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The timer on Ladybug’s yo-yo ticked up as she watched the silhouette approach.
4:24
4:25
4:26
The silhouette resolved itself slowly as the figure ran across rooftops at a breakneck pace, jumping and vaulting with a reckless abandon.
4:41
4:42
She was almost here, how many times had she taken to get it right this time? Snake training was an odd thing. It only ever took five minutes if you weren’t wearing the miraculous yourself. Lilith closed the last few rooftops across the street, her scaled braid streaming out behind her.
4:58
4:59
Instead of resetting the snake hero leapt from the last rooftop. Mid-flight she was engulfed in an aqua glow and her jump lost its momentum. Ladybug cursed and snapped her yo-yo shut, lashing out to snag her comrade around the waist and yank her back up. Ladybug caught her, but was off balance in her haste and they tumbled back onto the roof in a tangle with Ladybug on top.
She shot a sharp look down at her partner. “You pushed it again.”
It was several seconds before the other girl could speak, her breath came in gasps and she was soaked with exertion. When she did speak her lips curled into a coy smile, “Trust fall?”
Ladybug gave her yo-yo string a little tug, eliciting an ‘eep’ before asking with her own coy lilt, “Is training with you supposed to make me more or less likely to let you fall?”
“If you were going to let me fall, you’d have done it long before now.”
Ladybug blinked at the change in tone. It’d gone from coy to what? Suggestive? Yet those blue eyes had more questions than statements in them. Ladybug’s mouth went dry, not for the first time, and she hoped her partner didn’t notice the shiver that ran through her. Retreating, Ladybug stood and offered a hand up. “How many resets was it this time around, Chloé?”
Chloé looked ready to say something else, but closed her mouth and took Ladybug’s hand. “Fifty-ish” She reached into an inner pocket of her Burberry half-trench, producing a small case with a carefully preserved square of Tofu for Sass.
“Still?” Ladybug sighed. “I thought the number would be down by now.”
Chloé scratched the top of Sass’s hood as he nibbled his treat. “I try new things to keep it interesting.”
“Chloé, the purpose of the exercise is-” Ladybug cut herself off. She took her instinctive reaction and chewed on it. The purpose was exercise and familiarity. It wasn’t how she’d do it but, did that matter?
Ladybug snapped out of her thoughts. Chloé had turned away in her silence and was combing her fingers through her sweat-soaked hair while grumbling in that cute way-
Ladybug swallowed. Hero stuff, hero stuff.. “It doesn’t matter. You learned something right? We need to meet up and hand off Sass to his new partner for the week.”
“Ugh, I’m a total disaster. Can’t it wait for a bath?”
“Do you really think Alya will care?”
Chloé fussed with her half-jacket, opening it to fan herself then closing it again. She primped and sighed. “No, you’re probably right. I just don’t like being unpresentable around her.”
Ladybug gave a half-smile and reached out, slipping an arm across Chloe’s shoulders under her loose hair, sweat and all. “I think Alya will respect the sweat more.”
Chloé looked up, then away quickly. Were her cheeks more flushed now than they had been? “She would.” came the sulky reply.
“C’mon, I’ll carry your tired butt.” Ladybug slipped her arm down and hooked Chloé’s waist. Chloé’s reflexive ‘no wait!’ was cut off as Ladybug swung them into the night. By the time they got to Alya’s rooftop Chloé was clinging and Ladybug’s amusement had morphed into an awareness that was uncomfortable by being all too comfortable.
The transfer went off without a hitch. Sass went with Alya and Chloé picked up Daizzi. Ladybug joked with her friend, but noticed Chloé was oddly subdued through the whole affair. Daizzi was probably the kwami that Chloé had the least rapport with, but that still didn’t account for it.
Lighting split the sky on the way back. Of course. The downpour broke and Ladybug redoubled her efforts at speed. It mattered little, a warm rain had them both soaked before she could make Le Grand Paris. “Im so sorry Chloé,”
There was no answer, but Ladybug could feel Chloé trembling in her arms. She assumed it was barely contained rage, and was glad at least for the effort. When they landed Chloé broke away though, running for the balcony doors. Ladybug hesitated before following at a walk. The pelting rain wouldn’t affect her post-transformation and if anything it might wash away some of her doubts.
The last few months were so packed, even by her Ladybug standards.
Before the Monarch Things had been insane but made sense. Adrien was her dream, she just needed time. Chloé was a tormentor, toppled by the confidence that came with Ladybug. Hawkmoth and all his iterations were a constant threat that dominated her life in predictable if dangerous ways.
