#Dingo my beloved... my beloved Dingus...... | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

verfound · 1 month ago

Text

FIC: "Of (Maybe, Finally) a Wedding" (MLB; Lukanette; LBSC Lukanette Month 2024)

@lovebugs-and-snakecharmers is doing a Lukanette Month for September 2024, and we all just kinda tossed some prompts in the disco to compile a list? We ended up with 71 prompts, so I decided I’d roll some dice to pick a prompt, do a twenty minute (ish, bc we all know sometimes they run away from me) sprint, and try to get some short fics out this month?

The last in the series, I swear

Read on Ao3

Prompt 57: Fortune

This could not be happening again.

There was no way in hell he was this unlucky.

He was marrying Ladybug – Lady Luck herself! – in just under an hour! He could not be this cursed!

“…she’s going to kill me,” he groaned as he stared into the definitely, very, no doubt about it empty box in his hand. He dropped back onto his old bunk, barely aware of the rock of the boat around him. Barely aware of anything beyond the fact that he had lost the fucking ring.

Again.

“Bullshit,” Juleka said, peering over his shoulder. “She hasn’t yet, and you’ve given her ample reason to.”

“Thank you so much, beloved sister, you are encouraging as ever,” he groaned, slumping forward to land his head in his other hand. The one holding the empty ring box dropped between his knees, and he groaned as his fingers twisted in his bangs – then groaned again when Juleka batted at his hand, trying to stop him before he undid all her hard work. “Juleka!”

“Luka!” she snapped back. “Do you have any idea how much product I had to use to get that damn cowlick to stay flat? I’m not about to let you mess up your hair now.”

“Yeah,” Dingo snickered from the other side of the cabin, where he was busy adjusting his tie. “That’s Mari’s job later.”

“…disgusting,” Juleka sniffed. “But accurate.”

“I don’t think either of us are really going to care about my hair in…oh my God. Thirty minutes. Thirty minutes,” he gulped, looking up and staring in horror at his best men (well, technically Juleka was his best man, but no one had been able to convince Dingo of that). “She’s going to be here in thirty minutes and I lost the fucking rings.”

“Breathe, dumbass,” Juleka sighed, rubbing his back. It felt too stiff, but that might have been the suit. Why had he agreed to this it was all going to pot Marinette was going to take one look at the too-stiff suit and ringless box and leave him on sight. “Where do you remember having them last?”

“In the box! Last night!” he cried. “I was double-checking everything just so this didn’t happen!”

“So is it possible maybe you grabbed the wrong box?” Dingo asked. Luka blinked at him, his eyes narrowing, and he shrugged like it was a perfectly valid option.

“Exactly how many ring boxes do you think I have lying around, Dingus?” he asked.

“Oi, now, no need for all that,” Dingo said, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he walked over. Luka wondered what it meant, if both Dingo and Juleka looked better in their suits than he did. Even the mohawk – which usually clashed with everything – was working with the dark blue color. “’Sides, don’t Mari make jewelry, too? You could have a lot of extra little boxes lying around.”

…he had a point, but Luka wasn’t about to admit that. Besides, all of Marinette’s extra little boxes were usually kept in her studio, and the rings hadn’t been in her studio since…well, since the night she had finished them and first tasked him with keeping them safe until the ceremony.

He’d had one job, damn it, and he’d gone and fucked it up. Again.

“Maybe they fell out?” Dingo continued, poking the empty box. “They’re probably back at your flat, Lulu. I can pop over lickity-split and be back in plenty of time for the vows.”

“…the vows,” Luka gasped, his eyes widening again. Oh God, the vows…Marinette was going to hate his. He was terrible with words – what was he thinking, opting to write his own?!

“…ooook,” Dingo said, nodding. He looked up at Juleka, who looked entirely too amused for her own good. “You make sure he doesn’t jump ship. Handle…this. I’ll go get the rings.”

“Good luck,” Juleka said, though from her tone – from the absolute wreck losing his shit on the bed – Dingo honestly wasn’t sure which one of them needed it more.

– V –

Two. Hours.

The wedding was supposed to start two hours ago.

And Luka was no calmer than he had been half an hour before it was supposed to start – or even at the exact time it was supposed to start, when Dingo still hadn’t made it back and he was getting a text from Marinette claiming there had been a slight emergency, no need to panic, she’d be there soon.

And Juleka had received a text from Rose ordering her to stall, they needed more time, get Jagged playing or something!

He supposed he should be grateful it was a small wedding on his ma’s boat, and that the only guests were a handful of family and close friends, but that wasn’t stopping the panic from clawing at his throat.

Marinette was standing him up.

She’d heard about the rings, realized he was a lost cause, and…

“Sorry!”

His head snapped up as he stopped his pacing, and there she was.

��dress-less?

She was…running towards him in the most bizarre getup. She was…still wearing her pajamas? The ones Rose had specially bedazzled for their hen night, with the pink tank top with the rhinestone BRIDE stamped across the chest. (He did not know about the matching rhinestones on her ass, which had their guests cackling as she raced forward with PROPERTY OF L.L.C. stamped across her backside.) And pink, fuzzy flip-flops. Her veil was blowing behind her as she ran, one of her hands holding it in place as she waved at him, and then she was there, grabbing for his hand and grinning.

