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The season of fall had progressed steadily in the city of Paris.
A noticeable chill now permeated the air, accompanied by leafless trees and yellowing grass. Crisp breezes caused trails of leaves to skitter over the streets, scattering them far and wide. Thick carpets of flame-colored foliage covered almost every available surface—sidewalks, park lawns, the yards of houses. Everywhere, people were out and about, taking advantage of the clear weather as they toiled with yard work and called friendly greetings to neighbors who passed.
Leaves flutter past your head, buoyed by a wind that was almost biting but not quite. You hugged your arms around yourself, thankful that your thick jacket kept out the worst of the chill.
A cloud of chatter and giggles surrounded you, produced by your friend group. This Saturday, everyone had been able to come on your weekly trip to the park, something you were happy about. It wasn’t often the whole group showed.
And by everyone, you meant everyone.
Rose, Nathaniel, Mylene, Ivan, Alix, Kim, Marc, Marc, Nino, Alya, Juleka, Marinette, Luka, even Adrien. And now you were all gathered in a large group, striding over the sidewalk like a flood—a flood of talkative teenagers.
Ivan had managed to get stuck pulling the wagon loaded with rakes, so he hung at the back of the group with Mylene. Rose and Alix hovered at the front of the group—Alix because she was in rollerblades, Rose because she was trying to talk to everyone at once. Adrien held hands with Marinette, Alya and Nino did the same. The four were engaged in a conversation about Alya’s blog. Marc and Nathaniel were discussing their comic book with a fascinated Max and Juleka. You never would’ve guessed that the latter would be so obsessed with comic books, but you suspected her newfound interest had a lot to do with the fact that her boyfriend was the artist for it. Luka was watching his younger sister closely, something he’d been doing a lot of ever since Nathaniel and Juleka had started dating.
The blue-haired guitarist glanced at you unexpectedly and saw the amused expression on your face. You flushed, a little embarrassed to be caught watching him, but raised an eyebrow.
He gave you a playful scowl, as if o ffended by your amusement at his protectiveness. You rolled your eyes to the heavens, making a gesture that was intended to mean “go easy on them.” He shrugged, smiling impishly, then turned his attention back to being brotherly.
You studied him for a bit, thankful he didn’t look back at you. Your gaze was no longer amused, now it was thoughtful.
You and Luka had…a special bond. You didn’t want to try and sound like the unique, quirky main character of the group, but… it was true. You were the only one who’d seen the real him—the mask of happiness he hid his broken turmoil behind. He confided in you, and in turn, let you confide in him. You supported each other mutually, instead of the one-sided relationship he shared with most of the others.
You turned your eyes away from the blue-haired boy, but your thoughts were still on him. He suffered, and it hurt to see him like that. He claimed it’d been getting better since he began talking things over with you, but scars like the ones Luka had took time to heal…
You’d been recently trying to convince him to get a therapist, but Luka was convinced he didn’t need one. Years of dealing with things on his own had almost… prejudiced him against the idea of help. You were the only exception.
You huffed out a breath. He was stubborn.
“Hey!” someone bumped you and you stumbled, jerked from your thoughts. You looked over at who’d bumped you and saw Alya smiling.
“What’s up, girl?” she asked. “Haven’t been able to talk with you for a while. What’s going on?”
“Eh, not much,” you shrugged. “School, I guess? But I’ve been good. What about you?”
“Busy, busy, busy,” she shook her head sorrowfully. “Being a blogger’s a full-time job. And I’ve got all my research on Ladybug too… not to mention school and stuff. So it’s always nice to take a break, like today!”
“Yeah.” You sighed, looking up at the sky.
It was blue, but a cold sort of blue. The sunshine warmed your skin but didn’t seem able to penetrate the dome above you.
Your group soon entered the park, quickly finding a place thick with leaves to rake. Rakes were handed out, and you all set at it with goodwill. Rose sang as she worked, twirling around as if her rake was a wand and she was transforming into a magical girl. Adrien and Marinette worked together, swiftly forming a pile.
Man, those two were goals.
Eventually, what had started out as trying to create one communal pile turned into a competition to create the largest one. Everyone automatically formed teams of two—Marinette and Adrien, Alya and Nino, Juleka and Nathaniel, Mylene and Ivan, Rose and Alix, Marc and Kim, Luka and you. Max insisted that his robot Markov was his partner (naturally, you didn’t know why you’d expected otherwise), and the little bot puttered back and forth, fetching surprisingly large handfuls of leaves.
