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Marinette smiled. "Oh Queen Bee, you shouldn't." Marinette eyed those plump red lips in front of her, they were so enticing. She could smell the lipstick, cherry flavor.
"I know."
Hours prior another Akuma was terrorizing Paris. This one was flicker. By Marinette's account it was a stupid villain. All he could do was flash a bright light in a set pattern. It took a while to beat him thanks to a certain Bee themed heroine that insisted she get the final blow so she could shine in the spotlight. Despite the fact that when they were done she would be the only one in the spotlight because she was the only one that stayed around for it.
Actually defeating flicker wasn't that hard, they just covered their eyes when the flash was coming and that was all. A brief moment of blindness didn't impair the trio of heroes.
In the end Queen Bee got her wish of looking like the savior of the day. She always did when the villains were easy. Anything too difficult and she hung back and let Ladybug and Chat Noir do their jobs. And that's what they were now, jobs. After graduating the Akuma's became even more frequent ruining their chances for a normal career. They had tried getting jobs but missing the first few days thanks to akuma attacks was grounds for instant firing.
They all had their own thing they did. And somehow, their identities managed to stay a secret, from the public. Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities were still a secret from everyone. Both of them knew Queen Bee's identity, because they had given the miraculous to her in person. A few other people knew Chloe was Queen Bee, Sabrina for one, and a few others that could recognize her snobbishness in an instant.
It did make things complicated in Marinette's home life. Especially after moving in with Chloe. Their relationship wasn't complicated. Chloe confessed to Marinette, she agreed to give Chloe a try, and a few months later they were living together. Everything was working out, by Marinette's standards.
Watching Chloe stutter out her excuses about where she was when she was Queen Bee was cute at first, then it became a comedy routine. Ladybug always left the scene before the others and so she was always back in the right spot before Chloe got back. She always wore a smirk when asking where Chloe was. Hearing the sudden excuse about where she was and hearing the astute blonde fumble over her words was a daily routine now.
'Where were you? I was so worried because we're so close to where that Akuma was. It's a good thing Ladybug and Chat Noir was there.'
'I was in the restroom hiding.'
'I got lost downstairs looking for a picture frame.'
'I remembered an old movie I used to have and thought we could watch that, no, I didn't find it.'
'I needed to look at some paperwork.'
'I was having a panic attack because I couldn't find 'you.''
'Where was I? Aren't you just happy I'm safe?'
'What about Queen Bee!?'
It was nice to know what it was like on the other end. But not quite, her parents and her friends always thought she really was in danger or abandoned them when an Akuma showed up. She was fortunate enough to not have that worry being right beside Chloe, working alongside her the whole time.
It actually was a contributing factor to their successful relationship. There was one major pressing thing that would become a roadblock first in their relationship, and Chloe was waiting for it to show up. Chloe was waiting for Marinette to take issue with her constant disappearances. Chloe had to bail and miss out on so many things with Marinette it was a miracle that Marinette hadn't dumped her one of the first times it happened. From Chloe's perspective, Marinette was a ticking time bomb. The moment she made a mistake Marinette would bring up all the disappearances and dump her and she would be in the right to. Chloe, from her perspective, had put next to nothing into the relationship and Marinette had to know it too.
All of this worry made Chloe as affectionate as possible. For dinner they went to the finest restaurants in Paris. When they were alone Chloe showered Marinette with hugs and kisses. She replaced her own bed to one that Marinette would like better.
All of this would make Chloe feel they were even, if that was even possible in a relationship, if Marinette wasn't too good for her. When they went out to dinner Marinette always picked the places Chloe liked. When they were alone Marinette returned every hug and kiss back to Chloe. And their bed? Months before going shopping for a new bed Chloe had been looking over a furniture stores collection for kicks. She had made the off comment of, oh this looks nice, and showed it to Marinette. Marinette had saved that web page and kept it around just in case Chloe brought it up.
The worst part was just how much Marinette was willing to put up with. She has been left hours at a time at the same place many times. Chloe could only imagine the boredom that came from sitting at the same table alone and across from an empty chair where her date should have been for hours.
