#lukanettejune 2021

[renee561]

Dressing for Our Date Night

For @lukanettejune 's Day 8 prompt: Cosmetics.

Also inspired by this dress for this fic. Enjoy yall!

--

She opened the door to their room and rubbed her hair with the towel, the steam escaping into the cooler room. 

It was date night and Marinette was excited! 

With their lives being hectic, between Saving Paris and her internship as well as his own job and just starting his music career, they had little time for dates.

They already celebrated with Kitty Section the signing of their first deal with RollingStone Music Inc. 

Now it was their turn to do some celebrating. She was very proud of her boyfriend, she's always known he'd go far with his music. 

She could hear the sounds of said boyfriend playing his guitar and the squabbling of the kwamis through the thin walls of their apartment. Tikki was scolding Sass again about something, their dynamic was an odd one. Sass the leader of the Kwamis was always doing something to frustrate Tikki, but Tikki was always giggling so it never came off like she was truly mad. 

Shaking her head, Marinette placed the towel on her head and moved her way to their closet to pick out her outfit for tonight, her fluffy bathrobe tight around her. 

She pressed her lips together as she went through her options. Everything wasn't right! 

Her fingers went slower, running over different fabrics. Cotton, polyester, satin, tulle, lace with colors ranging with every color of pink, black, blue, green, red. There was also the occasional white and her jeans were folded into her drawers. 

She worried her bottom lip between her teeth, her mind going through the contents of her cosmetics bag on her side of the dresser, as she went through each item. 

"You could wear that new dress you designed for Rose's birthday next month. She'll never know I got to see it on you first," her boyfriend said quietly. 

She squeaked and jumped cletching her bathrobe tightly at the neck. 

He was too quiet sometimes, and she glared at him as she saw his shoulders shake as he laughed at her. 

She clicked her tongue, but thought about what he said. There was that dress she was inspired to create a while back, it was white with cherries over it. She was hoping to wear it to Rose's twenty-third birthday next month, but...

Maybe? It wouldn't hurt to wear it tonight.

She moved passed her boyfriend, standing on tip toe to kiss his cheek as she went into the other room where she kept any new outfits she made but hadn't added to her wardrobe just yet. 

There still on the mannequin, the new dress Luka had remembered. 

It would go perfectly with the cosmetics she had. Though Marinette barely ever used makeup, except for eyeshadow and lipgloss for work, at least she knew the basics and had no problem looking something up on the internet or asking one of her girlfriends. Luka was also good at makeup, but she never wanted to ask him, because she felt it cheating since she liked surprising him with getting dressed up for him. 

She carefully removed the dress, and brought it draped over her arm, back to their room. Luka laying on the bed in black jeans and a blue shirt, the shirt reminding her of the overnight trip to the sea they took last summer to give her a break from Paris' Hawkmoth problem. They had the Kwamis just in case they needed to get back, though Chat was still in the city plus Reshell and Vulpes were now more permanent members to lighten their load. 

She smiled faintly at the image of her boyfriend sprawled out like a starfish atop their black with pink cherry blossoms duvet. She went through her cosmetics bag and grabbed the necessary items as well as her brush, going back into the bathroom to change. She didn't want Luka to see until she was perfect. 

-

Liquid eyeliner is the worst invention, Marinette thought acidly as she tried for the fifth time to get the wing on her left eye to match her right. 

Her hair was pulled into a bun, with loose tendrils tickling the back of her neck. Her dress with its Queen Anne neckline fit comfortably, as it brushed her just above her knees. Her foundation hid her freckles, and her red lipstick matched the cherries on her dress almost to the exact shade. Her soft brown eyeshadow with a hint of gold made her eyes pop, there was a hint of perfume at her pulse points, and all she wanted to do was get the eyeliner right and they could go!

She slammed down the tool as it still wasn't perfect and it just—

She growled and picked up the tool once more and carefully went through the motions of applying the eyeliner to a point next to the corner of her eye. 

Pulling the tip away, she moved her head back and forth looking at both wings and sighed with a pout. Still not perfect. 

It'll have to do. I don't want to make us late, she thought sadly while adding a bit of eyeliner to her right eye to have the same thickness as her left. 

She capped the tool and nodded to her reflection. 

Gathering her things she peeked into their room and Luka wasn't anywhere in sight. 

She quietly replaced only the eyeliner and set her brush next to her bag. The rest she placed in the tiny clutch she was bringing along. She placed on her scrappy red heels from her closet, and a grabbed her tiny white jacket for her arms. 

"Wow," she twirled on her toes and opened her mouth to scold him, she wanted to be finished before showing herself off to him. 

Except the breath caught in her throat at the look he was giving her. It was one of her favorite looks. 

His eyes were wide open, his mouth slightly agape, and he looked like a little nudge from one of the Kwamis could blow him over. 

Tikki and Sass snickered behind Luka, and Sass did nudge him after a minute of them just staring at one another. 

Luka came close to her, and she tilted her head back as he was still taller than her even with her heels, though it was less so now that when she was barefooted. She wasn't very tall, while he was tall, dark and handsome. 

He pressed himself to her and leaned very close as if wanting to kiss her. 

"You look amazing, Marinette," he told her, the tone achingly familiar. It was lower than his normal voice, one he used in a different circumstance, her eyes even drifted briefly to the bed for a second before looking into his blue eyes. 

"We'll be late," she said, both of them looking forward all week to tonight. 

He looked at her red lips and then back to her eyes, their color darker then they were a second ago.

"I could eat you if you wanted, dinner doesn't have to be food," he told her, his intentions clear. 

She felt her cheeks warm and her breathing stopped, her heart picked up speed and she was tempted. So very tempted. 

She pushed him away, reluctantly. "I want to eat food, and maybe we could come home for our desert instead," she wasn't saying no to what he offered, but she was saying later. 

Patience 

His lopsided grin did funny things to her heart. 

"As my melody commands," he winked at her and she was sure her cheeks were as red as her lipstick. 

Still they didn't move, even though she knew that they needed to go. 

Maybe one kiss couldn't hurt, she thought as she pulled Luka closer by his shirt and he grinned as their lips met. 

They missed their reservation, but to them it was definitely worth it. 

-

Previous Prompts:

Days-

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

[airi-p4]

Lukanette June 2021 - Day 22: Sacrifice

@lukanettejune​

"Marinette, no!”

"Save us, my hero..."

[renee561]

My attempt at @lukanettejune 's prompt for day 1 Dawn.

Hope y'all enjoy!

----

Let the Sun Not Set on Our Love

She finally came home as the dawn was creeping over the horizon of the Paris landscape. She entered through the unlocked window, as quietly as she could. It was the same as it ever was lately. 

Quiet. Still. No akumas at 3 in the morning, thank God, even if her and Chat Noir patrolled from midnight to dawn just to make sure they weren't caught unaware. 

Thankfully she had someone that she came home to. Someone who never made her feel as if she needed to pretend to be alright or a morning person when he would eventually get up to go help Rose with some band things. 

Kitty Section was still together and still writing their own songs. They had a gig later this week and Rose was calling in last minute rehearsals at all hours. She was a slave-driver. The sweetest person and yet she could make Gabriel Agreste be compared to a saint, to how much she made the band practice. It didn't help that Rose's puppy eyes were much better than Marinette's. 

"You're just a sucker for pretty blue eyes, aren't you, Couffaine?" She teased her boyfriend last night, as she drew some last minute designs for Kitty Section's latest gig. She smirked at her sketchbook rather than directly at him.  

He shoved her playfully, wrapping an arm around her waist, "Maybe, Melody, or I'm a sucker for a particular pair of bluebells. No one can say no to Rose for very long." 

She snuggled into him and let his warmth surround her. These small moments before she went on patrol and before he went to bed were precious to her. Between their day jobs and her superhero life, living together made little moments like this precious to her. They felt like stolen gems. 

"True, but I–we all know you're going to rock and you're then going to get signed to a label and go on tour and I'll be cheering from the front row like always!" She told him a grin on her face. 

He chuckled, "Well with my ma-ma-Marrinette in the front row we have all the good luck on our side."  

She shoved him playfully before leaning over to kiss him gently. 

She sighed as she closed the window and finally locked it, closing the curtains to allow him to sleep longer. If he doesn't wake, then she'll tell Rose she kept him in bed longer than usual. Rose and Juleka were adamant about a wedding between them. They've been together ever since lycee, and they were about to graduate from university in three months. She thought Luka was the one for her, but they had time. 

"Tikki, spots off," she whispered into the silent room, except for Luka's soft snores mixed with hums of whatever song he was thinking of. Even asleep music spoke to him. 

A flash of light and she was once more Marinette Dupain-Cheng, fashion student and intern at The Gabriel Agreste brand. She liked Monsieur Agreste, he pushed her to limits she didn't believe she could reach before, and he liked her. Even if the whole Adrien dating thing went sideways and didn't work out like she once thought. Her best plans weren't comparable to the happiness she felt now. And she was happy. 

She gave Tikki a macaroon to snack on, and as she easily and silently walked to her side of the bed, she snuggled under the blanket and into her boyfriend's chest. He pulled her tighter against him and hummed a familiar tune under his breath, her eyes closed and she didn't even fight the exhaustion she felt. 

The dawn may be beginning, but she doubts the sun would set on their love. And if he didn't propose by the end of summer then she would. 

[renee561]

I Want to Marry My Best Friend

Thank you for liking and reblogging my other prompts which can be found here and here. Hope you've enjoyed them!

