Scene 15 - Luka on the Liberty

Luka was pleasantly surprised to see Marinette arrive at his houseboat on Thursday. He had not seen her since the day of Pognak's attack, and he hadn't seen her as Marinette since the career fair. He smiled. His heart always lit up when he saw her.

Juleka had invited several other classmates as well to work on some music. Kitty Section had not booked any venues in a couple months, so this was less of a rehearsal and more of a casual jam session. Marinette didn't come to play any instruments, but she was a supportive friend and always had good feedback for them. Luka was glad she came.

Luka was surprised again when Adrien showed up as well. His father was usually very strict with his time tables, so Adrien rarely had availability to spend time with his classmates. Luka suspected that maybe Adrien had not been entirely honest with his father's assistant as to what he was doing right now.

Luka was the most surprised, however, that Adrien and Marinette never spoke. In fact, Marinette seemed to be actively avoiding eye contact with her crush. Luka had seen her around Adrien before. Even when he had been dating Marinette, he remembered seeing her steal glances at Adrien when she thought he wasn't paying attention.

This thought made Luka sad. It hadn't mattered how much of his heart he'd given to Marinette. She had never given him hers. He had assumed that now that she knew Adrien was in love with her, or in love with Ladybug, that this knowledge would have given her the confidence to finally tell him how she feels. Why weren't they together by now?

The group was playing through an old Kitty Section song, with Adrien on the keyboard, when Marinette got up and moved to the salon, away from the rest of the group and the music. Luka gave a knowing look to his sister as he put down his guitar. Juleka nodded and the group continued playing while Luka followed Marinette inside.

"I'm under the impression that you don't hear the same song anymore when you look at Adrien," he said, sitting down on the couch beside her. He wanted to put his arm around her shoulder, but he knew it wouldn't be appropriate.

Marinette didn't answer at first, and when she finally spoke, her voice was soft and unsure.

"Luka, have you ever thought you know a person, and discovered she had an unimaginable secret?"

Luka's heart dropped. She knew. She knew he knew her identity and now she was going to confront him for lying to her. But when he looked back into her eyes, he saw that her question was genuine, not accusatory.

"Yes," he replied simply.

"And, has it not completely changed the way you see her?" Marinette asked. "Because she is not the person you knew anymore?"

Ahh, I understand. She was not speaking about herself. She was conflicted about her feelings for Adrien. Luka had been surprised as well, when he found out. He didn't know Adrien well, but he had never seemed like the risk-taking, superhero type. But Marinette had been close with both Adrien and Chat Noir. It was probably more difficult for her to merge the personalities of what she had, until this point, believed to be two separate people.

Luka's heart ached. He wanted nothing more than to embrace Marinette, to tell her he loved her no matter what secrets she had. But he knew it was not meant to be. Her melody was searching for someone else, for another tune that Luka could not carry.

"No," Luka finally answered, "quite the opposite, after the surprise, it allowed me to get to know her better, and to love her even more."

Marinette smiled appreciatively. Did she realize he was speaking about her?