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Luka Couffaine was strumming his guitar softly on the deck of his mother’s houseboat when Marinette Dupain-Cheng arrived. She stepped aboard, knowing that he would welcome her, and took a seat in front of him, watching as he performed for no one. His eyes were closed and Marinette knew that he was embracing the notes that he was playing.
“Good afternoon, Marinette,” Luka greeted her with a smile. His eyes were still closed, but he had stopped strumming, the last notes hanging briefly in the air before drifting softly away across the Seine.
Marinette was so grateful for her friendship with Luka. After their break-up, she’d avoided him because it had felt awkward. How could she be just friends with him when she’d broken his heart, when her secrets that she’d kept from him had been enough for him to become the first akumatized victim of Shadow Moth?
Now, though, Marinette realized that she’d overreacted by avoiding Luka and that her actions had just hurt him more? Luka was fine with being Marinette’s friend, as long as he did not fully lose her…as long as she did not walk out of his life entirely.
“Hi, Luka.”
The young musician set his guitar on the stand beside him. “You wanted to talk?”
Marinette fiddled with her fingers. “I didn’t know who else to turn to about this, so…I’m sorry,” she started.
“There’s no need to apologize, Marinette,” Luka said. “I don’t mind you coming to me. I want to help.”
“Well,” Marinette continued, “I came to a realization lately, after our relationship…didn’t work out.” Subconsciously, she reached up to touch her earrings, not realizing that Luka had noticed. “There are things going on in my life right now that make it hard to have a relationship.” She wrapped her arms around her middle and squeezed tightly, as if trying to comfort herself as she admitted everything to Luka. “Lately, at school, I’ve been noticing that Adrien seems to be trying to get closer to me, like…maybe his feelings have changed, and…at one time I would have given anything for this, but I can’t and…Luka, it just hurts so much.” Marinette had not meant to cry, but the tears came to her eyes anyway. This was harder to admit than she thought it would be.
Marinette felt Luka’s arms around her as he gave her a comforting hug. “Forgive me for my next question,” Luka whispered directly into Marinette’s ear, “but everything you just said, why you can’t be with Adrien, is it because you are Ladybug?”
Stiffening instantly, Marinette gently pushed Luka away so that she could stare into his face. There was no joking glint in his eyes; this was a serious question. “Y-you knew?” she answered, knowing it was foolish to try to deny it. “Have you known since—“
“Since we fought Wishmaker, yeah.”
“You know both me and Cat Noir?”
Luka nodded. “Yes, but I won’t tell you his identity. I know that what you’re doing, fighting Monarch, will be more dangerous than ever now. Besides, it’s not my place. Only you and Cat Noir will know when the time is right.”
It took a moment for Marinette to process everything that she had just learned from Luka. Then, she smiled. “Thank you, Luka. I’m glad that Cat Noir suggested giving you the Snake Miraculous. You’re the perfect choice to be Viperion.”
“So, you said that you didn’t want to be with Adrien because of your secret responsibility to be Ladybug, so…how do you feel about Cat Noir?”
Marinette felt herself blush as she thought about her superhero partner. He had stood by her, even when she pushed him away. He had comforted her, even after she’d been an absolute jerk to him. Cat Noir had a pure heart and she could still hardly believe it, but yes, she had fallen for him that rainy night, when he’d offered her his comforting hand and pulled her close to whisper promises to her of getting back all the stolen Miraculous and making sure this mistake, this nightmare, would never happen again.
“Well…” Marinette tried to think what she could say to answer Luka’s confession. “Cat Noir is a great partner. I couldn’t ask for anyone better and…”
“It’s okay, Marinette,” Luka told her as she started to talk in circles about Cat Noir and how she felt about the superhero. “You and Cat Noir are destined to be with each other. I understand that.”
Marinette was about to nod in agreement, when a vision flashed before her eyes: a Paris that was way too blue, raised waters surrounding her as she stood on a toppled Eiffel Tower, a moon split in two, and a flash of white with ice-blue eyes and a crazed smile. Her breath hitched in her throat. It didn’t matter how she felt for Cat Noir. Destined or not, they could not be together. They were too powerful together and their love for each other would destroy the world.
“No, I don’t…feel that way about Cat Noir,” Marinette told Luka, hoping he did not notice the lie. “I don’t love him.” She glanced at Luka and saw him looking down at her with a sympathetic look in his eyes. Yes, of course he could tell that she was lying about her feelings for Cat Noir, but Luka would never understand; he hadn’t been there to see Cat Blanc and the Paris of that timeline.
“If you say so, Marinette.”
“Besides,” Marinette continued, plastering onto her face a smile that she knew Luka could tell was fake, “I can’t love Cat Noir because…I still have feelings for you.”
“Really?” Luka asked, surprised.
“Yes.” This time, Marinette’s answer was not a lie. She’d never actually gotten over Luka after their breakup. Instead, she’d just pushed her feelings aside to focus on living her double life. “I never wanted our relationship to end,” she admitted, “but I knew that it wasn’t fair to you, as long as I had to keep running away to go be Ladybug. I always had to leave unexpectedly and I could never tell you why. It made me feel like a terrible girlfriend, especially when you ended up getting akumatized because of all the secrets and lies.”
Marinette looked down at the sudden touch as Luka gently took her hand and gave it a quick squeeze. “I understand now. It all made sense when I learned why, that day we fought Wishmaker. I’m sorry for not telling you about what I’d seen. I know how you feel about secret identities and I knew you’d been stressed more than usual lately. I thought it would be easier if you didn’t know that I’d found out.”
“Well, now that you know everything and there aren’t anymore secrets between us,” Marinette said to Luka, “maybe we could give our relationship another try? I mean, if you still want to be with me, I mean.”
Luka smiled. “I’d like that very much, Marinette.”
Marinette wasn’t sure where life would take her. Everyday was an uncertainty. However, she could face the challenges because she knew that she’d have Luka beside her. Between them, there were no more secrets, no more lies. This was their second chance.