Inspired by Tim McGraw's song My Best Friend

Day 3 of @lukanettejune 's prompts. This time it's Best Friend. Hope yall like it! Enjoy!

---

When my world was crazy you're right there to save me. You make me see how much I have

She thrived in chaos. Some days,  it felt like if the world hadn't gone crazy at least three times, it was a slow and uneventful day. She had the nickname amongst her fellow artisans as Marinette "La Tornade" Dupain-Cheng as she was usually busy going from one project to another juggling everything and anything the fashion world threw at her. Sometimes great and other days not so great, but she usually left a path in her wake. If others chose not to follow she no longer concerned herself with trying to slow herself to fit their perception of what she should be. Not since she was fifteen and the boy she liked for two years turned her down flat. He was kind, but it just allowed her to break whatever mold she had placed herself in trying to gain his attention. 

She has been a designer intern for The Gabriel Agreste brand since she was sixteen. A creator of vision and she was Paris' superhero saving the city for even longer. Her world consisted of chaos, by the time she stopped, usually meant it was time to rest before she did it all again the next day. 

There were only three people that could boost that they could settle the force of nature Marinette had become. Her parents of course and Luka. 

Luka, her anchor in her path. Always there, always timing it just right to get her to calm down, breathe, smell the roses. Relax. 

Like right now they were on a picnic date instead of her hunched over her crafting desk in their apartment trying to meet another impossible deadline set by Monsieur Agreste. But she knew even the man took breaks, Nathalie made sure of it. The man was at least smart enough to listen to her.

Luka kissed her forehead and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. She no longer wore pigtails, but instead had it long and in a single braid down her back, much like when she was once Lady Noire.  Still small hairs escaped from their confines and she leaned into his touch. 

He always made her feel calm and collected, he was there for her when her world spiraled out of control and she leaned on him when she couldn't continue making the chaos she was known for. With Luka, she didn't have to be La Tornade, or Ladybug, or anything other than Marinette, even then she could let the chaos subside and let the sunshine in. 

You stood by me, you believe in me like no one ever has

He always had a strong support system. His Ma after his Da left became the shoulder he leaned into, but also the shoulder he supported whenever he could. Juleka was his sister, his twin, there was this unspoken and often spoken support to her and in her own ways supported him equally. 

When he wanted to pursue music as a career his Ma was supportive, Jules gathered her friends from lycee and they formed Kitty Section. 

Kitty Section, which to this day was still popular with the teens and even their age group. They were working gigs almost every weekend and sometimes three nights a week in different spots in Paris. 

However, curled into his side was the most supportive person he knew. His melody. 

He pushed hair out of her face and behind her ear, his finger stroking the black earrings that lay innocently in her ear at the moment. He's known since she was fifteen, after Adrien rejected her. It wasn't done cruelly, but he was in love with someone else and she respected that. He remembered feeling hopeless to her cries and her tears, yet he was the friend that sat with her and wiped them away when she was too drained to move. He distracted her many nights playing his guitar, soft music for her to sleep peacefully. Finding out she was Ladybug had been surreal. 

How could this perfect girl be any more amazing...and BAM! She's the hero of their city, fighting battles most would run from. Fighting to save people, to keep the good in this long battle, despite most of the time she was alone. Chat has gotten better about not sacrificing himself in the middle of the battle, but back then he would take himself out hazardously if it meant Ladybug could get the object. A miscalculation in Luka's opinion. 

She needed a partner to aid her when her other one baited the villain. He saved her countless times, has seen many things, including her true identity. It only made him love her more and be there for her more when she literally felt the weight of a city on her shoulders. 

He never admitted it, until they were officially dating three months after Adrien rejected her. Three months of worry and helplessness on his part, but nothing he would have traded for this moment. 

He kissed her forehead and held her closer to him. Her melody is the song in his head and the butterflies in his gut. 

She supported him through the late nights and the frustration of notes being a jumbled mess on paper, to missed dates because one or both of them were lost in their creative spaces. Her a whirlwind with silk and thread, him a maniac with pen in hand when the right inspiration strikes. 

She went to every concert, every gig, designed the costumes, but mostly she supports him when things get too much. When he can't handle the noise of the city mixed in with the song he's trying to focus on, when he can't handle his mother's latest spree of Captain Lunacy, his mother hasn't mellowed out at all and he loved her but she drove him mad at times. Times when he just needed to be engulfed in his girlfriend's arms. A safe harbor to sail into.

Jules helps, but there was only so much his twin could handle before she too must escape into the arms of her own pink princess. 

He loved Marinette for all her crazy and all her strength, for being there for him when he needed to get lost in the chaos that she brings. Different than his own family, but still a whirlwind of beautiful catastrophe. 

I fall in love all over. Everytime I look at you

She pushed him back so that their eyes could meet. Her heart beat inside her chest at the look of adortion in his gaze. The soft look of wonder that has never faded in their relationship, in fact it has only grown. 

"I love you, Couffaine," she whispered as if it was a secret like the identity she carried. Not alone, never alone again. 

"As I love you, Ma-Ma-Marinette," he told her and she couldn't help the giggle escape from her lips. 

"Want to do something crazy and chaotic?" She curiously asked, a wonderful mad yet brilliant idea forming in her head. 

He raised an eyebrow and she grinned teasingly at him, "Let's each marry our best friend!" 

His brow furrowed and confusion set into his face, he looked almost like Tikki when she didn't understand one of her plans. 

"But your best friend is Alya and mine is–" he paused and the realization hit him. 

She smirked at his wide eyes and the joy emitting from such a look took her breath away, and made her heart race a million kilometers a minute. 

"You see, Alya is my best girlfriend, but Luka Couffaine is the best boyfriend, my lover, and my biggest fan. The person who's been there for me since I was thirteen, never expected me to return your feelings and I know it's not the most romantic of proposals but I thought might as well bring some chaos into the day. And your mother would never let me live it down if I passed the opportunity!"

He tossed his head back and laughed, the sun shining in his dyed teal locks. She felt the laughter bubble out of her mouth as he leaned over and started to tickle her sides, pulling her firmly into his lap. Locking her fingers together behind his neck, their eyes met, even if she bit her bottom lip to hopefully keep her questions inside. 

"I think, Melody, that sounds perfect. Marrying my best friend was always high on my bucket list since I met you," he told her softly pressing his forehead to hers. 

She tugged his face closer so that she could kiss him. Her best friend, her lover, and now her fiancé, soon to be husband.

She promised herself she'd give him the chance, but after two weeks, well she wasn't one for waiting around. 

[renee561]

Beware the Butterflies, Welcome the Gutterflies

Day 2 of @lukanettejune 's prompts. This time Butterflies.

Thank you for everyone who's liked my other fic Let the Sun Not Set on Our Love and or reblogged it!

Enjoy!

----

She was three the first time she ever saw a butterfly. Her maman tells the story that she was so terrified of the tiny creature she ran behind her papa's leg, a sobbing mess. 

She doesn't remember it. 

-

He was seven when they moved to Paris. He remembers complaining to his ma about the lack of green in the city and the lack of bees and butterflies. He always found nature to be the most calming. 

It was just the three of them. His Ma, his twin sister Juleka, and himself. His Da went away one day and never came back, he was three the last time he saw him. He doesn't remember his face or his voice, he just remembers the bright lavender of his outfit as he tried to hold on for dear life, not wanting him to leave. He remembers his Ma's strong grip, prying him off his father's leg. It's the only other thing he remembers, that and screaming for his Da not to leave again. He was always leaving only this time, he never came back. 

He cried for the butterflies thinking he'll never see them again. Just like he never saw his Da again.

--

They were thirteen and fifteen when the akumas started, when more and more Parisians started to acquire Lepidopterophobia, the fear of butterflies. No longer did butterflies mean spring, or transformation, or children trying to capture them. Now they represented fear and danger. Of being twisted into Hawkmoth's plan for the Miraculous. 

She is one of the two heroes standing in his way of whatever plan he has. And yet she doesn't fear butterflies, nor has she developed a phobia of them. She is cautious of the glowing ones, the lavender colored ones, the magical kind. She calls herself vigilant, her maman brings up the butterfly story more and more. 

There was another type of butterfly she looked out for, every time she looked into the green eyes of her crush her stomach overflowed with the tingles of butterfly wings. And she ran away from them, because they controlled her as surely as Hawkmoth's butterflies controlled his victims.

-

Luka watched for butterflies, hyperaware of the threat to his sister who felt things deeply and yet didn't know how to verbalize it due to her shyness. His mother who was full of chaotic energy and wore her emotions loudly and proudly on her sleeve. Luka was somewhere between.

But, he no longer cried at the thought of no longer seeing butterflies. He worried more about seeing them near the ones he loved most. 

--

When they met, both had butterflies in their stomachs, hers making her stutter and made a typical fool out of herself.

Butterflies are a nuisance, she thought with disdain. Both in her civilian life and in her superhero one. 

-

His felt like a rhythm that he was unfamiliar with. Yet he itched to write it down, feeling a new melody that he's never encountered, he stilled his hands as he tried to reassure the beautiful girl sitting at the end of his bed. Later, he promised himself as he slyly looked at the ravenette beauty from the corner of his eye, I'll write down this feeling of butterflies, her melody.

--

Years later, when they've been dating for a few years, the butterflies have never waned. Not in the sky, not in their gut whenever they kiss or hold hands or simply make eye contact. 

