#lukamouse

"...Luka!" a tiny, extremely familiar voice called in a hushed but thrilled whisper.

Being certain that he hadn't gone that crazy (yet) to start hallucinating Marinette's voice only made him more confused. He dropped his gaze to his pant leg to check the source of the voice, and his heart promptly caught in his throat.

Standing there was a miniature version of Marinette, roughly the size of his hand. She was decked out in a gray, black, and pink bodysuit, along with double buns rather than her usual pigtails. The latter, along with the rope "tail" around her waist, made her faintly resemble a mouse. It was an absurd level of adorable even for her.

Luka subtly looked around the room, making sure that no one was looking his way. He couldn't even begin to imagine how she'd gotten there, nor how she avoided being seen, but he did know that he should hide her as soon as possible.

Faking like he'd dropped a utensil of his, he leaned down. Marinette bounced excitedly in response, arms going up the instant his hand was within reach. His skin tingled where her tiny fingers touched, her body smoothly moving along with his movements so he could scoop her up.

He'd chosen to wear a hoodie that day, but dropping her into the hood itself was risky. Someone could easily catch the movement and she'd have to stay perfectly still so as to not puzzle anyone who might sit behind him.

The choice of the pocket at the stomach of his hoodie was the obvious and safest decision, so he slipped his hand into the open slot at one of the pocket's sides to let her go. Unfortunately, he hadn't realized that he was ticklish there until Marinette squirmed about to try and get comfortable.

His poker face saved him from outing his tiny girlfriend's cruelty to the class, though he must've at least gone stiff since he swore he could hear her giggling in realization. What did he do to deserve this?

——

"Not that I'm not happy to see you," Luka began the moment he was able to get away from everyone, "but why are you here?"

He held Marinette in both hands, letting her sit on one and lean against the other. She looked absolutely comfy and proud of herself, crossing one leg over the other as she replied, "I finished the akuma pretty fast, but since the school was already evacuated, we got to go home for the day."

He looked her up and down in a show of but you're not home, you're here, and also the much more obvious, you're pocket-sized.

She chuckled. "Well, after someone told me how unfair it was that I couldn't use my miraculous to make up for all the time I lose being Ladybug, I may have convinced the guardian to let me have the mouse miraculous."

"It lets you shrink?"

She nodded. "Sort of. It divides me." She counted off with her fingers, though not to any particular number. "You can divide yourself into multiple, um, selves? Or versions of yourself? So there are actually a few other Marinette back home taking care of some of my—" She squinted, having confused herself. "—or is it our? Our projects."

Like a fool, he'd truly thought that the whole "adorable tiny mouse girlfriend" thing couldn't get better, but apparently there were multiple of her now.

"Anyway," she said dismissively, brushing off the conundrum, "we figured out how to divide up what we should do, and I was the luckiest." She giggled, clasping her hands together and beaming up at him affectionately. "Sorry if I scared you a little bit, but I really wanted to come. I've always wanted to go to school with you."

"Oh, Marinette..." His voice wavered, touched. "Me too."

He used his thumb to stroke her cheek. Even as tiny as she was, his hearing fixated entirely on the delighted hums she let out at the contact. She leaned her face into his touch, running her hand along the rest of his thumb to return the caresses.

The walk from Marinette's house to his school was excessive for her to walk normally: feasible, but it was never realistic for her to transfer even if they were in the same grade. Ladybug had her yoyo to swing from, but the mouse clearly didn't have anything similar to use, so Luka couldn't imagine a tiny thing like her going all the way from her own house to his school just to see him.

He sighed blissfully, insisting, "I'm the lucky one."

He was sure they'd never be able to agree which of them was luckier, but that wouldn't stop him from voicing his opinion.

——

Unwilling to miss out on an opportunity to have lunch - even if it was just a school lunch - with his girlfriend, he made an excuse to his friends about "his muse acting up." It wasn’t technically a lie, though he still had to bring a notebook to fake like he was working. That was the convenience of having the school he did, meaning that there were a lot of creatively-inclined students who often did the same and thus not a single odd look would be shot his way.

He'd planned it out well enough to get a small table by himself in the corner, allowing him to easily talk to Marinette so long they were careful. There was another notebook opened and propped up behind her, allowing her to hide whilst still having some mobility atop the napkin he'd placed down for her to sit on.

Plus, the one thing he could count on was for teenagers to be teenagers: getting lost in their own conversations and ignoring everything else around them.

"I want to meet your friends properly someday," Marinette admitted while she watched him sort the food he'd put hastily onto his tray. "They sounded nice."

"I'm sure they'd love you," Luka assured, talking softly so to avoid drawing attention. Most people would probably think he was mumbling lyrics to himself. "They already ask about you."

