First off, thank you for all of the positive reactions towards this story it mean so much! It did take me a bit to figure out how I wanted this chapter to end, that being said this chapter is a bit slow like the first one was. I don't know I just really felt the need to tie up the intro instead of making a time skip. I plan to pick up the pace in the upcoming chapters though if you guys are still interested in this story continuing to update. Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 1

She felt as if she were hypnotized, for she could not will herself to tear away her gaze. There he was strumming expertly on the little stage that the pub had for local bands to come and entertain. Patrons were cheering of course, the band was good and the alcohol in everybody's systems helped loosen the crowd. It's been a long time since she has had the privilege to witness him performing-especially since she spent her adolescence avoiding him. His eyes have yet to leave hers-that is until Alya decided to pop her bubble,

"Girl, if you drool on my bar you're the one cleaning it up!" the brunette gave her dearest friend an unimpressed look.

"I was not drooling!" Despite the conviction in Marinette's voice, the young woman still decided to subtly swipe at her mouth less she unnecessarily worry for the rest of the night. With a corked brow Alya decided to put in her own two cents,

"I hear he's single."

"What does that have to do with anything?!" Marinette responded in horror. She hasn't seen Luka in years! The last thing she needs to do is make a fool out of herself to someone who is basically a stranger to her now! This was just her best friend trying to play match maker again, well she certainly wasn't going to humor Alya on this one!

"I can practically hear your internal monologue" The smug look along with her popped hip and crossed arms made Marinette want to make a break for it. Why did her friend have to know her so well?

"Regardless. I don't know him anymore, hell I never knew Luka that well in the first place. What right do I have to be attracted-"*tap tap tap*

"I'd like to dedicate this song to an old friend of mine. I hope that we can get together and… catch up after hours." Sure enough Luka, microphone in hand was staring directly at a very flustered Marinette with a wicked grin.

"You were saying?" the mischievous bartender voiced with a snicker. "Look, I'm just suggesting you at least catch up, you two seemed to click so well before-enough that it even confused you on that obsessive crush you had on Adrien. Who knows you guys might have something special." Marinette slumped her shoulders in response and decided to let the music carry her away.

He had spotted her right away, even in the dim lighting there was just something about Marinette that always made her stand out. Perhaps it's the ultramarine glow of her hair, or maybe the way she carries herself in a strong confident manner despite her small frame and clumsy tendencies, whatever it was-he's able to quite literally spot her among a crowd. Damn how many years has it been? He was sixteen when they had met, he had always hoped to get close with her but their busy schedules and two year grade gap seemed to have extinguished any hope of any consistent friendship. He's quickly reminded of the small infatuation that he had developed all those years ago just by watching her animatedly interacting with the familiar bartender. Luka had to fight an oncoming chuckle, he could see she was very still passionate. He had referred to her as an old friend, even that was sadly a bit of a stretch. The two had clicked very well and had a descent amount of interactions after their initial meeting, but those events were stretched pretty far apart and when his studies were getting more intense he couldn't seem to catch a break. Well he sure as hell wasn't going to let this opportunity slip by, maybe they weren't meant to be beyond familiar faces to each other then, but now he would like to try again.

The show went smoothly, he was actually filling in for his friend's band "Mouse Rat" (the name always made him scoff) until they found a new lead guitarist. Luka had always preferred playing music on his own, not to say that he didn't enjoy collaborating on occasion. He was helping the drummer, Jimmie, put away the rest of his equipment when timid footsteps approach him. "H-hey Luka."

Marinette mentally cursed herself for the stutter, what the heck did she have to be nervous about? That was precisely when Luka decided to turn around as if to answer that question. She swears that his gaze could pierce through her damn soul. And when did he get an eyebrow piercing? Why does it look so good? Why did he have to be so damn-"Hey there Ma-Ma-Marinette"

Right. What else did she expect? She felt her eye twitch in annoyance, but it was quickly squashed down once she notice the soft expression on Luka's face. She took in a deep breath,

"Your band sounded really good, I'm surprised I haven't run into you guys before! I'm here often enough-not that I drink a lot or anything! I'm all about moderation!-I uh just like to visit Alya during her shifts because this place is on the way back to my apartment when I come home from my design class…" Great now she was babbling, when did she revert back to a teenager exactly? The husky chuckle reminded Marinette the cause of her current inner turmoil.

