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Most days, it still felt like a dream. Well - *every* day felt like a dream, really - one Luka was constantly afraid of waking up from; always afraid that in a few minutes he would open his eyes from a deep sleep and scream until his throat ran raw, then turn his head and seeing Juleka a few feet away in their shared room looking absolutely terrified. It wouldn't happen - *couldn't* happen, not anymore, not now that the balance was fixed and the loop was ended. Still... It was a memory that repeated so many times it was imprinted onto his psyche in ways that not even a full human lifetime of therapy could fix. The fixtures painted landlord white, the shadow of a pencil mark erased but never fully gone, a drop of blood upon carpet lightened but still visible, and the same 4x8 stretch of space that Luka allowed himself in his childhood bedroom - all blights, all disruptors, and all things that he resigned himself to with the grim visage of a soldier returning home from war.
So, yes, it *was* hard to believe this was his life, so far removed from the bad he lived through for too long.
Six hundred years in the time loop was rough. Nobody (that knew about it) could blame Luka for the way he acted in it, or for the way he acted once he was out of it. Less human and more god by that point, it seemed understandable that he was *clingy*; when you watch the balance of the universe become tarnished and get repeatedly destroyed, and when that tarnish takes it out on the person who deserves it the *least*, when it kills and maims and hurts and rends him in an endless cycle, eating itself alive with every reset only making the situation that much more perilous, even though every reset was necessary....
Well, when Luka finally got to hold Adrien without the world ending, he wasn't incredibly willing to let go.
There were things that were less reasonable - the hovering, the following, the agreeing to anything and everything without giving any of his own input, so on - but even these were something understandable. And, Luka was supremely, unendingly lucky to learn, were also things that Adrien was okay with - maybe not *happy* about, but accepting of. Adrien took it as a good challenge to try and slowly get Luka to open up more, not just with him, but with the world at large. If Luka had his choice, he would've shut himself away from the world the second it was safe to, when the loop finally closed and the world was finally free. He could've found a nice canopy in the forest, or a nice grotto under the sea, or a stretch of catacombs untouched by human hands for centuries. Adrien, though, had *plans*, hopes and dreams, and Luka was *so* weak to him. It was, Adrien stated repeatedly, his greatest desire to see Luka with light in his eyes once more.
Luka didn't tell him it probably wasn't going to happen; Adrien knew he already thought as much.
Just a few months out of the loop, the first step in Adrien's great, big plan, was to get Luka "out there" - A.K.A., get him somewhere that he could interact with humanity in general. Hiding on the Liberty was no longer allowed, and neither was hiding in the ocean, in the sewers, in the catacombs, or anywhere just outside of Adrien's sight.
"I want you to do it for yourself," Adrien stressed, always patient and understanding. "I know you want to do it for me, but if you have to do it for me, then at least do it with the knowledge that I want you to do it for *you*. Only living for me was what you did when the world was ending all the time. It's *not* ending now. And you can't use the same coping mechanism you used back then anymore. You'll forget about yourself if you only focus on me, and that's bad. So... try and do it for you. Get out there, one way or the other, and choose something that's just for *you*."
Adrien didn't laugh when Luka suggested becoming a reptile house keeper. He also didn't laugh when Luka said he could try and recreate the wheel for the rest of time.
In the end, Luka chose for Adrien, of course, since he wasn't really interested in anything anymore. *But*, at least, he chose something that he would have aspired to once upon a time, so he thought that fit Adrien's criteria well enough. That was how Luka got the job at the local artisan instrument-making company.
Adrien was happy when Luka told him about the job. Admittedly, Luka didn't mind it, either. Sure, it was repetitive, but in a way repetition was... *comfortable*. He had been stuck in time loops for so long that every new day offering something he had no control over felt threatening. It hadn't been until after the loop closed, when Luka truly started to sometimes let himself *believe* the loop was closed, that he started to feel that way. When prodded enough (Adrien knew the right strings to play, and knew all of his tricks of avoidance), Luka admitted it that embarrassing truth.
