Now that Captain Hardrock was being occupied by her feline partner, Ladybug made it to the below deck of the Liberty, where her captured friends were awaiting rescue. Needless to say, all of the teenagers were happy to see her... even Lila in some small way.

"Ladybug!" Alya cheered, smiling up at the heroine before she used her yo-yo to break all of the chains and helped them all to their feet.

"Ladybug, is Marinette okay?" Luka asked as she helped him up, clasping Ladybug's hands within his as he voiced his concerns for the girl he helped escape.

"Don't worry, she's safe. She's the one who alerted me." Ladybug assured him, a soft blush appearing on her cheeks at his worry.

"That girl is unbelievably brave." Luka breathed in awe, making Ladybug turn around to prevent him from seeing her face erupt into a fiery red at the praise. But she put those fluttering Ladybirds in her chest on the backburner as she called on her...

"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug proclaimed, followed by her receiving... "Another chain? Some pliers would've come in more handy." the red heroine remarked to herself when the Ladybug print object landed in her hand, frustrated by the cryptic tool before turning to face the others with her.

"Don't worry guys, I'll find a way to get you out." Ladybug assured them as she slung the chain to sit across her body, quickly running out of the hold to rejoin the fight topside.

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However, matters up on the Liberty were taking an interesting turn when Chat Noir and Captain Hardrock clashed their swords while still up in the ships' rigging. Unfortunately for Chat Noir, his strength was no match for Captain Hardrock when she finally pushed him away from her, sending him flying to the back of the ship.

"Seize him." Captain Hardrock ordered her ship, the chains catching Chat Noir before he could hit the deck and tied him to the mast of the crow's nest, his capture pleasing Hawkmoth from his lair. The villain said as much to his latest akuma, prompting her to land in front of the captured feline hero and stalk towards him.

"My treasure will be your Miraculous, kitty cat." the akumatized pirate proclaimed as she grabbed the hero's hand, just about to take his ring off when Ladybug arrived topside and saw them. As soon as she spotted the akuma about to take her partner's Miraculous, Ladybug quickly pulled her yo-yo out and used it to wrap around Captain Hardrock's arm and pull her down to the deck.

"Don't be an impatient scurvy Ladybug. You're next in line!" Captain Hardrock menacingly assured the spotted heroine, rising to her knees and brandishing her sword before lunging at Ladybug and engaging her in a close-quarters fight.

The fight between the akuma and heroine had Ladybug backing away from the pirate and taking defense, using her yo-yo as a shield while backtracking up the stairs to the ship's wheel. Despite her time training with Draal, the only reason why Ladybug wasn't able to fight against Captain Hardrock was that her weapon was more for defense than she would have preferred. But she was still able to use her reflexes and training to evade and counter Captain Hardrock's attacks, up to the point where she got close enough to grab the akuma's arm and throw her off the ship's port side. Fortunately for Captain Hardrock, she was able to catch herself from falling off her ship entirely and pulled herself back over the railing before landing on the deck again.

"En garde." the akumatized captain snarled, brandishing her sword in preparation for another fight. But to her surprise, Ladybug was nowhere to be found. "Huh? Where did you go?" Captain Hardrock wondered aloud, looking around for any sign of the heroine as she put her sword away and walked up to the wheel.

"If you refuse to give me your Miraculous, my next target will be Major Bourgeois and his land lover-in Orchestra." she threatened the whole boat, taking out her spyglass and looking through it to spot said orchestra. "Liberty, next stop City Hall." Captain Hardrock announced, the compass at the wheel changing course to take 'The Liberty' to its next location. But as the ship fired at another bridge in its way, Captain Hardrock was unaware of Ladybug having freed her partner and then hiding behind the firing cannon at the bow.

"Thanks, My Lady! Any longer and I would've been fish food." Chat Noir thanked his partner, the canon shifting to its resting position and keeping them hidden from the akuma.

"My pleasure, Kitty." Ladybug replied, smiling at him in relief before refocusing on the task at hand."But we've got a problem. I couldn't free the prisoners and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with this." the spotted heroine reported, taking the Lucky Charm chain off of her body and holding it in her hands in front of her.

