11 October 2020

Prompt: Craft

Character/Pairing: Dingo King (OC), Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Manon Chamack, Luka Couffaine; Lukanette

Rating: T / PG-13 / Teen

Notes: Dingo was totally the kid who ate enough glue to poop an ornament, and if you don't believe me I haven't been doing my job right.

"Baby girl," Dingo says, sighs, clamping his hands on Marinette's shoulders and giving her his most winning smile. She still watches him with a fair degree of uncertainty and distrust, which…fair. "I've got this."

"But she's…" Marinette tries to say, and Dingo scoffs before waving her off.

"A kid," he says. "How hard can it be? You do this all the time."

Except Marinette is responsible. Marinette has been more of a grown-up her entire life than Dingo's ever been, even at eighteen. Marinette would quite easily have this. Dingo, at best, will be winging it.

It's not like he hasn't winged things before.

"Go," he said, stepping back to stand by Manon. He reaches down to ruffle her hair, loosening her pigtails a little, and the Chamack girl reaches up to bat his hand away. "We'll be fine. Do some arts and crafts or something – easy stuff."

Marinette looks terrified of that idea, and he wonders if it's the thought of him with scissors or glue that scares her more.

"Or we can just watch some telly!" Dingo laughs, and she seems more ok with that idea. Manon doesn't look impressed, but he winks at her when Marinette turns to grab her purse. He nudges her towards the door – pushes her out into the hall, really. "Now go, Mari. We'll be fine. We've got this. Lulu needs you more than Manon does."

…which is only half true. Luka had known Marinette was supposed to babysit, and he had been adamant that he'd be fine, but Dingo knew Marinette would kill both of them if no one told her. It was easier to leave Luka with Bri at the hospital than end up in traction next to him.

"But –" Marinette starts, and Dingo shoves her out the door and slams it in her face.

"GO!" he hollers. "I've got this!"

Manon giggles behind him, and he spins on his heel to grin at her, slapping his hands on his knees as he bends over.

"Right! So, you've got Uncle Dingo for the afternoon!" he crows. Manon's face twists in annoyance.

"You're not my uncle," she says, her voice a little too curt and snippety for a kid her age. He frowns.

"Well, yeah," he says. "What'cha call Mari, then?"

"Marinette's just Marinette," Manon scoffs. She's still frowning, and for the first time since Dingo rolled in to tell Marinette about Luka's biking accident he felt a sense of unease. "You're stupid."

…well, mean. True, but mean. How old was this kid, anyway? Five? Ten? Two?

"Ooook," Dingo says, nodding. "Well. What'cha wanna do then, Manon?"

"Marinette was gonna take me to the park," Manon says. Her grin turns a little wicked, and Dingo wonders if maybe he should've just told Marinette to take Manon to the hospital with her. That grin is one of his grins, and it's terrifying seeing it on someone so young and not him. "We were gonna get ice cream and –"

"Yeah, nah," Dingo says, and he shoves her towards the steps to Marinette's room. "Arts and crafts it is! You know where Mari keeps her crafting shit, right?"

Manon gasps like he's just committed cold-blooded murder in front of her, and it takes him a moment to backtrack. Realize what he's said, how young she probably is (he's not sure…six?), and that Marinette and Mme. Chamack will probably wring his neck when Manon tells them he said shit in front of her young, impressionable ears.

"…fuck," he groans, and she gasps again.

It's going to be a long-ass day.

– V –

It's actually not that bad a day, in the end. Well. It's been a bad day for Luka, but he heals quick and will get over it. It's just a broken leg. He's walked off worse.

But Dingo and Manon, after the initial period of How Much Can I Get Away With You Have No Rules I Can Get Away With A Lot Huh, actually got on pretty well. After so many years of babysitting, Manon knew exactly where Marinette's crafting supplies – at least the ones she was allowed to use – were, along with a host of other goodies Marinette probably didn't want Dingo knowing about.

(The chest by her window wasn't just scrap fabric like he'd thought: there's a steadily growing collection of gifts inside, which Manon informs him are all for Luka. There's at least three years' worth of birthday, Christmas, and anniversary gifts in there, and that makes Dingo giggle a little too much like Manon for anyone's comfort.)

So when Marinette and Luka return from the hospital (because the Captain's out of town for the week, Juleka's staying with Rose's family, and Marinette refuses to leave Luka alone with a broken leg), Dingo and Manon are set up at the kitchen table with paper of various hues, scissors, glitter, glue, beads, sequins, markers, and popsicle sticks scattered around them. There's even a bag of yarn (the cheap stuff she keeps around for Manon, not the good stuff she'd lynch him for using), and Dingo had been showing Manon how to wind it around a popsicle stick frame to weave an Ojos de Dios.

…well.

That's what he had been doing just before they'd walked (and limped) through the door.

What's happening when they actually get home is Manon is weaving some pink yarn around the frame. Dingo has his head tipped back, and Manon is squealing as he dangles a cotton swab full of glue over his tongue. Marinette shrieks, and Dingo actually chokes a little on the glue he hadn't really been intending on putting in his mouth (he hasn't eaten glue since he was ten). Luka just sighs and leans a bit more heavily on his crutches.

"Ding…" he groans. "Please tell me what I'm seeing is the painkillers and not you being an actual, for real idiot."