#((and she might eventually talk to Luka or give him a letter through Juleka about requesting that he wait for her if he still wants her)) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

guardiankarenterrier · 4 years

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Letter O for the minific thing

(stars or space for this ask meme) (ooooh no character specified, free reign it is-) (my ao3)

Nino’s never realised before that he can outrun an akuma. He’s not sure he could do that before, but he’s apparently capable of it now, or at least he hopes he’s capable of it now.

It’s not working as well as he would like, because the same fear that speeds his steps also lends speed to the akuma itself, but it is working. Mostly. Sort of.

The butterfly’s going to catch up to him eventually, though, isn’t it-

Getting abruptly grabbed around the waist is a surprise.

Getting abruptly grabbed and then shoved protectively behind someone is a surprise, too.

Nino’s definitely breathing hard from more than just the running now, but he looks past where he’s being crowded away from the akuma and blinks rapidly at what he sees.

That doesn’t change the sight of a familiar guitar strapped to Juleka’s brother’s back.

Luka circles carefully between Nino and the butterfly that is- that had been- chasing him down.

The butterfly has stopped, now, flitting back and forth in apparent agitation instead. Nino’s fear has faded into confusion, and apparently Luka- and it is definitely Luka, even if he didn’t recognise the guitar it isn’t like Nino knows anyone else who lives on the Seine and goes around with a guitar at all times- wasn’t afraid in the first place.

The akuma appears to give up, which is not a thing Nino was aware they could do, and darts off into the distance instead.

Nino lets out a sigh of relief before Luka turns to him, hands clamping down on Nino’s shoulders in a way that he immediately relaxes into. (Nino won’t figure out until much, much later that he relaxes so quickly because that’s something Adrien does all the time. That’s something he already associates with comfort, with contentment).

“Are you all right?” Luka says, far too intensely, staring at Nino and shifting very slightly in place. His eyes glitter in the faint light from the street lamps reflecting off the water.

It’s late, more than late enough that Nino is surprised to see Luka out here at all, and several of the nearest street lamps are dim or flickering or have gone out altogether. He faintly remembers Alya posting something on the Ladyblog about that, something about how the city’s been putting off too many necessary repairs in the hope that Ladybug’s Miracle will fix it, and he thinks he remembers both Marinette and Alya complaining about how that is definitely not how Miracle works, but right now Nino’s just wishing the city had fixed the lights because it is suddenly way too hard to look directly at Luka.

It had been storming earlier, and Nino wonders absently how long Luka’s been outside because he still looks wind-ruffled and damp and Nino only just realised a few hours ago that he is maybe, possibly, kind of not as straight as he’d thought (a realisation that had Alya clutching a pillow and laughing so hard she’d fallen off his bed. She’d thought it was hilarious right up until the butterfly showed up).

That realisation hadn’t been about Luka. It hadn’t had anything to do with Luka.

(-excepting, maybe, the way that Luka’s hands had been immediately reassuring because of what- because of who- it reminds him of, but Nino isn’t ready for that yet. He’d gotten as far as admitting the bit about Chat Noir to Alya only after she’d so easily admitted to her crush on Ladybug, and celebrity crushes are about all Nino can manage right at the moment

-celebrity crushes actually aren’t a great line of thought, either).

“Hey,” Luka says, his hands tightening on Nino’s shoulders, drawing him closer as Luka’s brow furrows. Nino can’t keep looking at him like this, wet hair falling in his windblown face and eyes gleaming in the faint reflected light off the river. He looks at the river instead, but that doesn’t help. It’s dark enough here that there are stars reflected in the river where they flash between the clouds, a mirror that reflects back and forth endlessly, and it’s dizzying to look at.

Luka’s hands press again, before he relaxes his grip. He doesn’t let go entirely. “Nino, right? Are you all right?“

Nino’s not sure why he answers honestly. He barely knows Luka. He knows Juleka, sure, but that’s not the same thing at all. "N-no." He shivers, leaning a little further into Luka’s hands without really meaning to. "I’m, uh, it’s not been a great night so far."

"I noticed,” Luka says, eyebrows still raised. He nods back the way Nino had come from. “Leaving you on your own seems like a pretty bad idea. Want to come home with me for a bit first?”

Nino does not like the way he can’t help but scan for innuendo in that, paranoid now from his conversation with Alya earlier. As far as he can tell, though, it’s nothing but an honest offer, and frankly Nino really doesn’t think he should be alone.

He doesn’t want to be alone even long enough to go find Alya or Adrien, because going to either one of them is a very, very good way to bring up the same panicked thoughts that had him running in the first place.

“You don’t have to talk about it,” Luka tells him, apparently picking up something from his expression. “I mean, you can, but you don’t have to. You’re into music too, right?” He does let go now, reaching back to settle one hand on his guitar. “We can just jam for a while."