"Purrhaps it's probably just trying to tell you that you're chained to me, forever." Chat Noir supplied, earning a tired head shake from Ladybug at his 'advice'.

"Now's not the time for your flirting, Chat Noir. I need to focus!" Ladybug chided the feline hero, followed by her looking past their hiding spot and scanning all around the ship for any ideas. Fortunately for Ladybug, her search proved fruitful when she spotted the compass at 'The Liberty's' wheel and the edge of the Seine ahead of the ship, giving her the idea she needed. "I got it! It's time to take the ship, kitty cat. Follow me!" the red heroine exclaimed to Chat Noir, quickly running to the guitar-neck-shaped front of the ship.

"Aye aye, Captain Ladybug!" Chat Noir happily replied while following after his partner before the two of them stopped at the end of the ship's bow point, revealing themselves to Captain Hardrock.

"Aha, there y'are again! The time has come to send you to the bottom once and for all!" Captain Hardrock declared, triggering more chains to fly right at Ladybug and Chat Noir before she hopped onto one and rode on it towards them.

However, Ladybug and Chat Noir had the same idea and jumped on the chains, using them as stepping stones to meet Captain Hardrock halfway. When seeing the duo coming towards her, Captain Hardrock jumped into the air and aimed right at them, her sword held above her head and ready to swing down at them. Unfortunately for the akuma, it was just the opening Ladybug and Chat Noir needed for Ladybug's plan to work.

Now that Captain Hardrock was coming right at them, Ladybug undid the chain clasp and threw one end of it to Chat Noir, the duo each holding one end of the Lucky Charm. From there, they sailed past Captain Hardrock while the chain hooked around her waist, the heroes' momentum taking them right to the wheel before using the chain to tie Captain Hardrock to the wheel.

"Noooo! Get away from the compass!" the akumatized anarchist wailed when the heroes locked the chain, causing the compass to go haywire.

Now without a clear course, 'The Liberty' was then steered to the right of its previous course, heading towards the river edge Ladybug had spotted earlier. And while the sudden change of direction caused the teens below deck to be tossed and turned like a bunch of rag dolls, they had no idea what awaited them next as the ship reached the river's edge. Upon hitting the slanted bank of the Seine, 'The Liberty' went flying into the air high above the island they had hit before finally landing on the grass with a thud, barely missing a couple eating ice cream.

"Do it, Chat Noir!" Ladybug yelled as the ship leaned to its side, the couple having already fled when the ship landed in front of them.

"Cataclysm!" Chat Noir shouted, summoning his power and touching 'The Liberty's' compass, making the whole shop dissolve into dust and freeing the captive teens while forcing the akuma to remerge.

"No more evildoing for you, little akuma." Ladybug said as she ran her finger down the middle of her yo-yo, revealing the sparkling pool of cleansing energy inside of it. "Time to de-evilize!" the spotted heroine shouted before she threw her yo-yo toward the akuma, catching it within her yo-yo and pulling it back to her.

"Gotcha!" Ladybug cheered when the yo-yo was back in her hands. A second later, she released the purified akuma, setting the white butterfly free. "Bye, bye little butterfly," the heroine in red said as the butterfly flew away, right before Captain Hardrock was turned back into Anarka.

"Pound it!" Ladybug and Chat Noir cheered, fist-bumping each other for their post-battle ritual in celebration.

"What happened?" Anarka asked as sat on the ground in front of the heroes, looking at the heroes for any clue as to why she was not at her houseboat.

"Oh not much, you just had a bout of... Seasickness." Chat Noir playfully quipped, only for his Miraculous to beep its first warning. "Time to raise the sails, My Lady." the hero in black farewelled before jumping away, needing to take as much time as he could get to return home. As he left, Ladybug took that as her sign to pick up her Lucky Charm and throw it into the air.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug cried out, summoning the cleansing cure and the magic ladybugs.

In no time at all, the Miraculous Cure fixes all of the damage caused by Captain Hardrock. All of the concert venues that were attacked were returned to their former glory and once again open to spectators to enjoy the performances. Even the bridges 'The Liberty' had destroyed while under the akuma's command were restored to normal, allowing for the city to continue as it was before the attack. The last thing the cure did was take the remains of 'The Liberty' and those who were on the ship back to where they started before the chaos happened, turning the dust back into the houseboat with everyone on the main deck.

