#luka says he smells like fruit a little bit

[rainbowbarnacle]

There, I took some better pictures of Rose. 8)

[bittybattybunny]

Chapter 1: The King’s Favorite

(As I said I had a new multi fic, but until I do a cover it won’t go on ao3, so for now enjoy! Second Chances and Angel Foodcake!)

He sighed as he worked on whipping the egg whites. He had another weird dream with that woman in it. The sad smile she wore made his chest ache. He gave a sigh as his brother stole an orange from the bowl on the counter.

“What’s with you?” Marcus asked as he started to peel the fruit. He shoved a slice in his mouth as Arulius set the bowl down and ruffled his hair.

“I had a weird dream---”

“Shocking.” Marcus’s tone was dry as he ate another orange slice, “Not Ru king of weird dreams. Isn’t that why you’re a writer?”

“Shut upppp.” Arulius sighed as he grabbed the other bowl and began to fold the whipped egg whites with the whipped cream, “Look I just. You try dreaming of the same woman night after night since you’re 16!”

“Nope. I don’t dream.” Marcus reminded him as he continued to eat, “maybe she’s your soul mate.”

“I doubt it. Considering I think shes my guard?” he frowned, “in the dream’s I’m married. I have kids. She’s just… she’s so sad.”

“Maybe circumstances kept your love unable to exist. If you find her when you aren’t hallucinating unconsciously flirt with her.” Marcus snickered as he finished his orange and threw the peel away, “Good luck with your sleeping beauty!” he grabbed his bag as he headed out, “oh and it’s your turn to do the dishes!”

“Fineee!” Arulius sighed as his brother left. He sighed and poured the batter into the pan. Undoing his apron he got to work on cleaning up.

“Kept it unable to exist…” he mused. He chuckled, there was no way.

------

As he held the boxed cake on the subway he felt something was off. His stomach was uneasy. It wasn’t his first time on public transport with a dessert he didn’t want ruined, and yet. He grimaced.

“Are you okay?”

He looked up and his breath caught in his throat. Long curly black hair held back with a blue ribbon, large eyes in two different colors (Black on the right side, bright blue on the other), mouth drawn in concern as a small fang stuck out, she furrowed her brow as she looked at him.

“Are you okay?” she asked again.

He gasped, “Um yeah! Sorry my stomach’s got butterflies!” he admitted nervously.

“Interview?” she asked with a small laugh, “you’re really pale so I was worried, maybe you should get off soon and rest before continuing.”

“No I’m just, going to my book club.” he laughed, “I promised to bring cake.”

“Oh? Which one?” she covered her mouth in shock, “you aren’t heading to Horizon Group are you?”

He blinked a few times, mouth twitching, “I am…”

She laughed, “My brother attends that! I was going to get his car keys!” She sat beside him and he felt his heart racing, “I’m Eclipse! Sena’s my elder brother!” she explained.

He gasped, “Ah! I can see it!” he realized as he looked at her, “you do look like him.”

“I know right? If people don’t know they tend to not notice but when they know its clear we’re related!” she laughed and looked at the cake, “Sweets, so you must be Arulius right?”

He felt his cheeks growing warm and nodded, “how did you?”

“My brother says you often bring snacks for meet ups! And you always get new cookbooks!” she giggled and he felt his face growing warmer. She touched her lips with a grin, “Actually he brought some of the cookies you made last week, the raisin oatmeal were really good~! I was sad I couldn’t try your chocolate chip ones though.” she gave a saddened sigh.

“Ah? I can make some…” he offered and she shook her head.

“I’m allergic to chocolate but the hospital trip was very tempting they smelt so good~!” she laughed.

“Ah.” he put a hand to his mouth, “White chocolate?” he asked. He knew it wasn’t a “true” chocolate.

She shook her head, “No, my allergy is a bit severe.” she gave a dejected sigh, “most white chocolate is processed in the same plants so…”

“What if I made it from scratch?” he asked with his head tilted, “Candy melts?” he wondered.

She turned red, “y-you don’t have to do that! I was just complimenting your baking!! It’s really good!”

He gave a soft smile, “well when we get to the meeting, want some of this?” he held the cake, “it’s a whipped cream cake! Kinda like angel food cake but it has whipped cream IN the cake.” he explained.

She gasped and covered her mouth, “That sounds good! Is that alright though? Isn’t it for the others?”

“Well I brought it to share, and I’m sure it’s fine, I always leave with leftovers.” he explained. His heart wouldn’t stop pounding. Something about the young woman was familiar to him (other than her being Sena’s sister. Something was there.) and something told him to be on good terms.

“If you want, I bake a lot, i can always send some stuff with your brother, or you can join teh club!” he grinned.

She turned bright red, “N-no I couldn’t! It’s fine! I-I don’t have time for it I need t-to finish my thesis!”

“Thesis?” he asked with a tilt of his head.

“Yeah! I’m doing a report on the fallen Solgarian kingdom!” she clapped.

Solgario? He blinked as that rang in his head. His dreams. He remembered that name.

“History major?” he asked as she nodded happily.

“I’m working on my Master’s! I want to curate a museum!” she admitted with mirth, “I love studying old things and I love the sotries of the last king!”

“Yeah? I can’t say I know much. Tell me?” He checked the stops, they had time.

“Oh where to begin!” she beamed, happily like a cocker spaniel, “King Luka Thatcher Law was the last king of the empire, he was married to Queen Vanessa Everfrost and they had a daughter together! Sadly tragedy struck. First the death of the king’s personal aide to poison, the death of the princess, and then the king himself withered away.” she sighed, “The queen was the last monarch but a war struck and she was unable to fend it so the kingdom fell.”

“That’s… that’s horrible…” Arulius tensed up. The butterflies were worse.

“There’s some theories the queen herself poisoned the guard, you see King Luka and the guard knew each other as children, and she was the daughter from the only ducal household---”

“A female guard?” Arulius’s chest hurt, “What was her name?”

“Amaris---”

He felt his chest pinch and his vision fogged.

“Ah!” Eclipse shouted as he slumped forward.

------

His head hurt. He jolted and sat up in bed. He looked around confused at the lavish space. He frowned. This wasn’t the hospital or subway. He covered his mouth in thought, long black hair falling over his shoulder. He blinked and looked at the curl, then his hands. He stared at the callouses that weren’t in their normal spots.

“What…?” he covered his mouth in shock at his voice. What happened?! He got up and whacked his head on the bedframe, before crumpling to the ground.

“Mmmmy looooord are you okay?” came a singsong tone.

His mouth moved on its own, “I’m fine Amaris.” he covered his mouth in shock.

“I’m coming in.” 

Before he could stop her the door swung open and the black-armored knight stepped in, her silver hair cropped short and fluffing around her face, large eyes of black and blue, scars on her cheeks. She gasped and ran over to help him up.

“My lord!” she fretted as she helped him stand and dusted him off, “Dear me why on earth are you on the floor?!” She looked up and paled. Her gloves were removed and she reached up to stroke his face.

He sniffled as the tears pooled and dripped. She was here. Alive. 

“Lu?” she asked softly, “Luka what’s wrong?”

“S-sorry just. Had a bad dream.” he muttered. She snorted and raised her hands, a soft light emitting off her hands.

“Pain pain go away leave Luka’s heart calm and pure~!” she sang happily. He felt a bit lighter and sighed as he rested his cheek in her hand.

“Such a competent Nightingale.” He chuckled. He took her hand in his as she laughed, giving him a sad smile that made his chest sting. The smile he always saw her wear in his dreams.

“Of course, I’m your head guard for a reason~!” she hummed, “Come on now, the queen has been crying all morning for you.” she sighed heavily, “Pregnant women are difficult to deal with. Or is it just Vanessa?” 

He shuddered. Vanessa. Luka. Amaris. His golden eyes grew wide.

----

He gasped as he sat up and winced. Eclipse held her hands cautiously near him, afraid to touch him.

“A-Aruli--” she squeaked when he wrapped his arms around her, tangling his fingers in his hair as he tried to stop crying. She whined but slowly wrapped her arms around him.

“Pain pain go away…” She mumbled and he felt a small breeze and a lightness in his chest. He pulled away and she wiped his eyes. “You okay?” she asked with worry.

“Just… Sorry, I’ve had weird dreams lately… was that..magic?”

She turned red and shook her head, “I-it’s just an old wives tale you know---” her eyes were spinning and she wouldn’t meet his gaze. He chuckled.

“Sure, okay. Say I believed that.” 

She stared at him confused as he simply smiled. 

He hated to admit it, but maybe his brother was right on something.

“Magic’s neat.” He watched her turn red and look away ashamed.

“Um… are you two done?” the train conductor asked as he scratched his head. Tired violet eyes looking at the two.

“I’m fine! I just didn’t sleep well it seems!” Arulius lied. He moved to stand and wobbled. Eclipse supported his side and he tried to get his stomach to behave. He gasped, “nooo my cake.” he saw the box on the floor and reached for it. He sighed seeing it ruined.

“What stop is this?” He asked.

“You should go to a hospital I think.” Eclipse fretted as he headed towards the door while holding her hand.

“No i’m fine really! I just have had issues sleeping!” he explained, “so I have weird dreams, it just so happened the name you mentioned reminded me of them so I passed out.”

She frowned and reached to put a hand on his forehead. He hadn’t noticed before but her body spray had a slight pine smell to it, pine and honey. Lavender too?

“You’re a little warm. Let’s go to the bookstore, I’ll get Sena’s keys and drive you to the hospital.” she insisted. “I don’t want you passing out like the train. To think you’re feeble bodied.” she sighed.

“Should a witch joke about that?” he teased as she turned red.

“I-it wasn’t magic! Honest to goodness! I’m not! I’m not!” she fretted as he snickered.

“What’s your familiar?” he asked as she tried to hide her face, “why are you so embarrassed?”

“W-Why you ask! You keep instigating I’m a w-witch do you know how they are seen?! Wannabes who think they can be hot shit just cuz they can fly o-or heal things!” she pouted as her hair fluffed up, “No one likes witches!!”

“I do.” he opened the door of the bookstore.

“Sena your friend is insane!” she insisted as the eyepatch wearing shop owner turned confused. He tilted his head and saw Arulius behind her.

“Ah, Pia you know Ru?” he asked confused as she slammed her hands on the desk with a huff.

“We met on the train.” Arulius set the ruined cake down, “I had a bit of an incident and passed out.”

“Well you’re pretty weak.” Sena snorted, “Pia what’s the issue though? He’s insane?”

“I told her I like witches.”

Sena snorted and had to kneel behind the desk to hide his laughter.

“SEE HE’S INSANE!” she was completely red in the face.

“W-Why would…” Sena snorted and laughed, “what brought this on?”

“Pain pain go away.” Arulius sang, causing the bookseller to start laughing harder.

“YOU USED A HEALING SPELL ON HIM!” he wheezed as her hair fluffed up.

“I-I didn’t! I didn’t! I’m not a witch! Witches are--”

“The one in front is really cute.” a litted voice laughed as the black haired individual slid down the railing from the second floor, “hey Ru, why is my husband dying?”

“I said I like witches and Eclipse is throwing a fit.” Arulius chuckled.

“Pia used a healing spell on him Love! And acting like she’s not a w-witch!” Sena cackled.

“Well she has always hated that term, you guys aren’t even witches technically.” Love shut an eye, “you’re what, like half fae?”

“Something like that.” Eclipse grumbled as she tried to fix her hair, “B-But he’s still weird! Give me the car keys he needs a hospital!”

“Naw he’s fine.” Love looked at the young writer, “seems he may have a magic his own.”

“Naw, I’m boring.” Arulius held his hands up, “weird dreams and a writer. That’s it!”

“Weird dreams he says.” Sena tried to stop laughing.

Eclipse groaned, “I’m not a witch! Witches are mean and ugly and haughty! I’m not! I didn’t sue magic! I’m---” She flinched when Arulius covered her eyes with his hand. Instantly she relaxed against him. He blinked in surprise that had actually worked.

Sena stared at the two and blinked a few times as he finally got his composure back, “well then. Are you sure you aren’t magic?”

“I’m really not.” Arulius laughed, “my dad’s a lawyer and my mom teaches pre-k. We’re just an average family.” he laughed, “Honestly, I just. Have weird dreams. I thought this may help.” he slowly removed his hand as she peeked at him with a completely reddened face.

He smirked and she squeaked and looked away. He couldn’t help the dumb grin, “hey Sena.”

“What?” the book seller raised his brow.

“Would you kill me for trying to seduce your sister?”

The entire shop went silent.

The silver haired shop keep’s eye twitched.

“WHAT?!”

[moos-cow]

Gemini

Chapter 3

Chapter 1 | Chapter 1a | Chapter 1b | Chapter 1c | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 |

A/N: Wellllp, look who's back with the long overdue, chapter 3 hehehehehe

5:00 am. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The room was bathed in darkness when she woke up to the sound of her phone’s annoyingly loud alarm. Unfortunately, she left the device on the dresser across the room. Despite feeling the drag brought by jet lag, she mustered the energy to get up and turn it off, shaking off any of the drowsiness she had left along the way.

Unread notification: 1 file successfully downloaded

Right. It was still there-- the file sent by Max. She fumbled with her phone for a bit, a strange yet vague gut feeling calling to her.

“Oh, what the hell. Like it will change anything.” She scoffed and opened the file. She was stuck in another world, surely someone else would go and take this assignment in her place after a week or two.

Click. Click.

The Academy --Confidential-- Agent ID: Bellona Target ID: “Aldrich Winter” Last known whereabouts: Farringdon, London, England, -12 weeks Notes: Track and eliminate. --Image below--

"12 weeks? No wonder why this idiot sent me this." She murmured to herself. In her opinion, Max deserved the title of being the most annoying admin personnel in all of The Academy; volunteering on her behalf for the most absurd and difficult targets the Council had on their list, even if his intel saved her ass a couple of times.

Aside from the short text, the file came attached with a sole picture of a man. Being curious as always, she carefully studied the photo in the file-- Ocean blue eyes, neat blonde hair, and a large scar from his left cheek bone down to his jaw.

What on earth did you do that made the Council hate you so much?

Time seemed to pass by fast that morning as sunlight gradually filled the room. She closed the file and completely shut the phone down, sticking it back in the side pocket of her bag. By habit, she took a shower and changed into some clothes that seemed to fit in this world: a partially tucked v-neck, jacket, jeans, and sneakers.

With a packed wafer in hand, she tread for the door. A short knock was immediately followed by her opening of the door, Ray and Sirius stood there waiting.

“Ray, Sirius. Good morning.”

“You're up early.” The Queen greets nonchalantly. "feeling better, little lady?"

"Much much better. Please, come in." She gestured and led them inside the room, offering them a wafer each as they took a seat on the sofa. “I was just about to go and look for the two of you.”

“Lucky us then." Ray chimes as he studied the wafer in his hand.

"Everything is packed like that in the other- in the Land of Reason." She comments and tears open hers to demonstrate. "I assume that you don't have those here?"

"We don't." Ray deadpanned, placed the wafer down on the table and clasped his hands over his knees, signalling the change of topic. Sirius slipped a fountain pen and paper across the table-- a contract of sorts.

"So, Alice," Ray started again, "We had a discussion yesterday, and we’d like to propose a deal to you, one that will both help us survive in this world.”

