She saw a kindness in his smile, a gentleness. A smile he wore that laughed with ease and saw the person under the behaviour, a soul-connector. Someone who lived how he believed people should, as if he were sunshine that only radiated from the best aspects of those he met their flaws entirely invisible to his gaze.
« Paw-dom me but I think I'll have to go. » Chat Noir turned to leap and go on her roof and vanish in the night. But because of his acute sense of hearing, which made his cat's ears swivel, he still catched her say in her mutters. « I-I… »
So he turned back from her attic with a curious look on his face to hear what she wanted to say.
As the night-time dwindled the tension in Marinette grew. Its true that Chat Noir should have left or not even should have entered. But there was still something she wanted to know. She looked at him, which made her nervous, if she was Ladybug she would had no problem looking at him and saying whatever comes in her mind. But her eyes kept darting to her desk with designs that have no intention of needing any restructuration.
« Th- th… That me- message, that l-last one. » She began stuttering but that's better than saying nothing, she thought.
She knew she could be sometimes irrational when she was sleep deprived.
« I-I was u-under duress. » And suddenly the words came out of her, as she wanted to say so many things, all the words kept going.
« It had been a hellish week, for me, and and when I'm like that, I-I don't think I-»
Chat Noir eyes became wider when he heard her say those words, and then the blonde cat's confusion cleared as realization hit him.
There was a lingering silence and then he gave a short, weak chuckle.
« That! I've forgotten that, already. Don't be hiss-terical. » He snorted.
Yeah, it was kinda dumb of Marinette to make, such a big deal out of it. And it shouldn't have taken so much time to speak, but then again her speaking in front of someone she liked were limited at best.
The only other moments Marinette remembered herself being confident was when she and others were in danger, then she commended and helped them, all doing these things. She smiled at those memories.
« If you have something on your mind, then taking a fresh breath of air outside would be help-furr. » Chat Noir gestured towards the door up her balcony. « Come with me. »
The idea of coming with him, alone in the night. A little bit dangerous out there and she couldn't even transform in front of him. She felt an unpleasantness when she thought of being with him as Marinette. Instant dilike. But that didn't mean she didn't enjoy the new direction they had taken. Something she never did before in the night.
And if she really wanted to get away from him, she could just distract him somewhere or he's not looking and she could transform and leave him.
And truth be told sitting all day in her room, trying to sleep and not getting any was starting to crack her head. Trying to toss and turn in her bed but just couldn't find the right position. A lingering haze of sleep sat somewhere at the back of her mind but was too far away for her too reach, floating in the pool of her memories.
She looked outside her window, it did look beautiful to take some air.
Maybe going with him, would help her. And make herself fall into a slumber and mostly to forget.
Marinette nodded before she let out an easy quietly laugh. « O-okay, then. » She said
He gave her a promising look and came closer to her.
His gaze slid to her side. He pulled her against his chest. His nose tickled her ear. She let out a tiny gasp and squirmed uncomfortably. She didn't like being so intimately handled. She felt his lips soflty graze her slender neck. Her face heated.
He knows! He's trying to make me feel like this!
But then he stopped the teasing and grabbed her in a princess like style close to his chest. And excited the house.
At that moment, she knew it was going to be a long night.