Work Text:
"You know, you're really cute when you're concentrated."
Chloé tried to ignore him, a scowl on her face as she swatted him and his cheesy words away—though the coloring of her cheeks betrayed her feelings. That Chat Noir suit and it's miraculous were definently influencing Adrien to sound so suave, she reasoned. He wouldn't say things like that so openly!
Sometimes it felt a little foreign to hear him talk like that. Even after so many years of knowing him, it was still strange to hear him sound so...confident and at ease now that they weren't children.
But oh, times had changed...
"Your blushing face is also pretty cute too, if I do say so myself."
"Chat Noir!" She hissed, forcing herself to glare at him. As far as everyone inside the Le Grand Paris knew, she was the only one in her room—she couldn't risk having anyone know that their was a visitor in her room at night.
Especially not a certain cat-based hero.
But try as she might, it was really hard to give him a threatening look, knowing that behind the mask was the model, no—her friend, that she had been (quite openly, she admitted with a hint of embarrassment) pining for for a long time.
Thankfully he compromised pretty quickly. Chloé gave a satisfied 'hmph' when he put his hands up playfully, and proceeded on with her work.
"You're unusually calm for someone who's partner bailed on them." He noted after a few moments of observing her. "I'd expect you to be really mad right now."
"Of course I am! Sabrina just bailed on me and now I have to do this project by myself!" She whined, carefully gluing her perfectly-cut paper onto the poster board. She glanced at her fingers in disgust when the white substance caused her index and thumb to stick. But in favor of finishing her project, she reluctantly ignored it, and continued piecing in another part of her and Sabrina's assignment.
"I'm surprised you haven't asked Jeeves to do it." Adrien chuckled, tilting his head to the door, referring to the loyal butler that had stayed with the Bourgeois for who knew how long. He added with a teasing tone as an afterthought, "I expected you to give up a long time ago and force someone else do it for you instead."
It was then, after the masked hero had a little playful jab at her, that he knew hit home. Because Chloé had suddenly become deathly silent at his words—which was both rare and extremely out of character for her.
Bad move.
It didn't take long for him to realize his mistake. "Chloé, I—" Adrien attempted to apologize, taking a step towards her with a hand outreached to land on her shoulder. He stopped, however, when he saw her mouth move.
Adrien could faintly discern some words, but it was too low for him to hear. He raised a brow, opting to bend down beside her in an effort to hear her more clearly. "What was that?"
"I...I didn't want to bother him." Chloé huffed out, before her tone became quiet. Her hands clenched and unclenched on her lap, and Adrien swore he heard her voice waver as she said, "Taking care of me is enough of a chore, isn't it? Besides...I was going to have to do my work sooner or later."
Adrien's eyes softened at her words, looking away as he fought the impulse to instinctively to take her into his arms. To tell her that she was wrong. To tell her he was sorry.
If he had felt bad a few moments ago, now he felt really bad about it.
She had been trying so hard to become nice. Offering to help others and even giving some fashion advice to some of their classmates...it actually freaked everyone out despite the good cause behind it, but Chloé had not been dispirited at all. For the first time in a long while, Adrien could see his childhood best friend slowly emerging from the cracks of her past, cruel self.
And now here he was, completely discouraging by remind her of what she would've done a long time ago.
Adrien open and closed his mouth, a frown emerging on his face.
He had blown it. Really, really badly.
'Really smooth, Chat Noir.'
He internally groaned, fighting the urge to bang his head on a brick wall. It was too soon to be joking about the past, not when Chloé had yet to make more friends. There really was nothing he could say to lighten the mood now...
But then again, he suddenly remembered, there was one option.
His light green eyes instantly glinted in determination. He would definently take that alternative, he reasoned.
For her.
The daughter of the mayor of Paris didn't dare to turn to see him when she heard beeping, and then, a neon green light engulfing a small section of her room before it disappeared. She wondered why it was that he transformed back to normal in front of her, but didn't dwell on it.
Until—
"I'll help you."
Chloé stood silent for a moment at his words, suddenly looking up at him in surprise.
She stared at the owner of the Cat Miraculous, searching for any sign in his facial expression that she had heard him wrong, but from the way his expression never once wavered, she realized that he had been serious.
The honey blonde girl scanned the room to make sure that there was nobody near hearing range before she said quietly, "Adrien..." She bit her lip before sighing, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.
Chloé stayed sitting crossed on her carpet, shoulders tensing and untensing as she bit her lip, debating on whether or not she should accept his offer while staring at the project before her.
Maybe a little help wouldn't hurt...
"Fine," she finally said, looking up at his green orbs that were staring back at her sky blue ones. She felt her cheeks burn, unable to say a word because wow did Adrien looked a lot more handsome close-up like this—
"But I'm doing the next project without help, alright?"
He laughed. "Right."
Adrien agreed with a grin, scooting a bit closer to her with his knees to get a better view of her work so far. "So, what you still need to do is type up a summary of the book, which in this case you chose Romeo and Juliet, and then explain why this piece of literature is either more of a romance or a tragedy..."