The Rose

3 - The balcony scene

"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.