AN: If you are curious about the background of this story, the first 2-3 chapters should set the stage. The partnership between Kagami/Ryoku and Luka/Viperion has factored into:
"First Impressions and Second Chances"
"Purity and Corruption"
"The Queen is Dead: Mission Logs" chapter 5 ("In-Stripe-Tion")
"The Life and Times of the Heroes of Paris" chapter 7 ("The Gala")

Non-Canon Miraculous Heroes in this story:
Bengalia – Juleka (Tiger Miraculous)
Miss Pinky – Rose (Pig Miraculous)

As a reminder, the only known identities among the four main characters are Luka and Juleka. They don't know either of the others', and neither of the others knows theirs.

Replies to Reviews of "Life and Times" chapter 8 ("Portobello Road"):

To Butterfly: That would be the one! I suppose that "anything and everything" also includes slightly-manic Kwamis!

To StarDaPanda225: Dorreen the Goose Kwami of Silliness was pretty fun to write! Full disclosure, I know where the story with her miraculous is eventually going, but there are about a dozen things that have to happen first. So she may get a temporary holder before we get to her eventual permanent holder. Or I may change things around and her holder gets the miraculous a few years early for some reason. As far as other miraculous in London, anything is possible. The Atlantean set was completely scattered after the fall of Atlantis. The Bat and Dove were both away on missions, some were there when the city fell and were lost in the rubble to be discovered later, some were taken by survivors… who knows where they will pop up? I mean, I know, but… Oh, and the Platypus would be part of the Australian Miraculous Set!

Schools had just let out for the summer an hour earlier. Though Luka had already been out of lycée for a year and had decided to focus on his music instead of attending a university, he was looking forward to the opportunity to put in more time with Kitty Section – a downside of his band mates all still being in lycée was that they couldn't rehearse as much during the school year as during school vacations. They had a concert lined up for later in the summer, and perhaps they could even record their third album if everything went well. And without school to worry about, they could rehearse almost every day! Of course, that plan had gone right out the window when he got the text from Marinette asking him and Juleka to come by the Mansion.

"Are you excited for vacation?" he asked Juleka as they walked from their houseboat up to the imposing Agreste Mansion.

"Definitely!" Juleka told him. "I don't mind school, and I like seeing my friends there, but sometimes it's just too many people all at once." She frowned. "I'd rather just hang out with you or Rose."

Luka nodded. Her song was so soft and sweet, and too many people had a tendency to drown it out. Of course… "I've been glad to see you coming out of your shell a little more the last couple months," he noted as they made their way up the Mansion driveway. "Should I be thanking a certain little friend for that?"

Juleka giggled and pushed her hair back out of her eyes. "I can see why you were so excited about it," she agreed, eyes lighting up with joy. "You have no idea how… freeing it is when no one sees Juleka – they just see Bengalia."

Luka pushed the door open and put a hand out for her to precede him inside. Juleka stopped just inside the door to wait for him, and they ascended the stairs together.

"So did they give you any information about this meeting?" she asked him once they were in the safety of the Mansion.

Luka shook his head. "Not a word," he answered, frowning. "Marinette asked last month if we would be up for doing some traveling over the summer for the Heroes of Paris, and if Mom would let us borrow the boat, and then… nothing until today." He shrugged and keyed in the combination on the portrait of Emilie Agreste to activate the elevator. "I guess we'll find out now."

"Oh, you definitely will," a voice called from the corner before he finished the code. Plagg dropped off of his spot on a bookcase. "They're really proud of this one, actually. For now, though, Tikki and I need to borrow Sass and Roaar for a few minutes. We'll all join you downstairs as soon as we're done."

Luka eyed the Kwami suspiciously, frowning at the mischievous glint in his eye, even as the four Kwamis phased through the wall in the direction of the mansion's kitchen. Ever since Sass had admitted to knowing some of the other Kwamis from before the Miraculous sets were divided, he'd found himself wondering just how much information the Kwamis were still hiding from them. But he shrugged. It was an old conversation the heroes had had, and ultimately all they could do was trust the Kwamis to share what they could. After all, even though the Kwamis were bound to obey any orders they were given, the tiny demigods had had millennia to perfect the skill of obeying the letter of the command while disobeying the spirit when it suited them. Marinette and Adrien had ultimately decided that maintaining the Kwamis' trust was paramount: they would share when they needed to. He completed the combination, and the elevator whirred to life the moment he and Juleka were standing on the plate, bringing them down through the floor into the now-familiar subterranean butterfly garden.

Adrien and Marinette were waiting for them in the conference room, a holoprojector already activated and showing a map of France. Luka took one look at the Seine highlighted on the map and nodded in understanding. "This is why you asked about the Liberty, isn't it?" he asked.

"This is why I asked about the Liberty," Marinette agreed, giggling. "This summer we want to take the fight to Lynchpin. We know he's moving shipments on the Seine, and we've narrowed it down to a handful of shipping companies that unload at Le Havre or Honfleur based on the information Pegasus could access online, but not everything is available online. We need someone on the ground to collect the files that he can't get. That's where you come in. Two teams for the two ports. Luka, you and Miss Pinky will be in Le Havre, while Juleka and Ryoku check the docks in Honfleur. On the way there, we need to you stop at Rouen as well and plant some cameras at the main hub there, just in case some of his shipments are missing the ocean ports and coming through Rouen."

"And that's why Agreste picked me out of all your available models to be the face of your new social media campaign in Honfleur," Juleka noted glumly, something troubling invading the song in her heart that Luka had almost memorized. She looked down at the table and mumbled, "I should've guessed."

