him."
"You guy just don't understand him like I do! He can't bring himself to reject people no matter how awful they are-- he's too sweet and kind!" Marinette looked at Alya pleadingly. "Right, Alya? You know what I mean."
Alya frowned. "Adrien is kind of a doormat..."
"See! Like I said-"
"But we all know Luka, and he'd never act like that." Alya's frown intensified, drilling into her through the screen. "Marinette, are you sure you're not just jealous?"
Marinette gaped at her in shock. Her eyes darted to her friends, searching for anyone on her side, but they were all looking at her doubtfully...
"You don't believe me?" she said with a wince.
Juleka finally piped up, her tone biting. "I believe my brother."
Marinette's shoulders sagged. She folded her arms around herself uncertainly, then with a hasty excuse, exited out of the call. As she flicked back to her playlist of Adrien's commercials, Tikki flew out from cover.
"Do you really think someone you chose as a holder could be that bad a person, Marinette?" she asked, in her chiding tone.
Marinette huffed, waving her out of the way of the screen. "Looks can be deceiving, Tikki. I was right about Lila and Kagami even when noone else believed me-- I'm going to trust my gut on this, and save Adrien. And when I show them all the evidence of Luka manipulating him, they'll understand that I was right all along!"
Tikki followed her trepidatiously as she paced across the room, pulling down her chart of Luka's details and skimming over it. Grabbing a red marker, she crossed out the words 'snake miraculous holder'.
"For now at least, I'm taking Luka off the team. He's not trustworthy."
"A guardian shouldn't let their feelings get in the way of their duties," Tikki warned, but Marinette brushed her off.
"I'm doing what's best for everyone. Once I've investigated him, I'll see about bringing Viperion into action again."
She scowled, letting her chart roll up again before turning adoringly back to the videos on her screen. Her eyes pored over Adrien, and she let out a dreamy sigh.
"Oh, Adrien. If only everyone could understand you like I do."
-
Adrien was kind of getting the hang of a swing rhythm-- emphasis on kind of. Every time he started to play it consistently, earning an encouraging smile from Luka, he'd just mess it up again. He was trying not to show it, but deep inside, he just wanted to shove the keyboard over and scream.
"We can leave it there." Luka's eyes flicked down his face, and his brow creased slightly. "If you're really not enjoying swing, you don't have to do it. It was just a random idea I had, but your solo should be your own thing. Express yourself how you want." He played a bassy melody on his guitar, before tapping the strings to a stop. "What does Adrien's version sound like?"
Standing behind the keyboard, Adrien fidgeted self-consciously. Luka's expectant gaze drilled into him, and after several seconds, he dropped his hands down to the keys and forced himself to play. Just random notes, just the first thing he thought of-
"I didn't know your last name was Mozart," Luka said dryly.
Adrien stopped, flushing red. "Uh. Sorry. I was trying to play something original, but..."
He trailed off.
Luka hummed, tapping at his guitar for a few seconds before he began to play. It was a simple, plodding rhythm, climbing down the C major scale at a metronomic pace.
"That's what I feel from you," he said, "when you talk, when you practice with us. It's so restricted... Perfect, but held back."
Adrien cringed. "Doesn't sound like I'm that perfect."
"Why does it matter if you aren't?"
He mumbled a non-reply, running his fingers over the keys. Luka tilted his head.
"It's what your dad pushes on you, right?" And Adrien cringed again. "But I don't think this is you, Adrien. This," he gestured to his guitar, "or Mozart. There's something under there that you're not letting play."
Adrien's mouth twisted. He folded his arms, made as if to say something-- then, failing to find the words, stayed silent.
"...If you can't say it," Luka finally said, "maybe you can sing it? Helps me, at least."
Adrien eyed him warily. "What do you mean?"
"Come." Luka smiled, patting the bed beside him. As Adrien sat down, he started to strum a sequence of chords. "I'll give you a backing track. Something..." he eyed him, then changed the chords up, "heavier?"
