Chapter Text
Luka is sitting on the Liberty's deck, his guitar in his lap, trying to play the melody that has been stuck in his head for weeks. Since he met the damn blonde.
Since the day he met Chloé Bourgeois, just over two weeks ago, Luka hasn't been able to get his melody out of his head. Or she. He can't find notes or chords to compose anything that comes close to what he heard from the blonde. Which isn't surprising, as the girl's melody is a cacophony of sounds, all very jumbled and messed up. It's as if she doesn't know who she is, as if she's confused about herself, about which notes to choose, which melody to create.
She's complicated to listen to, intriguing and unique. Strange when you first hear it, but the more you listen, the more you can decipher this strange but beautiful melody. She has a touch of boldness, shyness and softness. There is also sweetness, haughtiness and fear. It's something completely complicated and unique. He had never heard a melody like this, so strange but truly beautiful in its strangeness. Chloé's melody is an unknown quantity, as is the girl herself.
And Luka can't get either of them out of his head. It's like they've lodged themselves in a corner of his mind and refuse to leave, no matter what he does.
It's irritating and very weird.
He and Chloe didn't get along at all since the first time they saw each other. He already didn't have a good opinion of the girl. Not after hearing everything she's done to her sister and friends. Luka has always been very protective of Juleka and doesn't allow his sister to be harmed, just as he doesn't like injustice and people who think they are superior to others. He didn't know Chloe, and even though he'd only heard bad things about her, he decided to wait and see for himself before forming a definitive opinion about the mayor's daughter. And when he met her, he discovered that she was the devil himself.
It was his first day at Françoise Dupont, he transferred there after his school had a problem with the plumbing and everything flooded. Thus causing students to have to transfer to other schools in order to finish the school year, as the school would have to be renovated and would not finish in time to finish the school year. His mother then decided it would be a good idea for him to go to the same high school as his twin sister.
Luka didn't complain, he has a lot of friends who study there and he was happy to spend more time with his sister.
-
So far, Luka's first day at Françoise Dupont is going great. He was well received by his friends and fellow students. He's excited to study with his sister and friends, he's in the same class and room as Juleka and her whole group of friends. Which makes him excited that he knows almost everyone in the class and hopes to get along with the ones he doesn't.
But Luka is known to be a very calm and understanding guy. He gets along with everyone, it's very rare for him not to like someone. He always tries to get to know people and understand who they are and understand their particularities.
"Guys!" Professor Bustier calls the class to attention. “I'd like to introduce you to a new student, Luka Couffaine. I hope you will welcome him and be kind. Luka, would you like to perform for your classmates?”
The teacher asks and Luka nods in agreement. He turns to his colleagues and begins to speak.
"Hey guys!" he starts and waves his hand. “Most of you already know me, but for those who don't, my name is Luka Couffaine, as the teacher already said... And I'm Juleka's twin brother. I'm also a musician and I love to play instruments, especially string ones. I also compose and I think that’s it.” He looks and smiles at the teacher when he finishes.
“Thank you Luka, for introducing yourself, you can choose a seat and sit down.”
Mrs. Bustier says, but before Luka can take a step towards the seats, someone bumps into him hard, nearly knocking him off balance. He quickly turns and grabs the small figure, stopping it from falling. The girl clings to him as if her life depended on it, large, impeccable nails penetrating his clothes and skin on his biceps and shoulder, uneven breathing, chest heaving, eyes wide with fright and fear of falling.
He looks at the girl in his arms and the first thing that comes to mind is that she is beautiful. She looks like an angel with her golden hair, sapphire blue eyes, soft and perfect heart-shaped face, slender figure wearing light blue jeans, a simple white blouse with a little cleavage, nude colored heeled boots and a big furry coat white. A beautiful and sexy angel.
That's what he thought, until she opened her mouth.
“You can let me go now, idiot! What the hell were you doing standing in front of the door like a stupid statue?!” and so the angel turns into a demon in seconds.
The girl looks at him angrily and pushes him away from his arms, cleaning and arranging her clothes as if he had contaminated her just by touching her. Looking at him like he was the worst scum she'd ever seen on the face of the earth. Luka's temper heats up at the harsh words of the little blonde harpy.
"As I remember it was you who bumped into me and I saved your ass from hitting the floor!" he retorts offended. "You should be thanking me, blonde."
"I wouldn't have bumped into you if you weren't standing like an idiot in the middle of the room in front of the door!" the girl exclaims irritably, not giving in that she is the wrong one. “And don't call me blonde, blueberry!”
