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celestiall0tus · 4 months ago

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Long Road - Chapter 12 - Coming Soon

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Marinette rushed down into Liberty’s hold to meet Luka for their date. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Alix with Juleka and Rose. They all turned and waved her over.

“Hey, girls, what’s up?” Marinette asked.

“You’re just in time! Alix was about to share some amazing news!” Rose cheered.

“Oh? What’s that?” Marinette asked.

“Get this. There’s this new exhibit coming to the museum and my dad’s letting me get a look at it early before it goes live tomorrow. Mylene and some of the guys are already going to meet me there. What about you girls?” Alix asked.

“What’s so special about this exhibit?” Juleka muttered.

“Oh, right. Let me just get… here!”

Alix held up a picture of a bizarre white box lined with silver and peculiar black markings on its surface.

“Woah. Creepy,” Juleka cooed.

“It is a little, yes,” Rose agreed.

“That’s… strange. Uh, when will you be seeing it today?” Marinette asked.

“Soon. Actually, right after this. I figured I’d stop in before I went back to the Louvre. Care to join?”

“Count me in,” Juleka said.

“Me too!” Rose cheered.

“Uh, one moment. Juleka, is Luka-?” Marinette started.

“Yeah. He should be done by now. Go ahead,” Juleka said.

Marinette nodded and trotted over to Luka and Juleka’s room. She turned the corner and jumped back. Luka sat on his bed in meditation like the first time she saw him, but with a man sitting beside him with his eyes closed. She paled at the sharp, serpentine features of the man, pale skin like he was ill, black rocker clothes, and unnaturally long hair.

“S-sass?” Marinette whispered.

Sass’s eyes shot open with his snake green eyes and pupils narrowed into slits. Luka’s eyes opened as Marinette flinched and stepped back. Luka shot to his feet and approached Marinette.

“Are you ok? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Luka commented.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine. Just… surprised by Sass,” Marinette reassured.

Sass grumbled and hissed. He slinked off the bed and headed to the living room when Kaalki blocked his path.

“Hey, lovebirds! We’re getting ready to head out. Let’s go!”

“Oh, right. Hey, Luka, would you be ok with a small detour before our date? Alix’s dad is letting her see a new exhibit early and she’s invited us along with some other friends,” Marinette explained.

“Yeah, that sounds like fun,” Luka said.

“Alright! You’re coming too, scales,” Kaalki demanded.

“No, I don’t think I will,” Sass hissed.

“Oh, but you are. You know who is coming too and she’ll be very sad if you don’t show up. I wonder what she’ll do.”

Sass sighed and growled. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”

“Oi, Mari, where’s little Velze?” Kaalki asked.

“Huh? Oh, Gimmi? She’s at home. She, uh, didn’t want to listen to our, uh, sickening lovey words?” Marinette attempted.

Kaalki looked Marinette over, then at the mini purse at Marinette’s side. She rushed at Marinette and snatched it before Marinette could react. She reached into it and pulled Gimmi from it. She beamed and tossed Marinette the purse back.

“There you are, mini Velze! Come, join us. Stretch your legs with the rest of us.”

Gimmi shot Kaalki a menacing look. She didn’t respond but phased through Kaalki’s grip and shifted into her human form. Marinette reached out for Gimmi as Gimmi navigated Liberty while avoiding the windows. Kaalki whooped and ran out after Gimmi. Marinette grimaced as she looked on, worried.

“Everything alright?” Luka asked.

“Not exactly. Gimmi has been avoiding all reflective surfaces. She won’t even look me in the eyes long either. When I ask, she doesn’t tell me why, but it’s clear something is wrong. I just don’t know what to do to help her,” Marinette explained.

“I think the best you can do is let her approach you when she’s ready. There may be something wrong, but if she hasn’t shared, she isn’t ready. Give her time and she will be.”

Marinette looked at the ground, then at Luka with a smile. “I’ll try. I’m just worried.”

Luka returned the smile and took Marinette’s hand. “It’s ok to be worried. You care for her, just like you did with Tikki.”

“I mean, I still do, but yeah, I do care for Gimmi. We clash and she’s never shy about reminding me about the reality of things, but I appreciate her for it.”

“Oi, let’s go!” Kaalki yelled.

Luka and Marinette jumped at Kaalki’s voice, then laughed. They joined the others on the deck before they headed to the Louvre. Marinette chatted with Luka along the way, but her eyes never left Gimmi as Gimmi avoided all reflective surfaces. When they approached the Louvre, Gimmi fell back behind Luka and Marinette.

“Hey, are you ok?” Marinette asked.

“Peachy. Just avoiding that,” Gimmi hissed.

Marinette turned back and saw Mylene with Longg along with Marc with Tikki, Nathaniel with Vana, and Kim with Xuppu.

“Finally, Alix! We’ve been waiting forever! You know this report is due tomorrow, right?” Kim yelled.

“You should have done it sooner, idiot,” Alix spat.

“It’s not my fault. I was supposed to do it with Ondine’s help, but everything just keeps coming up and she did it on her own. So, I’m all on my own.”

“Not my problem, meathead. Anyway, everyone read-,” Alix started.

“Sass!” Longg yelled.

Sass stopped and sighed. Longg charged at him and scooped him up. She laughed and flung him around like a doll before she hugged him and bit his arm. Everyone flinched, but he didn’t react. She grinned and put him on her back like a backpack. She joined the others as everyone headed in. Luka and Marinette took up the rear with Gimmi.

“That was… quite the scene. Have you ever seen that?” Marinette asked.

“No. Mylene doesn’t come around very often. Even when she does, she’s just meeting with Juleka and Rose, so I never see Sass and Longg interact. Still, even though he’s unbothered, I hope he’s ok,” Luka said.

“Sass is fine. I know he enjoys Longg’s bizarre affections, even if he never lets on about them,” Gimmi butted in.

“Are you saying Sass enjoys being bitten?” Luka asked.

“Yes,” Gimmi answered.

Marinette hummed as a thought crossed her mind and she smirked. “You know, Luka, I’ve come to understand that we begin to mirror our kwamis in many aspects the longer that we’re with them. Does this mean you also like to be bitten?”

Luka’s face flushed. “Ah, well, uh, y-you see, uh, I… I wouldn’t know, you know? I mean! You were the only girl I had dated before our breakup… and there was no one else. Even when we were together, we never… you know, so I… I don’t know.”

Gimmi peered up at Luka. “You’re telling me a however old teenage boy you are has never thought with his other head? Never not once?”

Luka’s blush deepened while Marinette blushed. “Gimmi!”

“What? You aren’t seriously that surprised, are you? You both are transitioning into adults. Him sooner than you. You are going to have to address the topic of physical intimacy sooner or later. Sooner rather than later. And not by these little teasing jokes you seem to think are amusing,” Gimmi snapped.

“She’s right, you know,” Sass yelled back.

“Alright, enough. Can we talk about literally anything else?” Marinette asked.

“Yes, please. I don’t want to think about my brother’s sex life,” Juleka said with a shutter.

Luka pursed his lips as his face turned bright red.

“Yeah, no one wants to talk about their likely boring, vanilla ass love like Nathan and Marc. I’d rather talk about Kim’s failing relationship,” Alix pointed out.

“Failing? Oh no! What happened with you and Ondine?” Rose asked.

“Nothing. She’s just been busy with Terra,” Kim said.

“I don’t know. Sounds like she doesn’t want to see you,” Alix commented.

“What? No. Who wouldn’t want to see me when she gets all of this?” Kim asked as he flexed.

“Is that supposed to be impressive?” Longg asked.

“Well, I mean, yes! Ondine thought it was impressive.”

“I’m sorry on her behalf.”

Kim’s jaw dropped. He was about to respond when Alim Kubdel approached them with the director.

“Welcome, everyone. We’ve been waiting for you guys,” Alim said.

Kim raised his hand. “Mr. Alix’s Dad, is this exhibit related to anything historical and can I use it for my report?”

“Of course. Come along.”

Everyone followed Alim and the director to a back room. They approached a table with the box on it. Everyone stared at it while the kwamis stood back.

“Hey, any of you feel something… off?” Fluff asked.

Mullo nodded.

“Kaalki, you brought us here for a reason,” Sass said.

“Did you, Kaalki?” Tikki asked.

Kaalki smiled and pulled Gimmi close to her. “Mini Velze, look upon the box. What do you see? What do you feel?”

Gimmi sneered and opened her mouth, but paused when her eyes landed on the box. Her eyes widened as familiar presences washed over her. Their presences were accompanied by a vile repulsion and betrayal she had never felt, but had at the same time. She knotted her brows as her pupils constricted.

“Oh no.”

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goldenlaurelleaveswrites · 2 years ago

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I Should be Asleep

1:47 am

I Should be Asleep (AO3)

A Huge thank you to @quickspinner for helping me with the music metaphors in this chapter!! 💖💖💖

________________________________________________

He would be lying if he said he hadn’t been thinking about Marinette on and off—nonstop—for the past three days.

Which was why he hadn’t said anything about it.

And especially not to Juleka…

But just because he hadn’t said anything didn’t make it any less true. Her song was in his head, playing on endless repeat. Sometimes it was at the forefront of his mind, sometimes it allowed itself to become an the soundtrack to which his other thoughts played through his head.

But it was always there.

And with every repeat, new complexities bloomed into full blossom, like the flowers scattered across the shirt she had been wearing. There was so much in her song, her music almost overflowed into the world around her. And how could it not? He had seen a symphony in her eyes. In her smile. And every time he passed one of the pictures of her on the wall he couldn’t help but wonder how he had never noticed it there before.