*"Sometimes, when you've grown used to being in a bad situation, or used to hurting, and you suddenly don't have to do it anymore, it feels... *scary*. You don't know what to do with yourself, and it's hard to believe you'll be alright. It feels like the other shoe will drop any minute, and... and sometimes you miss when it felt bad," Adrien said once, holding Luka's hand after Luka took too, too long to tell the shameful truth. "At least... that's what my therapist told me once. But that doesn't mean you can linger on it. You can enjoy the good that came from it, but you can't let yourself believe you were happy back then, or comfortable, or safe. Because... Luka, you *weren't*. And even though it's scary now... it was worse back then. Every day going forward will get a little bit less scary... you just have to keep going and believe in that."*
After that conversation, Luka cursed the human psyche, not for the first time, and probably - definitely - not the last. So, Luka spent his work days making guitars, cellos, violins, and various other stringed instruments. Carving, cutting, sanding, staining, assembling, stringing, testing, over and over, repetition enough to make a man (who hadn't lived through centuries of the same stretch of time) weep. The masters couldn't understand his proficiency in the craft, and he couldn't understand their amateur-by-comparison abilities in return. Didn't being a *master* of a craft mean anything? Or was it, like so many other things, only worthwhile on the scale of a normal human?
-
Two years out of the loop, Adrien was preparing to enter college. He would finally be moving out of that accursed, empty mansion, and instead treat himself to dorm life, with all of the trials and (rare) tribulations that came with it. An important step in his growing up, or so he figured. Luka promised not to rage at anyone who made his life minorly difficult. (He didn't promise the same for anyone who made his life worse than that). Still, Adrien was very serious when they sat down together.
"Maybe it's time for you to get some hobbies. Something other than what you already do. You could try something new! Since I'll be so busy with college, and guests aren't really allowed in the dorms for very long, we won't see each other as often... I don't want you to sit around and wait for me every single day. I know that *you* don't want that, either... even if you don't know that yet. You've made really great progress with getting to know people and making friends thanks to your work! Now you can explore other stuff to love about life and humanity!"
Hobbies didn't stick quite as easily as getting a job had; finding something that Luka actually wanted to attempt was difficult, since he was so unused to doing anything other than what was purely necessary as dictated by the loop - making music, meditating, and watching Adrien. No hobby ever stuck for too long, but it brought Adrien joy to see him at least try, so he did it anyway. Every so often, Luka would metaphorically spin a wheel and choose a new hobby to focus on until he became a master at it; origami was easy, ceramics slightly less so, building miniatures took up too much space (eventually - and ironically), soap making was eventually lucrative though not really his speed... on and on, Luka gained a hobby and, he supposed (hoped-prayed-feared), regained a bit of humanity (or, maybe, sanity). At least making his own cheese made Plagg extremely happy, and increased the likelihood of Adrien coming to visit.
-
Four years out of the loop, Adrien suggested the first big improvement for Luka's life that Luka actually was *interested* in: moving in together.
"I thought it might be nice for us to live together... only if you want to, of course! I really like living with dorm-mates, but it's been pretty hard balancing schoolwork, miraculous stuff, *and* cleaning house, since nobody else in the dorms would do it. Plus, maybe it would be good for you, too! You said yourself that you have a lot of bad loop memories tied up in the boat. Maybe living somewhere else for a while will make you feel better about staying there.... A change of location is good, right? And... when you wake up screaming in the middle of the night, at least you'll have someone nearby who understands, and can help."
Although Luka knew/suspected this was in part a way for Adrien to keep an eye on him, he still agreed. How could he not? So in the summer between classes, they found an apartment together, leaving the Liberty and the Agreste mansion both behind; Anarka could man the boat herself well enough, and the mansion would return to the Graham de Vanily estate (though Adrien would be allowed to use it again if he so chose), since Nathalie was serving time for her stint as Mayura. (The two of them didn't talk about Nathalie; they never could quite see eye-to-eye on her, and although they wouldn't *argue*, neither of them would end the conversation happy). The new apartment overlooked the Seine, had a wide balcony that faced the rising sun, two bedrooms when only one was necessary, soft carpeting, and a window or multiple in every room. It wasn't penthouse, but Adrien didn't *want* penthouse; he enjoyed, he said, the unglamorous, the mundane, the drab, and although his rich upbringing betrayed him here (an apartment like this, at this price point and in this location with this view, was far from *unglamorous*), Luka thought it was good enough for him as long as it was good enough for Adrien. They bumped elbows when cooking, and the water in the sink splashed because the basin was too curved, and one of the windows had a hairline crack that was too small for the landlord to bother fixing, but Adrien said it was perfect, so perfect it was.
If nothing else, at least the close proximity allowed Luka to stare for large swathes of the day.
-
Six years out of the loop, the next step in Adrien's great plan was brought up. It was one that Luka had both completely forgotten about, as well as was surprised took this long to come up, given everything else they had already been working on "correcting".