Marinette delighted in this. Chloe's game of, do everything you can think of for Marinette so she doesn't leave, was worth it. She planned to reveal that she knew she was Queen Bee for a while soon. She wasn't sure how soon but it would happen. She wasn't going to reveal that she was Ladybug though. She wasn't ready to reveal that to anyone.
The former mayors property was massive. A plot of land large enough for two buildings and a surrounding tree cover. There was a paved road that wound through the trees and up to the front doors of the main building with a roundabout that doubled as a garden. A little ways before the roundabout was an offshoot of road that went a quarter mile from the main building and led to a much more reasonable sized house. It was Chloe's house that her father had given her so she could have some sense of responsibility. It was a lie. Mr. Bourgeois loved his daughter too much, and could afford to, to not give her any hardship. Instead Chloe would live the rest of her life in wealthy comfort with a house that with all of her expenses paid twice over.
Marinette was still a designer at heart, and Chloe had gone out of her way to get the best equipment she could for Marinette. She even dedicated a whole room on the second floor to Marinette's work. The building had three floors but that was used for a theater. Marinette hated going up there, it reminded her she lived in a house with a theater. And she was sure she would never get used to seeing people cleaning around the house for her.
Chloe had never really taken a personal interest in Marinette's designing. Except for the occasional cry that would come whenever Marinette made something for her. Marinette had always had a sneaking worry that Chloe would notice how long it takes her to do what she does. Almost as if there were hours of a time where nothing got done. Marinette also knew that Chloe had no idea how long it really took to make a hat. A week seemed perfectly reasonable, from Chloe's perspective. From Marinette's perspective, it should only take her a little over two days.
It was around ten in the evening. Marinette was working in her studio, stitching away some finer details, trying to cover up some mistakes that she had made when she wasn't paying attention. And listening to Elvis. She had gotten some of his music after watching a Disney movie and thought she might like his other stuff. She wasn't a fan. She found one song that she had really liked and had been playing it on repeat for a while now, humming along and muttering the words as she stitched.
She threaded the needle up from the hat, "Her lips are like a volcano that's hot." and pulled the needle up higher, for a moment right towards her eye before the path diverted and missed her head by a mile. "I'm in love. I'm all shook up. Ba do do," She hummed along and threaded the needle back through again.
She was working on another hat for Chloe, this time with an embroidered lemon pattern. Chloe wasn't the fondest of lemons, but they were yellow, and Chloe loves yellow. She was also looking to not give away that she knew Chloe was Queen Bee in any way until she told her.
Tink!
Marinette perked up and set down the hat, hit pause on her phone, and listened. The room used to be a library, and sometimes it still was, small noises like the house settling was normal. Sometimes the walls groaned so loud she thought they would break. But Chloe had assured her that the walls and supports were reinforced, going even as far as to pull out blueprints. And it was cluttered with all sorts of equipment. Small sounds were guaranteed.
But it didn't sound like a small sound from a 'thing'.
Marinette stood up, and heard buzzing. She could recognize that buzzing from anywhere. Listening to it for hours almost every day makes itself pretty distinct in her mind. She walked over to the balcony, the darkened silhouette of a flying girl took shape from behind the warped glass balcony doors. She pushed the doors open and saw Queen Bee flying a foot off the balcony floor, hands on her hips no doubt feeling powerful.
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Queen Bee said and let herself fall to the floor, feet hitting the ground sending a small bounce through her whole body. "I've been dying to meet you."
"Oh wow!" Marinette said, doing her best to disguise the giggling fit building up in her. "You're,"
"Queen Bee." Queen bee finished. She shook her head and brushed her long blonde ponytail behind her head. Marinette had no doubt Chloe thought she was being the coolest person alive right now. "You know Marinette, I've been wanting to get a hold of you for quite some time now."
"Hold that thought. My partner is a much bigger fan of yours. You'll love her, just, stay there." Marinette said while backing away.
Queen Bee rushed behind Marinette and slammed the balcony doors shut. "No! I mean, I came to see you Marinette. I can't have anyone else knowing I'm here."