"I'm gonna feel stupid," Adrien mumbled.
"That's okay. It's just us here. It doesn't need to be poetic, or rhyme, or fit a meter. Just sing the first thing that comes to mind. What you want to say to someone, what you want to get off your chest..."
"Like a freestyle," Adrien realised, and Luka grinned.
"Like a freestyle. Show me what the real Adrien wants to say."
He strummed a little louder, and nodded for Adrien to begin-- after several seconds of paralysing fear, Adrien squeezed his eyes shut and just made himself try. His voice was low, barely over a mutter, and it wobbled on each note.
"I want you... to like me... I don't want to mess up, so please like me..."
He kept meandering, stumbling over his words, his train of thought slowly finding cohesion. Adrien wondered for a second who he was pleading to-- Luka? His friends? The answer hit him, a sudden pit in his stomach followed by a flood of emotions that, slowly, made his voice grow louder.
"Please just want me around
Please just smile on me once
I wish you'd say I make you proud
I wish you'd say I'd done enough
"I wish I didn't drive you sick to death
by always screwing up
I wish you needed me the way you only
seem to need my mum"
His voice cracked, rage creeping in, and Luka's strumming grew more intense. Adrien's fists curled in his lap-- the words kept spilling out.
"Why aren't I good to you?
Why can't I ever be good enough?
Why don't you love me too?
Just tell me how to be good enough
"What did I even do
that made me so far from good enough?
I only want to be good enough
To..."
He suddenly became aware of himself and faltered, burning up.
"To know you..." he mumbled lamely.
Luka stopped, letting the final chord ring out into silence. Face red down to his neck, Adrien stared at his lap, trying not to think back on everything he'd just done and tear into himself.
"That was raw. I liked that." Luka grinned, bumping their knees together. "Did it feel good getting it out?"
Adrien took a breath, surprising himself by giving a shy nod. Despite the embarrassment, his chest really did feel lighter.
Luka hummed out the melody, reaching for his songbook on the other side of his bed. He turned to a blank page, jotting chords and lyrics down. "You should let out that side of you more, Adrien. When we play. You've got all this energy inside..."
He caught Adrien's nervous stare, and followed it down to his book.
"Oh. Sorry. I was just really inspired by that, I wanted to get it down..." He shook his head absentmindedly. "But it's your song. You don't have to put it out in front of everyone. I just find it cathartic, personally, to make the world listen when a certain person won't."
Adrien hesitated. "You... want it on the set-list?"
"It's totally your call. If it's too personal, I'll just rip this page out and you can keep it for yourself."
Adrien chewed his cheek. The thought of being up there on stage, watching Rose wail out his deepest emotions... The thought of what his father would do once he heard...
But then, when had his father ever paid attention to the band? When had he ever cared? They could scream this song from every rooftop in Paris, and his father wouldn't even know it existed. Hell, he barely even seemed to remember Adrien existed!
Setting his jaw, Adrien placed his hand over Luka's, steadying it. "No. We can use it. I... I think it'd be good."
Luka beamed, picking up his pen again. "Awesome! We can tidy up the lyrics a little before you go, then next session we'll all hash out the instrumental. Ivan can probably relate to you on some of this, so I bet the drums will go hard..." He trailed off in thought for a second, then gave him a lopsided grin. "Do you think you'd want to sing?"
Adrien's eyes widened. "Me? But- I've never taken lessons."
"Neither has Rose. We're a teen band, we don't need to sound professional." He inclined his head, smile almost turning beguiling. "And you know, sometimes an emotional charge can sound even better than a perfectly trained voice. It's up to you, but I think you'd be great."
Adrien's stomach fluttered.
"Okay," he said, a little too breathlessly. He returned his smile. "I'll... I'll try."
-
"We've got a new track to debut tonight," Rose announced with a perky grin. "It's called 'A Song You Won't Listen To'. We worked really hard on it, so hope you enjoy!"
