"Tell me that once again, Tikki." Marinette asked for the hundredth time.

"Marinette..." Tikki sighed. "Nothing happened. You were just overtired and finally the body gave you a clear signal to slow down. You have to sleep at night!"

"But I can't! All those thoughts…"

"Marinette..." Tikki seemed to be losing patience. "You can't afford something like that happen again. What if you fall during a battle? Do you know what consequences can be?"

"And you're saying that Cat Noir brought me here?" Marinette asked. "But… How did he know where I live?"

"He doesn't…" Tikki began, but couldn't finish, because a sudden noise drew Marinette's attention and she didn't hear her kwami.

The girl went on the balcony, leaving Tikki in her room. Tikki, who – for the first time in her long life – didn't know what to do. If she flew to Marinette to tell her that Cat Noir didn't know her identity, she would reveal the secret anyway by her appearance. If she didn't go there, Marinette could blurt the secret out unintentionally. The only hope was in misunderstanding between those two, which wasn't so unbelievable.

"Good evening, Cat." Marinette welcomed him.

Cat Noir looked at her surprised. She called him so softly… A weird, warm emotion emerged in his heart.

"Good evening, Marinette." He answered and promised himself to think about those feelings later.

"I'd like to thank you." She whispered.

"I'd like to apologise." He said at the same moment.

"For what?" they asked each other and again – at the same moment.

They laughed. The situation was funny, but weird as well. They looked at each other and stopped laughing. They both felt uncomfortable.

"Maybe I'll start." Cat Noir said. "I'm sorry to trouble you last night."

"Trouble?" She didn't understand.

"Well, yesterday we had a little problem with Ladybug. After the fight she fainted, and I didn't know where to take her and I brought her to you. But there was nothing more I could do because she ... She detransformed and I had to leave her here. And now I don't know if you were not surprised when you found a stranger on your balcony or if she could regain her strength and come back home. I'm terribly worried because I have no news from her. But ... But I was sure that even if you found her here, you would not tell anyone about it. I trust you, Marinette."

Marinette felt faint when she realised that he didn't know. She almost revealed her identity! She was also moved with his sight and voice when he was talking about worrying about Ladybug. She'd never heard anyone cared about her so much. Even if it was just about her "superhero" self.

"Don't worry, Cat." She said after a while. "Ladybug is fine. She must be fine, because I didn't find anyone on the balcony."

"That's a relief…" Cat Noir sighed and looked at Marinette with interest. "And you? What did you want to thank for?"

For bringing me back home yesterday… - she thought, but she couldn't say it aloud. She would thank for that later, as Ladybug.

"Oh, I haven't thanked you for the Glaciator thing yet…"

"Oh, right! That was something strange!" Cat Noir laughed. "He insisted on you so much. You didn't tell me why. Can you do that now?"

"It's a long story…" she whispered and approached the railing. She stared at the sunset.

"You said that before…" he smiled and sat next to her on the railing. "We have time."

"Uhm…" she sighed. "OK, so it was… Uhm… OK, I told you that it was André. He sells magical sweetheart ice-cream. It's been said that when two people eat ice-cream together, they will love each other for the rest of their lives. My dad, for example, proposed to my mom at André's…"

"That's… uhm… quite romantic…" Cat Noir said suddenly embarrassed.

"That's true." She glanced at him and smiled.

"And what was next?" Cat Noir asked after a while of waiting for the story to continue.

"I was alone there…" Marinette whispered and closed her eyes for a moment.

She looked exactly like for the last few days he'd been watching her from the neighbouring balcony. So, she kept thinking about it. About the boy she was unhappily in love with. The boy who didn't even come to the meeting! What a jerk!

"Never mind…" she managed to overcome the emotions. "Anyway, I told André something really mean."

"What did you tell him?"

"That… That there was no magic in his ice-cream. That they were just ice-cream…" She closed her eyes again and shook her head. "I caused the akuma attack. Again. I'm worse than Chloe…"

"What are you saying, Marinette?" Cat Noir exclaimed. "You can't take such a responsibility on yourself!"

"I've made so many mistakes lately…"

"Who hasn't?"

"But I shouldn't…"

"You can't think that way, because you'll go crazy. If it comforts you, I have to admit that one akuma victim was caused by me."

"One!" Marinette snorted. "I probably have four…"

And if you add those caused by Ladybug, there will be twice more… - she added in her mind.

"This is not a reason to break down." Cat Noir cheered her up.

"Maybe you're right… Recently a lot of things have happened in my life… I can't deal with all of that."

"Ladybug has the same problem." Cat Noir noted. "At least her kwami said so…"

Marinette held her breath. Cat Noir was too close to discovered Ladybug's identity. She couldn't let him figure it out. On the other hand, she didn't want to lie to him.

"Maybe I should talk to her…" she muttered.

"You know Ladybug?!" He exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah… I know her…" she smiled shyly. "She jumps in here sometimes."

It was somewhat true.

"Really? Here?"

"You know, her kwami loves cookies. And my parents own the best bakery in the neighbourhood."

"So… you know her as a civilian?"

"I can't tell you, Cat…"

"That means you know." He smiled. "I won't try to test your loyalty, don't worry. If Ladybug wanted me to know who she is, she would tell me."

Again, Marinette couldn't believe how mature Cat Noir had become. Or maybe he just stopped doing stupid things.

"Does she mention me sometimes?" he asked quietly without looking at her.

It grieved Marinette's heart. She understood him so well. If only she had courage to ask, she would ask Nino if Adrien talked to him about her…

"Sometimes. Recently…" she stopped. She almost said that recently she'd been thinking about him all the time.

"Yes?" he spotted immediately.

"…She mentioned." She finished the sentence.

"I see you're not going to tell me. You're a good friend, Marinette. Loyal." He stated with wide smile. "Well, it's getting late. I should go. Have a nice evening!"

"Same to you, Cat." She smiled for goodbye.

He almost jumped down, when turned back to her, hanging on the outside of the balcony.

"Would you mind if I come around sometime as well?" he asked, winking to her.

"Your kwami also likes cookies?" she joked.

"I can't tell you." He answered with a smile. "If you knew my identity, you would know both – mine and Ladybug's. You would become too valuable for Hawkmoth. We can't risk your safety."

After these words he jumped into the darkness.

She stayed leaning against the railing, suddenly ran out of breath. These words Cat Noir had just said were… were very nice.

She sighed and returned to her bedroom.

"I'm so proud of you, Marinette!" Tikki whispered with a smile.