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Luka eyed the beer bottle spinning on the ground with trepidation. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to kiss anyone at the party, but Marinette had spun it, and Luka didn’t want her to kiss anyone else but him.
He knew he was being selfish. Marinette could kiss whomever she wanted. And with Luka’s luck, the bottle would land on Adrien, whom she loved.
The glass bottle made a ringing sound on Alya’s kitchen’s hardwood floor. Luka had no idea how he’d managed to get an invite to this party, but he knew Marinette had something to do with it.
The brown bottle spun and spun and spun, and eventually slowed. Luka’s sharp intake of breath as the bottle swung his way mirrored Adrien’s beside him.
The bottle stopped. Adrien clapped Luka on the back. “Congrats!”
Luka tore his gaze away from the bottle to land on Marinette. She was nibbling her lip and blushing, her cheeks a beautiful dusky rose color. “Marinette, we don’t have to--”
She launched herself forward, pressing her lips to the corner of his mouth. When she pulled back, she was the subject of cheers from all of her friends. Alya looped an arm around her shoulders and pressed a drink into her waiting hands.
Luka’s lips tingled. The kiss was over almost before it had begun; she’d moved fast, like a viper. While he admired her tenacity, he wished she would have lingered a little longer.
That, too, was selfish. She probably didn’t want to kiss you, you fool. Luka chastised himself, rising from the floor to go find a red Solo cup. Now that he’d gotten a kiss from Marinette, he was no longer interested in the game.
Marinette found him at the punch bowl later. “L-Luka, hi.” She tucked her hair behind her ear, having worn it down. Luka thought she looked gorgeous that way. “You okay?”
“I’m alright, Marinette,” Luka said, wishing he was bolder. On impulse, he squeezed her hand and let it drop. She gazed up at him with wide, searching eyes, and Luka kicked himself. I shouldn’t have done that. “How are you doing? Some party, eh?”
“Yeah.” Marinette squeaked. “Some party.”
Luka offered her a small smile. “Kiss anyone else after me?”
He didn’t know why he was asking that. The answer would only hurt him and her. As expected, she flushed, pink coloring crawling up her neck and creeping onto her cheeks.
“No,” she said, her lips twitching. He couldn’t tell if she was happy or sad. “The game didn’t hold much appeal to me after you left.”
What? Luka blinked at her. “Really?”
Marinette held her hands up. “What I mean is… Can I get some punch? It’s hot in here, isn’t it?”
“Oh, sure, let me…” Luka set his cup down and scooped one up for her. He handed it to her and their fingers brushed.
“Thanks, Luka.” She took a sip. “Good stuff.”
“Anytime, Marinette.” Luka shifted on his feet. “Should we… go back to the spin the bottle game?”
“It’s over now.” Marinette shrugged. “But… if you wanted to play another game--a different game, I mean!--I wouldn’t be opposed.”
Luka smiled a little. She could always put him at ease. “Sure, Marinette. Let’s play.”
His lips tingled all night.
***
Marinette was running late. She knew she was and she knew she’d be in so much trouble if her professor caught her as she slipped into the university’s lecture hall. She bolted across the campus, cursing herself for choosing math for her first class at eight in the morning.
Just as she rounded the corner of the lecture hall’s building, she slammed into someone, planting a solid kiss on their lips and bruising her forehead on their hard skull. She staggered back, seeing stars, and felt large, strong hands on her arms holding her up. “Oh, I’m sorry, I--”
Her vision cleared to reveal a blue-haired guitarist with a reddened forehead and even redder cheeks. “L-Luka? What are you doing here?”
“I go to this school.” Luka let her arms go. “Are you okay, Marinette? We hit heads pretty hard.”
Marinette touched her own smarting forehead. Not only did we hit foreheads, we kissed! Her fingers found their way to her lips, and Luka watched them.
Her mouth tingled and her face flooded with heat. She liked Luka, he was a great guy, but… Kissing him was a whole other level.
Then she realized he’d asked her a question. “Oh, um…” She offered him the happiest smile she could give and flashed him a thumbs up. “Yeah! I’m fine! I’ll be fine, I mean, but other than the headache I’m totally okay!” Marinette peeked at him from under her lashes. “Are you okay?”
Luka’s smile was like a sunbreak on a cloudy day. “Yeah. I’m okay.”
Marinette shifted on her feet. “Great! I’m sort of running late, but…”
Luka finished her thought for her. “Coffee later?”
