Chapter Text
Seven years ago…
Chloé fell to the ground, the world continuing to spin around her as she laid on her back, trying to keep her lunch down. A blue blur giggled over her.
“Don’t worry, Queen Bee! I’ve got this!” Marinette shouted, moving her arms as if conjuring cataclysmic energy in her finger tips. She thrusted her arms towards the stuffed butterfly sitting on the chair and threw herself back like she was stumbling back from the impact. Marinette fell down beside Chloé, groaning, “I think that stupid butterfly beat us.”
The two girls exploded into an uproarious laughter that made Chloé’s stomach hurt. They eventually settled into a comfortable silence, breathing hard and staring up at the ceiling of Chloé’s pristine room together. It was times like these that Chloé documented and locked away in her diary. Times where she could just be Chloé. She was happy that one of those moments would be her tenth birthday party. A birthday spent with Marinette.
Chloé suddenly remembered something. She turned to Marinette, asking, “Have I opened your gift yet?” Marinette’s soft smile turned into a tense line. She sat up and began to twiddle her thumbs, her face turning an unnatural shade of red.
“I don’t think you have…” she began. “But before you open it-” Chloé interrupted her by pouncing onto her bed to snatch the yellow bag from where it was laying. After opening countless soulless gifts, this was the only one she was dying to open. She peered into it, trying to guess the contents before fully excavating the gift, but it was completely concealed by purple tissue paper.
“Purple and yellow!” Chloé exclaimed. She looked up from the bag to meet Marinette’s strained gaze. “You remembered that my favorite color is yellow.”
“Chloé, obviously I remembered your favorite color is yellow,” Marinette said flatly, gesturing to her room which had yellow curtains, a yellow bed, and many yellow stuffed animals.
Chloé began to rip into the bag, revealing a stuffed animal and a bracelet. The stuffed animal was a clearly handmade yellow bear with buttons for eyes, likely sloppily stitched together by Marinette who had just begged her parents for a sewing machine. The bracelet was slipped over the bear’s neck like a glittery collar with pink and purple beads. For a moment, Chloé was at a loss for words. Everything about this gift screamed “Marinette”, and she loved it.
“What were you saying earlier? I kind of interrupted you, but I was just, like, so excited,” Chloé said.
Marinette looked down at her lap and pressed her lips together. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get you something better,” she spat out. “I saw all of those nice necklaces and bracelets that all the other kids got you, and I wanted to get you something like that… But I can’t.” Chloé watched as Marinette’s eyes began to well with tears. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to.” Marinette looked away, refusing to look at Chloé.
“Marinette…” Chloé gasped. Her grasp tightened around the bear as she approached Marinette and wrapped her in a hug. “I love your gift more than any of those stupid necklaces or whatever those kids got me. I barely know any of their names.” She released Marinette from the hug and looked at her and placed her hands on her shoulders. “But you’re, like, my best friend so obviously I love your gift.”
“R-Really?” Marinette sniffled.
“Really. This is probably the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of cute things,” Chloé said matter-of-factly. She covered her mouth, held up the stuffed animal, and moved its head like it was speaking. “You know, for someone so smart, sometimes you can be really dumb. Like right now.”
Marinette chuckled and slapped the bear out of Chloé’s hand. “You’re dumb!” she said.
Chloé smirked and pointed at the bear. “Hey, it wasn’t me!”
The two continued to laugh and chat but were interrupted by an abrupt knock at the door. “Chloé, come outside right now,” Chloé heard her father’s voice boom from behind the door. She rolled her eyes and apologized to Marinette.
Chloé met her father outside the door of her room. His face made Chloé tense up. When he wasn’t campaigning or kissing babies or whatever her father did - Chloé was never really sure - her father was usually an inexpressive man, his face fixed and stony like an Easter Island statue. But his jaw was clenched. His eyebrows were furrowed and his eyes were narrowed, pointed at her.
“You’re aware that you’re missing your own birthday party, correct?” her father asked, gesturing to the elevator behind him which would lead to the party. “I invited many guests, and they’re all looking for you. You’re being a very rude host.”
Chloé fidgeted with her hands and avoided his gaze. “Daddy, I-”
“Look at me when I’m talking to you, Chloé,” he interrupted. Chloé swallowed hard and forced herself to look her father up into her father’s eyes. It was like looking into the burning sun.
“Yes, sorry,” she apologized. “Daddy, I really like the party, but all of those girls are so weird and mean. All they want to do is talk about their parents or their houses or their cars. I just want to hang out with Marinette. We’re just playing in my room.” A silence fell over both of them. After a moment, Chloé pointed at the door and asked, “Can I go back to my room now?”
“Of course not,” her father spat. “I thought that inviting all of these people might encourage you to make friends with some actual worth, but for some reason you just continue to cling to this cheap bakery girl.” Chloé felt her stomach turn.
“She’s not just a cheap bakery girl,” Chloé argued. “She’s my best friend.”
“Quiet,” her father demanded. “I have told you repeatedly that by being her friend, you are ruining our family name. This is your last warning. You will tell her to leave and never speak to her again.”
“But, Daddy!” Chloé shrieked. “I won’t.”
“You will if you don’t want that little shack she calls a bakery to be uprooted. Daddy knows a lot of people.” He smiled. “Think about it.” As suddenly as he arrived, he left for the bustling party. Chloé couldn’t look away from the spot where her father once stood, frozen. She could feel pounding music from downstairs shake her the ground beneath her, reverberating throughout her entire body. It felt like she was being sucked into the ground and she was using all of her energy to stay upright. She slowly turned to her bedroom door and felt nauseous about what she knew she had to do. For Marinette’s sake.
Clenching her fist, she opened the door. Marinette was laying on the floor but quickly stood up to comfort Chloé. She tilted her head and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Chloé wiped the tears away from her face and abruptly said, “You need to leave. Now.”
Marinette took a step away from Chloé. “I… What?” she stammered. “I’m sorry. What did I do?”
“Nothing,” Chloé cried. “I just… You just…” She struggled to come up with a reason for why Marinette was forced to leave.
“I knew my gift was horrible,” Marinette muttered. “I’m sorry, Chloé.” Chloé glanced down at the bear sprawled out on the floor, its lopsided eyes pleading with her. “Don’t do it,” they seemed to say.
“Yeah… Yeah, it was your gift!” Chloé started, clinging to the thought. “I can’t associate with some… some cheap bakery girl. So you need to leave. Now,” she spat, channeling her father. Chloé finally met Marinette’s gaze. Her cheeks glossy with a stream of tears. Chloé bit her tongue, fighting everything instinct within herself to take those venomous words back. But she knew she couldn’t. This was for Marinette’s own good.
The two stood in silence until Marinette sobbed, “Fine!” She grabbed her bag from Chloé’s bed and rushed out the door, brushing past Chloé’s shoulder and slamming the door on the way out.
Chloé collapsed to the ground. She felt like she was in a bad dream, suspended in space waiting to wake up. The sobs that came out of her were guttural, the kind that gave her a stomach ache. She slowly crawled over to the bear and hugged it like she wished she could hug Marinette. She whispered apologies into its ears like they would reach the only person that needed to hear them, but she knew they never would. They couldn’t, and they wouldn't.