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Miraculous Ladybug Writer Zine: Once Upon a Season

Yes, yes, this is suuuuper late. But I still want to share it. This is a Lukanette fic I wrote for the @mlwriterzine last year. For this zine, I had the honor of being one of its mods, same as one of its writers. This one was especially special to me, because it’s a zine fully dedicated to writers, which is extremely rare, and the final result was astonishing. Huge thanks to @emzurl for making it possible.

The Start of a Song

“I can’t believe we’re here!” Rose squealed, watching the crowds enter past the security fences. “I’ve never been so close to the stage!”

“I know,” Juleka responded in her low, raspy voice. “Totally rad.”

Rose let out another squeal, grabbing her girlfriend’s hand and dragging her inside. Although there were plenty of bands playing during the Summer Music Festival, there was no artist more exciting than Jagged Stone. To which Kitty Section got tickets for in advance.

“Don’t go too far!” Luka called out, but the two girls were already out of earshot. He sighed, as a hand landed on his arm.

“I’ll help keep an eye for them,” Marinette said next to him.

“Don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye out, too,” Mylène said, coming up the other side with Ivan. “I think it’s a little late to be right in front of the stage.”

“We’ll still be pretty close,” Marinette shrugged. “C’mon, we should get close before it fills up!”

A hand wrapped around Luka’s wrist, as she dragged him towards the crowd. Meanwhile, Luka looked at their surroundings, and couldn’t help but notice something.

“Is it just me, or are there a lot of couples in this concert?” Marinette said nervously next to him.

“Huh, I hadn’t noticed,” Luka responded, as nonchalantly as possible, pretending he hadn’t just noticed the exact same thing. “I do see a lot of people, though. Anyone of us could easily get lost. Speaking of …”

He craned his neck in search of his sister, luckily finding her mere meters away. For the third time that day he reminded himself to not get too distracted by the girl still holding his wrist. As grateful as he was that the other two couples encouraged a romantic relationship between them, Luka would never want to put Marinette in an uncomfortable situation. Especially when he still didn’t know where she stood on that notion.

Instead, he tried his best to make sure his sister didn’t wander off, like he heavily suspected she would try.

“Are you okay?” Marinette asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “Just making sure nobody gets lost.”

“That’s gonna be hard, Ivan and Mylène already said they’re going to the movies after this.”

Luka frowned, turning to her. “When did they decide that?”

“They told me just before you and Juleka arrived. They didn’t tell you?”

“Uh, no.”

It’s a setup, Luka instantly thought. It wouldn’t be the first time they tried leaving them alone in hopes that something would happen. However, he knew better. As much as he wished something would happen, at this point, he was starting to lose hope.

The music started, and the crowd screamed. While everyone else was concentrating on the stage, Luka couldn’t help but divert his eyes to Marinette, with her arms raised as she cheered. A smile curved his lips as the image of happiness brought joy to him. With one last wistful sigh, he turned to the stage and started cheering himself.

Jagged Stone walked into the stage, joining his bandmates with a guitar solo. The screams were louder, and the crowd started pushing to the front, every fan hoping to be closer to the rockstar. Luka tried looking at Juleka’s way again, but his vision was cut by several screaming fans.

An elbow hit his back. He turned just in time to watch a large, tall man about to push Marinette out of the way. On instinct, he grabbed her by the shoulder.

“Wah!” Marinette squawked, as she was pulled into Luka’s chest.

“Sorry,” he said, with an apologetic grin. “I figured you’d prefer being pulled than pushed towards me by that guy.”

Marinette glanced at the man now standing where she had been two seconds before.

“Oh,” she breathed, her cheeks acquiring a light shade of pink. “Thanks, Luka.”

A light caress down his chest sent shivers up his spine. Luka swallowed a large gulp before grabbing her shoulders again and turning her in the direction of the stage.

“Wouldn’t want you to miss the show,” he said.