She hates butterflies. He doodles them whenever he's working on a new song for his girlfriend. 

She sees butterflies at work, and during akuma attacks, she even sees them in the corners of Luka's songbooks and feels them everytime she even catches a wiff of her boyfriend's cologne. She has to bite her tongue to not make a comment about the devils. 

Marinette hates butterflies, but as she snuggled into the warmth of her lover's arms, letting the scent of salt, paper, and honeysukle calm her racing heart, she thinks she could handle them if he was the cause of her own personal gutterflies. 

[renee561]

To Say Goodnight

Hello! @lukanettejune 's prompt for Day 12 Thunderstruck

Follows up of Let's Watch the Sunrise Together which can be found here.

Suggestive content vaguely.

Enjoy!

--

They video chatted three nights a week, but they called each other every night to say good night or good morning. She's packed most of the shirts that he didn't pack with him to take on tour. She slept in them so much they've all lost his scent which she finds annoying. Still the nightshirt hanging loose on her frame had to make due since his arms weren't around her as she slept alone in the large bed. 

She kept in constant contact with Chat about akumas, but surprisingly Hawkmoth went quiet since she's been away. It was suspicious, he was planning something she's positive! Tikki and the remaining kwamis were with her, and she was comforted by their presence. The apartment didn't feel so lonely with Luka on Tour and he wasn't scheduled to come to New York until the end of their Tour. 

She should have had Penny schedule them here in New York about now, it's been three months since she's kissed him, since she has held him. She missed him, and she wondered if this was going to be the normal for them with their careers taking him around the world for months at a time and her with her own career taking her to different places for large stretches. 

Plus, eventually she'll want to start her own brand, do her own designs, preferably none with butterflies. She's at least thankful the apartment is roomy and she didn't have to share it with any coworker. 

Nathalie had been the one to give her all the documentation prior and she was thankful at the level of organization the woman had, maybe she could stand to learn a few tips. Her organization skills had always been lacking, especially time management. 

She sipped her tea as she leaned against the window frame, looking out into the city that never slept. She was waiting for Luka's good night call. She was proud of him and couldn't wait to see him again. 

She heard a knock at her front door and she frowned, not expecting anyone at 22:00. She placed her tea on the little table she set up in her room as she paddled on bare feet to the door, grumbling when the knocks became persistent. 

She looked through the peephole, standing on tiptoes and she scratched in excitement. Her fingers fumbled with the locks and she unhooked the chain and tossed opened the door, before tossing her whole body into his arms. 

"Ma-Ma-Marinette," he whispered in her ear as he caught her and twirled her into the hallway. 

"What are you doing here? Not that I'm not glad you are, but–" she trailed off as she curled her fingers in his hair. It's grown longer, more length for her to hang on to. He was even growing a beard. It sort of looked like his father's, in thickness. She wasn't sure she liked that mental image. 

"I wanted to see you, so I had Penny arrange for all of us to travel to New York before our D.C concert in two days. Flew here instead of there, Jules and Rose wanted to see the sights before going back to the hotel room for them. Ivan gets the whole room to himself when I mentioned that you had an apartment and–" he trailed off and looked at her as if she was the sea and he, a sailor deprived of the view for too long. 

She giggled and tugged his mouth closer so that she could kiss him. That's what she wanted most right now to kiss Luka and maybe get out of the hallway. 

He kissed her back and held her tight to him, he moved away after a minute and a sigh escaped him as he pressed his face into her hair. 

"I've missed your scent, Marinette, the scarf you gave me, it's faded now and I hate that it's lost your scent," he whispered and she kissed the free patch of skin between his collar and jaw. He sighed.

"Well, all your shirts have lost your shirt, but my bed could use your scent too. Come inside, Luka," she untangled her arms from him and grabbed his hand to pull him safely inside. 

Dropping his stuff carelessly in the doorway, would have offended her, except their lips were too busy for words. Hands were too busy removing clothing to bother with picking it up and finding another place for it. 

Totally not a priority at the moment, too thunderstruck with his surprise appearance, Marinette was glad he didn't call to say goodnight because this was a better way to be put to sleep. 

--

Day

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9&10 11

[renee561]

Villains are Human too

Day 4: Villain!Luka for @lukanettejune 's prompts.

Day 3: Best Friend

Day 2: Butterflies

Day 1: Dawn

--

As the expression goes, you either die a hero, or you live long enough, to see yourself become a villain. 

He wasn't always like this. No he was once a guy from a good home, even if it was fractured since he was three. He had a supportive mother and an amazing twin. He had great friends, his band mates were more like other siblings to him and Juleka. 

His lycee sweetheart became his wife after seven years together. Their marriage wasn't perfect but it was an unbreakable dream team dynamic. 

They supported each other and loved one another.

Nine years married and then the shoe dropped. 

Infertile.

He was not able to produce viable sperm to produce a child. Adoption was an option, and they were denied due to his career choice and the volatile nature of her job, seeing as how fashion, while a growing field, couture was not something an adoption agency liked to see on an application. Especially as she was just starting her own brand away from Gabriel. 

I ran out of second chances, he thought bitterly.  It made him feel like he failed her. Something he strove never to do. He spiraled.

He went into a deep depression, and it caused everything to fall apart. 

Three years later they were divorced, he was alone, and she was brilliant at protecting the innocents of the city and making an independent name for herself in fashion. 

Luka dropped out of Kitty Section and he was replaced by his extended family. Juleka tries in her quiet way but the fact he lost his melody, his muse, his everything. Life seemed meaningless. 

He was akumatized for it, retaining something in the back of his mind that he always forgot while awake. He knew Hawkmoth. He knew who it was. He never revealed it, the one secret that he's ever kept from his wife. He didn't want to ruin her job, didn't want to ruin her future when he thought it was still theirs. After the divorce he still waited, he didn't want to tarnish Marinette's life anymore than he had. 

He saw her on covers and in interviews and he often wondered what would have happened if things had been different if the disappointment of not giving his love a child she desperately wanted, that they had wanted, hadn't broken him?

He made sure to hide himself in dark clothing and put on gloves, no use having fingerprints catch him when he didn't want to be caught. 

He snuck in through Adrien's old window, hw knew there was no surveillance on this side of the mansion, Adrien was boastful about his escapes as a teen after a few drinks. He lived with his wife, Kagami on the other side of town in a smaller but still bigger than normal house. They were expecting their third child. The envy boiled in his stomach. 

He was quiet and made his way out of the room. He managed to find the man, asleep in his bed and with fast hands stole the miraculous from his pajama top. He smirked as the couple that lay there didn't awaken. 

He had it, and he would use it to make things right. He didn't want to hurt Marinette like this, but he needed to give her what she wanted, a child, so if he could find a way to turn back time then so be it, without the bunny miraculous than so be it. 

He left the couple to their dreams, and walked away with a smirk on his face. Out through the window, and into the night. 

--

Hawkmoth was his villain name, he didn't want to change it, even if the heros knew it wasn't the one they were fighting since they were children. 

He went by Morpho when he tried to help those he could. It wasn't all the time, but some human part of him did long for that time when he used to fight evil instead of creating it. He started writing music again, calling his sister and her wife more. 

He felt half-alive again. 

---

He didn't date, there was no point and sometimes there were rumors that La Tornade was dating so-and-so, both men and women and he tried to fight the envy that boiled his blood at the thought. Except he had no foot to stand on, she was not his anymore and he was stressing her out with his shenanigans as a villain, he always watched the news in the aftermath of his defeats, and yet he was closer and closer to his goals. 

Bunnyx came to see him once. It was a short meeting. Threatening her with doing more than breaking her miraculous and entrapping her in Ancient Egypt if she revealed who he was. The sad and disappointed eyes haunted him, for in his dreams they were a familiar bluebell surrounded by bluenette hair rather than red. 

No he never wanted to be a villain, he just wanted to have hope again. Hope of a family with the woman he loved. Yet he knew if she ever found out it was him–well he tried not to think of that. 

After all, Villains weren't all monsters, they were human beings pushed to their breaking point and desperate to find easy solutions to problems they created. He never found out why Monsieur Agreste became Hawkmoth, nor why he was at it even after he was supposedly happy with his new family. He didn't care much, he just wanted a chance, a chance to do what— he didn't know. Maybe rewrite his marriage? Go back to the time when they were happy. Maybe shake himself from his depression? He honestly didn't know, all he wanted was to make Marinette happy again. He wanted a dream and it was with that thought he tossed himself into his new role, separating himself from Luka Couffaine the sad and broken man to Hawkmoth the villain trying to get back his wife. 

[renee561]

Let's Watch the Sunrise Together

For @lukanettejune 's day 11 prompt Balcony.

Enjoy dearies!

--

She came through the window after her patrol, careful not to make a sound. Dawn was approaching, and she wanted to crawl into bed for a few hours with her husband. Except looking at the bed, he wasn't there. She frowned. Luka was headed to bed when she left for patrol and it wasn't a very long one. 

"Tikki, spots off," she said and she transformed back into herself. No longer was she Ladybug, but Marinette. She kept her name the way it's always been, even if many reporters started referring to her as Madame Couffaine if they're asking her questions about Luka or Kitty Section now that both their careers were starting to be noticed. 

In fact, she had big news to share with Luka, and she had wanted to tell him before he went on tour, but spending time with her husband was more important than talking about new business deals that were being offered. Especially when they hadn't seen much of each other this week because of conflicting schedules. 

