Cheering up a Cat

Part 2

Relax? The word didn't exist anymore in her dictionary, not when she was lying there on the bench, and all she could think about was that his bare fingers were rubbing her neck.

His.

BARE.

Fingers.

He was standing there untransformed.

His civilian self.

She just needed to open her eyes slightly, and she would have seen him. The boy who stood at her side even in her darkest moment. The boy who had declared his love for her from the day she met him. The boy she had kissed twice now, and once willingly and because she had feelings for him.

No, hang on a second; she had kissed him three times.

It was easy for her to forget the kiss they had shared when they had faced Alya and Nino akumatised into Oblivio. Because she didn't know why she had kissed him, but did she need to understand why anymore?

Oh, and actually, it was FOUR times because HE had kissed HER to prevent her from getting akumatised.

Hang on. Did dreams count? Because if she considered the dream they had shared when Darker Owl hit them... the kisses would only increase. How many? Six? Seven? Yes, Seven. AND they also got married and had kids! And FOUR of them, even!

Besides, she could also say that, even without considering that dream, they had kissed more than four times if you counted even the kisses on the cheek they had shared. The one he had given to her when she'd rejected him after fighting Glaciator. The one she had given to him to tell him that he was still very special to her. Then those on the nose and the corner of the lips... How many? Gawd, some may think they had spent the last nine months making out!

The more kisses she remembered, the more her anxiety rose. She only needed to open her eyes, and she would see the face of her first kiss, the face of all those kisses...WHY DID HE HAVE TO TEMPT HER LIKE THAT? It wasn't bloody fair!

The only boy she had kissed.

Well, yes, she had given Adrien a couple of kisses on the cheek, but... she had only kissed Chat Noir on the lips.

Honestly, she was starting to question whether she had really only kissed him once because she had feelings for him. After all, only True Love's Kiss could break Dark Cupid's spell, and... she could've lied to everyone else on the day, saying that even friendship is a true type of love.

Did she believe it? Even after seeing what was her heart's desire when Darker Owl hit them?

Again, she could lie to him as much as she wanted, telling him Monarch had tampered with their heart desire. She couldn't lie to herself. She knew, deep down, that it wasn't true. That was all their dream. And not just HIS dream. THEIRS. HERS and his.

ARGH!

As she struggled to slow down the fast beating of her heart, Ladybug considered whether she still held feelings towards him.

She was with Adrien now. And she was happy. But—

Could she say that she held no more feelings for Chat Noir? Even after feeling this way only because he was standing behind her detransformed?

And just to be clear, she wasn't talking about feelings of friendship. No, sir. Romantic feelings. Yep. After all, she realised, she found herself in this pickle now because, very stupidly, she had been jealous of him going home and ringing his girlfriend for comfort.