"Wait—" Panic took over her face. "A-and you answered?!" She threw her arms up, gesturing wildly at him. "But you're too biased. What if their expectations are too high?!"

He picked up the apple from his tray, turning it a few times with a critical eye. Unphased by the accusation, he asserted, "I don't exaggerate, Marinette. I just told them exactly how you are."

Once he found what he determined to be the best part of the apple, he broke off a piece to offer to his pouting girlfriend.

"Thank you," she made sure to say, before getting right back to their conversation. "I'm just... nervous. Since I have to deal with hero stuff, I don't have as many chances to prove that I'm a good girlfriend. My DPS has been really bad lately."

"DP—" Luka's face scrunched up in thought. "...That's something from the video games you play, right? Damage... Per Second?"

"I can't believe you remember something like that!" She giggled, delighted. "But yeah, that's what it means, only for this it's Dates Per Strike, as in Hawk Moth striking Paris."

He frowned disapprovingly. "Marinette..."

"I know!" She bit into the apple piece almost aggressively, then swallowed so she could continue, "You don't care about that, but I do. I don't want people to think that I'm not treating you right."

"Let them think whatever they want," he huffed, biting into the apple actually aggressively. He didn't blame Marinette for the mindset that she had to take on as Ladybug - that public opinion was incredibly important - but he hated the idea of her stressing herself out over something so unimportant in her civilian life. She had enough stress as it was and he wouldn't ask her to do anything different even for his own friends.

"Still. I want to do it for me too," she argued. "We can't plan around Hawk Moth. I didn't have much of a life before I became Ladybug, but now..."

He chewed while he considered that, the bad taste in his mouth at how troubled she was overpowering the sweetness of the apple. Even the sticky sensation on his lips was suddenly unpleasant, but as he licked his lips to remove it, an idea struck.

He surveyed the cafeteria, noting that the predictability of the average teenager remained true: they were entirely disinterested in him. It was good, because he'd have no way to explain what he was about to look like.

"Luka?" Marinette called in curiosity, setting her apple piece aside and watching his hand grip the top of the notebook to slide it closer to her. He didn't want to corner her, but he needed the coverage.

His forearm opposite of the hand on the notebook rested on the table for support, allowing him to lean down. Then, bringing his face as close to her as he could, he closed his eyes and placed a kiss against Marinette's shoulder.

"A-ah~!" She squeaked, flailing in surprise. "Luka! W-we're in public!"

It was bold of her to say that after traveling all the way to his school and sneaking into his class just to see him. Doubly bold was her acting as if she was concerned about it when she was audibly buzzing with excitement.

Undeterred, he placed another kiss at the side of her head. Two tiny hands weakly attempted to push his lips away, so he kissed them too, earning another squeak as Marinette recoiled.

Leaning back just enough to look at her without crossing his eyes, he reminded her, "We don't need to plan for that."

She was blushing up to her ears, her words coming out only as sounds while she attempted to calm herself down. He wasn't sure how memories worked out when all the Marinette joined back together, but he'd happily kiss each one of them in the same way just to make sure it stuck.

Taking a deep breath, Marinette tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, looking away as she admitted, "Y...you're right. I guess we don't need to p-plan for what matters."

Luka smirked, triumphant.

——

The rest of lunch went on uneventfully. Marinette eventually calmed down enough to ask for a bit more of Luka's lunch and he was happy to oblige. It really did feel like they were on a date, and the mental image of her bragging to the other Marinette about it made him chuckle.

When it was time to head out, Luka started cleaning up the table. Marinette stepped off the napkin so he could put it on the tray, and he stashed his inspiration notebook (that actually did end up having some new melodies in it, courtesy of his tiny muse) back in his bag. He only put the other notebook away once Marinette had safely dropped down onto his lap.

"Can I stay in your hood for the rest of the day?" she asked while he was zipping up his bag. "If you put it up, I should be able to hide where it's dark."

He nodded. He wasn't sure why she wanted it, but supposed that it was boring laying in his hoodie pocket and only being able to hear things. At least this way, she could peek out when she was certain no one was looking at him.

He ducked down, feigning that he was picking up his bag from the floor as he brought Marinette up to his shoulder. He waited for her weight to leave his hand, then went and pulled his hood up.

Standing up slowly to allow her time to get into position, he grabbed his bag and put the strap around his shoulder. He was about to pick up his tray as well to take it away, but froze as he felt a tingling sensation against the back of his neck, sending a shiver up his spine.

The giggle that followed led to one conclusion: Marinette must've kissed him there, and it was that moment where he understood her true motives.

"Sorry," he heard her say, not at all apologetically. "I promised the other Marinette that I would give you one for each of us. I'll make sure to spread them out over the rest of our school day though."