She was usually busy creating designs and he was busy creating melodies and networking events for the label; or one would be asleep when the other came home late. It was rough being creative people, both with fledgling careers in demanding industries with little overlap in their lives. 

She gave Tikki her macaroon and decided to change into her pjs. Once done, she went about looking for her husband in their apartment. He wasn't in the other room and he wasn't in the living room on the couch where he'd sometimes fall asleep watching late night television. He liked noise to fall asleep to, used to the chaos of his mother's ship, noise around him, if not his mother, than the sounds coming from the city. 

She sighed and turned to go to bed, but she noticed the curtains to their tiny balcony slightly ajar. It was summer and there was enough breeze for it to be comfortable. 

Poking her head around the curtain she couldn't help the smile that came to her face. Luka, dead asleep on the reclining chair, his hand twitching like he was playing his guitar for her. 

It always made her happy to see him create songs from whatever melodies played in his head. Not all his melodies became songs and she hated to wake him, but he'd sleep better in their bed and so would she. 

Coming over to him quietly, she forgot that there was that one plant that liked to jump out at her as she stubbed her toe on the edge. She cursed at the pain and tripped and fell atop the soft landing of the warm and familiar body. She sighed into his chest as he jolted awake with a pained groan.  

"Marinette?" He asked confused and rubbing his side where her elbow landed. 

"Yeah, sorry I was trying to be careful with waking you, but your plant jumped me–again," she whined as she looked into tired blue eyes. 

He furrowed his brow as if in confusion and then he chuckled at her. The joy replacing the tiredness, but not masking it completely. 

"What am I going to do with you, my melody?" He asked with that tiny lopsided smile on his face. 

"Take me to bed, I want to sleep with your arms around me for at least the next two hours before I have to get up and get dressed to meet my client for her final fitting," she pouted at him.  

He hummed and laid back in his reclining chair and pulled her more firmly onto his chest. His nose was buried in her hair, hers into that little spot near his collarbone. 

"Let's watch the sunrise first, we've hardly done that this summer and next summer we might not get to do that with my touring and your amazing offer," he said and she gasped, pushing against the panes of his chest to stare at him. 

"You know?"

He shrugged, his smile still there, "Adrien was excited about it and couldn't keep the secret. He's very sorry to spoil whatever surprise you'd planned, but I think it's great. I mean, I know you'll worry about the city, but you can do anything, Marinette. And if you want to go to New York, we'll figure out saving Paris from any Akumas later. Besides, I'll make sure whatever tour we get, lands us in New York for at least a week. That way you and I can go on dates in the famed city that never sleeps,  I hear Central Park is almost as romantic as a walk along the Seine." 

She blinked back tears and pressed her face into his chest, releasing a small exhale. She'd been worried he'd disprove since the client contract was for six months, creating a pop up, and running it herself was taxing in itself, but part of her wanted to do it. To say she could. Gabriel was trusting her, and he didn't want just anyone; he wanted her to go along with his New York team and she told him she'd have to talk with her husband. 

Adrien was very excited for her to head the project, and she was glad to have Adrien's support. He'd stay in Paris since Kagami wanted to scout locations for their wedding. She was happy for her friends and couldn't wait for them to have the same happiness her and Luka did. 

Turning her head slightly, she saw the lightened sky and heard the soft harmony of Luka's heartbeat. One of her favorite sounds. 

"It's not as romantic as this, watching the sunrise with you," she whispered to him. 

He kissed her forehead, "We both can agree with that. Any moment with you, melody, worth the time apart. Until we'd come back into each other's arms."

She blushed and buried her flaming cheeks into his chest. He was always sweet in his actions and his words at least to her, he always knew what to say and charm her.

"Charmer," she said turning her head so she could watch the sky spring with color.

"It's the truth," he countered as his arms tighten around her.

-

Day

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9/10

[renee561]

Comfort for the Broken Hearted

Day 7 of @lukanettejune 's prompts. Seeking Shelter.

Enjoy lovelies. Its going to be angsty.

--

The rain felt amazing on her face. 

She hadn't been caught in the rain in some time, out of her superhero suit that is. It wasn't even cold to her. It felt warm, a summer rain was exactly what she needed. 

Adrien had left, her giving him back the umbrella he had lent her the first day they met. She had held onto it and carried it when the weather person hinted at rain, hoping to one day share it with him. 

It would be romantic, she'd envision them standing close and their eyes would meet, and they'd only look away with the thunder scaring them apart or a loud horn from traffic, both of them blushing as they jumped apart. 

Except the shelter she sought with Adrien wasn't at all like that. It was a trick. A sham. Another useless attempt to confess feelings she shouldn't even have. 

He wasn't perfect. He wasn't hers. And after today, she knew for certain that it wasn't ever going to be. 

She finally confessed, her admiration, her stupid insane crush, she had been so caught up in the moment that she hadn't thought, the weight that seemed to pin her down every other time was no longer there. It was finally the perfect moment. 

Except for Adrien's answer. I'm sorry Marinette, I don't feel that way about you. I'm–I'm in love with someone else. But, you're still an amazing friend. Are you sure you don't want me to take you home? It's no trouble really.

Her heart splintered into a thousand pieces like fragile glass hitting the pavement. 

She declined and gave him the umbrella, before stepping away into the rain and walked away.

She was now soaked to the bone, her ballet flats soggy and made squishing noises as she walked hunched over towards home. 

I should probably seek some shelter, she thought but didn't get under the closest awning. 

She always liked the rain, even more so after Adrien gave her his umbrella. 

That was gone, her crush came to nothing, all that time planning, prepping, two years of it wasted on something that would never be. A dream going puff like a candle blown out on a birthday cake. 

Not all wishes came true, she thought with a furrowed brow and tears mixing with the water droplets hitting and falling down her face. 

She'll be sick tomorrow, and her maman would scold her for walking home without an umbrella when she tells her why she was soaking wet, why she was walking home alone, and during the rainstorm. She'll take a hot bath when she got home, along with some ice cream and she'll call Alya and tell her what happened. 

In truth, a part of her was relieved. Just a tiny bit. She confessed. No plan, no preparation, she just confessed to the boy she loved, with hardly a stutter and...and got her heart broken. 

She sniffed and finally paused under an awning in front of a bookshop, leaning against the wall between the door and the window, a tiny space. A perfect fit for her to rest until some of the rain subsided.

She pressed her head against the stone and slid down. Her arms went about her legs tightly and she started to sob. 

She wasn't sure if she was sobbing for her broken heart or the dreams now left to fade into nothingness. 

I'll have to figure out all those gifts, it was hard for her to think of anything at the moment, she just wanted to seek shelter in her papa's strong arms and her mother to tell her it was alright, even if at the moment it didn't seem like it. 

"Marinette?" The soft squeaky voice of Tikki made her sob harder. 

She didn't want to be told it'll be alright, not yet. She just wanted to finally cry. It's been so long since she could cry, it felt like years. It could have been for all she knew.

A squeak and the sound of something splashing through water, the cold water rushing into her already ruined flats, and someone letting out a quiet Medre under their breath. 

She bit her lip to stifle the sounds she was making, but footsteps and then a very familiar voice shocked her into silence more effectively.

"Marinette? Why are you all wet?" She looked into worried blue eyes and then she saw him immediately take his hoodie from his body and pass it to her. 

"Are you hurt?" He asked getting down to the ground with her, his knees hitting the wet concrete and he moved carefully as if to check her for injuries.

The outside of his hoodie damp, but the inside was dry and warm. She could smell Luke's cologne drifting to her nose as she pressed the warm material closer to her body. It felt nice to have him there with her. 

Luka was always there for her when she needed him, and she knew it was wrong to rely so heavily on him, but without him, an anchor to hold onto, sometimes it felt like she'd drift into the Seine and drown with the weight of it all. 

"No, I'm not hurt," she half-lied. She was hurt just not where he could see. 

She didn't put on the hoodie, her shirt was soaked and it wouldn't be fair if his hoodie got soaked on the inside too. 

"I was walking home. I was enjoying the rain. It seemed like a good idea at the time," she sniffed and pressed her face into the fabric that was handed to her by her concerned friend. 

"Did you forget your umbrella?" He asked into her ear and she raised her head to see that he moved to sit beside her, his knees mimicking hers. 

She paused, a lie on the tip of her tongue. "No, I gave it back to its owner. I didn't...I don't want to have it anymore. I was dumb," she could admit she hadn't thought things through. 

Luka looked like he wanted to ask more questions, he had that look he always got when he was trying to give her space rather than pressure her to speak, though his curiosity was piqued. 

She wiped at her face with the back of her hand, she rested her head against the wall, looking at the pouring rain. 

"I finally told Adrien...you know that I was in love with him," she stated and she could feel the tension in Luka's frame for a minute before he relaxed next to her.

She felt another tear fall over her cheek. 

"He rejected me. He was kind about it. And if he's in love with someone else I don't want to come in between them. I mean I know Kagami likes him too, so I'm happy for them both," she said with sincerity. She was happy for them. 

But she was also unhappy. For herself, for the wasted time and her friends', she wished things were different. 

She felt Luka's hand on her shoulder and turning to him, he only gave her a sad smile. She didn't think, she just turned and curled into his shoulder. 

He wrapped his arms around her and she felt safe, felt comforted. 