"Enjoy your gig, bug out." the spotted heroine farewelled the teens from her perch on top of 'The Liberty', jumping away with her yo-yo to transform back and rejoin them.

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But while the city was restored to its former glory and Kitty Section left to convince Lieutenant Roger to let them play their gig, things down in Hawkmoth's lair could have been a bit more cheerful. Then again, seeing as he was defeated once more by his arch-nemesis, it was understandable.

"For the sake of Neptune! Captain Hardrock didn't manage to seize your Miraculous!" Hawkmoth yelled in frustration, not taking his latest defeat very well since this akuma had Chat Noir in her clutches and botched it. "But one of these days Ladybug and Chat Noir, your treasure will be mine!" the resident supervillain promised aloud, maniacally laughing as the lair window closed and left him and his remaining butterflies in darkness once more.

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With the day saved from akuma chaos once again, Gabriel had left his lair and found that a sufficient amount of time had passed for him to listen to Adrien's piano piece again. In no time, he, Nathalie, and 'Gorilla' headed back up to the room belonging to the boy in question; who had arrived back from the fight with Captain Hardrock by the skin of his teeth. But when Adrien sat down at his piano and got ready to play for his audience, he suddenly stopped and turned to face his father.

"Would you like to play this piece with me Father? As a duet?" Adrien asked, leaving all the adults in the room to gasp in surprise while Gabriel quickly became hesitant about the idea.

"I don't think-" "Please Father? If I'm not allowed to go to my friend's concert, at least grant me this." the blonde-haired boy nearly begged, not caring if he interrupted his father if it meant he could share something meaningful with him.

As if his words were laced with magic, Gabriel decided to grant Adrien his request and stood up from his spot on the couch, making both Nathalie and 'Gorilla' smile at the sight as their boss walked over to Adrien. When Gabriel finally sat next to his son and held his hands at the ready above the ivories, they began playing together.

Almost immediately, the piece that Adrien was playing before was now much less melancholy than it had been when he played it alone. Side by side, the two Agreste's joint performance of the piece was filled with more life than one would ever imagine there'd be in a bit of music. It was truly a wonderful moment for Adrien and Gabriel as they played together. However, it was also bittersweet since it ended rather too quickly, both of the Agrestes finishing the piece before Adrien hopefully looked up at his father. When he did, Gabriel let out a sigh in relent.

"Fine. You can go to your friend's concert if that's what you really want." Gabriel decided, greatly pleasing Adrien with his response.

"Thank you, Father! Adrien cheered, quickly hugging Gabriel from his spot next to him before he could step away. But despite being surprised by the display of affection, Gabriel relaxed into it and returned the hug as well, enjoying the moment between him and his son.

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Meanwhile, on 'The Liberty', the crew had managed to convince Lieutenant Roger to give them a chance to make sure the volume of their instruments was up to their requirements. It took a little bit to make sure they were in the preferred range, but when Lieutenant Roger pulled away to read the decibel reader, it left the teens at the edge of their seats.

"It's still a bit loud by my standards and a couple of decibels over the legal limit..." Lieutenant Roger began, looking at the reader with a critical eye while everyone started getting worried about his answer. "But I'll let it slide on this occasion. After all, it's the music festival." the police officer happily declared, causing everyone to cheer. Marinette even went as far as hugging Alya and Lila amid her relief.

"Thanks, Roger." Anarka thanked the law enforcer, happy for once to have Lieutenant Roger on her boat after hearing his verdict before he started going towards the gangplank.

"Have a good gig!" Lieutenant Roger said to the teens with a wave as he walked off the gangplank, just seconds before Adrien walked on after him and everyone saw him.

"Hi everyone! Hi ma'am." Adrien greeted everyone on deck, the teens cheering at the sight of him while Marinette let her friends go from her hug. But as she did and looked over at Adrien to greet him, Marinette quickly noticed something in his way.

"Watch where you're walking! You're about to-" "WOAH!" Adrien yelped as he tripped over something on the deck despite Marinette's warning, making a case fall over next to him as well.