"You *have* to make some friends. Don't give me that look! You know you need to. *I* can't be your only friend, and my friends don't count as your friends unless you actually *are* friends with them - and I'm pretty sure you're not, since you haven't *once* talked to any of them since the loop shut and you didn't need to put up a front anymore. Anyway, with everything happening with Chrysalis, I've missed enough exams and failed enough tests that I need to repeat a bunch of classes; I'll probably have to redo the last two years all over again, when everything is all said and done. You know what that means: I'll spend a *lot* of time at the library, and *you* will spend a lot of time waiting for me, which you *shouldn't* do. You should be *out there*, meeting people and having experiences! That's part of what it means to be human."
He wasn't amused when Luka pointed out that snakes weren't social animals.
Still, Luka was obedient. Well - maybe that wasn't the right word. Luka was far enough from the loop now (though six years was barely a drop in the bucket of time) that he was slowly, slowly, *aaaaaachingly* slowly starting to think that maybe Adrien was right, and as long as he was passing through time normally, he should maybe make some modicum of effort to do it in a memorable way. So, he started to make friends. It wasn't hard, since he knew almost every single person in Paris, and many across the entire world, thanks to all that time in the loops; he just had to pick a few that he thought he could get along with. And, thanks to having eyes everywhere, he had a pretty good idea of who those would be, and just how to befriend them.
Maybe it was manipulative. Honestly, it was far from the worst thing Luka had done in all of his endless lifetimes. And, hey! At least he was always willing to pay for the next round at the bar.
-
Eight years out of the loop and in their relationship - or six hundred years into their relationship, according to Adrien - and they were both doing pretty well for themselves. Adrien was coming up on his graduation from college, soon to be sporting a Master's degree in linguistics, and he was planning on taking a gap year or two afterwards, so that he and Luka could travel the world, visiting guardian temples and old friends and making new memories together, before Adrien would go back to college to advance his degree and Luka would go back to work, his job guaranteed since he was so good at it, a master in every way except title. By this point, Luka was feeling at least a teeny tiny bit more human (as much as *he* could, at least, with the knowledge of centuries always upon him), and he was even able to relax to some extent, even if he *did* still wake many nights screaming. If he told himself eight years ago that just a few years down the line it could be so simple, his past self would scoff and say eight years was a blink of an eye, and snakes don't have eyelids. Frankly, even the Luka of the present would agree with that, but at least now he was able to be a little less angsty about it.
"I don't really know if I want a wedding. Honestly, just eloping sounds nice to me. You and I could drop off the papers at city hall and then run for our plane! I guess... I already feel married to you, you know? We've been together for so long, and been through so much, that I don't really need some big party just to show people what we already know. I mean... maybe a party *would* be *nice* once we get back from our trip... we could invite your mom and all of our friends, and we could break the news then.... I know you don't really like to be the focus of attention, though, so maybe we can think about it while we travel. It's not like we won't have plenty of time! And we have all the rest of our lives together to decide."
For now, Luka and Adrien got matching tattoos: black bands around their left ring fingers. It was Adrien's and covered by his ring, and Luka had so many other tattoos littered up his arms and hands and across his body that it was hardly noticeable. What mattered is the symbolism, and the importance it made to them.
-
Eight years and two weeks out of the loop, three weeks until Adrien formally graduated (though his graduation was already locked into place, even if he were to fail every exam he took), and five weeks until they officially set out on their world trip, it was a Saturday around noon that found Luka sitting on the couch, meditating. Adrien had gone out to visit friends, to spend time with them before he left the country for a while. As he was wont to do, Luka waited for him; the anxiety that something would happen and the loop would need to be restarted had yet to leave him (and, he was resigned to know, it probably never would), though it had at least eased enough to be manageable, and he could at least stop himself from stalking Adrien like a certain someone they both knew used to do. Still, he perked up when he heard telltale boots upon the floor outside, the scuff of sole against carpet as keys were pulled from pocket, then dropped to ground on accident, then retrieved again, a delightful little clumsiness that made his heart soar to know the familiarity of. He refrained from going to open the door, knowing that even minor inconveniences were things Adrien enjoyed, so far removed from the sterile perfection and sanitization of his childhood that he nearly *chased* them with every chance he could get, even now. When the door finally shoved open a few minutes later, bringing with it the smell of takeout food and sunshine and the sound of shoes being kicked off, Luka finally opened his eyes and looked back at him.