None of that held true anymore.
Monarch had gone silent for months. Adrien was probably at Sabrina’s right now and Ladybug was was here; her hand on the door to Chloé’s suite. She was here because she wanted to be, because Chloé was a part of her team again. What had started as mutual support from the aftereffects of one of the Monarch’s devastating attacks had turned into… what?
They spent time together, lots of it. Chloé had entirely revamped Marinette’s hair care routine and Marinette had introduced Chloé to the world of flavored madelines. The pile of emotions that Chloé had always evoked hadn’t changed, it had just grown. New was thrown on top of old and it tumbled around into one tangled ball of sugar and spikes. Ladybug wanted to understand it, and at the same time even beginning to examine it terrified her. How could she still feel an occasional spike of fear when she heard the familiar shrill in class, yet also feel an emptiness when they didn’t see each other for a day?
Ladybug opened the doors and stepped inside, “Tikki, spots off.”
From dripping wet to wonderfully dry, Marinette glanced around the now familiar suite. “Chloé?”
She felt a strange dread of receiving an answer. Yet when none came, that was worse. Marinette called again, glancing into the sitting room then ascending towards Chloé’s bedroom. A pile of discarded clothing clued her in, and brought her recent thoughts back into her brain tenfold.
Chloé stepped out of her bathroom in a towel, battering her hair with another. She froze, and so did Marinette. Marinette felt her cheeks turn red. She turned sharply, and saw Chloé do the same just before the other girl left her peripherals. What is this?
It wasn’t the first time one of them had been in towels. Marinette had been grateful for the wondrously relaxing oversized bath in Chloé’s suite on more than one occasion. Something was making it weird right now though. The hammering in Marinette’s skull attached significance she didn’t understand.
"Sorry, I didn't realize, " Marinette fretted.
"No, no it's fine. I was just utterly soaked and I needed… I–" Chloé's voice cracked then changed tone. "So you're busy Saturday, right? The big catering at city hall?"
"Mom and dad need help. Will you be there?” Marinette risked a look over her shoulder. Chloé was doing the same and their eyes met.
Chloé was wringing the towel in her hands. She puffed up in a move Marinette could identify as pure reflex by now. “Of course not. It’s just some boring meet and greet for stuffy old men. Why would I be caught dead there?”
In a shift more common these days the mask fell quickly. Chloé’s voice grew softer. And the sneer left her lips.
“Look, Marinette, I– I just want to say…”
Chloé wet her lips with the tip of her tongue. Marinette found she was holding her breath, but couldn’t say why. She didn’t dare breathe though or it might not happen, even if she didn’t know what it was.
"I just– About, what I…"
A knock at the door broke the bubble of anticipation.
“Chloé? Are you in there? Can we talk?” Zoe’s voice was muffled through the thick doors.
Marinette loved Zoe, she was a dear friend, but as Chloé turned and vanished back into the bathroom Marinette cursed her timing with words she’d never let past her lips. All Marinette got was a fleeting glimpse of Chloé’s back and a new headful of questions. She raised her voice as she headed for the door. “I’ll see what she wants. We can talk later.”
But they didn’t. Chloé had vanished into her four posted bed and pulled the curtains, leaving Marinette and Zoe to watch the deluge, and catch up. Marinette was given a ride home as soon as the storm ebbed. As she layed in bed that night she knew what she had to do, and she was glad it was present day her in this situation, the old Marinette would never have been able to take this step. She needed to seek out help.
—-------
"Girl, are you okay?"
"What? Me, not okay? What?! Haha, what would make you say that?"
Alya leaned in and whispered, "We get to see each other a lot less these days. You invited me to meet you after school, we've been here outside Lycée for ten minutes waiting for I don't know what, and you've been staring a hole in the sky the whole time."
Marinette let out a long breath and gave her friend a rueful smile. “You got me Alya. I’m going bonkers and I need your help. There’s one other person I want to talk to about this too though, so we’re waiting.”
Alya gave Marinette a concerned side eye. "Are you sure you're okay, girl?
Marinette nodded,"I think so, maybe? I don't know."
Alya smirked. "Is this related to Adrien?"
"No!"
Alya's smirk stayed in place. "Chloé?"
"N-yes!" Marinette fumbled. "How did you…?"
Alya waggled her head and put on a superior air. "Reporter, Marinette. If I'm not mistaken your target just walked out the door."
