Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You know, if you’re not ready, we don’t have to do this now. We can just stay here and chill for a while. Watch movies. Paint our nails. Pretend asshole parents like your father don’t exist.”

Chloé raises her eyes, looking at Marinette in the mirror. Marinette is standing right behind Chloé, her arms folded over her chest, mouth set into a thin, worried frown. Tikki, who is perched on Marinette’s right shoulder, is wearing an identical expression to Marinette. Under any other circumstances, that would be funny. As it is, Chloé only manages to drudge up a tiny smile.

“He probably won’t expect me to come back so soon. So if I go today, I have a better chance of avoiding him,” Chloé explains. “I really, really don’t want to see my father. Besides, I have to go. I don’t even have any clothes to wear.”

She turns around, smoothing down the bottom half of the pink sundress she’s wearing as proof. She borrowed it from Marinette, and it’s basically the only thing that Marinette has which fits. Marinette is best described as petite, whereas Chloé is a few inches taller with wider hips and a larger bust. Literally the only reason that the pink sundress even fits Chloé is because it’s too big for Marinette, who bought it with the intension of tailoring it down to fit.

“You could wear some of Juleka’s stuff,” Marinette says. “Or Adrien’s stuff.”

“I don’t think I’ve sunk low enough to wear anything made Gabriel Agreste,” Chloé says. “And I don’t know if Juleka’s stuff would fit me either.” It might, but frankly even if it does, that’s a short-term solution for a long-term problem. Chloé has to go get her stuff from the hotel. There’s no way to get around it.

“It’ll be fine. If we run into Chloé’s dad, I’ll sting him,” Pollen pipes up from where she’s sitting on the desk. Chloé looks at her in shock.

Marinette smiles slowly, unfolding her arms. “It’s not the Cataclysm he deserves, but I approve this plan.”

“You’re spending too much time around me,” Chloé says, to which Marinette just shrugs.

“You can sneak out the window or come downstairs with me, your choice,” she says.

“We’ll go out the window.” Chloé gets up. She’s not ready to face Marinette’s parents today. She likes to think that she’s doing a pretty good job of holding it together, but truthfully every part of her feels exposed and raw. It feels like one more blow will end with Chloé falling apart irreparably; she just doesn’t know how many more times she can pull herself together.

“I’ll meet you downstairs,” Marinette says with a nod. “Come on, Tikki.”

Chloé quickly transforms into Queen Bee and crawls up onto Marinette’s bed, then out the window onto the balcony. It’s a sunny, warm morning, which feels very at odds with her current mood. She jumps over the side of the balcony to a nearby roof, then makes her way to the sidewalk in an alley. She detransforms in a flash of yellow light, where Pollen pats her cheek.

“It’ll be okay, Chloé,” she says gently, and Chloé’s throat gets tight.

“I know,” she manages. “Thanks.”

“Hey, here,” says a familiar voice from right behind Chloé, and Chloé turns around to find a large take-out cup being thrust into her face.

“Uh, what?” Chloé says, grasping the cup.

“I thought you’d need coffee more than anything today,” Juleka says. She’s wearing black jeans, black boots with purple laces, and a black-and-purple top, with her hair pulled up into a ponytail. The Tiger miraculous on her hand matches her outfit perfectly.

“You look really nice,” Chloé says, looking her up and down, and Juleka turns pink.

“You don’t have to compliment me. I’m gonna help you pack anyway,” she says, looking away and fidgeting with the two cups she’s still holding.

Chloé rolls her eyes. “That’s not why. But thanks.” She sips the coffee and gets another shock when she realizes that it’s two-thirds hot coffee and one-third milk flavored with honey, which is exactly the order Chloé always gets when she’s feeling really stressed out. An order she’s only ever given once around Juleka. She raises her eyes to Juleka with a surprised look, and Juleka grins.

“I remembered,” she says smugly.

“I – you did,” Chloé says, stunned.

“I figured you’d need it today,” Juleka says, her smile fading. “Chloé, I was thinking about his last night. How are we going to get your stuff to my place? I think it would look pretty weird for Ladybug, Queen Bee, and Artemal to be seen carrying luggage over the streets of the Paris, especially since we’d probably have to make more than one trip. And I’m a little worried that someone would follow us and figure out who I am.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll call my driver,” Chloé says. “it’s not like André will care enough to bother asking where he dropped me and my stuff off. Everything should be able to fit in the car.”

Juleka nods slowly, her expression turning pinched, but all she says is, “Okay then. Marinette is probably waiting for us, so let’s go.”

Marinette is indeed waiting for them. Juleka passes her one of the cups too, which Marinette takes with a grateful look. The two of them make light conversation as they walk to the hotel, and Chloé is grateful that neither of them seems to be expect her to participate, because she doesn’t remember a single word that they’ve said by the time they arrive at the hotel. All of her focus is on her churning stomach and how hollow she feels with every step that they take.

They enter through the hotel’s front lobby and take the elevator up to Chloé’s floor. Chloé half-expects to her father standing there against all odds as the doors swish open, but of course there’s no sign of André. The hallway is empty, and it’s simultaneously disappointing yet exactly what Chloé expected. She quietly follows Marinette and Juleka to her bedroom.

“Alright, so we should just take as much as we can, right?” Marinette says, propping her hands on her hips and looking around critically.

“Yeah,” Juleka says before Chloé can respond. “Chloé can leave it all at my place and then just pack a bag to take with her if she wants to spend the night somewhere else.”

“Umm, you don’t have to –” Chloé starts, but Marinette cuts her off.

“Juleka’s right, Chloé. That makes sense. Okay. You sit down on the bed and relax. Juleka can pack your make-up and hair stuff. I'll do your clothes. We just looked at them a little while ago and I think I remember what you wear and what you don’t,” Marinette says bossily.

“I can help,” Chloé says, somewhat exasperated, and walks over to help Marinette drag the suitcases out of the closet. Marinette huffs, only reluctantly accepting the help because a couple of the suitcases are too high up for her to safely reach. They get them down on the floor and opened, and Juleka starts filling one of them.

The real problem is that Chloé instantly feels overwhelmed as soon as she looks at her clothing. She has so much stuff. It’s impossible to know what to take and what not to take. How will she know what she wants to wear in a month’s time? How will she know what she wants to wear once winter hits? She grits her teeth against a surge of tears and the desire to sit down and cry about how unfair this is.

“Hey,” Marinette says softly, wrapping an arm around Chloé’s shoulders. “Let’s just take what you’ve worn in the past year. One of us can always come back if something is missing. Or you can buy whatever you’re missing.”

“Yeah, okay,” Chloé says, swallowing hard. “You can do the shoes. I keep whatever I’ve recently worn towards the front of the closet.”

“Got it.” Marinette walks over to the shoe rack, and Chloé faces her mountain of clothing with a painful resolve. The faster this happens, the faster they can get out of here and she can get as far away from anything having to do with her parents as possible.

It doesn’t take as long as Chloé thinks it probably should to pack it all up. In the end, her whole life ends up fitting into three suitcases, plus her bookbag and purse. Her closet barely looks touched once it’s all packed, and she realizes all over again how much stuff she’s bought over the years. Tons of clothes, shoes, make-up, and accessories that she’s never worn and never had any intention of wearing.

Just how many shopping sprees has she gone on because her father was ignoring her and she wanted to find the magic number that would make him pay attention? Too many. She even tried going a couple months without spending anything at all, thinking that a too-low number might finally catch someone’s attention. It took a while, but now Chloé knows that there is no magic number, low or high. Because André isn’t even the one who pays off the bills: he has one of his constantly revolving slew of assistants do it. The bill just gets paid every month without delay no matter how low or high it is.

“What about that?” Juleka asks curiously, and Chloé looks over at the bed. Her heart turns over in her chest when she sees her teddy bear laying on the bed, and she has to fight off a new wave of tears.

“No. I don’t want it,” she says, more shakily than she wanted to. Her father gave her that teddy bear. For a long time, she was convinced that it was a sign of how much he loved her. Now she knows it was just something that he did to look good.

Marinette and Juleka exchange looks, and their pity is almost more than Chloé can handle. She walks over to their suitcases. Pollen, who is sitting on top of one, flies up and wordlessly pats Chloé’s cheek. Chloé closes her eyes against the renewed sting of tears, her heart twisting. Hawkmoth must surely be busy, or maybe he’s decided she’s just not worth akumatizing anymore. The latter wouldn’t surprise her.

“I guess we’re ready then,” Marinette says after a beat, her voice falsely cheerful. “Did you text your driver?”

“Yeah, I did. He should be downstairs waiting,” Chloé says, grabbing the handle of one of the suitcases. She scans the room one last time, but doesn’t see anything left behind.

As they walk down to the elevator, she wonders to herself how long it’ll take her anyone to figure out that she’s gone. She frequently went whole weeks without seeing her father at all. Sometimes their paths only crossed when he needed her to attend something so they could play happy family on camera. Given that he actively wanted her gone, it could be months. It’s such a depressing thought that a tear breaks free and slides down her cheek.

Juleka grabs her free hand, lacing their fingers together and squeezing so tightly that it hurts. Chloé gulps in a breath, swallowing down a sob, and squeezes back as the elevator doors open. No one pays much attention to them as they walk across the lobby; the sight of three teenaged girls with suitcases in a hotel lobby is hardly an unusual one. They walk right out the doors, down the steps, and over to where the car is waiting.

“Where to, Mademoiselle?” the driver asks, leaping out. His eyebrows furrow when he sees the suitcases and Chloé’s red eyes, but he recovers quickly enough and pops the trunk.

Anywhere but here, Chloé thinks but doesn’t say, and Juleka speaks up instead, telling the driver her address. The three of them get into the back of the car as the driver puts the suitcases and backpack into the trunk. Then he comes around and gets into the driver’s seat. Chloé turns her head, staring at the hotel. It used to be a sight that inspired satisfaction and superiority in her, but now she just feels sad and kind of lonely despite the presence of Pollen, Juleka, and Marinette.

She doesn’t belong anywhere now. It’s a thought that stings, but it’s also wrong. Because the real painful truth is, she’s never belonged anywhere at all. No one wants her. If the mayor knew what was happening right now, he would probably be happy that she’s leaving so they can bring their precious Zoé home that much sooner. Chloé closes her eyes, leans her head against the window, and quietly cries the whole way to Juleka’s house.

