Work Text:
Queen Bee wasn’t exactly an expert at using her powers just yet.
That wasn’t her fault, though; it had only been two weeks since she’d gotten her miraculous, and she was still getting used to it.
Ladybug and Chat Noir had been very helpful, even if they hadn’t exactly been very trusting of her from the beginning. After all, Ladybug hadn’t been the one to give her the miraculous, as she had apparently done with Rena Rouge; a man named Master Fu had given it to her when her mother was akumatized.
She still wasn’t quite sure why he had chosen her. He said something about her knowing her mother better than anyone and having a genuine desire to help Ladybug, but it still didn’t quite make sense to her. The more time she spent with Ladybug and Chat Noir, the more she realized how different she was from the heroes. They were brave, selfless, and noble; she was none of those things. She had done nothing to deserve the miraculous- so why had he given it to her?
But these realizations couldn’t change the fact that he had given it to her. He had chosen her, and although she knew she wasn’t worthy of it, she was now determined to become worthy.
But it wasn’t exactly easy to get used to being a superhero.
She was clumsy and somewhat reckless, her reflexes were too slow, and she didn’t have the battle instincts Ladybug and Chat Noir seemed to have. She often found herself getting in the way of the other two.
Because of this, she came to find that there weren’t many people who were fans of Queen Bee. On multiple occasions, she overheard people saying that they wished she would just stay home and let Ladybug and Chat Noir do it themselves. She saw many anti-Queen Bee people online, and sometimes she couldn’t help but feel like maybe they were right. Maybe she should just give up let Ladybug and Chat Noir handle it.
One day while she was in class, Chloé perked up when she heard someone mention Queen Bee. She turned around to see Alix and Kim engaged in a conversation about her alter ego.
“I’m just saying, she’s not good at what she does,” Kim said, leaning against the back of his seat with a nonchalant shrug. “Queen Bee just seems to make things worse when there’s an akuma attack. She’s not helpful at all to Ladybug and Chat Noir, and I think everyone would be better off if she would just stop getting in the way.”
Chloé turned back around and stared down at her lap, trying to ignore the slight burning in her eyes. She wasn’t going to cry. She wasn’t.
Maybe he was right, though. Before she showed up, the most trouble Ladybug and Chat Noir had during attacks was always from the akuma victim themselves. However, now that she was in the picture, they were being held back by someone who was supposed to be their teammate.
Ladybug and Chat Noir were better off without her.
“Hey,” a voice piped up, interrupting her thoughts. “Give her a break, Kim. She’s new.”
Chloé turned around to see- to her surprise- Marinette Dupain-Cheng defending her to Kim.
Not that she knew she was defending Chloé, but still.
“So what?” Kim said. “She’s an amateur; she should leave the akuma-fighting to the professionals.”
“She’s doing her best,” Marinette insisted, scowling at the boy. “And she’s getting better at it. But obviously she’s going to have to practice. I mean, I’m no superhero, but I’d imagine that if I suddenly became one, it would take some getting used to. And don’t forget that Ladybug and Chat Noir weren’t exactly experts when they first showed up, either; remember when Ladybug forgot to purify the akuma, and then Stonehearts started popping up all over Paris? At least Queen Bee hasn’t done that.”
“I just don’t get why we need a third superhero,” Kim said. “And, keep in mind, I use the term ‘superhero’ loosely when it comes to her. Ladybug and Chat Noir were just fine; why did she have to show up and wreck it?”
Marinette stood angrily from her seat. “She didn’t wreck anything. She showed up because of Style Queen, remember? Chat Noir was missing, and Ladybug needed help to defeat the akuma. If Queen Bee hadn’t shown up, Ladybug never would have defeated Style Queen.”
Chloé felt her eyes go wide and her cheeks turn pink. The blue-haired girl was evidently passionate about the subject.
“And another thing,” she said. “You say that you use the term ‘superhero’ loosely for her, but what you don’t seem to realize is that she is much more of a superhero than you are. I don’t see you saving Paris, so until you get a superhero alter ego of your own, you don’t have any right to judge Queen Bee.”
With that, Marinette plopped back down into her seat with an angry huff. Next to her, Alya looked impressed at her friend’s passionate display, and Adrien was staring at her in surprise.
Chloé was staring at her, too. While she had seen and heard people defend her superhero alter ego before, none of them had been so passionate.
She and Marinette didn’t get along, but… maybe she had been too hard on the girl. After all, she had been a pretty horrible person for most of her life up until now, and she had definitely been far more malicious toward most people than was necessary.
Maybe the first step to redemption and to truly deserving her miraculous was making amends with her rival of so many years.
***
Queen Bee hovered nervously behind a building just down the street from the Dupain-Cheng bakery.
She was hiding just out of sight from Marinette, who was sitting on her balcony with her sketchbook in her lap, a cup on the table next to her, and a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
She found her heart fluttering apprehensively as she watched the girl stand from her chair and walk to the railing of her balcony, leaving her blanket and sketchbook behind.
What was she thinking? She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t just go up and talk to her. This was ridiculous. It had been a bad plan.
She turned to fly home, then stopped herself.
No, she thought. I have to do this. I have to make amends with Marinette and start being nice to her, because if I keep being so awful to her, I’ll never be worthy of my miraculous.