Her last few words were cut off by the crowd's rabid screams-- Adrien had slipped out from behind the keyboard, intending to be nonchalant as he came over to take Rose's place. But (as he probably should've expected), the promise of him singing for the first time had made his fans in the audience go wild. He tried not to visibly cringe. He already kind of regretted making himself the centre of attention.
Rose took his spot behind the keys, readying to play the simple chord sequence he'd taught her. Three snares to count them in, and then the song was roaring around him-- the youth centre hall wasn't dark enough to hide all the faces in the crowd, and for a split-second Adrien was paralysed, his stomach twisting sickeningly and his mouth dry.
He closed his eyes, and when the cue came, he managed to start.
The song was mostly how he'd improv'd it, with some cleanup and a couple more verses he'd brainstormed with Luka. They leant more heavily into the 'distant father' angle, to the point Adrien suspected Luka was injecting his own hangups about the father he'd never met. But he didn't mind. It made it a little easier to sing.
"...I wish you needed me the way you only
seem to need her love..."
That was one of the tweaks he'd made just this morning, in a last-minute panic about his dad somehow hearing the song and getting mad. The whole thing was made more ambiguous, which Luka wasn't fond of, but he'd acquiesced for Adrien's comfort. He'd floated putting the original on their album as a hidden track-- Adrien was still unsure about it.
"...Just tell me how to be good enough..."
He felt like he was screaming against the drums, against the scraping guitar and jumpy, buzzing synth. Like he was fighting to be heard. The sounds overwhelmed him, and it was so much easier to forget the crowd, to move his mouth without even hearing the words that spilt from his lips. It was only when they finally finished, and the clamouring cheers came, that Adrien blinked open his eyes and remembered where he was. He smiled and waved awkwardly, scrambling back so Rose could re-take her place.
In the crowd, Marinette watched with a dreamy grin.
"He was amazing, wasn't he?"
"Hell yeah!" Nino enthused. "Never thought he could rock out like that, but it was sick as hell. Glad he's finally getting all that shit off his chest, too."
"It was awesome," Alya agreed. "That's our talented Adrien, huh?"
Marinette's smile dimmed when Luka ducked over to whisper to Adrien before their final number. Adrien glanced up at him so anxiously...
"What if that song was about me?" She spoke her thoughts aloud.
Alya shot her a deadpan look. "Girl, what."
"I think it's about me," she said, more sure now, her words more frantic. "He must've finally realised he's in love with me, he's desperate to confess his feelings, but Luka's lied about me to sabotage our relationship out of spite, and now Adrien thinks I could never love him because he could never meet my standards-"
"It's about his dad, dude," Nino said, frowning quizzically. "Like, pretty obviously about his dad."
Marinette's brow creased. "What do you mean?"
Before Nino could reply, the next song began. This was the one with Adrien's solo, she remembered. She hoped Luka's conniving whispering hadn't been to psych him out. She watched eagerly, her eyes fixed on perfect, smiling, angelic Adrien, and as the song built up to a crescendo she waited eagerly to hear his amazing keyboard solo-
Adrien dropped to backing chords, and Luka strutted out across the stage, shredding riffs with a theatrical swing of his guitar neck as he grinned out at the feverish crowd. After a handful of bars, he spun on his heel and gestured to Ivan, who smashed out a complicated drum fill. Juleka was next, the other instruments dropping lower as she shyly plunked a funky, trailing bass. Marinette had held out vain hope that Adrien would still get to shine, but as Juleka wrapped up, Rose pumped a fist into the air and returned to sing the final chorus. And Adrien just stood there in the back, smiling sadly, overshadowed by everyone because Luka was jealous he was so much better than him!
Marinette scowled, not even clapping as the song came to an end.
