Title: "Ruined"

Author: Veritas Found

Rating: T / PG-13 / Teen

Characters/Pairings: Jagged Stone, Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng; Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Summary: Luka comes home from a run to find his father has commandeered the apartment, effectively ruining the night's plans with his wife.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author's Notes/Warnings: Written for the 11/24-12/1/21 LBSC Sprint Challenge, using the prompt: "Too Much Family/Need a break/Hiding in the closet with the wine". See. What I SHOULD be doing here is finishing up one of the other oneshots (like the Sexiest Man Alive one), but I wanted a quick palate cleanser before I jump into editing Checkbox, and sprint fics are just so great for that, right? xD

Just a reminder: LBSC Sprint Challenge Guidelines: Three 15-minute sprints to write the fic. 24 hours to edit/post. (Come say hi! Join us in the challenge! It's a great group full of cheerleading and spitballing and zaniness!)

"Ruined"

Luka stood frozen in the hallway outside his flat, his hand hovering with the key just outside the lock. He had just finished up his nightly run, and he had been looking forward to coming home to a nice, hot shower and a nice, hot dinner with his nice, hot wife. Just a peaceful meal in before they headed down to what was possibly the last record shop in Paris for the twentieth anniversary party of Jagged Stone's Family's Like a Stone album.

It was one of his best sellers, and one of Luka's favorites. Luka could still remember waiting outside that same record shop with his ma the night of the release, eager to get his young hands on the next big album from rock's current biggest name. Even if hindsight had slightly tainted the album itself (it was a little hard to swallow a Fuck Family album once you knew you were part of the family getting flipped off), it was still an amazing collection of music that had been crucial to his formative years as an artist, and when the record shop he used to loiter at as a kid had announced the twentieth anniversary event he'd immediately cleared his schedule.

And he hadn't been expecting to see Jagged there, either. He hadn't wanted to – they'd never actually discussed the album, even after years of working together. It had always seemed safer that way. He hadn't been expecting to see Jagged at all today, actually. They were in between tours, and there was some technical hold-up on the new record, so technically Luka was in the middle of a few days off. Even if it was his anniversary party, Jagged probably didn't know about the little hole-in-the-wall record shop Anarka used to work weekends at. He had his own anniversary shindig at Rolling Stone Records (because he had bought out the album's rights years ago, refusing to leave any of his catalogue in the hands of Bob Roth).

It was supposed to be a fun, peaceful night of Jagged Stone's music without…y'know…having to put up with Jagged Stone himself.

So why could Luka hear his somewhat-estranged father screaming through his apartment door?

He took a deep, steadying breath. He counted to ten. And he opened the door.

"LUKA!" Jagged hollered the second he was inside, waving a half-empty bottle of wine at him from the couch. Tom and Anarka were on either side of him, both obviously drunk and arguing over something on the coffee table – it looked like a deck of cards? Anarka was accusing Tom of cheating. "About time, kid!"

Luka toed off his running shoes, kicking them over by the door to deal with later, and gave the rocker a wary wave. A quick scan of the apartment found Penny by the window, her phone pressed to one ear and a finger in the other as she had an angry, hushed conversation. When he passed the kitchen, he saw Juleka, Rose, and Sabine inside. Juleka and Rose were both sipping on their own wine glasses, but it looked like Sabine was…cooking? Juleka waved when she saw him, and when his head tipped towards the living room she rolled her eyes and pretended to hang herself.

So it hadn't been an expected party, then.

"Uh…hey, Jagged," he said, because calling him dad was still weird, even now. "What are you doing here?"

"Luka! I am hurt!" he sniffed, rubbing at his eyes. "Aren't you glad to see your old man?"

"Always," Luka said, lingering by the kitchen. Juleka had tucked her head against Rose's shoulder, snickering. "I just wasn't expecting you tonight. Any of you. Where's Marinette?"

"…oi. Where is Marinette? She was supposed to be back with that wine hours ago!" Jagged whined. Luka's eyebrows rose – he'd only been on his run for maybe forty-five minutes, and Marinette had definitely been at home working on dinner when he'd left. Juleka coughed to catch his attention, and she nodded towards the hall and mouthed bedroom.

"I'm…gonna go change," Luka said, nodding back at her. "And then someone needs to tell me what the hell is going on."

There was a grumble of assent from the couch, and Sabine waved him off with a it's fine dear I've got this, and then Luka was making a beeline for their bedroom – which was…dark. And empty. He checked the ensuite first, because the door was cracked and some light was spilling out over the bed, but that was empty, too.

"…Marinette?" he called quietly. The room was silent, but then there was a small thump and a giggle from…the closet? He frowned and walked over to the noise, but when he slid the door open he didn't immediately see anything. And then there was another giggle, and he looked down, and there was Marinette, tucked into the back corner with her own bottle of wine (that he was horrified to see was nearly empty – he sincerely hoped that was because someone had been helping her drink it) with her finger pressed to her lips as she simultaneously giggled and tried to shush him. "Mari?"