"You're still really funny Marinette. And I'm not technically a member of this band, I'm just a stand in. My friend's lead guitarist recently left and he asked if I could take his place…usually I only play with Juleka when I collaborate, but I figured I'd at least fill in until the band finds a more permanent guitarist." He had a warm dusting across his cheeks as he spoke, perhaps Marinette wasn't the only one who was nervous. Her stomach flipped at the thought, could she be making him nervous? She's most likely over thinking the situation-there's no need to be so dramatic. "Hey, we're just about finished cleaning here, after that would you want to go for a drink, or maybe a walk or something? Like I said earlier, I really would like to catch up" Now her face was getting warm,

"Of-Of course! That sounds great!" Luka walked away from her stammer with another chuckle, once he was out of sight Marinette rushed back to her best friend. The blue-haired woman did her best to act normal as she half jogged back to the bar, whipping her head back and forth to reassure a certain punk wasn't watching her. "Alya! What the heck do I do? He wants to hangout after-wait is hangout too juvenile? What are we doing anyway-right he said a walk or drinks-what am I going to say? What if I do something really clumsy? Wait-how do I look-"

"MARINETTE! Stop overthinking! You've got this, you're a mature independent woman, you are NOT that nervous fourteen year old anymore." Alya pinned Marinette with her stern glare until some of the anxiety seemed to wash away,

"You two have plenty of things to talk about, a lot has happened in nine years Mari, and you look beautiful as always okay?" Alya was right of course, she just needed to relax and not work herself up for no reason,

"Okay, yeah, freaking out is stupid-it's just an old friend wanting to catch up!" Just as her racing thoughts began to settle her best friend raised her hand,

"Hey Luka! Over here, Mari's waiting for you!" She could do this, it's just an old friend-it's just a boy.

"Hi Alya, how did you like the show?" His tone was polite while he kept stealing glances at Marinette.

"It was good as always, you gotta tell Rich to change that awful band name though. Everyone is a little too surprised when they hear you guys sounding so good." Luka rolled his eyes at this,

"Believe me, I've tried. He's been hell bent on that name since we sixteen" Another stolen glance, "so, Marinette are you ready to go?"

"Of course!" Turning to her best friend and seeing the look on the bartender's face that practically screamed I want details later! She nodded her head quickly as if to say of freaking course! "I'll catch you tomorrow Alya!" The brunette chuckled noticing the extra spring in the young designers step as the two walked away.

The pair walked off into the brisk night along the streets of Paris. It was soothing, just the right amount of spring breeze working its way around the leaves making a nice pleasant rustling sound. The night sky was bright-nearly a full moon illuminating their path. Many Parisians were out and about enjoying the pleasant atmosphere, causing hushed hums of chatter around the pair. This was very nice. The two were enjoying a comfortable silence, both a little unsure of where to begin. "It's crazy that we bumped into each other, I hardly even get to see your sister anymore. How is she doing?" Maybe a lame conversation starter, but it was something, it was also genuine.

"She's been really busy, I got her a job at the radio station I've been working at. It works well around her class schedule too." She could hear the fondness in his voice at the mention of Juleka, she's always admired the closeness of those siblings-they always seemed to have each other's backs. "It must be nice to have a sibling." Luka perked at this,

"It's not always easy, we definitely got our torment in when we were children, we just happened to realize at some point that we had a lot of common interests-especially music. I don't know, we both sort of mellowed out." He turned to the short woman and noticed the peculiar look that took over her features, "Torment?"

They wandered around, sometimes ending up in circles and occasionally settling down on benches. Neither complained when one would brush hands or bump into the other. Luka went on to describe the Coffaine sibling horror stories, Marinette particularly liked the one where Juleka switched Luka's shampoo for pink dye back when he would just bleach his hair. Luka enjoyed Marinette's Fashion 102 horror story, where in a last ditch effort for her project she had been stuck on, she made a clothing line for cats using her minx Tikki as a model. They kept exchanging stories, it felt as if they could talk about anything and everything. Marinette got to vent a bit about her lack of model situation for her upcoming final and Luka got to express his feeling towards modern mainstream music.

The night was winding down, Marinette noticed the time-yeesh quarter to three in the morning. She had to cover for her parents tomorrow too, as if to read her mind,

"Wow we really let time slip by, I should get you home." With a tired nod in agreement she led the way to her studio apartment that was fortunately only a few blocks north from where they were. They reached her building in no time. "We should do this again sometime Luka-well maybe not this late, but ummm-maybe brunch or-well it doesn't have to be brunch-" gosh, she was doing so good too. The bluenette looked down at her feet trying to will away what was surely a bright shade of scarlet spanning her cheeks. Perhaps if she stared at the pavement long enough, a hole would appear and swallow her up-

"I would love to Marinette" She shouldn't be surprised, she really felt that they both mutually had fun tonight, but she was a little since the young woman's imagination had a tendency to run off in pretty far directions. The young designer finally met her companion's eyes and felt a giddiness once she noticed the joy that was dancing on the man's face. With new found confidence Marinette requested they exchange numbers, Luka happily obliged. "Sleep well, Ma-Ma-Marinette" they both turned away with dopey grins that neither desired to fight off.

She did sleep well that night.

Please let me know what you guys think! Like I mentioned, I do intend to pick up the pace in the story really soon, I just get caught up in my writing pretty easily. I hope you all are still interested!