"Adrien?"

Luka was surprised to see his friend, who could barely convince his father to let him leave the house, standing in the doorway of his bedroom. The usually perfectly groomed boy looked disheveled, and seemed to be out of breath. "Is everything okay? What are you doing here?" Adrien held up a finger as he took several deep breaths. Then, he corrected his posture and walked towards Luka.
"Sorry for dropping in on you like this. I ran all the way here without really thinking about the fact that you weren't expecting me. But, it just couldn't wait."

Luka saw the determination in Adrien's eyes. Had he finally figured it out? Was that why he was here?

"What couldn't wait, Adrien?" Luka asked, bracing himself for the answer.
"I have finally figured out how to get you a date with Marinette!" Luka's mouth fell open. He knew Adrien was oblivious, but he hadn't expected that he would be this oblivious.

"Adrien, what are you talking about?" Luka prodded, for surely he had misinterpreted what Adrien had said. Adrien's eyes narrowed in determination as he came even closer to Luka, grasping him by the shoulders with a surprisingly strong grip.
"Luka, Marinette likes you. A lot actually. And I know you like her too, so don't even try to deny it. Marinette deserves a guy who will treat her like a princess, take care of her, and respect her. You deserve a girl who is fun and creative, who appreciates your music, encourages you, and inspires you to become even better! You two would be perfect together, and I have finally figured out a way to make that happen!"

Okay... so maybe he hadn't misunderstood.

Luka sighed as he looked at the younger teen. So he could tell when Marinette liked another guy, but had absolutely no clue that she liked him?

Luka smiled slightly at Adrien, masking his exasperation. "Okay, first things first. Can you let me go?" Adrien's eyes widened as he realized he was still squeezing Luka's shoulders. He let go and backed away quickly, obviously embarrassed by his little outburst. "S-sorry. I got a little excited."

"It's okay." Luka encouraged, still trying to figure out what he was going to do with this mess. "Now, why are you so desperate to set me and Marinette up? Not that I disapprove, but where is all this coming from?" Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, with a sheepish expression.

"Well you see," he started, quickly losing the confidence he had when he first came in. "She's really special to me. She can be a bit hard to understand from time to time, but she's incredibly caring. She'd do anything for anyone. She's creative and brave, not to mention an incredible leader. But she's not always confident, and needs reminding from time to time of how special she is." He laughed under his breath as he thought of her, a light-pink tinge coming to his cheeks. "I really want her to be happy, and I think you are the most capable person for that."

Luka sat in shocked silence for a moment. It took a few seconds for Adrien's statement to wash over him. "That's incredibly noble of you, Adrien." He said after some time. "But... if you think so much of her, why not date her yourself?"
Adrien shook his head, "No, I don't like Marinette that way. I'm in love with someone else."

An image of a cold-looking Japanese girl with bobbed hair came to Luka's mind. "I see."

Adrien looked at Luka nervously for a few seconds before taking a deep breath. "So... do you want to hear my plan?" Luka chuckled slightly, grabbing his guitar from its place beside him on his bed. "Okay. Let's hear it."

Adrien's face lit up, and all of his nervousness disappeared. "The plan is simple." Adrien stated with confidence. Luka momentarily imagined the blonde boy standing in front of a storyboard, but shook the image away to keep himself from laughing.

"This Thursday, Marinette and Alya are meeting after school at a small Café at precisely four o'clock. Marinette is anticipated to arrive at 4:30 pm. At precisely 5:00 pm, they will leave and head west towards Marinette's house. You and I will intercept the two of them, seemingly by chance. I will distract Alya and lead her away, giving you the perfect opportunity to take her home in Alya's place, and ask her to go out with you! I have already confirmed that she is free this Saturday, so that is when you should shoot for." Adrien smiled triumphantly, and Luka lightly strummed a major chord. "So, what do you think?"

Luka strummed a deeper chord as he thought about Adrien's plan. "How are you going to distract Alya?"

Adrien smirked, an odd look for the model. "I'm going to tell her about a 'possible new discovery' about Ladybug and the miraculous. If all goes well, she should go running off to the Louvre." "And if all doesn't go well?" Luka asked, trying to see how far out Adrien had really planned.
"Well, then I text Nino a coded message. He will call Alya telling her he urgently needs her help. She goes running to his aid, and then I make myself scarce." Luka closed his eyes and strummed a few notes of Marinette's melody. "There's still one flaw in your plan, Adrien."
"What is that?" Adrien asked, a bit confused.

"Marinette is not free on Saturday."

Adrien shook his head, "No, she is. I talked to Alya yesterday afternoon."

Luka continued strumming as he shrugged, "Well, I talked to Marinette last night, and she has plans."

Adrien blinked a few times, dumbfounded. "Really? What is she doing?

" Luka strummed a few more notes before he opened his eyes and smiled at Adrien.
"She's going on a date with me."