Chapter Text

“My mom isn’t around today,” Juleka confides quietly as the car pulls up to the dock. “It’s just me and Luka. I hope it’s okay that I told him you’d be staying with us.”

“Sure,” Chloé says. She wipes at her eyes, knowing how horrible she must look right now. Part of her wishes that it could be kept a secret, but Luka surely would have noticed a whole other person living on the boat. And besides, Chloé knows it’s going to get out anyway. Stuff like this never stays secret for long.

“Oh good,” Marinette says at the same time. “I have to talk about him about his – you know.” She shoots a furtive look at the driver.

“Isn’t that Adrien’s job?” Juleka says curiously.

“Marinette can’t help herself. She always has to give the talk,” Chloé says with a small smile. She wonders if that means Adrien has chosen to keep Luka as his second. Or maybe, more likely, Adrien hasn’t had time to even give it thought, and Marinette is just being overly cautious.

Marinette shoots her a look. “That’s not true.”

“It kind of is,” Juleka says, and Marinette pouts.

The car comes to a stop and the driver gets out and opens the door for them. Then he goes to the trunk and pulls out all the suitcases. Once the last suitcase hits the ground, he just stands there, seemingly somewhat uncertain about leaving all three girls alone there. Still, Chloé dismisses him without a second thought. She doesn’t want any of her father’s employees around right now.

But as she watches the car drive away, it’s a lonely feeling.

“Alright, it looks like it might rain, so let’s get everything inside,” Marinette says with forced brightness. “We can make a few trips if we have to.”

“Can I help?”

Chloé looks over, startled, and sees Luka leaning against the door to the ship. He’s wearing black jeans today just like his sister, paired with a light blue sweatshirt. It takes Chloé a few seconds to realize that the black choker around his neck must be the Dragon miraculous. The bead on the front of it is a red so dark that in certain lights it looks black. Much like with Juleka’s panja bracelet, the choker doesn’t look out of place on Luka at all. It fits his general aesthetic perfectly.

“Sure,” Juleka says after a quick glance at Chloé. “We could use the help.”

Luka nods and ambles down the plank, coming over to pick up a couple suitcases. Between the four of them, they manage to get everything inside fairly quickly. Which is good, because their sunny, warm morning has clouded over. Big, fat raindrops start falling just as Chloé carries the last suitcase inside. She stands in the doorway for a moment, watching the rain. That’s more like it.

“You okay?” a warm voice says in her ear as Luka gently takes the suitcase from her.

“I don’t know, but... thanks for letting me stay here,” Chloé says. Juleka and Luka would’ve been well within their rights to turn her away after how awful Chloé was to Juleka when they were younger. She’s still not sure what’ll happen when she meets their mom. The memory of her uncomfortable meeting with Marinette’s mom hangs over her uneasily.

“It’s not a big deal,” Luka says easily. “We have lots of room. Can’t remember the last time someone actually stayed in the guest room. Juleka and I used to talk about rearranging the partitions to get rid of it, but we never got around to it. Now we have a reason not to.” His eyes crinkle when he smiles.

“Lucky for me,” Chloé says, managing to drum up another small smile, and follows Luka to what will now be her temporary bedroom.

It’s a painfully small room compared to her room at the hotel. There’s a single bed, a storage cabinet, and a desk. Above the desk are extra storage compartments which go all the way around the room. The walls are covered with a light blue, flowery wallpaper, and the blank covering the bed is also blue. There are four portholes that let in natural light, and a ceiling light. That’s pretty much it. To be completely honest, it’s smaller than Chloé’s bathroom at the hotel, never mind her actual room. But there’s something cozy about it at the same time.

“I know it’s nothing like the hotel,” Juleka says, wringing her hands, and Chloé realizes she’s anxious. Maybe even worried that Chloé will be insulting. It’s not an unfair reaction. Two or three years ago, that’s probably exactly what Chloé would’ve done.

“That’s the whole point. It’s better than the hotel,” Chloé says, and maybe someday she’ll even mean it. Right now she just feels a sort of crushing grief and loneliness that makes her knees weak. She sinks down onto the bed as a fresh bout of tears spills over.

“Oh, Chloé,” Juleka says. She sits down on the bed and wraps her arms around Chloé, hugging her tightly. Chloé hates to admit it, but she breaks down sobbing against Juleka’s shoulder.

“I just wish they cared,” she says after crying for a long time, and Juleka squeezes her even tighter.

“I care,” Juleka says, softly but fiercely. “Marinette cares. Adrien cares. Nathaniel cares. We’re here for you.”

“And so am I!” Pollen chirps, flying up until she’s within Chloé’s field of vision, and Chloé lets out another sob as she reaches for her kwami with a shaking hand. Pollen allows herself to be gathered against Chloé’s cheek, buzzing softly in comfort.

When Chloé’s cried herself out to the point where she doesn’t think she can cry anymore, Juleka takes her hand and leads her to the bathroom. Chloé takes one look in the mirror and winces. Her eyes are red and swollen, and her face is flushed and splotchy. It’s a terribly unattractive look. But it’s a good thing she didn’t put on any of Marinette’s make-up this morning, because it would undoubtedly be running down her cheeks in a black river by now.

“You look as terrible as you feel,” Chloé tells her reflection. “No wonder they wanted me gone. Imagine if the cameras ever got a picture of this.”

“Chloé,” Pollen chides, flying up to hover beside Chloé’s face. “Given everything that’s happened, I think you’re allowed to have an off day. That does not excuse your family’s frankly reprehensible behavior.”

“I agree,” says another voice, and Chloé looks around just in time to see Tikki phasing through the bathroom door. The kind, concerned way that Tikki looks at her is almost enough to reduce Chloé to tears again. She has to take a couple deep breaths.

“What’s up?” Chloé says finally, looking at Tikki expectantly.

“Nothing. Marinette is talking to Luka, but I was a little concerned about you being targeted by an akuma again. I just wanted to check on you,” Tikki says.

“Oh. No, I haven’t seen anything. Maybe Hawkmoth gave up on me too,” Chloé says bitterly. Tikki and Pollen exchange a look at that, but neither of them says anything, so Chloé figures that means she’s not completely wrong. Maybe she just didn’t make the kind of akuma that Hawkmoth wanted. It sounds like her akumatized self wasn’t that interested in getting Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s miraculous.

She washes her face, taking a few extra moments to press a cold cloth to her eyes. Crying so much is completely unlike her. She can’t even remember the last time she cried before she became Queen Bee. But ever since Lila’s death, it’s like her emotions are all over the place. One moment everything is okay and the next it feels like the world is ending. She doesn’t know how to make it stop.

“When you’re ready, Juleka says she has a snack for us,” Tikki says. “But she said not to rush.”

“I think it’s as good as it’s going to get right now,” Chloé says, looking at her reflection again. Her eyes are still bloodshot and puffy, so it’s obvious she’s been crying. But at least she’s washed the tear tracks away for now, so that’s something at least.

Tikki and Pollen fly into her shirt to hide as Chloé opens up the door. She steps into the hallway and pauses, realizing that she has no idea where the kitchen is. She and Juleka came from the right, so she turns left. She walks to the end of the hallway and hears voices, which lead her right and then into the kitchen. Marinette, Luka, and Juleka all look up at her at the same time, which leaves Chloé feeling uncomfortably on the spot.

“Hey Chloé. Are you hungry?” Marinette says. “Luka made sandwiches.”

“Sure,” Chloé mumbles, moving to sit at the table. She notices that Luka is still wearing the Dragon miraculous, and wonders how the talk went. If Luka’s going to be a new member of the hive, then she feels like she should care more than she does. But right now, that just seems so distant.

Luka sets a sandwich in front of her. Chloé mumbles a thank you and then picks at it; she’s not really hungry, but Tikki and Pollen definitely are, so she spends most of her time slipping them both bits of the food. Marinette spends a lot of the meal openly staring at Chloé with a worried expression. Juleka and Luka, at least, make an effort to be normal, chatting about their band.

“I guess I should go home now,” Marinette says when they’re done, but she clearly doesn’t want to go.

“Why don’t you spend the night?” Juleka suggests delicately. “We can walk to school together tomorrow.”

“Oh! I guess I could.” Marinette’s eyes light up. “I’d have to run home for a change of clothes though.”

“It’s stopped raining,” Luka offers, glancing out the porthole. “I’ll go with you if you like, Marinette. I’ve been inside all day.”

If Adrien were here, that offer would probably make him pretty jealous, Chloé thinks. Yet she also knows that Marinette doesn’t have any interest in Luka. She’s made that quite clear, and Chloé believes her. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if Luka did become Adrien’s second. At least then Adrien would get to know Luka better and would know there’s nothing to be jealous about.

“Sure,” Marinette says, looking startled but pleased.

“Pick up something for dinner on your way home,” Juleka says to her brother, and Luka nods.

“Where’s my purse?” Chloé says, realizing she has no idea what happened to it.

“I think it’s in your room,” Marinette says after a pause.

Chloé pushes her plate away and gets up, heading back down the hallway until she finds the guest room. Her room. Her purse is sitting on top of the desk. She opens it up and takes out her wallet, finding her credit card. Part of her doesn’t want anything to do with her family, including their money. But then there’s another, more spiteful part of her that wants to hurt André in some way. And if money is the only way she can do it, then so be it. At least spending money on her friends is better than buying useless clothes.

She returns to the kitchen and thrusts her card at Marinette. “My treat.”

“What? No!” Marinette says.

“No way,” Juleka says.

“That’s not necessary,” Luka says.

They all speak at the same time. Chloé stares them down. “I said my treat. If my father wants to kick me out of the family, the least he can do is buying us all fucking supper.” Her lower lip trembles, but she holds it together. She doesn’t cry, damn it.

Marinette hesitates for a moment, looking torn, before taking the card. “I guess I can’t argue with that,” she says slowly. Luka and Juleka exchange a look, but neither of them protest further.

“Not today, you can’t,” Chloé says, and what she’s really saying is please don’t argue with me, not right now, not over this, and somehow Marinette gets it. She gives Chloé a soft look and a nod, and tucks the card into her pocket without further argument.

“Bring Nathaniel and Adrien back with you if you can,” Juleka says, and Marinette salutes.

“I’ll do my best.”