“Miss Bourgeois!” the teacher calls attention and the blonde looks at her. Luka is shocked to find that this is Chloe Bourgeois, she doesn't look like the girl he saw on TV. Her clothes are different and she is much prettier than he remembers. Shit Luke! Stop thinking she's pretty, the girl is insufferable, and she's your sister's bully. “Chloé, you arrived late, bumped into your new colleague and are insulting him; that's not manners for a girl like you. Please be kind and apologize to Luka.”
The blonde looks shocked and betrayed at the teacher, as if the woman had asked her to pull out a kidney and give it to him instead of just apologizing.
“Why do I have to apologize if he's the one who stood in my way and almost made me fall?!” indignant question.
“Chloe...” Mrs. Bustier says in exasperation.
“Don't worry teacher. From what I've heard of Miss Bourgeois she never apologizes to anyone. She thinks she's too superior to be polite to people.” Luka reassures the teacher and looks at Chloe defiantly. “So, you're the famous Chloe Bourgeois. Heard a lot about you, only bad things. My sister warned me that I should be careful with you and stay away. That you think you're superior to everyone and don't mind stepping on anyone. And from what I'm seeing, she's right."
The girl looks at him with a frown before a mask of cold indifference slides over her face and she looks haughtily at him. “Oh and who is this sister of yours who seems to know everything about me?”
“Juleka Couffaine, the girl you humiliated and caused to be akumatized. As well as most of the school and Paris.” he responds looking into the disdainful eyes of the blonde, who snorts indifferently at her words. As if nothing he said affected or bothered her. She focuses her eyes on him and Luka shudders at the intense gaze in those beautiful blue eyes, as if an ocean of sapphires is daring him to look away.
“Oh, so you're the overprotective brother who hates me because I hurt his little sister and her friends? That you think you know me just because some people have told you horrible things about me.” She says, indifferent to what this boy thinks about her.
“No, I'm the brother who heard his sister and her friends complain and say many horrible things about an insufferable blonde who thinks she's superior to everyone and humiliates them without caring about anyone's feelings. I tried not to form any opinions about you until I met you, but you're just proving everything everyone says about you to be true.”
“What do they say about me?” defies.
Luka smiles crookedly and moves a little closer to the smaller girl. “That you are the demon in person!”
Chloe raises an eyebrow at his words. She doesn't seem the least bit affected by her words, in fact she even looks a little proud. A wicked smile creeps onto the blonde's full, red-painted lips and Luka has to concentrate to look away from the Bourgeois's mouth. She closes the distance between them and looks up at him, having to lean back a little to meet her eyes. She's so petite that even in high heels the top of her head still barely reaches her shoulders. Luka has grown a lot over the past few months and stretched even taller.
“You don't know how devilish and hellish I am, Couffaine.” She snarls at him, voice low and husky. Luka shudders at her closeness, looking her up and down; couldn't help being affected by the beauty of the girl in front of him. Her breath tickling her skin and making him shiver. Damn that woman! "I don't care what you and your sister and your friends think of me. So don't waste your breath telling me things I've heard from other people more important to me than you and I still don't care about your words.”
“Chloe apologize to Luka soon or I’ll send you to the principal.” Mrs. Bustier demands again before Luka can recover from the Bourgeois’ proximity. Her scent making him dizzy, she smells sweet like vanilla but also bold with woody notes and soft with a floral hint of lavender. She is heady.
Chloe sighs in resignation after a staring contest with her teacher. “I’m sorry I bumped into you,” she says through gritted teeth. “And for the harsh words I said, I’m sorry.” She adds to the teacher’s steady gaze.
“I accept your apologies. Even though they are fake.” Luka responds with a fake smile.
“Did you see!? He’s the one being na asshole!” the blonde exclaims at the teacher.
“Just… take your seats, you two!” Miss Bustier says, squeezing her fingers between her eyes in exasperation and walks over to her table.
Chloe rolls her eyes and goes to her seat. But just before she sits down she turns and calls Luka.
“Ah, Couffaine!” she says and waits for the boy to turn and look at her. “Next time you talk to me... remember my eyes are up here.” She smiles wickedly.
“The role of nice, polite boy who doesn’t let rude comments and overprotective brother defending little sister from the monster here, falls apart when you can’t take your eyes off my breasts. Or well... everything about me. ” She winks at him with a wicked smile and smirks as she sees the blush rise to the boy’s cheeks.
Damn woman! She can’t help but have the last word, he thinks irritably and embarrassed.