She didn't need to say anything more. So she lay in his embrace and sought a different kind of shelter, the shelter of a friend's understanding. Listening to the rain, and to Luka's heartbeat, she felt safe and like the hope wasn't all gone from the universe. She draped his hoodie around her, and just waited the storm out in a peace she hadn't felt since she walked away from what she thought was her happy ending.

Maybe, looking at Luka from underneath her lashes, she was wrong about that. Its been known to happen...once or twice.

--

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6

[renee561]

Put a Bandaid on it

@lukanettejune 's prompt 6: Bandaid

Enjoy!

There is mention of Blood, but nothing explicit.

He pressed his lips together tightly, his hands steady as he dabbed the cloth over the wound in her side, cleaning the dirt and debris from the area. 

He needed silence to focus, because his emotions were all over the place. Mostly worried, but there was also frustration, and love, and guilt. God there was so much guilt that felt like lead in his stomach! He had to keep quiet, if he didn't, if he let her know how he felt she would blame herself and he didn't want her to feel guilty for seeking him out to help patch her up from another fight. This was the third one this week. 

He loathed this part of her job as Paris' superhero life. He hated seeing his girlfriend banged up and bleeding, he hated seeing her hurt because Chat left her alone...again! 

Stupid self-sacrificing cat, he thought with no small amout of his frustration, most of it was directed at the Black Suited superhero and the one responsible for this, Hawkmoth. But a little part was also frustrated at himself for not being there to protect her. 

She didn't need him to protect her, she could hold her own. But it was hard for Luka to see the girl he loved banged up after a fight and he'll gladly patch her wounds if it meant she was fine after a few days. 

"Are you going to talk to me while you do this or are you mad at me?" The question didn't make sense to him, he wasn't mad at her but he didn't want to talk, or rather didn't want to burden her with his feelings. 

Ever since he found out her identity, he's tried to keep it a secret, and he did until they started dating and she felt comfortable telling him herself. It also helped that the Kwamis weren't really that quiet, even though Marinette tried to hide it for a while. 

"It's not you I'm mad at, melody," he grunted out after he heard a sniff that she tried to be discreet about. 

He was upset and he was mad; but he kept a lid on his emotions because they did not need damn HawkMoth akumatizing him over this. Or ever again, twice was enough thank you very much. 

Both times, the guilt of what he did to Ladybug aka Marinette kept him awake some nights. Especially as he was part of her team, at least on a temporary basis. He was supposed to help her not burden her. He never wanted to feel like a burden to her. 

She sniffed again and he placed the cloth down and cupped her cheek. Her eyes were red, and tears were dripping onto his hand, her split lip looked worse with the dried blood. 

His body relaxed as he gently pulled her into his arms, her head pressed against his neck. 

"I promise I'm not mad at you, Melody. I'm just upset that you're hurt. I don't like the thought or the fact that this part of the job hurts you physically," he told her, holding her gently. She pressed her face into his shoulder and curled her fingers into his hoodie. 

He looked at the wound, it wasn't as bad as he first thought, but when there was blood, one couldn't tell. He closed his eyes and held her just a bit tighter, his lips pressed to the top of her head, and he started to rock her as he felt the wetness of her tears drip down his skin. 

Sighing softly, he started to hum. It was just a simple lullaby his Ma used to sing when he or Jules were sad and needed cheering up. 

He'll wait until the tears stop and they will finish patching her up, before he'll return her to her parents and hopefully her papa won't think he was that kind of man. 

--

She struggled with the building pressure behind her eyes. She wanted to strangle him! 

Why would he do this?! It wasn't his job! It was hers! She was the guardian! She was Ladybug! How...how could he do that?!

She knew why, in her heart. In her heart she knew he struggled with seeing her come home beat up, patching up the wounds that her suit didn't always protect her from. She knew and yet she was still mad. 

"I'm not sorry," he told her softly into the quiet room. 

She took a sharp breath as she pressed the antiseptic against the wound that had...no she wasn't going to think about that! 

"I know you aren't," she said behind gritted teeth as he winced at what she could imagine the feeling of the cleaning agent against the open skin on his abdomen. 

He didn't say anything and she hated the silence. The kwamis were floating behind her, watching their routine of bandaging up one another. First it was Tikki and Sass, and then the others wanted to watch, though there were less then there used to be as more of her temporary heros became permanent fixtures, even though they had to switch up who got which miraculous when Chloe betrayed them to Hawkmoth when they were just finishing up lycee. 

It was difficult to know Fu was gone, that she was doing this alone. Chat helped pick the new holders and Luka helped too, but moments like these she hated having him in danger. Hated seeing what she saw earlier. 

"I'm sorry you had to see, but I'm not sorry that I sacrificed myself to save you," he continued after she moved on to get the bandage. Her fingers paused as she touched the box. They kept their first aid in their room. 

Her shoulders slumped and a tear fell. She hurriedly wiped it away. 

"It's not like you do it as much as Chaton, but it's–it's different. He's my partner, but just a friend. You're more than that, Luka and if–if something happened to you...because of you trying to save me...I wouldn't want to live with that guilt. So please, please don't do that again," her voice choked and the tears came. The image of Luka, her Luka so still...frightened her. She thinks her heart stopped beating until ReShell snaped her to attention; moreso than seeing him be taken over by his anger twice before. 

He opened his arms and she pressed herself close to him while climbing into his lap, wrapping her arms around him tightly, being extra careful not to press any weight into his wound. 

"I'm here, Marinette, I'm still here with you," she heard, he was close, his grip just as tight and she pushed her face into the crook of his neck. 

"If you die, I'll bring you back myself just to kill you again, understand?" She tried to sound threatening, but she knew with her voice choked with tears it came off as it truly was. Filled with fear and hopelessness. 

"I promise to not die on purpose," he told her and she believed him. 

She felt his heartbeat and the sob that's been bubbling because of her fear, her anger, her worry, finally let itself out. She knew he was probably hurting with how tight her grip was but she needed to know he was safe.

That he was with her.

Alive and well.

If still in need of a bandage.

Injuries healed, they could put a bandaid on them, but if he died...she couldn't bring him back. No miraculous ladybugs could do that. Not without it being during an akuma attack, but even then she didn't want to tempt the universe. It didn't much like her, she's known that for a long time. 

--

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5

[renee561]

Different Duet

For Day 5 of @lukanettejune 's prompts Duet.

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4

I hope yall enjoy!

--

He loves Marinette. He first met her when he was fifteen when she came and got him for the musical festival. 

He knew she didn't feel the same way as him and was happy to be her friend. He hoped her melody would live in his head and the butterflies would never fade. 

He invited her to hang out when he saw her shoulders more burden than normal and did everything to help her achieve whatever goal she wanted. Even giving love advice, though he'd end up upset at himself for his feelings. Knowing she didn't return them shouldn't matter, and mostly he was happy being around her, but it still hurt. 

Most days to cheer himself up, he'd grab his guitar and play whatever popped into his head. Usually it ended up being a new song inspired by Marinette's song. 

One day, at seventeen, he was playing his guitar on the deck of his house boat and he didn't expect to hear his sister's sweet voice sing along to the melody he was playing. Hers. Always hers.

Juleka had a sweet croon to her voice, like one would hear in a late night 50's café filled with thick cigarette smoke, as she stood alone on stage. Or at least he thought so. 

Luka was never good with words, Juleka even less so, but Rose was good that's why she wrote words to his music. He thinks she would have helped his sister come up with lyrics, or his sister had developed the words by herself, which would also be possible. 

Then a new voice, one he's never heard before and…

It was bad. Not screeching or nails on the chalkboard bad, but a whole three keys off and wanting to put the poor creature out of its misery kind of bad. 

He stopped playing the tune and he was blessed with only his sister's voice. And other voices giggling.��

Curious, he left his spot on the deck and moved towards the stage where his sister usually sat to hang out with her friends if they weren't in their shared room. 

Poking his head around the side, his eyes widened as he saw his sister and her usual gang of friends. The girls were laughing and giggling and Marinette's face was buried in her hands. 

What in the world? He thought and decided to ask Jules later. Except Marinette saw him as she was peaking her eyes between her fingers and gasped, alerting everyone to his eavesdropping. 

Marinette made a funny sound between a gasp and a choke and buried her face into Alya's shoulder. 

"What's going on?" He asked calmly, coming to lean against the side of the corner he was looking around, the other girls tried to keep a straight face. They were barely managing it.

"Oh you know, just another plan for Marinette to ask out Adrien,"Alix said in a bored tone, though there was a smirk on her lips as she said it. 

Mylene elbowed the redhead none too gently in the side. 

He raised his eyebrow trying to will his heart to not break at the words, and his easy smile to not turn into a frown. 

"Right," he said cautiously, like that explained everything when it was the opposite of the truth. He understood nothing and was told nothing. Which was fine no one was obligated to tell him anything, but he was sure whatever it was would fail because Marinette was...Marinette and as cute and brilliant as she was, she couldn't speak coherently around Adrien at all. At least not when pressured and not when talking about her feelings. 

As friends, he's seen them joke and have an actual conversation many times, but the moment her crush was brought up or alluded to, she would switch to a stuttering mess. 

A cute stuttering mess, but still a mess nonetheless. 

Alya, turned to him with a smirk on her face. He had to keep his face relaxed though his hand clutched harder at the neck of his guitar. 