Though before, raking had been merely a fun task, now it was a competition.
You were going to win.
Leaves flew through the air. There were no rules, no rhyme or reason, it was survival of the fittest. R ose ( R ose , the c ute , f luffy , sugar-sweet girl) hip-checked Marc, sending him flying to the side. Kim shamelessly attempted to rake other team’s piles into his own. Ivan… well, Ivan was a tank. Nothing more needed to be said.
You cursed your limbs for not being able to work fast enough as you flung yourself wholly into the fray, all but battling for the leaves. There were plenty, forming a springy carpet beneath your feet, and they were heavy and difficult to lift.
As time passed, it became obvious that Team Adrienette was going to win this round. That didn’t stop you from picking up the pace, practically knocking rakes aside in order to reach as many as you could. (There was no way you’d stoop to Kim’s level.) But to no avail…the ground was scraped clean, and Team Adrienette’s pile was nearly as tall as they were.
You grudgingly accepted them as the winners, and Alya gave them an exaggerated bow and began a speech about their superior raking skills…which ended up being nothing but a distraction so Nino could sneak up behind them and dump an armful of leaves on their heads.
“Hey!” Marinette cried, whirling around as Nino ran away laughing. “No fair!”
Alya grinned mischievously, high-fiving Nino as he passed.
“Oh, it’s on,” Adrien warned. He grabbed a handful of leaves and hurled them at Alya.
Well, the whole raking thing was pointless, you thought, dropping your garden tool. But at least now you had a chance to get back at Adrien and Marinette.
You threw yourself into the fray again, toppling your leaf pile with you. It exploded as it made contact with the ground, scattering everywhere.
Your entrance was aided with the accompanying shower of dead foliage, as it drove away the others. The unlucky few who had been close enough to get a face-full of the dust and dirt scattered away, coughing and rubbing their eyes.
You grabbed an armful of leaves from the ground, diving in Adrien’s direction and hurtling them at his face. A pile of foliage exploded against the back of your head, distracting you, and you were unable to see if you hit your mark or not.
Juleka, you were surprised to see, had fully invested herself in the battle. She made the air thick with flying leaves, a fiery light burning in her eyes that you’d never seen—except, maybe, when she was performing. Even Nathaniel was in awe, stumbling over his own feet as he stared, wide-eyed, at her.
You spun around, leaping forwards to gather more ammunition.
But then… you slipped.
Your foot skidded on a patch of loose leaves, and you careened to the side, unable to avoid the tree trunk looming in your vision.
Wumph.
You clutched your face, dazed, as you thudded heavily to the ground. Hot liquid dripped over your fingers, and a splash fell on your lip. It tasted of blood.
No one seemed to notice you’d fallen, carrying on with their battle—well, almost no one. A hand locked around your wrist, draggin g you away as gently as it could. You blinked spots out of your eyes, finally focus ing on Luka’s face.
“You’re a mess,” he said, shaking his head as he propped you against a tree trunk a few feet away from the edge of the battle.
“Sorry,” you said thickly, trying to ignore the blood coursing down your face. Luka sighed, shaking his head again, and pulled a packet of tissues from his pocket. He tugged one loose, gently pressing it against your face.
You automatically raised your hand to hold it in place yourself. He nodded approvingly.
“Thanks,” you said, voice muffled.
“Of course,” he smiled, sitting down next to you. “You need to be more careful.”
You shrugged offhandedly, but secretly felt a thrill of warmth that he cared.
A spare leaf drifted past your vision, reminding you that there was a war going on only feet away. It seemed no one had noticed you were gone, they were all engaged in warfare.
“This is…more heated than I thought any of us would end up today,” Luka said, jerking his head towards the fray. You chuckled in agreement, temporarily lifting the tissue away from your face to check it. Luka clucked his tongue sternly at you, taking hold of your hand and pushing it back against your face,
The small, warm pressure made your heart skip a beat, and you fought to keep heat from rising in your cheeks.
Why are you acting this way? Stop being an idiot!
But even with your admonishments…your traitorous heart gave a small flicker in your chest as Luka smiled warmly at you.
Curse you, you thought, unsure of exactly who or what you were speaking to.
“Huh, you’re bleeding pretty bad.” Luka frowned at the tissue in your hand, which was almost soaked through. “Does it hurt?”
You gave a non-committal shrug and jerk of your head.
It did hurt. You’d just slammed your face into a tree. But that part was embarrassing and you didn’t want to talk about it.