“What kind?” She leaned on the dresser behind her, listening intently, but not batting an eye to the document.

“You see, your ability to nullify magic is just what we need.” The King continued, “so, if you promise to help us when we need you, we promise to keep you safe.”

Ah, and there it is-- the catch.

“Safe? I don’t know how to control this magic though,” she bluntly stated, remembering Kyle’s words from the night before. "I might just be a liability to you all."

Ray took a quick glance at Sirius. “We can work that out.” Sirius flashed her a satisfied grin.

Onyx pools looked into their eyes for a moment of thoughtful consideration. Accepting their proposition would seem… ideal, but it required trust. She’ll be bound to them for a whole month if she'd agree. Daily interactions with the soldiers will surely rouse them up, and the dreaded questions about her will come-- there will be no escaping that. She had to delay those as much as possible.

Distancing herself sounded impossible, and evading will only lead to more questions; at that moment, lying was her only option, even if it was never her strong suit.

The less they know, the better.

She took the pen and paper and scanned through the contents. Taking her time in marking out items that she thought needed revisions before she slid the document back to them.

"Forgive me, but I've never been in an army setting before. I’d rather be civil and be called by my real name, not Alice."

Sirius scanned over her legibly written notes on the document. A soft smile graced his lips, her points were valid, and all were taken. Besides, even they didn’t mind foregoing their titles when simply talking to their comrades.

"We can work with these." he spoke, handing the document to Ray, who later read and, to her surprise, signed at the bottom of the document.

“Just like that?" she spoke after munching on the last bite of her wafer.

“Just like that.” Ray stood up and raised his hand to salute her, “On behalf of the Black Army, Amaya, Freedom soars on raven wings. Welcome.” She mirrored him and saluted in return.

Sirius stood up and rested a hand on her head, lightly ruffling her hair in the process. “Welcome to the Black Army, little lady.”

Amaya walked them to the door, but paused just as her hand held the knob, muffled voices can be heard-- voices that belonged to Seth and Fenrir were right by the doorway, bickering over whether they should knock this early or not. With pursed lips and a light sigh, she opened the door. It was indeed them, clad in their complete uniforms.

“Ahh!” Seth immediately shrieked at the sight of the young lady. "Alice, sweetie! How are you?!"

"Mornin’, guys!" Fenrir quickly followed up, eyeing their superiors who were just behind her.

“Seth, Fenrir, good morning! I’m much better, thanks.” she says, taken aback by their extremely high energies so early in the morning. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything's perfect, sweetie!" Seth announced in his goody-good high tone.

"Since you were out cold yesterday, we decided to postpone your Official Black Army Headquarters Tour to today!"

"My what?" She asked, lost, obviously not picking up on anything they were saying.

"Sir Fenrir, Sir Seth! Ah, Sir Ray and Sir Sirius too! Good morning, sirs! I have a message from Sir Luka!" a soldier came running and stood in attention before them, "You have one hour, else, no dessert tonight!"

"One hour for what?"

Without batting an eye to anything she just asked, they exchanged huge grins and stepped to either side of her, each of them taking a hold of an arm.

"Well we wouldn't want to miss tonight's special dessert now, do we?!" Seth exclaimed, shaking and swaying the young lady's arm in the process.

"All aboard Amaya's Official Black Army Headquarters Tour!" Fenrir shouted through the hallways.

Their sheer excitement was overflowing, it was clearer than day that they hadn't heard a single word she'd said. Next thing she knew, they were racing down the hallways.

"She’ll be fine... right?" Ray grinned to the taller man beside him, whilst Sirius just sighed and closed the door behind them as they left the room.

Down the stairs and out the front door the trio went, running along the paved road that stretched out long between lawns lined with black flags that snapped with the chilly wind.

“Welcome to the Black Army Headquarters!” the two officers sang as they turned her around. "Your home until the next full moon!"

At the end of the paved road stood a huge black manor, completely different from how the Red Army Headquarters looked like.

From the gates, they headed to the training grounds and stables at the back of the building. Some soldiers who just finished their morning runs casually greeted them as they passed.

Inside, they took her through the common areas of every floor they could get their hands on, and scanned through the bedrooms on the second floor.

“So how many soldiers live here?” Amaya asked as they walked through the bedroom assignments.

“500.” Fenrir states, “But the only ones required to live here are the thirteen officers.”

“And the others?”

“They can stay as long as they keep their rooms clean and chip in with the chores, like--” Seth declares as he opens one bedroom door for a random inspection.

“AHH!” He squeals and slams the door shut before anyone else could get a look of what’s inside. His face lost all light and turned extremely grim.

“Seth, what’s wrong?” she asked while Fenrir laughed hysterically.

“Nothing, sweetie.” Seth turned around in a snap and with a huge pout on his face. “Let’s head back to the dining hall, shall we?”

Fenrir whispered in her ear, trying to suppress his laugh. “Looks like a messy room to me.”

The gentle scent of food wafted through the air as they made their way back to the dining hall.

“Oh wow, that smells good.” she took a deep death in, taking in all that goodness.

“If it’s Luka’s cooking, I’m sure it’ll taste even better!” Fenrir said as he opened the door to the dining hall, gesturing for her to step inside.

The aroma that blew past them was incredibly tantalizing. Dishes of all sorts, including some of her favorites, were lined up along the huge dining table-- from pancakes, salad, toast, eggs, bacon, fresh fruits, sausages, croissants-- it was mouthwatering, to say at the very least.

“Ah! Is that banana bread?” she asks, eyes immediately locked onto the loaves placed at the center of the table.

“Looks like our little chef had fun in the kitchen today.” Seth gushed, looking at the direction of Luka.

Taking Seth's hint, she called out to the army's chef, “Luka, this looks amazing!”

“Thanks.” Luka gruffly said, looking away with a faint smile on his face. “Eat. It’ll get cold.”

Seth pulled a seat and gestured for Amaya to sit between Luka and himself.

As they all began to eat, Ray called from the head of the table, raising a glass in cheers. “To the newest member of the Black Army.”

She raised her glass and just smiled back before downing the orange juice in it.

“Tell me, little lady. What sort of work did you do in the Land of Reason? Or are you still studying?” Sirius asked from across her.

“Both? I work in marketing and am taking my postgraduate studies at the moment.” she gleefully answered, pouring a ton load of syrup on her 3-storey pancake tower.

No sooner had she noticed that the table had fallen silent, eyes and ears were on her as the officers listened intently to the answers.

“And you’re, how old?” Fenrir asks through a mouthful of hash browns.

“Fenrir, you oaf! You don’t just go around asking ladies how old they are!” Seth outright scolded the younger lad, waving his fork around. “That’s downright disrespectful!”

“Oh wow. It’s fine, Seth! It’s fine!” she gushed, trying to suppress her bursting laughter “I’m turning 25.”

“When?” Luka promptly asked from beside her in his quiet tone.

“Soon. But not in the next 30 days.”

"You're not far off from these brats." Sirius spoke with all seriousness.

"Really?" She tried to bite back her sarcasm, but her tone made it all too obvious, earning a laugh from Sirius.

“So, any hobbies? Interests? Do you want to go shopping?” Seth bombards her with question after question.

Struck by the question, she set her fork down on the plate and leaned back on the chair, pouting unconsciously “Hmm. I’ve never really thought about that.” she took her cup to her lips, inhaling the earthy aroma of the coffee, “Coffee? I like good coffee. Travelling, maybe? I travel a lot for work. Cooking? Breakfast is magical, by the way.”

“Do you have any siblings, Alice?” another asked from the other end of the table, earning him some teasing remarks from the other soldiers. "Yeah maybe you can bring them here sometime!"

Goodness. Boys. Of all the things they could ask.

She drew a quick frown at the question before clearing her throat to answer, “I had two older sisters.” She stuck her fork through the sliced 3-tier pancake and shoved it into her mouth. Pissed. Though, it wasn’t because of the 3 of Spade’s audacity to ask that swashbuckling of a question, but rather, it reopened a deep wound.

“Was that bad?” Luka asked softly.

She slipped, eagerly shaking her head, “Oh- no, no.” she paused, carefully looking for the right words to say, “Family is… just something I'd rather not talk about.”

Thankfully, Luka didn’t press any further. But the weight of Sirius’ gaze on her was evident, one she just chose to ignore.

Breakfast with the officers wasn’t as uptight as how she thought it would be. They were bantering and teasing one another left and right like kids. This proved to be a rare sight for military men, their titles and ranks seemed to be left at the door.

Not long after, one by one, they began to leave for their respective duties, and Amaya was left with Sirius and Luka in the dining hall. She volunteered-- insisted, rather, to help clean up the area after knowing that they actually threw this breakfast banquet for her.

With a couple of mugs in hand, she stopped by the window to watch the soldiers spar with each other out in the courtyard. Fenrir and Ray were there, getting pretty hands-on themselves.

"Is it like this everyday?" she asked, eyes still glued to the window.

"Hmm?" Sirius towered over her short frame, taking a quick peek at the activities outside. "Generally, yes. Training is scheduled throughout the day. Different times for different squads."

"Mmm." She hummed. Her eyes followed one of the soldiers who was heavy on his feet. It was amusingly painful to watch how he threw himself forward with the thrust of his wooden sword, only to be parried and tripped to fall face first on the ground. "Oh nooo-" she mumbled, lightly laughing at the young man's stumble.

Engrossed in the comedic scene before her, she forgot that Sirius was still beside her by the window when he spoke, "Those are their new recruits, by the way."

Of course they were the new recruits. If they weren't, they'd be wiped out in an instant if they were thrown out in the frontlines. She kept her opinions to herself, slightly shaking her head at the thought that maybe even she could take them out with her eyes closed.

"Mmhmm, and it looks like Ray and Fenrir are having the time of their lives with the kids." she chuckled, watching the Ace spar 3-to-1. His hand-to-hand combat skills are impeccable, but a bit reckless to some extent, obviously treating that session like a game more than an actual spar.

"Sirius," Luka softly called from the kitchen door, cutting the two from their conversation. "I'll be going to the market."

"Want to go for a walk, little lady?" Sirius asked.

"Sure," she shrugged, taking one last look outside before glancing at Sirius. "Where to?"

Sirius gazed at Luka who was buttoning his jacket by the kitchen doorway, "Luka, could you take this little lady with you to the market?"

The purple-haired soldier looked questioningly back and forth between Sirius and Amaya, "Amaya? Okay."

[quickspinner]

Second Chance - Ch 7 Why Wait

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8

“Luka.”

“Nngh.” 

“Lukaaaa.”

“Hnh?” 

“Wake up so I can kiss you goodbye, you jerk.”

“It’s the weekend, where are you even going?” he mumbled. 

“Brunch with my parents. Are you sure you don’t want to come?”

“Marinette,” he moaned. “Your parents are amazing, you’re amazing, you’re gorgeous, I’m so in love with you, but that concert last night killed me. I’ll beg their forgiveness later, but please, please, please just let me sleep.”

He couldn’t see her pouting, but somehow he knew she was. Too tired to question whether one could hear a pout, Luka raised up with only one eye open, pressed a kiss in the general vicinity of her mouth, and then buried his face in the pillow with a groan. Even so, he smiled as he felt her soft lips on his bare shoulder.  

“I love you too, vampire boyfriend,” she teased. 

“Love you,” he muttered as he pulled the blanket over his head to hide his grin. He was too tired to be this happy, damnit.

***

Having Marinette there when he woke was one of Luka’s favorite things about the weekend, so he may have done a little pouting himself when he dragged out of bed. Luka had tried adjusting his hours a bit to make more time with her, and had been moderately successful until his next round of scheduled performances, which quickly put him back on night owl hours. 

Still, they made it work, and the last few months had seen a great deal of improvement in Luka’s life, even with Marinette now working more standard hours. She’d declined to work with Adrien at Gabriel, and had negotiated a very favorable contract with another major design house, but she still had to work when everyone else was working. Luka had plenty to fill his time when she wasn’t around, especially with tour season quickly approaching, but he’d also taken Marinette’s advice and devoted more time to his personal life outside of her.

He’d started getting together with Ivan every few weeks, and he’d been drawn into Marinette’s circle of friends as well. Adrien has been by to see them a few times with minimal awkwardness. They’d had dinner several times with Alya and Nino, and as Nino also had a career in music that frequently meant he worked odd hours, he and Luka had struck up the beginnings of a friendship outside of their girls. Anarka was back in Paris, and she always had time to see him when he was bored or frustrated, or when he just wanted to get away from the reporters who’d been dogging him ever since his relationship went public. Luka secretly loved watching his mother tell off the paparazzi who had the audacity to set up around her boat, just before she cast off and left them on the bank as she sailed them out of reach, her booming laugh echoing across the water. 

He’d found more of a balance, just as Marinette had suggested, and Luka felt much better for it. Lucille took the dip in his efficiency in stride, even though it made managing his schedule more work. “You couldn’t keep the pace you were on forever,” she’d said briskly when he’d apologized. “It’s fine for you to be human, especially if it means you’re writing more songs.”

He was, he had almost a full album’s worth of tracks at least partially written, and the ones he’d demoed for the producers had been well received. At home, Marinette had helped him turn his apartment into something more personal and comfortable for them both. The windows now sported curtains Marinette had sewed herself, dark blue in his bedroom and cheerful red in the living room. There were throw pillows on the couch and leafy, living plants here and there (Marinette promised to help him keep these alive). A knit blanket lay over the back of the couch whenever they weren’t wrapped in it. Framed prints of Luka’s album covers were artfully hung in the living room, and pictures of friends and family were scattered on the walls of the hallways and bedroom. 

Technically, Marinette didn’t live with him, but the distinction at this point was a fine one. His spare bedroom was littered with her projects. The clothes she wore most often were in his closet and dresser. Her cosmetics competed for space with his in the vanity and there was a neat row of sweet-smelling bottles with pictures of flowers and fruit on them lined up along his bathtub. His kitchen cabinets housed at least half her collection of mugs that she had picked up in the various places she had visited, most handmade or hand painted and all far more colorful than anything he owned.

Most importantly, Marinette slept in his bed almost every night, allowing them to take advantage of every mutually convenient moment in their very different schedules. Maybe he couldn’t wake up with her and maybe she was almost always asleep when he came to bed, but Lucille worked his schedule to keep their overlapping hours open, or at least booked with tasks he could do at home. 

Luka sank down on the couch, leaning back into the soft blanket, and tried really hard not to think about the tour starting in...crap, it was barely a month now. He sighed and let his head fall back with a little groan. He got homesick on tour at the best of times. It was going to be even harder now. He smiled at the ceiling. At least he’d have something really worth coming home to.

Luka perked up at the sound of a key in the door.

“You haven’t even gotten up the energy to make coffee yet?” Marinette teased when she saw him. “You really are tired. Fear not, your savior has arrived.” She waggled a large to go cup at him.

“God, I love you,” Luka sighed, reaching his arms toward her. She came to him and perched on his knee, kissed him, and offered him the coffee. 

“I have pastries too if you’re hungry.”

“Mm,” Luka took the coffee, but nuzzled into her neck. “I’d rather have woken up with you, but I’ll take it.”

“I gave you the chance to wake up with me and you begged me to let you sleep.”

“You know what I meant. How are your parents?”