It wasn't that Luka didn't like her, she was simply single-minded and her heart melody was loud, passionate, and overwhelming in some places that made him feel overwhelmed in her presence and not in a good way. Like he could be suffocated with what he was hearing if he let it. He refused to let it, so he tuned it out as much as he could. Ignoring it. 

"We thought Marinette could sing out her confession, you know like in those American rom coms, since the girl hasn't been able to tell him yet. But she...um doesn't have the pipes. Her and Juleka were doing a duet, and it won't work," she told him with a teasing grin to Marinette's hair, Marinette was stuffing her face into Alya's shoulder and hitting her gently. 

Maybe to silence her?

He nodded along and held back the smile as he saw Marinette's face blush red. Almost as red as Alix's hair. He rather liked it when she blushed. 

"Oh! I know! Luka, you can teach her?!" Rose prompted with a smile and a sparkle in her blue eyes. 

Luka paused, his mouth dropped open. Marinette stopped hitting Alya and her face went from tomato red to flushed in a second flat. Juleka looked wide eyed at her pretty girlfriend. The other girls looked at Rose as if she grew an extra head. 

"I–I don't think that's a good idea," Marinette stuttered out. Her song changed from peaceful to frazzled, out of sync.

He wanted to agree verbally, but the words were stuck in his throat, "I mean we can work something out. But only if you want to Marinette. No pressure or anything, I'm happy to help."

He shuffled from foot to foot, and felt the weight of her silence as she didn't say anything right away. He didn't mind her silence per say, but then again it would be hard either way. 

"I'll be in the room, Jules," he said when the silence continued to stretch and everyone was looking between the two of them waiting for something. Even when he was sure nothing would.

He smiled at them and walked away, his heart feeling as though someone was gripping too tightly. 

He felt an arm on his elbow as he was almost to the room, and looking into familiar bluebells of the girl he was in love with, his friend more importantly, he felt the grip on his heart release and his shoulders relaxed. When he became stiff he didn't know.

"I'd love to learn from you, Luka. If-if you wanted to of course, I know I'm not good. Actually I'm horrible. I only sing when I'm alone, but the girls...well not Juleka, but she offered to do the duet with me when the others wouldn't let up about hearing me," she explained, casting her eyes down and away. At least her hand still rested on his elbow though, causing the butterflies to swarm in his gut.

He bit his tongue to avoid saying something negative about his sister's and Marinette's friends. 

"Well, we can do that if you really want to, or we could continue with those guitar lessons. You're getting good at playing faster songs," he offered her an alternative. 

Marinette looked at him again, and he hoped his heart couldn't be heard inside his chest, "I'd like that. Besides, I don't want to hurt your ears with how awful I sound."

He smiled and motioned with his head for her to go ahead in the room, "We all can't be good at everything, especially not you, Ma-Ma-Marinette. It's good to know you're bad at something. Here I was thinking you're a goddess amongst us mortals. Singing isn't part of your wheelhouse, but designing isn't part of mine so we're even. I don't mind if you never want to sing for me, but even if you're awful I'd never laugh...well not too much." 

She made an indignant noise and shoved him hard. He chuckled which got her to smile at him. 

"You're awful, Couffaine," she said, her face a pretty red but she was smiling at him and that made it worth it. 

"But you still like me, hopefully," he phrased it as a statement. 

She nodded and leaned up and kissed his cheek, "Of course, you're important to me."

He smiled at her softly, and hoped that his heart wasn't showing in his eyes, but even if it did, he didn't care. Duets weren't always between two musicians, just two people. His heart was playing along to the melody he heard in hers. 

[renee561]

The Rhetoric Doesn't Exist with Us, and I Prefer it that Way

Hello lovelies so this is basically both day 9 and 10 prompts of Rebellion and Not Soulmates rolled into one fic for @lukanettejune.

Inspired by this beautiful quote done very beautifully I might add.

Enjoy! Also very slight salt on Chat Noir's constant "We're meant to be" statements. I'm very tired and very done with hearing it.

Also swearing in this just a bit.

--

She's heard the rhetoric, time and time again each time varying enough that it seemed different but the meaning was clear. 

They were soulmates. 

Chat the most outspoken, "We're made for each other, milady," or "we belong together, why can't you see that?" And her favorite, "The black cat and ladybug belong together just like us!" 

It honestly made her faintly ill thinking of Chat as her boyfriend. Not to mention the thought of Chat Blac still plays in her nightmares.  

She herself had used the same type of rhetoric when thinking of Adrien, when she thought herself in love with him. 

We're perfect for each other and with her girlfriends echoing her thoughts with each passing talk of them as a couple, she started to believe it, internalizing it, built it into something bigger and better than the actual truth. 

She wanted love, a love like her parents. Two individuals coming together and making a life together, their own business flourishing as long as their love lasted to make it so. Sure she knew her parents weren't happy all the time, but they were just so in love with one another. She wanted that, she idolized her parents' love that she thought of them as soulmates. 

Two people finding each other and falling head over heels in love and being together despite it all. Made for each other, just like her papa and maman. 

Three years, she thought as she gritted her teeth against Chat's declaration of the day. 

She left him dry of their typical pound and went home. Well she made a stop first. 

In an alleyway close to the Seine and the Couffaine's Boathouse, she called her boyfriend to meet her outside. 

"Tikki, spots off," she whispered and she reverted to regular Marinette Dupain-Cheng. 

She leaned against the stone and breathed in and out to calm her rage. 

"Marinette?" A familiar and concerned voice asked and she opened her eyes to see Luka, her boyfriend, the boy who made everything better suddenly appear. 

She didn't think, she tossed herself into his arms, his quick reflexes caught her. He was steady, he was safe. He was home. When he became that she didn't know, but he was. She pressed her face into his neck and simply breathed in his scent. He rubbed her back and kissed her head.

"We're not soulmates," she whispered harshly. 

Luka stopped stroking her spine, and she buried herself into his neck more, tightening her grasp, refusing to let him go as if the universe wanted to take him too. It already took so much from her, molding her into what felt like their poster child for sainthood while she slowly lost her grip on her own sanity. 

"We're not soulmates because that means that I don't get a choice. I don't get to choose you. Whoever the heavens chose for me, aller se faire foutre. I want to be with you, I want to be with Luka and not whoever the universe chose for me," she cursed. She was tired, so tired of being told who to choose. And she was tired of being told that one specific person was perfect for her and she was done!

It was her turn to choose, and if people didn't like it, then it was on them not her. She was choosing Luka. And she hopes he'll choose her too. 

His arms stayed loose around her but he didn't push her away. 

He sighed, "While I don't much believe in soulmates, I disagree with the predestined aspect on principle. I believe we find our own songs. But I'd gladly choose you, Marinette. After all, your melody is the clearest and most beautiful I've ever heard. Though you're clearly upset about something. Do you want to talk about it?"

Shs sniffed and shook her head. 

"No," she croaked, tears spilling down her face and onto his skin, he held her tighter. 

"Just want you to hold me and don't let go, yeah?" 

He kissed the top of her ear and squeezed her slightly, "Yeah, I can do that, melody." 

She let him hold her and she fisted her hands into his hoodie.  

Maybe there were soulmates out there, like her maman and papa, Rose and Juleka, but she was just happy to have found someone who could love her. Mess and all. Maybe they weren't predestined to last, but she'll enjoy the love he gave freely and without strings. She was tired of her own strings being yanked back and forth so much. In Luka's arms she was free. 

--

[airi-p4]

Lukanette June 2021 - Day 25: Protection

@lukanettejune​

[renee561]

I posted 19,146 times in 2021

44 posts created (0%)

19102 posts reblogged (100%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 434.1 posts.

I added 573 tags in 2021

#pro lukamari - 85 posts

#lukanette - 85 posts

#miraculous ladybug - 79 posts

#gabenath - 74 posts

#babies - 61 posts

#marinette dupain cheng - 46 posts

#nathalie sancoeur - 44 posts

#luka couffaine - 38 posts

#luka x marinette - 32 posts

#it me - 29 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#also gabe reads these fanfictions because thats how he gets his ideas from except he's captaviated half the time for the development of them

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

The Rhetoric Doesn't Exist with Us, and I Prefer it that Way

Hello lovelies so this is basically both day 9 and 10 prompts of Rebellion and Not Soulmates rolled into one fic for @lukanettejune.

Inspired by this beautiful quote done very beautifully I might add.

Enjoy! Also very slight salt on Chat Noir's constant "We're meant to be" statements. I'm very tired and very done with hearing it.

Also swearing in this just a bit.

--

She's heard the rhetoric, time and time again each time varying enough that it seemed different but the meaning was clear. 

They were soulmates. 

Chat the most outspoken, "We're made for each other, milady," or "we belong together, why can't you see that?" And her favorite, "The black cat and ladybug belong together just like us!" 

It honestly made her faintly ill thinking of Chat as her boyfriend. Not to mention the thought of Chat Blac still plays in her nightmares.  

She herself had used the same type of rhetoric when thinking of Adrien, when she thought herself in love with him. 

We're perfect for each other and with her girlfriends echoing her thoughts with each passing talk of them as a couple, she started to believe it, internalizing it, built it into something bigger and better than the actual truth. 

She wanted love, a love like her parents. Two individuals coming together and making a life together, their own business flourishing as long as their love lasted to make it so. Sure she knew her parents weren't happy all the time, but they were just so in love with one another. She wanted that, she idolized her parents' love that she thought of them as soulmates. 

Two people finding each other and falling head over heels in love and being together despite it all. Made for each other, just like her papa and maman. 