Soft and gentle chords of compassion and kindness plucked at heartstrings, while the delicate tones of imagination, wonder, and creativity played on silver flutes added the lightness of daydreams. Bright and vivacious brassy notes brought warmth and the sparkling light of her open and generous nature into the song while the steady beat of courage and a sense of justice kept time as the heartbeat.

All of it blended into the melody of her.

Arpegios played in quick succession raced and rambled like a mind moving too quickly for the rest of her to keep up with, sounding of stuttered words and flailing hands and nervous laughter before receding. Discordant with the strength woven throughout her melody, that somehow sounded as if it believed it was played with borrowed chords. The music was headstrong and gentle all at once, played with the strength born from a heart of gold. It sang of boundless creativity. Of stubbornness and an eagerness to please. Of bold confidence hidden behind frazzled nerves.

It was an organized mess of contradictions and perfect sense.

And through it it all was the constant sound of an honest heart worn on a sleeve.

It was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard.

He could spend the rest of his life listening to it.

He was almost drowning in it, just like he had almost drowned in the summer skies of her eyes. It was so easy to slip beneath the surface, to discover the world of bright a vivid colours, like a coral reef.

He was drowning…

He had dove in head first…

He was falling…

He was-

“-Stupid.”

He jerked out of his daydream, nearly toppling off of his bed both from the surprise of Juleka’s sharply quiet—and annoyed—voice. And the way she had knocked the leg he had had his other leg and his guitar propped up against as he ried to figure out Marinette’s heartsong out from under him.

“What was that for?”

“I’ve been calling you for the past five minutes.” Guiltily, he glanced at his phone; there were seven missed call notifications from his sister. “And you made me come down here to get you. Everyone’s here,” she added flatly, “we’re all ready to start rehearsal.”

Sighing, he ran a a hand through his hair, further disheveling it. It had been another sleepless night spent tossing and turning, and his bedhead was worse than usual. He had meant to tame it earlier, especially given- but he had gotten caught up in-

“And what’s with that song, anyways?” Juleka asked as she glanced over her shoulder, already halfway out the door of their room. “You’ve been playing it nonstop for days now.”

***

Her pencil flew across the page, racing to keep up with the music. Juleka had been right when she had suggested she drop by the Kitty Section rehearsal to see if she could glean any inspiration from the music.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this inspired.

Already, she had filled what felt like dozens of pages of her sketchbook. Page after page, the ideas had poured out of her and onto the pages until they blurred together. Her hands could barely keep up with the ideas flowing from her pencil onto the pages. The lines of her pencil were joined by hastily added splashes of colour; suggestions for what would fit the vision of each outfit. A soft sky blue for a sundress with a swirly skirt, and a delicate shade of periwinkle for a blouse. Delicate rose and carnation pinks paired harmoniously with the blues of hyacinths, periwinkles, and the sky. Even lilac joined the mix.

The pages were quickly filling with everything from sweet and pretty dresses outfits and dreamy gowns to avant-garde ensembles only fit for a runway or a stage…

And as the pages progressed, punchier colours joined the mix. Brighter and bolder pinks, purples, reds, and blues unfurled across the pages to match the ever-growing boldness of the designs, filling in the blank spaces of the designs like stained glass.

The confident and gentle sound of a guitar carried her pencil across a fresh page in bold lines. The silhouette would be strong; sharp and bold lines to mimic the power of his playing and the angles and planes of his face. But the textiles… they would be soft to match the gentleness in his eye and the warmth of his smile. Supple leather and denim would provide structure and integrity while still offering comfort like his smile. And the colours…true black would be too stark. Too abrupt. Faded blacks and midnight blues… but with splashes of bright blue- the serene blue of calm seas to match his eyes-

“Hey.”

She jumped at the voice, barely managing to keep a hold of her sketchbook as she flailed to regain her balance before she could topple off of the crate she had perched herself on. Once she had—at least to some degree—composed herself, she looked up into Juleka’s luminous eyes. Well, the eye that wasn’t hidden behind her hair. She hadn’t even realized they had stopped playing.

Except Luka, apparently; she could still hear his guitar.

Juleka for her part, raised a brow and levelled her with a look but didn’t comment. Instead she said, “We’re taking ten. Rose and I are going down to grab drinks, you want anything?”

“Oh! O-oh yeah. Sure. That- that would be great.” She tightened her grip on her sketchbook ash she tried to ground herself with the familiar feel of its cover. Why was she suddenly so flustered? It was Juleka! They were friends! She didn’t have anything to be flustered about!

Juleka’s brow rose a little higher, but she nodded and turned without saying a word. Until she glanced back over her shoulder to mumble, “You were pretty in the zone; you must have some pretty sweet stuff in there.”

“Y-yeah, maybe,” she laughed, brushing her bangs out of her face as she dropped her gaze to the notebook. “I guess we’ll have to see.”

“Cool.” With that, Juleka disappeared down below deck.

Surreptitiously, she cast a glance around deck. The Captain was nowhere in sight, but that wasn’t surprising since Luka had mentioned she was at work until the evening. Rose and Juleka were both below deck. Ivan was by the railing, talking on the phone with Mylène from the sounds of what she could hear. Finally, her eyes found Luka.

He was sitting on the edge of the stage, his guitar still slung around him with the instrument resting in his lap. He was scribbling in a battered but otherwise nondescript notebook with the same kind of fervour she felt when she was in the zone. She watched as he dropped his pencil into the fold of his notebook and took his guitar in hand. He played a few notes, frowned, and then picked up his pencil again and scratched out whatever he had just written. And then, as if he felt her eyes on him, he looked up to meet her gaze. He shot her that lopsided smile she was quickly growing familiar with, the one that made the corners of his eyes crinkle and softened the sharp lines of his face. And then he offered her a small wave.

She returned his smile and wave with ones of her own, and then, unsure of why her face was suddenly feeling so warm, she dropped her gaze back down to her sketchbook and opened it to a random page.

Slowly, she began flipping through the pages.. She marked several of the pages to look at in more detail later; some of the designs would make great costumes for Kitty Section if they ever had the need. Sure, some of them were ambitious, but she could already imagine them now. The way pink sequins would catch the light as Rose screamed into the mic and the way studs on distressed denim would glint as Ivan drummed. Juleka would look incredible in black lace and Luka…

She squinted at her sketchbook.

She hadn’t realized quite how many costume ideas she had sketched for Luka. There were at least five pages dedicated to different costume ideas for him, each more ambitious than the last. Ambitious… but approachable. Her brows furrowed as she flipped to the last page.

And she froze.

It was the design she had been working on when Juleka interrupted her.

It wasn’t just that it wasn’t a costume—jeans and a hoodie with leather accents didn’t seem like much of a costume in her opinion—that gave her pause.

In all of her other sketches, she had used the general silhouette, maybe some rough lines to indicate hair to distinguish who would wear each outfit.

She hadn’t drawn any of the others with faces.

Especially not with such… with such detail. She could almost see the gleam in his eyes as the sketch of Luka, sitting on the stage but wearing her clothes, looked down at his guitar. Her fingers hovered over the page. Why had she-

“Here you go.”

She squeaked, and for the second time, almost lost her sketchbook in a fit of flailing. Once she had recovered, she looked up to find Juleka standing over her once again, this time holding out a glass of lemonade.

“You good?” she asked, raising a brow.

“Y-yeah! I’m good. Sorry. Just- y’know, in the zone!” she rambled as she took the glass and downed a gulp of the cool drink to try and quell the heat in her cheeks.

“Sure…” Juleka mumbled before turning to the stage. “Hey, come get your drink!” she- she didn’t yell, but it was a loud enough mumble that it carried.

Luka looked up from his notebook and nodded when he saw his sister holding the drink. “Be there in a sec.”

“I’m just leaving this here for him,” Juleka said as she turned back to place the other drink on the empty crate beside her. “It’s going to be a longer break than we thought, Rose found some of the frozen cookie dough from the last girls night we did here, and she’s decided she wants cookies.”

“Oh, do you want any help?” she asked, already moving to get up.

Juleka shook her head. “There’s barely enough room for two people as it is.” She snorted at that, remembering the struggle it had been to cram everyone into the kitchen when they had made the cookies during girls night. “Besides, you said you were in the zone,” her friend added, nodding to her notebook. “I’ll leave you to it.”

“Oh, ok, if you’re sure. Thanks.”

Juleka smiled and then started back toward the stairs that led below deck. After she had only taken a couple of steps, she turned back. “Just make sure that whatever costumes you’re designing for us, mine are cooler than Luka’s.”

She couldn’t help but laugh at Juleka’s words and wicked smirk. She was so caught up in her laughter, she didn’t notice Luka sitting down next to her until he leaned toward her, just close enough that his breath tickled her.

“What’s so funny? Sorry,” he added when she jumped.

She ducked her head, biting her lip until she had her giggles and smile under control. “Nothing, Juleka just wanted me to make my designs for her costumes cooler than yours.”

“Typical,” he chuckled. “She thinks I’m nothing but a huge dork.”

“You’re not!” she cried indignantly, only to be met with soft chuckles.

“I’ll let you try telling her that.” He leaned over to tap a finger against her notebook. “Is that what you were working on? Costumes for us?”

Fresh warmth flooded her cheeks. “I’m sorry, it’s a bit presumptuous isn’t it? To even assume you want costumes-”

“No, I think it’s great.” His smile was so honest, and there was an bright gleam in his eyes. “I bet whatever you came up with is amazing.”

“Maybe…” she said doubtfully, looking back down at her sketchbook.