“Same as always,” she smiled brightly. “How was the show? You were too wiped out when you got home to tell me. This was the benefit show for the children’s hospital, right? The one Rose works with?”

“Yeah. It was amazing,” Luka shook his head. “So much energy in the crowd, it felt fantastic. Pretty emotional, though, with the speakers and all, so I really just had nothing left when it was over.” He sighed. “Those people are amazing. There was so much strength—“ he stopped, choked up, and cleared his throat. “It was a lot,” he finished thickly.

Marinette kissed him softly, giving him a tender look, and then got off his lap, heading for the kitchen. “We can take it easy today if you want. Do you have to work?” 

“First weekend of the month is fan mail weekend,” he reminded her, accepting the plate and napkin she brought him. “So, yes, but I can work around whatever else we decide to do.” Marinette put the box of pastries on the coffee table near him, and then pulled out her sketchbook. She settled with her back against the arm of the couch and her feet in his lap. 

“I don’t mind. You know I think it’s great that you make time to answer your fan mail.”

How is this my life? Luka wondered as he selected a pastry and put it on his plate. It was good, it was comfortable, it was right, and Luka was suddenly struck by the thought that he never wanted it to end. 

Luka didn’t realize how he was staring at her until Marinette spoke. 

“What are you thinking about so hard?” Marinette asked him without looking up from her sketchbook.

“I want to marry you.”

Marinette straightened and set her pencil down to look at him. She didn’t whip her her head up and stare wide-eyed, which he took as a good sign, so he set his plate down on the coffee table and continued.

“I love you and there’s no doubt in my mind that you’re the one I want to be with. I want this—“ he motioned between them, “—all the time, forever. So I’d like to know how you feel about it. If it’s something you think you might want someday too.”

Marinette rapped a fingernail on her sketchbook. “Someday?”

“Or today.” Luka quipped with a shrug. “I’m sure we could make that happen.” He was mostly kidding, but his eyes widened slightly as Marinette frowned and pulled out her phone. He waited, a weird feeling curling in his stomach as she swiped and scrolled and chewed her lip. 

Then she looked up at him and his pulse shot up so rapidly that he nearly didn’t hear her over the pounding. 

“I’m sorry, can you say that again?” he managed. 

“I said I don’t think today will work, but we can do next Friday. I think everyone we’d need is free.”

Luka could barely breathe as he stared at her. “You want to get married next Friday?”

Marinette smirked at his expression. “Yep.”

Her smirk softened at the smile that bloomed on his face. Luka leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. “Who are you and what have you done with Marinette queen-of-overthinking Dupain-Cheng?”

She mimicked his pose, leaning in until her nose was nearly brushing his. “She doesn’t live here anymore. Meet the new resident, Marinette not-stupid-enough-to-miss-her-second-chance Couffaine.” 

He nearly tackled her in his enthusiasm to kiss her. Marinette shoved him off, laughing. “We don’t have time for kissing, we’ve got phone calls to make.”

“Right.” He whipped out his phone. “Lucille! Hey, listen, Marinette and I are getting married next Friday. Call her in an hour and whatever she wants, you make it happen. If you get stuck on anything, call Penny. In fact, call Penny anyway and tell her she and Jagged are invited.”

“Oh,” Lucille said blankly, and then “Oh! Yes, okay. Um, budget?”

“Break the bank, I don’t care. Just don’t kill anyone, don’t get anyone fired, and try not to make too many threats. Okay?” He grinned at Marinette, who had her own phone to her ear but still heard enough to wrinkle her nose at him.

“You take all the fun out of everything.” Lucille drawled.

“You’re the best, Lu, I’ll call you later and check in.”

“How much does she hate me?” Marinette asked in a whisper, holding her own phone at arm’s length while Alya screamed. 

“She wasn’t even phased. She lives for stuff like this.” Luka grinned. “It’s good for her resume. And I’ve been so low maintenance that I’ve earned a few outrageous demands.” He kissed her temple. “I’ve gotta go.” 

“What? Where are you going?” 

“Gonna grab Juleka and go find a ring.”

“What? Luka, you don’t have to do that, it’s barely two weeks, I don’t need a ring.”

He leaned in and kissed her, caressing her face tenderly. “I’m gonna do it anyway. Unless you want to come pick it out?”

“No,” Marinette said faintly, “No, whatever you pick is fine, just—don’t go overboard.”

He kissed her again. “Okay. But when Lucille calls, you tell her what you want and don’t worry about the money.” Another kiss, and Luka giggled against her lips. “I’ve never been able to say that before. I want you to have the wedding of your dreams even if it is on short notice.”

“Isn’t there anything you want?” Marinette asked, looking concerned.

“I want you, Marinette,” he breathed, and then grinned. “I want to dance with you. I want my guitar and an amp handy. I’d really like to not wear a tie, I hate those things. But mostly I just want you there and as happy as you can possibly be. Everything else is negotiable.”

“Oh my God, girl,” Alya screeched over the phone. “I take back everything I just said, marry that boy pronto.”

Luka laughed. “Hi Alya! Bye Alya!” He kissed Marinette one more time, grabbed his jacket, headed out of his door and straight over to Juleka’s, and pounded a little more forcefully than was probably necessary. Rose opened the door, looking surprised. 

“Luka, what's going on? Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine, Rose,” he said, smiling like his face would split. He leaned past her and hollered, “Jules! Get decent and get out here, I need to go buy Marinette a ring and you’re coming with me.”

Rose squealed, covering her mouth with her hands. Luka winked at her. “You’re welcome to come too, Rose.”

“That’s amazing Luka, I’m so happy for you!” She threw her arms around his neck. “Oh! Have you planned how you’re going to ask her?”

“Already did. We’re getting married next Friday.” His brow furrowed. “Shit, I better call Maman.”

Rose just gaped at him with her mouth open. Then she screeched and ran back into the apartment, screaming for Juleka. Luka chuckled and stepped inside, shutting the door. He pulled out his phone and called his mother. Anarka sounded simultaneously exasperated and delighted, but she promised to be there and that was all Luka cared about. By the time he was off the phone with her, Juleka had emerged, dressed in nondescript black without her usual lace accents, her hair pulled back in a knot that hid most of the color and her purple tipped bangs tucked under a hat. She said nothing, just wrapped her arms around him. He folded around her and returned the hug. When they separated, she reached up and smacked the back of his head, then walked out the door without looking back to see if he and Rose were following.

“The press is going to be all over you,” Juleka mumbled as they got in the car. “They’ve been staking out the building ever since that premier. They’re going to follow us.”

Luka made a face. “Yeah, I know. I’m hoping we can make it look like we’re shopping for you, but if they do, they do. Lucille will have to find a way to keep them off my back.”

“With the tour about to kick off, they’re going to say it’s a publicity stunt,” Juleka persisted, looking sideways at him.

“I don’t care what they say, never have.”

“They’ll probably dig up whatever they can about Marinette. Probably your old girlfriends, too.”

Luka shrugged. “Everyone has a past, it doesn’t matter. As long as none of them show up at the wedding I couldn’t care less.”

“Marinette might care.”

“I’ll talk to her about it when we get home.” He hesitated. “Although I guess we didn’t really talk about—” he stopped and pulled out his phone.

Marinette picked up immediately. “Hey.”

“Hey,” he replied, unable to help smiling at the sound of her voice. “Listen, before I do this I just wanna make sure, you know the press is going to get wind of this right? Even if I manage to cover up what I’m doing, something is bound to leak if we do this in a hurry.”

“I suppose you’re right, but at least they’ll only have a couple weeks to freak out. Better than planning a wedding for months under that kind of scrutiny.”

“You’re right. We should probably just make a statement,” Luka mused. “I’ll talk to Lucille about putting one out once you’ve talked to everyone you need to. I just wanted to make sure you were okay with everything because the second I walk into a jewelry store, there are going to be rumors, even if we try to make it look like we’re shopping for Juleka.”

“I told you you didn’t have to.”

“You’re not cheating me out of getting to do this just because you’re impatient,” Luka told her, laughing. 

“I didn’t expect you to be so traditional,” Marinette giggled. 

“I’m not,” Luka chuckled. “Keep the traditions that make you happy, throw the rest out, I don’t care. But this one makes me happy, so I’m doing it and you can’t stop me. I mean, I guess you could decide not to wear it, I’d survive. But I still want to pick one out and give it to you. If you don’t want to wear it I guess we could frame it and hang it on the wall or something.”

Marinette’s laugh was rich and full and brought a dopey grin to his face that he knew he would catch hell for later. “I’ll wear it,” she giggled. “I will. Whatever makes you happy, Luka.”

“You make me happy,” he told her, ignoring his companions as Juleka made gagging noises and Rose shushed her, giggling.

***

When Luka got home carrying a tiny pretentious bag full of fancy tissue paper, he found Marinette waiting on him with a strange looking box on the coffee table and a “we need to talk” expression. His excitement turned to ice in his stomach and he came into the room a little warily. “Hey. Something up?” 

Marinette smiled tightly. “Nothing disastrous. Just a conversation we need to have before we go through with this whole thing. I figured we’d better do it now before we let Lucille loose on Paris.”

Luka frowned. “Okay. You know, I’m ready any time, but I can wait, we don’t have to rush into this if you’re not—”

“I am,” Marinette interrupted him. “But I need to make sure you are too, and that can’t be true until we’ve talked about this. Come sit down.” She patted the couch next to her.

Luka sat, eyeing the box on the table. “Please tell me these aren’t the ashes of your enemies. That would be a little creepy.”

Marinette laughed and patted his hand. “Not hardly.” Marinette leaned forward and did something to the box. A series of compartments opened seemingly on their own, revealing...jewelry? He glanced at her, still puzzled, until she lifted a familiar green bracelet from the box and his eyes widened.

It had been nearly seven years since the defeat of Hawkmoth—not a terribly long time in the span of global history, but Luka found now that trying to remember those days was like trying to remember a dream. The bracelet Marinette held was the one point of clarity. Luka remembered what it was and what it did, but had a hard time remembering why it mattered.

“The Miraculous magic,” Marinette told him matter-of-factly, watching his expressions shift. “It doesn’t actually erase anything that happened, or any record of it happening, it just makes it hard to think about. If you tried hard enough, and long enough, you would still remember everything.You’d just be easily distracted and constantly wondering what the point is of trying to remember. It’s been a real blessing for people whose akumatizations were especially difficult, and even more so for Adrien.”

Luka blinked at her for a moment, and then gasped. “Adrien’s father was Hawkmoth.” 

Marinette nodded, and then shrugged. “Thanks to the magic, people forget. Or rather, as I said, they just don’t think about it. He hasn’t faced nearly as much persecution as he would have otherwise. Here, it’ll be easier to have this discussion once I give you this.”

She put the bracelet in his hand and he was nearly blinded by a flash of blue-green light. The slight fog in his mind cleared instantly, the clarity suddenly flooding back into his thoughts. Luka remembered everything now. He blinked away tears from the light and the rush of memories and stared into familiar yellow eyes. “Sass,” he breathed.

“Ssssalutationsss, Luka,” the snake kwami smiled, showing his tiny fangs. “My how you’ve grown. Humansss change ssso quickly.” He put his flipper hands on Luka’s finger. “It isss good to sssee you, my friend.” 

“Luka Couffaine,” Marinette intoned quietly. “I present to you the Miraculous of the snake, which gives the power of Second Chance. You will use it for the greater good, and for the protection of the Miracle Box and its Guardian.” She smiled and shrugged. “That would be me.” 

Luka looked up from the bracelet in his hand. “Thank you, Ladybug.”

Marinette’s smile widened. “You knew the whole time, didn’t you?” 

“I guessed,” he admitted. “I wasn’t ever totally sure, but I figured it was safer that way.” He rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know how I’d forgotten until now.”

Marinette raised her hands slightly. “Magic.” 

“Right.” Luka shook his head. “Weird.” He slid the bracelet over his arm, watching in mild surprise as it flashed and turned into a silver band decorated with Celtic knotwork. “It’s different,” he observed.

“The disssguise adaptsss,” Sass agreed. “You are different now, so the disssguise isss different.”

“Huh. That design, though, it’s almost as if—.” Luka reached into the little bag full of tissue paper he’d left at his feet, and pulled out a small box. Marinette’s eyes widened, and, regaining some of his earlier enthusiasm, Luka felt a goofy, lovesick smile spread over his face as he opened the little box, and held the wrist bearing the snake Miraculous up next to the ring. The little platinum ring had a repeating Celtic knot pattern around the band and a small but beautiful channel-set sapphire in the center. The Miraculous bore a similar knot pattern repeating across the bracelet.

“Oh,” Marinette gasped lightly. Luka took the ring out of the box and took Marinette’s hand. 

“May I?” he asked tenderly, and she beamed at him. 

“Yes.”

Luka slid the ring on her finger. “I thought you would prefer something flat.” He grinned at her. “See, I’m not as traditional as you think. I liked it so much that I had them reserve the matching wedding bands for us, but you don’t like them, we can go pick something else together.”

“It’s perfect, I love it,” Marinette breathed, smiling up at him. “And this is a good thing,” she added, picking up his arm to look at the bracelet, and then holding her own hand next to it to compare it to her ring. “Since it matches, if anyone asks, it was my engagement gift to you. That gives you an excuse to always have it on you.” She smiled. “It’s sort of true, anyway.”

“Sort of true?”

“Well, like I said, I figured I needed to talk to you about this before we really went through with things,” Marinette sighed. “And Tikki and I agreed that if we’re going to make a home and a family together, you should be protected, and empowered to protect us, so...” She waved a hand at the bracelet.

“Tikki?” Luka asked, feeling rather overwhelmed.

“Tikki,” Marinette called, and a tiny red kwami zipped up from her side to haven between them. “Luka, meet Tikki, the kwami of creation,” Marinette gestured. “She’s the source of that energy you kept noticing, by the way.”

“That’s only partially true,” Tikki interjected. “Marinette has a strong creative spirit on her own, which makes her very well suited to be Ladybug. The resonance you feel is because we’re so closely attuned.” She smiled, zipping close to examine Luka’s face. “You wouldn’t be able to sense it at all if you weren’t a true creative spirit too.”

Sass hissed a quiet laugh and perched on his shoulder, tail curling around Luka’s neck. “Don’t get greedy, Tikki. Thisss one isss mine.” Tikki rolled her eyes, giggling, and zipped back to Marinette.

“So, if you haven’t changed your mind after learning about all this unexpected craziness that comes attached to me,” Marinette was trying to be positive, he could tell, but there was still an edge of apprehension in her smile. “The bracelet is yours.” 

“Of course I haven’t,” Luka exclaimed, putting his hand on hers. “I mean, I’m not saying this all isn’t kind of heavy, and it makes me nervous that we’re—that I’m in the public eye so much. But if you’re okay with this, then so am I. I trust your judgement.”

Marinette flipped her hair. “I plan to be famous with or without you, mister rock star, so don’t go playing the martyr.” She smiled at him and squeezed his hand. “We’ll make it work. Just like everything else. The butterfly and the peacock have been recovered and repaired, there’s no reason for anyone to come after the Miraculous now that the magic is nudging people’s thoughts away from it, and no one but Adrien knows I was Ladybug, so no one would even know where to start looking. We should be fine, this is just a precaution.”