Chapter Text

It’s just past 5am when Chloé finally gives up on trying to sleep. She’s spent all night tossing and turning, finding it difficult to sleep in a new bed in a strange room. Pollen, on the other hand, had no problem falling asleep. Even as Chloé sits up, Pollen is still snoozing away on her honeycomb-shaped pillow. Little buzzy snores fill the air, and Chloé smiles a little.

Thank god for Pollen. What would Chloé do without her?

She decides to leave Pollen to sleep and get some fresh air. As quietly as possible, Chloé gets out of bed and grabs her robe. She pulls it on, ties it shut, and steps into her slippers. The boat rocks faintly beneath her as she makes her way out of the room and up on deck. The sun hasn’t risen yet, so it’s still dark. The only lighting is from a string of lights that runs along the sail, and the streetlamps from the dock.

But it’s enough light for her to see Nathaniel curled up on a chair near the railing, sketchpad open on his lap. Marinette was true to her word last night, and brought back her overnight bag, dinner, Nathaniel, and Adrien. Unfortunately Adrien could only stay for a little while – his father would never give permission for him to spend the night anywhere other than the mansion. But Nathaniel was willing to spend the night, and is supposed to be sleeping on Luka’s floor right now. She walks towards him.

He looks up at the sound of her approach, pencil pausing. “Chloé? What’s wrong?” he says, frowning faintly. He’s wearing his pajamas too, and he’s found a thick blanket from somewhere to wrap around himself. He looks warm and cozy.

“Nothing. I just couldn’t sleep. I thought I’d come get some fresh air. What are you doing awake?” Chloé asks. It’s a nice night – well, a nice morning. It’s a little chilly, but not cold. The sky is clear. They’ll have a great sunrise.

“I couldn’t sleep either. Thought I might as well get in a little time sketching,” he says.

Chloé nods and falls quiet, looking out at the water. It’s completely dark out there, with no sign of any boats or lights, and it’s kind of creepy in a way. The sight of all that darkness reminds her a little of being akumatized. She shivers, wrapping her arms around herself. Even if Hawkmoth has given up on her, those aren’t really thoughts she wants to entertain so early.

“Chloé?” Nathaniel says, and she turns towards him again. He hesitates before pulling at the blanket wrapped around him, lifting one side in offering.

It’s probably rude to accept, because Nathaniel clearly came out here looking for privacy, but Chloé doesn’t care. She quickly moves closer and sits down beside him, letting Nathaniel wrap the blanket around her too. It’s a little cramped with both of them, because even an oversized chair isn’t really designed for two teenagers, but they make it work. Chloé angles herself towards him, letting Nathaniel prop his sketchpad against her knees, and tucks her cold toes under the blanket too.

“Thanks,” she murmurs, resting her head against the cushions.

“No problem. You looked cold,” he says, lightly tapping his pencil against the paper.

“I was. I guess I should’ve gotten dressed,” Chloé says. “I’m not usually up before dawn.”

Nathaniel smiles a little and doesn’t say anything. He lowers the pencil to the paper again and starts making a series of quick lines. From the way she’s laying, Chloé can’t quite see what he’s drawing. But even watching Nathaniel is interesting. He falls quickly into drawing, to the point where everything else around him ceases to matter. His hand is so steady and so sure, making each stroke with deliberation. Chloé envies him for that. She doesn’t feel sure of anything right now.

“So, you wanna talk about it?” Nathaniel says finally, which startles her.

“I thought you forgot I was here,” she says.

“Kinda hard to forget when you’re watching me.”

“Sorry. I can stop,” Chloé says, feeling guilty. She didn’t mean to stare.

“Nah, it’s fine. So, do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Wanna talk about it.” His eyes flick up and his head turns slightly to watch her. “I know I can’t feel the hive the way that you do, but we can all feel that something is off.”

“You can?” Chloé says. “I didn’t know that.”

Nathaniel shrugs carefully. “I mean, the reason was obvious. It’s not like anyone has to wonder why. It’s just kinda... lowkey, in my chest sometimes, I can feel it. Marinette and Adrien can too. Probably Juleka too.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to –”

“Hey.” Nathaniel turns fully to face her, his hand pausing. “I didn’t tell you that so you would feel bad. It’s part of being in your hive, right? It doesn’t just go one way. That’s all I was trying to say. It’s not just on you to worry about us and – stuff. We’re, you know. Here for you too.” He seems a little embarrassed by what he’s saying, looking away shyly.

Chloé has to bite her lip and blink hard against a fresh surge of tears at his kindness. She takes a couple of deep, quivery breaths. Nathaniel gives her time she needs, turning his attention back to his sketchpad. He makes a couple more lines, but she can tell that he’s waiting for her response.

So once she’s sure that she can speak without crying, Chloé admits, “I don’t really know what to say.”

“Oh... well, you don’t have to. I get it if you’d rather talk to Adrien or Marinette. Adrien’s like your brother, and Marinette is your best friend. So it’s fine.”

“No, it’s not that. I just really don’t know what to say anymore,” Chloé says. “I mean... what is there to say? I know my mom is a horrible person, but she’s still my mom. The same goes for my dad. I know I should be mad, and I shouldn’t want anything to do with them, but...” She trails off.

“You still do, cause you’re a kid and they’re your parents,” Nathaniel finishes after a few seconds. “That’s okay, Chloé. It’s not crazy to want your parents to love you.”

“It would be easier if I didn’t want that,” Chloé says, glancing out across the water again to avoid his eyes. Slowly but surely, the sun is starting to rise. Things aren’t quite as dark out there anymore. Touches of gold and pink are lighting up the water.

Nathaniel is watching her when he says, “Your parents are shitty people, but they’re still your parents. I’m sorry that they failed you so bad.”

“Me too,” Chloé says quietly. “I just – I just wish I knew – why me?”

“What do you mean?”

Her throat is getting tight, and she has to squeeze the words out. “They want Zoé around, but not me. They’ve never wanted me. I know I’m a terrible person, but even when I was a baby – I just don’t understand why they never wanted me.”

“Hey.” Nathaniel drops his pencil, reaching out to grip Chloé’s hand. “You’re not a terrible person.”

“I know many, many people who would disagree,” Chloé says.

Nathaniel hesitates, then says, “Okay, I’ll be blunt. For a while there, you were really mean, spoiled, and a bully. But you’ve grown a lot in the last year, Chloé. The old you would never be friends with me or Marinette. The old you wouldn’t care about the hive like you do. The old you wouldn’t love Pollen like you do. I mean heck, the old you would never have sat with me like this.”

“I just wish it mattered,” Chloé whispers.

“It does matter to us, but I get what you mean.” Nathaniel sighs. “You’ve turned into a good person, Chloé. I’m sorry that your parents can’t see that, or can’t appreciate that. But...”

Chloé looks at him when he trails off. “What?”

“I hope you don’t go back the other way now that this has happened,” he admits.

She blinks for a few seconds, because that thought never even crossed her mind, then shakes her head. “Nathaniel, no. I –” She looks down at her hands, embarrassed. “Sometimes I used to act out because I thought it would get their attention, especially my mom. But it never worked, and it definitely won’t work now.”

Nathaniel exhales and nods. “Right, that makes sense,” he murmurs, more to himself than to Chloé.

They fall quiet for a moment. Chloé looks out at the sunrise again. She can’t tell Nathaniel this, but she’s terrified to ever slip back to being the person she was before. Because Nathaniel is right. Marinette and Adrien and Nathaniel and Juleka and even Luka, they didn’t care about the old Chloé. Even Adrien wasn’t really her friend for a while there. She doesn’t have Sabrina anymore either. And Master Fu would probably even take her miraculous away. So if she goes back to how she used to be, she’ll be completely alone and Chloé can’t bear the thought of that.

“Would you – ” Chloé licks her lips, heart thudding in her chest.

“What?” Nathaniel looks at her expectantly. He’s kind of like Juleka in that he’s somehow easier to talk to than Adrien and Marinette. Chloé knows that Adrien and Marinette love her. But there’s so much history there that sometimes it’s hard to believe they love her.

“My parents love my sister, obviously. Even my mother.” Her eyes are filling with tears again. “I don’t want to lose everything to her.”

Nathaniel studies her for a few seconds before he gets it. “Wait, you don’t think that we’d... what? Leave you for her?” he says, somewhat incredulously. “Chloé, that’s crazy.”

“Is it?” Chloé says, wiping her eyes for what feels like the hundredth time. “She must be really amazing if even my mother loves her. She might really be the perfect person to wield the Bee miraculous or something like that.”

“Hey.” Nathaniel grips her hand again, squeezing hard, until she looks at him. “She can be the best person in the world, but she’s still not you. You’re the one who chose me for the miraculous team. You’re the one who helped Adrien and Marinette figure their shit out. You’re the one who helped us all through Lila’s death. And you, Chloé Bourgeois, are the only person who will ever wield the Bee miraculous because you are the perfect person for it.”

Chloé manages a shaky smile. “I hope you’re right. I think it would break me completely if I ever had to watch someone else with Pollen,” she says thickly.

“You don’t have to hope. I know I’m right,” Nathaniel says. “It doesn’t matter how amazing what’s-her-name might be.”

He sounds so fierce about it that Chloé can’t help but believe him a little bit. She exhales, feeling a little bit lighter for having finally gotten some of her deepest concerns about Zoé out in the open. She’s still worried that all of her friends might like Zoé better than her though. After all, Zoé won’t have the kind of history with them that they all have with Chloé.

And that thought serves to remind her of something she’s been intending to do for a while now, but has never had the chance. Everything has been so chaotic lately between Lila and Hawkmoth and her parents. But right now it’s just her and Nathaniel, and she’ll probably never get a better opportunity than this. She chews her lower lip for a few seconds, then decides to take the plunge and just say it.

“That day...” she begins awkwardly. “I took your sketchbook and I teased you about it, and then I ripped out the last page.”

“I remember,” Nathaniel says somewhat apprehensively.

“I’m sorry,” Chloé says stiffly. She’s not used to apologizing. “I shouldn’t have teased you or ripped your sketchbook. I got you akumatized.”

“It wasn’t just you,” Nathaniel says after a few seconds of thoughtful silence. “But yeah, mostly it was. Apology accepted. Thank you. But...”

“But?”

“Are you just apologizing because you’re worried we’ll leave you for Zoé?” he asks, narrowing his eyes.

“No! I get how it might come across that way, but I’ve wanted to say that for a while now,” Chloé says. Especially now that the brunt of her terrible behavior is hitting her across the face in the worst way. Apologizing sucks, but she knows it’s overdue.