Luka quickly looks away and sits down. He lowers his head and tries to hide his red face from the others. Some laughing at their embarrassment. He didn’t think he was being so obvious in his stares. He really tried not to look at her cleavage too much or anywhere on her that wasn’t her face. He didn’t want to be disrespectful or look like a pervert. But he isn’t iron and Chloe is beautiful and he couldn’t help it.
She really is a demon. Of course satan would not make his servants ugly, no, he makes them beautiful and irresistible. To tempt you and make you fall into the flames with a smile on your face.
And Chloé is not just any demon, no, she is one of those who would even make the devil doubt himself.
He’s fucked, totally fucked.
-
And that’s when Luka began his enmity with Bourgeois. When he realized that he couldn’t get the annoying girl out of his head, not even if he opened it and tried to remove it.
Luka prides himself on being calm and understanding. He prides himself on not being swayed by appearances or what people say, only forming na opinion of someone after meeting them.
With Chloe it was no different, despite everything they told him and him not liking her very much for what she did to her sister. Luka still tried not to form any opinion about Bourgeois, waiting to meet her to decide what to think of her. But when he met her, he discovered that the blonde has a special way of irritating him and taking him out of his mind.
He doesn’t know what happens, but whenever he and Chloe are around each other they can’t help but argue or insult each other. The blonde manages to bring out the worst in him.
Luka always tries to be calm and serene, not letting his emotions get out of control. He doesn't like to get out of hand, because when he does, he can't control himself. This is one of the reasons he always avoids getting involved in fights and discussions. The few times he got into a fight, whenever he hit some kid who provoked him he lost control and couldn't stop until he was dragged off the other boy and left him a bloody mess.
That's one of the reasons he prefers to focus on his music and also meditate to keep his mind and body in tune and have control over both.
Now he is also exercising. Kim's uncle opened a gym, where he has everything from sports, fighting, martial arts, climbing and training equipment. And to help Uncle, Kim recruited Luka and all the other boys and a few girls, Juleka and Alix, to join the academy. He got them a group subscription where the monthly fee would be more affordable for everyone and so they started training three or four times a week if they have time. But sometimes Luka goes there when he needs to de-stress and focus, when his music fails to calm his rage and hurts.
Even Adrien was allowed to join in, which surprised everyone. None of them thought the blonde’s father would allow him to do that to them, but surprisingly he did. According to Adrien, his father agreed because it would be good for his image to take care of his body, and developing it would be beneficial for his modeling career.
None of them complained. All were happy to have their friend with them. And that was a perfect excuse to have Agreste go out with them more often and to get him out of the house more.
Sighing, Luka snaps out of his thoughts and stands up. He needs to get ready to go see his father. And later he even has practice with his band, not Kitty Section, but the one he has with his other friends. But now, go see Jagged.
It’s weird that your idol is your dad. Never once in his life had he imagined that Jagged Stone would be his father. Well except in his wildest fantasies, where he imagined how awesome it would be for his dad to be a famous rock star. But that was when he was eight and didn’t know any better about how life really works.
But it turns out that life has a way of tripping you up and laughing in your face, which is how he ended up having his fantasies come true. And it wasn’t perfect like he imagined as a child.
For years he had begged his mother to tell him who his father was, but she would never tell him. She always managed to change the subject or just refused to talk about the man. He needed to be akumatized to get the truth out of his mother. And finding out who his father was was like getting punched in the gut. A very strong punch, the kind that take your breath away and leave you curled up on the ground.
It was a shock.
It was all weird. He had a million questions. He still has many questions. Only some of them were answered. His parents haven’t been as open as he’d like them to be now that he knows the truth. His mother still holds a grudge against Jagged, and his father has accumulated a lot of guilt over the years. After the disaster that happened on his and Jules’ birthday a little over a month ago, where the two were akumatized, they’ve talked and seem to have worked out some of their issues and are being friendlier with each other. But he doesn’t know how long that will last.
His mother is a strong-willed woman. She is intense and likes things her way. Even though her way is too crazy and intense for most people. And she holds a lot of resentment. And Jagged is just as intense. He has a free and childish way, always wanting everything how and when he wants it. His parents are so similar, but so different at the same time. It’s always very strange and fascinating to watch them interact.
Luka is still hurt by them, yes his mum too. He forgave them. Okay, maybe not completely. Jagged for leaving and his mother for hiding the truth from him for so many years. But some of the hurt still lingers. He can’t help but feel betrayed and abandoned. He’s trying to have a relationship with his dad, he’s trying really hard to include the man in his life. But it isn’t as easy as he thought it would be. Never is.
