True Love Kiss

3 - The kiss

"I wanted to apologise to you for one more thing." Cat Noir added after a while of silence.

"Yes?" she spotted, glancing at him with curiosity.

"I think I was so mean to you today." He confessed.

"But you were under a spell." Ladybug replied, taking his hand.

He looked at her in surprise. That gesture... He didn't expect that at all.

"If you didn't take that arrow on yourself, that would be me who was shot and mean to you." She added quietly. "The question is whether you knew how to break the spell."

"So, how did you know?" he asked, and then he blushed suddenly, because he remembered that after the fight Ladybug had said something... about a kiss?

"The teacher mentioned that the prince usually breaks the spell by kissing the princess." Ladybug recited with closed eyes, so she completely missed the blush on Cat Noir's face.

He looked at her carefully. Had they been at the same lesson this morning?!

After a moment, Ladybug glanced at him, worried at his long silence and saw the astonishment on his face.

"What?" she laughed. "I go to school. You don't?"

"Sure, I do..." he muttered, confused. Ladybug didn't look like any of his classmates.

"Well, when you were shot with that arrow, I tried to appeal to your common sense. But when nothing worked, I finally remembered what the teacher had said, and I already knew what to do. I didn't expect it would be so difficult."

"So... You love me, Bugaboo?" He asked quietly.

"What?!" she jumped up. "What's an idea, Cat?!"

"Well... Your kiss broke the spell."

"Because it was to do that!"

"But only an act of true love thaws a frozen heart." He joked.

"You'd better stop with lines from Frozen." She said wryly.

"What's wrong with Frozen?" he was surprised.

"I'm anxious that you're quoting a snowman from a cartoon..."

"That snowman was the best part of that movie."

"I thought it was Letitgo, letitgo..." she murmured.

"What happened, Ladybug? I don't recognise you." Cat Noir sighed. "A strange mean person has awoken in you. Have you been shot by Dark Cupid, or what?"

"I'm sorry, Cat. I don't know what possessed me. It's probably because of your insinuations."

"Oh, come on! These are not any insinuations!" he denied. "It is a fact confirmed in many fairy tales that only true love kisses work."

"A fact confirmed in fairy tales..." she repeated and narrowed her eyes. "I don't believe that we are really talking about that, Cat. It's complete balderdash!"

"Not true!" he braced himself, also jumping up.

He came to her and stood in front of her. He looked into her eyes very closely.

"If you were right, you wouldn't break the Dark Cupid's spell..." he whispered.

And he kissed her. With determination. He didn't think about the consequences! In the end, today was Valentine's Day, and she... she was the only girl in the world he loved.

Unwillingly Ladybug's hands went to Cat Noir's neck and plunged into his hair. He embraced her even tighter. And they continued kissing.

"What are you going to say now? Still denying?" he asked when he broke the kiss.

She looked at him dazed a bit. He'd done it only to prove something to her? She felt anger. And disappointment. For a moment... for a moment she'd really felt happy. And he ruined it all. She moved back from him and looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"The only thing you can prove is that you're a good kisser." she said. "Practicing, I assume."

"No, Bugaboo!" he denied immediately, grabbing her hand. "I really didn't mean that."

"I don't understand what's happening to you at all!" She pulled her hand out and crossed her arms over her chest.

"That's because I've been trying to tell you something for the whole day." He took a step toward her again, but she still looked at him unfriendly.

"I can hear only 'nice' things from you today." she murmured sarcastically.

"I'm sorry for that. You know that's the arrow's fault. You can't even imagine how I feel with knowing what I told you today."

"Oh, I'm so sorry for you." She commented, still ironically.

"Bugaboo..." he whispered and looked at her imploringly.

"OK, what have you wanted to tell me?" she sighed.

"I can't tell you now, when you look like that..."

"Like what?"

"As if you didn't like me at all..."

"Oh, because you're such a jerk sometimes!" she exclaimed irritably.

"I'm sorry..." he whispered and looked at her so piteously that she immediately relaxed her arms.

"OK." She sighed again, but this time in a conciliatory tone. "Just say what you wanted to say."

"But you ruined the perfect moment for that." he replied.

"Your choice! See you!" she said and turned away to leave, when at the last moment he grabbed her hand and pulled her closer in desperation.

She looked at him in astonishment.

"I love you, Bugaboo." He said softly.

"Wh-What?" she stammered. It wasn't a reaction he was hoping for.

"I said: I love you, Bugaboo."

"But... why?" she asked in surprise.

He smiled under his breath. She really didn't know how great she was? But her eyes seemed genuinely surprised. He sighed. Well, how was he to describe in a few words how wonderful she was?

"I'm not sure what I should start with." He replied with a grin. "You're so brave, brilliant and smart. And you have the most beautiful eyes in the world."

She blushed. It wasn't in words rather in the tone, that caused such a mixture of emotions she couldn't comprehend for a moment. In addition, when Cat Noir was saying those words, he was looking at her with such eyes that... She closed her eyes.

"Oh, you look pretty that way as well..." he whispered, and she heard a smile in his tone again.

And then she felt his kiss again on her lips. And again, her hands went to his neck. She plunged her hands in his hair and pulled him closer, and he embraced her even more.

When, after a moment, they broke away from each other, they looked at each other in amazement. This kiss was something... Really something that was even difficult to describe.

"I'm telling you, Bugaboo." Cat Noir whispered, staring into her eyes. "Only true love kisses are magical. I don't know if you feel it, but I feel the magic."

"I do feel it too..." she whispered, then took her arms around his neck and kissed him. She'd think about it later.