“Juleka’s told me all about your designs. I know that whatever you thought of, it’s incredible. And if you don’t like it,” he gently bumped her with his shoulder, “well, the worst that can happen is your creativity didn’t work out this time. That’s what it’s all about on the Liberty, and in Kitty Section; trying new things and being creative.”

She smiled wryly. “But I’m not in the band, remember?”

He shrugged, and easy smile on his face. “Sure you are.”

“What? But I don’t even play an instrument!”

“But every band needs a costume designer, right?”

“Yeah…”

“The position is yours, if you want it,” he said, turning so his smile was fixed on her.

Her heart did something fluttery. She shook her head and smiled. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

“And…” he said slowly, “I can teach you how to play some chords, if you’d like.”

“I- yeah. I’d like that.”

***

“Just put your fingers here, here, and here.”

“Like this?”

“Here, let me just- there, that’s perfect.”

“What do we do next?”

“We’re going to make sure that all the notes sound good before we play it as a chord. So we’re going to pick out each note… see how they all sound nice and clear?”

“Yeah. And we do this to make sure my fingers in the right place, right?”

“Exactly. And they all sounded good, so now we strum like this…”

***

He was staring at the ceiling again. The cracks of light filtering through the porthole were just enough to illuminate the cracks in the ceiling he had committed to memory three nights ago. Even with his bed rearranged so his feet were now at the headboard, he could still see the array of cracks and stickers as clear as day.

Had she caught him staring at her?

Was that why she had been so shy when she had smiled and waved to him during the break before retreating to her sketchbook?

He had been trying to play it cool.

He thought he had been.

Or at least, he thought he had done a good job at pretending to be cool. As Jules so often loved to point out, he was anything but cool.

But he hadn’t been able to help himself; he hadn’t been able to stop his eyes from gravitating towards her as they had played. He had been completely transfixed by the way her brows crinkled with concentration, and the way her lips had pursed and her tongue had stuck out just a little as she had worked.

Playing had helped him focus. A little. Throughout their entire rehearsal, his fingers had itched to play the song that he was still trying to fully untangle. The one that had been on repeat in his head since she had stumbled into his room.

But then during their break… she had been so in the zone, he hadn’t been able to bear the thought of disturbing her. He knew what it was like to be in the zone. To have the creative juices flowing and to have the stars align so that everything just worked. Breaking her out of that would have been a crime. The adorable look of concentration on her face hadn’t played a—huge—role in that decision.

So he had let himself look at her. He had tried to be subtle, what with everyone—especially his sister—around. But maybe he hadn’t been as subtle as he had thought…

Usually, he wasn’t about trying to play anything but music. But it was all so new! He didn’t want to make her uncomfortable! He didn’t want to scare her away. He didn’t know how she felt…

He pulled a pillow over his face and let something between a sigh and a groan escaped him, muffled by the pillow.

It was all so… so new.

He had had passing crushes before. But this?

This was different.

He hadn’t heard music before.

Not like this.

***

She hadn’t realized just how much… how much blue had ended up in her sketchbook until she had gotten home and started flipping through it again to see what fabrics in her stash might suit the designs she wanted to make. And… how? Why?

Why had her sketchbook suddenly been dominated by blue?

It wasn’t like she never wore blue! She just didn’t normally wear that much of it…

She sighed as she kicked her covers off and carefully, so as not to wake Tikki who was snoring softly on her pillow, climbed out of her bed. In the light that filtered through the cracks in her curtains and through the glass of the trapdoor that led to her balcony, she padded across her room to her sketchbook. She glared at it as she picked it up from where she had dumped it on her desk earlier, when Tikki had chided her for still being awake.

She glanced at her alarm clock and sighed. It wasn’t like Tikki’s reminders that she should have been asleep by that point had done any good, seeing as she was still up.

She bit her lip as she began flipping through the pages as she idly made her way toward her chaise.

The blue? It was throwing her for a loop. Not unlike her Lucky Charms so often did.

But just like she always did with her Lucky Charms, she would figure it out.

She plopped herself down on the chaise and began examining the pages with the clothes she had obviously designed for herself in mind. The sky blue she had chosen for a dress… the sky had been a gorgeous shade of blue during the afternoon. And sitting in out in the open on the deck of the Liberty… she must have subconsciously drawn the colour from that. And the hyacinth and periwinkle blues… well, everything was in bloom right now. And they had passed some shops that had hanging baskets of flowers outside as they had headed toward the Liberty. So that explained the shades of blue. And the lilac, it easily could have been something she saw in the planters they passed or a natural conclusion to reach given she had been using mostly pinks and blues.

She smiled to herself.

The shades of blue had nothing to do with Luka.

She froze just as she was flipping to the next page.

Luka?

Why-

He had nothing to do with her designs! Why would she even think that?

She shook her head and looked down at the page in front of her. Luka’s likeness stared back up other.

Just because she had drawn him for… whatever reason she had, it didn’t mean anything. She doodled stuff all the time! Sure, her doodles usually weren’t quite so… detailed… But that still didn’t mean anything! Just like it didn’t mean anything that her sketchbook was suddenly filled with shades of blue!

She snapped the sketchbook closed and tossed it to the side before crossing her arms and letting out a breath that she channeled all of her frustrations into.

This was stupid! She should be sleeping, not fixating on whatever silly nonsense was going on with her sketchbook. Because that’s what is was.

It was silly.

It was nonsense.

It was crazy-

She jolted from her chaise, as if electrified, by the sudden—and unwanted—thought that had just forced its way into her head.

He had almost seen her sketchbook.

When he had sat down beside her- if she hadn’t- if the she had lost her grip- if it had opened to one of the many pages with designs for him- the one with his face-

The waves of anxious thoughts carried her to and fro as she paced around her room. She did her best to keep her footsteps light. She didn’t want to wake Tikki and have to listen to another lecture on the importance of sleep. But how could she keep her footsteps light- how could she keep calm- how could she sleep when she was suddenly filled with worries that maybe he somehow had seen her sketchbook.

Because how would she explain it? How would she explain that the only sketch that had a face—a detailed face—was of him? How would she explain that without sounding crazy? If all of the design sketches had included faces on the models- but no! It was just him! He would think she was crazy!

She didn’t want him to think she was crazy!

She wanted-

‘I think Marinette the compass has found herself a new statue.’

***

He had tried counting sheep to take his mind off the music that was permeating his thoughts. But they had quickly turned to measures of music. Of one song in particular…

So he had tried grounding himself. He had tried imagining the weight of a guitar in his hands. The feel of the polished wood of his acoustic and the comforting resistance of perfectly tuned strings. He would have just gotten up and gabbed his guitar, but he didn’t trust himself to hold an instrument and not start playing her song.

And the last thing he had wanted to do was wake up Jules…

Imagining the feel of the guitar had worked.

Sort of.

He had stopped playing her song over and over in his mind. But only, he suspected, because his mind was now fixated on the feel of her hands in his as he had guided her fingers to press down on the strings in the right places and strum with the pick he had handed her. And how she had fit so perfectly in his arms. And the way her perfume, a soft and sweet blend of vanilla and something floral, had scented the air around them. And the way she had so paid such rapt attention to his every word…

It wasn’t uncommon for people to ask him how to play; and he usually didn’t mind obliging. But Marinette had paid attention the way only an artist invited into anther artists’s realm would.

She was just… she was so incredible. So honest. So sincere…

He rolled over, the blankets winding themselves even more tightly around him as he continued his tossing and turning, and groaned into his pillow for the umpteenth time.

He was so far gone…

***

‘I think Marinette the compass has found herself a new statue.’

She had retreated back to her bed and burrowed under her mountain of blankets and pillows and plushies. It had been a completely useless attempt to block out her thoughts; as if pillows and plushies could protect her against them, as if blankets could hide her from them.

Alya’s words were still echoing inside her head. As unwelcome and untrue as they had been for the past three nights.

She had said Alya was being silly. Alya had been being silly! She loved Adrien. And she had only just met Luka! And yeah, Luka was really nice- sweet even. And gentle. Kind. Funny. And he had been really brave, the way he had tricked Captain Hardrock. And he was an incredible musician, the way he had managed to stand out on stage, even with the rest of Kitty Section up there with him. And the way he had played her that song that had been so… sincere. So honest. And he was kinda cute. Well, he was really cute.

He was more than cute…

But none of that meant anything!

She was in love with Adrien!

And thinking her friend was talented didn’t mean anything. All of her friends were talented! And there was nothing weird about thinking a friend was cute. Rose was adorable, and Juleka was drop dead gorgeous. It was just a fact!

So none of it meant anything…

But if Alya had been being ridiculous… why was she still lying wide awake? And why was she lying wide awake thinking about Luka?

And the feeling of his arms…

She shook her head.

Nope.

No.

Absolutely not.

It was just- she was just- she was being ridiculous!

Yeah, she had been… flustered. But that was only natural! She was still getting to know Luka! And yeah, they had quickly become friends—they had just clicked—but she was still getting to know him and getting used to him so it was only natural to be a little flustered by how he had appeared in her sketchbook!

And the way her face had warmed as he had told her she was already a part of the band…

And how close they had ended up while he taught her to play…

With his arms around her…

And his soft, velvet voice in her ear…

And his hands that had fit so perfectly around hers as he guided her-

But he had just been showing her how to play!

It didn’t…

#endgame lukanette #lukanette endgame #luka couffaine #marinette dupain cheng #juleka couffaine #kitty section #i should be asleep #lbscsecretadmirer2023 #fluff

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miraculouslybroadway · 11 months ago

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Multibug & Vipercat Snippets:

Onesies

It was Halloween. Marinette had been working on commissions all of October for celebrities, and didn’t have the time to put together a costume of her own.

