Ladybug feels reckless.
Paris is shaded in that soft dark moment right after the sun has gone down but when its just light enough out that no one has turned on their lights. The air still holds the lingering heat of one of the hottest summer days in Paris on record. Its still and quiet out, but the air is charged, and the night is sweet, and when ladybug looks up at the stars, just starting to appear in the darkening sky, they sing out to her in a way she cant resist.
Ladybug feels reckless.
Maybe that's why she feels no regret as she quietly slips out of her room and onto her balcony and then swings swiftly away into the ever darkening Parisian night. Her yoyo catches a light pole and launches her far into the sky. She breathes out deeply in delight and closes her eyes as her momentum takes her closer and closer to the stars. Only when the wind has stopped screaming in her ears and the air has stopped raking past her face does she open her eyes again. She's greeted by the velvety blackness of space, and the rakishly grinning moon, and the winking stars. She winks back and then begins to plummet back to earth. Tonight, the feeling of falling and the adrenaline it pumps into her body is addicting and only when she is inches from hitting the rough pavement does she catch herself and fling herself back into the night. She repeats this high risk game of toss between the ground and the sky until her chest is heaving and her eyes sting from the wind, and her arms ache from the effort of throwing her body so carelessly around.
Her feet finally touch solid ground for the first time that night as they find purchase on a quiet rooftop basked in the shadows of the night. The cement roof still holds the heat of the day and the warmth of her feet are a stark contrast to the rapidly cooling air. She is getting ready to leave, back to her house, where she will have to shed the safety of her suit and her false identity along with the sense of confidence that has her holding her head high tonight when a silky voice slides out from one of the shadows.
"Well I knew cats were nocturnal but I never would have guessed ladybugs were too."
Chat Noir slinks out from the shadow he was concealed in acting much like his namesake. Ladybug tells herself to go. It is late and she is tired and she's probably going to end up doing or saying something she regrets, but tonight ladybug feels reckless. So she stays.
They lay side by side under a never-ending sea of stars on a warm rooftop. Chats uncharacteristically quiet which surprises ladybug and at first she finds the silence suffocating but soon the comfort of it has her almost drifting to sleep. Suddenly chats voice cracks the silence as he says in a voice so low she has to strain to hear him,
"My lady, what are you thinking about?"
His voice sounds raw and so full of emotion that she turns and looks at him then. He's looking back. She takes in his summer green eyes and his soft smile and she thinks that she's never seen him look more at home than sprawled out in the moonlight. Suddenly her cheeks feel too warm, her chest too tight, her pulse too fast and her eyes widen, because she's felt this before. For a different green eyed, blond haired boy. Tonight though, these feelings scare her because she is feeling reckless and because this is much too important of a thing to think about on such an unimportant night. So she takes a deep breath and gives Chat an answer.
"The stars." She whispers, casting her gaze upwards. Its almost dizzying how many stars are visible tonight. They all seem so big and beautiful and close that she almost wants to cry.
"The stars" Chat murmurs, his gaze turning upwards too to face the endless night "why the stars?"
Ladybug weighs the question in her head, mulling over the many possible answers until she simply says,
"Maybe I'm wondering how I can love something so much, that I know so little about."
Chat is silent and after a minute she says,
"That probably sounds stupid."
"No," he says, his voice thick with emotion and his words heavy with some deeper meaning she cant figure out, "that makes perfect sense."
A shrill beeping noise cuts through the air between them and with heavy sighs they pull themselves up.
"Sorry Chat I have to go," She says softly.
The reckless feelings still linger with her, so, before she can think better of it, she leans up and plants a soft kiss on his cheek. Then, she's running, and as she jumps gracefully from the roof his words tumble after her into the night.
"Goodnight my lady."
Two green eyes linger long after ladybug has been swallowed by the dark.