Chapter Text
Luka had been watching the prince watching Luka out of the corner of his eye for nearly ten minutes when he lowered his lyre, stopping his song.
“Back again, Mortal?” Luka tried to sound disinterested, aloof, giving no indication that he knew who Adrien was.
He shifted on his rock, bring his tail up out of the water to flick droplets towards the shore where the prince was attempting to hide behind one of the arching rock formations dotting the beach.
“You’ve come every night this week,” he observed, trying to sound like he hadn’t been counting.
(Luka had been counting. Over the past two months since Adrien had rescued Luka from that fishing net, Luka had come to sing close to the shore beneath Adrien’s castle up on the cliff every night, and Adrien had snuck down to watch and listen in secret all but eight of them. Those nights had been the longest of Luka’s life as he agonized over what could be keeping Adrien, if something had happened to his destructible mortal frame, if Adrien had lost interest…)
“I like listening to your song,” Adrien admitted sheepishly, rubbing at the back of his neck as he stepped out of the shadows, moving closer to the water.
“I’d be careful, if I were you,” Luka cautioned, going for a “mysterious”, “dangerous” vibe. “Siren songs drive humans mad.”
Adrien shrugged, slipping off his boots and coming to sit at the edge of the little cliff hanging out over the ocean. He let his legs dangle over the side, his feet in the water.
The sea floor below the cliff dropped off steeply. It wasn’t a shallow, sloping incline where Adrien could find his footing if he fell in. Meters upon meters of ocean lay between Adrien’s feet and solid ground. Meters upon meters of icy blue ocean to drown in.
“I haven’t experienced any negative effects yet,” Adrien remarked, carelessly kicking his feet back and forth, as if to mock and tempt the danger. “Maybe your song is broken or I’m immune or something.”
“No one is immune,” Luka snorted.
Adrien stopped kicking and looked up, meeting Luka’s gaze challengingly. “Then…you must not be trying.”
The prince’s golden hair, tied back with a little ribbon, glimmered in the pale moonlight. His peridot eyes sparkled. He was beauty itself.
Luka slowly averted his eyes, pretending to look out at the ocean uninterestedly. “I’m not,” Luka assured indolently, as if it were no matter. “But if I wanted, I could make you throw yourself into the sea. I’d have you drowned in a minute.”
Unexpectedly, Adrien took off his undershirt.
He’d only been in his shirt sleeves and britches to begin with, so Luka hadn’t had adequate time to prepare for the disrobing. Suddenly, Adrien was just sitting there shirtless.
And then Adrien tossed his shirt aside, pushing off the little cliff and slipping into the water. He went under but quickly came up with a gasp of air, shocked at the cold.
All Luka could do was stare.
Adrien stared back defiantly, treading water. “There. I’ve thrown myself into the sea. What are you waiting for?”
Luka inhaled slowly, watching, entranced as Adrien swam over to Luka’s rock in that awkward, thrashing way humans moved through water.
Luka sank down silently into the ocean, coming back up less than an arm’s length from Adrien.
Adrien’s eyes widened, and his breathing hitched.
Luka watched Adrien’s slight Adam’s apple bob as he gulped.
“So?” Adrien whispered expectantly, thinking that he was calling Luka’s bluff. “Drown me.”
Luka smiled predatorily.
At this distance, he could smell the cocktail of hormones Adrien was giving off.
Luka hadn’t been pining in vain.
“Take a deep breath,” he instructed kindly and then watched as Adrien did so.
He reached out, moving quick as an eel as he wrapped his arms around Adrien, dragging him down below the waves with a yank.
Adrien gasped, air bubbles escaping his nose and mouth and making a break for the surface as water began to flow into Adrien’s lungs in their place.
Luka pulled Adrien in, crushing their lips together.
After an initial moment of panic, Adrien started to respond, drinking hungrily from Luka’s lips, desperately wrapping his limbs around Luka like kelp.
Luka pulled back with a satisfied chuckle. “Breathe, Adrien,” he urged gently. “Just breathe like normal.”
Tentatively, Adrien did. “How…How is this possible?”
“The kiss,” Luka explained. “A gift freely given. Now the sea will never drown you.”
Adrien’s brows slowly pinched into a worried frown. “Was that…the only reason why you kissed me?”
Luka tugged Adrien back in, pressing their lips together a second time.
“No,” he answered simply, reaching up to stroke Adrien’s hair and cup his face.
“Okay,” Adrien breathed in relief, a radiant smile spreading across his face, adoration in his eyes. “Good.”