"Welcome home," he said with a smile, arm slung over the back of the couch as Adrien set the to-go boxes on the counter. "Did you have fun with your friends?"
Adrien looked up and met his eyes with a smile, then glanced back down - a curious tell, one that Luka immediately locked onto. It meant Adrien was either thinking something or hiding something, both things that made Luka wary, though not yet on edge. After all, it wasn't always a tell of something *bad*; Adrien was just as likely to do that if he was hiding a twisted ankle as he was to do it if he was planning a romantic date for the two of them.
"I did! I'm really glad Alya was finally able to get time off work; you'd think running the most successful blog in all of France means she'd be able to take a few hours, but apparently she's on track to learn something new about the miraculouses, if her hunch is right. I told her she should reach out to- uh..." this time when Adrien glanced to and then away from Luka, it was only to avoid the awkwardness that came with the mention of people they avoided bringing up. "Anyway, it was good to see her again."
"What about Nino?" Luka asked easily. He moved to stand, to put away the food that Adrien still had on the counter, but Adrien waved at him to sit back down, so he did.
"He's doing really good! He's moving back to Paris in a few weeks; apparently DJ'ing in Berlin just isn't worth the long distance relationship. He's already got a few gigs lined up in town, plus I told him I'd suggest him to anybody who needs a DJ," Adrien explained lightly, putting the food into the fridge. Next, he wiped down the counter with a wet wipe, and then he washed and dried his hands, before finally wringing the towel in his hands. There was a nervous energy to his movements, sputtered and too fast. This wasn't a routine he usually did; Luka usually had to go behind him and wipe up anything left afterwards, Adrien usually a whirlwind of motion that had so much else going on in his daily life now that he didn't have time to waste. It was *suspicious.*
Luka breathed deeply through his nose, quickly running through a prayer for calm in his mind. He promised Adrien too many times before that he would stop jumping to the worst case scenario, so he worked very, very hard to not do so now. Perhaps Adrien just needed to go to the bathroom, or maybe he got a ticket for illegally parking the bike, or maybe he offered the extra bedroom to one of his friends, (or maybe he wanted to break up), or maybe someone hit on him at the supermarket today, (or maybe he wanted to break up), or maybe he lost his wallet, (or maybe he wanted to break up), or maybe he learned something new about Chrysalis, or maybe he wanted to *break up*-
"Adrien," Luka said, far too seriously and suddenly to pretend he felt normal. Adrien stiffened, knowing he was caught. "Is something wrong?"
Sheepishly, Adrien smiled. "Of course not! Nothing at all. I was just... thinking."
"Thinking?" Luka prodded, carefully neutral. There were too many loops where *thinking* caused the end of the world. Sometimes it was immediate. Sometimes it wasn't. Sometimes it wasn't *Adrien's* world that ended. Maybe it was Luka's turn.
"Mhmm," Adrien hummed. He dropped the towel on the counter, then walked around the kitchen island and into the living room, every step slow and deliberate. Luka watched him all the while, pupils slits and worry chilling him.
Adrien sat down on the couch next to Luka, primly brushing his lap off, a habit he had picked up over the last few years, apparently once belonging to his mother and still belonging to his aunt. "Actually, um... Nino and Alya told me something...." his voice trailed off. His cheeks were the lightest shade of pink, his eyes facing ahead.
"Something good?" Luka urged-hoped-prayed.
"Yyyyyeah...? I... guess?" Adrien replied, unsure. He pulled his feet up onto the couch, sitting with his legs to the side of him as though he were wearing a dress. He held his knees in clasped hands as he leaned into the back cushion, face thoughtful. "I mean, it was sort of a *neutral* thing, not good *or* bad... I mean, depending on how you feel about it, anyway. But, I guess they got the outcome they wanted for this stage of their lives, so I *guess* it was good?"
Luka swallowed, then took another deep breath. That was something, at least. Hopefully it was just something *good*. "Okay, that's good, then. What was it?"
Adrien hummed again, something awkward and noncommittal. "I'm not sure if I should tell you. It's kind of private..."
Luka smiled. This wasn't a game, and it certainly wasn't one that Adrien enjoyed playing, but it was one that Luka delighted in all the same: getting Adrien to open up. He snaked his arms around Adrien's waist, pulling him closer with a strength that made Adrien feel weightless in his arms. Adrien giggled as Luka nuzzled into his hair, pulling Adrien's back to his chest until they were cuddled together, Luka's legs on either side of Adrien. "Well, you don't have to if you don't want to... Your inner song seems pretty moody, though. There's a note of worry through it, and it seems like it's playing against itself, but it's also quiet, contemplative, like the between-tracks of an album. It sounds like you can't get it off of your mind, whatever it is."
