Today's Story is by MalcomReynolds.

Author's Note: MR here. This was supposed to be a 6 sentence story. Oops, my fingers slipped? And I promise it lacks the subtle level of angst of some of my previous stories of the past weeks.

Ep: I'm rubbing off on you, Six sentences to six pages. Well done.

Lyra: Definitely Ep's loquacious influence. And beautiful.


Luka had been surprised when Marinette asked him to teach her how to dance, but he had readily agreed. He'd taken ballroom dancing one summer with Juleka, about four years ago, and he had enjoyed it as a way to express himself through music, even if he wasn't the one to be making the music.

She smiled up at him as he explained the basic steps to her, and showed her a video on his phone, smiling to himself as she leaned close to see. When he heard her muttering the basic steps to herself as she watched, Luka deemed her ready. He queued up some music and set it playing. Marinette watched him nervously, but slid her hand into his, and rested her other on his shoulder, as he grasped her waist.

They twirled together around the deck, Marinette clinging to him, and desperately trying to watch her feet, although he repeatedly instructed her not to. He was eventually able to distract her by asking her questions, mostly about her art, getting her to relax in his arms, and follow his lead without thinking.

Once she was comfortable with the basics, he asked why she wanted to learn. She stiffened in his arms, losing the relaxed posture she had moments ago, and messing up her steps. She took a few moments to sink back into the rhythm of the music, although she had lost the flow that they had together.

"Well, um, you know how there's the Valentine's dance at the Grand Paris Hotel coming up?" She stammered, her face turning red. "Well, there's this guy I wanted to ask, but he's a really good dancer, and I didn't want to embarrass him on the dance floor." She paused and blushed harder, her mumbled words rivalling his sister's. "Not that I've asked him yet. He'll probably say no, though."

Luka's heart sank. He'd known that Marinette had a thing for Adrien when he met her, but recently it had seemed that she'd been working on getting over him. Of course, there had been a part of Luka that hoped Marinette would see him once her crush on Adrien faded, but apparently there was someone else. His smile slipped a little, but he knew that how Marinette felt was her choice, and he had no claim on her.

"He'd be crazy not to go with you, Marinette. And if he does turn out to be crazy, you should still go, and have fun with your friends. You can show off your dance moves to them."

Marinette had an internal conversation with herself. Luka watched as she rehearsed what she wanted to say in her head, giving her the time to work on whatever she was thinking. What came out was, "Are you crazy?"

When she realized what she'd said, her eyes grew huge, and she shook her head, rapidly. Their feet had stopped moving, but she hadn't let go of his hand, and he squeezed it encouragingly, as her face grew warmer.

"I mean, Luka, do you want to go to the Valentine's Dance with me? I know that big fancy parties aren't really your thing, so it's alright if you say no, but I was hoping you'd say yes." She trailed off, her eyes on his face.

He let out a breath he didn't know that he'd been holding, and when he smiled, it was as blinding as the sun on the water. "Of course I will, Marinette. I would be honored to go with you."

Marinette's smile was incandescent as she relaxed again in his arms, slipping her hand from his, in order to wrap both arms around his neck. He placed his now free hand at her waist and with a very light pressure encouraged her closer. She happily snuggled into him, her head on his shoulder. He could hear the smile in her voice when she said, "I'm so glad. I already started my dress, and I picked the color to match your hair."

He pulled back and stared at her, at a complete loss for words. Marinette turned pink under his gaze, and Luka just made an inarticulate noise and tucked her back into him. She made a happy little humming sound, and rested her head against his shoulder. Their feet started moving again, not even realizing that there was no music playing, wrapped up in each other.

The day of the dance drew closer. Marinette had finished her dress, refusing to show it to Luka, and started tailoring the suit she had no idea he owned. She made him a waistcoat with excess material from her dress, so that he matched perfectly, telling him to not worry about a tie, and go for an open-collar look, instead.