On Halloween morning Luka stopped by just as she was finishing up a fitting.

“Come in!” She called when he knocked on the door.

“Hey Mari, I brought you coffee and lunch. I checked your schedule and I wanted to make sure you ate.” Luka entered her room balancing a few things in his arms.

His girlfriend was scurrying around the room, pins in her mouth and her hair in a messy bun.

Standing in the center of the room was Clara Nightingale, dressed as a stylized nightingale. Elegantly arranged on her dress was an assortment of brown and cream colored feathers, and her wings stretched out, attached to her arms.

“Hey Lu.” Marinette didn’t look up from her hemming.

Luka set the things down and started straightening up. Her room was covered in assorted feathers and scales (Jagged’s crocodile costume was insane), and her personal belongings were currently scattered between the floor and any available surface.

By the time Clara’s dress had been hemmed, zipped up into a carrier bag for safe transportation, and then leaving with Clara, Luka had already been there for an hour.

Marinette was still working, updating her website with new pictures. She stopped when she felt Luka’s arms wrap around her waist. It was cold out, but she kept the room warm so his sweater was tied around his waist, revealing the band of tattoos wrapped around his arms.

“Hey Mel, you can’t save the world if you don’t eat.”

“I have to update my website. And then after I have to clean…Lu! You cleaned my room for me? You didn’t have to do that!”

Luka chuckled, “Like I said, you can’t save the world on an empty stomach. It was the least I could do love.”

“I love you.” She angled her head to kiss underneath his jaw before taking the sandwich he brought and finishing her website update.

“I love you too. You want me to let the kwamis out?”

“Can you? I think they’ve been getting antsy. All month I’ve had people in this room so they’ve had less time to stretch. Luckily it’s…HOW IS IT ALREADY HALLOWEEN! I didn’t have time to make a costume!”

Luka kissed the top of her forehead. “Shhh, finish your lunch and we’ll figure it out together.”

Once she’d calmed down, and Luka let the kwamis out of the box, he showed her the bag he’d brought.

“Now I know this isn’t a fancy costume, but we didn’t have anything planned so I thought we’d just stay in tonight and watch some Halloween movies. But, I saw these at the store the other day and I thought they were perfect.”

Marinette peaked inside the bag and squealed. “Luka you didn’t!” She jumped into his lap to hug him. “They’re so cute! Stitch and Angel! I love you!”

Luka grinned. “Anything for you Melody.”

That evening, once her room was clean, the kwamis had a few pieces of candy and then decided to go back in the box and give them some space, and Marinette’s parents had closed up shop, they were cuddled in bed in matching onesies watching Hocus Pocus.

“I really can’t thank you enough Luka! Not just for today, but for everything you’ve done for me over the past few years. You’re my partner. I wouldn’t be able to save the world without you. I wouldn’t have been able to graduate early or start university or build my brand without you!”

Luka just shrugged and pulled her closer to him. “I love you Marinette. Someone as incredible as you just needed a little help to get where you were destined to go. I’m happy to be that person for you.”

Marinette stopped for a moment, and then paused the movie. “Luka I’m serious.” She angled herself so they were looking at each other. She bit her lip before saying, “Lu, will you marry me?”

Luka’s eyes went wide before softening. “I thought you’d never ask. And hey, if you love them so much, can we get married in these onesies too?”

Marinette’s face twisted to a horrified expression. “I just proposed to you in pajamas! This wasn’t how it was supposed to go I didn’t even have a plan! Luka I’m sorry but I’m going to have to take it back-“

He cut her off with a quick kiss. “I’m sorry Melody but you can’t take it back. I have already said yes to becoming Mr. Dupain-Cheng. When people ask we’re just going to have to say you proposed while we were wearing onesies.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “So…we’re getting married?”

“Hell yeah we are.”

“When?”

“Hey, if you want to I’m free tomorrow.”

“No we can’t I have a meeting.”

“Thursday?”

“Can I bring Marc?”

“I was going to bring Juleka. She’s probably going to bring Rose though.”

“Well that’s okay. Marc was probably going to bring Nath.”

“Alix might as well show up with Chloe at this rate. And you know that Kagami won’t be far behind.”

“So, Thursday?”

“I can’t wait.”

“Oh and Lu?”

“Yeah?”

“There is no way we’re getting married in these onesies.”

#lukanette #fluff #alternate universe

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ao3feed-ladynoir · 2 months ago

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#AO3 Feed Link #FanFiction #AO3 Adrienette Plus #💚#💖#❤️#Adrienette Plus #Lukanette #Miraculous Ladybug #♧#R:T #A:SullenFairy #Fluff #Angst

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writer-rider-flirty-thirties · 2 years ago

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Yesterday (1/23) was the first anniversary of my very first Miraculous fic, Struggling. It's unbelievable that it's been a whole year since I started writing Miraculous things! I'm excited to see if I slow down, keep pace, or write even more in this coming year!

(reusing the gif from one of my first Miraculous posts as well lol)

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justminawrites · 1 year ago

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Of Ribbons and Other Lost Things - Chapter 2: Help Wanted

AO3

1 | 2 | 3 | TBC

Luka Couffaine hadn’t meant to end up at the Dupain-Cheng Bakery on purpose.

He’d bombed his first three interviews, for a bartender (too young), beekeeper (they seemed to be allergic to him) and bassist (he took one look at the bloodstained chipmunk costume and refused to get in), and found himself with a some time to kill before the final one at Le Grand Paris hotel.

So he aimlessly cycled around the cobblestoned pathways of Paris instead, following musical notes scattered all around city like a giant melodic puzzle, before traitorous muscle memory kicked in, taking him to the one place he was sure he’d be turned away from.

The bakery was right in the heart of the city; a beautiful, five-story building fortified with an eggshell-white composite of brick and wood, the delicious aroma of bread weaving in and around the neighbouring streets.

Luka felt his insides curl, the twang! of a broken guitar string, as he stopped his bike outside its freshly-painted doors, and tried to pedal back the way he came.

But his legs stalled as he caught sight of a girl on the rooftop balcony of the building, pacing back and forth in her trademark pink jeans and grey blazer, exaggeratedly waving her arms as though she was in an argument with herself.

Luka bit his lip to keep from smiling at the sight.

Now, it was no secret Marinette Dupain-Cheng was avoiding him.

He’d deduced as much when she noticeably stopped coming to Kitty Section’s rehearsals, started pitching her new designs on the group chat instead of actually showing up to their meetings, and even having The Girl Squad deliver the first draft of the clothes she’d sewn.

But what was a secret was that he’d been avoiding her just as much.

No one knew besides Jule (because no one knew anything about him besides Juleka), but Luka had found himself taking every precaution to avoid the Dupain-Chengs, from cancelling inner-city deliveries to pulling admittedly dangerous 180s on a busy Parisian street, just because the light hit just right and the girl walking his way could’ve been Marinette with extensions (it was not).

He knew the strain of avoiding both his father and his ex-girlfriend was bound to put him in a tight spot eventually, and karma reared its head one fine day when Luka heard the inevitable click of a door opening and found himself face-to-chest with the broad-shouldered Tom Dupain.

“Luka,” if Tom noticed how he’d turned three shades whiter, he didn’t say anything, “You must be here for Marinette. Marine–”

“NO!” He yelled hastily, before clamping his mouth shut, much to Tom’s bewilderment.

“Uhm, I mean–” Luka held up his hands in surrender, resisting the urge to glance up at the balcony, “This isn’t.. about Marinette.. at all.”

“Then, did you come to buy a croissant?” Tom asked, arms crossed, curiously casting a glance at the several HELP WANTED flyers filling up his bike’s wicker-basket.

“Uh,” He swallowed, uncomfortable with lying to this hulk of a man, “You wouldn’t happen to be hiring?”

It was a deliberate trap. Luka already knew that the Dupain-Cheng’s bakery was a family-owned business, and as a result they almost never outsourced any work, not even for national holidays like Galette’s Day. So it was a pretty safe bet that the next few moves would proceed like this: they’d kindly (they did everything kindly) offer him a rejection, he would graciously accept it, promise to return for a galette in a few weeks, and cycle away, never to show his face here again.

“Oh no, we’re not–“ Tom looked ready to refuse, but a strange look came over his face, “–actually, hold on, Sabine’s going to be busy for a few weeks and Marinette’s always drowning in schoolwork these days..”

But it seemed like karma wasn’t done with him quite yet.

“Riiight,” Luka leaned back, not liking where this train of thought was going, “I’ll get out of your hair then, sir.”

Tom opened the door wider with one arm, placing the other on Luka’s shoulder before giving him a vaguely threatening smile.

“Why don’t you come in for a bit, son?”

He paled.

...

“That was way too close, Marinette!”

“I know, Tikki.”

“You know no one can find out about you being Ladybug!”

“I know, Tikki.”

“Were you actually going to tell Alya?”

“I don’t know, Tikki.”

“What do you know, Marinette?”

Marinette Dupain-Cheng stopped her pacing to raise an eyebrow at the red and black-spotted bug’s uncharacteristically hostile tone, which she quickly felt guilty for.

Tikki was just being cautious; losing Master Fu had a visceral effect on all the kwamis; some more intense than others (Wayzz hadn’t come out of the box once), and she could hardly fault her closest companion for being stiff with her when she didn’t exactly tell her what she was planning on doing.

“I’m sorry,” Tikki said first, flying up from her perch on the balcony railing to nuzzle Marinette’s face, “If you think Alya can be trusted with this kind of secret, I won’t stop you.”

“I know it was hard for you to lose Master Fu,” Marinette sighed accepting the apology with a gentle poke between her antennae, “And I’m nowhere ready to being as good of a Guardian he was, but I need you to trust me, okay?”

