#still fluff

Kurt’s worry still echoes in his ears as he makes a turn, running back to the fight.

Two of their attackers are laying on the ground, slowly turning into dust--as opposed to when they die by the hand of a slayer, when the dusting is immediate--and one is glaring at the fight while rummaging through the garbage.

(It takes Blaine longer than it should have to realize that he’s looking for his arm. Yuck.)

But Kurt is still facing the wannabe leader of the pathetic little gang of bloodsuckers.

The vampire grins when she sees Blaine approaching, and Kurt glances over his shoulder.

Blaine doesn’t need super-senses to hear or see the panic that takes over him.

“Blaine! I told you to run!”

“I want to help!”

“You’re not!”

“I’m just trying to help!”

“Well, I hate to break it to you,” Kurt seethes, “but you just made it worse.”

“Don’t mind me,” the vampire says while inspecting the blood under her nails (again, yuck). “I love a good lover’s spat.”

“Been too long since you got one?” Blaine mocks, and Kurt makes a “what the fuck are you doing” gesture with his hands.

“Oh, the human-pet wants to play,” the vampire drawls, and Blaine tries, really, really hard not to roll his eyes. He really does.

He fails, but he really tries. “Can you not,” he simply says, before pushing Kurt away. “Kurt, don’t look!”

The second he knows Kurt is safely behind the wooden beams, he opens his hands and lets the sparks flow.

The bolt of lightning they form go straight for the vampires still alive, striking them from head to toe and leaving them to be consumed just as fast as the sparks were unleashed.

Kurt blinks, fangs still apparent, as he steps forward. “What--what was--you--Blaine, what the fuck?”

Blaine turns, the sparks “satisfied” and retreating from wherever they come from his core. “Kurt, are you okay?”

Blaine barely took a step forward but Kurt holds his hand up. “No, no, don’t you dare--what did you--I--you lied to me?”

“I never li--”

“You omitted to say you were a mage, okay. Don’t play with words, Blaine! You--I ... Was it all a ploy?”

“What?”

“It must be,” Kurt whispers, his voice bouncing off the walls of the alley. “You never loved me, did you? You were just trying to use me to get to more vampires to add to your kills ...”

“Kurt, stop.”

Kurt does stop, his eyes wide and sad as he looks at Blaine. “What? Are you done with me? Had your fun?”

“Kurt. Let me speak for one second. I know you’re trying to push me away, and I won’t let you.”

Kurt remains silent, but tension still inhabits his whole body, ready to bolt at the slightest provocation.

“I never lied to you, even as a white lie.” Blaine says, reaching with one hand but holding it back. “I always thought the Touch had skipped me and Coop, going from my nana to my mom and maybe awaiting the next girl in our family. But tonight, when you told me to run, when you tried to protect me, it ... it moved something within me, and it unlocked it, I guess?” Blaine sighs. “The moment it manifested, I came back. To you. For you. Because I--I had to be with you, to help you and defend you. I never meant for you to think I would--that I could--that I didn’t ...” Tears gather in Blaine’s eyes and the lump in his throat is overwhelming, but he powers through. “I will always love you Kurt, more than I ever thought I could and more than I ever will, no matter what.”

Kurt has progressively relaxed through Blaine’s speech, and he seems on the verge of crying as well.

“I--oh Blaine, I’m sorry, I was so--,” Kurt starts, rushing to Blaine to pull him close, so tight that Blaine’s breath is knocked out of him for a second. “I was so worried they would kill me and then you, or worse, you and then me, or leave me to watch you die, I... I have never loved anybody the way I love you, too,” he continues, pulling back to look deep into Blaine’s eyes. “And I will never love anybody else.”

Blaine cups Kurt’s face in his hands and pulls him into a deep kiss.

Kurt sighs happily when they step apart. “Come,” he says, taking Blaine’s hand as they go deeper into the now empty alley. “There is something I want to show you.”

“In the garbage?”

“No, silly. Come here.”

They stand at the wall that closes the alley and above them, the moon appears from behind the clouds.

Blaine looks up, smiling at it, before returning his attention to Kurt.

Whose eyes are now entirely black, and filled with stars, while his fangs are out.

“Wow.”

“I wanted to show you my true nature.”

Blaine kisses Kurt as softly and as carefully as he can, before smiling. “My turn.”

Blaine focuses, feeling the Spark in his heart and lets it out into a soft ball of light that seems to bounce in the air between them before going up, up into the night sky.