Marinette beamed. “Yes, please!” She wanted to peck him on the cheek, but a second kiss after the first one seemed a little risque. She didn’t want to give him the wrong idea.
Her mouth tingled all throughout class.
***
It had been a long time since Marinette had visited the Liberty. She was currently brushing Juleka’s hair with the intent to braid it and stealing glances at her brother. Luka had chosen that day of all days to visit his mother, which Marinette thought was sweet but also suspicious. Did he know I was coming over?
After watching him scribble music notes onto a piece of paper with his fountain pen, she determined he did not. He was entirely wrapped up in creating, practically ignoring her and his sister.
Well, fine. Marinette could ignore him, too. She huffed and gently dragged the brush through Juleka’s gorgeous hair to make it soft, smooth, and ready to braid. “Would you like a French braid, Juleka? Or two regular ones?”
Juleka mumbled, but fortunately Marinette was an expert in Juleka-speak.
“French braid it is.” Marinette beamed and began gathering a thick chunk of Juleka’s hair from the top of her head. Separating the section of hair into three pieces and humming, Marinette was just beginning to work in new strands into the more traditional braid when Luka cried out in frustration.
“Aaah, I can’t get this right!” Luka leaned back in his chair, throwing his arm over his eyes.
Before crossing a section of Juleka’s hair over to the center, Marinette grabbed some hair from the right side of her head and included it in the cross-over.
Marinette hummed tunelessly. “What can’t you get right, Luka?”
“This song.” Luka lowered his arm and gestured to the pile of papers on the desk. “You’d think a happy song would be easier to write than a sad one, but nooo.”
“That’s because you’re not happy, big brother,” Juleka said, and Marinette’s fingers jerked to a stop.
Luka… wasn’t happy? Is there something I can do? Marinette hummed again, trying to think.
“Wait.” Luka sat up. “Marinette, make that sound again.”
“What?” Her fingers full of black and purple hair, Marinette blinked at him. “This?” She pressed her lips together and made the same nonsense sound she’d been making the whole time.
Luka bounded up from his chair and crossed to her. “Marinette, you’re a genius!” He took her face in his hands and pecked her on the mouth. Heat flooded Marinette’s face as she sputtered, dropping Juleka’s hair entirely.
“Luka,” Juleka said, raising a brow at him. “You do know you just kissed Marinette, right?”
Luka looked like Marinette felt: like he was about to spontaneously combust. “I-I did?”
“Yup.” Juleka offered him a small smile. Then she frowned. “And now she’s messed up my braid because of you.”
Marinette stammered, nearly choking on her blush. Her mouth tingled. “I’m sorry, Juleka!”
Juleka waved a hand. “Whatever.”
“Marinette, I’m…” Luka rubbed his elbow. “I’m sorry, I--”
“No, no, it’s fine!” Marinette said, turning away from him to focus on Juleka’s hair. “Good luck with your song!”
Juleka mumbled something that sounded like “the lady doth protest too much,” but Marinette didn’t catch what she said.
Marinette's lips tingled all day.
***
Christmas was fast approaching, and the season always left Luka cheery and warm. He’d been invited to another one of Alya’s evening parties, and had already picked up a bottle of wine as a gift for his hosts.
His boots crunched over the dusting of snow Paris had received that morning. The city so rarely had snow; Luka would always find an excuse to walk through the white clumps if he could. It was like leaving a temporary mark on the earth, a visual reminder that he existed on the blue planet.
As he approached the house Alya was renting, he found himself following behind a woman he recognized: Marinette Dupain-Cheng, easily his favorite person aside from his sister and his mother, though he certainly didn’t have any familial feelings towards Miss Dupain-Cheng.
She tensed, recognizing that she was being followed by someone in the dark. Luka immediately lowered his hood. “Marinette!”
“Luka!” Marinette turned to him, placing a hand on her heart. “Oh, thank goodness it’s you.”
As she was stopped and waiting for him, Luka scurried to her side. “Sorry, did I frighten you? I didn’t mean to follow you and creep you out.”
Marinette beamed up at him. “Don’t worry, you’re not a creep.” She poked him in the chest. “You know better than to follow behind a woman in the dark, though!”
“Yeah.” Heat flooded Luka’s cheeks. “Sorry, I wouldn’t have done that had I not recognized who you were. If you were some random girl, I would have crossed to the other side of the street. But I wanted to catch up to you, so…”
Marinette gave him a flat look, folding her arms. “So you followed me?”