"That's us for tonight! Please follow our Bandcamp and preorder our debut album!" Rose squeaked. She stepped back, then added hastily before departing, "And Adrien's not giving autographs!"
Nino and Alya laughed. The crowd began to disperse, heading outside to the food and drink trucks as the next teen band set up for their performance. Marinette was looking around for her exit, when Alya hooked an arm over her shoulders.
"Let's go get some ice-cream before it all sells out." Her gaze dropped to Marinette, then she frowned, scrutinising her face. "What's wrong?"
"It's Adrien," Marinette muttered.
"Oh, girl, c'mon-"
"This is just gonna be another situation like Lila, where you don't believe me and then feel bad when I turn out to be right!" She stepped out of Alya's grasp, planting her hands on her hips. "I know Luka's plotting something, and I'm going to get proof of it. You go get your ice-cream-- I'll be back."
"Marinette!" Alya called out in frustration, but it was too late: Marinette was already stalking off through the crowd, giving a furtive glance over her shoulder before ducking backstage.
She navigated the halls, poking her head into offices and closets until finally, she found the room where the bands seemed to have hung out before their sets. The last group of the night was up right now, so the only things there were her friends' bags strewn on the couches, a water jug sitting empty on the coffee table, and a few vacant lockers lining one wall. She beelined for Luka's bag, rifling through it, but froze when she heard footsteps coming her way. In a panic, she ducked inside a locker.
"Seemed like we did good out there," Ivan commented, stepping in first and flopping down on the couch. "The crowd was going psycho."
Adrien's first thought was, cynically, that it was probably just his superfans losing their minds around him like always. He dismissed the idea quickly, scolding himself-- if the others knew he'd thought that, they'd probably call him an asshole. As if the band weren't talented on their own, and his stupid face was the only draw they had for themselves.
"You all were great," he said with a placid smile. Sitting on the other couch, he fished some fruit straps from his bag. He fiddled with them fretfully. "I'm... sorry I put you guys on the spot with the solo part."
"No, it's cool." Juleka was sat by Ivan, Rose tucked under her arm. "I... actually had a lot of fun with it. I never really thought I could do a solo."
"All you guys sharing it sounded amazing! We should totally keep it like that when we record the album!" said Rose.
Adrien let his smile spread wider. "Yeah, for sure. And maybe when we get up to that, I could-" have a part too. He cut himself off, corners of his mouth twitching. "I mean... if we need to fill some extra space on the track, maybe I could... figure something out..."
Luka was last to enter then, walking slowly, his head buried in his songbook where he was busy scrawling down notes. He glanced up as Adrien finished speaking, raising an eyebrow. "What's up?"
"Oh, nothing!" Adrien said, but Ivan spoke over him,
"We were thinking when we record 'Burn Tonight', we should keep the thing where we all share the solo. With Adrien too," he tacked on at the end, with a smile and nod to Adrien, who flushed.
Luka smiled, dropping to a seat beside Adrien.
"Way ahead of you. I was thinking of ways we could make all the different parts more cohesive. Maybe if we stick to one genre styling..."
He draped an arm over the couch back behind Adrien, continuing to talk, utterly nonchalant. Adrien's breath stuttered at the closeness, his eyes indefatigably drawn to the side of his face.
"What do you think, Adrien?" Luka turned his smile on him, leaning just a little closer. "We can pick something that fits your playstyle."
"Okay," he said, his voice breaking.
Luka chuckled, and Juleka dropped her head in her hands. "Oh my god..."
"I was asking what style you think we should use."
"O-Oh!" Adrien's face was probably already pink, but it burnt darker. "Um... Well, you know me, Mozart..."
Luka laughed. "We'll just steal something from Mozart?"
That's kind of my M.O., isn't it? --the quip sat on Adrien's tongue, but he didn't say it, unsure if they'd like the joke. He nodded stupidly instead, tongue tied and only leaving him more speechless as Luka's arm slid down to rest on his shoulders. Luka cocked his head, smiling enigmatically.
