Sometimes someone makes a suggestion, and you just can't let it go. That's what this is...

Marinette Dupain-Cheng sat alone in the sewing room. All the seamstresses had left for the night hours ago, but Marinette had been hit by inspiration, and wanted to get a prototype of it together before the monthly inspiration meeting the next day. Her boss had really been pushing them to try new things and find new inspiration, and, well, Marinette had never been brave enough to make lingerie before.

The piece was simple enough, sweet and not at all revealing. A red and black polka-dotted baby-doll with black lace accents, matching panties, and black stockings with red seams.

Snatching up her designs and her purse, she ducked into one of the dressing rooms to try it on. She grinned at herself in the mirror. Pretty hot, she thought to herself, just like their new Ladybug superhero that she's drawn the inspiration from. She quickly cut those thoughts off, half the population of Paris had a crush on their new superhero, and his skin-tight suit did nothing to hide any of his physical attributes.

Sighing, Marinette picked up her phone, flicking her thumb across the screen to turn it on. When it didn't respond, she looked down at it. Dead. Of course. She'd forgotten to plug it in before she came down to the sewing room. She picked up her work phone. Well, sending pictures to Alya was sort of work related. It was pictures of her work after all. And she did want a second opinion before showing it off at the inspiration meeting the next day.

She snapped a picture in the dressing room mirror, and typed in Alya's number from memory.

Hey! Had some late night inspiration. What do you think? Should I show it to A tomorrow?

Luka Couffaine was sitting on his couch, trying to figure out a new song. Nothing seemed to be coming together, and his frustration was growing. When his phone pinged with an incoming text, he hoped for a distraction in the form of one of his friends inviting him out. He hesitated to open an unknown number, but his friend Louis was always losing his phone and borrowing phones from random strangers to text him and invite him out.

When he opened the message, he got a distraction, although not the one he was expecting. Immediately after, another text came in.

It's inspired by that hot new superhero that saved us from that stone guy.

He read the messages before his eyes flicked to the picture. Whoa.

It was a full length picture, obviously taken in some kind of professional fitting room, and the woman standing there was just gorgeous. Her dark hair was thrown up into a messy bun, held in place with pencils, although several tendrils had escaped, framing her face and trailing down her neck. The outfit was completely innocent, or at least as innocent as lingerie could be. She wasn't showing anything that she shouldn't be showing to a complete stranger, and significantly less than he'd seen on girls at the beach, but still.

He wasn't sure if it was the fact that HE had inspired it, or the stockings (he'd always had a weakness for stockings) or just the woman wearing it, but he felt a surge of protectiveness towards her and didn't want anyone else to see the outfit or the picture.

Before he could text her back with any of this though, his phone vibrated with an incoming video call. His thumb reacting before he could think it through, he accepted the call, and was greeted by a view of the back side of the same woman, a few steps from the phone, pulling a box down off a shelf.

Shit. She's trying to kill me. He thought to himself, clearing his throat so that words could actually come out without him sounding like a teenage boy again. At the sound, she whirled around, blue eyes huge as the box slid from her fingers.

He's hot! Her brain supplied, as she took in the blue eyed man who was staring at her, startled, from her phone. As she watched, she shook himself, his shaggy black hair dancing and the blue tips catching the light. He swallowed, hard, and snapped his mouth shut on what he was about to say.

"You're not Alya!" was all that she could manage.

The man chuckled, and Marinette felt her cheeks heat at the sound.

"No, I'm not Alya. I'm Luka. I'm sorry, I don't know Alya, but whoever you're wearing that for would have to be an absolute idiot not to appreciate it."

Marinette squeaked and looked down at herself, realizing that she was still only wearing the lingerie. She looked around desperately and ended up snatching up a drop cloth that she only had to stretch a little to grab.

