Here's another Lukadrienette ficlet, since I love these guys so much. Credit goes to GalahadWilder for the prompt!

Play Me a Tune (Make Me Smile)

"I love my job; I'm living the dream," Marinette recited to herself. She took a deep breath and tried to relax. Everything hurt from gritting her teeth through that last meeting. Not only had it been a long night, but their current client was turning out to be impossible!

She just needed a breath of fresh air. She was going to eat her bagel, then go back in her office and completely blow this project out of the water! Yes!

She rounded a corner and stopped short.

Great. More musicians. Exactly what she DIDN'T want right now.

Two boys to be exact: a blond with a keyboard and the other on guitar who obviously dyed his hair blue on a regular basis. She was just about to walk the other way….

Except these two were everything her client was not: bright and happy as they sang together, instead of dark and brooding like XY as he tried to cultivate his emo phase. They were also kinda cute. (No offense to XY, she knew a lot of people liked his look, but it just wasn't for her.) And (full offense to XY) actually talented in music. Their instruments and voices blended together perfectly.

And it made her feel things.

In fact, it made her blush deeply when they grinned at each other and kissed mid-song.

Marinette quickly finished her bagel and fled back to the safety of her office.

Get it together, girl! she scolded herself. You've seen people kiss before!

But… none of them had made her want to stand up and cheer for the couple before. Those two boys were obviously in love.

Her afternoon was spent sketching new designs in greens, yellows, and blues. She scowled when she realized they all had little hearts in them somehow.

The next day was just as bad; meetings ran late, clients had to be rescheduled, "Where's the mock-up, Dupain-Cheng?" "You said you needed it next week!" "That was then, we need it now!"

Luckily, she'd already been half-done with it anyway, but it still hadn't been easy to whip the rest of it up in half a morning when she was supposed to have a whole week…. She sighed, staring down at her muffin in disgust. She missed Papa's croissants. Maybe she should go visit?

No. No, she couldn't go running back to them now! She'd never leave!

Before she'd realized what'd happened, her feet had carried her back to that same street corner. And, surprise, surprise, the two musicians were there, entertaining the crowd by racing through a rendition of some pop song as fast as they could.

Marinette snorted in laughter as the crowd cheered at their big finish. Not just young, beautiful, and obviously in love, these two were playful and fun too!

She wished she had time to meet them.

The third day was cold and wet, and as dark as Marinette's mood.

Rejected.

Her designs had been rejected.

After all that hard work, all the revisions that had been fully-approved and accepted, the client had completely done a 180.

"These are too whimsical and colorful!" XY had complained (even though he'd been the one to commission a brightly-colored suit from them in the first place). "What?! Do you think I don't take my music seriously or something?"

You shouldn't, she'd wanted to snark back. You're just a synthesizer with a bad haircut.

Luckily, her company was well-established enough that were still going to be paid for their hours, but it still smarted that someone thought she wasn't good enough.

She sighed. Taking a walk around the area to clear her mind was just what she needed. She'd get over it easily enough; she just needed to recover from that initial sting.

She wasn't even surprised when her feet automatically carried her back to where the two boys were playing. She WAS surprised that they weren't playing around and laughing like the past two times she'd seen them. Instead, they were sitting underneath an awning, keeping their instruments out of the light drizzle, and playing softly to each other.

Still, however soft and slow, it was a good melody, and Marinette felt herself drawn closer, in order to hear them better. To her chagrin, however, the blue-haired boy noticed her.

"Well, look at what we have here, Adrien," he said cheerfully. "A princess in the rain!"

"That'll never do," the blond agreed, standing up and opening an umbrella with a flourish. "Would you like an umbrella, my lady?" he asked, giving her a courtly bow.

"Oh! Uh, no, that's fine," Marinette stammered, blushing. "You—you're going to need them later for your instruments."

"Actually, our cases are waterproof," the blue-haired boy pointed out, patting the hard case beside him. "And Adrien here likes to cuddle with me under one umbrella anyway." He winked at his boyfriend.