"What, what is this?" Marinette asked, backing away. She knew Chloe would never hurt her, she wasn't afraid in the slightest. She was just curious as to what Chloe's plans were exactly. They had rules after all, and one of them was that Queen Bee wasn't supposed to reveal her identity. A rule that Marinette was shocked Chloe had obeyed for so long. One of the other ones was that they weren't allowed to use their powers against civilians. Did using her powers to get up onto the balcony and close some doors count? She'd have to think it over.
"I've seen you in the crowds Marinette." Lie, but, was this a pick up line? "You caught my eye." Marinette couldn't believe it, Chloe was using her superhero persona to flirt. "And the only thing I've been able to think about was that I needed to find a way to get to know you."
Marinette fell into a wooden chair Queen Bee had backed her into. Chloe stepped forward with every statement. Marinette blushed, although Queen Bee probably couldn't see it in this dark light. The only illumination being the overhead lantern and the light from the studio.
Marinette smiled. "Oh Queen Bee, you shouldn't." Marinette eyed those plump red lips in front of her, they were so enticing. She could smell the lipstick, cherry flavor.
"I know." Queen Bee leaned in for a kiss.
Marinette put her finger up and it was kissed instead. "No I mean, you really shouldn't."
"Why not?" She asked, lips still pushed against Marinette's finger.
"Because," Marinette said. "I happen to have an amazing partner who I am madly in love with. And I love her too much to just go cheating on whatever superhero comes my way."
Queen bee pulled Marinette's arm down. "Is that so?" she asked with a smile. "Do you get approached by a lot of superheroes?"
"Oh a ton." Marinette lied. She hated lying, hated it with a passion. The only times she didn't hate lying are when she had to do it with her job as Ladybug and right now. "Ladybug came by last week and she was very rude about the whole thing."
"Ladybug was here?!" Queen Bee shouted before covering her mouth.
Chloe still had a massive crush on Ladybug. It was sweet in a way, but also made Marinette feel a little sick when she thought about it. Chloe loved her, both sides of her, but she didn't know that. Chloe thought they were two separate people and it gave Marinette an odd feeling of jealousy towards herself.
"I was actually in the middle of something." Marinette said. "I'm sorry to disappoint you but I think you should go." Marinette stood and walked past Queen Bee. She wanted to hug her, she wanted to kiss her, it would be fun kissing Chloe in her own mask instead of those novelty ones she bought. But she wasn't ready to reveal that she knew Chloe was Queen Bee yet. And she wasn't ready to make Chloe think she was cheating on her, with herself. It would all be too confusing.
Marinette stepped inside, closed the door, and for a little show, she didn't move. She stood still after closing the door, knowing she could still be seen, and she waited for the buzz of Queen Bee's wings to tell her she had left.
Marinette returned to working on the hat as fast as she could. She even prepared a large box next to her just in case.
She heard the thump thump thump down the hall and tossed the hat into the box and put it under the table behind her. She pulled out her notepad and a ruler to make it look like she was busy. Chloe didn't know what went into making one of these anyway she wouldn't notice that they were meaningless at the moment.
Chloe barged in and made a beeline for Marinette after locating her. "Marinette!" She wailed. "Are you okay? I thought I saw something big flying the house, I think it might have been an Akuma!"
"Hey hey, I'm alright." Marinette hugged Chloe tight. "There's not gonna be any Akuma's out here in the middle of the woods." Marinette had to lie to herself about calling the wall of trees that surrounded their property woods. They were dense and it cut them off from the rest of Paris, but it wasn't woods, no one was going to get lost in them.
"At least stop working and come to bed. It's late and I'd rather us not be in a room with windows just in case it is an Akuma."
Marinette dropped her pen and felt her pointer finger stick. She had gotten Chloe's lipstick on it.
Marinette pushed her finger against Chloe's lips to push her head away. "Alright I'll be there in a second. Are there any plans for tomorrow?" She asked.
"Um, yeah." Chloe looked ashamed. "I have to go into town for some important paperwork." Marinette translated, she had patrol duty.
"Being the mayors daughter sure is rough isn't it?" Marinette said. "Go get ready for bed, I'll be there in a minute." Chloe kissed Marinette before getting up and heading out. "And Chloe." Chloe stopped at the door. "Love you."