Nathaniel nods, relaxing a little. “Then I accept even more. Want to see the sketch I’ve been working on?”

Chloé looks at him with some surprise. “You don’t have to show me.”

“I know. Here.” He angles the sketchpad so she can see it.

“Oh my gosh,” Chloé says. “That’s so cute!” He’s sketched out an image of their kwamis. Tikki, Plagg, Trixx, and Pollen are laying on a big, semi-demolished board of fruits and cheeses, and all of them look stuffed to the max. Plagg’s rounded tummy is almost as big as his head. She can’t help giggling.

Nathaniel grins at her. “I’ve been experimenting a bit. Kwami don’t show up in photos, so this is the only way to get them down on paper. Here, let me show you the rest!”

Chapter Text

“Ugh, oh my god, it’s so early, I’m exhausted,” Marinette moans dramatically. “Someone carry me. I don’t think that I can make it.” She crumbles to the floor of the boat, leaving Chloé, Nathaniel, Luka, and Juleka to exchange bemused looks.

“Uh, you do know that Adrien didn’t spend the night, right? He’s the only one who would carry your lazy butt to school,” Chloé says, lightly nudging Marinette in the ribs. “Up.”

“Just leave me here. Tell Madame Bustier I’m sick,” Marinette says.

“Nice try. If I have to go, you have to go,” Chloé says.

Marinette opens an eye. “Tell me the truth, what are my odds on getting you to take a sick day with me?”

“Marinette, up,” Juleka says, sounding like she’s trying not to laugh. “If you get up, Luka will treat us all to coffee before school.”

“Hey!” Luka says, but he’s laughing, and despite everything, Chloé can feel a small smile crossing her face. She’s pretty sure they’re all playing things up just to make her feel better. It’s a little silly, but she has to admit that it’s kind of working. Her hive is the best.

“I guess I can go if I’m going to get coffee out of it,” Marinette says, and stretches out a hand to Nathaniel. He grabs it and easily pulls her to her feet.

“Let’s go,” Juleka says, swinging her backpack over her arm, and the five of them troop off the boat.

Luka does try to buy them all coffee, but Chloé pushes his hand away and grimly slaps down her credit card instead. Marinette even orders an extra coffee for Adrien at Chloé’s insistence. As Nathaniel, Marinette, and Juleka walk over to where their orders will come through, Chloé catches Luka watching her. She raises an eyebrow at him.

“Next time, I’m treating you,” Luka says firmly. “No arguments.”

“That’s not really up to you,” says Chloé, and he smiles.

“That’s what you think,” he says with a wink, and saunters over to join the others. Chloé stays where she is for a few seconds, feeling strangely flustered by their brief interaction. Then someone jostles her as they step up to order, and she snaps out of her daze and moves aside.

Luka leaves them when they’re nearly to Collège Françoise Dupont, heading for his own school, but they collect Adrien when they get to the school gates. He’s standing there yawning, looking half-asleep, but he wakes up in a hurry when Marinette dashes up to him and greets him with a kiss. It’s sickeningly sweet, but warms Chloé’s heart in ways she’ll never express.

When Adrien separates from Marinette, he steps closer to Chloé and slides an arm around her waist, looking at her with a worried expression. “You doing okay?”

“About as well as can be considered,” Chloé says, leaning on him. For the first time, she wonders what kind of impact this whole situation is having on Adrien. It might not seem obvious at first glance, but André Bourgeois and Gabriel Agreste are not so different. It’s just that they’ve gone too far in opposite directions, with Gabriel becoming far too controlling. But in Chloé’s rather expert opinion, neither man actually see their children as humans. Especially Adrien. He’s just a tool for Gabriel to operate.

Adrien presses a kiss to her temple, squeezing her tightly. There’s not much that he can say and they both know it, but Chloé appreciates the support more than he’ll ever know. There was a time not too long ago when she thought that Adrien was lost to her forever. They had drifted apart, and part of that is due to Adrien joining school and making new friends and becoming Chat Noir, but the other part of that is Chloé’s own nasty behavior.

“What are we all doing after school today?” Marinette asks before Chloé can get too upset. “My maman made me promise I’d help in the bakery in exchange for spending a school night with Juleka.” She makes a face. “They have this big catering order, so I’ll probably be working the counter on my own...”

“I have Fencing practice,” Adrien says, sighing. “And then... I don’t know. Something else, no doubt.” He sounds tired, so tired that Chloé can’t help squeezing him back.

“I have art club,” says Nathaniel, shifting his bookbag slightly.

“I have a Kitty Section practice with Luka,” says Juleka.

There’s a slight pause during which no one looks at Chloé, and it belatedly occurs to her that she’s the only one without any afterschool plans. How embarrassing. She’s not a part of any clubs or afterschool activities, and quite frankly she probably wouldn’t be welcome even if she did try to go to one. And she certainly doesn’t have a part-time job like Marinette and Adrien do.

She used to spend her time with Sabrina after school before all this shit with Lila began. If Sabrina wasn’t available, then she would just go home. There was lots in her bedroom there to entertain her. And if she truly got bored, she could always wander through the hotel. Sometimes visiting guests would have kids she could play with, though that had become less so as the years rolled on.

“Maybe I’ll go shopping,” Chloé says into the empty silence, and is pathetically grateful that the bell rings to send them all on their way before anyone can question her admittedly lame plans. Of course she can’t go shopping. Her room on the boat is stuffed to the brim as it is.

They walk to their classroom together. Alya and Nino are already sitting in the front row as they walk in. Nino greets Marinette and Adrien cheerfully; Marinette glances at Alya and then away again before she says hi back to Nino. Then she walks up the steps to the back of the room, and Alya watches her go with a sad expression. It’s painfully obvious they both miss each other.

“What are you gonna do about it?” Nathaniel whispers in Chloé’s ear, touching her elbow to lead her up the steps. They joined Adrien and Marinette at the back, while Juleka goes to sit beside Rose.

Chloé doesn’t answer him for a few seconds, instead looking at the middle of the front row where Sabrina sits all by herself now that Lila is gone. For a moment, she can envision Zoé sitting there instead. The thought makes her gut twist. She needs to talk to Madame Bustier sooner rather than later about Zoé coming to town. She can’t bear the thought of having Zoé in her class.

“Um, what?” Chloé says finally, turning to look at him.

“Marinette and Alya. Are you going to fix them?”

Chloé sighs. “Why would I do that? They’re big girls. They can fix it themselves if they want to.”

“Except they won’t, and Marinette misses her, so doesn’t that like, cause a problem in the hive?” Nathaniel asks, far too shrewdly for Chloé’s taste, and she entertains a split second moment of regret that she chose him to be the new Fox. He’s spending too much time with Trixx.

“I don’t know. Probably. I can’t make them be friends,” Chloé whispers back with a quick glance at their friends. Thankfully, Marinette is distracted by something on Adrien’s phone. “And I don’t think Marinette will apologize this time. She’s waiting for Césaire to make the first move, and Césaire is too stubborn for that.”

“Enter Chloé,” Nathaniel says with a knowing look. “You’ve never hesitated to kick down anyone’s walls when necessary. I don’t see why now would be any different.”

Chloé frowns at him, content to let him think that it’s because of the kicking down walls remark. When really, no one seems to get that this is different. If Marinette and Alya become best buddies again, where does that leave Chloé? Marinette called Chloé her best friend not too long ago. But if Marinette only has one best friend, and she and Alya become close again, then...

But at the same time, Nathaniel has a point, much as Chloé hates to admit it. Marinette looks miserable every time she sees Alya, and it tugs at Chloé’s heart every time that she sees it. It makes her feel guilty for not trying to do something to help. At least if she says something to Alya, and Alya tells her off, then Chloé can feel better for having tried.

“Alright, class, let’s begin,” Madame Bustier calls out, and Chloé startles. She didn’t even see Madame Bustier enter the room. Nathaniel turns away to open up his backpack and pull his books out. Chloé does the same, but it’s pretty hard to focus on mathematical equations when her mind is racing.

By lunchtime, her mind is made up. She turns down Juleka’s kind invitation to attend the Kitty Section practice after school, and brushes off Juleka’s curiosity about what she plans to do. When Madame Bustier dismisses them for the day, Marinette, Adrien, Nathaniel, and Juleka all depart fairly quickly. Chloé remains where she’s sitting, slowly packing her things together, watching Alya.

“You wanna walk home and get an ice cream together?” Alya asks Nino hopefully, but Nino shakes his head as he stands up.

“Sorry, Babe. I can’t. I have to babysit, remember?”

“Oh, right,” Alya says, her face falling. Nino grimaces and leans down to kiss her cheek.

“Raincheck?” he says.

“Sure. Don’t worry about it,” Alya says, and Nino nods and leaves the room in a hurry. Alya sighs, her shoulders slumping, and packs her things up too. One by one their classmates leave, until finally it’s just Alya and Chloé. But Alya doesn’t even seem to notice that Chloé is still there. That’s probably why she lets out a screech when she gets up and turns around only to find Chloé standing right behind her.

“This has to stop,” Chloé says, folding her arms over her chest.

Alya stares at her with huge eyes, hand clasped over heart. “Chloé, what the hell?”

“You and Marinette. You’re making her miserable,” Chloé says. Her heart is beating very fast, but she keeps a calm tone. “Why don’t you just apologize already?”

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” Alya says shortly, and Chloé grits her teeth. It’s really tempting to snap at Alya, especially when she’s already feeling so emotional, but she tries to keep her temper. Getting into a yelling match with Alya isn’t going to fix anything.

“It wouldn’t be any of my business except for the fact that you’re making Marinette miserable for no reason,” Chloé counters. “Don’t you miss her at all?”

“Of course I do!” Alya snaps, then looks thrown at the admission, like she didn’t mean to say that.

“Then get over yourself and do something about it! Every day that you don’t just makes it harder,” Chloé says, because she knows a little something about that. “What’s stopping you?”

Alya scowls furiously, and Chloé braces herself for a rant or maybe even some insults. But then Alya’s expression changes, smoothing out into something deeper and sadder. She looks away from Chloé, up at the back row, where Marinette now sits with Adrien. It’s not hard to guess that Alya is thinking about how it used to be, when Adrien sat beside Nino and Alya sat beside Marinette.