"Adrien! Are you okay buddy?" Nino asked his bro while running over to him, helping Adrien to sit up from the deck.

"Nah it's all good, I-" Adrien replied while the others came to surround him in worry, rubbing his head to soothe the bump he received before realizing what he was resting against. Without a second glance, Adrien turned around and opened the case to find a keyboard inside it. "Whoa, an original ZX20.4! I love the sound of this instrument!" the green-eyed boy exclaimed, looking over at Anarka as he spoke.

"Aww, that old thing? No one knows how to play it." Anarka said, not seeing why he was so excited about the old instrument.

"I know how to play it. I would love to do so if you'd let me." Adrien replied, prompting Luka to walk over to him and offer him a hand up.

"Great! Welcome to the band, Adrien." Luka warmly congratulated the boy, helping him to his feet.

"Thanks, uhh..." Adrien trailed off, now realizing that he didn't know the boy in front of him.

"Luka." Luka simply answered.

"Thanks, Luka." Adrien concluded, shaking hands with Luka while unaware of the fiery blush appearing across Marinette's cheeks at the sight of their interaction.

"Is the compass going crazy, now?" Alya cheekily asked Marinette in a whisper, not missing her bestie's reaction as she leaned in close while her remark made the designer gasp in surprise.

"Oh, it sure looks like it, Alya. Isn't that right, piccolo gattino (little kitten)?" Lila added to the whispered teasing, coming to lean on Marinette's left shoulder while her blush grew deeper.

"Girls, come on! I've only just met the guy!" Marinette whined, hiding her face in her hands to avoid any more of their teasing.

"That didn't stop you from falling for Adrien the same day you met him." Alya pointed out, lightly jabbing the pigtailed girl in the ribs with a smirk.

"That's different." Marinette countered, lifting her face from her hands to side-eye Alya.

"How is that different?" Lila deadpanned, leaving Marinette unable to think of what to say to argue against her observation. "Face it! You're in love, Mari Darling!!" the Italian girl practically sang, pleased to have left Marinette stumped and grasping at straws to say otherwise.

"Even if you're right, Lila, that would be one more thing on my plate that I don't need. That last thing I want in my life is more chaos I can't control." Marinette said, hoping to get the two girls off her case just as Anarka; who could hear the whole conversation a few steps away from them, came to stand at the red-tipped-haired girl's side.

"You know matey, sometimes disorder can be a good thing. If this keyboard hadn't been lying around, we wouldn't have gained us a keyboard player." Anarka advised Marinette, placing a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "It all depends on how one looks at it." the captain concluded, earning a thoughtful look from Marinette before she looked back at Adrien and Luka, quickly greeted by the sight of the guitarist helping her crush set up the keyboard. At the sight of the two boys getting along so well, Marinette couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face.

"Yeah... maybe." Marinette quietly thought to herself, starting to see the wisdom in Anarka's words before the girls went to sit down and finally watch the band play now that they finished getting ready.

"Hello everyone!! Our name is Kitty Section!! Hope you enjoy the show!!" Rose greeted the audience in front of the stage, all the band members ready to play behind her alongside their newest member. "One, two, three!" the pink-clad girl counted down, triggering the band to start playing while Rose took on the lead vocals.

"I LOVE UNICORNS! I LOVE UNICORNS AND CUTE LITTLE FLUFFY CATS!" Rose sang, her voice going surprisingly deep as she enthusiastically held the microphone in her hands, brightly colored lights flashing above the entire band. It certainly was a surprise to see Rose singing so deeply, but it didn't deter the audience from watching. If anything, it got them hooked even more. And if Marinette spotted Luka and Adrien looking at each other while they were playing their instruments during the song, well... who was to say that she felt the ladybirds in her stomach fluttering even harder.?

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(Time Skip)

Despite the delay Captain Hardrock had caused, Kitty Section's debut concert was over well before the sunset across the city. As such, the attendants of the concert were able to get home well before the streetlights turned on. So after Marinette had dinner with her family, she once again holed up in her room in wait for her daily call with Jim, eager to talk to them after needing to skip their noon call. However, she wasn't quite looking forward to telling Jim about her unconfirmed feelings for Luka, knowing that he'd be jumping at the chance to use this to convince her to move on from Adrien.