"I am but a simple man with simple tastes," Adrien stated dramatically. He turned back to Marinette. "And, right now, I'd really like to see a princess's smile," he added, much more gently.

She was sure her face was on fire as she took the umbrella and tried hard to give the boys a strained smile. Judging from the look on the blond's face, he wasn't impressed.

"S-sorry," she finally said. "It's… been kind of a bad day so far."

Adrien's eyes lit up. "A mission!" he cried, darting back over to his keyboard. "The Quest to Make the Princess Smile!"

With that, he started up a jaunty little tune, the other boy following him immediately on the guitar. It was carefree, and upbeat, and ordinarily, Marinette would've loved it. Today, though, she just gave them a small smile, and dug into her wallet to throw them a tip.

"Thanks, guys," she said, tossing them her biggest bill. It was just about time to go back and face her failures at the office—

"Luka," she heard Adrien whine. "The princess is trying to pay us, even though we didn't make her smile!"

Oh my God, he was so cute! He actually sounded heartbroken that he couldn't cheer her up!

"Hmm," Luka said thoughtfully. "She said she had a bad day, babe. We know how that can be, right?" The blond hummed in agreement, leaning his head on his boyfriend's shoulder as Luka strummed a quiet, mournful tune. Absently, the blond followed him on the piano.

Marinette felt her shoulders relax at the gentle melody. Soft, sad, hopeful—it kinda sounded like rain, actually. The tension in her jaw lessened as well and she sighed in relief.

Yes. This was what she'd been needing. The two boys continued for a couple of minutes before Luka stopped and smiled at her knowingly.

"Better?"

"It was. Thank you," Marinette said honestly. She held out their umbrella. "But I still don't need this. I'm just going back inside there," she said, gesturing to her building. Neither of them made any move to take it back, though, (Adrien was actually pouting at her again and he was seriously, so cute) so Marinette made to put it by the hat they had out for tips (a derby hat. What a strange choice!).

"Hey!" Adrien exclaimed, standing back up and stomping over to her. "Are you trying to insult my chivalry?!"

"No," Marinette said, startled.

"Adrien…," Luka said warningly, chuckling a little bit. "Sorry about him. He likes to think he's some sort of white knight or something."

"Uh, hello? The Black Knight is infinitely cooler," Adrien argued, hands on his hips as he argued with his boyfriend. "And besides, a real knight would insist on walking his lady home—which I won't!" he quickly added, noticing Marinette took a step back, "because in this day and age that's considered creepy—but I can insist you take the umbrella, my lady." He gave her another bow.

Marinette felt a little laugh escape her. He was just so over-the-top!

"There, good sir, you've made me laugh," she said, dipping into a tiny curtsy. "You mission has been accomplished. Well done."

Adrien's eyes brightened and he fist-pumped the air. He and Marinette both laughed when Luka played a quick Final Fantasy victory fanfare.

"Thank you. Both of you," Marinette said warmly, feeling better than she had in days. She stepped closer to Adrien and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "There. A token of my thanks." Then, before she could lose her nerve, she walked over to Luka and gave him a kiss on the cheek too.

He beamed at her. "Best tip all day."

Giggling, she waved goodbye and headed back to work, already planning her schedule for tomorrow so she could come back here for lunch.

Luka watched her go, seriously considering going after her to beg for her phone number. He glanced at his boyfriend, still standing in the middle of the sidewalk with a dazed expression on his face, his hand touching the cheek she'd kissed.

He chuckled. Adrien had had a crush on her since they'd noticed her a couple of days ago. His boyfriend was so gone.

Mischievously, Luka fingered out a quick, "Another One Bites the Dust!"

That seemed to snap Adrien out of it, and he whirled on his boyfriend, blushing deeply.

"Sh-shut up!"

Luka just laughed. He couldn't wait to see her again.

END.