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It had been a long fucking day, and Luka was exhausted. He waved at the older man who had signed for the last delivery, double-checked that the back of his ma’s old van was locked up (which currently meant ensuring the bungee cords were hooked tight), and trudged back to the driver’s seat before climbing in. He just had to check back in at the bakery, and then he could head home and crash.
God, his bed was going to be so nice after a day like this…
It hadn’t started bad. He’d had a gig the night before, but even if he had gotten in late the show had been great and he wasn’t necessarily complaining about that. The problem had come barely three hours later, when he’d woken up to pee. Honestly, that was the only reason he’d seen the message. If the text hadn’t arrived right as he was crawling back into bed, he probably would have slept right through the notification and following phone call.
The text had been from Marinette, telling him she knew he’d had a show the night before and he could ‘TOTALLY SAY NO’.
The phone call had been from Tom, and…was a little harder to ignore.
…not that he’d been ignoring Marinette’s text. He’d barely had time to process it, and she’d definitely not had time to elaborate, before Tom had been calling. And like the actual, for real Idiot his sister was always claiming he was…he’d answered it.
The bakery van had broken down, and they had a full day of deliveries. And was there any chance his ma’s van was available, and would he maybe want to make some extra cash making some deliveries that day?
…it had been a low blow. Tom knew he wouldn’t say no, mostly because Tom knew Luka loved him too much to leave him hanging but also because Tom knew Luka was saving up for…something important. Something expensive he’d been picking up a lot of extra shifts and odd jobs for. Something that Tom had offered to help him buy, but Luka had insisted he needed to pay for himself.
…something he was really close to being able to afford, and something he was hoping to have in Marinette’s possession by the end of next month.
He should have said no.
Marinette had taken one look at his tired face when he’d arrived at the bakery and had fought her dad, insisting that she make the deliveries instead while Luka crashed in her room.
Which...might have been fine, except Marinette only had her bike license and technically wasn’t allowed to drive the van yet.
So.
Long day had been long.
But it was now over, and all Luka had to do was return the gear in the back and get his ass home. Even the gear could probably wait, except there was the deposit bag that Sabine needed to get to the bank before end of day.
It was barely two in the afternoon, and already he felt like he was dead.
He rolled to a stop at a light and propped his elbow against the open window, leaning his head on his fist with a sigh. His eyes slid to the side while his fingers tapped against the wheel, and he frowned when he saw Roger’s cruiser at the light beside him. Roger was looking at him, an…odd expression on his face. Luka lifted an eyebrow, but Roger kept staring. He’d almost say he was gawking. He lifted his hand from the wheel and waved.
“Hey, Roger,” he said, but the cop didn’t respond before the light changed. He shrugged and turned his focus back to the road, barely hearing Roger shout his name before he continued on his way.
And it was weird, sure, but Roger had been the one who had been rude back there, so it kinda baffled Luka when Roger…flipped on his lights and siren and cut into the lane behind him and gestured for him to pull over???
What the fuck???
He hadn’t been doing anything illegal!
…this time!
He groaned and waved out the window to acknowledge that he had seen him, and at the next available spot he pulled over to the curb. Roger parked behind him and flipped the siren off, but he left the lights flashing. Luka groaned again and slumped back in the seat as the cop got out of his cruiser and walked up to the window.
“Roger, I didn’t do anything,” he said once the cop was beside him. “I was helping Tom out. I was being good!”
“What?” Roger asked, blinking at him. “No, Luka, that…what the hell is on your roof, kid?”
“My what?” he asked, frowning. He sat up a bit straighter and leaned out the window, as if he’d be able to see…except sure enough, there was…was that a hand hanging off the roof? “What the fuck?”
“That’s what I said when you pulled up beside me,” Roger said, crossing his arms over his chest as he glanced up at the roof. “Hey! Whoever you are, are you all right?”
Luka half expected the hand – and was this weirdo wearing sequined gloves???? – to move and stick a thumb up at Roger’s question, but it just stayed there. Unmoving.
He had a twisted flashback from that Bones marathon Juleka had been watching the other day, of a corpse falling onto a van from an overpass or something, and wondered just how bad this situation was about to be.
Bracing for the worst, he frowned and twisted, hopping up onto the seat and climbing out the window to get a better look. And sure enough…there was a body on his roof.
Or at least…the appearance of a body?
“…it’s a mannequin,” he said, his voice flat.
“What?” Roger asked. Luka nodded, feeling a bit numb. At least it wasn’t a corpse? He guessed?
“It’s…it’s a mannequin,” he said, poking at the stiff arm. And what the hell was it wearing?
The sequined gloves were only the tip of the iceberg. Its legs were bent up with shiny, metallic silver rainboots stuffed on the feet. Tight black jeans covered its legs, but then a lime green hood…oh hell no. He rooted in his pocket, pulled out his mobile, and tapped on one of the first contacts.
Dingo answered on the second ring.