Alya was right. The ginger girl who had slipped from the background to fit herself into the gap Marinette could now admit that she had left, was trotting down the stairs. Sabrina was juggling too many books and her phone. Even as Marinette was rising to help her the phone escaped, but a surprisingly nimble kick up saved the phone, launching it from the toe of Sabrina’s sneaker back on top of the book pile.
Marinette was still there though when the entire process threatened to pitch Sabrina sidelong down the stairs. She blinked as Marinette caught her with a hand on the shoulder, “Oh hi! Thanks, I’m just in too much of a hurry.”
As Alya came up Sabrina blinked between the two of them.
“Did I forget about a team exercise?”
Marinette shook her head while Alya stole a few of the books from Sabrina’s grip. “No Sabs, this is a me thing. Do you have time? It’s sounding like no.”
Another blink, Sabrina looked back and forth between the pair of them again. Marinette had just enough time for her brain to sidetrack itself on wondering exactly when she had picked up Adrien’s nickname for Sabrina before the girl seemed to make a decision. “I’ll make time. I- can I put my books down?”
Minutes later the trio were parked on the balustrade of a bridge over the Seine, eating ice cream at Marinette’s treat. Marinette chased heat-induced meltage around her cone with her tongue while trying to recenter herself.
“So Marinette, do you have some crazy scheme to win Chloé’s heart?”
Marinette almost dropped her cone. The panicked look she shot at Alya was reinforced by the painful thundering of the next half dozen heartbeats in her chest. Marinette glanced at Sabrina, who looked simply baffled, before replying. “I no– I just, no– Alya, it’s not like that.”
Alya licked her cone before replying with a simple, ”mhm.”
“She’s just a good friend.”
Alya snorted and it was her turn to nearly drop her cone.
Sabrina piped up, “You and Chloé?” Sabrina’s energetically hopeful tone found a resonance inside Marinette that she still wasn’t quite ready to believe.
“No, no. It’s just… she’s being weird. I thought one of you might have some insight into why, or what I should do. I’m still reeling some days because of how new and strange having her as a friend is. I can’t figure out what I did so wrong that things have gone back to being awkward again.”
The other two girls looked at each other. Alya gave a slight nod to Sabrina who bit her bottom lip as her own cone melted over her fingers before answering, “Chloé can get like that sometimes. If she’s got something bothering her, she’ll bottle it all up and pull away. I would just kinda keep my head down and do her homework.” She ducked her head slightly,”But that’s probably not too helpful.”
Alya added, “If you’re doing anything wrong Marinette, it’s overthinking things. Have you tried asking her about what’s bothering her?”
Marinette was slightly relieved to see Sabrina’s flinch, which reinforced her own opinion. “I don’t think I can yet. It feels like everything’s built on sand. If I push too hard it’ll all collapse.”
Alya persisted, “But you want to, right? You don’t want to wait and blow it all up until it ends up like your confession to Adrien.”
“I- Wait, are we back on this being a love confession? It’s not that!” Marinette pouted, shaking her cone at Alya and splattering ice cream on the concrete.
“It’s about emotions, Marinette. It’s about being honest. If you’re feeling uncomfortable you need to get that out there, especially with Chloé. I mean, how does she feel about how things have changed?”
Marinette bought herself some time licking her cone’s melt again. “I guess I don’t know, really. She wanted me to come to Lycée with her. She got me into this one, and paid my way. I thought it was still related to Monarch’s attack though.”
Sabrina’s voice piped up into the mix, almost inaudible. “Chloé buys things when she can’t say what she’s feeling.”
Marinette and Alya both turned to Sabrina. Her cone was melting further but she still hadn’t licked it. Even now her face was a mask of concentration, her eyes focused on a spot on the railing. Alya spoke first, gently encouraging, “You mean, when she doesn’t know what to say?”
Sabrina didn’t look up while answering. “No, when she can’t. Like, a couple times she would just kind of mumble for a while and I couldn’t understand her. Then she’d grab me by the arm and yank me along to a store and shove something into my hands. I was always happy when she did, because it usually meant she was done being mad about something. I never quite understood what though.”
Marinette thought back to the moment Chloé had made the offer. What had Chloé been trying to say? Alya’s persistence might just be teasing, but then again it might not. Marinette wasn’t sure how she felt about the fact that it might not be. She was slowly pulling herself along to a conclusion when Alya voiced it for her.
“Marinette, what do *you* want?”
“I-” What did she want? There were suggestions and ideas, bouncing around in her mind that she wasn’t sure she was comfortable with yet. It was like Adrien all over again, but also nothing like it. She forced herself to admit, “I don’t know.”
