"Luka Couffaine, you now have the chance to be the permanent holder of the snake miraculous. Do you accept or decline?"
                            •••

  “I- I don’t… what?” Luka stuttered, turning his head towords the voice.

   “It is, of course, a huge responsibility. You have every right to decline.” Fu commented. “You’d have to be able to balance two identities, even more than you do now. Your struggle will be as real as Ladybug and Chat Noir’s. If you were to do so, only Ladybug, Chat Noir, and I would know your identity. No one else is allowed to know.”

   “You’d have to feed me,” Sass added. “After every akuma attack because it’s tiring.”

   Being a hero? Permanently? Luka had spent plenty of nights wondering how Ladybug and Chat Noir did it, the akuma’s never waited before they attacked innocent civilians. And it was a huge responsibility, he’d have to be willing to stop everything he was doing to fight Hawkmoth.

   Luka took a minute to think about what he had been doing with his life lately. Writing an unbelievable amount of music, being in Paris held more emotion in his heart than any place he had traveled. He was trying to fix his very much damaged bond with Marinette and prove he would be the most trustworthy friend. He was also helping Rose and Jueklea take care of Weylyn, babysitting during the workday and had sleepovers when they needed date nights.

    His thoughts paused at the thought of little Weylyn. He was such a little boy, born into a world with a man who manipulated people’s emotions to do his biddings. A world where every day he lived in a constant state of fear and his daycare had drills when akumas appeared. It wasn’t fair and Luka wanted to change that. His nephew deserved a world where he could run down the streets and enjoy himself. And if Luka could provide that, then he sure as hell would.

    “I am willing to be the holder of the snake miraculous as long as you’ll allow me,” Luka stated confidently.

    “Very well, you may open your eyes.”

   Slowly, to make sure the other didn’t stop him, Luka opened his eyes. He had to blink a few times as he propped himself up with his elbows. Blue eyes briefly skimmed the room before landing on the man he had been talking to.

   Saying Luka was stunned was a slight understatement. He didn’t know what to expect when he had opened his eyes. But he certainly wasn’t an elderly man wearing a red tourist shirt.  “Sir?”

    “Luka, I am Master Fu. I am the guardian of the miraculouses. You will soon learn many things that many don’t even know exist.” Master Fu waited for a response, his hands clasped behind his back.

    Luka bowed his head respectfully. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Master Fu.”

     The old man smiled. “Respectful indeed.”

    “If you don’t mind me asking.” Luka started, looking around at the room. It was a simple room similar to one massage therapists would use a while back. “Ladybug and I had to detransform before we arrived. Why is that?”

    “You see, Luka, it would look suspicious every time Ladybug and Chat Noir came here in their hero form. I have them transform back in their civilian form before they come, to throw Hawkmoth off.”

     Luka hummed and continued to admire the room. A knocking came from the door. "Uncle Fu?" Ladybug asked.

    "Just a minute dear. Luka, I do believe you should close your eyes."

    Nodding, he squeezed them closed. The door creaked open and was closed again. “The akuma is all taken care of. Did I miss much? Luka, since we’re here, you can give him your miraculous.”

   “Ladybug, I hope you are pleased to know that Luka from this point on will be your and Chat Noir’s new partner,” Master said. “I do expect you to fill him in later. But for now, perhaps you should take him back home.”

    “That’s a good idea. Do you have a brace and crutches?” Ladybug asked.

   “Of course. Give me a minute.”

    In a half-hour, Luka was making his way out of the building. Sass was chilling out in Luka’s hood, sleeping peacefully. The crutches he was using were-although old- at the perfect height, almost as if they were made specifically for him. He received help from Ladybug, he still wasn’t allowed to look when she was in her civilian form.

   “Do you know Marinette Dupain-Cheng?” Ladybug asked suddenly. Raising his eyebrows, Luka nodded. “I won’t be able to get you home like this, I’m afraid it’d hurt your injury. I know Marinette, she lives not too far from here. I will send her to assist, I assure you she won’t be more than ten minutes away. Will You be okay?”

    “Yes, Ladybird.” She paused and it took him a moment to realize why. “Wait, I’m sorry, I meant Ladybug!”

   “It’s okay, Luka. I don’t mind, it’s kinda cute.” He gave a weak smile in her direction. “Eleven minutes. You can start counting after you give me one minute to get away and open your eyes, alright?”

    “Yes, but what about Adrien? I left him in an alley. I’m not sure if he’s still there, but he’s not sober.”

    “I’ll take care of it.” Ladybug assured. “You did well today. Get ready to start counting.”

    “Starting the mental timer now. Ten minutes and fifty-seven seconds.”

    After a minute or so, Luka gave himself the chance to realize where he was at. It was close to Alya’s place, if she lived in the same place she did a few years ago.

