16 October 2020

Prompt: Hand

Character/Pairing: Dingo King (OC), Inkki (OC), Luka Couffaine

Rating: T / PG-13 / Teen

Notes: A few years back, my bestie found this tentacle ring on Amazon or Etsy or somewhere that's just really freakin cool, ok? Anyway that's Dingo's Miraculous, and the suckers on the tentacle count as the timer.

Dingo doesn't like rings. He's not really a ring person, not like Luka.

Luka had only had the one, back when they first met. It was actually a hematite spinner ring that the Captain had gotten him when he had started exhibiting signs of anxiety, or at least that's what Luka's doctor had called it. His case had been relatively mild, though, especially compared to Juleka. The Captain got him the ring, and he took up meditation, and for the most part he was good.

He still had his moments, like when pompous no-talent hacks try to steal his not-girlfriend's hard work, but he's good. Dingo doesn't think anxiety when he thinks Luka, not like he does Jules. He thinks zen.

Other rings join it over time. Like the dark silver one that was spotted with cherry blossoms that he wears on his thumb. (He finds it at the street fair he takes Marinette to on their first date, and it reminds him of her, and he never takes it off again.) The three small ones that stack on his pinky and are held together by an anchor and rope (Couffaines: the Captain anchoring her kids). That one he picks up in Barcelona that lights up and is honestly an eyesore. (…there's no deeper meaning to that one. Luka just thinks it's cool.)

(Eventually, much later, there's a new ring that takes precedence over them all: the looping band he wears on his left ring finger, twisted from the strings of the guitar he'd first played Marinette's song on. He'd saved the strings, from sentimentality and superstition, and she'll use them to craft their wedding rings. But that's the future.)

But Dingo? Dingo doesn't do rings. They're clunky and bulky and honestly he doesn't know how Luka, who plays guitar and needs the mobility more than Dingo who just beats on drums does, can wear them. He thinks it's because Luka's always music, and the clinking of the metal is just another way to compose on the fly. Like Dolly Parton and her nails. Still. Dingo doesn't do rings.

Until he does.

You don't really get to choose what your Miraculous looks like, after all. When he found Inkki on that beach, clinging to his Miracle Box and screaming at Dingo to stay away, I mean it, he just saw a kwami and knew it needed help. He hadn't really expected to become Inkki's bearer, and he definitely hadn't expected to become a Guardian. He's shit at guarding anything. Still, when the little kwami held up the shiny gold ring, it's not like Dingo could say no.

That had been almost five months ago, Dingo thinks as his thumb traces over the dark silver tentacle curling around his finger. It looks so innocuous in its inert form – just like Luka's Miraculous just looks like a silver bangle. Or Marinette's could almost be mistaken for Luka's earrings. He supposes that's the point, in the end. To stay hidden. Out of sight and out of mind.

It's something when he's transformed, though. The base turns a pretty gold that glints in the sun, and the suckers become little sapphires. The Atlanteans definitely had something for style over their Parisian counterparts. He has to give them that.

"You ready?"

He jumps at Luka's voice, and he laughs a little maniacally as he catches the helmet his mate tosses him. Luka's eyes linger on the new ring – because Luka knows it's weird, too, but Luka hasn't dogged on to him yet, at least not that he knows of – but he says nothing as he puts his own helmet on. Dingo had told him it was a souvenir, when he got home. Something he had found in a little seaside shop that made him think of home. He's still not entirely sure Luka believes him, especially after an octopus-themed superhero showed up two nights later.

It's just coincidence. And Luka hasn't asked. So Dingo hasn't said.

Ladybug had always been big on secret identities, anyway. He figures the least he can do is respect that.

"So what's Jagged want, anyway?" Dingo asks as they walk out the door to their building. Luka opens his mouth to answer, but there's an explosion and a scream a short distance away, and they both look up to see smoke rising behind the buildings across from them. Luka's eyes narrow, his grip tightening on his helmet. He knows what he's going to say before he even opens his mouth.

"Get back inside," Luka orders, shoving his helmet at him. Dingo tries not to roll his eyes.

"Where are you going?!" he calls. Luka's already running down the street – towards the blast.

"To make sure Mari's ok!" he shouts back, but then he's ducking into an alley and disappearing. Inkki peeks out from Dingo's collar.

"He's a terrible liar," the little octopus says, and Dingo snickers as he floats up by his head. Marinette's been able to protect herself for years, but this new Hawkmoth is stronger than Gabriel Agreste ever was. Luka's been more tense with every new akuma – he's had to replace his spinner ring twice already. Neither mention the nightmares that wake him up screaming at least once a week, if he's lucky. "Should we join him?"

"Almost seems wrong to let him have all the fun," Dingo quips. He glances at Inkki and grins. "Besides, I'm not a very good Octopus if I don't Dive Deep!"

A flash of golden light erupts from his new ring, and a moment later Ininko Montoya is running towards the explosions.