No matter how much we wish and delude ourselves into thinking that everything will be easily fixed, reality is always much more disappointing and difficult. Building a relationship from scratch is difficult, it has its ups and downs. You discover and get to know different aspects of people, some that you don’t like very much but you have to learn to accept in order to have that person in your life. You have to open your heart and let go of all the hurt and sadness this person has caused you in order to have a relationship with them. Or in Luka’s case, missing his father caused him.
And it’s not like Jagged hasn’t been trying hard too. Because he is. The man is trying his best to make up for all the years he hasn’t been there in their lives and seems to be truly committed to being a good father. But it’s all very new and they have their ups and downs.
With faith and patience, Luka hopes to be able to build a friendship and good relationship with his father. And one day, perhaps, he can truly forgive the man completely, can look at his father and not feel any bitterness and resentment for not having been there for him for so many years.
But for now they will have to deal with all the problems and learn to know each other and build a father-son relationship.
He hopes this can happen and that the past is behind him.
Luka changes his clothes, gets off the boat and gets on his bike (he’s been saving for months for a motorcycle) then begins his journey to Le Grand Paris, the hotel where his father always stays when he’s in the city of lights. His mind is still filled with thoughts of his father, his mother, and Marinette.
It’s been months since he and Marinette broke up, but Luka still feels sad about it. His feelings are still strong for the girl with the double ponytail. He knows he is partly to blame for their relationship ending. From the beginning he knew that she was in love with Adrien, he also knew that this hadn’t changed when they started the relationship. But he naively thought that she could get over him or be open enough to make their relationship work and then she would get over her feelings for Agreste.
But it didn’t happen that way. And although Adrien wasn’t really the reason for their breakup, he’d be lying if he said the model wasn’t one of the causes. Yes Marinette was hiding something from him, still is, Luka felt betrayed that she didn’t trust him enough to tell him the truth. He has always tried his best to show her that he can be trusted and that he would always be there to help her with her problems. He gave his all to their relationship, while Marinette seemed to find every pretext she could to stay away from him or run away when they were together.
For these reasons and others they ended. And despite the French-Chinese girl denying her feelings for Adrien Agreste and saying that her passion was in the past, Luka knew it was a lie. Marinette couldn’t leave her feelings for the blond behind and this also got in the way of their relationship.
Luka was understandable, as he knew what he was writing himself into when he entered into a relationship with Marinette knowing her feelings for Agreste. But that doesn’t mean it hurt any less to see how her eyes sparkled at the blonde, how she always sighed when she saw him or blushed and stuttered whenever he spoke to her. She even called him by Adrien’s name a few times and it actually hurt him more than he let on.
It didn’t get better after the breakup, as Marinette seemed determined to avoid it. Even now that the two are back as friends, she still acts a little strange around him sometimes. Guilty.
Luka won’t lie and say that he doesn’t wish he could fix everything and they could try again and be together. A part of him still maintains a small flame of hope that one day, perhaps, Marinette will choose him as her first option and want him like he wants her. But the more rational part of him knows that that won’t happen, that Marinette won’t give up on her passion for Adrien.
So the only thing left for him is to accept. Accepting that whatever his destiny, whether Marinette or not, he has his own path to follow and it depends solely on him to achieve his dreams. That he cannot hold himself back by lost opportunities or unrequited love.
Even if it takes time to move on and it hurts like hell.
Luka comes out of his thoughts when he arrives at the hotel, he goes down just before the entrance to attach his bike to a post on the side of the building. As he begins to walk towards the hotel entrance he sees a couple leaving through the doors of the large building. Both are blond, the man wearing formal clothes with dress pants, shirt, vest, tie and blazer. While the woman is wearing a pink strawberry-print dress and high heels, she exudes elegance and looks like a model as she walks to the car accompanied by the man, who looks incredibly like Adrien.
Wait a minute. Getting closer, Luka recognizes the two.
Fuck!
They are Chloé Bourgeois and Félix Graham de Vanily, Adrien’s cousin and Paris’ number one preppy. The girl who doesn’t leave Luka’s thoughts, who at this exact moment is beautiful and exuberant in the arms of na arrogant idiot. He watches a little more and sees Graham open the car door for Chloé, she says something to him with a provocative smile and gets in. Félix turns around, a small smile on his face and then gets in the car too and they soon leave.
For some unknown reason his stomach tightens and a cold, unpleasant feeling stirs inside him. He doesn’t know what it is, but he doesn’t like it.
Luka shrugs and enters the hotel. It must just be the disappointment of meeting two of his least favorite people. There’s no other reason.
He needs to find his father and doesn’t have the time or inclination to delve into his feelings about the obnoxious blonde double act.