    It wasn’t such a bad day out. There was the normal morning chill among the crispness of the winter air. It burned his lungs when he inhaled and left a cloud of condensation in front of him when he exhaled. There was only crows cawing, most birds had gone south for the winter. The sky was beautiful shades of pastel colors blended together.

    “Luka!” He turned his head to see Marinette huffing with a flushed face as she rushed up to him. “Ladybug told me what had happened! Are you alright?”

    Her cheeks puffed out as she hunched over and attempted to catch her breath. Luka chuckled and glanced down at his leg. “I’m better now that you’re here.”

    Marinette opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She shook her head, a smile settling its way onto her lips. She stood next to him and they slowly began to make their way towards Luka’s apartment.

    “Okay, weird question.” Marinette giggled as they passed a person running with their dog.

   “Weird response. What is it?” Luka tilted his head as she giggled again and lowered her head. “What?”

    “What’s the most exotic place you’ve ever gotten intimate at?”

   Luka raised his eyebrows in shock. “I’ll only tell if you do.” Marinette’s face managed to turn redder as she gave him an absolutely giddy smile.

    “Jagged Stone’s dressing room.” Luka’s jaw dropped.

    “You, Marinette Dupan-Chang did the deed in Jagged Stone, freaking Jagged Stone’s, changing room?”

   “It was an accident?” The bluenette offered. “He told us we could stay in there because he wanted to talk with me after the show and it just kinda happened.”

     Luka didn’t say anything, his brain was still processing the information. Sweet little innocent Marinette doing it in a famous person’s changing room? Safe to say he was surprised.

     “Hey now, you have to tell me your place!” Marinette squeaked, fingers twitching at the rim of her shirt.

    “Hmm, most exotic place?” Luka thought. “Uh, you know Jardin d'Acclimatation?”

    Marinette's eyes widened slightly. They stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. “Yes?”

    “You know the house of mirrors? The door towards the end? That’s a maintenance closet.”

    Marinette pressed a hand to her lips as they started walking again. Luka chuckled. “We’re something special, aren’t we.” She nodded her head in agreement.

    Getting to his apartment was the easy part, actually, it was quite enjoyable.  What was not fun, however, was once they got through the front door the amount of stairs they would have to go up. On a normal day, it wouldn’t be a problem, he only lived on the third floor. But today they’d have to find a way to make it work.

   “If you wait right here, I’ll take your crutches up and I’ll come back down to help you up.” Marinette looked at him and he agreed.

    She took his crutches and began her way up to them. She went as fast as she could without accidentally knocking someone, or herself, down the stairs. Her way back down was way easier.

   “Alright, so how are we going to do this?” Luka asked when she found him leaning on the wall.

    “Well, I was thinking.” Marinette started looking up the stairs. “I could support your weight if you leaned on me as needed. You could use the railing to make sure we’re stable.”

    Luka looked Marinette over. She was huddled in the same bright red coat he had found her in not only a few days ago. Her blunette hair was peeking out from under her black toboggan and she was rubbing her hands together to create friction.

    Marinette was much shorter than him, the top of her head barely reached the bottom of his chin. And she looked so frail. Luka wasn’t doubting she was strong, but to him, it looked like she was exhausted and fragile, like a buddle waiting to pop.

     Before he had the chance to negotiate with her, Marinette had already slung his arm around her shoulders. The first flight of stairs was the hardest, they were both wobbly from the akuma. But the second and third staircase got easier once they knew what to expect.

   Luka patted down his pockets with one hand as he gladly accepted a crutch from Marinette. He froze as he remembered something and groaned. “I don’t have the key to my apartment.”

   Marinette opened her mouth to speak, but the door flung open to reveal a wide eyes Jueklea and concerned Rose. “Oh my god, what happened to you!” Rose gasped and she pulled the door open wider.

     “I had an accident, why are you here?” Luka grunted as they helped him to the couch.

    The smell of something sweet drifted into the living room, Marinette and Luka smelled it at the same time. Luka’s stomach rumbled as a sizzling sound reached his ears.

    “We heard there was an akuma so we come over to check on you,” Jueklea answered quietly, closing the door and returning to the stove.

   “Weylyn stayed the night at your Mom’s so we were able to head right over,” Rose exclaimed as she put a pillow under his foot. “Where were you?” 

   Luka and Marinette shared a look. “I was taking a walk, I stayed up late last night working on my song and I had a really bad headache. I accidentally had a run-in with the akuma, it didn’t end well.”

    He hated lying, especially to his sister. But he had too. Luka’s fingers rubbed the inside of his wrist, which would have gone unnoticed by anybody. Anybody except Jueklea.  Her amber eyes locked with his blue.

   “Ooo!” Rose shrilled. “Can we hear your song?”