"S-sh-shhhhh," she giggled, and then she was grabbing his shirt and tugging him towards her. "M'hiding."

"I can see that," he chuckled, kneeling beside her. He pushed some of the dresses hanging above her aside and smiled. Her face was flushed and her eyes were glassy. "Darning. I've only been gone forty-five minutes. How are you this drunk already?"

"I'm not drunk," she said, shaking her head a little too enthusiastically for him to believe her. He chuckled as he brushed her bangs back, leaning forward to kiss her forehead. She felt warm. "I'm hiding."

"Why are you hiding?" he asked. She grumbled and took another swig from the bottle. He eased it out of her fingers when she was done, concerned. She was such a lightweight, and there was barely a sip left. "Marinette, please tell me you didn't drink all of this yourself."

"Ro…Ro helped," she giggled, and then she was saying 'Roro' over and over, giggling all the while. She tipped her head back against the wall and held up a finger. "She had one. Julie had one, too. And shots! Cap brought shots!"

"Marinette," he sighed, laughing a little helplessly. They were supposed to leave in an hour, but as it stood she wouldn't be able to walk straight without breaking something. "What the hell happened?"

"Well," she said, with all the certainty of someone who'd had entirely too much wine in entirely too short a time, "ya see, Jagged showed up. With Penny. And your ma. And then he was calling Julsie and Roro, and then my parents showed up? Why are my parents here – oh my God, Lu, my parents are here."

She'd turned to him with wide, glassy eyes, her fingers lodged in his shirt as she tugged him close.

"I'm drunk, Lu," she gasped.

"I think your mom knows," he said, patting her head comfortingly. "It's ok. Your dad's drunk, too."

"Oh," she said, blinking. She shrugged and reached for the bottle again, but he caught her hand and squeezed before she could grab it. "That's ok, then. Jagged was drunk, too."

"He still is," Luka said.

"He didn't want to go to the party," she said, looking back at him. "Family's Like a Stone is a shit album, he said. Family's the best! So he said he had to be with his family to celebrate the album that said fuck family and he ruined our night, Luka!"

Luka pressed his lips together, more to keep from laughing than anything else, and nodded. It made sense, he supposed. Jagged had been getting more…sentimental in his old age. The closer he got to his formerly estranged family, the more his negative opinions on family seemed to change. It didn't surprise Luka at all that the rock giant maybe wasn't as proud of that album as he once was.

"It's not the first time, darning," he sighed, kissing her forehead again. She whined and scooted closer to him, cuddling into his chest. "It's not the first night he's ruined, and I'm sure it won't be the last."

"We had plans." she pouted. "It's rude to ruin plans. I planned those."

"I know, darning," he chuckled, kissing her forehead again. "You're a very good planner."

"I know!" she huffed. "I'm so good!"

"Can we get you out of the closet now?" he chuckled, rubbing her back. She groaned and pressed her face against his shoulder.

"No," she said. "Too many people out there. It was supposed to be a nice, quiet night with my husband. Not my husband and…and…others."

"They're our family," he laughed. "You love those others."

"I'll love them more when they leave," she huffed. He stood and held out his hands, helping her up and catching her when her legs tried to give out on her.

"Why don't you stay in here and sleep this off?" he asked, rubbing her back.

"But –" she started, and he shook his head as he kissed her forehead.

"I don't think we're going to make it now anyway," he said, "so you're going to sleep, I'm going to get a quick shower, and then I'm going to try to get everyone to leave."

"Ruined," she huffed as he guided her back to their bed. He took her shoes off, kissing her knee before he tossed them in the corner.

"Not ruined, Marinette," he said, standing and kissing her before he gently pushed her back onto the bed. She grabbed his pillow and cuddled it, pushing her face into the fluff and breathing deeply. "Just altered."

"Stay?" she sighed, reaching for him. He kissed her palm before stepping back from the bed.

"You really don't want me to," he said, shucking his shirt and tossing it towards the hamper. If she was sober, she'd be yelling at him for all the clothes he was leaving everywhere. As it was, her eyes just raked over his bare back with a lazy grin. "I'm gross."

"I like gross," she chirped, and he snorted as he sent his pants after the shirt. She hummed in appreciation, ogling him like he was her favorite treat. He looked over his shoulder at her, smiling, as she dropped her head back on the pillows. "Love gross."

That was a lie – she always made him shower after a run before she'd even think of kissing him. Something about man stink and gym socks.

"Let me get rid of the family first," he chuckled, but he paused by the bed to give her one last kiss before heading towards the ensuite. "Then I'm all yours, darning."

…she was snoring when he got out less than ten minutes later.