“Maybe, you should figure that out before you tackle what someone else wants.”
Marinette thought about that, finishing the top of her cone. Sabrina spoke, still in her tiny voice, “It’s scary wanting things, ‘cause someone else might not want the same.”
Don’t I know it. Marinette glanced at Sabrina, who was now belatedly trying to save her fingers from a sticky grave. Marinette had envied, even hated the girl very briefly. Sabrina had stolen a dream from Marinette. It had taken a little while to realize that’s exactly what had been stolen, a dream. Marinette had been dreaming while life kept happening around her. She’d woken up too late.
Marinette told herself this wasn't the same. It's not like she would care if someone came along and caught Chloé's– Marinette swallowed. No, it's not the same. It's just tension and emotion. I don't want to lose her as a friend. I don't want to go backwards, that's all.
A soft *plop* broke Marinette out of her thoughts. She blinked at her now ice creamless cone. Alya wore a wry smile and Sabrina a concerned frown.
“Marinette, whatever you’re going to do, you should do it soon. You don’t want to start Lycée the same way you ended Collège.” Alya offered her own carefully cultivated ice cream to Marinette.
Sabrina, still trying to deal with the cone she wore more than ate, added, “She’s calmer when she thinks you wanna stay with her.”
The exchange in the fitting room flashed once more into Marinette’s memory, and Chloé’s words and actions at that time suddenly made even more sense. Marinette knew she really did need to answer that question now. What do I want?
—----
“Adrikins!” Chloé flagged down her friend, striding across the bleachers to the stairs and trotting down to the field.
“Chloé?” Adrien stepped out of the line of jogging players headed back to the locker room. He was still mopping his face with a towel when they met, “I thought you didn’t like soccer.”
Chloé took a step back and sniffed, shifting her weight from foot to foot. “I don’t. It’s smelly, and gross, and look what you did to your hair for it.”
Adrien grinned, it was still the same lovely smile he’d always had, with just a touch more cheek to it. “Sabs likes it.” he countered.
“Ugh, do you have to remind me? Really Adrikins, if you weren't going to pick me, out of all your options–”
Chloé snapped her mouth shut. It wasn’t just because she’d seen his smile falling either. It was the feeling inside her that brought her up short. She’d heard herself, and she felt sick. Chloé curled her hands into fists and tried to regain some control. I’m not that person anymore. I’m not that person anymore. I’m not that person anymore, I hope.
She tried again, staring at his sneakers as she spoke, “This isn’t how I wanted this to start. I– I’m sorry. I’m… stressed. I’m all messed up… more than usual.” She laughed bitterly at that. “I came to talk to you. You’re the only person I know who might listen, and who I might listen to too.”
She was raw, exposed, but Adrien wouldn’t let her down; not this time. It was an Adrien in a good place, a friend full of hope and good will who said, “Chloé? What’s wrong? C’mon, We can go straight to the car if you don’t mind me stinking a bit.”
The validation was still a wave of relief that threatened to knock her over. It was still so new, so alien; kindness. Chloé raised her eyes and got a waggling of his eyebrows in response. She puffed herself back up a bit and replied, “If I can stand to look at that ridiculous little rat's nest you call a hairdo, then I can stand the smell.”
That drew a laugh, and his voice sparked through her veins like always. Even unfashionable, filthy, and taken, he was still Adrien . They walked to the waiting car in silence. Seated, with the partition up, Adrien pulled two bottles of water out of a mini cooler between the seats and offered her one. Chloé took it, but simply held it while he chugged his own. She had the presence of mind to let him finish before she blurted out her purpose.
“How do I apologize to Marinette?”
Adrien tilted his head."What did you do?"
"No." Chloé had a need to fidget. She suddenly felt trapped by being seated. She gestured helplessly until the words came out. "How do I apologize for… all of it?"
A confused stare.
"Everything Adrien." Chloé hugged her purse, a substitute Mr. Cuddly, as her voice began to climb. "How do I apologize for years? How do you fix something like that? We kind of ignore it now, but if I– We just can't. I have to do something, but I don't know what. How many times is enough? Just one? That seems too easy. Every day forever? That seems horrible. I want to do it right, but I don't know how."
"Hey, hey." Adrien spoke softly. "Relax, breathe." He reached across and laid one grubby hand on her shoulder. "Chloé, this is Marinette we're talking about. From what I can tell she thinks of you as a friend now. She's probably already forgiven you. Marinette's not the kind to hold a grudge."
