Chat Noir pulled up the screen on his baton, but Ladybug's telltale dot was nowhere on his radar. He stowed his weapon away for the twelfth time in as many minutes and stared out over the river. Two more minutes here, and he would move onto another location.
The plan was simple: stay out, stay visible.
After the akuma battle, he'd quickly recharged Plagg and went to hunt down Ladybug, though he knew she'd already fled. She would want to avoid him, there wasn't a patrol for another two days, and they'd just had an attack. If he didn't lure her out, he wasn't sure when he would see her next, and if he didn't see her, he couldn't kiss every inch of her face and tell her that he loved her until he forgot every other word, like he so desperately wanted to do.
So he stayed out, roving from park to tourist trap to shopping mall, being seen by as many people as possible. His movements would get reported to the Ladyblog, and maybe she would come when she heard he was waiting for her.
An hour later, she did.
"I'm so sorry." Ladybug watched her own wringing hands.
"M'Lady–"
"Please." She jerked her head up to face him, but her eyes were closed. "I read too much into your reactions, and I saw what I wanted to. You never reciprocated. I can see that now. I'll be mature about this and not bring my feelings for you up again."
Practiced speech over, she peeked one eye open, her face still scrunched tightly against his impending rejection.
When it was clear that she wasn't going to speak again, it was finally his turn. But he couldn't think of anything to say. There were plenty of things he wanted to tell her, but no words could do them justice. Instead, he reached both hands out to her. She didn't move when he cupped her face, but he felt her sharp intake of breath when he kissed her, so he retreated faster than he would have liked and kept her head in his hands so she couldn't get away.
"I love you." His words were still slow in coming, but it was a start. "I never stopped loving you."
Her eyes so close to his, he saw how they flickered with hope.
"I've been keeping myself in check," he confessed, "so I wouldn't make you uncomfortable, but there's never been a second that I didn't want everything you were giving me."
The hope still flickered, smoldering, not yet the burning blaze that he was hoping for, so he kissed her again.
And she finally responded.
He was done holding his feelings in.
When her lips moved against his, he matched her. When she tilted, he turned, until he felt the perfect angle, and it was his turn to catch his breath. One of his hands left her face to slip down her back, fingers tracing a line across her hips. Every point of contact was hyperaware, from thigh to chest to mouth. Her breathing was an uneven echo of his own, her hands skimmed his body.
He didn't realize she'd been walking him backward until he stopped, one heel hanging over the lip of the building. The thrill of kissing her mixed with the thrill of vertigo, and he had to grab both of her hips and push her away (only a little) before she could send them both over the edge. Death by true love's kiss. What a way to go.
Ladybug rested her nose in neck, breathing him in, as his pounding heart started to slow to a more comfortable pace.
"I love you," she said. "Will you go out with me?"
His heart was back to beating double time.
"Oh. Ice cream was a date. That's why you were so nervous. We were on our first date."
She pulled back, startled, to stare at him, and then laughed. "I can't believe you didn't realize that before. Why else would I ask you somewhere for food, in public, with a set time in the future?"
Chat Noir drew his claws against her sides, and she shivered. That he was the cause of her reaction was amazing. "In my defense, I was telling myself you had no interest, and to stop thinking that you wanted me like that."
"I want you like that." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and brought their bodies and faces close together. "But you didn't answer my question. Do you want to go on a date with me? With food, in public, in the future?"
He kissed her before responding. "Why not now?"
Author's note: Next chapter is the last one! An epilogue of sorts!