That… actually does sound pretty good.

"Sure,” Nino agrees, taking a shaky breath, holding it and letting it out. “Sounds good."

He’s a little surprised to see that the lights on the Liberty are out.

"Think Mom forgot to pay the utilities on time again,” Luka says, apologetically. He doesn’t really sound surprised, or worried, and when Nino sneaks a glance over at him the look he’s giving the ship is still mostly fond. “She’ll remember when she tries to make coffee in the morning."

Nino opens his mouth, then shuts it slowly. He feels like anything he can ask about that would be way too prying.

"What about you and Juleka?"

Apparently he can’t help himself anyway.

"And Rose,” Luka says, unconcerned as he leads the way onto the darkened ship with sure feet. “She lives here too, mostly. We’re used to it." He stops to offer Nino a hand onto the deck, shrugging when Nino’s caught his balance again. "If we really have to we can stop by Marinette’s folk’s place anyway, they always have plenty of leftovers. And Mom doesn’t forget about the bills when the weather’s really bad."

Nino doesn’t say anything, guilt climbing into his throat. It sounds like Luka and Juleka- and Rose, apparently- have a lot better reason to attract an akuma right now than he does.

And yet Luka had stepped in to save Nino from one, instead.

"It’s gonna be pretty dark inside, so we might as well stay above deck." Luka nods at the stairs to the wheelhouse, where Nino can see occasional flashes of light now.

That’s not helping with the feeling of unreality creeping onto the ship after them.

Between the dim lighting, the scudding clouds and the lingering scent of rain, stepping onto the Liberty already feels like stepping out of the world.

When he follows Luka into the wheelhouse itself, that impression only grows stronger. Nino doesn’t think the glow-in-the-dark stars had been on the walls and ceiling before, but he has to admit he’s not sure he would have noticed if they had been.

He’s pretty sure Rose painting more stars on the floor is new, though.

Juleka looks up and mumbles something in Nino’s direction, nudging Rose a moment later. Unlike Juleka, Rose springs lithely to her feet with an enthusiastic cry.

"Nino!” Rose grabs his hands, swinging Nino around before he can react. “Are you here for the night, too?" She tilts her head, grinning impishly. "It’s turning into a real party."

"Mom’s not home?” Luka asks, stepping carefully around Rose’s paints to lean out a window.

Juleka lifts her head, blowing her bangs out of her eyes, and casually swipes at Luka’s pant leg with a paintbrush. She leaves an uneven stripe behind that glows dimly in the refracted light. “Nope. Haven’t seen her, and her cell’s dead again."

"Figures. Pretty sure he could use a meal tonight, too." Luka rubs the back of his neck, sighing, and reaches for something wedged up against the side of the window. "We’ll figure something out."

"We don’t have to,” Rose pipes up, releasing Nino and rocking back on the balls of her feet. Nino dimly registers that Rose’s hands are covered in glowing paint, which means there’s a good chance it’s on his clothes as well. “Marinette brought a whole bag of stuff over earlier. Said Kim saw the lights go out."

…apparently Nino’s been more out of the loop than he’d thought.

Luka’s prize turns out to be a storm lantern. To Nino’s surprise, when Luka hangs it out the window and lights it, it lights green, adding to the strange ambience on the dead ship.

Dropping back to the floor, Rose rolls so that her head is in Juleka’s lap. "Bet you he shows in the first half an hour."

"In this weather?" Luka withdraws back into the wheelhouse, stepping carefully again. He swings his guitar off his back long enough to take a seat on the floor himself, waving Nino down after him. "Probably the first fifteen minutes."

It’s occurring to Nino, slowly, that he should probably ask who they’re talking about.

His question’s answered before he can ask it.

Despite how strange the rest of his night has gone, he’s still surprised when Chat Noir slips in through the window.

"You made it,” Rose greets him, grabbing a bakery bag from beside Juleka. She rummages through it briefly, then withdraws a roll and throws it at Chat Noir, who catches it without any apparent effort.

Chat Noir’s eyes are obviously drawn to Nino, though, and Nino swallows as Chat tilts his head and his eyes flash in the dark like his namesake. “‘Course I made it. Are we adding people again?"

"Maybe." Luka shrugs, catching a roll of his own when Juleka throws it at him. "Nino wasn’t doing so well earlier, so I invited him over. Up to him if he wants to come any other night, but-” He casts an unreadable glance at Chat Noir. “Thought we’d save you and Ladybug another battle tonight."

Chat Noir winces, turning the roll over in his hands and tearing off a surprisingly small piece with his claws. "Definitely appreciate that."

