#mason tries his damnedest but their metabolism is too high

[verfound]

MINIFIC: Oct. 23: Day 10: Full Moon (MLB, Lukanette, DLM AU)

Continuing from Ch8-9. Let's see if I can stay caught up. 😂

For @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers October Minific Challenge 2023.

Read on Ao3

To Feel Alive Again: Ch10: Full Moon

“That won’t work, you know.”

Marinette jumped at the voice, and that was probably the proof of his words right there.  She tried to scowl at Luka, but she found her face didn’t want to cooperate.  She turned away instead, tipping her head back against the chair she had brought up to the roof a few hours ago and glaring at the moon.

It had no right to be so pretty, she thought as she took another long drink from the bottle in her hand.  The world wasn’t pretty.  It didn’t deserve pretty things like that full moon above her when it had such ugliness inside.

“At least share,” Luka sighed as he dropped to the roof beside her, plucking the bottle from her fingers and taking a swig.

“No one invited you,” she bit, snatching the bottle back.  Luka coughed as some of the alcohol went down the wrong pipe, and she smirked as she tipped the bottle back.  The lip was wet from…well, his lips.  Gross.  “I only share with people I invite.  This was a solo party.”

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s bad form to drink alone?” he asked, taking the bottle back.  She glared at him, and he lifted an unimpressed eyebrow in turn.

…she probably looked like a grumpy kitten to him.  He was condescending like that.  The asshole.

“Stop checking up on me,” she said, turning away with a huff and slumping back in her chair.  She pulled the blanket she’d brought up tighter around her shoulders.  It was an indulgence she had gotten with her first post-death paycheck: a thick, pink, Sherpa-lined throw that was sinfully soft and kept her entirely too warm.

She loved it.

“I’m not…” he started.  She shot him a Look, and he sighed as he leaned back on his hands and looked up at the moon.  She tried to ignore the way it lit up his eyes, making them shimmer in its soft glow.  “Ok.  Fine.  I’m checking up on you.  But I’m checking up on you because I wanted to, not because Mendeleiev is making me.”

…huh.  That was new.

“…why?” she asked, glancing over at him.

“Because she’s a bitch and dealt you a shitty hand,” he said.  His fingers tapped at the roof, and when he glanced over at her he offered her a small smile.  “…and I missed you.  And when Fred told me what happened, I started to worry.”

“Softie,” she chided, and he sighed as he looked back up at the moon.

“I’m afraid you might be right,” he said.  He was still smiling.  “Tell the others and I’ll kill you.”

“Isn’t that going to be a little hard?” she asked, nudging his knee with her foot.  “We’re already dead, Luka.”

“I’m pretty determined,” he said casually.  “I’ll find a way.  Even if it’s locking you in my closet until I finally get my own lights.”

“Asshole,” she giggled.  A comfortable silence settled between them, where they just watched the moon and pretended they could see the stars beyond the city lights.  It was nice, she couldn’t help but think.  She was finding Luka was nice.  Or, at the least, he wasn’t as prickly as she had initially thought.

She was starting to drift off, the exhaustion of the past few days meeting the quiet comfort Luka’s presence offered to lull her towards the sleep she desperately needed.  She might have missed his question, if he hadn’t nudged his knee back against her foot.  Her lips twitched with a smile as she looked at the roof before her, where their limbs were barely touching.  Where they were stretched out like the old friends they might have been another lifetime ago, had she been born a few years sooner or he had been born a few years later and they had both lived past the brief spark of twenty-something.

“He would have liked you,” Juleka had said.

She was starting to think she would have liked him, too.  Back before he was dead.

“Are you ok?” he asked, his voice soft in the quiet night.

She blinked tired eyes at the moon and thought of Abby Rousseau, the little girl who had been senselessly snuffed out even sooner than they had been.  She thought of the undead man beside her and the quiet comfort his presence brought.  Of Fred, downstairs, worrying over her like the papa he was because he couldn’t worry over his own little girl anymore and she no longer had a papa to worry about her, either.  Of Théo and even fucking Mendeleiev, their merry little band of reapers slipping through life on the periphery.  They didn’t have much anymore, but at least they still had each other.

She supposed that had to count for something.

It had to be enough.

“…no,” she answered.  Her hand slipped out of the blanket and reached for his, and she smiled when he threaded his fingers through hers and squeezed.  “But I think I will be.  Thanks, Luka.”

“Any time, Marinette.”

#miraculous ladybug #luka couffaine #marinette dupain-cheng #lukanette #endgame lukanette #lukanette endgame #lbsc october minifics 2023 #to feel alive again #ml fic #ver fic #dlm lukanette au #dead like me au #this is what we call progress #reapers can't get drunk #mason tries his damnedest but their metabolism is too high #if anyone needed the lore behind him saying that won't work #I don't think I actually stated that here 😂