Cat Noir was running. His muscles were flexing under his black leather skin, slick defined figure almost invisible in the darkness of night, only sometimes reflected moonlight when he jumped atop a building. He ran without a break for an hour, two, three; as long as his kwami would last.
He needed this to clean his head, to run away from the weight of his heavily scheduled life.
And also...he was looking. His eyes were darting from one shadow to another, sensitive cat ears flickering to catch the smallest movement of air. Where is she?
Couple of weeks ago he went for his usual night flight running all around Paris when he noticed her, unmistakable red and spotty pattern hiding behind a chimney on the roof. She crouched with chin on her knees looking absent and lost deep in thoughts.
He had no idea that she would go out like this in any other time than danger time. Yet here she was sitting in the moonlight obviously doing the same thing as him. Cat Noir paused but then changed direction of his flight. He just couldn't help it.
He landed softly behind her on all four and grinned.
"What's up Bugsy? Never thought I'll see you here so late at night?"
As he expected she jumped, twisted and almost punched him between whiskers but he caught her arm and despite her resistance pulled her closer.
"Good evening, m'lady.", he whispered to her surprised eyes.
"Cat! You scared the spots out of me!", she yelled and wiggled out of his embrace.
"Really? I thought you were expecting the bad guys...", he leaned against the chimney and twisted his tail in one hand.
Ladybug sunk back to her spot and turned her head away. She seemed to shrink a little as a result of pulling her knees even closer to her chin.
"I came here to think."
Her reply was simple but echoed with such sadness it was breaking his heart.
Cat wanted to ask what's wrong but somehow the words got stuck in his throat and he only swallowed couple of times.
Maybe he should do something to make her laugh or even annoy her just to drive the gloom away. What could she be so sad for? What could make her so restless to take out to the night like he usually did?
Suddenly cold shiver came over him. I hope it's not love trouble, he thought. Cat Noir wished he could penetrate her brain because that question was burning his guts.
Again he thought he ought to ask but this time sensible human won over cheeky cat and he kept silent.
They stayed like that for a minute, Ladybug sitting on the roof, black cat leaning against the wall, then finally he carefully slipped next to her and in one extremely bold move ever so slightly put his arm around her shoulders.
To his great surprise she didn't push him away although her tense muscles revealed that she remained cautious.
He fought a strong temptation to pull one of her pigtails offering itself so closely to his face.
No, no, this cat has to be careful now, he reminded himself. Do not spoil this moment by making a fool of yourself.
And so he didn't say anything, only kept staring at his legs dangling from the roof edge, occasionally giving her side glances.
Finally he felt her muscles relax and, almost giving him a heart attack, her head dropped on his shoulder.
Cat Noir could barely breath. This was Ladybug, his most beloved bug in the world, giving into his embrace how he always dreamed about it.
Strong sweet scent tickled his sensitive cat senses. Her hair smelled like strawberries. It didn't take much imagination, given her red costume, to visualise it.
Dumbstruck he found himself gasping for air, heart pounding.
Sensing her light pink skin and soft lips under her raven hair he started to feel heat raising up his cheeks together with tingling uncomfortable feeling somewhere in his stomach.
Cat Noir was blushing crazy hoping that Ladybug won't sense what she's doing to him.
But whether she felt the heat between them or just decided to move on, she abruptly stood up.
"Gotta go.", Ladybug hastily threw her yo yo into darkness to prevent him from stopping her.
But before she leapt away she gave him a look.
"Thank you Cat Noir." And just like that she was gone.
Cat Noir kept staring into the night following her silhouette bouncing and flying trough sleeping urban jungle with his night vision, breathing still coming fast from the experience.
He wished Ladybug would somehow realise, pierce through, uncover his real feelings.
But she seemed so blind it was frustrating. She only cared about Paris.
Ladybug finally disappeared out of sight and Cat noir sighed.
"Anything for you m'lady."
Since that episode every time he went running he was frantically looking for her. But as every night afterwards she never came along again.
At last he gave up, stopped and bent with palms on his thighs taking in deep breaths of air.
He looked over the houses towards lightened Eiffel Tower and suddenly thought about his kwami. Plagg must me exhausted!
Time to go home...