“I can’t do this alone, and I can’t tell Chat Noir, in case one of us gets akumatised. I can’t be a full-time Guardian and Ladybug, Tikki. We need a new permanent hero, and Alya is my only choice.”

“But didn’t she reveal her secret identity to you a little too quickly?”

Marinette pursed her lips at that; her kwami had a point.

Alya had told her she was Rena Rouge not just with excitement and some air of false pride– like she was a veteran in a field that Marinette had only just been exposed to, but also with resignation. Like she’d given up on Ladybug visiting her at all.

“Well I guess.. if she can’t be Rena Rouge anymore, I’ll just have to give her another miraculous!”

“Won’t she be just as likely to rely on you as before, Marinette?”

“Hmm..” Marinette narrowed her eyes. When she and Chat Noir had first gotten their miraculouses, it was without the safety net of being a ‘temporary holder’. They were forced to make their own decisions, learn their own lessons, and keep their own secrets close to their hearts; from friends, even from family. Master Fu had only joined them when it was clear that they’d fallen into their own rhythm of doing things, and once he was sure they weren’t going to quit on him anytime soon.

“You know, Marinette,” Tikki began, catching onto the idea that was already forming in her holder’s mind, “Nobody knows that Ladybug is the new Guardian of the Miracle Box... or that there is a guardian in the first place.”

It was true; thanks to Queen Wasp’s city-wide akumatisation a month ago, no one had been spared to cover the highlights of Master Fu’s sacrifice in HD clarity. It was as close to a blackout as the city’d gotten to since.. its last mind-wiping akuma?

“You’re right Tikki.. but what if she just tries to return the miraculous to me when she’s done with it?”

“You can always fib a little.”

Marinette gasped exaggeratedly, and the kwami rolled her round, blue eyes.

“I don’t mean lie, Marinette. You can just tell Alya that if and when the Guardian of the Miraculous decides to hand out a new one to a permanent hero, it’s not your business to interfere in the matter.. or to know their identity.”

“You’re a genius, Tikki!” She said with a smile, “That way, Alya can decide wether or not to accept the miraculous on her own terms, but if she chooses to quit, I’ll still be able to get it back from her!”

As Marinette reached into her sling bag to give her kwami a macaron as a reward, she heard a sudden shout come from below her. Before she could reach over to see who was making a fuss at the bakery so early in the day, Tikki flew into her line of sight to give her a strict look.

“But ShadowMoth knows Alya’s identity now. What if he’s tailing her to see if you give her the miraculous again?”

Marinette felt the grimace before it twisted her mouth. Of course. She’d been so focused on keeping the miraculous safe, that she’d forgotten to consider keeping their temporary holders safe too. And for all she knew, ShadowMoth might just be hiding more information he’d stolen from Master Fu and waiting it out to surprise her in some way. She couldn’t take any unnecessary risks.

“You’ll have to find some way to slip it into her bag in your civilian form,” Tikki continued, “But Marinette, are you really, really sure she can be–“

A buzz interrupted the kwami’s heartfelt warning, and she looked down to see her phone flash with a new message from her bff:

@alya.ladyblogger: guess who’s already waiting for u downstairs??

@alya.ladyblogger: (totally not trying to get u to come faster or anything)

@alya.ladyblogger: hint - he’s vv hot and vv into superheroes (like u!!!)

Marinette ignored the twist of dread in her stomach as she headed down to her room to grab the bee miraculous from a black, egg-shaped slot in the miracle box.

She wasn’t making a mistake.. right?

...

“You couldn’t have picked a better place! This is the best bakery in Paris– my kids adore their croissants!”

Zoé Lee stepped out of the hired cab, letting the doe-eyed look she’d given the driver, slip off her face to reveal a sly smile.

The best bakery in Paris, huh? Of course, anything less for the newest Bourgeois princess would be ridiculous.. utterly ridiculous, to quote the saying her mother and Chloé often butchered.

She knelt down, adjusting the laces on her colourful sneakers so they’d conveniently trip her up when the time came, running a finger over the slightly smudged red-and-black letters she’d scribbled onto the left one last minute.

I ♥ U.

What a joke.

But self-deprecating enough to tug at the heartstrings of anyone who had a semblance of sympathy– and there were a few people in particular Zoé planned on tugging. Into her own orbit, or out of Chloé’s, she wasn’t really picky. But her plans began with these sneakers and one delightfully oblivious baker girl.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Zoé Lee-Bourgeois pushed open the bakery door with a soft chime. Her half-of-a-sister couldn’t even begin to guess what was coming her way.

______________________________________________________________

END NOTES:

Luka: The risk i took was calculated, but man.. am i bad at math.

NEXT CHAPTER ->

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trixxiephantomhive · 2 years ago

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LBSC Secret Santa Sprint Fic Challenge 2022

for: @inkmousey

Chapter 1 summary: Luka finally beats Marinette in Ultimate Mecha Strike III!

-but she starts crying.

Chapter 2: Marinette isn't the best at iceskating

It was a peaceful Christmas day, snow was falling, and the smell of breakfast floated through the house. But, best of all, Luka had come over that morning to give Marinette her gift, and Tom insisted he stayed for Christmas dinner. Luka, fully knowing his Ma would just be heating up frozen turkey dinners in the boat’s microwave, decided to stay.

So they all just watched movies, ate lots of sweets, and opened presents.

And, there were a lot of presents. Marinette made her dad a new hat, a mug, and a book cover for his favorite recipe book. She also made her mom a new apron, bought her a paintable plant pot, a new book, and a banner to display in her art classes. She also made Luka a treasure trove of hoodies and beanies to keep him warm.

Eventually, everything was opened and Tom made his way into the kitchen to cook a massive meal. And, soon enough came the delicious smells and the faint jingles of bells strewn around in the tinsel, wrapping the walls, and there were ornaments on the tree. The holiday spirit was strong

While waiting for dinner to be ready, Luka and Marinette sat on the couch to play some Ultimate Mecha Strike III, Luka prepared himself to play, fully expecting to lose. But Marinette –who may have been a little tipsy from the spiked eggnog Luka bought for her parents– was off her game. With a lot of fight on his side, he won for the first time ever against her. He laughed and looked over with a smile, but that smile was quickly wiped off his face when she looked back with tears in her eyes.

He scooted closer to her. “Marinette?” He asked, “What’s the matter?”

“You won? I never lose!” She started sniffling as tears rolled down her cheeks, she rubbed them away and it made her face red.

“Woah, woah! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry!” Luka gasped and tried to give her a hug, but she grumpily pushed him back and hiccuped. “No, bad Luka!”

He scooted back and looked at her,“I didn’t mean to… I ruined your Christmas!” He wails softly, he knew Marinette occasionally had a fragile disposition, he felt horrible about shattering it

Marinette stared at him as her eyes went wide. She shook her head as she jumped closer to him, “You did not! I just didn’t expect to lose!”

“Are you sure?” Luka asked, and Marinette nodded, “You didn’t ruin Christmas, I promise,”

Luka smiled and chuckled a bit, hugging Marinette finally. She moved her head to look up at him and smirked. “You don’t have to worry, Luka, that was only the third round. We’ve got at least seven more to go.”

Luka laughed and held Marinette even tighter, “You’re on, darning.”

(part two under the line)

A few days after Christmas, Luka and Marinette decided it was the perfect time to try another ice skating date, except that this time it would be just the two of them.

They met up down the street from the Liberty since Marinette was already out that way. The couple then began their walk to the rink, the sound of Juleka’s electric bass cranked up all the way followed behind them like wind at their feet.

Luka stared at the cold snow as they walked with mild hatred for it. After years of being the snake hero, his ability to withstand the cold had become whittled down to almost nothing, so he could never be more thankful to Marinette for making him a mountain of sweaters for Christmas. They arrived at the ice rink and began to set up, Luka pulled out a pair of well-loved skates, covered in stickers like almost everything else he owned. Marinette, on the other hand, had to go rent herself a pair. She never particularly got the chance to skate. After getting the skates on, Marinette tried to stand, and instantly started wobbling. Within a second, Luka was by her side helping her into the rink. She smiled and took his hand, the scent of cold ice mixing with Luka’s minty smell put her at ease.

Luka started to lead Marinette forward, and for a moment, she seemed to have no issues, so as he let go of her hand to fix his pink, handmade beanie, all seemed fine. That is, until Marinette snapped back to reality and started to fall backwards, her arms flailing wildly. Luka bent down to check on her after she fell onto the ice, “Marinette, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just fell.. I’m used to falling,” Marinette laughed it off, and with Luka’s help managed to get back up.

They skate a tiny bit more, with Luka carefully holding Marinette’s hand while she tried to figure out what she’s doing.

“Oh, I’m being no fun,” Marinette pouted, “Go ahead and skate around a bit, I can’t figure out what I’m doing,”

“No way, Marinette,” Luka looked at her comfortingly, “You just need to learn, I don’t mind showing you. I didn’t come out today just to skate. I wanted to spend time with you.”

“Luka, that’s so sweet.” Marinette took Luka’s arm and they began to go around the rink at a steady pace, Marinette growing more comfortable, and Luka just enjoyed the time he got to spend with his always busy girlfriend.

After a while, Marinette wanted to try skating again without needing to hold something, so she carefully let go of Luka and pushed off, all went well for a few seconds. But then she started to stumble, unable to catch herself to regain stability

Luka skated up closer to her, but allowed her to continue to try and do it on her own, only until it seemed she was about to fall, and when she did, he caught her and lifted her up into his arms. He skated around, carrying her bridal style. They both laughed and smiled until it was time to leave.

