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Chloé made no secret of her admiration for Ladybug. It made Marinette equal parts smug and uncomfortable to think that someone who could hate her so completely loved her just as much. It was enough to give her whiplash, honestly.
The morning after the mayor’s akumatization was when the last domino fell. He had worked hard to keep it hidden from the press, and to an outside observer, Chloé’s foul mood was unprecedented (predictable, but not unexpected--nothing was unexpected with Chloé. Everyone was on edge for the slightest thing to set her off).
Marinette was torn. She wasn’t about to go over and offer support--it’s one thing to be your worst enemy’s shoulder to cry on when you’re dressed up as her idol, and quite another when you’re a bug under her heel--but she couldn’t help wincing every time Alya snapped back in Chloé’s face. It didn’t go unnoticed, either, and suddenly staying quiet was no longer a viable option.
“Come on, Alya, why don’t you just drop it?” Marinette said, attempting to drag her friend away from what was quickly becoming a fight in the middle of the locker room.
Chloé snorted. “Please, Marinette. If I ever think I’m pathetic enough to need your help, I’d rather just set myself on fire.” She turned primly on her heel, taking care to swing her ponytail around to smack them in the face, and hurried away.
As soon as she was out of sight, Alya rounded on Marinette. “What the hell? Suddenly you’re taking her side?”
“Honestly, Alya, I wasn’t even paying attention to what that was about.” Marinette sighed, shut her locker, and ran a hand over her face. “It’s been a long day. I don’t want to get into anything. I just want to go home, and I think that sounds like a good idea for everyone. Please, Al?”
Alya readjusted her glasses as they headed outside. “Whatever. I still think something happened at Le Grand Paris last night. No matter how much they want to cover it up, I’ll figure it out.” She stalked off into the evening.
Marinette sighed as she crossed the street. She pushed out a smile as she dropped a kiss on each of her parents’ cheeks and headed upstairs. She unpacked her backpack and arranged her homework in front of her on her desk, tapping her pencil pensively and staring, unseeing, at the wall.
Tikki peeked out of her purse and patted her softly. “It'll be okay,” the kwami reassured her.
“I guess. I'm just--I'm worried,” Marinette said, playing with her pigtail. “Would it be wrong for me to suit up and go see Chloé? I really don't think she's doing very well.”
“I think that would be very nice of you, Marinette,” Tikki said encouragingly.
She nodded resolutely and pushed back in her desk chair. “Tikki, transform me!”
Sabine knocked on her door. “Did you say something, dear?”
Ladybug froze. “Uh, no! I was just… I, um, dropped something on my foot? While I was, um. Cleaning. Yeah. Don’t come in, there’s stuff all over the door.” She winced, but her mother didn’t respond, and eventually she concluded that the coast was clear.
She swung up onto her balcony, not bothering to take a more indirect route to Chloé’s. Her light was off, and Ladybug, for all the times she’d been there, found herself unable to tell which room was Chloé’s. She skidded onto a balcony she thought might’ve been the right one and peered through the darkened window.
Ladybug jumped as someone inside turned on a light, illuminating Chloé’s face on the other side of the glass, which was itself illuminated by a bright grin as she realized who was peeking in her windows.
Chloé threw open the balcony door and seized Ladybug’s arm, dragging her inside and pulling her into a hug. “Ladybug! What are you doing here?” She gasped, somewhat melodramatically, and whispered, “Am I in danger?”
Ladybug scratched the back of her neck. “Uh, no, everything’s fine. I just wanted to see you--check in, see how you were doing. I figured you might be a little shaken up over--earlier.”
Chloé stared at her for a moment, and although she’d seen a thousand different expressions on that face, Ladybug couldn’t figure out what this one meant. She thought Chloé might burst into tears, or punch her, or kiss her. Or all three. Then Chloé wrapped her in another hug.
“You’re such a good friend, Ladybug,” she… sniffled? Her nose was buried in Ladybug’s hair and the fact that she seemed determined to hide her face helped further that suspicion. Ladybug patted her back awkwardly, suddenly noticing that Chloé was wearing little else besides a bathrobe.
“Uh--oh--were you--um, sorry, I didn’t mean to--” Ladybug stammered, hating herself more with each sentence she couldn’t finish. She could feel her face burning. Chloé drew back, a curtain of confusion and hurt drawing across her face. “Um. Shower?” Ladybug completed eloquently.