You didn’t think it should be bleeding this badly… but, you supposed, the air was very dry. That probably had something to do with it.
That, and you slammed your face into a tree.
Luka cast a furtive glance at the ongoing leaf battle, seeming reluctant to leap into it and ask for help.
“I’m fine,” you tried to say, but of course he saw through that.
“No,” he said decisively. “No, you’re not. There is blood all over your face.”
“My skin’s just really dry,” you argued. “It’s not that bad.”
“But it looks terrible,” Luka insisted. “We need to find something that’ll help.” He sighed. “We come here almost every week, and yet no one’s thought to bring a first-aid kit or at least an ice-pack.” He took hold of your free hand, gesturing for you to stand up. “C’mon. We’re close to the Seine—I’ll just take you home, we have stuff there.”
“But what about them?” you jerked your head towards the others.
“They’ll be fine,” Luka said dismissively. “They won’t miss us, we’re on the same team. Now c’mon.”
You gave in with a sigh, letting him pull you away from the battle and back towards the path.
It being such a nice day outside, there were many people taking this route already. But one look at the blood-soaked tissue and your red-stained face caused them to give you a wide berth, averting their eyes from the spectacle. Luka made a small noise of disgust.
“They don’t need to be so obvious about it,” he muttered under his breath, then his expression softened when you gave him a concerned look.
“Sorry,” he said in a low voice. “I’m just worried about you.”
Heat lit up your face, and you smiled behind the tissue.
You reached the houseboat that served as a home for the Couffaines quickly and easily. Luka marched you up the gangplank.
“Mom?” he called anxiously. “Anarka?”
You raised an eyebrow, but the maternal Couffaine appeared from inside the building, striding out onto the deck.
“Yes, Luka, my lad?” she said, then noticed you. “Oh! Casualty of war, eh? Bring her in.”
“You might say that,” Luka sighed, leading you gently but firmly into the houseboat after his mother.
You entered the bridge and was made to sit on a small stool. Anarka came over and removed your blood-soaked tissue and hand from your face.
“What a sight you are,” she clucked her tongue, shaking her head. The gesture reminded you so much of Luka that you almost laughed.
The blue-haired boy came over next, carrying a wet cloth. While Anarka handed you a cloth-bound ice pack and direct you to hold it to your face again, Luka gently wiped the leftover blood off your chin, cheeks, and even forehead. You didn’t know how exactly you’d gotten it on your forehead, but… oh well.
“Thanks,” you mumbled from behind your ice pack. Luka smiled.
Without warning, the two Couffaines vanished, leaving you alone in the bridge. You became uncomfortable.
After a few minutes, Anarka returned to check on you. She pulled the ice pack away from your face nodding in approval.
“The swellin’s gone down,” she noted. “And the bleedin’s stopped entirely. Why don’t ya head down below and wash up?” You nodded, hopping off the stool and headed back outside, down the steps, and into the main building of the houseboat.
Gentle guitar chords filled the air. A small flickered over your face. So this was where Luka had vanished to.
You headed into the bathroom, turning on the faucet. Hot water cascaded over your stained hand, carrying away swirling clouds of pigment. You glanced at your reflection in the mirror and made a face.
Despite Mrs. Couffaine’s assurance of the fact that the swelling had receded, your nose was still larger than it was normally. Dried blood still coated your nose, lips, and chin where Luka had been unable to get it off with the cloth.
After washing your hands, you splashed water on your face, scrubbing off the red with liberal amounts of soap. You winced as your still-sensitive nose gave a twinge.
Finally, you were scrubbed clean and looked relatively normal… your red, slightly-swollen nose was still a problem. Oh well.
When you emerged from the bathroom, Luka’s gentle music still filled the air. You followed it, eventually reaching the doorway of his room—at least, the room he shared with Juleka.
You leaned against the frame, watching him play.
Despite his playing being airy and light, his face was screwed up, shoulders tense and skin white as a sheet. You gave a concerned frown.
Even as you watched, Luka’s tense fingers hit a wrong chord, and the graceful melody was shattered with a jarring, dissonant note. The blue-haired boy growled in frustration, eyes flying open—and he noticed you.
“O-oh,” he stammered, looking caught off-guard. “It’s you.”
You nodded, walking over and sitting next to him. “What’s wrong?”
He sighed, setting aside his guitar. The color was beginning to return to his face, and he seemed slightly more relaxed.
“Nothing,” he said, and when you frowned, hastily repeated it. “Nothing! Really. Nothing major, that is.”
“Tell me anyway,” you said. Luka sighed again.