Luka blinked at her for a moment, putting things together. “Adrien is Chat Noir,” he said after a moment. Sass chuckled from his shoulder. 

“Yep,” Marinette smiled. “It’s the only Miraculous not in my possession. I couldn’t bear to take Plagg from him after everything that happened. Most of the kwamis prefer to stay in the Miracle Box unless they have a bearer, but sometimes they like to come out and have a chat and they’ll probably all want to meet you sooner or later, so just be prepared and try not to scream.” She narrowed her eyes slightly and pointed a finger at Sass and Tikki. “And you tell them the bedroom is a kwami-free zone, got it? Divine being or not, the first kwami that interrupts us is going to find themselves sealed in their Miraculous and dropped to the bottom of the Seine.”

Luka blushed as the kwamis tittered.

“So, uh…” Luka rubbed a hand through his hair, dropping his chin to his chest as he tried to process. “You got any more bombs to drop on me?”

“This was the big one,” Marinette giggled. “Nothing else but the usual stuff left. Money, living arrangements, future plans, kids.” She paused. “You’re okay with kids, right?”

Luka’s head snapped up and he stared at her, wide-eyed. “You want to have children...with me?”

Marinette sat back slightly and she blinked at him. “I mean, not right now, but in a few years, yeah. Is that...not something you want?”

Luka was having trouble processing. “It’s...honestly not something I thought I could have.”

She tilted her head. “Why not?”

“I’m...I didn’t...I mean, I haven’t exactly had the best example. Or...any example, really.” Luka rubbed a hand through his hair sheepishly. “I mean it sounds kind of stupid when I say it out loud, but I guess that’s always how I felt in the back of my mind. I guess I’ve never been serious enough with anyone to give it any real thought.” 

Marinette relaxed a little, and though there was still tension in her forehead, her eyes were soft. “Why wouldn’t anyone think you’d make a great dad? You’re kind, thoughtful, committed, gentle, respectful, supportive, protective. I could go on. Any daughter would be lucky to have you for a father,” she said, taking his hand and squeezing it. “And I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have teaching my sons how to be kind, compassionate, respectful men.” 

Shit, he was going to cry and he still couldn’t look away from her. 

“And if it helps, you’ll have a father now. My father. I know he’d be thrilled if you asked his advice. Most importantly,” she said, leaning in, “You have a huge heart and so much love to give. I know you’ll be fine. And when the time comes, we’ll figure it out together.”

Luka was reminded of his own words to Ivan and smiled faintly.

“But is that what you want, Luka?” Marinette squeezed his hand. “That’s kind of an important question.”

“I—yes, absolutely,” he breathed. A little girl with his eyes and Marinette’s smile and a too-big guitar in her arms, or a little boy covered in flour as he learned how to make bread from his grandparents—he’d never thought about it before but now that he had, he absolutely wanted it. 

Marinette relaxed, and her smile turned blinding. “Good.”

For a moment, they just looked at each other, and then Luka took her face in his hands and kissed her—or started to, before realizing his abrupt movement had tumbled Sass off his shoulder. Luka had completely forgotten the kwamis were there. He’d also forgotten they could float, he nearly knocked Marinette in the face as he scrambled to catch Sass, who caught himself and levitated, chuckling at Luka’s floundering and apologies.

“He’s fine,” Marinette reassured Luka, laughing, and then she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him back to her lips. “And so am I. Come back here, already.”

The tittering kwamis made a discreet retreat as the newly engaged couple embraced.  

***

The rest of the day was consumed with phone calls and a lot of screaming. The next day, Marinette wasted no time getting moved in for good. Luka had a stupid grin on his face the whole day and didn’t make even the slightest effort to hide it.

“I don’t know why you’re so excited,” Marinette giggled. “I practically lived here anyway. The only real difference is now I have to find somewhere to put all my crap.”

“It’s an important difference,” Luka protested. “And I know even though I told you to feel at home, you still think of this as my place.”

“It is—was your place.”

“And now it’s really our place, and that’s why it matters,” Luka told her, and then he sighed. “I almost wish we could get a new place that we picked out together,” he mused. 

“Luka, this apartment is amazing, it’s perfect for what you need, and you love it,” Marinette said practically. “I’ll fit myself in, you’ll see.”

“You shouldn’t have to fit yourself in around me, though.” Luka rubbed the back of his neck. “It doesn’t seem fair.”

“Stop worrying about it, Luka,” Marinette told him, picking up a pile of clothes and carrying them into the bedroom. “You’ll be gone on tour for months, remember? That’s plenty of time for me to get rid of your stuff.” 

Luka huffed a laugh at that. Nope, there was no wiping the stupid grin off his face and it was pointless to try.

A knock on his door startled him, and he and Marinette looked at each other. 

“Juleka?” Marinette suggested.

Luka shook his head and got up to answer the door. “She’s shooting a new cosmetic ad this week, and Rose always goes with her when she’s got to be on camera. Maybe a delivery? Usually security calls me first though.”

Marinette shrugged and picked up another pile of clothes to carry to the bedroom. 

Luka opened the door and blinked, momentarily speechless.

“Hey,” Adrien grinned, hands in his pockets. “I brought Marinette a wedding present.” There was a small knot of people behind him with expressions of longsuffering and a bright red ribbon tied around the whole group with a big bow. Luka glanced over them in puzzlement, and then, recognizing a couple of faces, he turned and called into the apartment.

“Marinette? I think you’d better take this delivery personally.”

“What?” Marinette’s voice came from his bedroom. 

“Come on out here.”

She came, but pouting. “Luka, I still have so much to do.”

Luka just stepped aside and opened the door wide. Marinette stopped and went pale as she took in the scene. Then she looked at Adrien. “What did you do?” she asked flatly.

“A little bird told me you were making an exception on your stupid polciy about wearing your own designs for the wedding,” Adrien said with a flicker of a smile. “I thought you might need a little help with your dress, given your frankly insane timeline.” Marinette stared at him, and Adrien quickly added, “And before you go off on me, I’m paying them, and they volunteered.”

“They won’t even all fit in here!” Marinette gasped, and Adrien chuckled and tossed her a key. Her hand snapped up to catch it, proving her superhero retirement hadn’t diminished her reflexes in the least. 

“They come with a workspace,” Adrien said smugly. He raised a cautionary finger at Luka. “You’re not allowed. No peeking before the big day.”

“I think I can handle it,” Luka said wryly. He smiled at Marinette’s still gobsmacked expression and kissed her cheek. “I’ll go in the bedroom so you can haul out all those supplies I know you bought without me watching.” He held out a fist to Adrien. “Thanks Adrien.” 

“Congratulations, Luka.” Adrien bumped his fist with a bittersweet smile that Luka couldn’t really fault him for.

Luka looked at Francis in the middle of the group. “Make sure she takes breaks to eat for me, okay?” Francis nodded vigorously.

Marinette made a few more inarticulate noises that ended in a huge hug for Adrien and as Luka retreated to the bedroom, he could hear her giving orders to get that stupid ribbon off those poor people, what is wrong with you, you big dork?

***

The next few days were...weird. Luka was walking on a cloud most of the time, going through the motions of his everyday routine with giddy disregard for what he was actually doing, only really tuning in to answer questions periodically from Marinette and Lucille about wedding arrangements or preferences. Even the press mobs didn’t bother him as much as usual, as tedious as it was to have to have his bodyguards follow him around everywhere he went just so he could get in the door. He made time to have dinner with Marinette and Tom and Sabine, letting the warmth of their happiness flow over him. He took Marinette to have breakfast on the boat with Anarka, too. They got on as well as they ever had in that ‘live and let live’ way that both of them shared. 

However, having little tiny flying creatures pop up at random was a little unsettling even when he knew it was coming. Most of them were perfectly pleasant little...god-things. Some of them were more eccentric than others. The ones who hadn’t gotten out of the box much were zipping all over the apartment, fascinated especially with Luka’s music gear. He shared a cup of tea with Wayzz and Sass, and Wayzz answered some of his questions about what it meant for Marinette to be the Guardian. Trixx was perfectly pleasant to speak to, but rearranged Luka’s pick collection while no one was looking. Duusu popped up in his studio and they had a little jam session, Duusu dancing manically in the air while Luka shredded. Kaalki examined Luka’s album covers and awards and proclaimed him sufficiently exceptional. Sass and Tikki together had to chase Xuppu back into the Miracle Box, and that was a trip and a half, watching them zip around phasing through anything in their way, before Tikki had sufficiently intimidated Xuppu from causing any further chaos. One afternoon he opened his eyes from his meditation and found a small circle of tiny gods gathered around him, mirroring his meditation pose.

“They like you,” Marinette confided in him one night, sliding behind him on the couch and draping herself over his back. “They say you have good energy, and they like your music. Kwamis sing, you know?”

“Really?” Luka lifted his eyebrows slightly.

“Yes, when they’re separated, they do some kind of magic singing to connect with each other.” She nuzzled his neck affectionately. “The novelty will wear off in a while and they won’t be around so much.”

“I don’t mind,” Luka said, picking a few notes thoughtfully on the guitar. “They’re cute, and mostly they’re just...there. It’s a bit strange, but I’ll get used to it.” He leaned his head back to press his cheek against her hair. 

He’d grown to love playing with her wrapped around his back. Sometimes he played whatever she requested. Sometimes he played her the sappiest love songs he could think of, until they lost themselves in laughter and kisses. But her song was still his favorite, being tuned in completely to her, playing for the sheer joy of it, with her pressed close against him, silent and still except for her quiet breath and soft touches against his skin.

“I love you,” he said softly, smiling as he played.

“I love you too.”

“I’m gonna marry you, weird entourage of tiny god-fairies and all.”

“I’m so lucky,” Marinette sighed, and he sensed the shift in her emotion even before he heard her voice go rough and her arms tighten around him. “I’m so lucky, Luka. I love you so much. I almost wish I could just marry you in the morning, but my parents would kill me and Lucille would probably have an aneurysm if we changed the plans at this point.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Luka sighed contentedly, turning his face to nuzzle and kiss her cheek. “We can make it.” 

***

The next day, Sass was asleep on Luka’s amp in a small nest of soft fiber scraps pilfered from Marinette’s workroom. The snake kwami found the vibrations soothing, which was convenient, Luka thought, since he spent so much time playing. Suddenly Sass stirred and sat up, and gave a smile that was somehow gentle despite the fangs. “Nooroo. Welcome, friend.” 

Luka looked up but saw nothing. 

“There isss no need for fear,” Sass said soothingly. “Pleassse join usss.”

A small purple face peeped around the door frame. The kwami eyed Sass, and then turned his eyes to Luka. He shrank back behind the door when he saw Luka’s gaze on him. The edge of a butterfly wing visible over Nooroo’s shoulder explained a lot, and Luka’s eyes widened slightly.

“Hello,” Luka said as gently as he could. “You can come in if you want. You’re very welcome here.” Nooroo didn’t move, and Luka went back to his guitar, playing something soft and soothing, watching out of the corner of his eye but trying not to be too obvious about it. 

“I know you can sssensse him,” Luka heard Sass say. “You know you have nothing to fear. But if you are not ready, we will not take offenssse.”

Another moment, and the butterfly kwami slipped inside, skirting the wall toward Sass’s nest.

“He feels gentle,” Nooroo said, very quietly, as he settled next to Sass.

“He isss,” Sass soothed, curling his tail protectively around his friend. “Ressst, if you like. You are sssafe here.”

Nooroo cuddled up next to Sass, his tiny expression enough to break Luka’s heart. “Safe,” he murmured, a little doubtfully.

Luka swallowed hard. He couldn’t imagine what the kwami suffered at the hands of Hawkmoth. Luka was empathetic by nature and practice, and that could be painful enough in the wrong situations, but Nooroo literally sensed emotion. To be forced to feel out the worst emotions he could find day after day must have been incredibly painful. Not to mention serving Gabriel Agreste was no picnic. One only had to look at Adrien’s issues to imagine how much worse it would be for a creature Gabriel believed to be nothing more than a tool. No wonder Nooroo had preferred the quiet, passionless world of the Miracle Box for years after Gabriel’s defeat.

Luka wondered if the kwami could feel his pity, and tried to decide what would be the most soothing for him. After a moment of thought, Luka began to play an old Scottish lullaby from his childhood, one that he associated with warmth and safety and his mother’s boundless love. He darted a glance at Sass and the little snake gave a tiny nod of approval. 

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been playing before Marinette appeared in the doorway, looking concerned. “You okay?” she asked softly. “You usually play that when you’re upset.”

“Fine,” Luka smiled at her. “Just felt like relaxing a bit.” He flicked his eyes toward the kwami nest. She followed his gaze.

“Nooroo,” Marinette said, face lighting up. “I’m glad to see you.”

Nooroo shrank into himself a bit. “Thank you, Guardian. I felt it would at least be polite to meet your intended.” He paused, looking between Luka and Marinette with a thoughtful expression. “I have seen great love twisted into selfishness and isolation,” Nooroo said solemnly. “But this is a soft love, a...generous love. It makes room for many. It is...good.”  

Luka smiled. “There’s room for you too, Nooroo, whenever you feel the need of it. You’re always welcome.”

Nooroo nodded. “Thank you.”

“I’ll leave you to it,” Marinette smiled, and blew him a kiss. Tikki slipped around her to join Sass and Nooroo. Tikki hugged the butterfly and Sass patted his friend gently. Between the two of them, he seemed to relax a bit more. Luka smiled to himself. 

Yeah, it was a little weird, but when in his life had he ever been “normal” anyway?

***

The two weeks somehow went slow and fast all at once. Luka remembered the feeling well; he’d felt the same in the last few weeks before his first tour. 

Friday morning saw their apartment invaded by a horde of women. Alya, Sabine, Rose, and Juleka took Marinette over to the girls’ apartment to get ready, leaving Luka to the tender mercies of his mother to make sure that he was ready and presentable on time. Luka rolled his eyes and refrained from pointing out that it was Marinette who had the reputation for chronic lateness, and that Anarka was the last person he would have picked to enforce order.

Still, he was glad Anarka was there. She went straight for his music studio and picked up his guitar, playing old tunes he remembered from his childhood. It soothed his jitters a little bit. It wasn’t that Luka was nervous or afraid exactly, he just...wanted to get on with it. He wanted to marry Marinette.

“It’s my wedding day,” he said softly to the mirror, just to make it real. “I’m marrying Marinette today.”

“You are,” Sass agreed, hovering beside him. “Are you ready?”

“So ready,” sighed Luka. “More than ready. Why can’t we already be married ready.”

It still felt surreal as he mechanically dressed himself. His suit had been provided by Marinette’s employer, as a bribe to let Marinette off work early for all the things that had to be done over the last couple of weeks, and for the wedding today, but Marinette had done the fittings herself, so it looked impeccable on him. It included a vest, but as he had requested, no tie. 

“All right, let’s have a look at ye,” Anarka said, stumping around him. “Can’t be having you looking sloppy for yer bride, eh?” When she had circled him twice, brushed some imaginary dust from his shoulder, she sighed and said, “Well, I guess yer grown up after all, me boy.” 

“I love you, Maman,” he said, smiling fondly at her, pretending he hadn’t seen her eyes watering behind her glasses. She returned the smile in kind, and then hugged him tight. 