“Wow,” Kurt lets out. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Me neither. But once the power is out, it unlocks a lot of things.”

“May I suggest you have a long talk with your mom before you start playing with the lights? Especially when they can be as massively destructive as proven just moments ago?”

Blaine leans his forehead against Kurt’s shoulder, a shaky laugh escaping his mouth. “You’re right. It’s ...”

“A lot.”

“Yeah, sums it up quite well.”

Saturday, a week after the Milan Fashion week had ended, Marinette and Luka were finally able to spend some time together. She arrived onboard the Liberty, to hang out with Juleka and Rose, while Luka was still sleeping. Marinette had a large bag for him, tucked in the corner, full of things that she wouldn’t let the girls see.

Rose and Juleka were companionably arguing the benefits of scrambled vs. fried eggs for breakfast, when Luka finally emerged from his room, barefoot, pajama pants rumpled and hair tousled from sleep. He was in the process of pulling a t-shirt on over his head, and muttered from the depths of it that he’s willing to eat either, just so long as it isn’t pizza, when he heard a squeak from the couch.

Turning, he saw Marinette sitting there, legs tucked up under her, cup of hot chocolate in her hand, blush crawling up her neck, staring at him in a way that woke him up instantly. He smiled at her, his eyes ensnaring hers, like a snake hypnotizing a mouse, before he brought his face close to hers, plucked the mug from her hand, and took a swig.

Blinking, Marinette swatted at his arm as he dropped down on the couch next to her, laughing, upending the cup into his mouth, and wincing at its sweetness. “Good morning, beautiful. Thank you for the drink.” His sleep-roughened voice sent a thrill through Marinette, and she had to shake herself to bring her mind back to the present, as Rose ‘aww’ed at their cuteness, while Juleka made not-so-subtle gagging noises while she grinned at her brother.

“Oh!” Marinette jumped up and grabbed the box of assorted breakfast pastries that she brought with her, even though the time was already pushing noon, handing the box to Luka. He chose one and offered the box to the girls, who laughed and admitted they’ve had a couple in the past hour. Luka looked guiltily at the clock, and apologized, but Marinette waved it away, mentioning they were going to start the movie marathon without him, anyway.

Jumping up again, she grabbed the bag she had stashed in the corner. Looking at her curiously, he glanced down at the bag, and then back up at Marinette. “What’s this for?”

“You, silly.” She responded with a grin, and when he leveled a deadpan look at her, she giggled. “You can’t wear your blue sweater all the time!”

Reaching into the bag, he pulled out another handknit sweater, made by Marinette, this one in rich brown earth tones. The second sweater he pulled out was an inky black, that was much softer than the other two. He buried his face in the sweater, catching the faintest traces of sugar, vanilla and her, and smiled at her so tenderly, she felt her insides melting.

“Thank you, Marinette. This is the most amazing gift I’ve ever been given.”

She smiled sweetly at him, as he leant over to capture her lips with his. The kiss was tender and sweet, with just a hint of something deeper, when, all of a sudden, Luka jerked back. He turned to glare at his sister, who had thrown the pillow at him.

“Keep going.” Marinette urged him, and in surprise, he reached into the bag one more time. This time he pulled out a white t-shirt with a pink flower stitched into the pocket, and a sky blue hoodie, with flowers and musical notes hidden inside the hood. He held it up and studied it, grinning. “This is the one that you designed this summer, right? With a matching dress?”

Marinette stood, and the blanket slipped off her lap, revealing the dress she had drawn that summer, with a few tweaks. This time, both outfits were designed for keeping warm, rather than soaking up the sun, so the sky blue dress that Marinette was wearing was actually a sweater-dress rather than a sundress, and the hoodie was long sleeved as well as being fleece lined.

Luka stroked the lining of the hoodie, before reaching over and stroking the pattern that curled around Marinette’s hip. “It was going to be tough to decide which sweater to wear first, but you’ve just made the choice for me. I’m going to go shower, then I’ll be back. He leaned forward to kiss her once more, before gathering up his new treasures, and carrying them back to his bedroom.

He chuckled as he left the room, hearing Marinette ask the girls, “Did I finish my hot chocolate? I don’t remember doing it.”

As soon as he reappeared, Rose demanded that they take pictures in their matching outfits, and pink cheeked, they did, finding it hard to deny Rose anything, when she turned her huge blue eyes on them.

