self indulgent au hours (Patreon)

FORCIBLY CLEANSES MY PALATE BY DRAWING A CRINGE AU IVE HAD COOKING FOR MONTHS

ive had this au in my head for a minute bc i think luka would make a fantastic heel-turn selfish man if he had the chance to go and take marinette for himself. anyway au that's more closely following the series, adrien finds out that marinette is 1. ladybug and 2. lied about his dad and how he was hawkmoth. in a fit of grief he tried to destroy his own memories, but marinette got in the way, and so did luka - leaving marinette with no memories at all and luka with permanent facial scars from trying to physically hold chat's arms away from his own head.

once luka realized marinette had memory of the situation (or anything for that matter) he took off with her to hide her from her furious friends, afraid for her life. since there's no instant cure for getting almost lobotomized by destruction itself, luka just kinda took the chance to slip back into his previous role as boyfriend, and considers himself mari's protector, and has taken her place as Ladybug. (and yes, he switched up his hairdye and primary colors to red to match that new motif"

using some dad-clout (aka jagged's slush funds) and carefully picked truths (he just wants to keep mari safe, he promises) marinette has been "missing" for several years now. luka takes care of her needs, and on the surface, she seems to be a very happy girl, who's finally free of the stress that being ladybug/guardian/(adrien's girlfriend) was putting on her.

in actuality, marinette is in constant mental freefall, but genuinely believes luka has her best interests in mind, and has been trusting him to take care of her. it creates a constant loop of "i want to know who i am" -> "who I was could get me killed apparently" -> "luka is trying so hard to keep me safe, I can't compromise that" -> "but I can't remember who I am" thus into infinity

meanwhile, adrien's been losing his shit trying to get back to her, hopeful that maybe he could reverse the damage he did somehow, as long as he could get to marinette. he's furious at Luka for doing what he's been doing, and for uh like. straight up stealing his girlfriend. but he feels so guilty about visibly mangling the man's face that adrien's spine turns to jelly every time they get into a confrontation. (luka's scars seem to sneer how similar he is to his father, oh joy.)

this au is 100% for self indulgent purposes. i like a little toxic sludge in my lukanette sometimes. luka come back i can turn you into a great uhhhh rapidly flipping through book yandere