     Luka pressed his lips together and turned his head to the window. “It’s not quite ready yet.” He mumbled. Marinette swore she saw a light blush dust his pale cheeks.

   “Oh, nonsense! I’m sure it’s great! Please!” Rose collapsed her hands together and looked at him with wide puppy eyes.

   Luka went to tell her no but stopped when he saw the smirk on Marinette’s face. “Please Luka? For friend's sakes?"

    How in the hell was he supposed to say no to that? The look she gave him was impossible to resist. Her bluebell eyes slightly wider than normal, her lips curled up like she knew she'd win this argument. And her body was so close, he could feel the heat radiating off her. Luka shivered, just now realizing how cold he was.

    "Fine," He said slowly. Rose gave a cheer and Marinette joined her. "If-" Marinette froze. "You give me a kiss."

    Their eyes met. Luka wiggled his eyebrows playfully and Marinette rolled her eyes. Rose and Jueklea watched the exchange.

    "What just happened?" Rose whispered to her wife.

    "Honestly, I don't know," Jueklea responded.

    "Marinette, would you mind grabbing my guitar?" Luka gave an innocent smile and she returned it.

    "Sure."
  
     Once everybody was situated, Marinette sitting next to him and Rose had her legs dropped over Jueklea's on the loveseat, Luka let out a sigh to get rid of nerves.

    He began to strum the strings, looking down at them to make sure everything was okay.

     "You won't believe the news I heard today,
   I feel like this isn't the right way.
      My body's aching as I rush through the streets,
       I've got nothing on my mind,
      The cold wind stings my eyes,
       And suddenly I see you."

    He let his voice fade away and continued to play. Marinette didn't know what it was, but her heart melted as she listened to him play.

    "And suddenly I see you" He closed his eyes and shook his head.

    "If you only knew the trouble that you seem to put me through
      Every smile you give me, my heart screams I love you
     If you only knew how much you amazed
     With every word that falls out of your mouth
       If you only knew how much it pains me when you put yourself down
      You'll never know how much I love you"

      Marinette felt goosebumps rise up her arms. He strummed the chords, rougher than when he started.

    "I feel like this isn't the right way.
      My body's aching as I rush through the streets,
       I've got nothing on my mind,
      The cold wind stings my eyes as I realize
     You deserve too much, that's just my luck, what'd I expect?
       Somehow you're perfect with every little thing you do,
       You think no one would notice, but I do"
   
        Rose and Jueklea held hands and gave each other a loving look. Jueklea smiled down at her wife when she leaned against her.

     "And for the sake of my sanity
     I try to forget your kind words to me,
     But I can't it's too much,
       God, look at my luck
      I met such an amazing girl
      And all I want to do is twirl her in the kitchen at three am listening to her favorite song
         To hold her hand on a cool winter day,
        Win her every toy her arms could hold at a carnival,
      I want to make her feel special, like the only girl in the world.
      The only girl in the world, the only apple of my eye, the only one on my mind."

      Luka stopped and slowly opened his eyes. He trained them on Marinette. Her eyes were rimmed with tears and she blinked harshly.

    "Mari?" Lula pulled his eyebrows together in concern. "Hey Mari, are you alright? Was it that bad?"

        She managed a choked laugh. "That was perfect Luka." She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "That was beautiful."

      "That was excellent!" Rose cheered.
  
     Luka blushed. "It's a work in progress" He mumbled, turning his head away.

   He felt Marinette shift and stand up. He only looked at her when she stayed at her spot in front of him.

     Marinette tucked a piece of dyed hair behind his ear and trailed her thumb to the apple of his cheek. Her finger curled just behind his jaw.

      "I do believe I owe you a kiss" She murmured, leaning down slowly, giving him the chance to pull away.

    Their lips pressed together and Luka swore he felt sparks fly. Before he knew it, she was pulling away. He opened his eyes didn't realize that he had closed.

     She was smiling at him as she slowly drug her thumb to his jaw.

    "I have to go. I'm working on a deadline. I'll see you later." She picked her bag up and gave a wave to Rose and Jueklea. "I'll see you two around." As Marinette left, the married couple stared at Luka.

    A lovesick smile played on his lips. Rose and Jueklea shared a look. He was totally wiped.

_______________________________________
               Author's notes:
     What I this? An update? After I just posted one yesterday? Your eyes are not deceiving you, it's true. I don't know how, but it is.
   Have any of you seen the new Aladdin? With Will Smith? I saw it a while ago and I'm listening to the sound track, and Will Smith is perfect, no? Also, if you ever need a good laugh, watch Fresh Prince of Bel-air!
      Don't forget to comment and vote! I love hearing what you have to say! Fluffy moments you want to see? Any other scene ideas? Comment or PM me if you have any ideas! Have a great day or night and see you next update!