Marinette’s attention was quickly diverted to Jagged Stone, while Luka attempted to get his cool back. While he had never been secretive about his feelings for her, something about this day felt different to him. He shook his head, in an attempt to send away the thought. He had already learned keeping hopes too high could lead to unnecessary disappointment.

And yet, he couldn’t stop looking at her.

Luka continued looking at Marinette on her toes, craning her neck as far as she could above the heads in the crowd. As amusing as it was, the young man couldn’t help but feel bad. He tapped her shoulder, catching her attention, and made a gesture of holding something over his shoulders.

“Are you sure?” Marinette asked.

“I can take it,” Luka shrugged, kneeling down. “Come on, you’ll see better.”

Although she hesitated for a moment, she quickly agreed when the crowd cheered over something she didn’t get to see. As Luka rose back to his feet, he stumbled momentarily, prompting a squawk from Marinette while she wrapped her arms around his head. Luka couldn’t help but laugh, almost losing his balance again.

“I’m gonna fall!” Marinette cried dramatically.

“I got you,” Luka assured, holding tight to her legs. “See, you’re okay. Everything’s okay.”

The young woman’s arms relaxed as she let out a sigh of relief. After several minutes, Marinette seemed to have forgotten her previous fear and gained comfort from her position on his shoulders. Unfortunately for Luka, the part of him that was not internally giddy for being so close to the girl of his dreams was regretting his decision.

Thick droplets of sweat started running down his forehead and back with the added weight, plus the scorching summer heat. Yet, he was resolute in keeping his stance. The concert was only one hour, after all.

* * *

The crowd let out its last scream as the lights turned on around them, signaling the end of the concert. Although Luka had gotten used to the weight already, it didn’t stop him from almost letting out a whine of relief when Marinette was back on the ground.

“That was awesome!” she squealed, as she made a twirl to look at him. “I’ve never had such an awesome view to—Woah, Luka, are you okay?”

“Yeah, why?” he panted.

“You’re sweating like crazy.”

Luka swiped a hand over his forehead. “Huh, look at that.” He pulled his hair back, in hopes to refresh his forehead. “Nothing a cold drink won’t fix. Right, Marinette? Marinette?”

She seemed to not hear him, her eyes trained on something above his eyes.

“Marinette?” he called again, loud enough to catch her attention.

“Ah! Sorry!” she squeaked. “Yeah, you’re hot—I mean, it’s hot! It’s very hot, something cold sounds great. Yeah, totally. We probably gotta move, where are the others?” Marinette asked, scanning the crowd.

“Dunno,” Luka muttered, searching for his phone. On the screen appeared a text message from his sister. In it, he read:

Juleka:

Sorry, we lost you in the crowd. Gonna go for some ice cream with Rose. Thank me later! ;)

He gulped. “They left already.”

“Without us?”

“They went on their own date, I guess.”

“O-Oh,” Marinette stammered. “I see … So, what are you going to do?”

“I—” He had been about to say he was going home. But it still felt much too early to do so. And he didn’t feel like spending the rest of the afternoon alone. “I think I will go for a walk.”

“Ah, I see.”

There was silence. Probably caused by Marinette’s usual indecision about saying what she wanted. Something Luka could already sense and decided to do the work for her.

“Marinette, would you like—”

“Can I join you?” she asked at the same time as him.

Luka blinked, this being the first time she barely hesitated to take the initiative with him. With a soft smile, he responded: “I would very much like that.”

* * *

After several hours and one stop for iced coffee, Luka and Marinette were walking by the edge of the Seine, lost in a melody of joyous laughter.

“Wait, you didn’t!” Luka exclaimed.

“I swear I was the only one who saw it,” Marinette laughed.

“And here I thought I was so sneaky, too.”

“Well, to be fair, I did make the costumes. I think it’s a given I would notice when there’s a piece missing.”

“It’s a good thing that show was not recorded,” Luka chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Wouldn’t want us going viral over a wardrobe malfunction instead of the music.”

