08 October 2020

Prompt: Festival

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

Rating: K Plus / PG / Most Ages

Notes: Sing it with me: "YOU KNOW I LOVE UNICORNS!"

Dingo isn't mad. He's…hurt, a little. Put-out. Disappointed. And all of it just enough to be, as always, annoying.

"But why?" he insists, tapping his foot against the amp he's sitting on, It's not a nervous gesture, and it's not from agitation. If anything it's an excess of energy, a constant need to be in motion and not stand still. Luka doesn't read anything into the toe-tapping because there's nothing to read: it's just how Dingo is. Dingo and still don't really get along all that well. "I always play the Festival with you."

"And this year you're gonna have to play on your own," Luka says, shrugging as he moves aside the Captain's old bodhrán. Dingo reaches for it automatically – Dingo loves all drums, and that one had become a particular favorite when he'd first discovered it in the Liberty's stores – and Luka hands it over without a second thought. A steady, rapid tapping immediately fills the space between them. "It's nothing personal, Ding."

"Feels personal," he huffs, and Luka tries not to roll his eyes.

"It really isn't," he says. He pushes himself away from the crate and sighs, puffing out his cheeks as he looks around the mess. He would have sworn the extra cables were back there… "It's just Jules's thing. I told her I'd help, so I'm helping."

"But what about our band?" Dingo whines, and Luka laughs.

"We don't have a band," he says. Dingo stops playing long enough to gasp indignantly.

"Oi, rude! We so do! We…we're…ah…" he trails off uselessly, and Luka shoves at him.

"See? No band," he says. "We just play."

"Which is the first step to forming a band!" Dingo says, and Luka fails at not rolling his eyes that time. He sits back on the deck and turns towards his friend.

"Look, this is important to Jules, ok?" he sighs, picking at the rips in his jeans. Dingo looks unimpressed. "It's important to Rose, so it's important to Jules. And…it's actually been kinda fun. Ivan's a pretty cool guy. I mean…I don't expect to revolutionize the industry singing about unicorns, but Rose knows what she likes and writes a pretty kickass song. You gotta respect her for that."

"She wants to call the band Kitty Section," Dingo deadpans, and Luka laughs.

"It's great, right?" he asks, and Dingo taps the bodhrán a bit sharper. Luka picks at his jeans again. "As first bands go, they could do worse."

"Kitty Section is gonna kick ass and you know it," Dingo scoffs. "I dunno about Ivan and Rose, but they got you and Jules, so you're bound to be good."

"Will you come, at least?" Luka asks, lifting an eyebrow. "Even if Ivan's on drums and Jules doesn't want you playing with us?"

"If I can," he says. "I dunno. I may see if anyone else is doing anything. I'd rather play the festival, not observe."

"I love Jules and her friends," Luka said, "but I'd like to have at least one of my own friends around."

"Shoulda thought of that before you joined a band without me," Dingo sniffs, and the beat he taps out is sardonic and mocking. "Traitor. And collège kids, too. Ugh."

Luka just rolls his eyes. Whatever Dingo thinks, he has a good feeling about the music festival – about Kitty Section – this year.

– V –

When Marinette Dupain-Cheng stumbles into his cabin, stuttering about mamas and grooves, Luka's suddenly very glad Dingo found another group at school to play with.

…it's easy enough to make an ass of himself around her, he realizes too quickly when her smile vanishes at his gentle teasing. He doesn't need Dingo King around to do it for him.

– V –

The Monday after the Music Festival, Luka walks into their homeroom with his fingers tapping anxiously against his thighs, a barely-composed melody humming under his breath. He sits at his desk beside Dingo and pulls out a crumpled-up paper, and Dingo's eyebrows soar over his shades as he scans the scrawling, scribbled, crossed-out notes and staffs filling the page. Words like sincere and extraordinary and Ma-Ma-Marinette are scribbled around the music, and it doesn't take long for Dingo to realize he missed something big on Saturday.

Bigger than the Captain getting akumatized and terrorizing Paris, and probably why his mate hadn't answered his phone at all the previous day.

"What's that?" he asks, grinning as he props his chin on his folded arms. Luka pretends not to notice him, or maybe he honestly doesn't, and Dingo kicks his leg under the table. "Oi. What's that?"

The staff Luka was scrawling goes jagged, and Luka's lips purse in annoyance. Maybe not annoyance. It's that look he gets when he's puzzling out a particularly difficult tune, like maybe he's on the verge of a breakthrough but…

"…but it fits," he mutters to himself, making Dingo's grin widen. "She's…there's…hesitance? Uncertainty? Maybe…"

"Lu," Dingo calls again, snapping his fingers in front of his face. Luka jumps, and Dingo snickers. "She?"

"What?" he asks, and Dingo's smile turns wicked.

"Oh-ho-ho," he sneers, though not unkindly, "She?"

Luka glares at him, weakly, but it disappears when he looks back at his paper. His smile softens, and Dingo's eyes widen as he doodles a heart by the ma-ma note.

He has no idea who Ma-Ma-Marinette is, but he can tell Luka has it bad.

…he can't wait to meet her.