"No- well..." Adrien's voice drifted again, then he smiled wryly. "I don't know why I ever try to hide anything from you."
Luka smiled, pressing a kiss to his head, letting his snakebites scrape against the warm skin softly. He didn't reply, but he did occasionally wonder the same thing.
Adrien sighed, finally surrendering to his embrace. He fully leaned into Luka, resting his weight against him and placing his hands below Luka's arms, resting on his stomach. His voice was soft as he said, "They told me they had a pregnancy scare. It turned out to be a false alarm, which they're both happy about because they still have things they want to do before they have kids, but... they also told me that they think they would've kept it, if it came down to it. That's... part of why Nino wants to move back here."
Luka hummed thoughtfully. "That makes sense. He would want to be here for her - *them* - in case anything happened, and an eight hour train might bring him home too slow. Plus, when parents are so far apart, it can be hard to raise a kid together..." Luka smiled wryly, teasingly. "*My* parents couldn't make it work, at least. Not that they really wanted to."
"Mhm. Yeah..." Adrien agreed softly, clearly barely listening.
"So... what are you thinking about?" Luka asked, lips again lost in Adrien's hair. He actively made an effort not to hold him too tight, to wrap around him and never let him go; animal instinct rivaled with logic, a battle he was well acquainted with. "I get the feeling there's more on your mind."
Adrien frowned, brow furrowed. His reflection was just visible in the mirror, Luka's head peeking out behind his own, curled around him like a snake around its prey. It wasn't quite a perfect comparison; though Luka was the snake, *he* was the one weak to Adrien.
"I was just... thinking about our future," Adrien replied after a moment, eyes glazed over. "About what it'll look like."
A spike of anxiety impaled Luka, his heart jumping again. He swallowed it down, though his grip tightened subconsciously. "What do you think it looks like?" he asked, his voice just a little bit too rough.
Adrien hummed again, then finally moved. He turned his head, forcing Luka to look down at him, their eyes locked together, summer green to electric blue. Mere inches away, they were breathing each other's air, Luka's heart beating in Adrien's rib cage, Adrien's pulse at Luka's neck. This close, Luka suddenly felt as though he were melting, the entirety of his being swirling down a drain and emptying into the vast ocean, miles and miles of writhing snakeskin lost in a riptide of green.
"Have you ever thought about if you want kids in the future?" Adrien asked, his voice low and subdued.
"What do you want?" Luka replied immediately, snapped back to the moment, miles of muscle reformed into a human frame.
Adrien's eyes boring into his own, his expression patient and neutral. "I asked you first."
Luka's eyes searched. He knew he wasn't supposed to be aiming for the "right" answer, he was supposed to give the *honest* one. But, *honestly*, he wanted what Adrien did. He would have, even when he was a regular person, at the age someone who looked like him was *supposed* to be.
He had always been too easygoing, maybe. Too willing to do what everybody else wanted, even at a detriment to himself.
So he tried again. "I... guess so," he finally said.
Adrien's lip quirked into the faintest smile. His eyes fell to Luka's hold around him, secure and warm. Adrien gently trailed his fingers up and down Luka's forearm, sunshine touch on moonlit shores. "You know I want to hear more than that," Adrien chastised softly, no bite to his words. "You should say exactly how you feel; it's good for you."
Luka swallowed and tried to think. What was an original thought? What more was there? After the loop, his sense of self was foregone. These last few years were spent relearning how to be human, but how can a snake inhabit a human skin? Only a few years out of the loop, he still struggled immensely, knew that he always would.
"You're taking too long to think," Adrien said gently. "I want to know your thoughts as you have them. They don't have to be perfect; this is a discussion, not a binding agreement. You can always change your mind later if you want."
Luka bit his lip, piercing rubbing against his tooth, cool to the touch. What good was being a god, when mortals could control your heart?
Adrien, slowly curling in on himself in Luka's arms. With a quiet sigh, he finally said, "Okay. That's okay; we don't have to talk about it right now." He shifted, moving to stand. "We can-"
Luka tugged him back down, swallowing Adrien's grunt like their bodies were one. This time, he let himself wrap tightly around Adrien, possessive and too much, just a peek of his true nature shining through.