"You're cute."
"Oh my god, please get a room!" Juleka cried out in exasperation. "Rose and I never subjected you to stuff like this. I'm gonna puke!"
Luka drew back with a teasing grin at her, as Ivan blinked and asked, "Wait, are you guys together?"
In the locker, Marinette's heart dropped to the pit of her gut.
"W-What?" Adrien laughed, glancing at Luka uncertainly. "No, we- right? I don't think you-"
"Uh, no." Even Luka somehow seemed off-balance, the smile falling off his face. He averted his gaze, arm slipping off Adrien's shoulders. "I mean, I haven't asked Adrien out. Yet." He shot a dirty look at Juleka. "I was- I was scoping things out."
Adrien stared at him wide-eyed.
"Sorry," Ivan inserted in awkwardly. "I shouldn't have asked."
"It's cool." A quick breath, and Luka was back to his usual unflappable self. "Anyway. The solos. We can workshop them. Maybe for now, we can just go grab dinner-"
"Oh!" Adrien scrambled for his phone, checking the time. "Dammit, it's that late, isn't it? My car's probably already waiting for me, I've gotta go."
"Okay," Luka said, a vacuous space in his words. He glanced at the others, then rose, stowing his songbook in his bag. "Can I walk you out?"
Adrien faltered, considered him, then nodded. They headed out into the hall, leaving Marinette chewing her lip in anxious distress.
They walked side by side in silence, hands shoved into their pockets, gazes turned pointedly away. Adrien was bogged deep in thought: knowing what Luka wanted now, knowing he'd hurt him if he refused (the same way Ladybug had hurt him so many times, no matter what he did, no matter how much he sacrificed to try and please her)... He didn't want to treat a friend like that. Even with Chloe, before she'd gone, he'd danced around actually rejecting her and let her touch him as much as she'd liked. He would've done it for anyone. It was just basic politeness. But with Luka there was undeniably something more between them-- something that made him want it, want his attention, want his love, the same way he'd needed it so much from Ladybug. He hadn't thought about it as romantic-- didn't know he could feel that way about a boy. But maybe it was.
Either way, he already knew what he'd say as they reached the threshold to the parking lot. He stopped, turning to face him.
"Luka."
Luka paused at his voice, blue eyes flicking down on him warily. Adrien didn't like that. Didn't like this sudden distance.
"I love you too."
And like that, easily enough, he had him back by his side. Luka blinked in shock at him before he grinned, relieved-- held his arms out as if unsure what to do with himself, before pulling Adrien into a bone-crushing hug.
"That's awesome." He drew back, just enough, and cupped his face. "You're awesome. Can I, uh..?"
His gaze dropped to his lips. Adrien's heart slammed frantically into his ribcage, a real smile breaking on his face as his fingers bunched into Luka's shirt, the chemical scent of forest greenery filling up his lungs. He nodded, nudging his head forward shyly, and Luka leant down to meet him the rest of the way. It was soft, closed-mouth and clumsy, tasting like the cola still on his breath and the faint, nasty aftershave Adrien could now smell lingering millimetres off his skin. They parted, both breathing a little fast. Luka ran his fingers through his hair, and Adrien glowed, unable to hold back a dopey, face-marring grin.
"I'll see you around?"
"Yeah," Adrien breathed. Luka stepped back, but he clung to him, unwilling to let go of him right that moment. "Talk to me at school."
"Of course." Luka gave him a funny look. Gently, he pushed him back by the shoulders, pointing to his car. "You should go. You don't wanna be late."
Adrien nodded, stumbling backwards over his feet as, ingracefully, he spun and raced out to the car. He flopped in the back seat and threw his hands dramatically over his heart, sighing fondly, attracting a look from his bodyguard through the rear-view mirror.
"I'm dating someone," he gushed.
Placide turned to him, gestured to fasten his seatbelt, then gave a congratulatory smile.