“She might still be mad at me,” Alya says finally. “What if she doesn’t want to be friends anymore?” Her voice comes out small and scared, and it would be so easy to say something caustic and destroy the friendship between Marinette and Alya forever.

Damn the hive, Chloé thinks unhappily. When she found the Bee miraculous that day, she didn’t sign up for this. Yet here they are, and she can feel Pollen gently nudging her in the hip, and the last thing she wants to do is disappoint both Pollen and Marinette, and probably Adrien, Juleka, Nathaniel, and Luka too, all in one fell swoop.

“She misses you,” Chloé says instead.

Alya’s eyes dart back to Chloé. “Wait, really?”

“Yes, really. Even if she was still a little mad, that doesn’t mean she would never want to be friends again,” Chloé says. “Besides, don’t you think you should ask before you assume that? Isn’t Marinette worth that?”

Alya opens her mouth and then closes it, looking rather flummoxed by this. Chloé decides that means their conversation is over and walks past Alya, heading for the door.

“Why are you being nice?” Alya says right before Chloé leaves, and Chloé pauses for a split second to weigh whether it’s worth answering. But Alya’s not above chasing her down the hallway to get an answer, and that’s attention Chloé would rather not draw.

“Because Marinette is my friend too,” she says finally, and flees before Alya can say anything else.

Chapter Text

“Could you refill the chocolate chip cookies, Marinette? And the caramel macarons. Oh, and the éclairs as well. And the cupcakes, I guess. Oh, and – ” Sabine pauses, looking flustered, and rubs at her forehead, leaving behind a streak of flour, before she finishes with, “And anything else that needs to be refilled!”

“Yes, Maman,” Marinette says, rolling her eyes as soon as her mother ducks back into the kitchen. Her worst fear has come true, and she is indeed the only person manning the counter while both her parents frantically rush to fill a catering order. The bakery is momentarily empty, though Marinette knows it won’t last long. It’ll be full of hungry customers again in no time.

“Cheer up, Marinette. Soon you’ll be done, and then you can go work on your homework!” Tikki says, right in her ear, and Marinette gives her giggling kwami the most deadpan look she can muster.

“See if I feed you any cookies tonight,” she says, grabbing a tray from the counter. “You can starve.”

Tikki just giggles louder and dives into Marinette’s purse as Marinette hurries back into the kitchen. She refills the trays as fast as she can, listening for the sound of the bell that means new customers, before carrying them all back out front. Slowly, she begins putting each decadent dessert into the display, her mind wandering back to the one person she spends the most time thinking about lately.

“Do you think Chloé was okay with the fact that we were all busy today?” Marinette asks finally.

“I’m sure she was. Chloé understands that you all have lives outside of being a miraculous holder,” says Tikki. “She didn’t seem upset, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”

“No... but that doesn’t always mean a lot either. I knew she was upset before, but I didn’t know how upset until she got akumatized. I don’t want that to happen again.” Marinette stares sadly at a bright yellow cupcake, her heart aching as she considers Chloé’s current state.

She can’t even blame Chloé for being absolutely crushed about her parent’s deplorable attitudes, because Marinette would be devastated if she were in Chloé’s position. She’s not even sure she would be able to get out of bed if her parents told her to her face that they wanted to replace her with another child. It’s no wonder that that was the thing which finally drove Chloé over the edge...

Tikki sighs, her smile dimming. “You can’t fix things between Chloé and her parents, Marinette,” she says gently. “I know you want to, but that’s beyond even the powers of Ladybug. All you can do is offer Chloé your support.”

“I don’t even know if I want to fix things. I just want Chloé to be okay,” Marinette says. “And I wish she could have come home with me. She could’ve hung out in my room with you and Pollen while I did this. I would feel better if I knew she wasn’t out there all by herself so soon after what happened.” She puts the last pastry in and stands, setting aside the empty tray.

“Well, maybe it’s time you talk to your parents about Chloé,” Tikki says.

“That will be fun,” Marinette mutters, already thinking about how poorly her parents acted towards Chloé last time. It was honestly embarrassing, and she knows it made Chloé really uncomfortable.

Tikki flies down a bit lower, meeting Marinette’s eyes, and says, “You didn’t give them a chance. You didn’t really talk to your parents about Chloé and how she’s changed. So of course they didn’t receive her well. They probably thought Chloé had somehow coerced her way into staying with you for some nefarious reason.”

“Nefarious? Tikki, I told you to stop watching old soap operas,” Marinette says, but Tikki puts her little paws on her hips and gives Marinette a look.

“Marinette,” she says sternly.

“Okay, okay. I guess you have a point. I just – ” Marinette pauses, trying to gather her thoughts. “Maman and Papa don’t always pay attention to me or what I say. They thought Lila was great.” And that still stings, even now. “They didn’t even realize things changed between me and Alya. So I’m worried they won’t listen to me about Chloé either.” Because Marinette feels like she’s already failed Chloé in so many ways, and she doesn’t want this to be yet another way.

“All you can do is try,” Tikki says, gentler now. “If they don’t understand, or get it, at least you tried.”

“I guess. But...”

“But what?”

“I’m also worried I’ll let something slip about Chloé’s dad kicking her out,” Marinette admits. “I don’t want Maman or Papa to try to contact the police. Who knows what will happen then? They’ll put Chloé into foster care, probably. She might end up being taken out of Paris entirely!” She falls quiet, gripped by the sheer horror of that possibility. Because Ladybug might be the leader of the hive, but Queen Bee is absolutely the one who holds them together. They can’t survive without her.

“Oh Marinette, that won’t happen. It would be such bad press that the mayor wouldn’t let it,” Tikki says, and Marinette exhales, realizing that Tikki is probably right. But still, it seems terribly unfair that Chloé’s father would only care about the publicity, not about Chloé herself.

“But still, I don’t want to make Chloé’s life harder than it is,” Marinette says.

Tikki looks like she’s about to say something else, but at that moment the door opens. Tikki dives out of sight and Marinette turns a fake smile onto the customers who are entering. The next two hours are a flurry of activity, until finally Sabine sends someone out to give Marinette a break. Marinette staggers back into the kitchen and collapses onto the nearest chair with a groan.

“Tired, ma petite?” Tom asks with a knowing smile.

“Tired isn’t the right word,” Marinette says as Sabine joins them.

“Thank you so much for helping out, Marinette,” Sabine says, passing her daughter a cupcake. “We’re almost done here. The catering order will be ready after all.” She smiles, looking so happy that Marinette smiles too, although Marinette’s smile slowly fades.

“Maman... Papa... can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Of course. Is something wrong?” Sabine asks.

“No, I just – it’s about Chloé,” Marinette says, and both her parents look over at her with matching frowns.

“Is she bullying you again? Do I need to speak to the school?” Sabine asks worriedly, and for a moment Marinette can’t speak. She can’t help wondering where this sense of protection was when Lila was causing all the problems. Her parents have tried to help with Chloé before, but it’s only now occurring to Marinette that they never did anything about Lila.

Tikki jabs her in the side, and Marinette snaps out of it. “Um! No, not at all. In fact, Chloé and I are friends now.”

Tom drops the cupcake he’s frosting, and Sabine’s hand freezes in the midst of painting a cake. The two of them look at each other for a moment, then at Marinette, with confused, skeptical looks that immediately put Marinette on the defensive. She has to take a deep breath to stop herself from getting too upset. Getting mad won’t resolve anything here, but it’ll definitely make things worse.

“You and – wait, we are talking about Chloé Bourgeois, right?” Tom says. “The girl who bullied you for years? The spoiled rotten daughter of the mayor? That Chloé Bourgeois?”

Marinette clenches her fists. “Chloé is not spoiled rotten,” she snaps. Tikki jabs her again.

“Marinette, what is going on here?” Sabine sets down her tools to look at Marinette seriously. “What are you trying to say? If something is wrong, you can tell us. You don’t have to pretend.”

“I’m not pretending. Chloé is – she’s changed,” Marinette says slowly. “She’s changed a lot over the past year. And recently, we had to work on a project together.” That’s not technically a lie, right? Her parents just don’t need to know that project is actually saving the city. “We ended up getting to know each other better. She’s not the person I thought she was.”

“Marinette – ” Sabine begins, but Tom reaches out and lays a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“You’re sure about this, Mari?” he asks, eyeing his daughter with furrowed eyebrows. “You’re not – I don’t know, being blackmailed or something like that?”

“Papa, of course not! Chloé wouldn’t do something like that!” Although Lila sure would have. “I’m just telling you this because I want to be able to bring Chloé by, and I want the two of you to be nice to her.”

“You want us to be nice?” Sabine says in total disbelief, like she can’t believe Marinette is telling her this, and Marinette scowls.

“Yes, Maman, I want you to be nice, and approachable, and welcoming. I want Chloé to feel comfortable here,” Marinette says, possibly more aggressively than she really should, but this is the most she has to offer until they all graduate from lycée someday. At that point, Marinette, Adrien, and Chloé are moving into an apartment together. Adrien and Chloé don’t know this yet, but Marinette is already making plans.

“Your maman and I are always nice to your friends, Mari,” Tom says after a moment. “But I hope you realize we’ll be keeping a close eye on Chloé. It doesn’t matter what you say about her being your friend; your maman and I won’t let her bully you in your own home.”

“She wouldn’t,” Marinette insists, puffing her cheeks in exasperation. But she can tell they don’t really believe her, and it makes her frustrated that they won’t take her at her word. Most of the time her parents treat her like she’s an adult, but every once in a while they do something like this and it just drives her crazy.

“We just don’t want to see you get hurt,” Sabine says, gentler now. “Sometimes people pretend to be things that they aren’t for bad reasons.”

“Yeah, I know,” Marinette says, not without bitterness. That basically describes Lila perfectly. Chloé isn’t perfect, but she’s also nothing like Lila. Maybe she was at one time, but not anymore.

Tom looks sideways at his wife, and then says, “If you want to bring Chloé over, your maman and I won’t stop you. And as I said, we’ll be nice.”

“As nice as Chloé is, anyway,” Sabine says with a smile that’s an edge too sharp.

“Good, because Chloé is my best friend, and I won’t let you be mean to her,” Marinette says. Chloé’s had enough of adults being mean to her face to last all of them a lifetime.

“Your best friend?” Sabine looks shocked. “When did this happen?”

“What happened to Alya?” Tom adds, equally shocked.