“What? Oh! Oh.” Chloé's brow cleared and she had the decency (or indecency as the case may be) to look bashful. “I was just… I like to take a bath to unwind. Um. But I wasn't expecting you.” She crossed her arms. “It's a good thing I saw you outside before I started running the bath, or the water would be cold by now and I'd have to kick you out. But now you can stay for hours ,” she gushed.
Ladybug grimaced. “Oh. Well, I mean, don't let me keep you.” She'd been given an out and damned if she wasn't going to let it fly out the window without attempting to grab on. Maybe all Chloé needed was a chance to relax. Maybe she didn't need to stay longer. Now that she was there, Ladybug was starting to see past the general concern that had distracted her and brought her there, and began to focus on the complete awkwardness that this entire encounter would devolve into in a few minutes because, really, this was Chloé she had decided to visit. In the dark. In her bedroom. Secretly.
But instead, Chloé crossed over to her chaise and declined primly, gesturing for Ladybug to take a seat too. “Now, it would be rude of me to kick you out! Especially since this is really the first time we have to bond! You're such a good friend, Ladybug, and as your friend I insist that you stay.”
As soon as Ladybug’s butt hit the edge of the couch, Chloé launched into her tirade. “Oh, I’ve just had the worst day, though. Sometimes I wish we went to the same school, Ladybug, because everyone at mine is terrible.”
“What happened to everyone adoring you?” Ladybug asked, trying to strain any sardonic tones from her voice and failing.
“Yeah, well, of course they do,” Chloé replied flippantly. “But that doesn’t mean they’re not creeps. You know Alya, the girl that runs your fan blog? She’s such a snoop. She wouldn’t shut up all day! I think she knows something happened to Daddy, but he has a perfectly good reason to cover it up. I mean, he’s the mayor! Can you imagine what would happen if people found out? It would absolutely ruin us.”
Ladybug smiled sympathetically. “Sometimes it’s hard for people to accept that there’s some stuff they’re not allowed to know,” she said. Alya in particular seemed to struggle with that, which Marinette knew full well. Nothing could derail her from her quest to unmask Ladybug and Chat Noir, no matter how often or how strongly Marinette begged her to drop it. She could appreciate Chloé’s frustration with the same.
“And her best friend, Marinette, is such a snob,” Chloé said. Ladybug tried to keep her expression neutral, but inside her eyes were bugging out. “I mean, I get it, you don’t think I’m worth even the ground I walk on, but like, do you really have to work that hard to make sure people actively ignore me?” Chloé continued. “All day, literally any time anyone tried to talk to me, she just yelled at them to shut up.” She huffed and undid her ponytail, running her hands through her hair. “Like, jeez, what did I ever do to her?”
“Oh. Um.” Ladybug blanched. “Maybe she was just trying to be nice? Uh, that is--I mean, it was pretty obvious you were having a bad day.”
Chloé froze. “Was it?”
“Uh. Yes?” Ladybug backpedalled. “I mean, I assume. I don’t know. I didn’t see you before now, obviously. And-and I don’t know this Marinette person but it seems like--well, it definitely seems like you don’t like her, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t like you.”
Chloé’s hands slid along her head and gripped the back of her neck. “Really?”
“I was--I think she was just trying to give you a break, maybe,” Ladybug said. Her mouth was both shovel and hole, and she was descending rapidly. “I don’t know, maybe you were acting a little crabby and she picked up on that. But wh-what about your other friend? Sabrina, right…?”
Chloé closed her eyes and nodded slowly. Ladybug thought she heard growling. She leaned forward from where she was already precariously perched on the edge of the couch. “Chloé?”
Her eyes snapped open. “Did Alya send you, then?” The sharpness in her voice was the final push to make Ladybug lose her balance and tumble off the couch onto the floor. “What, she figured I wouldn’t tell her, but of course I’d talk to Ladybug?” Chloé continued. “Well, I guess she was right there. So there you go. Happy? You know now.”
“Wha--” Ladybug started to ask, scrambling to get upright.
Chloé laughed. “You had me fooled, at first, I’ll give you that. I guess I should have figured that you’d be able to make a decent Ladybug costume. You always were good at sewing, Marinette .”
Ladybug struggled to keep the shock from her face. “I--what? No, it’s me, Ladybug.”
“Yeah, right. Ladybug and I are friends. She’s over here all the time. She knows which window is mine.”
“Not when it’s dark out!” Ladybug protested, but Chloé wasn’t hearing it.