Even then, she was dressed in her pajamas and sitting at her desk while waiting for her brothers to call her, which wasn't that long after the clock struck 9 o'clock. As soon as she saw the notification, Marinette couldn't click the 'accept call' button on her computer fast enough and allowed the two smiling boys to appear on her screen.

"Heya, sis!" Jim & Toby greeted the girl, the area behind them revealing that they were in their normal lunch spot at the bike racks.

"Hey, boys! How's it going?" Marinette replied, waving to them with a smile.

"We're doing good. It's been rather quiet over here." Jim reported while he and Toby took their lunches out of their bags, the menu of the day consisted of homemade mini pizzas, chicken nuggets with fresh dipping sauce, veggie sticks and cookies for dessert.

"But the same can't be said for you. We saw the news piece on Captain Hardrock." Toby announced, opening his lunch bag to dig into his food. "I can't believe that we finally got a pirate-themed akuma! I was beginning to think it would never happen!" the rounded boy exclaimed while taking out one of his mini pizzas, earning a rueful smile from Marinette when witnessing his excitement.

"Glad to see that you guys already know about it. I was wondering if it hit the news on your end." Marinette remarked, amused to see Toby still sticking to his desire to guess future akuma powers while cataloging them.

"Of course it did! An akuma like that doesn't just happen without causing a stir. I'm sure you agree since you got there rather quickly." Jim observed as he got out his first pizza from his lunch bag, lifting it to his mouth before another thought came to him. "Speaking of which, how did you get to the fight so fast? Weren't you at your friend's concert when it started?" the Trollhunter asked his little sister, followed by him taking a bite out of his mini pizza while waiting for her answer.

"Yeeeah, funny story about that." Marinette nervously began, causing Jim to send her a concerned look.

"Oh no. What happened?" Jim questioned the girl, now worried for her answer as he and Toby lowered their pizzas away from their mouths.

"Captain Hardrock was Juleka's mom. I got to the fight so fast because my friends and I were captured and sent to the hold." Marinette explained, her hand coming to rub the back of her neck while nervously looking off to the side.

"Wait, seriously?! You were that close to the akuma when it transformed?" Jim fretted, raising his phone closer to him amid his worrying.

"Holy, crap! Are you okay, MariFairy?" Toby asked, reaching to grab Jim's phone and move it so that he filled in Jim's previous spot on the screen.

"I'm fine, Tobes. The worst injury I got was only to my pride with how fast I got caught." Marinette assured them, her gaze going back to her computer as her hands came to hover in front of her before making a 'calm down' gesture at her honorary brother. "Then again, the chains Captain Hardrock's ship had were rather fast. I even had a hard time dodging them when I was Ladybug." the designer admitted, her hands dropping back to the desk as she spoke.

"Okay, now I got to know what else happened! Spill the beans!" Toby squealed before gobbling up his first mini pizza, now very eager to hear about all the exclusive details of the battle with Captain Hardrock.

"Alright, you asked for it. Full warning, the fight wasn't very long." Marinette warned, leaning back in her desk chair while placing her hands behind her head with a fond smile.

"You know he won't stop asking until you tell us, sis. Might as well get it over with." Jim chided his sister and followed it by finishing his first pizza too, glancing over at the still-excited Toby as he reached for his second one.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you." Marinette relented, her arms falling to her sides while Jim took out his second pizza and bit into it. "It all started at 'The Liberty' when my friends' band, Kitty Section, was about to play..." the pigtailed girl trailed off, once again regaling her latest adventure to her brothers as they continued eating their lunches.

The retelling started with explaining how Anarka was akumatized into Captain Hardrock in the first place, greatly amusing the boys to hear that she now personally knew an anarchist. Yet, they were also very concerned when she reached the part about her capture and escape to transform into Ladybug so that she could join the battle. However, the mood lifted a lot when Marinette got to the part about how she and Chat Noir defeated the pirate akuma. For the most part, Marinette was able to avoid mentioning her meeting with Luka out of the desire to prevent Jim from focusing on that particular detail for the whole call. Though with the number of times she needed to divert the story to another part, she was pretty sure Jim was suspicious.