“Alya and I haven’t been close for a while now,” Marinette says, suddenly tired. “We’re – I don’t know. We just don’t hang out very much anymore.” She tries, and fails, to hide how sad that fact makes her.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Sabine says.

Marinette just shrugs, and her parents exchange looks again.

“Did Chloé do something to make you and Alya not be friends?” Sabine asks finally, which Marinette probably should have expected, but somehow didn’t.

“No! What happened was between me and Alya.” And Lila, but that’s not something her parents need to know. “It happened way before I became friends with Chloé.” Not completely true, but again they don’t need to know that. “Alya mostly hangs out with Nino now.” Which, at least, is the complete truth.

Sabine does not seem happy. She says, “You and Alya were such good friends. It bothers me to hear you’ve given up on her in favor of Chloé.”

“Oh, it wasn’t me who gave it up,” Marinette mutters. She stands up. “Look, I just want you to be nice when Chloé comes home with me, okay? I’d like it if she could spend the night sometimes, and I want her to feel welcome when she does.”

“We promise to give her a chance,” Tom says, squeezing Sabine’s shoulder. Sabine doesn’t say anything, and Marinette figures that’s as good as it’s going to get right now.

“Alright. I’m going upstairs to do homework,” Marinette says, by which she means she’s going upstairs to transform into Ladybug so she can take her frustration out on a good hard run across the city. She heads upstairs before either of her parents can say anything else, quietly fuming over how the conversation went. Though her parent’s general detachment often works in her favor, it’s massively frustrating right now.

“You okay, Marinette?” Tikki asks quietly, popping her head out as Marinette shuts the door.

“I will be. Tikki, spots on!”

Chapter Text

“Wanna walk home together today?”

Chloé startles at the sudden sound of Juleka’s voice in her ear, nearly knocking over her coffee. She grabs the cup at the last second, shooting a glare at Juleka over her shoulder as she does, which just makes Juleka smirk smugly and slide into Nathaniel’s empty seat.

“Nathaniel’s otherwise occupied, so I’m sure he won’t mind if I borrow his chair,” Juleka adds. She looks across the room, and Chloé follows her gaze, to where Marc and Nathaniel are staring lovingly into each other’s eyes. They might as well be the only people in the room. Chloé is pretty sure that an akuma could crash through the wall right now, and there’s only a 50/50 chance that Nathaniel would notice.

“You’re not wrong,” Chloé says lightly, trying not to let on how much Juleka’s presence impacts her. But it does, way more than she really wants to admit.

Adrien isn’t here today; date or no date, Chloé’s pretty sure that he has a photoshoot taking up most of the morning and afternoon. Marinette went home today for lunch, leaving behind the promise that she would bring back cookies. Up until Juleka sat down beside her, Chloé was eating lunch all by herself. Which isn’t a big deal. She’s getting used to it. Being alone, with only Pollen for company, is kind of her default state.

But still. The company is kind of nice, even if she can’t bring herself to admit it. She takes a bite of her sandwich and sneaks another little portion to Pollen. Juleka unwraps her own sandwich. Chloé is amused to note that Juleka also has a chicken patty sitting on her tray – just the patty, no bun. It’s not hard to guess that it’s meant for Roaar, who loves meat the way that Pollen loves honey.

“So, do you?” Juleka asks.

“Huh?”

Juleka sighs and smiles. “Do you want to walk home together?”

“Oh. Uh, sure, I guess,” Chloé says. “But... don’t you have better stuff to be doing?”

“Not really. Kitty Section only meets a couple times a week. We’re all busy,” Juleka replies. “Luka is going out with some of his friends after school, I think. Marinette has a date with Adrien, and I’m like 99% sure that Nathaniel now has a date with Marc. Maybe we could go get ice cream or something like that.”

“Sure,” Chloé says with a shrug, looking up at Juleka. She’s just in time to realize that Juleka isn’t paying attention to her response.

March and Nathaniel aren’t their only classmates in the crowded cafeteria. Alya and Nino are there too, over in the corner. Chloé is fully aware that Alya keeps looking over at her, then looking away. Probably still dwelling on their conversation. But Juleka isn’t looking at them. She’s staring in the opposite direction. Chloé follows her gaze and suddenly understands the reason behind the wistful look on Juleka’s face.

Because she’s staring at Rose.

“You know, you could go talk to her,” Chloé says, taking a sip of her now lukewarm coffee.

“What?” Juleka says, looking away quickly and blinking innocently.

“Don’t play dumb. I’m too tired for that,” Chloé says, and it’s kind of sad how quickly Juleka breaks. She looks away, not meeting Chloé’s eyes, and starts fiddling with a napkin.

“I can’t. I don’t know what to say. We haven’t really talked in a while,” she says quietly. “She walks home with Mylène and Ivan every day now instead.”

“I’m sure they love that,” Chloé mutters into her coffee before giving up on it. She pushes the half-empty cup away and crosses her arms, looking over at the small group of their classmates.

It’s Rose, Mylène, Ivan, Sabrina, Alix, Kim, and Max. Predictably, Max’s head is buried in some project and Kim and Alix seem to be squabbling about something. Ivan has a schoolbook open and is scribbling something. The bulk of the conversation seems to be happening between Mylène, Sabrina, and Rose. It makes Chloé’s stomach twist when all three girls suddenly start laughing.

Because the truth is, she kind of knows how Juleka feels.

Of course, there was never anything romantic between Chloé and Sabrina. They’re not like Rose and Juleka, who fell in love so sweetly and so slowly that no one can even remember when exactly they went from being friends to being a little more, on the cusp of being something more. But that didn’t stop Lila from driving a wedge between Chloé and Sabrina just like she drove a wedge between Juleka and Rose.

Truthfully, even before Chloé figured out who Adrien and Marinette were, thereby cementing her place in the newly growing hive, she and Sabrina were drifting apart. Lila’s web of lies was just too enthralling, and Sabrina was like a moth drawn to flames. There was nothing better that Chloé had to offer. All she could do was just stand by and watch as Sabrina pulled away, just like Adrien had.

It’s still painful to think about. She can’t even imagine approaching Sabrina. It would be way too awkward, especially after Lila’s mother publicly blamed Chloé for her death. She can’t blame Juleka for not wanting to talk to Rose, even though Chloé thinks that Rose would be a lot more open to Juleka than Sabrina would be open to Chloé. Rose is just too sweet, too pure-hearted, to turn Juleka away.

“Every time I tried to talk to her before, it didn’t go well. So I don’t know. Can you really have a relationship with someone if you just don’t talk about the elephant in the room?” Juleka sighs and pushes her tray aside, dropping her head onto the table with a groan.

Chloé stares at her for a long moment and suddenly realizes that she’s going to have to intercede on Juleka’s behalf just like she did with Marinette and Alya. Because Juleka won’t talk to Rose, and chances are very small that Rose will talk to Juleka, but Juleka is clearly miserable. And that always causes problems in the hive. Right now Chloé can’t really feel it because of the depths of her own misery, but she’s sure it’s there. It will only grow until it’s resolved in some way, and she can’t have that.

“I’m sure you can move past it,” Chloé says vaguely, already thinking about ways to get Juleka and Rose together. She can’t just go talk to Rose. Rose is too soft for that; Chloé would undoubtedly say something that’s a little too harsh. But if she can just get the two of them together for a few minutes...

The problem is that she doesn’t really know Juleka or Rose well enough to figure out how to do this. She needs help, she realizes sometime during mathematics. And there’s really only one person who knows Juleka really well, and who Chloé feels even a little comfortable approaching. She sighs inwardly, frowning down at the sums on her page, and realizes she’ll need to speak to Luka sometime soon.

After school, Marinette and Nathaniel both leave in a rush, and that leaves Chloé and Juleka to walk home slowly together. Juleka insists on ice cream, so they go online and track André down. He’s by the Eiffel Tower today, wheeling his little cart around to serve tourists, when Chloé and Juleka catch up with him. He sees them coming and offers a beaming smile.

“Bonne journée, ladies!” he cries, waving at them. “Two ice creams?”

“Please,” Chloé says, reaching for her wallet. She elbows Juleka when Juleka tries to her get her wallet out too. Chloé has cash, which comes from her credit card, so she’ll be the one paying, thank you very much.

“Hmm, I have just the thing. For you, my chérie, I have I have a purple blueberry ice cream to match your hair,” André says gleefully, scooping bright purple ice cream onto the cone. “And – hmm – perhaps an orange ice cream will work as a perfect match.” He presents Juleka with the ice cream.

“Thanks,” Juleka says quietly, taking it. There’s something a little off about her smile, but Chloé can’t decipher what it is or why.

“And for you...” André turns to Chloé, scanning her quickly, before smiling. “Ah, yes. I have a wonderful new honey ice cream that is to die for! And to match, I think chocolate will be just right!” He’s quick to present Chloé with a yellow and deep brown ice cream cone, an almost perfect match for Queen Bee’s colors.

“Thanks,” Chloé echoes, taking the ice cream and paying. She shoves her change in her pocket and follows after Juleka, who has found a nearby bench. Chloé sits beside her and for a moment, the two of them focus on their ice creams.

“It’s good,” Juleka says finally.

“But not as good at it could be?” Chloé asks, curious, and Juleka sighs.

“I used to come here sometimes with Rose,” she admits. “I’d get blueberry and Rose got strawberry. A cone to share, I mean.”

“Oh, I see,” Chloé says quietly. Okay, that does explain it. Damn it. Instead of getting Juleka’s mind off of Rose, all they’ve done is make Juleka think more about her. That backfired, didn’t it?

She holds her ice cream down by her purse so that Pollen can steal a couple of nibbles, watching Juleka out of the corner of her eye. It’s obvious that Juleka is thinking about Rose; she’s barely eating her ice cream. So when Pollen is done, Chloé pulls out her phone and scoots closer. She wraps an arm around a startled Juleka’s shoulders and holds her phone up to face the two of them with the camera open.

“Let’s take a selfie. We can send it to the others,” Chloé says.

“Huh?” Juleka says, shocked. “A picture? No way!” She turns her head, putting up her free hand to hide her face. “You know I don’t like photos.”

“Yeah, I know,” Chloé says, another spike of guilt slicing deep as she remembers their old class photo. “And that’s partly my fault. I know I never really apologized for that, but I am sorry for how I behaved that day. And every day. For everything I did, I mean.” It’s embarrassing to think about how desperate she acted around Adrien, especially now that she’s accepted there will never be anything between them.

