Characters/Pairings: Naga!Luka Couffaine, Witch!Marinette Dupain-Cheng; Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng
Rating: General Audiences
Summary: Marinette comes home to find her new housemate sitting outside. Luka’s just glad to see his mate safely home.
Author’s Notes/Warnings: Set during their first autumn, shortly after Luka’s moved in. Early in his brumation, before he’s sleeping all the time. Winters is kind of my comfort series? I have actual stories and plot planned out for this ‘verse, but every now and then I just need to come back and do something short and fluffy for my own sanity.
“Sit a Spell”
“What are you doing out here?”
Luka looked up and smiled when he saw his little witch – his mate – walking up the path to her…their little cottage. The tip of his tail flicked almost subconsciously, a sign of his pleasure at seeing her safely home, and she grinned when she noticed it.
“Aren’t you cold?” she asked once she was closer, her eyes glancing down at his bare chest. He noticed the way they lingered – her gazes had been lingering more and more lately – and his tail swished again. Her cheeks were pink when her eyes lifted back to his own.
The pinking wasn’t new, not for a while now, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy it. There was a little thrill that raced through him every time he saw that lovely color fill her cheeks. He’d found himself wondering lately how far he could make that blush go, and how lovely it might look…
…but those were thoughts for later, when the cold wasn’t creeping in and his body wasn’t so damnably slow.
As this is turning into a saga, it is going to end up as a joint birthday gift for @semi-slaughtomatic and @bloody-no-kissu. Part one will be out on Friday for Semi and Part two on Sunday for Bloody. Be sure to wish both of these amazing, sweet ladies a Happy Birthday!!! (I love you guys!!!)
“Have you got your wedding dress designed yet?” Tom Dupain asked his daughter, their long-standing joke about her 'perfect dress' obsession falling flat under the circumstances.
The look Marinette shot her father would have felled a lesser man. “Papa, I am not marrying him. I’ve told you this. He’s not a bad person, he’s just not…” She paused, trying to find something nice to say about the man she was betrothed to. “Well, he’s not someone I can see myself spending my life with.”
Tom sighed. “I know Pumpkin. I just want you to be happy.”
Knowing his heart was in the right place, Marinette hugged her father. “You just wanted to make a huge wedding cake,” she teased him. “But seriously? I’m truly not happy. I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.”
Her parents hugged her and said that they supported her decision. They stood in front of the mayor who had performed the handfasting a year and a day before; Marinette and her parents and her betrothed and his father. The young man, at his father’s urging, went down on one knee, holding up the ring that had belonged to his mother, and asking Marinette to be his wife.
With a sigh, Marinette refused him.
Once it was determined by a midwife that Marinette was not with child, the young man’s father begrudgingly returned the money and material goods that had been Marinette’s bride price to her father. She had been given a week to pack her personal effects and remove them from the mansion, but knowing she hadn’t been planning on staying, she’d gathered very little of her own, and her bags were packed in a matter of hours.
After having asked for her suitcase to be delivered to her parents’ house, she picked up a backpack, in which she’d only packed a few essential things, and slipped out into the night.
Consciously, Marinette didn’t know where she wanted to go. She knew she didn’t want to head straight to her parents’ house but wasn’t sure where else she would be accepted this late at night. Her feet did, though, and she smiled when she realized where she was. A smile was not the normal reaction to a human woman alone in this part of town. Nagas lived here. She was on the edge, the part inhabited by both humans and Nagas, but it was past midnight, and Marinette was going to see Luka.
I was really hoping I'd get this finished today, but maybe tomorrow...?
“…he said you’re gonna eat me,” she mumbled when he pulled away. A strange sound, somewhere between a hiss and a laugh and something choked, escaped him, and she rolled her eyes as she shoved at him and flopped onto the cushions of their nest. “See? Stupid.”
“Why would he….?” Luka started, but then his eyebrows rose even higher as he blinked at her. “You ssssaid village gosssssip. Do they…do they all think you’re in danger here?”
She looked away from him, but there was no denying the flush on her cheeks, even in the dark.
“…maybe,” she mumbled. “They…they all implied that the Snakefolk eat people, so…so obviously you’re going to eat me. Ridiculous, right? The Snakefolk don’t eat…Luka, stop laughing!”