“I just… hate blood,” he admitted. “Blood, and violence, and… anything to do with them. I can barely watch action films, and afterward I’m so uptight I have to meditate for a while to relax.”
“Oh,” you said, unsure of what else to say. “I’m sorry, then. You walked me all the way here and I had no idea…”
“Well, I was worried about you,” Luka shrugged. “So I could bear it. I wasn’t just anxious because there was blood, I was anxious because you were hurt. My first priority was helping you, not panicking. But… sorry if I was a little rough dragging you here. I didn’t mean to be.”
“You weren’t,” you hurried to assure him. “And I’m fine now! You don’t need to worry.”
“I know,” Luka smiled gently at you.
“W-well!” you cleared your throat, feeling your face grow warm. “Should we head back to the others now? I’m sure they’re wondering where we are.”
“Yeah, let’s go.” Luka set aside his guitar, standing up. “Don’t want to keep them waiting.”
After assuring Anarka that you were fine, the two of you were soon on your way. This time, Luka’s guitar remained strapped over his shoulder, and he picked out a small tune as you went.
The song was familiar—it was a popular song, a recent hit, catchy and lighthearted. You began singing the words that you knew, and Luka joined in when your voice stuttered or faded away.
Coming to the refrain, the lyrics came freely to your head, and Luka broke the boundaries of the simple melody, slipping away into harmonies. The other park-dwellers smiled at the impromptu duet, some humming along as they passed.
You felt a little uncomfortable from the attention, but you were having too much fun to stop singing. Luka was, unsurprisingly, a good singer… and it made you realize you’d never heard him sing before.
Eventually, you reached the grove of trees where the leaf battle had taken place. It was empty now, but the ground was stripped clear. Looked as if the others had actually cleaned up the carnage left from their battle.
Twilight was rapidly settling in, bringing with it deeper shadows and chillier air. You stuffed your hands into your pockets, looking into the sky.
It was a breathtaking view—a deep, salmon pink, streaked with splatters of orange and gold. The sun was nearly invisible behind the horizon, nothing more than a blurry smear too bright to look at.
“Where are the others?” Luka muttered, pulling out his phone. He quickly texted Juleka, then looked up, seemingly to see if he could spot them somewhere in the immediately visible park.
You made a noncommittal noise, giving a shrug. Luka’s phone lit up with a ping and he checked it quickly.
“Oh, they’re at the other end of the park,” he said. “Apparently they’re going to build a bonfire.”
“Cool!” A bonfire would be welcome with the chill approaching. “Let’s go.” Luka nodded, and the two of you set off again.
-------------
It didn’t you long to find the group—the massive brazier full of wood and leaves was a dead giveaway, even in the steadily-deepening gloom. Not to mention there was already a steady flame licking away in the heart of the pile of brush, illuminating the scene. Your friends welcomed you back gladly, with no questions—well, that was stretching it. You heard Alya say something questioning to Luka, but he dodged it with another question.
You were glad… you weren’t exactly eager to have the story of how you ran face-first into a tree and interrupted Luka’s time to hang out with the others getting spread around. Poor dude barely got to see them at all.
You maneuvered yourself away from the blue-haired boy—so it didn’t look like you were following him like a lost puppy—and ended up next to Rose. Not so lucky as when you first arrived barely a minute ago, she began to ply you with eager questions. You brushed them off as best you could without hurting her feelings, till finally Alix stepped in—
“Rose, I don’t think she’s gonna tell you where she went,” the tomboy said. Rose stopped with a sigh of defeat. You gave a sheepish laugh—Alix always seemed to be able to see straight through a person.
The bonfire gave a loud crackle, drawing your attention to it. The brush seemed to finally be fully catching and the flames devoured the dry wood and leaves, throbbing with saffron brilliance.
Packages of smores materials were getting passed out, parents hanging over their children to make sure they didn’t get burned. Beneath the crackling fire and gleeful shrieks of young ones, you could hear the familiar strains of a guitar.
A smile broke over your face. You closed your eyes, tipping your head back to the sky. The inside of your eyelids danced with multicolored specks, dazzled after the firelight, and you opened them again.
Dark had now truly and surely fallen. The stars were barely visible, drowned behind city lights, but something about the deep void seemed almost… welcoming.
Rose grabbed your hand, pulling your eyes back to the ground, and babbled something about getting smores. You didn’t register exactly what she’d said, but you nodded and she pulled you into the line for the required supplies.
Guitar music lilted into your ears.
You smiled.