#luka miraculous #marinette dupen chang #miraculous ladybug #lukanette endgame #pro lukamari #fluff #cute christmas #Love-bugs-and-snake-charmers #lbsc secret santa

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frickingnerd · 6 months ago

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poly relationship with adrien, luka & marinette

pairing: adrien agreste x marinette dupain-cheng x gn!reader x luka couffaine

tags: established relationship, lukadrienette, wholesome fluff, secret identities + identity reveals, public displays of affection

there's no jealousy between the four of you and everyone gets along with everyone!

for dates, you try to make sure everyone can be there, but sometimes only two people go on a date together, due to different schedules

plus, marinette and adrien tend to disappear whenever there's an akuma alert, often leaving luka and you left behind…

adrien is the first one to reveal to you that he's chat noir, as he hates having to keep secrets! especially when it's about his loved ones

marinette is the last one to reveal her identity and only after luka and adrien already revealed theirs

with adrien and marinette busy being heroes, luka is the one keeping the relationship together and planning everything!

he plans the dates, takes care of everyone and makes the decisions regarding your relationship

he's always managing your relationship and to make up for that, you always surprise him with gifts!

adrien buys him gifts with his dad's money, marinette bakes for him and you are there to cuddle him whenever he needs it!

there's a lot of physical affection between the four of you, as it's the love language of your three partners!

adrien is very touch starved, marinette is clingy and luka just likes to be near you whenever he can! you are constantly holding hands, cuddling, hugging or kissing!

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verfound · 2 months ago

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FIC: "Mellie's New Friend" (MLB; Lukanette; LBSC Lukanette Month 2024)

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

Read on Ao3

Prompt 64: Nail Polish

There wasn’t a lot to like about Gertie, the old woman who lived next door. Gertie was, politely speaking, kind of a bitch. She took offense to just about everything about the Couffaine household: the dyed hair of its owners, the loud music that cranked at all hours, the even louder children the owners let run around like little hooligans, the constant stream of strangers (family and friends all, not that she cared) always coming and going, the general Chaos that followed them around like an unlucky shadow. She was loud and cantankerous herself, always quick to shoot a barb at Marinette or one of the kids when she spotted them outside of the house.

(She never bothered casting barbs towards Luka. For Luka, she reserved her trademark silent scowl. He had thought she’d actually growled at him one day, but looking back he was pretty sure that had been Poochie, not her.)

Marinette tried, bless her, to be kind and patient and all those good, wholesome things people like Marinette were with her. She always did her best to greet the barbs with a smile. She always reminded the kids that Gertie was alone, and lonely people tended to be…harder than people surrounded by friends and family. And when that didn’t work, she slapped a tight smile on her face, wished her a good day, and scurried back inside.

None of the kids were old enough to remember her Grandpa Roland – he had passed well before Harmony was born – but she did. His memory afforded her the grace the others sometimes lacked, when it came to their old neighbor.

It was a good two years of living next to Gertie’s hateful barbs before they realized Gertie had, at some point, apparently…had a heart?

Because there was a child in her backyard.

Melody was the first to notice, and Luka had to admit he had noticed her before he noticed the other kid. Because she’d been sitting by the fence, acting like she was talking and playing with someone he couldn’t see – and she had long outgrown her last ‘imaginary’ friend. And while it was possible one of the kwamis was out there with her, he was pretty sure he would have seen them zipping around.

“Mels?” he asked, poking his head out the back door. “You ok?”

“I’m good, Papa!” she called. “It’s just Milly!”

Her face scrunched up, and then she rolled her eyes in a perfect imitation of her aunt.

“Sorry. Mildred,” she said, dragging out the name like it was distasteful. “I don’t know why you don’t like Milly – it’s so much more fun than Mildred.”

Luka had walked across the garden to her by this point, and amused expression on his face.

“Mildred?” he asked, chuckling. “And who’s Mildred, songbird?”

“My new friend,” Melody said, grinning at him. She pointed at the fence. “She lives over there.”

And that was when Luka actually looked at the old stockade fence, and while he couldn’t actually see through it…there was just enough of a gap beneath it that he could see the bottoms of folded legs and light-up trainers on the other side.

…huh.

There actually was a kid in Gertie’s yard.

He briefly entertained the thought of Gertie being a possible child snatcher and whether or not he needed to call Captain Roger, but that was ridiculous.

There was no way Gertie had the strength or dexterity in her old, arthritic body to kidnap a fully-grown child. She barely had enough strength to wrangle her dog most days, and Poochie was smaller than even Dewey yet.

“Well, hello, Mil…dred,” he said, remembering the way she had obviously corrected Melody.

“Hi,” a quiet voice answered. A tiny hand appeared beneath the fence, little fingers wiggling at them in a wave. His lips quirked up in a smile, and he crouched down as the hand slipped back under a fence. He glanced at Melody when she giggled, and they shared a grin as he reached his own fingers under the fence and waved. Before he could say anything, there was a tiny gasp, and then little fingers were wrapping around his own. “Oh my gosh! Your nails are so pretty!”

“Not as pretty as Maman’s,” Melody huffed, and Luka stuck his tongue out at her when she pulled a face. “But they’re nice. I guess.”

“You’d like them more if I painted them pink, huh?” he teased. Melody started to grin again, and he stuck his tongue back out. He turned back to the fence and wiggled his fingers. “Thank you, Mildred.”

“You paint them?” Mildred asked. He felt her run a finger along one of his nails, and his smile softened. “Like…on your own?”

“I do,” he said. “I’ve been painting them since I was a little over Mellie’s age.”

“That’s so cool,” Mildred breathed. There was another moment of hesitation, where she just held onto his fingers and tapped against the nails. And then, after a bit, she asked: “Can…can you paint mine?”

Melody started to squeal, but Luka frowned.

“I…don’t know if your…if Mlle. Gertie would like that, Mildred,” he said. “I can if you’d like, but maybe we should ask her first?”

“Granny Gertrude will say no,” Mildred sighed. “I just wanted to be pretty, too…”

And that was, ultimately, what did it.

Because Luka Couffaine was nothing if not a softie, especially for sad little girls. A bleeding heart, his wife would say. And even if he couldn’t actually see Mildred through the fence, Melody was giving him the biggest puppy eyes she could manage, and that was enough to break his heart. So, knowing full well that Granny Gertie was going to give him untold levels of hell for it later, he squeezed Mildred’s fingers before pulling his hand back. He patted Melody’s knee, smiling sadly at her.

“What color would you like, Mildred?” he asked. “We have the whole rainbow upstairs.”

“The sparkly pink one!” Melody cried. “Oooh! Oh, no! The sparkly blue! Or Auntie Jules’s witch one! Or the stardust one!”

“I…I don’t know,” Mildred’s quiet voice said. “They all sound nice.”

He chuckled and reached out, ruffling Melody’s hair. She stuck her tongue out at him, and he tipped his head back towards the house.

“All right, then, Mels,” he said. “Why don’t you go pick out a few favorites, and we’ll let Mildred see which one she likes best?”

“She’s gonna love the unicorn one Auntie Rose got me!” Melody screamed as she raced inside. Luka shook his head and chuckled. He looked back at the fence with a smile.

“So…Mlle. Gertie’s your grandmother?” he asked.

“Yes,” Mildred answered.

“I didn’t know she had any family,” Luka said.

“We live a really long way away,” Mildred said. “We had to drive for hours before we took a plane. Mama and Papa are doctors.”

“Really?” Luka asked, surprised. Gertie had never said anything.

“In Africa,” she said. “We travel a lot.”

“I travel a lot, too,” Luka said, “but not for half as good a reason. I’m sure your parents help a lot of people, Mildred.”

“Mellie said you’re Luke Stone,” Mildred said, and his eyebrows rose in surprise. “You help people, too. We play your music in the clinic all the time. It makes everyone happy.”

…well, shit.

“That…thank you, Mildred,” he said, smiling against the burn in his throat. “I appreciate that. I still think your parents have the harder job, though.”

“Are you really gonna paint my nails?” she asked.

“Of course,” he said. “Anything for such a sweet fan.”

“Nuh-uh!” Melody’s voice said sharply beside him. He looked up to see she had returned with an arm full of tiny bottles. Just like he’d promised, there was every color of the rainbow there – and then some. “I’m gonna do it! Papa, Millie’s my new best friend. You go get your own!”

…he had one, but the asshole wasn’t half as sweet as the little girl on the other side of the fence. He shook his head, laughing as he shrugged. What was he gonna do, though? Melody’s word was almost law.

“Well, if you insist. Are you ok with that, Mildred? If Mellie paints your nails?” he asked.

“Sure,” Mildred said. “I like Mellie. Her nails are pretty, too.”

Melody grinned as she held up her thumb. The sparkly pink paint was already chipped and half-off – she’d need a touchup soon.

“Well, ok, then,” he said, clapping his knees before he pushed himself up. “I’ll leave you two to it. It was nice meeting you, Mildred.”

“You too, M. Stone,” Mildred said.

“Couffaine,” Melody huffed, rolling her eyes. “He’s only M. Stone for the cameras.”

“Be nice, Mellie,” he chided, but he was still smiling when she stuck her tongue out at him. He leaned over to kiss the top of her head, and then he pushed himself up and turned back towards the house. “Have fun, you two.”

Marinette found him by the backdoor a short while later, nursing a mug of tea as he watched the girls paint each other’s nails through the fence. She wrapped her arms around his middle and rested her head on his shoulder, humming when he bent to kiss the top of it.

“What is she doing?” she asked, following his gaze to the fence.

