The Wolves in the Woods

Listen Close to Me

Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.

— Shel Silverstein

***

Luka and Marinette muse over the situation they've found themselves in.

***

            Tweet tweet tweet whistle

Luka's eyelids fluttered, and a groan escaped his throat. He tossed and turned on a soft surface, encompassed in complete and total darkness, until he was flat on his back. His body felt sore all over. Joints cracked, limbs were stiff, and there were heavy eyelids. A draft tickled his nose, sharply nudging him to the waking realm bit by bit. Of course, with how Luka felt like a lead weight, it didn't do much good.

Poke

Luka groaned again.

Poke

Luka absently swatted whatever was poking him.

PECK

"Ow!"

Flap flap!

Luka catapulted into a sitting position, mumbling "I'm awake." Inch by inch, his eyes pried open to welcome the sight of a familiar room. Namely, the room the Dupain-Chengs were letting him use during his stay here. His vision blurred in and out. A yawn escaped his mouth. Absently, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, vaguely aware of a small weight on his leg. Weird...

Siiiing~

"... huh."

The blurriness of his vision cleared, and his eyes trailed down. He blinked. Once. Twice. Yawned again. Laid back down. The little thing sang again, and he sat back up. Eyes wide like the dinner plates in the cabinet and locked onto the black bird perched rather cozily on his knee.

Tweet!

The small bird tilted its head left and right, studying him with immense interest. It bowed. It stood. It flapped its wings, the air brushing back Luka's bangs. It tucked its wings back in, returning to its observation of the teenager sitting in the bed. Now that he had a better look, this bird had some rather pretty plumage. Black as night, but so silky to the touch. It whistled again, singing its little song.

"Where did you come from..." Luka asked, cupping his hands together to hold the bird. The bird chirped, hopping straight in as if it was expecting him to hold it. Chuckling, Luka brought the bird up to his face.

"Pretty thing, aren't you," he added, adjusting his hands so the bird sat in one instead of both. With his free hand, he stroked the bird's head with a finger. The bird closed its eyes, enjoying the impromptu massage it was getting from the human. It chirped. Content. It even rubbed its head against his hand. Almost as if it wanted his attention. Luka chuckled again, resuming the petting. Did someone's bird fly away by mistake? That was the only explanation he could think of for this one not fleeing the minute he woke up.

Knock knock knock

"Come in," Luka called. The doorknob jiggled and the door swung open. In stepped a familiar black-haired girl carrying a tray with food that smelled divine. Luka could feel his mouth watering the moment the aroma reached his nose. Though there was also a pang of guilt after what happened when he came back. Nonetheless, he pushed that to the back of his mind once Marinette set the tray down.