Luka groaned. Of course there were matching panties, because, why wouldn't there be? If he hadn't been so busy staring at the stockings when she had called him, he'd probably have noticed it then. He felt the color that was staining his cheeks subside a little as she wrapped herself in a pink cloth. When a voice in his head that sounded entirely too much like his best friend pointed out that it now looked like she was draped in a sheet he growled at the voice to shut up, and tried to focus on the words the girl at the other end of the phone was saying.

"...just so sorry. My phone was dead and I meant to call Alya. I must have dialed your number by accident. I'm a designer, and this is one of the ideas that I want to submit tomorrow at our inspiration meeting. I would never wear this. I mean I would, but I don't have anyone to wear it for." She looked up at the phone, meeting Luka's eyes. "And why are you not shutting me up? Oh, God, I can't believe I just said all that."

Dropping her head back into her hands, Marinette covered her face, but couldn't hide the blush that had turned her ears the same color as her outfit. She heard him chuckle, and she whined at the sound, surprised that she hadn't just spontaneously combusted from embarrassment. Calling a wrong number was one thing, but sending a random guy, a random hot guy her brain reminded her, a picture of herself in her underwear, and then calling him was possibly the stupidest thing she'd ever done.

Luka chuckled again. "For what it's worth, I definitely find your design inspiring." At her startled squawk he blushed. "I mean I'm a musician, and seeing you in that outfit definitely makes me want to make music." Her eyes went wide.

"On my guitar!" He practically screamed, and snatching up his acoustic started playing a song that spoke of embarrassment and falling in love; of admiration and new beginnings.

Slowly, Marinette dropped her hands completely from her face and studied the man on the other side of the screen. He had a laid back look, like what was on the inside mattered more than what was on the outside. He wasn't traditionally handsome, but a kindness in his ocean blue eyes, and a ripple of muscle along the sleeve of his shirt would have had her melting, even if the ethereal music he was playing hadn't.

As he wound down, the man, Luka, she reminded herself, looked up to meet her eyes. She managed a smile for him, her eyes still wide and blue and the color made more vibrant by the soft pink of her cheeks. She was watching him in awe as he touched the strings of his guitar.

"That was beautiful", she breathed, the hand holding the sheet relaxing, and let it slip a little from the base of her throat. "M-my design made you feel all of that?"

Luka nodded, still not fully trusting his voice.

Her still hesitant voice asked, "you really liked it?" She took in his dyed hair and painted nails, pierced ears and the hint of the tattoo she saw peaking out. "It's not too simple? Too plain?"

"Little Bug, after seeing you in that outfit, I'm pretty sure I owe you dinner. Or breakfast."

He smirked at her, and her cheeks flushed, but she smiled shyly back at him. "I might let you buy me breakfast."

His jaw dropped and he gaped at her for a few moments, before pulling himself together. "How about Saturday? Maybe a brunch? I have a gig tomorrow night."

"Sounds great. You have my number. Text me with the details? I, uh, need to go change."

He nodded, and they hung up. Luka flopped back onto his back with a sigh and a huge grin on his face. Tikki floated into view beside him, and Luka turned his face to the little kwami. "Ladybugs really are good luck, aren't they?"

She just laughed her tinkling little laugh and smiled at him. "I think you forgot something."

Luka looked at her confused. "What do you mean? I have her number right here. I'm going to save it so that I can confirm our plans."

"And what are you going to save it under?" When Luka froze, Tikki smiled knowingly. "You forgot to ask her name!" Groaning, he dropped his head into his hands, but then picked up his phone and carefully saved her information under the name 'Little Bug' with the picture she'd sent him, carefully cropped to just her face, for her profile picture.

Marinette took off her outfit, wrapping it carefully and setting it aside for the next day's meeting. Picking up her phone, she saved Luka's number, then carefully dialed Alya's. When her friend answered, she burst into hysterical tears, letting out all the pent up emotion of the last 15 minutes.

Alya tried to placate her the best she could, but eventually just had to ask. "Marinette, what is the matter?"

Wailing, Marinette cried, "I think I have a date!"