“Come on,” she said. “Play with yer old Maman for a bit. Those girls’ll be forever getting ready, and you’ll just fret if ye do nothing.”

“That sounds great, Maman,” Luka said with relief, going to retrieve his old guitar.

They played duets until Juleka came to tell them that Marinette and the car were ready. The original Couffaines indulged in a quick group hug, and then Luka hugged them each individually again. 

“You’ll get wrinkled,” Juleka chided in a mumble. She looked up at him and he looked back at her and for a long moment they were silent. She didn’t need to speak for him to know how happy she was for him, and how relieved, and how much she wished for his happiness. He didn’t have to say anything for her to know how much he loved her and that he would always take care of her and that she would always be his sister.

“Come on,” she said at last, voice thick. “Let’s go get you married.”

Lucille took a step forward from where she stood by the door, clipboard in hand. “I sent everybody else down to the cars already so you two can have a moment. We’ll be waiting for you downstairs.”

For practicality’s sake, the couple and their witnesses were all going to City Hall together in the limo, while the others went ahead to the reception. Lucille ushered Juleka and Anarka our and to the elevator, leaving Luka alone. 

Well. Not quite alone. Suddenly there was a small floating rainbow of tiny gods stretched across his living room. “We give you all the blessings we can bestow on this day,” Wayzz spoke for them.

“Oh, it’s so beautiful!” cried Duusu, darting back and forth in her excitement. “Love is so beautiful!”

“Thanks, friends,” Luka smiled. “Really.” Wayzz nodded, and the kwamis zipped back out of the room, except for Sass, who took his place in Luka’s pocket.

Luka crossed the hall to Juleka’s apartment and stood there for a moment, just trying to breathe, outside the door. 

“She isss the sssame woman you loved yesssterday,” Sass said quietly, peeping out from his pocket. 

“Yeah,” Luka said with a lopsided smile. “But now she’s all dressed up and we’re getting married.”

The kwami chuckled. “Indeed.”

“Okay,” Luka said, feeling his breathing speed up in spite of himself. “Okay, here we go.” He knocked on the door, and then let himself in. 

“Marinette?” he called softly.

“In here,” she answered, and he went a little further into the apartment. She was standing in the light of the living room window, nearly glowing in her fitted white dress, her modest train artfully arranged behind her. Her hair was elaborately piled up and adorned with a tiara that he recognized as Rose’s. Her miraculous was in her ears, of course, and the blue seaglass pendant lay against her collarbone. 

Marinette smiled with trembling lips. “They posed me like a statue and made me promise not to move until you came in.”

“You look stunning,” he told her honestly. “I’m almost afraid to touch you.” 

She held her hands out to him and he quickly crossed the room to take them. “You’re shaking,” he observed.

“I’m going to lose my mind if we don’t do this soon,” she admitted, and they laughed together.

Luka raised her fingers to his lips and kissed all of them reverently. “Then let’s go, before we both fall to pieces,” he said, offering her his arm. 

***

The ride to City Hall was a blur. All he remembered was Marinette’s fingers gripping his as tightly as he held hers. 

Once they stepped inside, everything seemed to go in fast forward until he heard the mayor say, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.” 

The words gave Luka a swooping feeling in his stomach and his knees went weak. He looked at Marinette and she met his eyes with the same awed look on her face. Then they both broke into huge smiles and threw their arms around each other. Luka sighed deeply as he hugged her, the butterflies in his stomach disappearing into a profound sense of relief that felt like stepping into his apartment for the first time after a three-month tour. ”I love you,” he whispered into her hair, and felt her snuggle closer. Then she lifted her face and he kissed her reverently. The mayor had to clear his throat before Luka could manage to let her go. As soon as he did, she was enveloped by her parents. Luka wiped his eyes discreetly as Lucille shuffled them off to another room, and chuckled when he saw Juleka doing the same. 

Heaven help them if the world ever found out what a bunch of softies the Couffaines were under their punk-goth-pirate exteriors.

Juleka hugged Marinette and gave Luka a wicked smile over his new wife’s shoulder. “Marinette’s my favorite,” Juleka told him smugly. Luka just laughed and put his arms around the both of them, kissing each on the top of her head, and then turned to give Rose the same treatment. The moment he turned away from her he was caught up into the most epic bear hug of his life courtesy of Tom. He’d have laughed again if he could get enough air. Sabine pounced as soon as Tom set his feet back on the ground, and damn if the small woman didn’t hug him almost as hard as Tom. 

“Whew,” Luka put his hand on his chest when Sabine released him and grinned at Marinette. At his wife. “I’m going to have to step up my hug game now that I’m part of the family.”  

Marinette giggled and moved toward him, but Juleka caught her arm. “Nuh-uh. We’ve got a party to get to and if you go over there now it’ll take a crowbar to separate you.” She spun Marinette towards the door. “Let me remind you that Maman is waiting, and keeping Maman waiting with nothing to entertain her is unwise.”  

Rose gasped and Luka winced. “She’s right, we better go,” he admitted, offering his hand—to his wife.   

“If we must,” Marinette sighed, but she was smiling brightly as she put her hand in his. “I suppose your adoring fans and annoying followers are waiting for us too.”

Luka grinned at her. “Just this once, shall we give them what they want?”

Marinette flashed him a grin. “Lead the way, husband.” He had to grab her up and kiss her for that, much to Lucille’s frustration, and it took another minute to get her smoothed back out and camera ready. 

Luka didn’t make the least effort to hide his joy or his love for Marinette as they emerged from City Hall into the bright morning light and cascade of camera clicks together, hand in hand. He wanted everyone to see it. They smiled and waved, and Luka bent Marinette back (not into a full dip this time, just enough to make the folds of her dress fall in elegant points toward the ground, like they’d practiced) and kissed her tenderly. Then he bent down and she jumped on his back, the two of them laughing as he piggybacked her through the path their security team cut to the limo, trailed by the long-suffering Lucille and the rest of the wedding party. 

Luka waved everyone else into the limo before him, and then turned and waved one more time to his fans, though he couldn’t see much past the cameras. Then he slid into the car next to Marinette and locked their fingers together. 

Somehow Marinette and Lucille had conspired to rent them a boat instead of a party hall. The Liberty was too small to hold all the guests, but Lucille had found them a boat with a stage and a largely flat deck made for dancing. It had the benefit of letting them have their wedding outdoors while keeping them secure from party crashers and reporters. The Seine had always been a huge part of Luka’s life, and he was glad to be on the water for such a momentous occasion. 

Most of the guests were already on the boat, and Luka made his grand entrance over a gangplank decorated in flowers and ribbons with Anarka on his arm, trailed by Juleka and Rose, and then Marinette’s parents escorted her across. 

The ship cast off and everything was a whirl for a while. They exchanged rings on the stage and spoke simple, sincere vows in front of all their gathered friends and loved ones. Luka danced with both his mother and sister, a three-person Scottish reel they’d danced together since he was a child, performed this time with so much gusto and at such a tempo that it left all three of them laughing and breathless (he had no idea where Nino had dug up that track but he was going to have to get a copy). Tom waltzed Marinette around the room with such enthusiasm that Luka wasn’t entirely sure her feet actually touched the floor at any point. 

Then Marinette was in his arms again, and he was so lost in her eyes that he missed Jagged beginning to play at the piano until her smile turned teasing and her eyebrows lifted. Luka wasn’t the best dancer, but it didn’t matter; all he wanted was to hold her close and let the music move them. Marinette seemed to feel the same, resting her head on his shoulder with a little sigh of contentment as the rest of the party was invited to join them on the dance floor. 

Luka gave her up to Adrien for a dance with only a little reluctance. Luka understood now better than he ever had how deep their bond ran. Before Adrien took Marinette to the dance floor, he leaned close to Luka and held open his coat for a moment. “Plagg wants to talk to you,” Adrien whispered, and a black blur shot from his coat to Luka’s. “Better find somewhere private, he’s not patient,” Adrien warned. 

Luka excused himself at the first opportunity to the men’s room, which was thankfully empty, and the black blur popped out of his coat and hovered in front of him, looking unimpressed. “So,” the little cat kwami said, more intimidating than anything that cute had a right to be. “You married my Guardian.”

Luka nodded warily. “I did.”

“I know Sass is all about second chances and that crap,” Plagg said, rolling to float on his back for a moment, and then sitting up to hover right in front of Luka’s eyes, his own cat-green eyes narrowed. “I’m just telling you now, I don’t go for that. I’m destruction, you got it? There won’t be any second chances with me. So you better take care of my Guardian, understand?”

Luka lifted his eyebrows. “Did you have this talk with Adrien?”

“One, that’s none of your business. Two, my kitten has extenuating circumstances. Three, you bet your ass we had words about what went down before. But I like him, so all I did was give him shit luck for a few months. You can ask him how much fun that was.” Plagg narrowed his eyes again. “I don’t like you. I don’t know you. If I hear from Marinette or Tikki that you stepped one single toe out of line—”

“Are you quite finissshed?” Sass popped his head out of Luka’s breast pocket. “Enough posssturing, cat. You made your point. The Guardian isss resssponsssible for much greater decisionsss than this. Do you trussst her judgement so little?” Sass huffed, and Luka would have said the kwami stuck his nose in the air if he’d had one. “Or mine?”

“Yeah well I’ve been around for a few thousand cycles longer than you, fangs, and even smart women can be stupid about the men they love,” Plagg spat. “So there’s no harm in making things clear from the start, right?”

“Fine,” Sass huffed. “You have done ssso. Now return to your bearer and leave mine to me.”

The little cat folded his flipper arms and did stick his nose in the air. Before the cat could say anything else, Luka interrupted. “Plagg—Thanks. For everything you and Chat Noir did back then. For all that I’m sure you do for Adrien now. And especially for looking out for Marinette. I really appreciate it.”

“Didn’t do it for you,” Plagg mumbled. 

“Even so. Come on, let’s get you back to Adrien. I want my wife back. No offense, but I don’t think this was a fair trade.” Luka grinned.

Plagg made a noise that might have been a chuckle if he weren’t trying to act tough, and zipped back under cover.

“Charming friend you’ve got there,” Luka commented as he found Adrien.

“Sorry,” Adrien shrugged. “I hope he wasn’t too awful.”

“It was fine.” Luka stepped close for a moment to let Plagg slip back, and then moved away. “All the same, I think you can keep him and I’ll go find my wife.”

Adrien grinned. “She had her ‘up to something’ grin on, so good luck with that.” 

“Oh boy,” Luka sighed, but he was grinning as he said it. He hunted through the crowd, stopping for handshakes and backslaps and congratulations. Really, considering the short notice they’d given, a surprising number of people had been able to attend. There were a fair number of industry people here that Luka had felt kind of obligated to invite, but the crowd was mostly friends and loved ones of friends, and that was perfect.

He finally found Marinette conspiring with Nino. “Now what are you up to?” Luka asked, slipping an arm around his wife. 

Marinette grinned up at him. “I just think we should take a quick peek back at where all this started.”

“Oh my God,” Luka laughed, as the big screen over the currently empty stage lit up and a familiar kittycorn logo flashed up on screen. “You didn’t.” 

“Of course I did,” Marinette giggled, as Kitty Section’s very first music video played, the one they had sent to Bob Roth’s contest all those years ago. 

“Wow, that brings back memories,” Luka sighed. He looked at the stage, and then spotted Juleka moving through the crowd near him. “Hey Jules,” he bellowed, more than loud enough to get her attention. She turned toward him with an exasperated expression and Luka nodded at the stage with a grin. “What do you think?”

Juleka grinned back. “I’ll get Rose.”

“Nino, tell them to get the mics live up there,” Luka instructed, and then he kissed Marinette’s cheek and headed for the stage. Juleka and Rose were right behind him as he picked up his guitar and slung it over his shoulder. He stepped up to the microphone and tapped it. “Turn me up guys,” he hollered, waving at the sound techs. They jumped to it and the microphone crackled to life. “There we go,” Luka grinned. “Adrien, come on up here. Hey Mylène,” Luka called. “Can I borrow Ivan for a minute?” Mylène smiled and shooed Ivan toward the stage. “Come on up here big guy.” Ivan rubbed the back of his neck, smiling shyly, but the way he spun the drumsticks between his fingers told Luka he wasn’t too out of practice.

“All right,” Luka surveyed his former bandmates, every one of them grinning widely, even Juleka. “You ready, Rose?” At her thumbs up, he grinned back at Ivan. “Count us off, man. No, wait,” he held up a hand, and turned back to the crowd. “We’re still missing somebody. Marinette, get up here, baby.” He grinned. “You’ve always been my unicorn.” There was a chorus of “aww’s” and a few laughing “eews” as Marinette made her way to the stage. She came to stand beside Luka, and he put his arm around her waist and kissed her temple. “All right, let’s do this. Go for it, Ivan.” He released Marinette and slid his guitar into position. 

“YOU KNOW I LOVE UNICORNS,” Rose belted, proving the years had not diminished her lung capacity in the slightest. Luka joined in, improvising a harmony to the old but familiar vocals as he sang to a laughing Marinette. It wasn’t a perfect performance, they were all a little rusty, but it was more fun than Luka had had in years. 

Afterwards, Adrien and Ivan relinquished their places to Luka’s regular backup, and he had someone bring up a stool for Marinette so she could be comfortable. He wanted her close to him. She put her hands over his mouth in surprise as he played the opening riff he’d been working on, and he winked at her as he stepped up to the mic. This was his first ever performance of Lightning on the Water and he wanted it to be perfect. Luka knew how to play an audience, but this one time, he ignored them and sang just for Marinette. The crowd of guests was nearly silent as his guitar mimicked sparks dancing over the water, and he sang in low, smokey tones about the draw of deadly beauty, buzzing over his skin, the desire to dive deep and never come up again.

The silence lasted for a long moment after he finished.

He was still staring into Marinette’s eyes when a whoop came from the crowd that he immediately recognized as Jagged. “Now that’s a hit, kid!” the older rock star hollered. “I’m pissed I didn’t write it myself!”

Everyone laughed, and the atmosphere lightened. “You can go down if you want,” Luka whispered to Marinette, and she shook her head.

“Just this once, I want to stay up here with you for a while,” she whispered back, squeezing his arm. 

“Kiss her!” someone screamed (Marinette’s grandmother, Luka thought), and laughing, Luka did. 

“What do you want me to play next?” he asked her, and she pulled him down to speak in his ear. “Yeah, I can play it,” Luka chuckled. “Too bad Clara couldn’t make it, but we’ll make do.” He stepped back to the mic. “You guys remember this one, right?” He played the opening to Miraculous.

The guests remembered the song and the dance that went with it, and Marinette danced beside him as they belted the lyrics into the microphone together. Luka had to catch the stand once when she knocked into it, but he was well versed in keeping things rolling over those kinds of incidents, so aside from a little laughter, the show went on.