Three years, she thought as she gritted her teeth against Chat's declaration of the day. 

She left him dry of their typical pound and went home. Well she made a stop first. 

In an alleyway close to the Seine and the Couffaine's Boathouse, she called her boyfriend to meet her outside. 

"Tikki, spots off," she whispered and she reverted to regular Marinette Dupain-Cheng. 

She leaned against the stone and breathed in and out to calm her rage. 

"Marinette?" A familiar and concerned voice asked and she opened her eyes to see Luka, her boyfriend, the boy who made everything better suddenly appear. 

She didn't think, she tossed herself into his arms, his quick reflexes caught her. He was steady, he was safe. He was home. When he became that she didn't know, but he was. She pressed her face into his neck and simply breathed in his scent. He rubbed her back and kissed her head.

"We're not soulmates," she whispered harshly. 

Luka stopped stroking her spine, and she buried herself into his neck more, tightening her grasp, refusing to let him go as if the universe wanted to take him too. It already took so much from her, molding her into what felt like their poster child for sainthood while she slowly lost her grip on her own sanity. 

"We're not soulmates because that means that I don't get a choice. I don't get to choose you. Whoever the heavens chose for me, aller se faire foutre. I want to be with you, I want to be with Luka and not whoever the universe chose for me," she cursed. She was tired, so tired of being told who to choose. And she was tired of being told that one specific person was perfect for her and she was done!

It was her turn to choose, and if people didn't like it, then it was on them not her. She was choosing Luka. And she hopes he'll choose her too. 

His arms stayed loose around her but he didn't push her away. 

He sighed, "While I don't much believe in soulmates, I disagree with the predestined aspect on principle. I believe we find our own songs. But I'd gladly choose you, Marinette. After all, your melody is the clearest and most beautiful I've ever heard. Though you're clearly upset about something. Do you want to talk about it?"

Shs sniffed and shook her head. 

"No," she croaked, tears spilling down her face and onto his skin, he held her tighter. 

"Just want you to hold me and don't let go, yeah?" 

He kissed the top of her ear and squeezed her slightly, "Yeah, I can do that, melody." 

She let him hold her and she fisted her hands into his hoodie.  

Maybe there were soulmates out there, like her maman and papa, Rose and Juleka, but she was just happy to have found someone who could love her. Mess and all. Maybe they weren't predestined to last, but she'll enjoy the love he gave freely and without strings. She was tired of her own strings being yanked back and forth so much. In Luka's arms she was free. 

--

32 notes • Posted 2021-06-11 02:59:31 GMT

#4

I Want to Marry My Best Friend

Thank you for liking and reblogging my other prompts which can be found here and here. Hope you've enjoyed them!

Inspired by Tim McGraw's song My Best Friend

Day 3 of @lukanettejune 's prompts. This time it's Best Friend. Hope yall like it! Enjoy!

---

When my world was crazy you're right there to save me. You make me see how much I have

She thrived in chaos. Some days,  it felt like if the world hadn't gone crazy at least three times, it was a slow and uneventful day. She had the nickname amongst her fellow artisans as Marinette "La Tornade" Dupain-Cheng as she was usually busy going from one project to another juggling everything and anything the fashion world threw at her. Sometimes great and other days not so great, but she usually left a path in her wake. If others chose not to follow she no longer concerned herself with trying to slow herself to fit their perception of what she should be. Not since she was fifteen and the boy she liked for two years turned her down flat. He was kind, but it just allowed her to break whatever mold she had placed herself in trying to gain his attention. 

She has been a designer intern for The Gabriel Agreste brand since she was sixteen. A creator of vision and she was Paris' superhero saving the city for even longer. Her world consisted of chaos, by the time she stopped, usually meant it was time to rest before she did it all again the next day. 

There were only three people that could boost that they could settle the force of nature Marinette had become. Her parents of course and Luka. 

Luka, her anchor in her path. Always there, always timing it just right to get her to calm down, breathe, smell the roses. Relax. 

Like right now they were on a picnic date instead of her hunched over her crafting desk in their apartment trying to meet another impossible deadline set by Monsieur Agreste. But she knew even the man took breaks, Nathalie made sure of it. The man was at least smart enough to listen to her.

Luka kissed her forehead and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. She no longer wore pigtails, but instead had it long and in a single braid down her back, much like when she was once Lady Noire.  Still small hairs escaped from their confines and she leaned into his touch. 

He always made her feel calm and collected, he was there for her when her world spiraled out of control and she leaned on him when she couldn't continue making the chaos she was known for. With Luka, she didn't have to be La Tornade, or Ladybug, or anything other than Marinette, even then she could let the chaos subside and let the sunshine in. 

You stood by me, you believe in me like no one ever has

He always had a strong support system. His Ma after his Da left became the shoulder he leaned into, but also the shoulder he supported whenever he could. Juleka was his sister, his twin, there was this unspoken and often spoken support to her and in her own ways supported him equally. 

When he wanted to pursue music as a career his Ma was supportive, Jules gathered her friends from lycee and they formed Kitty Section. 

Kitty Section, which to this day was still popular with the teens and even their age group. They were working gigs almost every weekend and sometimes three nights a week in different spots in Paris. 

However, curled into his side was the most supportive person he knew. His melody. 

He pushed hair out of her face and behind her ear, his finger stroking the black earrings that lay innocently in her ear at the moment. He's known since she was fifteen, after Adrien rejected her. It wasn't done cruelly, but he was in love with someone else and she respected that. He remembered feeling hopeless to her cries and her tears, yet he was the friend that sat with her and wiped them away when she was too drained to move. He distracted her many nights playing his guitar, soft music for her to sleep peacefully. Finding out she was Ladybug had been surreal. 

How could this perfect girl be any more amazing...and BAM! She's the hero of their city, fighting battles most would run from. Fighting to save people, to keep the good in this long battle, despite most of the time she was alone. Chat has gotten better about not sacrificing himself in the middle of the battle, but back then he would take himself out hazardously if it meant Ladybug could get the object. A miscalculation in Luka's opinion. 

She needed a partner to aid her when her other one baited the villain. He saved her countless times, has seen many things, including her true identity. It only made him love her more and be there for her more when she literally felt the weight of a city on her shoulders. 

He never admitted it, until they were officially dating three months after Adrien rejected her. Three months of worry and helplessness on his part, but nothing he would have traded for this moment. 

He kissed her forehead and held her closer to him. Her melody is the song in his head and the butterflies in his gut. 

She supported him through the late nights and the frustration of notes being a jumbled mess on paper, to missed dates because one or both of them were lost in their creative spaces. Her a whirlwind with silk and thread, him a maniac with pen in hand when the right inspiration strikes. 

She went to every concert, every gig, designed the costumes, but mostly she supports him when things get too much. When he can't handle the noise of the city mixed in with the song he's trying to focus on, when he can't handle his mother's latest spree of Captain Lunacy, his mother hasn't mellowed out at all and he loved her but she drove him mad at times. Times when he just needed to be engulfed in his girlfriend's arms. A safe harbor to sail into.

Jules helps, but there was only so much his twin could handle before she too must escape into the arms of her own pink princess. 

He loved Marinette for all her crazy and all her strength, for being there for him when he needed to get lost in the chaos that she brings. Different than his own family, but still a whirlwind of beautiful catastrophe. 

I fall in love all over. Everytime I look at you

She pushed him back so that their eyes could meet. Her heart beat inside her chest at the look of adortion in his gaze. The soft look of wonder that has never faded in their relationship, in fact it has only grown. 

"I love you, Couffaine," she whispered as if it was a secret like the identity she carried. Not alone, never alone again. 

"As I love you, Ma-Ma-Marinette," he told her and she couldn't help the giggle escape from her lips. 

"Want to do something crazy and chaotic?" She curiously asked, a wonderful mad yet brilliant idea forming in her head. 

He raised an eyebrow and she grinned teasingly at him, "Let's each marry our best friend!" 

His brow furrowed and confusion set into his face, he looked almost like Tikki when she didn't understand one of her plans. 

"But your best friend is Alya and mine is–" he paused and the realization hit him. 

She smirked at his wide eyes and the joy emitting from such a look took her breath away, and made her heart race a million kilometers a minute. 

"You see, Alya is my best girlfriend, but Luka Couffaine is the best boyfriend, my lover, and my biggest fan. The person who's been there for me since I was thirteen, never expected me to return your feelings and I know it's not the most romantic of proposals but I thought might as well bring some chaos into the day. And your mother would never let me live it down if I passed the opportunity!"

He tossed his head back and laughed, the sun shining in his dyed teal locks. She felt the laughter bubble out of her mouth as he leaned over and started to tickle her sides, pulling her firmly into his lap. Locking her fingers together behind his neck, their eyes met, even if she bit her bottom lip to hopefully keep her questions inside. 

"I think, Melody, that sounds perfect. Marrying my best friend was always high on my bucket list since I met you," he told her softly pressing his forehead to hers. 

She tugged his face closer so that she could kiss him. Her best friend, her lover, and now her fiancé, soon to be husband.

She promised herself she'd give him the chance, but after two weeks, well she wasn't one for waiting around. 

36 notes • Posted 2021-06-04 03:20:08 GMT

#3

Real life has been taking priority lately so I'll not be on as much in the coming weeks. Starting a new job soon and working on getting things ready for that. So if you see me posting it might be a queue as I might decide to start doing that. Still feel free to tag me in things and I'll play, it just might be a hot minute though ^_^

Much love,

Renee

38 notes • Posted 2021-07-13 16:34:29 GMT

#2

My attempt at @lukanettejune 's prompt for day 1 Dawn.