Chloé twisted the strap on her purse. "I still have to, Adrikins. Don't I? If I'm a good person, they do that, right? None of this stuff mattered before, but being good matters to her ."
"You trying matters to her. I don't know everything that happened before I got here but, if you think you have to apologize then I'd say do it once, but do it sincerely."
Chloé squirmed. "Sincere? Me? You know me Adrien. Can't I just buy her a yacht?"
Adrien laughed, it could have been just the medicine Chloé needed, but mentioning a yacht had sent her into imagining sailing with Marinette; just the two of them, alone.
She blinked out of it with a start, and cracked the water bottle open to quench her suddenly very dry mouth. "What did you say, Adrikins?"
He reached up and ran a hand back over the thicker braids that crowned his head. "You should just be you Chloé. Be the you that you were when we used to hang out. Be the one you are now."
The nervous wreck, jumping at shadows and still sure I'll wake up forgotten any day now. Right, no one wants that. Especially not Ladybug. Chloé sighed and glanced out the window. "You can let me off here Adrikins. I will figure something out."
As she climbed out he caught her hand, "It's okay to be unsure."
She looked back. "That's ridiculous Adrien. I know exactly what I want. I just can't ever seem to have it."
—-------
It was another two days before she built up the nerve to broach the subject. Things were only getting more strained and she knew it was all her fault. Marinette was being if anything more nice than usual, but it had a strained current through it all. Just, do it. She won't make fun of you, will she? She'd have every right to.
The mere thought of that sent a stab right through Chloé's chest. She could handle a little ribbing from losers, but not from Marinette; not anymore. The numbers on the homework page were swimming. She dropped paper and pencil onto the coffee table and stood abruptly.
“Chloé? What’s up?” Marinette asked from her own worksheet.
Chloé glanced down, and those bluebell eyes looked up at her with concern. She was curled up on Chloés couch, small as can be, yet still filling Chloé’s senses. Of all the ridiculous, stupid, idiotic, lame brained notions you’ve ever had Chloé Bourgeois. This takes the cake. You can’t even bring yourself to say…
“Geometry is hideous. I’m going outside for fresh air.”
Marinette looked out the window at the sheeting rain, ”You sure about that?”
Chloé stopped short. She tried to glare the rain away and when that failed squeezed her hands into fists. “Yes I’m sure.”
There was just enough space to squeeze herself under the tiny overhang outside her door. The spray still damped her cardigan and wet her face, but she couldn’t admit defeat, not now, not over something so small. Chloé folded her arms and watched the wall of rain. Her hoped-for apology suffocated under guilt as her brain reminded her of every bad thing she’d done in vivid detail.
The click of the door jolted her back from a random moment in time, just one of a thousand pointless pranks on Marinette. In the memory Chloé was strangling her past-self, just trying to make it all stop.
“Room for one more out here?”
Marinette siddled her way out into the safe space too. She glanced at Chloé, but if she saw the unshed tears that stung Chloés eyes and threatened her makeup, she didn’t say anything. She just folded her arms too and looked out at the downpour.
“Why is it always rain?” Marinette mused.
Chloe’s arms fell to her sides. “Rain makes it– easier. The world vanishes and there are no more eyes.”
“And here I thought you liked having eyes on you.”
Chloé snapped her gaze to Marinette. It was too much, too quick. She couldn’t hide how such a simple statement pained her. But Marinette was there with a smile and an apology, “Sorry.” She took Chloé’s hand. “It’s the right pair of eyes that matters, the rest just judge you.”
“How did you–?”
“I’ve learned the hard way to pay attention. I got it right?”
The pain subsided, and Chloé was embarrassed to have doubted. She still felt raw though, more than ever. What else did Marinette already know? She nodded wordlessly and turned her head, wishing she had left her hair down today.
“Chloé, I feel like there's something you want to tell me. I just wanted you to know. You can take all the time you need. Just let me know when you–”
“I’m Sorry!” Out it came, burning the whole way. Chloé wasn’t afraid of saying the words, she was afraid they would never be enough. “Sorry…” She slumped back against the glass. “Sorry, for everything.” her voice barely a whisper. She stared at the rain. She couldn’t look at Marinette right now. You’re still not good enough, can’t even apologize right.
There was a long pause, just the rush of the rain filling the silence, then Chloé heard Marinette’s voice, speaking slowly and deliberately. “Chloé, you don’t need to. That’s all in the past now.”