"Wow! I can't believe you had to beach the entire ship just to destroy it!" Toby gushed, both he and Jim having finished their pizzas and chicken nuggets and moved on to their veggie sticks.

"What else were we supposed to do? Destroy it while my friends were in the hold? Like Hell, I was going to put them in even more danger than they already were!" Marinette pointed out, looking at the boys incredulously while her hands flew towards the computer screen in front of her.

"Though to be fair... your Lucky Charm could have brought them back if you had gone the route." Jim absentmindedly thought aloud while eating his veggie sticks, only to be greeted by Marinette and Toby both looking over at him in concern. "What?" the blue-eyed boy asked, not understanding why he was getting their peculiar stares.

"Dude... could you please rethink what you just said?" Toby requested, prompting Jim to mentally go through his previous words and soon realized what he had just said.

"Oh..." Jim let out, his eyes wide in mortification at his own words before turning to face the other participants of the conversation. "Could we forget I just said that?" the Trollhunter questioned the others, wincing at his blunder while he begged for their forgiveness.

"As long as you don't run your mouth like that anymore, okay?" Marinette replied, earning a nod of agreement from Toby as he finished his veggie sticks while Jim sighed, relieved by their understanding. "But I think you're spending too much time with Draal lately. You're starting to take on his ruthlessness." the red-tipped-haired girl observed, giving Jim a critical look as he followed Toby's lead and finished his veggie sticks too.

"So are you. You've been more willing to murder people when you're angry." Toby spoke up, both he and Jim pulling out their desserts while Marinette looked to the side and mulled over his remark.

"Okay, fair point." Marinette relented, seeing Toby had a good point before readverting her gaze back to her computer. "In any case, has Captain Hardrock made any of the lists, Toby?" the designer asked, inclined to hear if Toby was continuing his little side project.

"Both of them, actually. As I said earlier, I was hoping for a pirate akuma." Toby replied, stuffing one of his cookies into his mouth before reaching for his phone to do just that.

"Nice to see you happy about another akuma attack, Toby." Marinette teasingly commended the geology nerd, amused by his little hobby but sort of glad he was keeping track of the akumas for later data analysis.

"Oh, you know what I mean." Toby playfully replied, matching her energy as he put away his phone.

"Yeah, yeah, we know Toby." Jim chimed in, joining in on the fun. "But all jokes aside, was the akuma attack and the concert all that happened today, sis?" the blue-eyed boy asked, confirming Marinette's concerns of him catching onto her earlier evasion.

"Uh, what makes you ask that, bro?" Marinette nervously asked her brother, her posture immediately becoming tense and tipping Jim off even more.

"Maybe the way you currently look like you're hiding something." Jim pointed out, smirking at the way Marinette was squirming under his observations.

"NO, I DON'T!" Marinette yelped, which proved futile in proving otherwise.

"And that right there is another dead giveaway." Jim declared, making Marinette hunch into herself in relent."So care to share, now?" the Trollhunter questioned the girl as he grabbed one of his cookies, knowing that he won their little argument.

"Okay, fine. Something else did happen today." Marinette admitted, straightening herself to place her arms on her desk and hide her face behind them. "So as it turns out, Juleka has a twin brother named Luka." she reported, leaving the two boys surprised as they were about to eat another one of their cookies.

"Juleka has a brother? How come she never said anything about him?" Toby lightly interrogated as he finished his cookies.

"No idea. But I met him today." Marinette replied, shrugging her shoulders while Jim stared at her intently.

"Oh, and what was he like?" Jim asked, unable to keep himself from smiling while Marinette perked up at the question.

"He was great! Even though I only met him today, Luka was such a total gentleman. Not to mention so cool in the face of danger, a charmer, rather cute and–" Marinette rambled, only to soon see the smug look that appeared on Jim's face. "What's with the look?" the pigtailed girl probed her brother, sending a questioning eyebrow his way.

"You're in love with him, aren't you?" Jim questioned the girl, immediately causing Marinette's eyes to widen in shock.

"I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH HIM!! Why is it that everyone thinks I'm in love with Luka!" Marinette whined, throwing her hands into the air above her in exasperation.