Luka hadn’t planned a set list, hadn’t exactly planned an impromptu concert at all, but this was who he was, and this was what he did. When his heart got too full, it overflowed in music, and it was pouring over today. And this wasn’t like the concerts he was used to playing. This was his friends and the people he loved, a party just like they used to have in the old days. They rolled through song after song, some he’d written and some of their old favorites from other artists, some that came to his mind and others shouted at him from the crowd, and he let his happiness and love shine through in all of them. He bounced with the drumbeat pounded behind him as he belted, “I don’t care what people might think, I got your name in permanent ink—” Marinette leaned up to sing the next line with him. “Baby this ship ain't never gonna sink!” they hollered into the mic together, and he went on as Marinette laughed, dancing with her hands over her head and the beads on her white dress sparkling in the sun, “Just kiss me like nobody’s watching! Yeah people are talking, it doesn’t matter what they say. Just kiss me in the middle of the street to let the whole world see that there’s nobody else for me!” 

Of course Jagged couldn’t stay out of things for long, but by the time he leapt up on the stage, Luka was ready to let him take over. He held his wife’s hand as they went back down for more dancing and hugs and congratulations, but it was all a haze to Luka after that. Playing had finally drained off all that excess buzz he’d been carrying around all day and tucked his soul back into his body, and he just felt...peace. Peace, and maybe a little bit of impatience to be back at home with the love of his life and the weight of this day.

Jagged relinquished the stage at last to Anarka, Juleka, and Rose, who sang a beautiful three part harmony of The Parting Glass as the ship came back into dock, and then it was a long string of goodbyes and la bise before they finally found themselves alone in the car back to Luka’s apartment—their apartment.

It felt intensely quiet after all the excitement, and Luka found himself grateful for it. He slipped his arms around Marinette’s waist and she lay against his chest. They cuddled in silence all the way home. As soon as they were out of the limo, Luka scooped her up. Marinette protested, laughing, as he carried her into the building, up the elevator, and all the way up to the apartment.

“You’re wearing yourself out for nothing,” Marinette told him as she dug through his pocket, looking for his keys. 

“All that time at the gym might as well be good for something,” he said as she unlocked the door for them. “You’re heavier than you look with all that superhero muscle, but you’re still pretty light.” Marinette pushed the door open, and he carried her inside.

Luka set her down gently on the couch, and then sank down beside her, stroking her cheek tenderly. They kissed softly for a moment, and then curled together again. Sass and Tikki zipped out of their hiding places, and with a quick cheek cuddle for each of them and a whisper of congratulations, the kwamis made themselves scarce. The hem of Marinette's dress was grey with dirt, her hair was coming loose, and when she smiled up at him he could see the exhaustion on her face. Luka smoothed the loose hair away from her eyes. “We’re married,” he said softly.

“Yeah,” she smiled up at him.

“Now what?"

“I don’t know,” Marinette put her hands under her chin on his chest and blinked up at him. “Never been married before. It was fun but I’m kind of worn out. Maybe you can help me get out of all this stuff and we can go take a nice warm bath and relax, and we’ll see how we feel after that.”

“That sounds amazing.” He nuzzled her temple. “My wife is a genius.”

Marinette giggled. “My husband is a sweetheart.” 

“God, say that again,” Luka breathed, putting his arms around her. 

“My husband,” Marinette murmured, smiling.

“My wife.” 

“Marinette D.C. Couffaine.”

“I love it.” He kissed her softly, and then couldn’t make himself pull away until he was out of breath. “Let’s get the bath running, and then I’ll help you get rid of all this stuff.” 

Marinette giggled. “I should warn you there are about fifty thousand pins in my hair. It might take a while.”

“Then the bath should be full by the time we’re done.” He cupped her face and kissed her. “I love you so much, Marinette.”

“Don’t make me cry before we get the makeup off, Luka,” Marinette smiled shakily. 

“You know I don’t care,” he scoffed. “Come on.” Luka pulled her up gently.  

Luka sat her down at the vanity, turned on the bath water, and then crouched beside her and helped her clean the makeup from her face. Together they found and removed all of the pins in her hair, and Luka brushed it carefully. One by one he unhooked the seemingly unending line of buttons down the back of her dress and helped her out of it, and he quickly became distracted with kissing and touching her, until she pushed him away, giggling, to turn off the bath before it ran over. Marinette slipped on a robe and left him, pouting slightly, to get undressed on his own. He forgave her though when she came back with two glasses of champagne and slipped into the bath with him. 

“I don’t think I told you with everything else that was going on,” he commented as she leaned back against him, “My album proposal was approved. They loved the demo tracks I did.”

“Of course they did,” Marinette sighed, laying her head back on his shoulder. “What are you going to call it?”

“Second Chance,” he told her with a smile. 

Marinette craned her neck to smile back at him. “Perfect.”

[brooklynislandgirl]

[Reitlin and Cathal] - ❤♡❥ღ💕💘💝💓💌💟💙💚💜💛

Heart Eyes || -Selectively- Accepting

❤: who is more affectionate in public? in private?

Her hands are gentle as she ties a token of favour around his upper arm, a ribbon that smells of sunshine and the flowers braided into her hair. No less sweet than the smile that graces her lips. Later she feeds him the choices bits by hand from her own trencher, much to the Prince’s displeasure. It’s bad enough that she keeps a mongrel as a retainer, he says, must she treat him like a pet as well?But after Cathal escorts her to her chambers, after the maids have gone, he uncurls from where he drowses by her door and slips into the firelit chamber.The first time was to run tuck her covers around her. The second time to run his fingers through her dark silken locks. The third time he merely intended to gaze down on her fondly but she stirred and he sat beside her whispered stories of the eld, what lay beyond the veil between worlds. It becomes a habit, these visits. Habit becomes need when she lifts the furs to invite him between them.“From wha’ Luka tells me of his faery tale… it was her in public an’ him in private.”

♡: who is the bigger romantic openly? secretly?

She waves a hand for one of her maids to fetch her harp, and she sits in the centre of the hall, eyes closed and sings old songs in a lark’s sweet timbre; Lancelot and Guinevere, Tristan and Isolde. The Faery Queen. Her brother causes a stir when she opens smokey eyes and turns them on her champion before she sings the Song of Solomon. No one is sure what scandalises the gathered Court more.In her chambers, he pulls out a carefully wrapped stone jar and scrapes off the wax for her. Within is a thickly coated bit of honey comb. He offers her the carefully collected treasure knowing she cannot gather it herself, and tells her of a village he dreams about and a redheaded woman who sings to bees. 

“Lathah. Rinse. Repeat.”

❥: who is more likely to plan something big for valentine’s day?

She runs with the other maidens through the tall grasses, laughing as her hair streams out behind her beneath her crown of flowers. She has not been caught by the young men of the Court, too fleet of foot. Not even the Prince is swift enough. The longer she runs the less cultivated the grounds become until she’s in the King’s private woods. She knows every root and stone and bids them a welcome spring. Birds reply in kind, rabbits dart to and fro and even the sun is tender upon her.When she makes it to the small lough she’s finally brought up short. Her champion stands deep in the water, bared to the waist, his heavy arms lashing the last of the raft together. Upon it are waterproofed hides, a bottle of mead from the cellars, a loaf of bread, the last of winter’s fruits on silver trays. But these are not mortal delights… they come from his realm.She calls out his name in surprise, asks him what is it that he is doing.He grins and bids his May Queen welcome.

“How should I know?”

ღ: who is more likely to initiate hand-holding in public?

He reaches for her hand to help her off her horse.He lays his cloak over muddy ground until he realises she wants to feel it between her toes, after-which he kneels and removes her slippers.He puts himself between her and the ambassador from Anjou who foolishly attempts to kiss her hand.He nearly stabs the Prince between his shoulders and a little to the left when he reaches out and yanks on one of her braids. That she kicks the Prince in the shin and takes off running and laughing through the halls is the only thing that keeps him from being hung as a traitor to the crown.

“I guess him?”💕: who is more likely to make huge declarations of love in front of other people?

I don’t care, Cathal.  ~A foot is stamped.~Impassable. Ye be born for K’een… Ye be bound coming times…   

To some barbarian from across the sea. I have never even seen him. He is probably old. And fat. and covered with scars, smells of wine and sweat and…probably kicks puppies and would not know which end of the lamb to put to it’s mother’s teat.~He cups her face and presses his lips to her forehead.~Do not presume to talk me out of it.Please?“Uhm both of them?”

💘: who developed a crush on the other first?

He’s convinced he loved her long before he saw her. She remembered the old ways. Left out offerings of milk and honey. The finest meats that had not seen the tongue of fire and bread fresh baked. Even in the dead of winter. She kept no iron in her chambers and whispered secrets to the moon’s halo. She celebrated the seasons and could barely sit still during Mass. The drone of the priests disturbed the natural harmony she held with nature, the Kindly Ones, and all the things in between, that left little room for her brother’s angels, demons, and Hell.

And when he saw her?He knew he was right.

“….uh, him, I t’ink.”

💝: who spends more time (possibly overthinking) what presents to get the other?

Let me see, Cathal!No.It can not be that bad!

He growls deep in his throat.~She brushes a kiss to his shoulder.~Her day of birth comes and passes over a span of three moons. Summer gives way to Lughnasadh before he finally gives her his gift. A braided leather bridle for her horse, woven through with silver and river stones.Oh, sweetest. It is beautiful!Aye.~His eyes never leave her.~

“Luka. He spends more time in his head than anywhere else.”

💓: who initiates most physical contact?

He promises never to hurt her. It is the sweetest lie.Catches her mouth with his and swallows down the sound she makes, her nails digging into his shoulders.He whispers that he’s sorry.She answers him with a bite.“Uhm. Ew.”

💌: who is more likely to send cutesy texts to the other?

C-A- Go on.C-a-t…Cat hole. Cathal!~She smiles. There’s pride in her gaze as he traces the letters of his name. The first word he’s learned.~

Reiltin. How… ~his hand mimics the movements she made a moment ago.~

~She puts the quill between his fingers and sets the inked tip on the vellum. Covers his hand as best she can with her own, guiding each stroke.~R-E-

“Ya know. I don’ t’ink dey had phones back den. Inokea how smart da Celts were.”

💟: who spends time reading their zodiac compatibilities?

That red one? That is Balor’s Eye. And that one with the spear in his hand? That is Lugh. And that thick band of stars? Ailil’s Crown, and Eiluned’s Mirror. Scathach’s Bow, and that is Danu’s Throne.~He snorts.~

What?

No’din’, love. No’din’

“If she was one witch, probably her.”

💙: who is more protective?

“Him. Nex’ question.”

💚: who tends to get sick more often? who is better at taking care of the other?

~His face is pale and he thinks she is dying. That much blood should not come from so small a person.~~And what isn’t coming out, rushes into her face and she curls up deeper into the furs of her bed, the braziers dragged closer to its edge for warmth.~I am…fine. It’s just… my moon times. It is the price we pay for being women.~He looks skeptical.~Wine, with honey, Sweetest. And the pain will pass. I promise.~Cathal is not so sure, but he does it anyway, hesitantly sitting near her, and rubbing slow circles in the small of her back.~

“She a Verbena like me. He some immortal wolf-fae-kine. Neiddah of dem.”

💜: who said “i love you” first? or, if neither has said it yet, who is more likely to say it first?

Say it again.I love you.Again.I love you.Again!

~He shakes his head and gestures at her encouragingly.~I love you, silly goose.

~He grins~ Again.

Beth shrugs and refuses to even look the question in the eye.

💛: who believes in soulmates?

“Ask Quot’e, she know every kine, an’ she ya bes’ frien’ an’ all.”Beth is SO done. The bitterness in her tone drips like acid and since she can’t exactly kick him out of the house, she gets up from the table. Glares at him for a solid six seconds.“But I’m sure ya too busy. Tell Baz I say howzit.”

[koffermaedchen-blog]

With the Buddhists

September 2018

(Deutsche Version weiter unten)

THE DAY BEFORE

After a 16 hours flight and a 4 hours taxi drive I finally arrive at the buddhist meditation centre close to Kandy in Sri Lanka. I will spend the next 6 days here for a silent meditation retreat. There is a sign at the entrance door saying ‘silence please’ so I guess the hush will already start. With the least amount of words possible one of the monks shows me around in the centre. Is it beautiful. In between the forest in the mountains, far away from the rumble of the tuktuks (3 wheelers used as taxis), clean air and everything is set up very pretty and carefully. There is a dining room, a meditation hall, a yoga hall, a little library (even though it’s closed during a retreat), and the sleeping rooms - men and women are separated from each other. My room is 2 times 3 meters big, it contains a mattress (rather a rag of foam material), a small shelf and a bar to hang clothes. I receive 5 candles and a matchbox as we should try to avoid using the light bulb. And a handbook with rules, guidelines and the schedule. Oberserving the five percepts (no killing of living beings, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and intoxication), noble silence, trying to avoid reading, listing to music or writing. The day starts at 5 am, in total 5 hours sitting meditation, plus walking, standing and working meditation, yoga, meditation outside, chanting, talks of our teacher and group discussions in the evening. The day finishes at 9 pm. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it.

DAY 1

I feel totally lost. The retreat only starts in the afternoon, so I’m kind of on my own sitting in the huge meditation hall trying to focus on my breathing. I can do 30 minutes. But 1 1/2 hours..?! Holy shit.. It gets uncomfortable, something is hurting, I fall asleep, my thoughts wander towards the future. I get impatient.

During afternoon tea the other participants arrive. We are 20 people, and as everyone walks into the dining hall I’m trying to figure out where they might come from.

Then the retreat officially starts. Upul, our teacher, even though he doesn’t call himself a teacher but rather our friend who is sharing his knowledge with us, fascinates me from the beginning. There is such a peaceful and friendly energy around him. And everything seems so much easier and clearer when I sit in a cross-legged position with my eyes closed and listen to his calm, melodious voice.

Words of Mr Upul: Our mind doesn’t listen to promises. Nor to threats or stress. We have to invite it in a friendly way to stay in the present. Over and over and over again. It is normal that our thoughts wander around. We have a monkey mind. But by realising that our thoughts are not in the current moment, we are aware.

DAY2

The first 5 hours of a day are actually quite nice. One hour morning meditation, tea, yoga, a delicious breakfast and 1 1/2 hours working meditation (it’s like karma yoga, you want to do something that doesn’t bring you any benefit but others and while doing so, you should be aware of the moment) . But afterwards it gets difficult. And it’s only 9.30 am then and I still have almost 12 hours to go!

I feel like my thoughts are getting louder. Today, it’s more difficult to bring them back to the present moment. They keep going somewhere else. Or I fall asleep.

Teacher: Today we meditate with our ears. Concentrate on all the sounds you hear from outside and the silence inside the hall.

Thoughts: Ok that’s easy, I can do that! Let’s see, the wind blowing in the trees.. chirping crickets.. that was maybe a monkey.. Oh, do you remember when we went to the zoo with Lukas the other day? These monkeys were impressive!

Mind: Yes, that was a nice day, but would you mind coming back to the here and now and focus on the sounds?

Thoughts: Of course, sorry! So, the wind.. the crickets.. silence inside.. Somebody was just moving. Probably he or she is in pain. My knee is also hurting. Maybe I should change my position...

Mind: It’s not about body sensations right now. It’s about sounds..

Thoughts: ah yes.. the wind.. isn’t singing mantras also a way of meditating? Buddhas saranam gachami. Buddham saran... Deeespaacitooo.. ah no that’s the wrong song!...