"I think I want kids," Luka repeated. "Not so much that I'll be devastated if I don't have them, though. If you don't want them, I can volunteer as a mentor to some some day, or be there as a *really good* uncle for Rose and Juleka's kids, or whatever. But I... maybe *do* want kids for myself. But... only if I have them with *you*."
Adrien's face softened, his smile gentle and warming, like the sun after a snowstorm. "Really?"
Luka nodded, burying his face in Adrien's long blond locks. His hands tightened in Adrien's shirt, mooring him there, like a ship at the docks. "Boy or girl or something else, it doesn't matter. Biological or adopted or sentibeing, doesn't matter. As many or as few as you want is fine. But I think you'd be an amazing dad. I... I don't know if I could ever be a good dad; I still haven't figured out how to be *human* again. But I..." Luka sighed against Adrien's scalp, breath and humid. His heart was beating so fast he was sure Adrien could feel it.
"What does it look like when you think about it?" Adrien needled, smile in his voice as he continued to gently stroke Luka's arm.
Luka's eyes glazed over. "You and our child - or kids - waking me up too early with breakfast in bed on my birthday. Me teaching them how to play guitar while they sit in my lap, still too small to reach all the strings. Going to the park and having a picnic, and them chasing butterflies and birds while we sit on the blanket and watch."
"And what about when they're older?" Adrien prompted, his hand squeezing over Luka's.
Luka swallowed and licked his lips. "Taking them around the world with us when they don't have school. Making music with them, maybe even writing songs together. I keep... thinking they'll be like my mom, so they'll probably be rebellious and break the rules a lot, and we'll have to punish them, but they're *ours*, so after a few days of the silent treatment and passive aggression, they'll apologize, and we'll have ice cream together."
Adrien giggled and leaned his head back against Luka's collarbone. "And when they're even older?" He asked.
Luka frowned to himself, thinking. "They'll go to college, and we'll end up moving wherever they want to go because we'll miss them too much. We won't be able to do too much for their studies, but we'll always be there for them. They'll fall asleep at their desk and we'll wrap a blanket around their shoulders and turn out the light... they'll get mad at us for not waking them, since they were studying for an exam, but they needed the sleep."
"What next?" Adrien whispered, playing with Luka's bracelets, smile ever-present.
What next? In the endless world of infinite possibilities, who could say? "Eventually, we'll move back here while they live their dreams. Maybe we'll do more traveling, since they won't want us around while they spread their wings, but they'll still call us every week, and send us pictures, and we'll be there for them no matter what."
"What about after that?" Adrien hummed, hands finally moving to hold Luka's, their ring tattoos pressed together.
Too far in the future, too unpredictable. All of this, too unreal, and too beautiful and too dangerous to hope for. "If they have kids, we'll offer to take them all the time. We'll probably be annoying, since we'll want to see them all the time, but I think they'll be happy for a chance to rest. Maybe we'll move in with them when we all get a little older; some place that doesn't have too many stairs, so when you get older, you won't hurt yourself."
Adrien chuckled, squeezing his hand. "Anything else?"
Luka blinked and found himself in the present again, whiplash as he found he never left. Adrien smiled up at him, eyes soft and cheeks pink.
"And they'll never, *ever* get a miraculous," Luka finished, smiling and laughing, though he was as serious as he could be.
Maybe Luka *had* thought about it all before. Just a little bit. Maybe he dreamed of their futures together in the time loop so many times, imagined it playing out so many different ways, that he could conjure an idea for anything.
Adrien laughed, too, reaching up to cup Luka's cheek. "Yeah," he whispered, eyes closed. His lashes were long, like a cat's whisker, and only a shade darker than his hair. "That sounds nice."
Luka leaned into his touch, his own eyes closing as he focused on the warmth there, the *love*. "What about you? ... Do *you* want kids?"
Adrien's eyes opened and he smiled again, cheeks rosy and lip bitten between his teeth. Thumb brushing Luka's cheek, he said, "I want whatever you want, and... everything you just said... I think it sounds *perfect.*"
Their lips met in the space between one moment and the next. Luka's hands finally unfurled from adrien's waist to instead rub his sides, his stomach. Adrien's hand curled in Luka's hair and around the back of his neck, pulling him closer, as if even a millimeter apart was too much. When they pulled apart, they pressed their forehead together, relieved, loving smiles on their faces as they settled into each other again. Eventually, Adrien settled back against Luka's chest, and Luka held him not-too-tight. Soon, they would have to rejoin the world and do whatever normal humans at this stage of their lives did, but for now, they could watch the world outside the windows, dreaming of what may come.