"Whose 'everyone'?" Jim asked, now intrigued to know who else had the same idea.

"Alya and Lila. They were teasing me about it when they saw me looking at Luka earlier." Marinette admitted, only to spot Jim's growing smile. "BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN I AM!!" the red-tipped-haired girl quickly amended.

"You sure about that? You seem rather flustered about it." Jim cheekily observed while he finished his cookies, which only earned a glare from his sister.

"I just met the guy, Jim. Why would I be in love with him so soon?" Marinette argued, not happy that he was insisting on the matter.

"That didn't stop you from falling for Adrien the same day you met him." Jim pointed out with a smirk, followed by seeing Marinette about to object. "And don't say 'That's different' You know that it's not." Jim deadpanned, leaving Marinette unable to think of what to say to argue against her observation like earlier with Lila.

"Face it! You're in love, Mari!!" the blue-eyed boy practically sang, pleased to have left Marinette stumped and grasping at straws to say otherwise while she let out an amused chuckle.

"You know, that's exactly what Alya and Lila told me. Word for word, by the way." Marinette admitted, staring at Jim with perplexity.

"Seriously?" Toby asked, his face going slack with surprise at the claim.

"Yep." Marinette replied.

"Wow. Didn't see that coming." Jim muttered. "But strange as it may be, Lila has the right idea. Even she can see that you're in love with him." the Trollhunter stated, earning a groan from both Toby and Marinette.

"Jim... don't even go there." Toby whined as his head tipped back amid his exasperation, tired of this routine.

"Toby's right, Jim. You haven't even met Luka yet and you're already giving him your blessing to date me!" Marinette exclaimed, herself tired of Jim doing this anytime she expressed interest in anyone besides Adrien.

"No, I'm not! Jesus! Why is it that I'm in the wrong for wanting my sister to end up with someone deserving of her?" Jim complained while throwing his hands above him, not understanding how he was the bad guy for this.

"You're only in the wrong with how much you go on about it. I still don't even know if how I feel about Luka is as a friend or something more, and yet here you are thinking he's the one for me without listening to what I have to say. There is a difference between saying your piece on the matter and outright pushing too hard. And right now, I just need you to let me figure it out for myself, okay Jim?" Marinette nearly begged, hoping he would listen to her this time. Thankfully, her prayers were answered when Jim sighed in relent.

"Okay, okay, I get it. I've been too pushy about your love life. From here on out, I promise I won't bring it up any more." Jim promised, now seeing that he went a little too far this time.

"Whew, thank goodness." Toby breathed out, whipping his brow of the stray drops of sweat appearing there.

"And you're not immediately approving of Luka, right?" Marinette pressed, hoping beyond hope that Jim wasn't doing like their dad usually did to them and was planning her and Luka's wedding before she figured out how she really felt about him.

"I promise, I will hold off on any opinions until I meet Luka in person." Jim swore... lying through his teeth as he did so. Normally, he kept his promises to Marinette, but there was no way in Hell he was not going to root for this new contender in the race for Marinette's heart. Especially when seeing and hearing how enamored she was with him already!!!

"Thank you!" Marinette breathed out, just seconds before the bell rang on Jim and Toby's end. "And that's your guys' cue." the designer observed, triggering the two boys to start packing their bags.

"Looks like it. We'll see you later, sis." Toby farewelled, zipping up his bag as he stood up from the ground.

"See you then, boys! Good luck with history with Strickler." Marinette replied, offering her support to them when interacting with their newest enemy-in-disguise.

"We'll do our best. But at this point, it's become our new least favorite class after English." Jim admitted, standing up from the ground and standing next to Toby as they neared the end of their video call.

"Really? Can't imagine why." Marinette sarcastically remarked, followed by her smirking at the boys.

"Haha. Very funny, Mari." Jim replied dryly, rolling his eyes at Marinette's teasing before his face softened into a small smile. "We'll see you soon. Love ya!" the Trollhunter farewelled, both him and Toby waving goodbye.

"Love you too, bros. See you tomorrow." Marinette warmly replied, waving back before hanging up the call and heading off to bed, hoping that the next day would be free of any conflicts. Both of akumas... and matters of the heart.