They started watching the movie, but chimes and buzzes coming from all three girls’ phones served as a great enough distraction that Luka paused the movie. “Alright, ladies, what’s going on.

Juleka laughed. “Rose sent a picture of you two being sickeningly cute to all our friends, and they’re all writing back.”

Luka sighed, pulling Marinette closer, as she tried to hide her violently blushing face in her hands. Smiling sweetly, Rose added, “I sent it to some of your friends, too!”

Snatching up his phone, Luka was thankful he had put it on silent. Twenty five missed messages and climbing. He set his phone back on the table, face down, and pulled Marinette into his lap. They snuggled together and watched the movies with Juleka and Rose, who kept hiding her face in Juleka’s shoulder whenever the bad guy came on the screen.

They were about to start another movie when Rose’s phone rang. They tried not to eavesdrop, but as she was sitting in the middle of the couch it was hard not to hear. “Yeah, Mama, we’re just watching movies.” There was a long pause “No. Captain Anarka is at work today. It’s just me, Juleka, Marinette and Luka.” Another pause. “Well can Juleka come over?” There was some murmuring they could hear through the phone, and Rose let out an excited squeal. “Thanks, Mama!”

She hung up the phone and smiled at Juleka. “I have to go home, but Mama said you could come sleepover.” She looked at Marinette. “I’m sorry! I didn’t think. Did you want to come too? I could call Mama back.”

“No, Rose. That’s fine. I have to head home in about an hour and a half, anyway.” Rose gave her a thumbs up, and they headed into Juleka’s room to grab some clothes. They waved to Luka and Marinette as they left, the pair finally having broken down and picked up their phones to answer the multitude of messages they received.

About 45 minutes later, Marinette heard a rumbling noise, and looked at Luka, questioningly. A minute later the low rumble came again, followed by the sound of pouring water. Glancing out the window, the cloud filled sky blotted out the sun, lending an air of twilight to the late afternoon.

Marinette’s phone rang, and she answered it, talking to her mother who told her to stay where she was, giving permission to stay the night, as the storm was supposed to continue until the small hours of the morning. Sabine probably assumed that Rose and Juleka were still there, but since she didn’t ask, Marinette didn’t inform her of their change in plans.

Feeling only a little guilty, Marinette informed Luka of the new situation. He glanced at the clock. “Mom will me home in a little while. Do you want to help me make dinner? It’s Juleka’s turn, but..:” he shrugged.

Marinette nodded, smile a little strained, but wanting to ease the guilt that was softly nagging at her by helping out. Luka put together a simple stew, letting it simmer on the stove, while Marinette whipped together a bread dough, leaving it to proof by the stove.

While delicious smells filled the cabin of the boat, Marinette pulled out her sketchbook, and Luka grabbed his guitar. The sounds of the rain served as the percussion for the calming melody that flowed from the strings, in turn, influencing Marinette’s designs toward gentle colors and softer edges.

Both were startled by the timer going off, but Marinette hopped up to stir the stew and put the risen dough into the oven. She walked back into the living room to hear Luka on the phone. “Yeah, Mom. Marinette’s stranded here. Her parents said to stay the night.” After a pause he went on. “No… they are at Rose’s house.” A much longer pause, and whatever his mother said caused a blush to crawl up the back of his neck and across his ears. “Of course, Mom.” He sighed. “Yeah, I promise.” One final pause. “Yeah. I love you too, Mom.”

As he ended the call, Marinette said from behind him, “Your mom’s stranded, too?”

“Yeah. She has to stay with one of her friends from work. It looks like it will be just us tonight.” He looked a little nervous, but decided not to voice whatever he was thinking. “How long until the bread is ready?”

“About half an hour.”

They sat back down to work, but the focus they had earlier was broken.

Dinner was delicious, neither surprised at the other's cooking skills, although Luka did ask Marinette if she would teach him how to bake desserts. She lit up at the suggestion, and started talking about all the things they could make.

After dinner, they curled back up on the couch to watch another movie, snuggled together, Marinette's head resting on his chest. The boat's normally gentle motion was getting stronger as the wind outside picked up.

Suddenly, the electricity went off, plunging them into darkness. Gripping Luka a little tighter, Marinette buried her face into his neck. He kissed her hair, his hand stroking her back reassuringly.