“I don’t think it would’ve been so bad if it had,” Marinette responded in a sing-song tone. “Even if that had happened, it could’ve helped boost your popularity as a band. Especially with such a cute guitarist.”

Luka’s eyes widened, dead staring at her. Marinette seemed to have noticed what she said one second too late, for her cheeks turned dark red instantly. Lips pressed together, as if trying to stop them from saying something else they were forbidden from. Luka did his best to still his heart, pushing all hope aside. Just in case.

“Thank you?” he said, attempting to sound as cool as possible. And slightly failing.

“U-uh, you’re welcome?” Marinette said, just as awkwardly. “I-I mean, not that that’s all I think of you. You’re than more such—I mean, you’re so much more than that. You’re a great friend. Notthatyoucanonlybeafriend. I mean.” She took a deep breath. “I meant to say that you’re a great guy, more than looks.”

“That means a lot coming from you, Marinette,” Luka chuckled. “You don’t have to try to fix what you say with me. I know what you mean.”

“See what I mean?!” Marinette burst. “With you, I don’t have to try to explain myself. You just … You just get me! It’s so comfortable with you. And nice. And wonderful. And…”

She went silent. Again, holding back. Despite the words already spoken.

Luka placed his hands in his pockets. “You know,” he said, with a light smile, “anything you want to say, you can say it. No matter what it is, you know I’ll always listen.”

“I know,” Marinette whispered. “Some things are just hard to say.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, I too think you’re an extraordinary person. But you already know that.”

“I do.” She placed a hand on his forearm, softly pulling it. It took Luka a minute to realize she was attempting to take his hand out of his pocket. He obliged as discreetly as possible. When the hand was fully out, she entwined her fingers between his.

Luka’s heart drummed louder, wondering if this was a sweet dream, or if it was as real as it felt.

“I really do,” Marinette said, looking directly into his eyes. She opened and closed her mouth several times. “I-I … I, um, I wanted to, uh, I wanted to say—”

Luka placed a finger over her lips. “You don’t have to say it. If you don’t feel comfortable with it, you don’t have to say it.”

“I want to,” she insisted. “I know you always know what I mean. But … Luka, I like you. As more than a friend.”

The air trapped itself inside his lungs. His heart was about to burst out of his ribcage. A celebratory melody rang out in his mind. He then understood why she wanted to say it: hearing the words made a world of difference. It felt different than simply suspecting. It made it real. It reminded him why he had been so forward in the first place, when he had the chance.

The hand that was still trapped in his pocket slid out, landing on her cheek. Luka couldn’t contain the excitement the words brought. He could feel a wide grin paint his face, but he didn’t care if it made him like a goofball.

“You have no idea how happy those words make me,” he said, letting out a shuddered breath and leaning to her lips.

There was a clatter on a nearby car, snapping them both out of the bubble they had built between themselves. Turning to the source of the sound, they found Rose scrambling to grab her phone that landed on the hood of a car where she seemed to have been hiding behind. Next to Rose were Juleka, Ivan, and Mylène unsuccessfully trying to take cover.

“Oh gosh,” Marinette whined, covering her face.

Luka chuckled. “You guys are not very good with the sneaking and spying.”

“I was so close,” Rose lamented, as Juleka gave her girlfriend a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

“Sorry!” Mylène waved a hand towards them. “We didn’t mean to interrupt you guys!”

“This is so embarrassing,” Marinette’s muffled voice said.

Luka looked between their friends and Marinette. He smiled and asked, “D’you wanna run?”

Marinette raised her head, with her lips in the shape of an ‘o.’ Without a second thought, she eagerly nodded. Luka grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the nearby bridge to run across it. Meanwhile, the rest of Kitty Section yelled at them to return.

“Where are we going?!” she panted.

“Wherever!” he responded, letting out a laugh. Marinette laughed too, just as eager to explore whatever it was that they had just started.

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