“You know what? I don’t care about any of your excuses. Get out. Now.” She stood up abruptly, crossing her arms tightly against her chest. Ladybug had never truly understood the phrase “icy blue” until she had seen Chloé’s eyes in that moment.
“No, I can prove it!” Ladybug exclaimed. She desperately did not want Chloé to be the first to find out her identity, and especially in such unfavorable circumstances. She called on her lucky charm, and a black-spotted red ribbon fell into her hands. She didn’t care how it could possibly be of use in that moment, except to prove the existence of her power and the veracity of her identity.
She waved the ribbon in Chloé’s face. “See?”
Silence. Ladybug was aware that she was probably hyperventilating, which wasn’t doing anything to help her case, but Chloé didn’t move. If Ladybug had thought her face was unreadable before, that had nothing on now.
Finally, Chloé spoke. “Please leave… Ladybug.”
So she did. Behind her, Chloé stood rooted to the spot, letting her hair fall into her face and hugging herself through her thin bathrobe.
Marinette didn’t realize how hard it was to avoid Chloé until she started doing it intentionally. Or, maybe Chloé was paying extra attention to her. It was hard to tell, honestly, but it was annoying nevertheless.
Meanwhile, Alya was in high spirits. She skipped over to Marinette, proudly cradling her phone between two outstretched hands to show Marinette the screen, which was displaying a blurry picture of Chat Noir outside Le Grand Paris.
“I knew it,” she hissed conspiratorially as she got closer. “I knew Chloé and her dad were hiding something. There was a fight there, and they didn’t want us to know.”
Marinette winced internally. She could see Chloé’s attention gravitating towards her again and knew that she would hear.
Alya tapped a finger against the side of her phone. “I wonder who it was, though. Was it Hawk Moth? Or, I guess, one of his victims? Or was it something else?”
Chloé’s face twisted unpleasantly, and Marinette could see her about to stand up and stalk over. “It was me,” she blurted out.
Alya and Chloé both stared at her. “What?” Alya asked. She shook her head. “Why didn’t you just tell me from the beginning?”
“Well, because… I mean, I don’t know, Alya. I just… didn’t?” she hedged. “I just, I don’t know, Chloé got on my nerves and I lost it. I didn’t want you to know, I guess. I knew you’d want to put it on your blog, and I’m not exactly proud of what I did.”
“Oh, Marinette.” Alya said. “We’ve all done stuff we’re not so proud of. I mean, Lady Wifi almost killed Chat Noir. That wasn’t you, though. It wasn’t your fault.”
Marinette shrugged uncomfortably. “I guess. I just--you’re not going to put this on the blog, are you?”
“I have a duty to report everything that happens,” Alya said apologetically. “Don’t worry, though. I’ll try to make it as vague as possible.” She hugged her. “I should probably go do that now, though. People have been asking for ages and I promised I’d update them ASAP. But don’t stress, girl. I’ll handle it.”
“Thanks…” Marinette muttered as her best friend ran off. She sighed in relief, thankful that she wouldn’t have to face Chloé--and more importantly, her wrath--again so soon. But unfortunately, Chloé didn’t seem to get the message that she wasn’t needed, because she got up anyway, and walked over to Marinette with her tail between her legs.
“Hey, um, thanks,” she said, keeping her eyes to the ground.
Marinette shrugged. “Uh, yeah. No problem.”
“And…” Chloé looked up and met Marinette’s eyes. “I’m sorry I yelled at you before. Er, last night.”
Shit.
“What? No, I mean, I--what are you--”
“Shut up.” Chloé crossed her arms. Marinette’s discomfort seemed to erase her own and bring back some of that patented Bourgeois boldness. “I know it was you. I know it is you. And I’m sorry. For… a lot. But mostly for yelling last night. You deserve it a lot of other times, but you didn’t then.”
Marinette shuffled her feet. “So.”
“So.”
More silence. Marinette felt like there was something she should say, but she wasn’t sure what, and Chloé looked on the brink of saying a hundred things every time she started saying one, so she shut up.
Finally, Marinette said, “Um, I think class is going to start in a minute.”
Chloé nodded. “Right. Yeah. Sorry.” Before she could give herself time to second-guess it, she leaned in and kissed Marinette on the cheek. “Really, thank you.”
She was already too far away to hear by the time Marinette murmured, “Yeah. Don’t mention it,” but she wasn’t even sure if she had said that out loud, because all she could hear was her heart pounding in her ears, and she was sure everyone else could hear it, too.