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Her hands are idly weaving delicate green plastic stems into wire when Marinette is startled by a pressure on her shoulder.
“Juleka! You scared me!” she rests a hand on her chest, trying to slow her rapid heart rate while her goth classmate smiles, amused.
“Force of habit, it’s fun sneaking up on people.” She lowers herself down to Marinette’s level, resting her weight on her ankles. “I thought you finished all of these up at your house?”
Juleka fingers run along the pile of flower crowns that Marinette had brought over while eyeing the current cluster of fake foliage that she was working on. The living room of the Liberty is scattered with various pieces of wire, pliers, and remnants of plants that didn’t quite make the cut.
“I finished most of them, but Luka told your mom what I was working on and insisted on giving me some left over set props from a show she worked a while back that she thought I’d like,” Marinette nudged her head over to the overflowing box of plastic flowers and plants that the Captain had bequeathed her.
“I thought it might be easier to finish everything up here, then we can take headshots with the river in the background?”
“Sounds good to me,” Juleka fidgets for a moment. “Um, thanks again for letting me...you know.” she gestures vaguely, but Marinette knows exactly what she’s talking about; Juleka’s still trying to feel comfortable with expressing what she’s passionate about.
“No, thank you for helping me with the online store!”
The two smiles at each other for a moment. Juleka brushes her bangs back, standing and offering Marinette a hand up. “Rose should be here soon too. She had some errands to run before she gets here,” she pauses for a moment. “Where is brother o’ mine anyways?”
“I was running out of wire to make the frames,” Marinette replies. “Luka was nice enough to run to the store for me while I finish these up so we can take photos before it gets too dark out.”
Juleka hums in response, her eyes dancing over the heap of various chaplets with different flowers woven into them. Most of them easily recognizable: roses, peonies, sunflowers and the like; there were a couple of plants that Marinette didn’t really recognize, but looked pretty enough to sell as holiday pieces.
Juleka’s gaze pauses over a crown that has light green bunches of leaves and some white berries that the designer had found in what seemed to be the Christmas section of the box Anarka had given her.
She picks up the crown, examining it with a glint in her expression, before passing it off to Marinette. “You should have Luka model this one.”
“Why?”
“You don’t think it’d look good on him?”
“Of course it would, Luka looks good in anything-” Marinette slaps a hand over her mouth. “I-I mean he looks good with nothing-NO, h-he’s uh-”
“Marinette! I’m back with the stuff you needed,” Luka enters her vision, setting the bag of supplies down on the floor and raises an eyebrow at the scene in front of him. “What’s going on here?”
Marinette’s face feels positively red and she sees Juleka looking downright wicked with the grin she has plastered all over her well made-up face.
“Not much, Marinette was just talking about how hot she thinks you are.”
“Juleka!” Marinette groans out, covering her face behind the crown she’s holding. If what Juleka says bothers Luka, he doesn’t mention it, but then again, Luka has the patience of a saint when it comes to her. He’s always so kind, and gentle, and sweet, and-
“Here. Try that on.” Juleka’s voice interrupts her rather embarrassing internal rambling. She’s gesturing to the garland Marinette’s hiding behind, but she doesn’t make a move until Juleka (rather rudely) gives her a light push towards Luka. She stumbles and he catches her by the shoulders, holding her steady.
He’s smiling down at her, unfazed by whatever the heck is happening right now. She knows Juleka won’t let it go until she obliges her and Luka’s usually willing to go along with Marinette’s shenanigans, so.
When she places the wreath atop of his hair, his eyes flick upwards, trying to catch a glimpse of what it looks like on him (rather adorably, who gave him the right to be this cute and for her to be such a mess about it?).
He grins, lopsided. “How’s it look?”
Stupidly handsome, blues and greens and greys complimenting his complexion and bringing out his eyes. Juleka was right, he does look good, and she’s probably staring a little more than what’s considered appropriate for ‘just friends’, but Luka doesn’t seem to mind much either by the way he’s looking at her too.
“Hiiii! I’m here-oh mistletoe!” Rose’s voice cuts through the air and into Marinette’s brain as she approaches the group.
Wait. What?
“Mistletoe? Where?”
Juleka smirks as Rose giggles and points. Marinette’s eyes follow-
-and she finds herself looking straight at Luka. More specifically, the top of his blue tinted head, garnished with the bundle of what Marinette can only assume is the plant in question.