“Apologies, love,” he said, shaking his head. “It’sss jussst…you’re right. He’s an idiot.”
'hugging while straddling the partner' please and thank you
…oops, (early) Winters strikes again…
“Luka!”
The naga raised his head at the shout, but before he could properly get his bearings a dark little blur was slamming into his chest with enough force to knock him off balance. He landed back in the grass by the riverbank with an oof, his arms automatically coming up to protect the little witch who was nuzzling her cheek against his chest from the fall. She didn’t seem phased by it at all, too preoccupied with wrapping her limbs around him in a crushing hug.
“Hello to you, too,” he chuckled, a hand rubbing along her back as she finally settled with a sigh.
“You were gone forever,” she said, squeezing him tight.
“I was gone less than three days,” he said, though he couldn’t deny it had certainly felt longer. He loved his family dearly, he did, but the Solstice celebration just…it hadn’t felt the same this year. Not when it had meant three whole days away from his new friend – and it had only been three days because he had left early, much to his mother’s annoyance. She looked up at him, propping her chin on his sternum and scrunching her face as she stuck her tongue out at him, and he idly wondered if perhaps she could join him next Solstice. He could just imagine it, flowers in her hair as she danced under the bright summer sun…
“Which is three whole days longer than you’ve ever been gone before,” she said. She laid her head back on his chest and sighed. “I missed you, you silly snake.”
“…I misssssed you, too,” he murmured softly, bending to bump his forehead against her own. “It was good to see my family again, but that is not my home anymore.”
“So don’t go away again,” she said, fisting her hands against his back as she tried to pull him closer. He chuckled and bent nearer, until his breath on her ear made her shiver.
“But if I do not go away, how can I bring you back presentssss?” he whispered, and just like that she was jolting up. She sat back on his tail, her hands bracing against his stomach for balance, and he was momentarily…stunned. Dazed. The excited smile she blinded him with was dizzying enough, but her hands on him…the way her knees pressed into his sides, her weight sitting comfortably on his…
She was talking – he was vaguely aware of her talking – but for the life of him he couldn’t tell you what she’d said. It was too much. She was…
“…Luka?” she called, tilting her head to the side. The collar on her dress was low, and her hair was tied back in a low bun, and the way the sun shone warm and bright on the soft skin of her neck… “What did you bring me?”
…my heart, he thought, his hand stilling on her calf. I think you kept it here with you when I left…
He blinked when she called his name again, shaking his head as a breathy chuckle escape him.
“A ssssarong,” he said, his thumb brushing her knee absently. Her eyes widened as she gave an excited little wiggle that was absolute torture. “Like my kind wear during our fesssstivals. My ssssisssster made it. It’ssss…” he paused, clearing his throat as his hissing grew worse. Marinette giggled and settled back against his chest, folding her arms over him and resting her chin on them. He wasn’t sure if that was better or worse: at least she was no longer…the pressure of her weight over his…she was no longer as distracting as…his arms lifted to wrap around her, holding her close. He took a long, steadying breath to try and compose himself (it was getting har…increasingly more difficult with every day spent around the enticing little witch). “It’s back at my cave. I was going to bring it to dinner.”
“We could go get it now,” she said. He chuckled and rubbed her back.
“In a bit,” he said, relaxing back against the grass. “Thissss is niccce.”
“I missed you, too, Luka,” she giggled. He smiled as she snuggled closer. “Silly snake.”
Characters/Pairings: Naga!Luka Couffaine, Witch!Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Lê Chiến Kim; Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng
Rating: Explicit
Summary: Marinette knew the villagers didn’t really think too highly of the Forest Snake – certainly not like she did – but honestly. This was all a little ridiculous. (Or: Marinette overhears some gossip at the butcher’s and learns her mate is apparently plotting to eat her. Or something.)
Author’s Notes/Warnings: Set shortly into their first mated spring. Our cook at work was telling us this story about his friend who had a pet constrictor. It was a funny story, and I quickly relayed it, and it took Quick all of two minutes to debunk it & Min to spin it into a Winters prompt. 😂
“Snake Tales”
Marinette hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. She really hadn’t. It’s just that the women were so loud, in that way that gossiping biddies could be, and it was almost impossible to not overhear. She had just been minding her own, waiting on the butcher (or the farmer that acted as the village butcher, when you no longer lived in a busy metropolitan area like the Citadel that had an entire shop just for…butchering) to wrap up the chicken she’d been planning for dinner, when they came in behind her. She vaguely recognized them from around the village, but neither had yet sought out her services and she hadn’t had much opportunity to interact with either. She was pretty sure the one was married to the farmer who lived next to Kim.