Adrien's eyes widened in surprise; Luka heard a matching strain of disharmony from him. "In part that's why," Adrien admitted nervously. "You being employed by Agreste as a model was the reason we picked this cover story to get you there, but the only reason it worked was because you're already a good model and the Modeling Department trusts you for this assignment." She glanced up, and he smiled. "If I wasn't sending you on this trip, they were planning to use you for a different shoot locally instead; I actually changed their schedule around a little to make sure you could be assigned this particular project and the other one."

Juleka nodded and gave him a small smile. Luka sighed: the disharmony he had been hearing had resolved. Juleka leaned back in her chair as the four Kwamis rejoined them at the table.

Adrien slid two small boxes across the table, about the size of a deck of playing cards. "Pegasus built these specifically for your mission," he explained. "It will identify any electronic surveillance systems active at the target. Unfortunately it works on radio frequencies, so it can only pick up internet-based systems; it won't pick up CCTV, so you'll still have to watch for those."

Luka looked back at the hologram, which now showed the teams and their assignments. "Why are you putting us on different teams for this?" he asked, furrowing his brow. "After all, wouldn't it make more sense to put us together since we already know each other's identities? As it is, we'll both be trying to hide our identities from our partners."

"Are you jealous that I get to hang out with Ryoku for two weeks?" Juleka asked him, wagging her eyebrows.

A snatch of melody sprang to his mind unbidden, even as Luka gave Juleka a halfhearted glare. She grinned back unrepentantly.

Marinette shook her head, though she couldn't hide her own smirk. "For the information-gathering part of this mission your abilities actually work best on different teams," she explained. "You may switch things up while you're there for the other parts of the mission, but for the most part we need you in different cities. These teams worked the best for Miss Pinky and Ryoku's cover stories, as well."

"As far as sharing identities," added Adrien, "it is entirely up to you whether you share with your partners at any point during the mission. We did agree that the two of you knowing each other's identities and being on different teams would be useful – if one or the other team gets in trouble, someone will already be there to call for help locally."

"Are you expecting trouble?" Luka asked.

"No," Marinette replied, "but you never know. We hope to keep your presence there a secret as much as possible and avoid people connecting your trip with the heroes' absence, so try to avoid letting too many people see you and recognize you. If any trouble does come up and you need help, Pegasus will be here to provide support, and he can send you help just as fast as a portal opens."

Luka studied the hologram closely and frowned. "It looks like you want to use Kitty Section as a cover for my trip… how is that going to work?"

Adrien grinned. "Just leave that to me."

The next day Luka was helping Ivan put the drums away after rehearsal when Adrien stopped at the top of the gangplank, leaned his keyboard case up against the railing, and commented, "We've played a lot of concerts in Paris, even recorded a couple albums. Have you thought about planning a tour sometime after our next concert?"

Luka furrowed his brow, but his eyes suddenly widened in recognition. "It has always been a dream of mine," he admitted truthfully, "but I wasn't sure where we would start. I mean, playing for our friends and family is one thing, and the logistics of a concert in Paris are really simple, but for us to take a tour outside of Paris… that would be something else."

"Oh, I think we're ready for it!" Rose squealed, clapping her hands excitedly. "Going on tour together would be so much fun!"

"I'm game for it," Ivan agreed with a nod, "although my summer is already packed really full as it is."

"It would take a lot of planning to put something like that together," Adrien noted. "We'd need to find cities, scope out venues…"

"You know, Périgueux might be a good place to try!" suggested Mylène. "Ivan and I are going to be there later this summer for the Mime Festival. Maybe we can look into concert arenas there!"

Luka nodded enthusiastically. "That would be a good spot, especially if they already host a major festival," he agreed.

"What about Le Havre?" Adrien asked, raising an eyebrow. "They host a few festivals up there, even one in September. Maybe there's a venue up there we could rent for a concert, either this fall or next spring."

"I'm game for looking into it," Luka told them. So this is Adrien's plan… "Mom is planning to visit some friends for a couple weeks, and she said I can take the boat wherever while she's gone."

"I have a modeling trip while Mom's gone," Juleka said. "I can't help you look, but I'll at least go partway with you."

"Can I come, too?" Rose asked eagerly. "If we're planning our first tour outside of Paris, I'd love to see where we might perform!"

Luka froze. Having Rose along, too, could complicate matters for their side project. His eyes darted to Adrien, who nodded subtly. "Definitely!" he agreed, smiling.

Ivan frowned. "It sounds like fun, but my summer is pretty booked already," he told them. "But if the concert does work out, I will definitely be up for that!"

"Unfortunately I'm really busy this summer, too," Adrien informed them, grinning mischievously. "On top of everything else we've got going on, Marinette also wants to get a jump on wedding planning this summer… when everything's over with, we might need a vacation from the vacation!"

"That's what you get for getting engaged before you're even out of lycée," Juleka joked.

"I think it's sweet," Rose retorted, clasping her hands together.

"I think you're moving pretty fast, Agreste," Ivan commented. He smiled warmly. "But I think we're all glad to see you both so happy."

"Your songs have never sounded more harmonious," Luka agreed.

Adrien chuckled. "One day, I suppose we'll have to tell you all the full story of why we decided to move so fast." He looked at his watch and picked up his keyboard case. "But not today. I'm having lunch with Marinette's family, and then we're off to the day job."

Ivan followed him off the boat with Mylène. "I need to get to work, also."

Luka glanced at Rose and Juleka and smiled. "Looks like we have a trip to prepare for!"