Chapter 20

-Marinette-

With a croissant in hand, she hurried off down the street, making sure Tiki was in her bag with a couple cookies in case she was out late. She nearly sprinted down the streets as she reached the Seine, looking up and down for the Liberty. She snatched another bite as she spotted it a few hundred yards away. Marinette slowed to a walk and caught her breath as she walked up the gangplank and waved hi to everyone. She was actually one of the first to arrive. She spotted Alya next to Nino talking to Ivan and Mylene. They were all grilling Ivan for any sort of hints for the big reveal at the end of the concert. Juleka and Rose were whispering to each other as they set up the gear. Alix was chilling with Kim and Max, and none of them seemed to know what was going on.

But in the middle of it, Luka sat alone with his guitar in his lap, tuning it to perfection like Marinette knew he did. The moment she saw him, her memories flashed back to their kind of a date before it had all been ruined trying to get ice cream. Her tattoo had been going crazy for him, turning pink constantly. Impulsively she looked down at it wondering two things: how her hand had been sliced almost to the bone by a ninja star not two hours ago and yet her hand looked the epitome of healthy and second how it had turned red for Adrien and Chat Noir. That was impossible. It had to be broken or something, because she'd seen Adrien and Chat Noir in the same place during Gorizilla, so they couldn't possibly be the same person. Throwing her personal worries aside, she walked over to Alya.

"Any clues at all?" She whispered to her bestie, but the young reporter shook her head disappointedly. Marinette looked around at the band members. Everyone seemed pretty happy and perky, so it was definitely a good surprise. The only one that seemed pretty emotionless was Luka. He was still fiddling with his guitar, as if he was nervous for once to perform. The group didn't come together yet, and Marinette checked her phone seeing that they were all running late. But soon enough, Marinette saw why. After 5 more minutes, Adrien and Kagami arrived together, which earned them a couple of whispers and funny looks. But soon enough, the band members all drifted to the stage and picked up their instruments. Everyone else took their seats and Marinette wanted to punch Alya as she conveniently sat next to Nino and made Adrien sit on the other side of Marinette. As Adrien sat beside her, he whispered in her ear gently,
"Do you still not want to talk about it?" His tone wasn't pushy or desperate but Marinette was too confused to enter that conversation again.

"Not yet," She answered in the same whisper and he nodded and turned back towards the stage to watch their friends perform.

-Adrien-

She still wasn't ready. Ladybug wasn't either. It looked like no secrets would be shared today- no elephants acknowledged and cleared up. Adrien's life was destined to be eternally confusing. Rose stepped forward to the microphone and started up the event in her high pitched voice.

"Hello everyone! Thank you for coming to our last-minute performance tonight! We will be making our band announcement at the end. We'd like to start off with one of our classics that we played at the music festival a while back!" She stepped away from the microphone and turned to the rest of the band and all together they started playing and Rose sang in her deep-throated voice, " I LOVE UNICORNS!" and other lyrics Adrien couldn't quite decipher. At one point his eyes drifted to Kagami in confusion still wondering why she'd asked him to walk with her there. He didn't know she even pretended to like this kind of music. Adrien didn't consider the hard rock type to be Kagami's 'type'. But to each their own.

After the first ear-bursting song, Adrien waited eagerly for more. More hard rock and bopping lyrics with more substance than unicorns greeted his ears and he wasn't disappointed in coming. To his left, Marinette was still nodding her head in time to the music and as Adrien scanned the band members, he half expected Luka to still be training his blue eyes on Marinette as he'd done at previous performances, but this time, his eyes stayed closed most of the time, like he was thinking as he played. He didn't need to see his guitar to play, the movements were too natural for him from hours of practice. As the songs played on, the music slowed to a stop and Rose returned to the microphone.
"Thanks again for coming and listening to us. We'd like to end with an abridged version of 'Can't Help Falling In Love' done by Luka and myself in duet parts."

This had to be good. The band started slow and Luka and Juleka gently plucked the strings on their guitars as Rose started the classic first verse.

"Wise men say. . .only fools rush in. . .but I can't help, falling in love with you." Rose began singing and Adrien felt a rush spread over him as the words seeped into him and Juleka joined Rose in the back vocals.

"Oh shall I stay. . .would it be a sin? Oh if I can't help falling in love with you?" Marinette was swaying with her eyes closed next to him and Adrien wanted to hug her and tell him how sorry he was for letting her down.

"Like a river flows, surely to the sea. Darling so it goes, somethings are meant to be. . " The girls sang, but then the acoustics stretched a moment closer and Luka stepped up to the mike.

"I thought I knew. . What I had to do. . .But then you came, and I fell in love with you." His voice was deep and rich and beside him, Marinette's breath caught a little and she tensed in the slightest. Then Rose and Luka sang together in harmony as the band started to slow.

"Take my hand. . .take my whole life too. . .for I can't help. . .falling in love with you." The music was soft and Luka finished with his lone voice, "Oh, oh. . for I, I can't help. . .falling in love. . with. . .you."

-Marinette-

As the song ended and the bandmembers relaxed, Marinette finally realized how much she'd been crying and hastily wiped her tears away. Adrien reached for her hand, and this time she didn't pull away. He gave it a quick squeeze and let it go again and then they all started clapping as Luka and Rose walked to the microphone.

"We made this abridgment for the people in our hearts that we couldn't help falling in love with. We'd like to make these public now." Rose squeaked as she hugged Juleka.
"I sing for you Juleka!" She announced and everyone clapped as Ivan made his way to the microphone,

"When I hear those words, I think only of you Mylene." He blushed nervously as she put a hand to her heart. Then Luka stepped forward.

"There was just one person I couldn't help falling in love with. . " He stopped to smile, "And it's you Kagami."

*****THE SHIPS MUST SAIL. IMPENDING REVEAL Y'ALL