But they’d been chattering away from the moment they opened the door, laughing over something or other, and Marinette had been the only other person inside while the butcher worked in the back. It had been difficult not to overhear, especially when their topic of conversation had been about snakes.
FIC: Dinners are for Company (MLB, Lukanette, Winters)
Characters/Pairings: Naga!Luka Couffaine, Witch!Marinette Dupain-Cheng; Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng
Rating: T / PG-13 / Teen
Summary: Marinette’s only known Luka a few days the first time she catches him hunting. She didn’t know what she was expecting the snakeman to eat, but watching Luka slurp down a raw fish like it was a noodle certainly wasn’t what she considered a satisfying meal…
Author’s Notes/Warnings: Set pretty much immediately after they met (like during that first week). I had this idea while I was working on Winter’s Fury, and I started writing bits then (when I needed a fluff break amidst all the Drama). When I finished, I thought it was close enough to done that it would be a nice, fluffy palate cleanser between WF and Princess Heartmaker that I could just…bang out real quick & get posted last Wednesday? And then somewhere all this extra STORY wiggled its way in, and now here we are. Enjoy these dorks and their awkward courting. 😂 (This is 100% inspired by that bit in the first Winters fic where Luka tells her his eggs were warm before he met her and she kindly reminds him they were raw.)
“Dinners are for Company”
Luka’s eyes were locked on the calm surface of the water, his focus on the fish swimming beneath. What fish he could see, at least.
The pickings today were slim at best.
He’d wanted fish, but it seemed all of the decent fish had sensed the naga’s appetite and had chosen to relocate for the day. He could easily find another patch of river to hunt in, of course, but…this was the clearing Marinette liked to visit. He’d been hoping to see her again today – but he’d also been hoping to catch his breakfast before she arrived.
…another minnow swam by, and Luka sighed as he slumped against the rocks. He was hungry, and now he was getting cranky. He reached down to dip his claws in the cool water, but he paused when a larger fish darted out from the rocks.
…well.
It wasn’t large, but it was something. Better than the minnows he’d spotted so far, at least.
(I spent way to long looking through hug gifs, and that's not what I was looking for, but awww lookit the cutie 🖤🖤🖤)
“500 words for 500 followers,” I said. “I mean it, you awful snake. Five…ok fine EIGHT hundred words I guess.” Dammit Winters!Lu why are you always Like This. 😝
(This is T/M at best, but putting it under a cut to be safe bc...y'know. Winters. 😂)
There was something on his back.
Or someone, he thought with a sleepy smile. Someone that hadn’t been there when he’d dozed off. Someone who had politely declined his invitation to join him on the rocks in favor of continuing to float in the water below. Not that he’d entirely minded, as he had finally managed to convince her that no one would dare disturb the Forest’s guardian and his mate while they were alone and removing her clothes was perfectly safe (she had grown more comfortable in her nudity around their home, but that was private – the river was not). He had certainly enjoyed the view as he’d drifted off, the sun warm on his back even as it warmed her perfect breasts and stomach.
Marinette wasn’t in the water now, though. At some point during his nap she had climbed up onto the rocks to join him. At some point, she had climbed onto him, and now instead of the bright, spring sun warming his back it was his mate. His mate, who was wrapped around him like a spider, clinging tightly to him in her sleep. Her cheek was pressed against the back of his shoulder, her breath warm on his neck and tickling the still-too=long hair he hadn’t quite gotten around to cutting yet.
“Love,” he murmured, shifting slightly to try and wake her. When all that did was make her hold him tighter, he flipped his tail back to draw the tip along her back. She shivered, but still pressed closer. “Marinette…”
She mumbled something he couldn’t quite catch, and he chuckled as he tipped his head back to bump against hers. This time she whined as she pressed her face into his back.