“Lulu! ‘Bout time you got up, you lazy –” he started, but Luka grit his teeth and thumped his fist on the roof.
“Ding, you absolute dumbass, why is there a mannequin wearing your clothes tied to the roof of Ma’s van?” he asked. And how had no one else noticed it all morning?
…the bakery’s clients had seemed cool enough when he’d rolled up in the Liberdeux and explained the situation. Most of Paris was familiar with his eccentric mother. Maybe they’d just written it off as Couffaine?
“You have the dingequin? Bri’s been looking for that all week! Hold on – I’ll be over in ten to get it,” he said.
…the what?
“Don’t bother,” he groaned. “I’m not home.”
He was also entirely too tired for this shit.
“What?” Dingo asked, but Luka groaned and smacked his head on the van’s roof. “Mate, what are you –”
“I’ll call you later,” he said. “You’re an asshole, Perry.”
“Oi! No need –” he hung up before Dingo could get going and turned back to Roger.
“Can I just apologize, stash it in the back, and move on?” he asked. Roger’s eyebrows rose, and he groaned as he dropped his head back against the roof. “…Roger, please don’t give me a ticket for this.”
When Roger’s eyebrows just rose even higher, he groaned.
“Man, come on!” he cried, thunking his head again. “I didn’t do this, I didn’t know – I’m the victim here! I am one paycheck away from affording Marinette’s ring – do not make me pay a fine and mess that up!”
“Woah, woah, Luka – it’s ok!” Roger said, shaking his head as he put a hand on his back. Luka lifted his head to stare blearily at him, and Roger sighed. “Did you sleep at all last night, kid?”
“A few hours,” he said. “Tom needed help, and –”
“I know, I know. You’d do anything for Marinette and her family,” Roger said. There was no judgment in his voice, and there was even a little smile on his face. “I get it. Now come on. Help me get that idiotic thing off your roof, and I’ll go pay M. King a visit. You get home and get some sleep, ok?”
“…yes, sir,” Luka said.
They had the mannequin off the roof and stashed in the back of Roger’s cruiser in short order, and then he was sending Luka on his way with a promise to get some damn sleep, kid. He was pulling up outside the bakery maybe five minutes later, and he barely spared a grumble for Sabine before dropping the deposit bag and the keys on the counter.
“Luka?” she called, but he just waved her off and trudged his way up the stairs. He missed the baffled look Tom and Sabine shared, and he barely paid attention to the equally baffled look Marinette gave him when he tossed her door open and trudged over to the chaise.
“Lu-?” she started, but he just grumbled and scooped her up. Her sketchbook tumbled from her hands as she yelped, but then he was sprawling out on the little couch and dropping her on top of him. She laughed a little manically as he pressed his face against the back of her shoulder, and he grumbled when she tried to pull away. “Are you ok?”
“Sleep,” he grumped, because the day had been too long and too weird and all he wanted was a nice, long nap. Preferably with some Mari snuggles. He could worry about the rest of it later.
The rest of it being that paycheck and beating the shit out of Dingo (and finding out why Bri had a fucking Dingequin anyway).
“…ok,” she said, smiling as she settled beside him and turned to curl against his chest. “Sleep sounds good.”
He grumbled something, but it wasn’t really coherent and he was out before she could ask him about it, anyway. She was out, too, before she could see her papa checking in on them. He smiled when he saw them sleeping, and he made sure her door was closed on his way out.
Downstairs, Sabine smiled at Tom when he came back into the bakery.
“Is he all right?” she asked. Tom nodded.
“They’re asleep,” he said. Sabine nodded and looked back to her phone.
“Yes, Roger, he made it here safely. He’s already asleep. Yes, thank you,” she said. She laughed at something the cop said and shook her head. “Thank you for checking in on him. You, too.”
She was still laughing as she ended the call.
“You know, when he pulled up with that thing on the roof this morning, I honestly thought it was some gimmick from the show,” she said, looking back at her husband. “The poor dear looked so tired I didn’t want to ask him about it. Maybe I should have.”
“He’s fine,” Tom said, shaking his head. He took the deposit bag from her and grinned. “I’ll run this over. The bank’s right next to the jeweler’s. I daresay he’s earned that last payment, don’t you?”
“Tom…you know how important it was to him that he got the ring himself,” Sabine said, frowning.
“And he did! This is just his payment for today – I’m doing him a favor and saving him a trip!” Tom said, his eyes wide and innocent. Sabine gave him a pointed look, and he waved her off. “Oh, stop. He paid for it himself. I’m just picking it up for him. I’m being a good papa, Sabine.”
“Of course you are, dear,” she said, rolling her eyes. Tom was still frowning, but she waved him off. “Oh, get going. We still have some orders a good baker needs to help me with.”
“Of course, dear,” he said, kissing her cheek before turning towards the door. Sabine rolled her eyes as he went, giggling as he sing-songed: “Oooh, we’re gonna have a son-in-law!”