In the evening I am totally exhausted. My back hurts, my knee hurts. My hair is oily, my skin is dry. I keep panicking every time I see some dark shadows on the walls or on the floor, thinking it’s a huge spider that’s going to attack me. Most of the times it’s just some dots. Just this one time while brushing my teeth I have to train myself in distance-spitting as there’s just 5 cm space between the 8 legged monster and the sink. My kuti (room) smells oldish. The mattress I’m sleeping on is 5 cm thick. My hands and feet get numb when I sleep on the side.

Words from Mr Upul: You don’t have to trust your thoughts, but accept them and be kind. Mediation is the bridge between your heart and your mind. To be able to meditate you have to let go of your ego. We are responsible for our own happiness. Nobody else is.

DAY 3

Half-way through. What a horrible night. Couldn’t fall asleep, felt anxious and nervous. It was cold. I’m so tired. But still, morning meditation goes quite well.

I get blisters on my hands from sweeping leaves for hours during working meditation. My back hurts during standing meditation. And during walking meditation as well. I keep falling asleep. I can’t follow Mr. Upul’s talk. I can only remember something about machines. I guess I dozed off. Sorry, Mr Upul!

During the self guided meditation I keep myself busy with trying to figure out where the other participants come from and what they might be like. Some of them look so serious, totally focused on their breath. Others seem struggling like me. I try a different position, sitting on a small chair. It’s easier not to fall asleep now, but my feet get numb. After 15 minutes it’s over for me. No way I can keep my mind still. I start doubting myself. Why did I do this? What was I thinking? Maybe I’m not motivated enough? Or I’m not trying hard enough? Or maybe, meditation is just not for me?

During a guided meditation with Mr Kumar we are asked to focus on the breath. And not to move. I can’t. I fall asleep. I start singing in my mind. Is my mind making fun of me? It’s getting really frustrating. Mr Kumar says, when the body is still the mind can be still. If the mind is still the body can be still. I almost make it not to move (too much) for the whole hour. But at the end the pain gets to much. My right foot, my knee, my hips, my butt. Everything hurts. Over and out. Mr Kumar makes fun of us because he is over 60 and can sit still for over an hour. I knew it would be hard but I never thought it would be this difficult and painful. Emotionally and physically. Can I have a massage please? And chocolate.

During the outdoor meditation I feel better. The nature is just stunning here. So green. And this view. Over palms, trees, down the Valley and in the distance the mountains. I want to be like a tree. So grounded and stable. Don’t give up girl, you’re on the right way!

Something weird happens during the evening meditation. I start with focusing on the sounds around me. There’s on bird singing quite loudly. He makes me a bit nervous. Then he is suddenly quiet and I feel that it’s time to go inside, to go home. And I see a little girl and I invite her to come inside, telling her everything will be fine. Is that my mind? Or my inner child? Or my inner me? I don’t know but it’s a beautiful feeling. Unfortunately, Mr Upul starts talking after a while and I lose her.

Words from Mr Upul: When we are not aware we are just functioning. We are like machines (ha, maybe I DID listen during his talk in the morning!). We are living in our expectations, we are their prisoners. We keep fighting for our freedom and think it’s other people who want to take it from us. But it is us. It’s our thoughts that prevent us from being free. We expect everything to happen immediately. We want to see results right now. We think everything is like instant soup. But it’s not. Everything needs to be planted, to be taken care of, to be practised. Even if you don’t see any fruits.

DAY 4

After struggling at the beginning, I am finally able to find my mind/inner child/inner me again. We are sitting together in my (our?) head watching my (our?) breath. Am I crazy now?

9.30am meditation (sitting, standing, walking, sitting) gets emotional. We start with being aware of all the sensations in our body in each position. How our body feels, the touch of the soles of our feet on the ground, pain and tension. With this awareness we are asked to invite all negative thoughts, feelings and memories. And they are allowed to stay as long as they want. We have to create a space for them and to accept them. The same with our reactions to them.

Mr Kumar says we should focus on the pain. Don’t listen to your thoughts telling you that it’s getting too much. It’s not true. It’s just our mind playing with us. Sorry, but I don’t think I’m just imagining the cramps and pain..

During outdoor mediation I remember that awareness is not an instant soup. Don’t give up!

Words from Mr Upul: We react because of our feelings. We take decisions because of our feelings. We don’t have to ignore them or fight against them. But we should be aware of them and accept them. Only then can we create time, to calm our mind and understand our feelings. Don’t be your feelings, be the understanding.

DAY 5

Mettha. A concept from Buddhism. Loving kindness, divine love, unconditional love. The topic of the day. A day full of emotions, tears, forgiveness, love, peace and calmness. We start with seeing ourselves with friendliness, acceptance of love. Then extending this feeling to our family, friends, people who have always been there for us. And finally, to people who have hurt, disappointed or disturbed us. Send them friendliness and wish them to be happy.

We continue by watching our heart, opening our heart. And inviting any emotional wounds, pain, psychological suffering, self-hatred, mistakes from our past. With beautiful words in his calm voice, Mr Upul guides us to forgive ourself, to forgive others who have hurted us and to ask for forgiveness to those who we have hurt. And I can only say it works for me. I feel so much lighter and happier and calmer afterwards and I feel that this forgiveness comes from my heart.

I can’t believe this is the last night here. I am so grateful for what I have learnt here. I am grateful to myself for doing this and for hanging on. But I’m not sure I’m ready yet to go back to the real world. I think I need a bit more practise. But Mr Upul encourages us to go out and put into practice what we’ve learnt here.

DAY 6

Compassion meditation in the morning. It is not about suffering with somebody. It is about feeling somebody’s pain and sending that person friendliness, peaceful energy, happiness.

During yoga I feel strong and stable and grounded. Like a tree. I have my roots. I am connected to Mother Earth. I can move in the wind but I will not fall easily.

Thank you body, for being strong during these last days, for going through all the pain. And finally, at lunch time, we are allowed to talk. It feels so weird and I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. We are free again. We are brought back to the city. Noise, smells, chaos. Welcome back to civilisation.

It is so much harder to keep the practise in such a noisy environment. But it’s all about practise. No instant soup. And I have seen now that I am able to do it. And I have seen what meditation is capable of. It was the right decision to pack my things and leave and to go and find my way.

[zerogravityrelease-blog]

Our current active headspace is 15 members! I [Bear] am incorporeal so I get to see what’s going on all over the place whenever I want with the exception of being invasive of someone’s privacy, you know.

Lilith, Luka, and Ember live in the bungalow near the shore of Skyy/Finn’s beach, where it is always summer. Visual above can give you an idea of what it looks like. The sky is clear blue with a few white puffy clouds rolling by, the air is hot but the breeze is lovely. You can hear gulls crying now and then and hear the soft crash of the water against the rocky part of the shore.

Ember is doing running leaps into the water for cannonballs off one of the small docks and playing, splashing, and swimming with Finn who is in nyms typical lemon shark merfolk form, they are both laughing, although Finn is nonverbal at all times. Luka is on the end of another one of the docks sunbathing in a white lounge chair with nyr face partially covered by a bright rainbow umbrella. Ne is wearing really cute brown sunglasses with little jewels on the temples and nyr two-piece swimsuit is cherry red and suits nyr perfectly. Lilith is sitting on the dock itself next to nyr with aer feet in the water eating an ice pop. Ae is wearing a white sun hat and has an open washed-out blue denim button up over a navy blue bikini top and jean shorts over the swimsuit bottoms. Aer white sandals are sitting underneath Luka’s chair. I can’t hear what they’re saying but Luka must have said something funny because Lilith is doubled over in laughter. Things are peaceful and everyone seems happy. Carol, Hannah, and Rook live in a really funky building thats too tall to be a reasonable single floored house but its not really separate apartments either. Its basically an apartment on the bottom with a double-loft on top, but its one collective place. It’s a bit hard to explain but here’s some visuals to help: exterior:

general interior aesthetics, colorful as fuck basically, both for the house in general and each of their bedrooms:

Rook has the lower half of the building and Hannah has the top left loft and Carol has the top right. I’d have to draw it for it to make any sense visually but essentially the upper floor is two halves of a circle pushed back from each other a bit with a hallway in between and a set of stairs that leads downstairs in the middle of the hallway like this: |)=‘’=(| the difference is that aside from the hallway and subsequent doors that lead out to it, the circle halves dont have walls, the open space is just covered by colorful curtains on both Hannah and Carol’s sides, so, essentially, they could open their doors and say hello to each other in the hallway, or they could just lean to one side and open their curtains and wave to each other with no barrier in between. There is also no floor between their rooms aside from the hallway so the only way to get to each others rooms is to either take the hallway or do a running leap LOL Hannah and Carol are both in Hannah’s loft right now laying on their stomachs kicking their feet gently doing crafts together. Carol has So Many Stickers in front of her and Hannah has a box of those funky-shape scissors that cut neat patterns with them next to her. Their heads are close and they’re pointing to a huge scrapbook in front of them, I can’t hear what they’re saying but they keep giggling so I think they’re having a good time. Some cute music is coming from Hannah’s phone, it sounds something like Anamanaguchi. Cherry comes to visit them sometimes and do fun stuff because sie and Carol are like sisters. Rook is in the lower level doing what looks like pilates in the middle of the kitchen while the stove and countertops are full of things both cooking and about to be cooked. It looks like pri’s making dinner and dessert at the same time, it smells amazing. Dinner smells sweet and spicy & all I know about dessert is that there is an alarming amount of fruit on the counter and a hunk of dough the size of an adult skull on a baking tray. Rook is also playing music from his phone, but he has headphones in, it’s also absurdly loud given that I can hear it from here. It sounds like really upbeat guitar-heavy rock, but I don’t recognize it. If you were looking to see a man do air guitar meanwhile one leg on the ground and the other pointing clean up to the ceiling, you came to the right place. He’s smiling and its obvious he’s having a good time. Teagan, KG, Nik, and Libra live in this sweet, huge, ritzy-ass house thats like black & white contemporary minimalist and would be expensive as all motherfuck in real life so god bless headspace lmfao. KG and Teagan have the ground floor and Nik and Libra have the lofts, which are completely separated as the second floor of houses usually are, unlike Carol & co.’s house. Living room aesthetic (like if you have that huge palette instead of the coffee table by the L couch in the first img, thats definitely there):

Kitchen aesthetic:

Okay let’s start anywhere, first up is KG, feyr room aesthetic is like this:

It’s always that clean too because that’s how fey is. Teagan’s room is like this:

It’s messy in the sense that it always definitely looks like it’s lived in but it’s just messy, not dirty. There is So Much Stuff on the walls and the tea lights are definitely a thing. Right now Teagan and KG are on the huge palette in the living room laying on their backs facing opposite directions, KG is reading a book and Teagan is reading a magazine. I can’t read the title of either but I know KG is legitimately interested in the book and Teagan is reading the magazine to live-comment kyr anger at magazine culture and beauty standards. Teagan goes off now and then and KG just laughs quietly like “why do you read that stuff if you know it’s going to make you angry” “we have to be critical of the media!” KG scooches up to bonk feyr head against Teagan’s like “whatever you say, dear”

Next up is Nik in the left loft, xyr room aesthetic is like this, minus the regular windows of image one and plus the giant windows in img 2:

It’s small and full of soft things and looks very warm all the time. Xe also has a lot of things on the walls. Xe sits on the alcove by the window and looks at the sky a lot at night. Xe is currently sitting there listening to music with large headphones & writing in a notebook. Possibly writing song lyrics? Xe seems to be okay aside from engaging in a bit of self-isolation for time to clear xyr head. Finally is Libra’s room on the right loft, the aesthetic:

All of the decor in Libra’s room is white with the exception of a few things here and there, that entire right wall is glass just like in the image, even though its on the second floor. Cae is currently taking a nap with caer 97 pillows. It seems like its starting to rain. Altair and RG live in a really large, airy house that’s more or less like a cottage. They have small bedrooms but most of the time they’re in the shared spaces with the windows open letting in light and fresh air. They both like to cook and there’s always fresh flowers around the house. There’s a small garden outside as well as a moderately sized lake. It’s very woodsy and smells like cedar and apples. Spring is definitely here. Aesthetic:

Right now RG is in the kitchen chopping vegetables and Altair is working in the garden. They’re both nonverbal a lot so they communicate a lot in nods and small smiles. They enjoy the general quiet, minus the array of birds chirping as its the beginning of spring, and each other’s generally silent company. Last but not least, Viria and Lamia live in Viria’s skinny, spooky house with two floors, Lamia having the top floor and Viria taking the bottom. It’s very old world in concept but is functionally modern, it’s just creepy as hell at night, which is how they like it. Most of the decor is gold, maroon, white, and brown. Entryway and kitchen aesthetic:

The livingroom double functions somewhat as a library to Lamia’s extreme delight, like this:

Viria’s room is absurdly gorgeous and looks something like this:

Presently they are both having coffee in the living-library, both quietly reading with soft music playing over what seems to be a kind of surround-sound setup. Everyone seems to be doing okay and leading happy, uneventful lives. It’s been really nice and fun to check in with everyone and really focus on what everything looks like. That was lovely, we’ll have to do it again soon. Thanks for reading!

[blissfulcastiel]

Sunday Morning

Written for philkas week: Day 1 ~ Domestic AO3

Rays of early morning sun shine through the blinds, slowly inching their way across the bed and lighting up the darkness of sleep behind Philip’s eyelids, to his dismay. He rolls over so his back is to the window and the unwelcomed light doesn’t wake him before he’s good and ready. He scoots closer to the center of the bed, searching out a particular warm body to nuzzle into but finds the right side empty. Cracking open his eyes, he confirms that he’s indeed alone in the bed. Furrowing his eyebrows, he sits up and scans the room until he catches sight of the light leaking through the cracked door of the attached bathroom. He rubs his eyes, his sleepy brain still trying to connect the pieces together when Lukas walks out of the bathroom, shirtless with a toothbrush in his mouth. His eyes fall on Philip and he smiles around the toothbrush. “Morning, sleepyhead.” Philip groans, flopping back on the bed. “Why’re you up already? It’s Sunday at what, eight o’clock in the morning?” “Exactly,” Lukas chuckles. “Remember I got my meet today? I wanted to take the bike out for a quick spin and give her a once over before we left.” Philip’s eyes widen as he sits up again. Shit – that’s right! He had this whole morning planned out for Lukas. He even set a stupid alarm so he’d get up on time, he swears he did. Reaching over to his nightstand, he grabs his phone off the charger and looks up his alarms, pointedly ignoring the strange look Lukas is giving him from across the room. Well, he did set an alarm. For 7:30. PM.