“You are never going to believe the day I’ve had,” she said, leaning up to kiss his cheek. She turned out to the small gathering, all staring at her with wide eyes and open mouths, and waved. “Sorry, everyone! I know, I know – I’m so late. Classic Marinette, right?”

There was a smattering of laughs, but she still winced as she turned back to him.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, stepping closer. “There…was a series of accidents. You would think Plagg had a field day at Juleka and Rose’s – the fire was the least of problems. Jocelyn’s impending termination and murder are still on the table.”

“…fire?” he asked, his mouth dropping open. Like a fire – and not Marinette threatening to murder her beloved assistant – was what had really shocked him. She reached up to close it, her smile softening as her finger ran along his chin. “Marinette –”

“We’re all fine,” she said. “The dress…is not, and I’m sorry for that. Well. It might still be – the backup dress was the one that caught fire. My actual dress…”

She bit her lip and looked down, shaking her head as if she was trying to erase some unpleasant memory.

“Marinette?” he asked, laying his hand on her cheek. She shook her head again and grinned at him.

“Joce will find it,” she insisted. “It’s not her fault I stupidly put it in one of my usual garment bags. Anyone could have made that mistake, right?”

“…she gave your dress to a client?” he asked, his eyes widening again. She shrugged as if it didn’t matter, but he knew her. He knew it had to be killing her – she had worked so hard on that dress. He hadn’t even been allowed to see the designs for it, because ‘bad luck’ or whatever.

“I was really looking forward to you seeing it,” she sighed. She leaned up, and he bent obediently so she could whisper in his ear. “I was really looking forward to you removing it.”

…she had tried to say it low enough that only he could hear, but his ma had damnably good hearing for a former rock star who should have gone deaf years ago and had heard every word. She threw her head back with a raucous laugh, but Marinette was still grinning at him as her cheeks turned pink.

“…nevermind,” she said, tucking some hair behind her ear. “She’ll find the dress, and we can worry about it later. This will have to do for now, right? At least I’m here. So…can we just get married already?”

…and yeah, she was there.

But Dingo still wasn’t.

“I’d be more’n glad to, lass,” the Captain laughed as Marinette turned towards her. He shot a desperate look over Marinette’s head to his sister, but Juleka just rolled her eyes and gestured for him to turn like the missing rings didn’t matter.

The hell they didn’t…

“Wait!” he cried, tightening his grip on her hand. She turned back to him, frowning, and he sighed. “We can’t. Not…not yet.”

“Luka?” she asked, squeezing his hand. “What’s wrong?”

“Just marry her already, dumbass,” Juleka hissed, but he shook his head. “Before she gets smart and changes her mind!”

“Marinette…darning…I…” he started, but then Dingo was swinging onto the deck like a bad Tarzan impersonator????

…he was a Couffaine.

Chaos was in his blood.

But surely there was a point where…well…wasn’t this too much chaos?

“Not objecting!” he hollered as he landed on deck. He held up the rings, his manic grin somehow even more insane than usual. “Got ‘em, mate!”

“…what?” Marinette asked as Luka groaned, dropping his head into his hands. Dingo blinked at her before lifting his shades – a custom blue and pink pair he had ordered just for their wedding. They even had ‘BEST DINGO’ stamped along the legs (in rhinestones, of course, thank you, Rose).

“Ain’t you a bit underdressed, baby girl?” he asked, squinting at her pajamas. “Pretty sure you’re supposed to be the one in the big, fancy dress.”

“We’re not talking about the dress!” Rose screeched as she came running up the gangway. “Oh my God, what is wrong with this city?! Traffic –”

“I know, right?!” Dingo cried, turning to her. “Stupid Mayor Bourgeois and his reelection parade – nobody wants you anymore, André!”

He had spun back towards the shore, raising a fist to shake at the city, and Luka wondered if he’d be justified in shoving his Best Dingo overboard.

…after he got the rings back, of course.

“…oi, lads,” the Captain whispered, leaning over to the bride and groom. “We sure this not be the dress rehearsal?”

Marinette shook her head, laughed, and grabbed his hands. And suddenly, with her smiling at him like that, the rest of it just…didn’t matter. Because it was her – it was them – and what more had he ever wanted?

“…I forgot the rings,” he whispered, leaning in. She laughed, and if that wasn’t his favorite sound in the entire world…

“Star,” she whispered back, dipping her chin towards her chest, “I forgot my entire dress. I think we’re good. You ready to do this?”

…God, yeah. He really was.

(Later, after one hell of a kiss and too much cheering and not enough cake, she’d chide him for freaking out about the rings again.

“You know I’d have my craft bag on me,” she’d tell him, rolling her eyes. “Or the Captain would have some spare rope somewhere. I could have whipped something up until we found the real things.”

He supposed he should have known that, in the end. He was marrying Marinette Du…Couffaine, after all, and she was just kind of amazing like that.)

14 notes · View notes