“There could definitely be worse things attracted to your magic,” Luke offered sagely, watching the wisps disappear in the air. The scent they’d left behind - along with the one from the shop itself - was pretty heady. Luke absolutely loved it and in all honesty he wasn’t about to leave in a hurry. Embarrassing moment aside, he was actually quite enjoying his time here. “They’re pretty cute.”
If he had been surprised that Miguel hadn’t moved away, he hid it well. He wasn’t the most tactile of people - he figured he would be if there wasn’t the risk of seeing someone’s life story by touching their coat or whatever - but the gentle shoulder bump from earlier had stuck in his head. His eyes dropped - chastising himself when he realised he was watching Mickey wet his lower lip - briefly before he looked up again and curled his lips up into a smile. “Ask your abuela,” he said, “you really don’t wanna be cursed by a member of the King family.”
He let his fingers be curled around the cube and then shrugged. “I don’t- I mean it’s not that I mind talking about it. Sometimes people get weird when they find out that you can’t hear.” Like people got weird when they found out that your magic was death-related. Man, he was such a catch. “Percy actually rescued me from mortal embarrassment at the store; my battery had run out so I couldn’t hear what the cashier was yelling at me.”
if anyone says anything about you is a dealbreaker, they're pieces of shit and you should swerve them motherfuckers like it's an Olympic sport.
Luke felt colour rise on his cheeks and he let out a half-laugh. “That’s the kind of harsh opinion I think I can take,” he responded, ignoring how his chest sort of tightened a little in response because that was a really nice thing for a veritable stranger - a handsome, elemental stranger, but a stranger nonetheless - to say.
He started to move, but paused, bumping Mickey’s shoulder again, just gently, in a silent thank you before he headed to the bowl and tossed the cube in. “Also, the tension is definitely not from today. That’ll be from crossing the fucking bridge to get back into town and having spent a year with my brother doing his job for him.” He turned his head away from Mickey to watch, curious to see what happened next.