"So, how was your day?" Cat Noir asked, changing his seat from the windowsill to a corner of Marinette's bed.
"Great!" she replied with a bright smile.
"Said by a sick person…" he commented and she laughed.
"Oh, all I meant was that I have wonderful friends, you know? Everyone cared about me today. We even ate a pizza here, in my room… I think…" she hesitated. "I guess… I'm not sure… It's like the reality and dreams has been mixed recently…"
"But… You're better?" he asked with concern.
"Yeah, I feel much better. Almost cured, I think. Not counting that moment of confusion at the start."
"So, you're going for classes tomorrow?"
Marinette glanced at him unsure. Something in his tone alerted her. How did he know what they had been discussing here in the afternoon?
"I'm not sure yet… I feel a bit confused… Besides, I have only two lectures tomorrow, so it's better to let it go? Vér will share her notes with me later."
"Your friend Vér, right?"
"Yes, that's her. I'll have a chance to get better."
She stayed quiet for a while, so he felt uncomfortable and uncertain what he should do now. Meanwhile she was trying to find a courage to tell him the story that she had planned to share last week.
"It's the right time, Cat…" she said determined.
"F-For what?" he stuttered.
"I'll tell you about Luka."
"You want to get worse?" he winced, trying to ignore a sudden desire to jump out the window. Why was she ruining this perfect evening?
"I want to feel better. And I think that when I tell you the story, I'll be able to move on, you know?"
'Oh, that works for me…' he thought happily. All he needed was to bite the bullet, wait out the terrible story, and then… Then… He'd see what would happen…
"So…" she began. "What do you want to know?"
"Nothing…" he blurted out. "I mean… Just tell me what could help you. I'm here to listen whatever you'll tell me."
"OK, Cat… Oh, by the way…"
"Yeah?"
"Can you promise that everything I'll tell you will stay between you and me?"
"Of course, Princess. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." he promised, rising his right hand and putting his left hand on his heart. Marinette burst out laughing, and he winked at her in reply. "So, let's do it…"
"Would you mind if I don't go into details?"
"I'd appreciate that if you don't, please…"
"Great… So… Where to start?"
"Please not from the beginning…" he muttered. All he wanted was to avoid those romantic details of how Luka won his girlfriend's heart. Luka's girlfriend not Cat Noir's. Because Marinette wasn't neither Cat Noir's nor Adrien's girlfriend. "Just tell me what hurts you."
"My heart hurts, Cat. Every time I think about my bad choices. I chose a boy who turned out to be untrustworthy. I chose him over my friends. Probably I would be completely alone right now if I didn't have Alya. And Nino, and Adrien. And you, of course…"
"Why do you think you chose Luka over your friends?"
"Don't judge me, Cat… We were in love. We wanted to spend every second together…" she got lost in memories for a moment, not paying attention to her interlocutor who looked like he wanted to jump out the window again. "Soon, it turned out that there's no more time to spend with friends. Besides, Alya and Nino began skipping our meetings, then Ivan and Mylène did the same. Adrien left us as soon as he started dating Kagami. After that only Juleka, Rose and Luka stayed around me, but Juleka and Rose focused on themselves soon, so… It was over. And now… Now I feel that it's almost impossible to get these people altogether. I'm afraid we wouldn't have anything to talk about. Everyone has grown up. Everyone has their life…"
"Excuses…" Cat Noir snorted. "Tell me, what you're really afraid of, Princess…"
Marinette took a glance at him with concern. After a while she whispered:
"That they will blame me for breaking-up our gang. That was my fault, because I was too focused on my boyfriend that I forgot about my friends…"
"But it's not true! Everyone left because they wanted. But it's you who can reunite them now, you know?"
"You really think so?"
"Weren't they those who called you their Everyday Ladybug?"
"Adrien called me that." she whispered and smiled to her memories of that special day.
"Seriously?" he pretended being astonished, although he remembered that day perfectly. Recently he'd even recalled it quite often.
"What's so shocking for you?"
"What? No… Nothing… I'm just surprised that you remember it so well…"
"That was a very important moment for me. A very important memory."
"Because you felt like a superheroine?"
"Because Adrien noticed me. You know, me as someone worth being noticed." she admitted and added under her breath: "Sort of…"
"Wow… You sounds like you were in love with him."
"Because I was." she confessed just like that.
"Wh-What?!" Cat Noir was shocked, this time for real.
"It's ancient history… I think I'd die before I told him now."
"But… But… How?"
"How what?" Marinette laughed. "You've been teasing me all the time that I'm picking up the programmer living next door, or that he's in love with me. And now you're acting like I revealed the biggest secret in the world and it's impossible to believe in that!"
"Be-Because it is… I had no idea…"
"Actually… When you think about it, that could seem to be weird. Believe me or not, but it wasn't related anyhow with the fact he was a famous model. At least at the beginning…"
"Re-Really?"
"Really, Cat. Can you imagine? Of course, you can. You're superhero, so probably you have plenty of admirers everywhere. Just imagine that someone could love you just for you, not for your fame."
"Mhm…" was all he could say right now. He wanted to run away immediately, find Bunnix and go back in time. Oh, he'd been such an idiot!
"It's so strange that Adrien didn't realise that." Marinette continued, completely unaware what was happening in Cat Noir's head. "Everyone knew. Even his girlfriend, Kagami…"
"You're not serious…" he whispered in shock.
"Why? You think he knew?" she was surprised.
"No, he didn't. For sure."
"How do you know that?"
"Because he would be with you. Who wouldn't want to be with you?"
"You. Adrien. Luka… Should I continue the list?"
"Wait a moment! Luka? You both were dating for years!"
"It was long time ago. Now, I'm not so funny anymore for him. Besides… Besides he always thought I was dating him because Adrien was dating Kagami. At the beginning he didn't mind, but then… Er… He reminded this every time we had a quarrel. Even when we had an argument of something stupid, that issue was brought back by Luka… Sooner or later… Finally, I had enough. Enough of all those fights, reproaches, lack of trust. He could meet his fans and admirers all he wanted, but I couldn't go out with my friends without an argument."
"You couldn't?"
"Once I went for coffee with Nathaniel. We met by chance and he told me that he'd just signed a contract with a publisher for the whole series of comic books. When Luka heard about it, he went mad. But when I told him that a week before he'd been at a party in the Grand Paris Hotel, without me of course, I heard that I was picking on him. Oh, I should mention that at that party Luka was caught on making out with Chloe Bourgeois. I got some pictures from an anonymous 'friend'…" Marinette's voice failed her. She lowered her head and clasped her hands.
Cat Noir couldn't decide what to do. First, he wanted to come closer, embrace Marinette and comfort her. But his other half wanted to leave immediately, find Luka and break his spine.
In result, he stayed frozen and just stared at Marinette without a word.