Hope y'all enjoy!

----

Let the Sun Not Set on Our Love

She finally came home as the dawn was creeping over the horizon of the Paris landscape. She entered through the unlocked window, as quietly as she could. It was the same as it ever was lately. 

Quiet. Still. No akumas at 3 in the morning, thank God, even if her and Chat Noir patrolled from midnight to dawn just to make sure they weren't caught unaware. 

Thankfully she had someone that she came home to. Someone who never made her feel as if she needed to pretend to be alright or a morning person when he would eventually get up to go help Rose with some band things. 

Kitty Section was still together and still writing their own songs. They had a gig later this week and Rose was calling in last minute rehearsals at all hours. She was a slave-driver. The sweetest person and yet she could make Gabriel Agreste be compared to a saint, to how much she made the band practice. It didn't help that Rose's puppy eyes were much better than Marinette's. 

"You're just a sucker for pretty blue eyes, aren't you, Couffaine?" She teased her boyfriend last night, as she drew some last minute designs for Kitty Section's latest gig. She smirked at her sketchbook rather than directly at him.  

He shoved her playfully, wrapping an arm around her waist, "Maybe, Melody, or I'm a sucker for a particular pair of bluebells. No one can say no to Rose for very long." 

She snuggled into him and let his warmth surround her. These small moments before she went on patrol and before he went to bed were precious to her. Between their day jobs and her superhero life, living together made little moments like this precious to her. They felt like stolen gems. 

"True, but I–we all know you're going to rock and you're then going to get signed to a label and go on tour and I'll be cheering from the front row like always!" She told him a grin on her face. 

He chuckled, "Well with my ma-ma-Marrinette in the front row we have all the good luck on our side."  

She shoved him playfully before leaning over to kiss him gently. 

She sighed as she closed the window and finally locked it, closing the curtains to allow him to sleep longer. If he doesn't wake, then she'll tell Rose she kept him in bed longer than usual. Rose and Juleka were adamant about a wedding between them. They've been together ever since lycee, and they were about to graduate from university in three months. She thought Luka was the one for her, but they had time. 

"Tikki, spots off," she whispered into the silent room, except for Luka's soft snores mixed with hums of whatever song he was thinking of. Even asleep music spoke to him. 

A flash of light and she was once more Marinette Dupain-Cheng, fashion student and intern at The Gabriel Agreste brand. She liked Monsieur Agreste, he pushed her to limits she didn't believe she could reach before, and he liked her. Even if the whole Adrien dating thing went sideways and didn't work out like she once thought. Her best plans weren't comparable to the happiness she felt now. And she was happy. 

She gave Tikki a macaroon to snack on, and as she easily and silently walked to her side of the bed, she snuggled under the blanket and into her boyfriend's chest. He pulled her tighter against him and hummed a familiar tune under his breath, her eyes closed and she didn't even fight the exhaustion she felt. 

The dawn may be beginning, but she doubts the sun would set on their love. And if he didn't propose by the end of summer then she would. 

48 notes • Posted 2021-06-02 02:20:43 GMT

#1

Dressing for Our Date Night

For @lukanettejune 's Day 8 prompt: Cosmetics.

Also inspired by this dress for this fic. Enjoy yall!

--

She opened the door to their room and rubbed her hair with the towel, the steam escaping into the cooler room. 

It was date night and Marinette was excited! 

With their lives being hectic, between Saving Paris and her internship as well as his own job and just starting his music career, they had little time for dates.

They already celebrated with Kitty Section the signing of their first deal with RollingStone Music Inc. 

Now it was their turn to do some celebrating. She was very proud of her boyfriend, she's always known he'd go far with his music. 

She could hear the sounds of said boyfriend playing his guitar and the squabbling of the kwamis through the thin walls of their apartment. Tikki was scolding Sass again about something, their dynamic was an odd one. Sass the leader of the Kwamis was always doing something to frustrate Tikki, but Tikki was always giggling so it never came off like she was truly mad. 

Shaking her head, Marinette placed the towel on her head and moved her way to their closet to pick out her outfit for tonight, her fluffy bathrobe tight around her. 

She pressed her lips together as she went through her options. Everything wasn't right! 

Her fingers went slower, running over different fabrics. Cotton, polyester, satin, tulle, lace with colors ranging with every color of pink, black, blue, green, red. There was also the occasional white and her jeans were folded into her drawers. 

She worried her bottom lip between her teeth, her mind going through the contents of her cosmetics bag on her side of the dresser, as she went through each item. 

"You could wear that new dress you designed for Rose's birthday next month. She'll never know I got to see it on you first," her boyfriend said quietly. 

She squeaked and jumped cletching her bathrobe tightly at the neck. 

He was too quiet sometimes, and she glared at him as she saw his shoulders shake as he laughed at her. 

She clicked her tongue, but thought about what he said. There was that dress she was inspired to create a while back, it was white with cherries over it. She was hoping to wear it to Rose's twenty-third birthday next month, but...

Maybe? It wouldn't hurt to wear it tonight.

She moved passed her boyfriend, standing on tip toe to kiss his cheek as she went into the other room where she kept any new outfits she made but hadn't added to her wardrobe just yet. 

There still on the mannequin, the new dress Luka had remembered. 

It would go perfectly with the cosmetics she had. Though Marinette barely ever used makeup, except for eyeshadow and lipgloss for work, at least she knew the basics and had no problem looking something up on the internet or asking one of her girlfriends. Luka was also good at makeup, but she never wanted to ask him, because she felt it cheating since she liked surprising him with getting dressed up for him. 

She carefully removed the dress, and brought it draped over her arm, back to their room. Luka laying on the bed in black jeans and a blue shirt, the shirt reminding her of the overnight trip to the sea they took last summer to give her a break from Paris' Hawkmoth problem. They had the Kwamis just in case they needed to get back, though Chat was still in the city plus Reshell and Vulpes were now more permanent members to lighten their load. 

She smiled faintly at the image of her boyfriend sprawled out like a starfish atop their black with pink cherry blossoms duvet. She went through her cosmetics bag and grabbed the necessary items as well as her brush, going back into the bathroom to change. She didn't want Luka to see until she was perfect. 

-

Liquid eyeliner is the worst invention, Marinette thought acidly as she tried for the fifth time to get the wing on her left eye to match her right. 

Her hair was pulled into a bun, with loose tendrils tickling the back of her neck. Her dress with its Queen Anne neckline fit comfortably, as it brushed her just above her knees. Her foundation hid her freckles, and her red lipstick matched the cherries on her dress almost to the exact shade. Her soft brown eyeshadow with a hint of gold made her eyes pop, there was a hint of perfume at her pulse points, and all she wanted to do was get the eyeliner right and they could go!

She slammed down the tool as it still wasn't perfect and it just—

She growled and picked up the tool once more and carefully went through the motions of applying the eyeliner to a point next to the corner of her eye. 

Pulling the tip away, she moved her head back and forth looking at both wings and sighed with a pout. Still not perfect. 

It'll have to do. I don't want to make us late, she thought sadly while adding a bit of eyeliner to her right eye to have the same thickness as her left. 

She capped the tool and nodded to her reflection. 

Gathering her things she peeked into their room and Luka wasn't anywhere in sight. 

She quietly replaced only the eyeliner and set her brush next to her bag. The rest she placed in the tiny clutch she was bringing along. She placed on her scrappy red heels from her closet, and a grabbed her tiny white jacket for her arms. 

"Wow," she twirled on her toes and opened her mouth to scold him, she wanted to be finished before showing herself off to him. 

Except the breath caught in her throat at the look he was giving her. It was one of her favorite looks. 

His eyes were wide open, his mouth slightly agape, and he looked like a little nudge from one of the Kwamis could blow him over. 

Tikki and Sass snickered behind Luka, and Sass did nudge him after a minute of them just staring at one another. 

Luka came close to her, and she tilted her head back as he was still taller than her even with her heels, though it was less so now that when she was barefooted. She wasn't very tall, while he was tall, dark and handsome. 

He pressed himself to her and leaned very close as if wanting to kiss her. 

"You look amazing, Marinette," he told her, the tone achingly familiar. It was lower than his normal voice, one he used in a different circumstance, her eyes even drifted briefly to the bed for a second before looking into his blue eyes. 

"We'll be late," she said, both of them looking forward all week to tonight. 

He looked at her red lips and then back to her eyes, their color darker then they were a second ago.

"I could eat you if you wanted, dinner doesn't have to be food," he told her, his intentions clear. 

She felt her cheeks warm and her breathing stopped, her heart picked up speed and she was tempted. So very tempted. 

She pushed him away, reluctantly. "I want to eat food, and maybe we could come home for our desert instead," she wasn't saying no to what he offered, but she was saying later. 

Patience 

His lopsided grin did funny things to her heart. 

"As my melody commands," he winked at her and she was sure her cheeks were as red as her lipstick. 

Still they didn't move, even though she knew that they needed to go. 

Maybe one kiss couldn't hurt, she thought as she pulled Luka closer by his shirt and he grinned as their lips met. 

They missed their reservation, but to them it was definitely worth it. 

-

Previous Prompts:

Days-

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

58 notes • Posted 2021-06-09 01:33:08 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →