Chapter Text
Chat Noir quickly scaled the rooftop of the house, bounding over buildings and houses as quickly as his legs and arms could take him; away from Ladybug. He knew that she didn’t mean to snap at him. She had been going through a lot of turmoil lately. Ladybug had mentioned to him that there’s been a lot going off in her life and that she was feeling stressed from all these happenings. Chat, good-nature-ly, offered to help, but she adamantly refused, telling him it wasn’t his problem, but he had pressed her for details over the past couple days. It was only a matter of time before she cracked from all that pressure.
“I never want to see you again!”
Her voice had rang out loud and clear to his enhanced feline hearing. Although she had quickly realized her error and triedto apologize, Chat scampered away like his tail was on fire. The spotted heroine had tried calling out to him and following him, but as Chat Noir, he was as agile and quick as a cat. He hastily got his friend off his trail and out of sight. The only thing left of her was the ringing of her calls to wait and the faint warm scent on his hands when he grabbed her arm to ask her one final time what was wrong. On the inside, Chat knew that Ladybug didn’t really mean it; probably. Despite being annoyed by his constant wooing, the heroine really did care for him. She had showcased it more than once in the past. The catty boy knew that, but why was it so hard to make him believe it now? Her anger was on other things and he had stepped into the crossfire, so it was his fault she snapped at him. He should’ve known that she was close to the breaking point.
After scurrying up a stray building in the lesser parts of Paris, Chat stopped to catch his breath on the closed side of the building. He had lost Ladybug a long time ago, but he didn’t want her to find him. She never wanted to see him again, that’s what she had said, loud and clear. And as much as that hurt him, he would oblige with her wishes. Maybe he was being a bit extreme, but his heart was pounding in pain, reminding him of the anger in her face. After finally deducing that he was alone, he slumped against the side of the building, hugging his slender legs and wrapping his tail around himself in an effort to warm the icy cold inside.
It took a while to realize that tears were running down his face, his mask did make it hard for him to feel much on his face. He wiped his face with the back of his hands, but leather never was good for absorbing bitter tears. Instead he used the point of his claws to scrape off the wetness on his face. Although it wasn’t practical, it did busy his mind a bit. This mindless activity managed to dull the pain in his heart- just a little bit.
His ears twitched when he heard a loud crash in the alley nearby. Though he wanted to spend time moping in self-pity for a moment, just to recompose himself, Chat was still a hero and that loud noise sounded suspicious. It was a hero’s job to seek out trouble and solve it. Sighing, he smudged his tears on his leathery hands and jumped down to the alley, looking around for the source of sound. Chat didn’t see anything out of the ordinary until he saw a small figure sitting on one of the trash bins, looking back at him with it’s own set of green eyes. On the ground there was a stray lid of a trash bin, circling slightly before stopping completely.
“Oh, it’s just a cat.” He stated lamely, his voice wavering from his own emotions. The black-furred green-eyed cat stared at him for a few more moments before meowing, and stalking out of the alley, it’s tail held high.
Chat Noir watched the feline go, glad that he didn’t have to do any fighting so soon. Not that he wouldn’t be capable, Chat wasn’t up for it at the moment. His emotions would probably get in the way. Remembering Ladybug, he began to cry again, this time a little louder. There was nobody nearby to hear the pathetic sniffling of the black-leathered hero and frankly, Chat was glad. He never did like to share his emotions.
From the blurry mesh of his tears, he saw something fluttering above, flying around his head erratically. At first he thought it was a giant fly, probably from one of the trash bins, but he soon noticed that it was much more graceful and beautiful than any fly he had ever seen. Before he could have a chance to identify what kind of insect it was, it started flying close to his face. Chat raised a hand to try to flick the insect away, but the dancing insect crashed right in between his eyes, making him black out. He thought about calling out for help, but his voice was lost and he felt the strong urge to fall asleep. Panicking, he soon calmed down when he heard a voice.
Nodding unwillingly, Chat Noir allowed himself to be swallowed by the invading force in his mind. The things that the voice had told him had terrified him, but for some reason he felt it was useless to fight back. Instead he watched through glassy eyes as he took a more defiant position.
Although he was sure that there was nothing funny about his situation, he felt himself grin.