Luka bit his lip. “I am sort of a creep, huh?”
To his relief, Marinette laughed. She patted his cheek. “Not even close. I assume you’re going to Alya’s party, too?”
“You didn’t get me invited?”
“Nope,” Marinette said, popping the p. “You’re part of her friend group, too, you know.”
Luka did not know that. He was stunned. Stunned, yes, but also happy. “I’m… That’s great. Thanks for letting me know.”
He offered his arm to Marinette, who took it in her mittened hands. They meandered down the well-lit street together on the way to Alya’s house. “How’s school?” Luka asked, knowing Marinette had been struggling with her 8am math class. “That professor finally cut you some slack?”
“I wish.” Marinette blew a raspberry. Cute, Luka thought. “He’s as curmudgeonly as ever.”
Luka chuckled. “Curmudgeonly is a fun word.”
On the walk, she regaled him with tales of her sour, old teacher and how he’d assigned homework over Christmas break. “I mean, all the other professors did, too, but he assigned extra, extra work.”
“It’s almost like university is tougher than lycee,” Luka teased, sticking his tongue out.
Marinette poked his tongue, making heat crawl into Luka’s cheeks. Marinette scoffed. “You only say that because you’ve been there for three years! You’re used to the demands of professors!”
Luka stepped onto Alya’s porch, leading Marinette beside him. He ducked under the eaves, the top of his head brushing a hanging plant. A hanging plant? He glanced up to see a sprig of greenery with white berries. “Oh.”
“Oh?”
“It’s… uh…” Luka gripped the back of his neck with one hand and pointed up with the other. “Mistletoe.”
Marinette stared up at the plant. Her mouth formed a little ‘o’ shape. She peeked at him under her lashes and Luka felt his cheeks burn just as brightly as hers in the dark.
“Did you want to--” she said, just as he said, “We don’t have to--”
They both laughed awkwardly. Luka tucked the bottle of wine under his arm and placed his hands on her shoulders. She wrapped her arms around his waist as he asked, “Do you want to…?”
“We could.”
He was so much taller than she was, he had to stoop down to kiss her. She raised herself up on her tiptoes, pressing her mouth to his. The kiss was brief, no more than a peck. But it made Luka’s mouth tingle all the same.
They stayed locked in each other’s embrace for a few moments, staring at each other.
Luka couldn’t get a sense of her taste from such a brief kiss. He wanted more. He wanted to figure out what she tasted like, what her tongue felt like, what it felt like to breathe in her breaths.
But as he looked down at her searching eyes, he knew to ask for more would be selfish. He pulled away, releasing her shoulders. She let go of his waist.
“Marinette, I--”
Alya opened the door and squealed. “Girl, you made it! Luka, you, too! Come in, come in!”
Marinette offered him an apologetic look as she followed Alya inside.
Luka’s mouth tingled all night.
***
“Where are you, Ladybug?” Viperion called menacingly. He’d been hit by one of Dark Cupid’s arrows and had been chasing her around the Champs Elysees, forcing her to duck behind trees. She didn’t know how many times he’d used Second Chance, but she knew she was getting close to overcoming him.
I have to kiss him, she thought, pressing her back against an oak tree and keeping him in her line of sight.
She knew she had to kiss him. She just… didn’t want to take advantage of a man who liked her as Marinette. But thankfully, he didn’t know her identity and he wouldn’t remember the kiss anyway, and it was the only way to fix the problem and get Viperion back on her side. So she must.
As she watched him prowl closer and closer to her location, his twitching fingers hovering close to his ouroboros bracelet, she counted backwards in her head from ten.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are…” He stalked around the park, causing chills to spill down her spin. “I know you’re here, little bug, and I will find you.”
Six… five… four… Viperion inched ever closer, his steps a soft whisper in the grass. Three… two… one!
Just as Viperion was about to walk around the tree and spot her, she leapt out and slammed her mouth on his, her nose brushing his as she tilted her head. She clutched his face, unbalancing him and pulling him down on top of her.
Viperion landed on his knees astride her hips, his eyes wide and terrified. His elbows framed her head. When she finally pulled her lips away from his and rested her head on the ground, he blinked at her. “Ladybug? What happened?”
Ladybug could breathe again. “You were hit by one of the arrows.”
“And we both ended up on the ground?”