This is not helping Nino’s feeling of unreality.

Chat showing up out of the blue isn’t doing great things for his recent emotional upheaval, either.

Maybe he should have risked Alya or Adrien after all. Why hadn’t he just gone to Marinette’s? He knows how busy she’s been lately, but he’s pretty sure she wouldn’t have minded if he just hung out for a while. Just- just long enough that he wasn’t risking any akuma when we had to be alone with his thoughts.

Maybe it’s a good thing that Chat Noir is here, anyway. Nino really doesn’t like being akumatised.

He clears his throat and immediately regrets it when four pairs of eyes turn to him. Swallowing again, Nino asks, "So just how often do you do this?"

"Us?” Rose waves to indicate herself and Juleka, splattering paint on the floor and on Juleka’s clothes. Juleka doesn’t react to that any more than Luka had before, but then Nino doesn’t think either of them is exactly likely to get in trouble for it. “Most nights, I think?"

"Though we do have power most of the time,” Juleka adds dryly. “Seriously, that part’s not usual. Mom just gets kinda forgetful, sometimes."

"I was…” Nino trails off, eyes darting around in a way he wishes he could stop as he tries to come up with a discreet way to ask them why Chat Noir is here and fails.

He sort of hopes that Chat Noir will realise that and fill him in, but Chat’s not proving any better at reading social situations than Adrien is and that’s saying something.

None of the others answer his unasked questions, either.

Chat Noir leans against the open window to slowly finish off his roll, delicately licking the crumbs off his clawed hands, and Nino has to avert his eyes in a hurry.

His eyes land on Luka instead, though, and that’s not actually any better.

Letting out a breath, Nino accepts that no one looks about to offer him any more of an explanation. He’s having the kind of night where he’s not sure he even wants to ask, so he sits down beside Luka and catches the roll Rose throws his way.

He takes a bite, pauses, and takes a closer look.

Marinette may have said these were leftovers, but he doesn’t think they are. He wonders how much she knows about this. He doesn’t think it’s been going on for too long, or there would probably be even more of their class here, but it’s been at least long enough to somehow involve Chat Noir.

It really doesn’t look like anyone’s going to explain that part.

They haven’t asked Nino to explain himself, either, though, so he doesn’t really want to push. He’s not ready to talk to anyone else about today. He’s barely ready to talk to Alya about it, and she’d figured it out before he had. (Nino left his phone at her place, now that he thinks about it. Otherwise she’d probably be blowing up his notifications by now).

Nino never does ask, in the end. They finish eating and Rose ropes him and Chat Noir both into helping her paint and they end up with the glowing stars sprawling out of the wheelhouse and down across the deck, interspersed with footprints and even a few handprints where they’d gotten into light-hearted scuffles over the paint. Chat Noir’s boots leave paw print patterns, Nino notes, snickering to himself.

If he gets into a brief competition with Chat Noir over drawing shooting stars on the darkest section of the deck, no one else has to know.

Luka and Juleka join them too, with Luka stopping to put out the green storm lantern, but while Juleka seems happy enough to help Rose paint Luka settles himself near the prow and starts to play his guitar instead.

Nino doesn’t notice that he’s humming along to the tune until Chat Noir starts putting words to it.

“Earth below us, drifting, falling, floating weightless, calling calling home,” Chat Noir sings, nearly purring the lyrics, and laughs when Juleka drops her paintbrush and heads for Ivan’s drums instead.

Nino’s not familiar with the song, not at all, but he’s trying to memorise it so he can look it up later and learn it for himself. Between the drums, the guitar, and the way Chat Noir’s voice echoes off the dark river and sends shivers down his spine, he doubts he’ll ever be able to recapture the way it feels to hear it like this, but it’s still a song he wants to know.

Anarka does show back up, eventually. She doesn’t seem surprised to see Nino or Chat Noir, and if she objects any to the paint splashed across her boat then Nino certainly can’t tell.

He doesn’t find out, that night, why Chat Noir is there. He doesn’t even find out why Rose is there, though it’s days before it even occurs to him to wonder about that anyway.

But it’s far from the last night that Nino strays to the Liberty when he can’t find sleep, and he’s far from the only one to do it. Chat Noir’s only ever there when it’s a smaller group- Nino doesn’t see him unless the only other people on board are Rose and the Couffaines- but otherwise the Liberty’s slowly becoming a refuge for a rotating cast of his classmates.

By the time Nino works out that he’s not the only one Luka’s stepped in front of a butterfly for, he’s not surprised.

#miraculous ladybug #asks and answers #my fanfiction #anonymous #adopted nino lahiffe #luka couffaine #this was fun #rose lavillant #anarka's a+ parenting? shes trying #juleka couffaine #chat noir

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