“Making a friend,” he said. He turned to her with a grin. “Did you know Gertie has a kid? A grandkid, for that matter?”

Marinette blinked up at him, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open.

“…holy shit,” she said after a moment. “Someone actually procreated with that miserable old –”

“Manners,” he chuckled, tilting her chin up to cut her off with a kiss. “There’s probably a child present. Somewhere. We certainly have enough of them.”

“Don’t you start,” she huffed, squeezing him as she laid her head back down. “I can’t believe she was ever able to connect with someone like that.”

“She might not have always been miserable,” he said with a shrug. “Anyway, your nonna connected with Roland like that, and we all remember how miserable he was.”

“Shut up,” she giggled, bumping her head against his arm. “You’re glad they did. We never would have met if she hadn’t seen something in him.”

“And now Mellie has a new friend because someone saw something in Gertie,” he said. She stuck her tongue out at him, then rolled her eyes when he kissed it. He winked at her. “…even if she is a miserable old bitch.”

She rolled her eyes and bumped her forehead against him.

(She was less amused a few days later, when she was walking the twins home from maternelle and Louis saw Gertie walking up her front steps, stopped to wave, and cried: “Hi, missable old bitch!”)

#miraculous ladybug #luka couffaine #melody couffaine #lukanette #endgame lukanette #lukanette endgame #ml fic #ver fic #house band #lbsc lukanette month 2024 #prompt: nail polish #lukanette kids #kid fluff #guys my head feels like bricks wrapped in cotton wool #I'm trying

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celestiall0tus · 4 months ago

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Long Road - Chapter 13 - Release

Beginning || Previous || Next

Gimmi stared at the box in disbelief. “This is why you brought us here. This is why you brought me here, isn’t it?”

“Now you’re getting it. See, old director there knows what I am and that box is something related to me, us. It’s no ancient relic of some lost world. No remnant of an ancient civilization. Whatever made the box is us, as is what is contained within. And that seems like a direct violation of what Father wanted. Or rather, what you wanted,” Kaalki mused.

Gimmi fumed. “I am not Velze. I am Gimmi.”

“You aren’t fooling any of us, so no need to keep lying,” Longg hissed.

Gimmi took a deep breath as she balled and unballed her fists. She turned and glared at Longg with red, gleaming eyes.

“Aww, what’s the matter? Did I-?” Longg started.

“Fall,” Gimmi commanded.

Longg gasped as she fell to her knees. “You little! I’ll-!”

“Silence!”

Longg shut her mouth as everyone turned to them.

“Gimmi?” Marinette asked.

Gimmi didn’t look Marinette’s way. Her eyes remained on Longg. They held each other’s glares until Gimmi turned away and approached the box. She placed a hand on it as a bright light flashed. Everyone shielded their eyes except for her. She narrowed her eyes as the light faded and a set of seven angelic kwamis hovered over the box. The top one, a light purple kwami with three sets of wings and eyes with a seventh on its forehead, floated up.

“Father! It’s good to see you!”

Gimmi sneered. “I am not Velze, Humilitas. You will address me as Gimmi and nothing more.”

“Oh, forgive me, Gimmi. You are so much like Father.”

“Enough. Why have you sinned against Velze.

The angel kwamis all gasped.

“We’d never! Father is everything! We’d-,” Humilitas started.

“You have. You cage other kwamis and directly betray Velze’s wishes,” Gimmi cut in.

“No, you must understand. They were becoming unruly. Sowing seeds of discord and mayhem. Something had to be done. They would not listen to reason, so we did what we had to.”

“No reason is good enough to betray Velze’s wishes. To sin against him. You will release them immediately,” Gimmi ordered.

“I don’t understand. What kwamis are so dangerous that they’re locked away?” Marinette asked.

“Yeah. What’s more dangerous than things like destruction, animosity, and reality?” Juleka asked.

“I… but… their very nature is to cause mischief. They won’t listen to us and will just cause mayhem,” Humilitas attempted.

“Please. Plagg and Orikko are no different. And for the record, Juleka, Vana is far more dangerous than I am,” Gimmi hissed.

Vana clicked his tongue and snapped his fingers into finger guns.

Gimmi rolled her eyes. “Enough of this. If you will not obey me, I will release them myself.”

“No, wait!” Humilitas yelled.

Gimmi ignored Humilitas and grabbed the box. She modified it and opened it to reveal a set of jewelry: earrings, belt chain, pocket watch, ring, necklace, anklet, and bracelet. She snapped her fingers and the jewelry dissolved into pure essences. The essences floated up and manifested into a set of seven demon kwamis. The head demon, a purple-black ombre with three sets of horns like Velze’s, a set of wings, and a tail, snickered.

“Freedom! Freedom at last! Thank you, not Velze.”

Gimmi rolled her eyes. “Gimmi, Superbia.”

Superbia laughed. “You say that like I should care. Though I suppose you did release us from being wrongfully imprisoned. I suppose I can address you by the name Daddy gave you.”

“Wrongfully? You were cursing mortals!” a light blue lion angel kwami with two sets of wings yelled.

Superbia waved his hand dismissingly. “How black and white. We were enhancing mortals. Daddy gave us freedom to do what we wanted, did he not? That means we’re allowed to do as we please.”

“This isn’t what he wanted. He wanted us to enrich the lives of mortals as they had before. With holders,” a yellow angel kwami with one set of wings pointed out.

“We were also given the freedom of choice. And we choose to do so much more. Though, looking at our favored siblings and their darling little pets, perhaps we could have some fun with that too. While we still spread our blessings,” Superbia mused.

“What? There’s no way-!” Fluff started.

“I don’t care what you do. Velze gave us all the decision to choose for ourselves. If this is what you choose, then be prepared to reap the consequences,” Gimmi cut in.

“But of course. We wouldn’t expect any less, now, would we?” Superbia mused.

The other demon kwamis snickered.

“Fine. Begone, all fourteen of you,” Gimmi ordered.

The demon and angel kwamis all vanished. Gimmi let the box fall out of her hand as it dissipated. She turned away and headed for the door when Fluff blocked her path.

“Uh, sorry, Gimmi. But there’s a problem. We can’t let them wander freely,” Fluff protested.

“Yeah. Orikko, Plagg, and other concepts are at least manageable. Not those ones,” Mullo added.

“If you want to go after them, be my guest. However, I will do no such thing myself,” Gimmi stated.

“What? But we can’t. Tikki, please, you speak sense into her,” Fluff begged.

Tikki shook her head. “Velze gave us the right to choose. That includes, well, them too. We cannot control them anymore than we can control each other. I especially can’t step in knowing Plagg is left to his own devices, no longer restrained by what the Mage did to us. Who knows what he’s getting up to now.”

“And do not forget that Trixx and Styx are also out there, unsupervised. If you worry so much about our wayward siblings, worry first about those two and so many more,” Gimmi added.

The kwamis didn’t argue and fell silent. Gimmi sighed and turned to Marinette.

“I’m leaving and you have a date to get to,” Gimmi said.

“Oh! Right. Uh, come on, Luka, let’s go,” Marinette said.

Marinette pulled Luka along before their friends or kwamis could say something. They headed to the exit of the Louvre where Gimmi stopped. Marinette put a hand on Gimmi’s shoulder.

“Hey, are you ok?”

A long silence. “No, but don’t worry about it. It’s my burden to bear.”

“But you don’t have to bear it alone. You’re here for me, I’m here for you. We’re not alone in this. Remember?”

Gimmi inhaled, then sighed. “I know, but this is something that cannot be helped. It is simply a truth I must endure. A piece a reality I cannot deny, but hate hearing all the same.”

“Will you please share with me what it is? Even if I cannot help you, I want to understand. I won’t understand at all if you don’t share.”

“Someday, but not today. Now hurry along. You two have dawdled long enough.”

“But-!”

Gimmi vanished before Marinette could finish. Marinette stared out in disbelief, then sighed.

“Marinette?” Luka asked.

“It’s ok. Just frustrated. She tells me I’m not alone and to always share my burdens with her. Even though when I do, she gets annoyed and is just so blasé about it, but she still listens and tries to help in her realistic ways. I just wish I could do the same. And, yes, I know, give her time, but I don’t think it’s a matter of time or space. I’m afraid she just doesn’t want to burden me even though I’m allowed to burden her.”

“Perhaps you should tell her that. You looked like you were doing well until Gimmi left. Maybe you should tell her exactly what you told me.”

“Yeah. Yeah! I will. In fact, I’ll do it right now!”

“Uh, Marinette? One thing.”

“Huh? What’s that?”

“Our date?”

Marinette’s eyes widened as she covered her mouth. “Oh! Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I just… I didn’t forget. I just-!”

Luka chuckled and smiled softly. “It’s ok. You care for Gimmi and it’s endearing. It’s one of the many things I love about you and your melody.”

Marinette blushed and kissed Luka’s cheek. “I will never understand how you have the patience to put up with me.”

“I do.”

“Oh? Care to enlighten me?”

“Because I love you.”

Marinette’s blush deepened as she looked away. She opened and closed her mouth as all words failed her. She let out a frustrated sigh as she leaned against Luka’s arm.

“We… we should get going,” Marinette mumbled.

Luka frowned and looked away sadly. “I’m sorry if that was too sudden. I just-.”

“No. Don’t… don’t apologize for how you feel. I just… there’s some lingering guilt. And just… just realizing that why you put up with me all this time was because you loved me still. It just… it puts in perspective. I was so bad to you.”

“Hey, it’s ok now. Remember, we’re starting over. It doesn’t matter what happened then. What matters is what happens moving forward.”

