20 with either lukanette or viperbug (or vipernette !) whichever you prefer ;u;
20. Kissing in a stairwell, giving them an artificial height difference.
ON THIS BLOG VIPERNETTE RIGHTS HOURS ARE 24/7
leave me a pairing and a number and i’ll write you a kiss!
Sometimes, Marinette is grateful that she decided to permanently entrust the Snake Miraculous to Luka. In times like these, when he’s scaling her home and settling on the fire escape where she’s huddled up, it’s hard to imagine anyone else here with her. It’s hard to imagine anyone else checking in on her the way he does during the few weekly patrols that Viperion offered to take off Ladybug’s hands. He’s barely intrusive about it, and he certainly doesn’t come with all the fanfare of are you okay? And there’s always, always a glint in his eye that makes her wonder if he knows something he shouldn’t.
“You know,” she murmurs from her seat on the top step, looking Viperion up and down as he swings over the railing. “It kinda feels like having a personal knight in shining armor. Should I be flattered?”
“‘Shining’ isn’t the word I would use,” he quips back with a snort, dusting off his suit. “More like ‘scaly.’”
“Well, yeah.” She rests her chin in her hand, loosely beckoning him closer. “But that doesn’t roll off the tongue as nicely.”
“I respectfully decline to respond to that.” In spite of the way Viperion folds his arms and faintly rolls his eyes, he’s grinning up at her, taking just a few steps up. “Evening, Buttercup. Anything you need?”
The nickname makes her stomach jump pleasantly. He only ever calls her that when he’s in costume, which is probably a good cover-up, but there’s a certain smoothness to it—a certain smoothness to him, once he’s transformed—that always makes her just a little extra excited. “Not tonight,” she murmurs. “I’m just happy to see you.”
Viperion smiles. The knowing kind.
It makes Marinette shift uncomfortably, like she’s being seen through. “Well…” she admits, “it’s more like… I’ve just been wondering.”
“Why you come to see me so often.” She rubs the back of her neck. “I get the feeling you don’t go around doing this with every civilian you meet.”
“No,” he murmurs. “But I don’t go around feeling the way I do for you with every civilian I meet, either.”
Marinette can feel her cheeks burn. “Flatterer…”
“That would imply that I’m not being sincere.” Viperion moves toward her still, His fingers brush the strings of his lyre as he does, and she feels compelled to stand, to meet him at his height. Or, with these steps, perhaps a bit taller. He’s come this close to her before, on the nights that she’s particularly needed his company or reassurance, and she’s never wanted to turn him away for it. She certainly doesn’t want to now; it’s just that, if he takes one more step up, she’ll want to give into this building, overwhelming urge to kiss him as a send-off.
He takes the step; she’s still taller from where she stands, but his face is so close to hers she might just choke on the air between him. Is she leaning in? She can’t tell.
His voice falls to a hush; she swears he’s looking at her lips. “Do you believe me?”
Marinette nods, her nose brushing against his, and the air feels so heavy that her eyes flutter shut, just in time for his mouth to slant along hers. It’s quiet, and halfway romantic, and it makes the roots of her hair tingle as she holds his face and kisses him back. There’s a certain confidence that Viperion has—that lays dormant most of the time, and only comes alive on nights like these—and she can’t help taking advantage of it with him.
She’s still cradling his jaw when he pulls back, even though he moves away like he doesn’t want to. Even though she’s gripping the railing like she doesn’t want him to go just yet. He smiles, a pleased hum slipping out, and leaps to perch on the fire escape like he’s ready to fall. “If that’s how you plan on encouraging me,” he says, “then I can’t say I mind.”
Then he leaps into the night, with little time for her to respond—and she thinks, just as she touches her lips and replays every little way he felt under her, that she just might consider it.