It wasn’t that he minded her where she was. He never minded Marinette – especially a naked Marinette. It’s just that he had been lying in the same position for quite a while now, and he would much rather be holding her where he could stretch his back instead of…being smooshed against the rock. He slipped his tail between them, winding it around her middle and giving a gentle tug. She grumbled again, her arms holding him even tighter. Her knees pressed into his sides when he tugged a bit more insistently.
“Stoooop,” she whined, bumping her forehead against his shoulder. “Comfy.”
“My back’ssss asssleep,” he whined right back, tugging her a little more. Beneath them, her hand pressed above his heart, her nails attempting to scratch at his skin.
“I’m asleep,” she grumbled.
“You’re talking too much for someone who’s ssssupposedly asleep,” he pointed out. He froze when her teeth grazed against his shoulder, lightly nipping him.
“I’m sleeping,” she mumbled firmly, kissing above the spot. He hissed softly, his tail tightening around her, and she giggled. “No. Bad snake. Nap time.”
He ignored her and gave another tug, this time hard enough to lift her, and she squeaked as he dropped her onto the rocks and rolled on top of her. Her eyes were wide and alert – much too alert for someone who had claimed to be sleeping – and her smile was wide. He dipped his head to hers, promptly kissing that smile off her face. His fangs grazed against her lower lip as he pulled away, and he smiled when he heard the flutter in her pulse.
“Do not ssstart ssssomething you do not intend to finishhh, little moussssse,” he hissed, grinning when she sucked in a breath. Her arms were around his neck before he could say anything else, pulling him back to her. He laughed into their kiss as her legs scrambled around his waist, her feet sliding against his scales as she tried to wrap herself around him again. She whimpered when he rocked into her, pushing her back against the rocks.
“Lu…Luka,” she gasped, her head falling back as he kissed down her neck. After another few mindless kisses, he nipped at her pulse before settling beside her, his tail curling to coil around her even as she held him tighter. She whined when he laid his head on her chest. “Luka!”
“You ssssaid it was nap time, love,” he said with a hissing laugh, pressing a kiss above her heart. She tried to push him back, but he held her tighter – as if he never wanted to let her go.
…he didn’t.
“Awful, horrible, tease of a snake,” she huffed, reaching up to tug at his hair. He glanced up at her, popping open an eye to find – despite her tone – she was smiling at him. He nuzzled his head back against her breasts, and she sighed as she kissed the top of his head. “My silly snake.”
“My little moussssse,” he murmured, already drifting off with the warm sun on his back and his warm mate in his arms.
Teeeechnically Pt2 of Winter Cleaning is done and could, in theory, be posted today. I could do that. I could totally do that.
...but we have Thanksgiving 'dinner' at work tomorrow, I'm already mentally Over It, and posting is hard, man.
(Have a preview instead. 🖤)
Luka rolled onto his side with a grumble. His arms were empty. There was no warm, comforting weight on his chest. He reached out blindly, his closed eyes scrunching when his groping hand met nothing, and grumbled again as he pressed his face into the pillow.
The nest was empty.
…he wasn’t used to nesting alone, not anymore. He didn’t like it. His tongue flicked out with a dissatisfied hiss, and he could smell his mate close by. Her scent was still strong on the pillows, letting him know it hadn’t been all that long since she’d been nestled beside him. He forced an eye open and noticed the cottage beyond the crack in the curtain wasn’t toobright yet, so it couldn’t have been toolate in the day. It was just enough to make him hope that Marinette had only temporarilyleft their nest and would soon be returning to him.
They had been up rather late the night before, after all. He’d thought he’d quite thoroughly exhausted her. She’d certainly exhausted him.
…he was eager to let her exhaust him again.
But a good five minutes had passed, and there was still no Marinette to hold. Ten, and still she had not returned. He couldn’t even hear her moving about in the main room. When he had laid there, Marinette-less, for nearly twenty minutes, he started to get grumpy.
He opened his eyes and pouted – no, he was a fully-grown naga, he did not pout. He glaredat the crack in the curtain. It did not move, except for when his tail twitched in irritation and hit the bottom. He didn’t want to get up, not yet. He wanted to stay in their nice, warm nest. He wanted his mate. Where was she?