Juleka sighs. “Thank you, I guess. I still don’t like photos, though.”

“But I thought that curse was broken.”

“It was, but I dunno...” Juleka shrugs a little. “I was always invisible or whatever, so now I never take a good one. I always look dumb.”

“No time like the present to learn,” Chloé says hopefully. “It’s just the two of us. It doesn’t have to be perfect. I promise not to post it anywhere, and we can take as many shots as you want until you’re happy with one.”

Juleka studies her for a moment before smiling suddenly. “You know Chloé, you were really an obnoxious pain for a while there, but I have to thank you. You picked me for the miraculous, right? I spent my whole life feeling like people ignored me and nobody could see me. But somehow, you did.”

“I – ” Chloé doesn’t know what to say to that.

“I always had Rose, of course. But it’s so nice to have friends outside of her and Luka. Okay.” Juleka shifts her ice cream to her opposite hand and anxiously fusses with her hair for a few seconds.

“Okay,” Chloé says quietly, sliding closer. She holds her camera up again and they both smile.

In the end, Chloé ends up snapping about nine pictures before Juleka is happy with one. Their ice cream almost melts in the process. But Chloé doesn’t mind. It’s worth it to see the big smile Juleka has in the picture. She keeps her promise not to post it online, but she does send a copy to Marinette, Adrien, Nathaniel, and Luka with Juleka’s permission. It’s too good of a picture to keep to herself.

Chapter Text

“Chloé. Chloé, wake up!”

“Noooo,” Chloé moans into her pillows. She’s exhausted. She hasn’t been sleeping well. The very last thing she wants is to hear Pollen whispering to her at god knows what time it is.

“Chloé, I’m sorry, but there’s an akuma on the loose.”

“Seriously?” Chloé pries an eye open. It takes a few seconds for her to focus on Pollen, who is perched on the pillow right beside her face.

“Seriously. I can hear people screaming,” Pollen says. “So I went to check it out, and it’s definitely an akuma.”

“Man, fuck Hawkmoth,” Chloé grumbles, slowly pushing herself up. She’s not sure what time is it, but her room is still mostly dark. There’s no light coming in the porthole, which means the sun isn’t up yet. She glowers at the porthole for a moment, wondering if Hawkmoth also couldn’t sleep for whatever reason. And now he’s making sure that no one else in Paris can sleep either!

“Are you okay?” Pollen asks, peering worriedly at her. “You can sit this one out, you know.”

“No way.” Chloé muffles a yawn and gropes around for her phone. Once she finds it, she sends a text to Marinette, Adrien, and Nathaniel just to let them know what’s happening in case they’re not aware. Then she pushes her covers back and crawls out of bed, shivering.

It’s cool in her room. She grabs a robe and throws it on, sliding her slippers on too. Pollen darts into her pocket as she eases the door open. The boat is quiet. Juleka and Luka are probably both asleep. Chloé creeps out of the room and turns in the direction of Juleka’s bedroom. Under different circumstances, she reflects, she would be waking both Juleka and Luka. She really needs to talk to Adrien about this soon.

Juleka’s door is closed. Chloé taps on it lightly, then pushes the door open and pokes her head in. Juleka is in bed, sound asleep. Roaar rises up off her pillow once she sees that it’s Chloé, head titled attentively. Her eyes glow gold even in the dim light.

“Akuma?” she asks.

“Yeah. Can you wake Juleka and tell her to meet me upstairs?” Chloé whispers.

“Of course.”

Chloé closes the door again and slowly makes her way up to the deck. It’s colder outside, and she shivers again. She might not be sleeping well, but man does she ever wish she could go back downstairs to her bed. Stupid Hawkmoth. He hasn’t really been doing much since Lila’s death. The odd akuma here or there, usually during the day. It’s been a long time since there was one at night. Maybe this means the temporary quiet following Lila’s death is officially over. If so, Chloé isn’t looking forward to what comes next.

It only takes a minute for Juleka to join Chloé on deck. She’s pulled on jeans and a coat over her pajamas, and looks as grumpy as Chloé feels. She says, “Do you know what kind of akuma it is yet?”

“No,” Chloé says through another yawn. “Let’s just get this over with, though. Pollen, buzz on!”

“Roaar, stripes on!”

Queen Bee and Artemal take to the rooftops, making their way towards the screaming. About a third of the way there, Chat Noir joins them. His hair is even messier than usual and his mouth is set in a pout, lacing any of his usual jokes. The three of them land on a rooftop near the chaos and survey what’s happening.

The akuma appears to be a gigantic pink teddy bear with black stitches for a mouth and glossy, black buttons for eyes. It moves lumberingly slowly, but can shoot fast pink beams from it’s paws. Every person touched by the beam collapses immediately. Queen Bee feels a lurch deep in the pit of her stomach; she desperately hopes that those people are sleeping, not dead.

“What the heck?” Artemal says, running a hand through her hair.

“I don’t even know,” Chat says grumpily, planting his hands on his hips. “It’s too early for this. Or maybe I should say it’s too late for this. Either way, let’s make this fast.”

“You’re cranky,” Queen Bee says, eyeing him, and Chat makes a face.

“The photoshoot this week has been an absolute monster,” he says. He’s missed every day of school this week. “My date with Marinette got canceled, so we tried to reschedule and then that got canceled too. My stupid father just can’t figure out what he wants.”

“That sucks,” Queen Bee says, meaning it. As terrible as her parents are, and as much as they’ve hurt her, she’ll forever be grateful that her father was never as overbearing as Gabriel Agreste is. She knows she would have lost her shit a long time ago if she had to put up with the kind of crap that Adrien does.

“Maybe beating on an akuma will brighten your mood,” Artemal suggests, and Chat’s expression brightens.

“You know what, you’re not wrong,” he says, and the next thing Queen Bee knows, he’s grabbing his baton and throwing himself headlong at the akuma.

“Oh my god,” Queen Bee gasps, torn between trying to help him and realizing that he doesn’t need any help. She ends up laughing instead, because Chat is taking full advantage of the akuma’s slowness to ram his baton into its body as much as he can.

“It’s like a giant punching bag,” Artemal says thoughtfully. “Maybe we should’ve just stayed in bed.”

“What is going on here?” Ladybug says suddenly, having landed so quietly that neither of them heard her approach. She walks up beside Queen Bee and stares at the akuma and Chat with a befuddled expression.

“Free therapy,” Queen Bee says solemnly, pointing to them. “Chat’s a little mad.”

“I see that,” Ladybug says, her face doing something complicated. She seems like she doesn’t know whether to go help Chat or not. But since he genuinely doesn’t seem to need help, she ends up staying put.

“No Filou?” Queen Bee asks, glancing around with disappointment.

“Nath has family staying with him this weekend,” Ladybug says, and only then does Queen Bee remember Nathaniel mumbling something about family as he left school today. “His aunt and cousins are in town. I messaged him and told him not to come unless we really needed him. No sense in him trying to sneak out unless he has to.”

“He definitely did not have to,” Artemal says. “I could have stayed in bed too. We both could’ve.”

Queen Bee smiles tightly but doesn’t answer, because she knows she couldn’t stay in bed while an akuma is around. She would be too concerned about her hive. But she gets where Artemal is coming from at the same time. It’s cold and it’s early, with the sun not even cresting the horizon yet, and Chat is doing an excellent job of beating the akuma into the ground with zero help, so yeah they could have stayed in bed.

In the end, Chat finds the akumatized object and breaks it, and Ladybug catches the butterfly and purifies it without ever leaving the rooftop. The akumatized person turns out to be a dazed woman who was angry at all the people making noise this late (or early, depending on how you look at it), and who wanted everyone in Paris to just go to sleep for a while.

“You know, she had a point,” Queen Bee says to no one in particular. “If Hawkmoth were sleeping, we would be too.”

“Hawkmoth is just like my dad. They don’t know what sleep is,” Chat says as he returns to the roof with them. The akuma has, at least, done him good. He’s more relaxed now, less like he’s going to explode at whatever unfortunate thing happens to cross his path.

Ladybug exchanges a concerned look with Queen Bee and reaches out, gently rubbing Chat’s shoulder. “Today is Saturday,” she says gently. “You have nothing on your schedule today, right?”

Chat hangs his head. “I don’t want to go home. I’d rather pretend I got up and snuck out early, and deal with it after I get home tonight,” he says tiredly.

Queen Bee nudges him lightly. “You did sneak out early,” she says, which earns her a small smile.

“You can come home with me,” Ladybug says. “We’ll go back to bed for a while, and then we can meet up with you guys later?”

“Works for me,” Artemal says, shrugging. “I wouldn’t mind going back to bed myself.”

“Chat, can I talk to you for a second?” Queen Bee says.

“Sure.” Chat willingly follows her over to the far edge of the side of the rooftop, looking at her curiously.

“Luka still has the Dragon miraculous,” Queen Bee says.

“Oh. Yeah. I know.” Chat doesn’t quite meet her eyes, which basically tells Queen Bee all she needs to know.

“It’s fine, you know, if you’ve chosen him to be your second,” she says kindly. “I know that I was pushing for Ivan, but it really should be your choice.” She’s still not fully sure that Luka is the right choice, but she keeps reminding herself that she doesn’t know for sure that Ivan would be the best choice either. Luka is harder to get to during the day, but maybe it’s not a bad thing that not all the miraculous holders are under one roof either.

Chat sighs. “I’ve thought about it. Luka just seems more – I dunno. He’s more – convenient, I guess? Because he lives with Juleka, and I’m pretty sure he knows about her already. And I thought he fit the dragon really well. When I told him it was you we had to save, he didn’t hesitate. I like that.”

Queen Bee nods. “That’s fine. I know Marinette talked to him...”

“Ladybug did, actually. She gave him the basic rundown and told him the Dragon miraculous would be temporary,” Chat says, and Queen Bee wonders how that went. Luka isn’t stupid, and it’s fairly obvious if Marinette disappears for a few minutes and Ladybug shows up. Maybe it’s for the best Luka will be the Dragon anyway.

Another freaking member of the hive, a little voice inside her screeches, and Queen Bee has to force herself not to deflate. It seems like every time she turns around there’s someone else joining their small group. While she knows it’s good for them to expand, she also know it’s one more person for her to ultimately worry about. That’s exhausting. But as Juleka’s brother, isn’t Luka on the fringe of the hive already?