“Is it? You’re here. I’m here. It’s us. This, right now, is us trying to pretend we didn’t exist before stupid Shadow-arch whatever hit us both with his stupid scourge. It didn’t make any of that stuff go away.”
Another pause. Chloé could easily envision Marinette’s mouth drawn into her little pout of thought. She could imagine, but she couldn’t look. “Chloé. I’m not the person I was at the start of last year,” a small laugh, “I’m not the person I was at the end of the school year either. I’ve changed a lot. I can look back at myself, and I know that it’s me, but it’s also not me. I can be embarrassed, frustrated, and even sad at the things that that me did. If I can feel that way, then I think that you can too. If you tell me you’re not the same person, I believe you. That pain can just be a part of the past, for both of us.”
Chloé wanted to believe, but it was hard, belief had stung her before. This was Marinette though, and if she couldn’t trust Marinette, what was she even doing? Chloé squeezed Marinette’s hand, still not looking at her. “I don’t want to be, I’m trying not to. Am I doing it right? I don’t know. Is it enough? I don’t know. I just know that I’m sorry Marinette. Every time I think of those times, I’m sor-”
“I accept.”
Chloé blinked, and this time, she did look at Marinette.
—---
Marinette had followed Chloé outside hoping to help a friend; hoping to solve a mystery. An apology from Chloé was never something she had expected. It was never something she knew she needed so badly.
The first one hit her like a shock, the second burned a hole clean through dark memories, and the third whispered plea filled up the hole with soothing balm. Marinette slumped against the door.
She had felt Chloé shaking through their contact. She had to do something. The words tumbled out. Denials, platitudes, the usual things a hero knows to say. She spoke slowly to keep the tremor from her voice.
Denial, and mitigation, make it nothing big. But it wasn't working. The emotion wasn't going away. It was growing and turning sour. Marinette felt panic rising. She had to make it better, she needed to see that smirk restored. Why? Because Chloé is my friend. An insistent voice whispered in her head that there was more. Marinette couldn't bring herself to listen. It was too much, too intense, it didn't feel like what the voice was whispering should feel like.
Marinette denied the voice at the same time she denied needing an apology. It failed her inside and out until finally:
"I accept."
Chloé turned to look at her, and the relief Marinette saw mirrored her own. It was relief, and yet still a little bit of fear that she saw in those eyes.
They were so blue.
"Thank you for apologizing Chloé. I- needed it. I didn't even know."
A chance twist of the wind hit them both with a sudden spray. Chloé, the girl whose hair was life, didn't even blink. "I can do it again. I mean it. I'll always mean it."
Her hand twisted in Marinette's grip, lacing their fingers together.
Marinette shook her head. She looked back and below those sapphire eyes Chloé's lips were trembling. How to stop them trembling? The voice whispered an answer. Marinette wasn't sure she knew how to. The voice painted her an impossible picture. Marinette accepted it.
"You've had your confession. Now, if it's okay, I have one too."
Marinette stepped closer. Chloe didn't back up, she straightened in place. Was that fear, or anticipation? Was there a difference?
What am I doing? Marinette hesitated.
The voice in her head whispered, "This."
Marinette let go of Chloé and grabbed her cardigan with both hands. Marinette twisted them, pushing Chloé back against the glass. She paused only an instant, face to face.
It was anticipation.
When Marinette's lips collided with Chloé's, it wasn't a kiss. It was her confession. It was an admission of so many things she didn't understand but that were sweeping her away. It was unyielding and panicky. It was confused and needful. Marinette's back was soaked as she stood there, lips locked and mind blank, afraid to draw away for fear of judgment.
Hands gripped her lapels. Chloé surged into the kiss and Marinette staggered back. They were drenched but it didn't stop. Marinette pulled between breaths. Chloé slewed them around. Their legs tangled with deck chairs. Marinette had her fingers curled in Chloé's ponytail. One of Marinette's ties snapped and the wet plastered her hair to her face. Amidst it all rainwater mixed with saltwater until at last Marinette's back arched over the balcony's rail.
The kiss finally ended. Was it the same kiss, or had one hundred kisses already left their lips? For the first time in her life Marinette experienced the shock of 'What just happened?' instead of the terror of 'What might happen?'.
Chloé was above her, blocking out the rain. The shock Marinette felt was reflected in Chloé's eyes, but then it faded and that wonderful smirk returned. "I'm not saying I'm sorry this time."
Marinette let go of her fears and matched it with a smile of her own. "Neither am I."