“Uhh. Yeah.” Heat burned her cheeks and pooled in her belly. Even under the control of an akuma, Luka was a good kisser. She wondered what it would be like to kiss him for real. “Can you help me up? We need to defeat Dark Cupid.”
Viperion choked. He rolled off her immediately, rising gracefully to his feet in one swift movement. He offered her his hand without looking at her, his cheeks stained red.
She took his hand and stood. “Hey, we all get hit sometime.”
“It’s not that.” Viperion scrubbed a hand over his face. “You had to kiss me.”
Ladybug’s eyes widened. “You… knew about that?”
“I’ve seen what happened to Chat Noir.” Viperion offered her a wry smile. “Nadja Chamack and Alya are excellent journalists.”
“Do… Do you mind?” Ladybug’s lips tingled. “That I had to kiss you, I mean.”
“Actually?” Viperion said, meeting her eyes with his own sad ones. “Yeah, I do. My heart belongs to Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and I couldn’t bear it if she found out I’d needed to be kissed.”
Ladybug’s brows rose. She swallowed hard and placed a hand on his arm. “You really love her, don’t you?”
Viperion nodded miserably.
After all these years? Ladybug thought, drawing a deep breath through her nose. He still cares for me?
“Trust me.” She offered him a smile she hoped was reassuring. “Marinette would understand. The kiss between us… It didn’t mean anything.”
Then why were her lips still tingling?
***
“Luka,” Marinette whispered, pushing him against the wall of his bedroom in his apartment. “Kiss me.”
Luka’s eyes widened. He wasn’t complaining about being put in this position, but Marinette had surprised him. When she knew what she wanted, she went and got it, but he was stunned that she wanted… him.
“Marinette…” Luka bit his lower lip. “Are you sure?”
“More than ever.”
She gripped his collar and tugged him down, intent on getting that kiss. Luka went along willingly, his hands slipping from her shoulders up her neck to cradle her face. He closed his eyes and craned his neck down.
When their lips met, it was everything he’d ever wanted.
Marinette tilted her head to one side and he tilted to the other, moving in perfect synchronicity with each other. They didn’t brush noses. Luka glided his lips across hers, pulling back and leaning forward to kiss her lips several times in a row. She giggled at first, but then clutched his face to make him still, slamming her mouth on his with a possessive growl.
Luka gasped into her mouth. Marinette took the opportunity to run her tongue across his, teasing him. Luka tangled his tongue with hers, one hand sliding to the back of her neck to pull her closer. She fisted her hands in his hair, tugging him ever downward to her height. As she moved her lips across his, his own tingled.
Luka chased her mouth down, licking her teeth. Her tender moans thrilled him; the soft sound of their lips smacking against each other made heat curl in his cheeks--and his belly. She pushed him against the wall, her hands gripping his hips.
Her breath filled his lungs and tasted of raspberries and cream. Luka wondered if his own breath tasted as great. He hoped so, but that thought was soon driven out of his mind as Marinette bit his lip.
Marinette rose on her tiptoes, breaking from his mouth to trail kisses across his chin and down to his neck. As she fastened her lips just above his collarbone and sucked, Luka groaned, throwing his head back to give her better access. She released his skin with a pop and blew on the spot, curling his toes.
He panted as she licked her way across to his Adam’s apple and fastened her mouth on it. Her tongue was incredibly warm and wet, causing his hands on her shoulder blades to shake. She pressed a kiss to the second hickey she gave him and pulled back with a smile.
“What changed?” he asked, out of breath from the make out session. “What was that bit about borrowing a cup of sugar? Did you come over here specifically to kiss me?”
Marinette had the good grace to look abashed. “I really do need a cup of sugar.” She ducked her head, her cheeks glowing like a traffic light. “But I wanted to stop wasting your time.”
“It’s not that I don’t appreciate the boldness,” Luka said, offering her a small grin. He cupped her cheeks and drew her bluebell gaze up to his. “I do. But I am… surprised. I thought you didn’t like me.”
“Oh, Luka.” Marinette ran her fingers across his collarbone, making him shiver. “Of course I do. It just took me a while to see it.”
“Where do we go from here?” Luka cocked his head to the side. One make out session does not a relationship make.
“I was wondering…” Marinette tapped her index fingers together. “Luka Couffaine, will you go out with me?”
Luka gasped. He took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I would be honored.”
Luka’s lips tingled for the rest of his life.