Groaning, he drops the phone and shuffles out of bed, brushing past Lukas to get into the bathroom. “Why didn’t you wake me?” Lukas turns, still watching him with scrunched eyebrows and steps up to the sink to spit the toothpaste from his mouth. “Because we don’t have to leave until 10:30. You looked so comfortable and – how could I wake you looking like that? Figured you wouldn’t mind sleeping in a bit.” Philip grabs his toothbrush, squeezing a little too much toothpaste on it and shoves it in his mouth. “But it’s your big meet - the first one of the season and you should’ve woken me up,” he mumbles grumpily. He brushes his teeth a little harder than needed, watching out of the corner of his eye as Lukas rinses his mouth of the rest of the toothpaste before leaning against the doorway, eyes trained on Philip. When he’s done swirling water around in his mouth and spitting out the last of his toothpaste, Philip sighs as he turns off the water, guilt beginning to creep under his skin for snapping like he did. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so pleasant to you this morning,” he murmurs, lowering his eyes. He feels like such an asshole. The only person he’s frustrated with is himself and no one else. Lukas snorts softly and closes the space between them, wrapping his arms loosely around Philip’s waist as he touches their foreheads together. “What’s going on?” Philip shakes his head. “I had this whole thing planned out for this morning but I didn’t set my alarm right and –“ he cuts himself off when the frustration bubbles up again in his stomach. “I just wanted to do something special for you before your first meet is all.” Lukas tilts his chin up so that their eyes lock together. “You don’t have to do any of that. It’s more than enough just to have my fiancé there to see me, you know.” Philip shrugs, disappointment still pulling his lips down into a frown. “I guess.” Lukas rolls his eyes and presses a tender kiss against his lips, Philip’s body automatically melting into Lukas’ in response. He pulls back briefly, smiling at Philip before giving him one more peck and walking back into the bedroom. “What did you have planned anyway?” Philip turns on the sink again, letting the water run until it warms up. “I was supposed to get up early and give you breakfast in bed. I was gonna go all out too – banana pancakes with that fruit syrup you like so much, fresh squeezed orange juice, a flower in a vase. The whole nine.” “Seriously? A flower in a vase?” Lukas asks, sounding impressed. Philip chuckles, cupping his hands under the faucet and splashing the water onto his face. He repeats a few times before turning off the faucet and grabbing a towel, drying his face as he walks into the bedroom. “Yeah, I went hardcore with my plan. And it didn’t stop there either.” Lukas shuffles through the drawers in their dresser, pulling out his practice clothes and raising his eyebrows questioningly at Philip. “You had more planned?” Smirking, Philip tosses the towel on the bed and crosses the room to Lukas. He trails his fingertips down his side until they brush over the waistband of Lukas’ underwear, looking up at him from under his lashes. “Well, I was thinking after breakfast we would conserve a little water and shower together. Maybe help loosen you up before the meet,” Philip murmurs as he hooks two fingers under the hem and pulls Lukas closer, craning his neck to kiss along his jaw. Lukas shudders under his touch and Philip smiles to himself. “Dude,” he groans, his hands coming to rest on Philip’s hips to pull them together. “C’mon, we still got some time before we have to go.” Philip shakes his head, prying himself out of Lukas’ grasp and making his way to the hallway, pausing in the doorway. “Sorry, but no can do. I refuse to let you leave until you’ve had a decent meal and Bo will disown you if he sees you at the meet with an unpolished bike.” Lukas still gives him a dirty look despite the completely valid reasons. He opens his mouth like he’s about to call Philip out on his little teasing act but resigns the accusation. “Fine. But I expect a reign check on that shower that I’ll be cashing in later.” Philip grins, not bothering to hide the tease now. “Only if you earn it, big boy.” Lukas smirks at the name but goes along with it, throwing him a wink in response. “Don’t worry, I will.” Chuckling under his breath, Philip turns and makes his way to the kitchen. He pulls out the ingredients for the pancakes and gets to work making them. By the time he’s assembled what was supposed to be his little surprise this morning, Lukas is strolling into the kitchen dressed in his practice clothes. “Mmm, smells good,” he hums as he sits at the table. “Hopefully they taste as good too,” Philip says, bringing both their plates to the table and sitting down across from him. He watches Lukas dig in, nipping at his bottom lip nervously until he sees Lukas moan around the fork, to which he smiles faintly before taking a bite of his own. “You’re ridiculous, you know that? When have I ever not liked your cooking?” Lukas says as he cuts himself another forkful. Philip shrugs, taking his first bite. “You’ve had Gabe’s pancakes before. I don’t think mine will ever be as good as his.” Lukas rolls his eyes. “They’re good, okay? Even Gabe said he had competition.” Philip snickers but keeps his rebuttal to himself. He settles for watching Lukas eat across from him and talk about who the competition is and how he predicts everything will play out today. Philip can’t help but smile as he listens. Seeing Lukas get excited about the season starting up again makes his heart feel light. Lukas has been counting down the days since the season ended last year. They clear off the table and wash the dishes together when they’re done, which somehow always turns into a battle of flicking water and suds at each other. Philip swears Lukas always starts it first. “Okay, I’m pretty sure at this rate, we’re going to still be here doing dishes when Helen and Gabe come,” Philip laughs, backing away from Lukas who is trying to gather another handful of bubbles for his next attack. “I’m gonna go get dressed and you go make sure there’s no flat tires,” he says as he dries his hands and bare chest, which is dripping wet at this point. “And then we can go for a quick drive before they get here.” Lukas snorts. “Good thing we both know how much I excel at fixing flat tires, right?” Philip rolls his eyes playfully and starts towards the bedroom before Lukas catches his wrist and pulls him back. “What are you doing?” he asks, eyeing Lukas cautiously who’s gazing at him with a sudden softness to his eyes, a smile ghosting over his lips. “Thanks for breakfast. It was delicious.” Philip nips at his lip to keep from smiling too much and shrugs. “It’s nothing, really. Just wanted to give my fiancé a good morning since it’s a big day for him.” Lukas brings his hand up to gently ease Philip’s bottom lip from his teeth before leaning in to give him a soft kiss that’s sweetened by pancakes and fruit syrup. “Your fiancé appreciates it,” he murmurs against his lips. Philip grins against his lips. “Good.” Lukas presses one more brief kiss against Philip’s lips before making his way to the garage and calling over his shoulder. “We can go for a ride when I’m done giving her the once over. I’ll polish her up when we get back.” “Okay – I’ll be ready in ten,” Philip calls back. He stays in place though until Lukas disappears out the door that leads into the garage, smiling to himself. The morning may not have gone the way he wanted it to go, but he’s happy. Lukas is happy. And that’s all that really matters.

[quickspinner]

Hey Gorgeous 7

Part 1| Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 (end) | Bonus Scene 

Sequel: Hey Gorgeous: Under Your Skin

Now on AO3

The order hadn’t come. Luka frowned. His shift was almost up, it was nearly an hour past when Marinette usually ordered. Had he heard her wrong? Depressed and trying not to be, he went through the close out process, barely aware of what he was doing. 

“One more order,” his boss called, snapping him back to reality. 

Luka frowned. “I was about to clock out.” 

The boss man shrugged and handed him the slip and the order. “Eric’s not here yet. Text me when you get there and I’ll clock you out, then you can go straight home.”

Luka sighed to himself but knew better than to protest. His eyes widened slightly as he saw the address.

The sun was setting and there was a chill in the air, burning his lungs as he pedaled. 

Marinette was waiting for him on the steps, wrapped tightly in a knitted cardigan that had clearly seen better days. She came down the stairs before he’d even stopped, beaming. “Hi.”

“Hey,” he said softly, a slow smile spreading his face. “Late dinner tonight?”

“Well, the girls made other plans, but I didn’t feel like going out, ssso I-I-I-l—“ He waited while she gathered herself. “Um, are you off w-work now?”

“Actually…” Luka sent the text to his boss, and got an almost immediate confirmation. “There.” He grinned at her, pocketing the phone. “I am now.”

“Then...do you want to have dinner with mmme?” She motioned to the picnic tables under the trees next to the dorm building. 

Luka tried not to look as pleased as he was. “I’d love to. Let me just lock up.” He nodded towards the bike rack. He handed Marinette the pizza and she took it towards the tables.

There were butterflies in his stomach as he locked up his bike and pulled his few valuables out of the basket, including his acoustic guitar, which he slung across his back. He glanced back towards Marinette and then ducked to check the mirror on the bike next to his, raking his fingers through his hair to muss it into something less helmet-shaped. “Don’t screw this up, Couffaine,” he told his reflection. Then he took a deep breath and jogged back toward Marinette. 

To his complete shock (and utter relief, because he’d really been done with pizza since about his third week on the job), Marinette had a small casserole dish waiting on the picnic table, steaming in the cool air. “I mmmade it at h-h-home and it’s been in the freezer all week. I used the common room kitchen to heat it up. It’s not f-f-fancy, b-but at least it’s n-n-not p-pizza?” She looked shy, twisting her hands together. 

“You’re amazing,” Luka said fervently, sliding onto the picnic table bench. “Oh my God, real food!” 

Marinette giggled. “It’s just a c-casserole.”

Luka shook his head. “You don’t understand. My sister eats like a rabbit and my cooking skills are passable at best. We basically live on salads and fruit and takeout.” Somewhere there was a smooth line about not needing to go through his stomach to get to his heart, but she smiled at him as she handed him a portion of casserole on a paper plate, and he couldn’t quite make his brain work enough to be sure it would come out right.

“Well, I hope you like it.” She sat down and opened the pizza box.

“You’re not having any?” Luka blinked.

Marinette shrugged. “I like p-pizza.”

“Aww, and here I thought you just liked me,” he teased.

Marinette’s cheeks turned pink and she wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I d-do.” Then she cleared herself throat. “Eat, it’ll get c-c-cold f-fast out here.”

Luka’s grin couldn’t get any wider. “I like you too, Gorgeous.” Then he felt his own face heat. “So what are you studying?” he asked quickly as he dug in. “Wow, this is good.”

“Mmmy parents own a bakery,” she told him. “I’ve b-been in the kitchen sssince I was a b-baby.”

She told him about her classes in design and business, and he eagerly asked her all the questions he’d been saving up for months. Luka noticed she was stuttering less as they talked. He hoped that meant she was comfortable with him. He really wanted that to be true. He was hanging on every word that fell from those perfect lips, and everything he heard just made him want to know more. 

Then she pulled out a container of madeleines that she had made and dipped in chocolate herself, and he knew he was a goner. “Careful, Gorgeous, a guy could get ideas from being treated like this,” he chuckled as he bit into one. “Homemade food and cookies--I might think you like having me around.” 

“T-t-technically, they’re c-cakes,” she told him loftily, and picked up one of her own. A hot flush rushed through him as he watched her eat it delicately. He looked away and had to clear his throat before he could speak again. 

It felt like no time at all had passed, but the plates were empty and the cookie-cakes were gone. The sun had vanished below the horizon some time ago, the bright halogen lights on the building washing out everything around them, and the chill air raised goosebumps on his arms, but Luka still couldn’t make himself leave.

“Parkour? Seriously?”

Marinette giggled. “Yep.”

“How do you even get into something like that?” Luka asked, leaning his elbow on the table to look at her.

Marinette shrugged. “I don’t know, I just...nnnneeded to run and I d-didn’t mmmuch care what was in the wwway. I sssstarted when I w-was fifteen. It was a g-good w-way to get rid of frustration. Mmmy p-parents saw me c-climb a wwwall and j-jump across to the next b-building. They t-took me over to the local f-freerunning association and ssssigned me up so I would get p-proper t-training.”

“Smart,” Luka observed. “It’s cool that they did that instead of trying to make you stop.” His smile widened appreciatively. “Although somehow I feel like getting you to quit anything you wanted to do would be pretty difficult.” She wrinkled her nose cutely at him and he laughed. “That doesn’t look like a denial.”

“Nnno c-comment,” she scrunched up her shoulders and stuck her nose in the air, and it was so cute Luka thought he might die. His heart was pounding and he wished he could ask her to go for a walk or something, anything to prolong the evening.

Unfortunately, he had another engagement.

“I’m afraid I have to go soon,” Luka said reluctantly, checking the time. “I actually do have something else I have to do tonight, but...thanks for dinner. You’re just as much fun as I thought you’d be.” He winked.

Somehow that flustered her terribly and whatever tried to come out ended up so garbled he couldn’t understand her. 

“I don’t think I caught that, babe,” Luka said, trying not to laugh. 

Marinette put her hands over her face. gave a frustrated huff. “Sssorry. And here I’ve b-been d-doing all the t-talking, and I hardly found out anything ab-bout you. I’m sssorry.” She made a face. “It’s p-probably frustrating for you, l-listening to mmme.”

“Don’t apologize,” Luka said with complete sincerity. “It’s no big deal to wait until you get it out. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“Sssstill. Thanks for being sssso p-patient with me. T-too bad it’s not sssocially acceptable to b-burst into sssong.” She smiled at him so sweetly that Luka’s mouth answered without his brain’s permission. 

“Gorgeous, with lips like yours everything you say sounds like music to me.” 

Even so the blush that rose to his face was nothing compared to the shade of red Marinette turned. She made another strangled noise and Luka chuckled, reaching across the table to touch her hand, just resting his fingers lightly on the back. “You okay, or was that too much?” He ducked his head a little, trying to see her eyes. “I promise it wasn’t just a line. I meant it.”

“I kn-kn-know. Th-th-that’s w-w-why it wwworked,” she huffed, darting a shy smile at him. 

Luka bit his lip, and then took the leap. “I really like you, Marinette. I’m sorry if I’ve been asking too many questions, but I’ve been wanting to get to know you better for weeks. You’re the song that’s been playing in my head since the day we met. I’d really like to talk to you more often. Could I maybe give you my number, and if you feel like it, we could text sometime?”

Cheeks still red, Marinette handed him her phone. Luka grinned, and programmed his number. Marinette took the phone back and typed. A moment later his phone pinged with a new message. Luka saved the number under Gorgeous. 

“Come here, I need a picture,” Luka beckoned her, and she leaned in with him and let him take a selfie. It was a little washed out from the lights and his hair was a disaster, but he still grinned when he looked at her sweet smile next to his. “Perfect.”

“Sssend it to me?” Marinette asked, blushing. 

“Sure thing, babe.” He stood up and slung his guitar over his back, offering Marinette a hand up. “Thanks for dinner.” 

She let him help her to her feet. “Ssso do you actually play that th-thing?” Marinette asked, waving at his guitar. 

Luka laughed. “I know a chord or two, yeah. I prefer my electric, but this one’s a bit more portable.” 

“Mmaybe next time you can p-play something for me,” she giggled.

Luka grinned, leaning in a bit. “I’d love to play for you almost as much as I’d love for there to be a next time.”

She blushed a bit but didn’t avoid his eyes this time. “Ssso t-t-text mmme and we’ll pick a nnnext t-time?”

“Absolutely.” It was stupid how much he wanted to kiss her, and he would be stupid to try so soon. He forced himself to straighten up. “Goodnight, Gorgeous. Thanks for the cookies.”

“Th-they’re c-cakes, t-technically,” Marinette tucked a loose strand of hair back and Luka knew he better get out of there before he got any stupider.

He still had the stupid grin on his face when he got home. Juleka looked up and frowned as he came in. “Where have you been?” she demanded. “Hurry up and get ready, we’re going to be late. The rest of the band will be half set up before we even get there at this rate.”

“It’s fine, Jules, it won’t take me that long,” he said dismissively. 

“If I have to smell pizza on top of the club, I’m gonna hurl, Luka,” she complained.

He rolled his eyes. “Decide how big a hurry you’re in, sis, you can either wait for me to shower or deal with—“

“Fine, shower, just make it fast. What the hell kept you?”

The stupid grin came back. “I’m not exactly sure, but...I think it was a date.”

Part 1| Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 (end) | Bonus Scene

Now on AO3

Check out the sequel!

Hey Gorgeous: Under Your Skin

That’s all I’ve got for now, but we’ll see what the future holds...thanks for reading! This whole thing will go up on AO3 sometime today.