Plus, she wanted to thank her for standing up for her.
So, steeling herself, she flew toward the bakery, landing quietly behind Marinette.
“Hi,” she said softly after a moment.
Marinette spun around, surprised to hear her voice. The girl lost her footing for a moment, and if the railing hadn’t been behind her, she likely would have fallen off the edge of the building and onto the pavement below.
Queen Bee cringed internally at the thought. Nice, Chloé, you come here to thank the girl, and you nearly kill her.
“Queen Bee?” Marinette said with wide eyes once she got over her initial shock. “What are you doing here?”
“I- um- I came to thank you,” she said softly. She felt awkward; she had never really tried to be nice to Marinette before, and now that she was trying, it felt… wrong. “I, um, heard through the grapevine that you defended me to one of your classmates today. I just wanted to stop by and say thanks.”
Marinette offered her a small smile. “Of course. What Kim was saying was just rude, and you didn’t deserve it.”
Queen Bee looked down at her feet. That last part wasn’t necessarily true.
“No one has ever defended me like that before,” she said, not looking at her. “Not that I’ve ever really deserved to be defended so passionately.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” Marinette assured her.
“Oh, it is,” the blonde responded, looking back up at her and meeting her eyes again.
“But you’re a superhero,” Marinette said, her brow furrowed. “If you deserve powers, then surely you deserve to be defended when people are saying bad things about you.”
Queen Bee sighed. “That’s just the thing. I’m not so sure I do deserve my powers.”
“What?”
Bee shook her head. “If- if you knew who I was and what I’m like without the mask, you would understand. I’m… self-centered, rude, bratty, obnoxious, disrespectful, spoiled… I’m just a horrible person in general.”
Marinette was quiet for a moment, and Bee stared down at her feet.
Silently, Marinette pulled up two chairs and sat down in one of them, gesturing for the blonde to sit in the other one.
“I don’t know who you are or what you’re like in civilian life,” the dark-haired girl admitted softly as the blonde lowered herself into the chair. “I don’t know what you’ve done in the past, or how you’ve treated others, but I do know that the fact that you’re admitting all of this about yourself shows maturity. The fact that you recognize that your actions are wrong shows self-awareness. The only question is: are you working to stop acting that way, so you can become a better person?”
Bee thought about it for a moment. “I… I’m trying,” she said. “That’s actually part of the reason I’m here tonight. As awful as it sounds, I’ve never been one to thank people, so… I thought I’d try to start showing more gratitude, starting with you.”
Marinette smiled at her. “Then I believe that you deserve your powers. You recognize your faults, and you’re working to fix them. That means you’re becoming a better person.”
Queen Bee looked up at her. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
The blonde smiled. “Thank you.”
***
Queen Bee stayed on her balcony for hours. They talked and laughed the night away, and she realized that she had really been missing out all this time that she and Marinette had had their rivalry. When she didn’t hate the person she was talking to- or, at least, when she didn’t know she hated the person she was talking to- she was actually a very kind, funny, interesting person. When they spoke as friends rather than enemies, Queen Bee found herself hanging onto every word the girl spoke, enthralled by her stories. When she didn’t have a burning hatred in her eyes, Queen Bee realized that Marinette was actually very pretty.
After a long while, Bee noticed Marinette yawning and realized how late it was. She must have been exhausted.
“It’s getting late,” she said, standing from her chair and beginning to make her way toward the edge of the balcony. “I should go.”
“Wait,” Marinette protested, standing and grabbing her by the hand to stop her.
She turned back to face her, glancing down at the hand that held hers, and she felt her face heat up a bit. “Yeah?”
“Thank you for coming. I had fun with you tonight.”
Bee smiled at her. “Thank you for letting me stay for so long. I had fun, too.”
“Um,” Marinette stuttered. In the moonlight, her cheeks looked like they had turned a light shade of pink. “Would you- um- maybe want to come by another night?”
She felt her cheeks turning darker. “S- sure. I’d like that.”
“Okay,” Marinette breathed. “How’s tomorrow night?”
She smiled. “Perfect. I’ll see you then.” She turned and climbed over the balcony railing, her wings fluttering gently as she slowly began to rise into the air.
“Wait,” Marinette stopped her again. Bee turned back to look at the girl, who was definitely blushing now.
Before she could even process what was happening, Marinette was leaning over the railing and pressing her lips against Queen Bee’s.
Queen Bee’s eyes widened in response to the quick kiss, her face burning as Marinette pulled away. “Um.”
“Sorry,” Marinette said quickly, her own face turning a deep shade of red. “I- I just-“
Bee cut her off by returning the kiss. This one lasted longer than the first, and Queen Bee’s heart was thudding so violently she feared the other girl could hear it.
They broke apart after a few moments, and Bee’s lips felt tingly.
“I… I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” she said awkwardly.
“Right,” Marinette said, blushing furiously. “To- tomorrow.”
Not knowing what else to say, Queen Bee stuttered out one last goodbye and flew away into the night.
***
Chloé hugged her pillow tightly to her body.
She had kissed Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
And she had liked it.
She had never kissed a girl before tonight, but she knew that she definitely wanted to do it again.
More specifically, she knew that she definitely wanted to kiss Marinette again.