Two days before the dance Luka stopped by Marinette's house for a final fitting, and to take home his suit. He stood in her bedroom, wearing his tailored suit, watching Marinette as she flitted around him, tugging and straightening the material. When she was standing in front of him, fussing with his collar, he caught her hands, gently tugging her into him.

Although they'd been spending more time together over the past few weeks, they had yet to put any kind of name on what was between the two of them, the attraction obvious, but neither actually making a move. Luka decided it was time to change that, as he pulled Marinette towards him, slowly lowering his mouth towards hers, giving her every opportunity to back away. Instead, she moved to meet him, teeth bumping a little clumsily, but what the kiss lacked in grace, it made up in enthusiasm.

What he'd intended to be a gentle kiss, ended up searing into Luka's soul. He dropped Marinette's hands as his slid down to grip her hips, while her hands ran up his chest and behind his neck, fingers tangling in his hair. They broke apart when air became necessary, breathing heavily, but not moving apart, foreheads touching, eyes still closed.

"Wow." Breathed Luka, as his heart slowed its wild gallop in his chest.

"Yeah." Replied Marinette, her fingers still carding through his hair, making him shiver against her. "Can we do that again?"

Luka's eyes popped open at the question, meeting the still shy eyes that were looking back at him. He didn't answer, simply lowering his mouth back to hers.

The next few days were busy, and Luka hadn't seen Marinette, so he was feeling a little nervous when he showed up to pick her up for the dance that evening. Juleka told him that he was being ridiculous, that the past two days in school, Marinette had been living in a happy bubble, absolutely nothing was bringing her down. Juleka had even caught her humming one of the new songs that Luka was working on. When Nino complimented the tune, and asked where it was from, she'd merely blushed and smiled.

Sabine welcomed Luka into their living room, and they chatted for a few minutes until Marinette's bedroom door opened. As she carefully descended the stairs, Luka stood, and couldn't help being drawn towards her. His mouth felt dry, and he could only repeat his words of a few days before, "Wow."

Her dress, the hem of which swirled just below her knees, was blue, the same shade as his hair, had black embroidery swirling across it. She wore low-slung black heels, and her muscular arms were bare. The dress itself was fitted through the waist, flaring out around her hips and thighs, billowing slightly when she spun, showing off the back that had been laced up with a black satin ribbon. His hand shot out to her waist to steady her as she over-rotated on her spin, and she smiled up at him.

"You look amazing."

He finally found his voice. "That's supposed to be my line. You are gorgeous. And I only look this good, because I had an amazing designer!"

She swayed into his touch, but then realized that her parents were right there watching, so straightened up again. Luka stepped back, and held her coat up for her to slip on. After Tom took the obligatory pictures, they headed out into the evening. The air was mild, and the two had opted to walk the few blocks to the Grand Paris, where the dance was being held. Marinette tucked her hand into the crook of Luka's elbow, leaning into him slightly as they walked, chatting about everything and nothing, and were approaching the hotel before they realized.

Luka paused in the shadow of an adjacent building and turned to Marinette. "Can I kiss you? Before we go in."

Marinette grinned up at him, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "Maybe. Are we going to be able to stop, and actually go in?"

Chuckling, Luka nodded. "I promise. And I'll keep my hands out of your hair. You're just so beautiful."

Blushing, Marinette wound her arms around his neck, fighting the impulse to play with the carefully styled hair at the base of his neck. The kiss they shared was tender and sweet and over sooner than either of them wanted. One more soft meeting of lips, and they pulled away from each other, soft smiles breaking across both of their faces. Marinette slipped her arm back through Luka's and they crossed the street to the entrance of the hotel.

As they walked through the lobby of the hotel, Luka offered to take their coats to the coat check, telling her to go ahead into the ballroom, that he would meet her inside. Guessing that he probably needed a moment to catch his breath, Marinette agreed. Two steps inside the room, she heard her name, and turning, she saw Alya striding towards her. Her friend must have been keeping an eye out, Marinette thought, otherwise there was no way she would find her in the seething mass of noise and humanity that was a party full of Parisian teens.