“I know. I know. I just… it’ll be difficult moving past all that. I… I know I’ll be reminded of it again. I just… I can’t help it. Will you… will you be patient with me?”

“Always.”

Marinette smiled and squeezed Luka’s hand. “Thank you. Let’s get going.”

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goldenlaurelleaveswrites · 2 years ago

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I Should be Asleep

12:30 am

I Should be Asleep (AO3)

@nerdypanda3126 Surprise!!! I’m your secret admirer!!! 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖 PLEASE FORGIVE ME THAT THIS IS SO LATE!!!!! Your prompts were so amazing and they really got the inspiration flowing for me again, it was so hard to decide which one(s) to use. But then I listened to this song and I knew I had to use this prompt!! I've low key become a bit obsessed with it 😂 Again, I'm so so so sorry for the delay, and I hope you enjoy it!! 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

“Uh- hey! My Name’s Mama! Uh Ma-Ma-Marinette! Your mom sent me to down here- the groove- uh, the group’s waiting for you.”

“Hello Ma-Ma-Marinette.

Sorry, I tend to make more sense with this.”

***

It was always hard to really see the crowd when he was on stage. When he wasn’t being blinded by the lights, the faces tended to blur together. Especially the more he got into the music.

But even with the lights and the music, he kept catching glimpses of her face.

He had seen her before today. But only in Juleka’s pictures. And sure, he had noticed, in a casual, passing glance kind of way, that she was cute. But her picture hadn’t really prepared him for meeting her. And she was just…

He glanced up from his guitar to flash a blind grin at the cheering crowd as he riffed. And his eyes immediately found her face in the crowd. The way the lights caught her eyes… they were so bright and vivid and clear.

And so sincere.

***

Truth be told, when she had found out Rose, Juleka, and Ivan were in a band with Juleka’s brother—Luka—she hadn’t expected… well, she hadn’t been entirely sure what she had expected. But given Rose’s… pinkness, she hadn’t expected Rose to sing like that. Just like she hadn’t expected shy and quiet Juleka to transform into a hair flipping, spotlight seeking star. Or for Ivan to be grinning so broadly that his megawatt smile would rival the lights for their brightness.

And she hadn’t been expecting… she hadn’t been expecting Luka.

When she had found out Juleka had a brother, she hadn’t been entirely sure what to expect. She had assumed he would maybe dress a bit like her friend, and she hadn’t been entirely wrong on that front. And she had thought that maybe he would be quiet, the way Juleka was. She hadn’t been wrong about that either. Not exactly anyway.

She furrowed her brows as her gaze drifted to land on him. He was quiet. But he was quiet in an intense kind of way. But he was also so… open too. And he was sweet, the way he had played for her and given him his guitar pick. And so brave the way he had drawn Captain Hardrock’s attention away so she could escape. And-

She shook her head. She was supposed to be enjoying herself. Enjoying the concert. Not thinking about- Especially given Adrien had been able to make it after all.

***

He had only tumbled into bed maybe twenty minutes ago, but usually he was able to fall asleep pretty quick. Especially after a day like today.

Because it had been a day.

Thinking about it, it was pretty impressive his ma hadn’t been akumatized before today. She liked to be contrary, and she lived her life to the beat of her own drum, no matter how many warnings and tickets officer Raincomprix gave her. And his ma was… if someone was being polite, they would probably say she was expressive. Officer Raincomprix, on the other hand, would probably call her volatile. What in all fairness, was true.

And that had meant she had been a tough akuma. It had been impressive, seeing Ladybug up close in action like that. And she had saved his ma, the way she always saved Hawkmoth’s victims. And the concert had been able to go ahead almost exactly as planned, minus a few decibels and plus a keyboard.

Overall, it had been a good day.

He shifted in bed as he stretched out his legs to angle them into a more comfortable position and let out a sigh as he sank a little deeper into the mattress. It had actually been a really good day. Because on top of the concert going off, not without a hitch but successfully nonetheless, he had made a new friend.

Juleka had gushed about Marinette before. Well, as much as Jules gushed about anything. Marinette’s name had been a familiar one on the Liberty, even though she hadn’t set foot on board before today. And he got it. Marinette was sweet. Kind. Funny. And she was brilliant, the way she had gotten them out of the chains, and so brave the way she had gone to alert Ladybug. If Juleka’s words and first impressions were anything to go by, Marinette was the kind of friend he wanted in his corner. And she had offered that friendship almost instantly.

It had been a great day.

But he was tired now. And he had to get up early tomorrow to pick up his bike from the repair shop. Except, no matter what he did, no matter how comfortable he made himself, he couldn’t sleep. He felt like he was plugged into an amp. And there was music in his head, begging for him to untangle the melody and make sense of the notes. And the music sounded an awful lot like stumbled words and blue eyes and a heart worn on a sleeve.

Normally, when he couldn’t sleep he would just grab his guitar and play until he was ready to sleep. But somehow, he had a sinking suspicion that if he started playing now, he wouldn’t be able to stop playing that song.

With a groan, he rolled onto his back to star up at the ceiling. It was just barely visible in the dim light of the streetlights filtering through the makeshift curtains he and Jules had draped haphazardly over the portholes. In the dim light, he could just make out the cracks in his ceiling, some of which he and Jules had tried to cover with with stickers when they were younger. Maybe he just needed something else to focus on to settle his mind…

***

She snuggled a little closer under the covers. It had been a long day. Juleka’s mom had been a tough akuma, and having her friends so close to the action always put her on edge. But everything had turned out fine in the end.

And despite the akuma, it had been a really good day. The concert had been able to go ahead, and Adrien had been able to make it in the end. A sigh slipped past her lips at the thought, and she let her eyes flutter shut. It had been a good day, but a long one, and she was ready to slip off into her familiar dreams.

Or maybe a new one.

She had gotten to see Adrien play with the rest of Kitty Section, and she was sure that would offer plenty of dream fodder. Already, she was hoping piano music and emerald eyes would fill her dreams.

She couldn’t help but smile to herself as the memories of the evening washed over her. Behind her closed lids, her eyes were heavy, and already, she could feel herself slipping toward sleep. The technicolor lights were softer in her mind than they had been during the show, and they were skewed in rosier tones. But that wasn’t unusual; her dreams of Adrien tended to be rose-tinted.

She sank into the dream, surrendering herself to the music, gentler than what Kitty Section had played. More heartfelt. More intimate.

The softly plucked notes of the guitar swirled around her, almost caressing her as she drifted closer to sleep. A mouth twisted into a shy and embarrassed smile as blue eyes flashed from under a sweep of dark hair. And a calm and quiet voice-

The world lurched around her as she sat bolt upright in bed. From somewhere beside her bed, Tikki yelped as her pillows topple off the bed.

Guitar music?

Blue eyes?

“Marinette! What’s wrong?”

Her gaze, as if drawn by a magnet, landed on her desk. Where the guitar pick Luka had given her sat, propped up against her water bottle. She couldn’t make out Jagged’s grinning face in the dark, but she could picture it clear as day with his wide grin and blue eyes. Eyes almost as blue as-

“Marinette?” Tikki was suddenly hovering in front of her, her eyes wide with concern.

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

She cast another quick glance at her desk before shaking her head. “Nothing,” she said, trying to smile, “it was just a dream.”

It was just a dream, wasn’t it?”

***

He had no idea what time it was now. All he knew that that he should have been asleep right now. And that he wasn’t.

That, and the only thing that he had accomplished by staring up at the ceiling was memorizing all the cracks in it. And the placement of the stickers.

And that trying to not think about music, especially when there was music demanding to be thought about, was impossible. At least, for him.

He rolled over and buried his face in his pillow, partly to muffle his groan so he wouldn’t wake Jules—he did not want to face her full Queen of Darkness fury for waking her up—and partly so to give himself a break from staring at the ceiling. But it was burned into his mind. Which didn’t bode well for how much time he had spent staring at it instead of sleeping.

And the music was in his mind, captivating his thoughts no matter how hard he tried not to pay attention to it—a first for him for sure—and the more he tried not to pay attention to it, the more it demanded his attention.

It was all he could think about.

But she was Juleka’s friend. And he had only just met her. He had known her less than a day.

But her song was so sincere.

She was so sincere.

As sincere as a melody…

***

She bit back a huff as she stared up into the darkness. She had no idea what time it was, but she knew she should have been asleep by now. She should have been asleep ages ago.

But every time she closed her eyes, her visions of green eyes and gold hair and a perfect smile were replaced by glinting ocean eyes and messy dark hair and a sweet and lopsided grin.

Sighing, she rolled over, carefully so as to now wake Tikki, and glared at her alarm clock. The numbers glowed dimly in the darkness, mocking her.

She should definitely be asleep right now.

Groaning, she rolled back onto her back. Why was Luka suddenly invading her dreams? Was it because of his mom being akumatized? But if that was the case, shouldn’t Juleka have been in her dreams too? He was Juleka’s brother after all. Her thoughts drifted to that moment in his room. When he had played his guitar for her and-

The pick!

It must have been because he gave her the guitar pick. That had to be it.

With that settled, she closed her eyes and snuggled back into the embrace of her mattress. She let her breaths deepen as she willed sleep to come to her. She focused her mind on the slow, steady rhythm of her breath. In and out. She repeated the words in her mind with every inhale and exhale, lulling herself toward the brink of sleep.

‘I think Marinette the compass has found herself a new statue.’

Her eyes flew open, and she shot up in bed as Alya’s words from earlier echoed in her head.

#lbscexchange2023 #lbscsecretadmirer2023 #endgame lukanette #pro lukamari #luka couffaine #marinette dupain cheng #fluff #pining #I'm sorry it's so late

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