And she’s standing right underneath him.
Oh no.
She can feel her face heating already.
“Anyways, Rose, we should get ready for this photoshoot in a bit.” Juleka grabs Rose’s hand, pausing for a moment to grab another finished mistletoe crown from the crown pile.
“I’m borrowing this,” she states before putting it on top of her own head and starts dragging her pink girlfriend back towards her and Luka’s shared room.
Which leaves Marinette alone with Luka, whom she definitely put into an awkward situation, even though things have never been awkward between them before. Tense with a spark of something that Marinette doesn’t want to get her hopes up about? Sure. Absolutely. But being around Luka is so effortless and makes her feel at ease, even when she’s being a total spaz, like right now.
“Luka, I’m so sorry,” she apologizes to the ground, miserably. “I’m not good with plants that aren’t my own, I didn’t know.”
His laugh rings out like bells. “Marinette, hey, look at me.” When she doesn’t, he tucks his thumb under her chin, gently, bringing her eyes up to his and the beauty of blue washes over her. “It’s okay, it was an honest mistake, and I’m, uh, not exactly going to complain.”
Oh. There’s a lot of implications in his words that Marinette is trying very hard to wrap her head around, ones that Luka seems equally flustered about when she sees his cheeks turn pink.
His words seem to pour out of his mouth faster than his normal cool composure allows him. “That is, unless you are. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, I want you to feel like you’re safe with me, you know?” He releases his hands from her and rubs the back of his neck, nervous. Marinette immediately misses the closeness.
“I’m not much for traditions anyways, Couffaine blood and all.” He chuckles, even though he doesn’t seem to be too into it. “It’s pretty stupid anyways, forcing a kiss on someone if they don’t want it, I don’t even know why it’s still a thing.”
Except, she most definitely wants it, even if she agrees with the sentiment. Marinette is a romantic at heart and maybe she just needs a really vague excuse to finally work up the nerve to get over the herself. And there’s no time like the present, right?
“It’s okay,” she mumbles out. “I l-like this one if it’s with you.” Marinette, despite her embarrassment, holds his gaze and his surprised expression quickly falls into a sweet smile.
Luka’s hand moves to cup her face, not needing to speak in order to ask for her permission. He just looks at her, patient, until she nods her head in approval.
She gasps softly at the delicate touch of his lips on the skin of her cheek; it feels a lot more intimate than anything Marinette has daydreamed of before, despite being no less innocent than a bise. The way he’s touching her makes her feel like she’s the most precious thing in the world and leaves her wanting more, and not just in the physical sense.
Luka starts pulling back; Marinette’s hand moves of its own accord to cradle his face and she tilts her head just enough to slot their mouths together.
Finally.
She feels Luka’s breath hitch in surprise underneath her, before he seems to melt into the kiss, hugging her close to him as she moves to wrap her arms around his neck. It’s slow and serene like fresh fallen snow and Marinette is pretty sure she can feel him smiling against her and follows suit.
He draws away from her lips with a shaky exhale, resting his arms around her waist, but not moving to create any distance between them. He huffs out a laugh when she moves her hands back to hold his face, running her thumbs over both of his cheeks.
The love-struck look on his face as he leans into her touch is one that she’s pretty sure she’s going to be thinking about over and over again for weeks to come; Poor Tikki is going to have to deal with her mushy rambling, but Marinette isn’t really inclined to feel too guilty about it at the moment.
Luka’s low voice drawls out next to her ear, “I think I’m okay with being a little traditional sometimes.”
“Pretty sure most people don’t make out under a flower crown made from mistletoe, Luka.” Marinette snarks at him, but she’s sliding her hands down from his face as she does so to wrap herself around his torso under his hoodie where it’s warm and she can listen to his heart beat against his chest.
“That’s okay,” he says, nose teasing against the hair on the top of her head. “We can make it our own thing, if you’d like.”
And they do.
Marinette decides later on, after long, lazy, amazing kissing and an incredibly delayed photoshoot, that she’s not going to sell the mistletoe crowns on her website. She keeps it as an exclusive item reserved for Luka Couffaine use only.
Although, she lets Juleka keep the one she borrowed. Marinette figures she kind of owes her one for the literal push in the right direction anyways.