Alya hugged her, then forced her to spin, admiring her dress, before grabbing her wrist to tow her towards the group of their friends. Marinette resisted, saying that she needed to wait for Luka, he'd be right in. While Alya suspected he might be the reason for her best friend's smiles of late, she'd not been successful in getting any details out of Marinette.

She saw the expression on her friend's face change, soften, and light from within, and Alya turned to see Luka walking towards them, a similarly smitten expression on his face. He was beside them in a few strides, and while he gave Alya a perfectly pleasant greeting, it was obvious that he only had eyes for Marinette. Alya smirked when she saw his arm settle around her friend, his thumb tracing circles on her bare shoulder, and Marinette's arm slipped around his waist like it was something she'd done for years.

Leaning over, Alya whispered to Marinette. "Girl, you've been holding out on me. I'll let it go for tonight, but then you're gonna have to spill."

Marinette had the grace to blush, but smirked at her friend, and whispered back, primly, "A lady doesn't kiss and tell."

As Marinette knew it would, Alya's jaw dropped open, and almost on cue, Luka pressed a soft kiss to her temple. The look Alya shot her promised that she would be over much earlier than Marinette would like in the morning to wring the details out of her… 'lady' or not.

The press of the crowd was such that Marinette ended up slipping her arm from around Luka and placing her hand in his, conscious of the fact that Alya was tugging her along by the other wrist to go hang out with their other friends. They'd gathered in a relatively unbuffeted alcove, and greeted the two newcomers with smiles and waves.

They chatted with Marinette's friends for a while, and then Luka spotted some of his friends, so they drifted over to them. Soon the more adventurous amongst them left the safety of their groups to head out onto the dance floor. Marinette and Luka were content to hang back for a while with Luka's best friend and his date, enjoying each other's company, when one of the songs that they'd practiced dancing to came on.

Luka nudged Marinette who smiled sweetly up at him. "I guess it's time to see if I remember anything you taught me."

Leading the way out onto the dance floor, Luka tucked her hand into his as he turned to face her. Obediently she rested her free hand at the nape of his neck, fingers already playing with the hair there. His hand was warm at her waist, his fingers curling around towards the small of her back, and she pulled their linked hands in close. She didn't rest her head against him, prefering to look up into his eyes, which, once caught, never wavered from hers.

The dance floor slipped away, and the rest of the crowd disappeared. It was just the two of them and the music. Marinette didn't even think about looking at her feet, moving effortlessly in sync with Luka, hypnotized by the ocean of blue she saw in his eyes. She wasn't sure who moved first, whether he dropped her hand to pull her closer, or she dropped his to cup his cheek, but before either of them realized it, their lips were pressed together, eyes sliding closed, and the outside world crashing them back to reality in the form of cheers from their friends.

They broke the kiss, Marinette burying her red face in Luka's chest, his own face flushing as well. He tightened his arms around her, just holding her close, as they continued to sway to the music. He lowered his head so that he could murmur in her ear, asking if she was alright. She pulled back and nodded, her eyes twinkling, going up on her toes so she could speak into his ear. "Well, I guess you're going to have to take me out on a date, now."

He laughed. They'd talked about going out on the walk over, but hadn't made any concrete plans. "On one condition." She quirked a brow at him, and he couldn't hold back his grin. "Only if you'll be my girlfriend."

She kissed him again, this time on the cheek. "Well, now that you've ruined my reputation in front of all these people, I have no choice." The way she smiled at him, though, told how little she minded that fact.

Still laughing, and holding her a little closer, they made their way over to one of the tables where Alya and Nino were sitting. The boys offered to go grab a couple of bottles of water, and when they left, Alya turned to Marinette, smiling widely. "I'll be over very early in the morning for those details."

Marinette was still laughing when the boys returned, and Luka slid her hand back into his.