The power was out for less than 2 minutes, and then the boat's generator kicked on. The pair decided that they should probably conserve power, and shut the movie off, Marinette suddenly wondering if she would need to sleep in her dress.

Luka offered her one of his shirts, and she ducked into the bathroom to change into that, keeping the comfortable leggings that she was wearing on underneath. As slim as Luka was, the shirt still swam on her. Luka smiled when she emerged, having switched his jeans for a pair of flannel pajama pants.

They curled up together, on Luka's bed, talking about everything and nothing, the blankets wrapped around them. Luka leaned forwards and captured Marinette's lips with his, and her world became warmer.

They stayed like that for a while, sometimes with their lips pressed together, sometimes with their lips roaming across faces and down necks, stopping only when breathing became absolutely necessary.

Luka’s face was buried in Marinette’s neck when her hand hesitantly slipped under his shirt. He groaned into her shoulder at the feel of her soft hands, warm against his skin, his fingers tightening against her hip. His reaction must have emboldened her, because her fingers splayed against him, and, agonizingly slowly started exploring his skin.

The sensation was driving him crazy, and the combination of having Marinette in his bed, wearing his shirt, while her hands were running over his abs was very quickly pushing him to a point where he would be tempted to do things he wasn’t sure he was ready for, no matter what his body was saying. “Stop.” He groaned into her neck.

He wasn’t sure if she heard, but Marinette didn’t stop, her lips finding the shell of his ear. “Stop!” He said again, more forcefully. Already regretting it, although not as much as if he didn’t stop her, he grabbed her hands at the wrist, and pulled them from his body, rolling out of bed to put some distance between them. Breathing heavily he strode across the room, reaching out, resting his arms on either side of the door frame as he tried to catch his breath.

On the bed, Marinette was sitting up, a little shocked, both at her own boldness, and the speed at which he had run off. “Luka? Are you ok?”

“Fine.” He spat out, more forcefully than he meant to, angry, but unsure at whom. Himself for coming so close to losing control with her for the second time, or her for pushing him as if he wasn’t already crazy about her, and terrified of screwing it all up.

Marinette shrank back on the bed at his tone. She didn’t think she’d ever seen Luka angry before. Sure she had been there when he was akumatized, but she was embarrassed to say she hadn’t been paying attention to him then, too wrapped up in her own righteous indignation with Bob Roth.

She watched his back as he stood there, breathing, trying to calm down, and watched his muscles relax, one by one, as he intentionally focused his will as he drew on his meditation practice. Finally, he turned to face her, his normal look of implacable calm back in place.

Seeing Marinette sitting on one side of the bed, he dropped to the other, leaning back against the wall, his head tipped back, looking at her intensely. “I’m sorry, Marinette.” He reached for her hand, squeezing it between his, running his thumbs over her knuckles.

“I’m sorry, too, Luka. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You didn’t upset me, Mari. I just think that we need to slow down. What we were doing just now, well, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to stop. I mean, I like to think that I would be able to, but…” He sighed, covering his face with his hands, the tips of his ears going red. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Luka, I know you. You’d never hurt me.”

“Marinette. I would never hurt you on purpose. But I’m sixteen. And, yeah, I think about sex.” He took a deep breath, and raised his flushed face so that he could look her in the eyes. “And having this amazing girl, in my bed, wearing my shirt, with her hands all over me? Yeah, that’s exactly where my mind goes.” He blushed even harder. “And my body is more than willing to comply.”

Her face was crimson as well now, her mouth forming a perfect little ‘o’, her bright blue eyes wide. Looking at her, he wondered why he was talking her into stopping him. “Marinette, you are important to me, and I don’t want to do anything to screw that up.” He reached for her hand, and she willingly slipped it into his. “Can we take this slow? Please? For my sanity?” He grinned at her at the last part, and she leaned into his shoulder.

“Of course, Luka. You are important to me, too. I trust you.” Marinette reached over to cup his cheek, turning him to face her once again. Placing a sweet, chaste kiss on his lips, she stroked his cheek and smiled. “Thank you.”

They each sat in their own worlds for a while, thinking about what had happened. “The wind seems to be dying down. Maybe we should get some sleep.”

They laid back down together, his left arm wrapped around her shoulders, her head resting on his shoulder, one hand splayed across his chest. Her breathing soon evened out as she drifted off, but Luka lay awake for a long time, marveling at how lucky he was to have such an amazing woman in his arms. Eventually he drifted off, a soft smile on his face.