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“Are you sure about this?” Luka asked as he followed Marinette up the stairs to her room. She rolled her eyes as she opened the door and stepped aside, waiting for him to join her.
“Of course I’m sure,” she huffed. “Besides, Maman and Papa already agreed. It’s fine.”
“I’m sure Tom thought I’d be crashing on the couch when you asked,” he said, smiling slightly. She scoffed as she shut the door behind her.
“The couch isn’t as comfy,” she said. “I’m not having you wake up with a sore back when there’s plenty of room up here. Besides, do you really think Juleka is sleeping on Rose’s couch?”
He paused as she took his pillow from him and tossed it up into her loft. She turned back and smirked at him, an eyebrow lifting almost comically onto her forehead. He shook his head, chuckling.
“…I wasn’t thinking about it at all until you said something,” he said. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her, smiling as his hands slipped into the pockets of her shorts. “How would she put it? Ew. Gross.”
Marinette started giggling, and it would have been perfect if thunder hadn’t crashed outside the minute he started to lean down for a kiss. She jumped closer, and he was just starting to think maybe it actually was perfect after all when another boom rattled the building. The lights flickered, and then they were plunged into darkness.
“…and that is why I insisted you crash here,” she sighed, slumping against him. “The news said this storm’s only going to get worse. No way was I leaving you on the river, in the middle of cyclone by yourself. I wasn’t about to let my boyfriend drown.”
“I’m pretty handy in the water,” he chuckled. “I know how to swim.”
“Juleka’s staying at Rose’s. Our mothers are out of town. Papa is staying with Grandpa Roland while he recovers from his surgery. I have more than enough room here, and it’s safer to wait out the storm here than it would be on the Liberty,” she said. He tipped her chin up and pecked his lips against hers.
“She’s seaworthy,” he insisted. “I would have been fine, but I do appreciate the offer. This is much better than the freezing bowels of the ship. Even if we don’t have lights.”
“Shut up,” she laughed. She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder, her fingers tapping against his chest. “Well, shoot. There goes my plans for a movie night. I wonder how long the power will be out for…I’m not even sleepy yet.”
“I brought my guitar,” he reminded her. “I know you have candles – there’s no ban on open flames here.”
She snickered, and he smiled as he brushed his nose against her temple.
“We have camping lanterns, too,” she said. He hummed.
“Candles are more romantic,” he said. “We could head back downstairs. Curl up on the couch. I could sing you to sleep.”
“We could do that up here,” she said. She stepped back and reached for his hands. “You know my bed’s more comfortable than the couch.”
…he was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to know that as well as he did. At least not if Tom was asking. But Tom was with Roland, and Marinette was looking up at him with dark eyes and perfectly kissable lips, and suddenly he wasn’t even sure he really wanted to bring his guitar up there, anyway.
He could think of a few better things he could be doing with his hands.
“Come on,” she said. “I do have candles up there. Sing me to sleep? There’s nothing we can do about the power, anyway.”
Lightning flashed, illuminating her room – illuminating the warm smile on her lips, the one he was wanting to kiss away more and more with every passing moment. He backed her up against the ladder, bending to do just that, and for a moment he was lost in a world that was nothing more than Marinette and soft and mine. Her hands fisted in his hoodie, tugging him back towards her for a deeper kiss. When she slipped up the ladder a moment later, he was quick to follow her.
She didn’t have to ask him twice.