“Marinette?” he called, his voice rough from sleep. There was no answer. He stilled and listened more intently, and a sudden crash and yelp had him darting from the nest. He burst through the curtain and looked around, worried for his (sometimes rather clumsy) mate, but the room was empty. “Marinette!”
“I’m ok!” came her muffled voice from the door that led to her little bathroom. His brow furrowed as he slithered closer. Had she been in there this entire time? “Sorry – did I wake you? You can go back to sleep, Luka!”
“No, I can’t,” he said, stopping outside the door. He laid a hand against the wood. “There’s no Marinette in our nesssst. How can I sssleep without my Moussssinette?”
He grinned when he heard a tiny, muffled squeak.
“You…you managed just fine all winter,” she huffed after a moment, and his chuckle was dark.
“That was winter,” he said, his voice low and teasing in a way he knew made her toes curl. “It is now sssspring.” He scratched at the door with a claw and pressed his forehead to the wood. “My needs have changed, Moussssinette.”
The answering thump was closer.
“…are you all right?” he asked, genuinely concerned. He couldn’t hear any water running, so he doubted she was in the shower. What exactly was she doing in there? Relieving oneself didn’t usually result in so much…thumping. Not in his experience, at least.
“Besides my mate trying to fluster me to death?” she snipped back, making him chuckle, even if it didn’t exactly answer any of his questions. “Grand.”
“Marinette…” he sighed, tapping on the door. “Are you coming back to bed ssssoon?”
“I’m busy, Luka,” she said. He frowned.
“…you’re in the bathroom,” he said. The door opened a crack – barely a sliver – and she peeked out at him. His eyebrows rose, an amused smile quirking his lips, when he saw how…disheveled she looked. There was even a smear of purplish powder on her cheek, and her hair was sticking up at odd angles. “Love. What are you up to in there?”
“It’s a surprise,” she said. She shooed him off. “Go back to sleep. Or, if you really are getting up for the day…” she gave him a Look as she trailed off, because even though his brumation was over he still wasn’t what one would consider a Morning Personand Marinette knew it, “…then go…be productive.”
One eyebrow rose higher than the other.
“Productive?” he laughed. She rolled her eyes and shooed him again.
“Just find something to do, will you?” she whined. He chuckled, low and full of dark promise, and reached out for her. She squeaked and started to close the door. She would have caught his fingers had he not jerked his hand back.
“Peacccce, love,” he said. He smiled and scratched a claw along the door. “That’sss exxxactly what I was trying to do, you know. Find sssomethingto do.”
“S-something that’s not me!” she squeaked, ducking her burning face. She peeked up at him with a half-hearted glare. “I mean…not now. I’m busy. With a surprise.” With every emphasized word, his grin grew. She rolled her eyes and attempted to close the door again. He leaned on it – not enough to open it, but just enough to keep it from closing. “For you, you silly snake. So shoo. Go find something to do, and when you’re done it should be ready.”
“Marinette…” he sighed. He glanced out the kitchen window, at the bright sunlight streaming through the curtains. “It’sss a beautiful day outsssside. Don’t you want to –?”
“No, I do not,” she said. A thought occurred to her, and she snapped her fingers. “Didn’t the centaurs need to speak with you about something? You could do that.”
If he had been grumpy before, he was outright crankyat that suggestion.
“…you really do want to get rid of me,” he sighed wearily. She giggled as she opened the door just enough to poke her head out and reach for him. He went to her willingly, hissing contentedly as she finally kissed him. A hand slipped through the gap in the door, finding her waist and attempting to pull her closer. A muffled protest squeaked against his lips, and she stepped back.
“Cheat,” she huffed, sticking her tongue out at him.
“Tease,” he retorted, his own tongue flicking at her. She blew him a kiss and winked.
“You love it,” she said.
“I love you,” he sighed. “You really won’t let me in?”
“No, I won’t,” she said. The look she gave him was anything but innocent, and paired with her giggle had his head tilting in curiosity. “Besides, you silly, incorrigible snake. You won’t fit.”
She was still giggling as she slammed the door in his face.
With a longsuffering, put-upon sigh, Luka turned from the bathroom door and set about preparing some breakfast. It was a long hike to the part of the Forest where the centaurs roamed, and the sooner he left the sooner he could come back.
He just hoped Marinette had finished her surprise by then.