“I’ll talk to him then, unless you want to,” Queen Bee says.

“I don’t mind. You look tired, Chloé.” Chat studies her with concern, and Queen Bee has to bite her lip to keep her chin from trembling. Chat’s face goes all soft, and tears rush to her eyes.

“I’m fine,” she says unconvincingly, and Chat snorts.

“No, you’re not. Hey, we can talk to Luka together. You don’t have to do it all by yourself.” He moves closer, sweeping her into a hug before she can protest, and she melts against him before she can stop herself.

“I know you have a lot on you,” Queen Bee mutters. Chat squeezes her tighter in response.

“So do you. Why don’t you come home with us? You can hang out with me and Mari, and we’ll meet up with Juleka, Nathaniel, and Luka later,” he says.

Home. Queen Bee wonders to herself if Chat even realizes that he considers the bakery home. Or maybe it’s not the bakery: maybe he considers Marinette home. She thinks that’s the most likely answer, and she finds herself a little bit envious. As much as she loves Adrien and Marinette, they’re not her home. Not really. They fit together too well to truly accommodate another person. She doesn’t have a home. Maybe she never did.

“Sure,” she says finally, knowing that he’s still waiting for an answer, and really she has no other answer to give. It’s not like she’s sleeping well enough at Juleka’s to warrant making the trip back.

“Good,” Chat says, pressing a quick kiss to the top of her head. “Hey Mari? Chloé’s coming home with us.”

“Excellent,” Ladybug says, striding over to them. “Are you okay to make it back by yourself, Juleka?”

Artemal smiles, looking amused. “Yeah, I’m fine. What time did you want to meet? Noon?”

“Sure, at the park,” Ladybug says. She watches Artemal go before turning to Chat and Queen Bee. Though she’s shorter than both of them, she plants her hands on her hips and somehow manages to hover protectively over them. Queen Bee and Chat exchange looks, and Queen Bee feels somewhat like a baby bird being herded somewhere by its mother. Whatever. She’s not going to protest. She and Chat both could use a little fussing.

Chapter Text

Chloé wakes up to the sun in her eyes. She mumbles a complaint and puts a hand up to shield her eyes, slowly getting her bearings. She’s tucked into bed with Adrien and Marinette, with Adrien thankfully being a barrier between Chloé and Marinette’s feet. The curtain that Marinette keeps over the window above her bed has fallen a little bit, letting in that bit of annoying sunlight.

“Marinette!” a voice calls out.

Adrien stirs beside Chloé, mumbling something that sounds like, “What’s that?”

“Marinette’s mom,” Chloé says, suddenly glad she’s squeezed in between Adrien and the wall. She scootches down a bit as Adrien comes fully awake, poking Marinette hard enough to wake her up.

By the time Sabine throws open Marinette’s trap door, Adrien and Chloé are both safely covered by Marinette’s blanket. Marinette is sitting up, yawning widely, strategically positioned to block the fact that there are two extra people and three kwamis in her bed. Sabine takes in her sleepy daughter and sighs, shaking her head. There’s a streak of icing on her cheek and flour on her apron.

“Marinette, it’s almost noon. It’s past time for you to be up,” Sabine says. “Come on now. I know it’s the weekend, but you can’t sleep the whole day away!”

“I absolutely could,” Marinette says through another yawn, and Sabine snorts.

“You could, but you’re not going to. Get up. Have breakfast. Go meet Alya or Adrien and have fun,” Sabine says. She probably doesn’t realize it, but both Adrien and Chloé feel the way Marinette tenses at the mention of Alya. Chloé can’t help wondering to herself about it. Do Marinette’s parents not realize that Marinette and Alya had a falling out? Alya still hasn’t contacted Marinette, she knows.

“Okay, okay. I’m coming,” Marinette says. A moment later, Chloé hears the thump of the trap door falling shut. Adrien pushes the blanket off of them and they both sit up.

“That was close,” Adrien says, running a hand through his hair. “Chloé and I should go before she comes back.”

“Circle around and come back for breakfast. I’ll feed you pastries,” Marinette says, and Adrien’s eyes brighten. The way to his heart is definitely through his stomach.

“Uh, pajamas?” Chloé says, pointing to herself. Adrien got dressed before transforming, but the thought never really crossed Chloé’s mind. She smiles insincerely and adds, “I’ll just go back to Juleka’s.”

Marinette stares at her for a moment with narrowed eyes, then throws the covers back. “Wait here.”

“I already borrowed the one sundress you own which would fit me,” Chloé says, getting up onto her knees so she can see what Marinette is doing. She’s careful not to crush Tikki, Plagg, or Pollen, who have somehow slept through Marinette’s mother waking everyone else up.

“Marinette can always work something out with clothes,” Adrien says, just a little too smugly.

Chloé gives him a flat look. “Could you be any more obsessed? Seriously.”

“Hey!”

Marinette ignores their squabbling, rummaging around in the very back of her closet until she makes a triumphant sound and emerges. “I completely forgot about this,” she says, holding up another dress. “I took it from your closet that time, but it turned out it was too big. I meant to give it back but what with everything, I forgot.”

“Oh... yay,” Chloé says, recognizing the dress. It’s a long yellow dress with a white belt and white cropped jacket. Chloé hasn’t seen it in years; it was much too long for her when she bought it, and it ended up buried in her closet as a result. She didn’t even know that Marinette had it. She stares at it for a few seconds, realizing that her excuse to get out of breakfast has fallen flat.

Adrien snickers. “Nice try.”

“Shut up, Adrikins,” Chloé mutters, punching him in the shoulder. He yelps and falls back on Plagg, who comes awake with a startled growl, and then Adrien yelps again as Plagg sinks his claws into the nearest flesh. Chloé shakes her head and climbs down the steps, accepting the dress and jacket from Marinette.

“It’ll be fine,” Marinette says softly. “I promise.”

“Sure,” Chloé says, resigned, and turns her back to both of them to pull her pajamas off. She slips the dress on, and depressingly, it fits perfectly now. The jacket is a bit tight, but not too bad.

“Here, I have some sandals that’ll fit too,” Marinette says brightly. They look suspiciously like a pair of Chloé’s sandals. She stares at the sandals for a long moment, brain clicking, then slowly looks up at Marinette.

“Marinette, did you – ” Chloé pauses, trying to work it out, then shakes her head incredulously. “You went back to my closet after I moved out and took some stuff, didn’t you?” There’s just no way that Marinette coincidentally took clothes and shoes that wouldn’t fit her. She’s too good with clothing for that.

Marinette tries hard to look innocent, letting out a shrill laugh. “Wh-what? N-no!”

“She totally did,” Adrien says from the bed. Plagg is sulking on Marinette’s pillow. Pollen is buzzing contentedly from Adrien’s blonde hair.

“She absolutely did,” Tikki agrees, her little head popping up. “She went as Ladybug.”

“Tikki! You said you wouldn’t tell,” Marinette pouts.

“I think they figured it out,” Tikki says dryly.

Marinette sighs and folds her arms. “Alright, fine, I did. I thought that sometimes you might spend the night here and not have a change of clothes, so I picked up some stuff. It was just going to sit there anyway.”

Chloé looks at the bags on the floor, which have taken on new meaning, and asks, “Just how much did you take?”

“None of your business! Just enough,” Marinette says, lifting her chin stubbornly. Chloé thinks about pointing out that is very much is her business given those are her things, but decides against it. At the end of the day, it’s a very sweet if somewhat intrusive thing for Marinette to have done.

“Alright, I’m starving, let’s get this show on the road,” Adrien says. “Plagg, claws out!”

“Pollen, buzz on,” Chloé echoes.

Queen Bee and Chat Noir climb out the window and onto the balcony. From there, it’s easy to jump to the ground and de-transform in an alley. Plagg comes out moaning about how he’s never been so hungry in his life, while Pollen settles happily in the pocket of Chloé’s jacket. Adrien rolls his eyes and grabs Plagg, stuffing Plagg into his pocket as well. Then he grabs Chloé’s hand and pulls her around the corner to the bakery.

Chloé hates to go in. She really does. She keeps remembering the last time she met Marinette’s mother, and the obvious cold shoulder she received. Just because she deserves doesn’t mean she wants to face it again, but Adrien is so excited that she can’t stop him. He opens up the door of the bakery and pulls Chloé inside, letting the door swing shut behind them as the bell jingles their arrival.

“Adrien!” Sabine says warmly from the counter. Her smile tightens slightly when she adds, “And Chloé. What are you two doing here?”

“We were wondering if Marinette was up yet,” Adrien says, all sunshine innocence.

“You have good timing. I just went up and woke her up. She should be coming down shortly if you want to wait in the apartment for her,” Sabine says. She glances at Chloé as she speaks, and Chloé gets the uncomfortable feeling that this invitation is for Adrien, not her.

But Adrien is absolutely fabulous at pretending to be dumb, so he just says, “Great, thank you!” with a big smile and practically drags Chloé with him as he walks behind the counter.

“They don’t want me here,” Chloé hisses as they go. “I should leave.”

“Marinette wants you here and that’s all that matters. You can go if you want to, but you’ll miss out on an awesome breakfast,” Adrien says, glancing at her over his shoulder. “But if you want to leave, I’ll make your excuses to Marinette.” He pauses on the step above Chloé, waiting for an answer.

Chloé sighs. “I’m already here,” she grumbles. “Keep moving.”

Adrien beams and clambers up the rest of the steps, pushing the Dupain-Cheng apartment door open with a noticeable lack of hesitancy. He’s been here a lot, Chloé realizes, enough so that he feels very comfortable walking in without having to knock first. She wonders to herself just how many nights Adrien spends here, and suspects that the answer is a lot more than anyone realizes.

Marinette is already in the kitchen, now wearing jeans, a sparkly pink blouse, and with her hair pulled up in a ponytail. She’s rummaging up three plates of food, and says, “Go ahead and sit at the table, guys. I’ll be right there. Chloé, do you want milk or tea?”

“Tea with honey if you have it,” Chloé says, sitting down at the table. Pollen pokes her head out of the purse at the mention of honey, which just might be her favorite word.

“Of course I do.” Marinette flips the kettle on and then brings the plates to the table. There’s actually four plates, Chloé belatedly realizes, but the fourth plate is definitely kwami-oriented: a big wedge of cheese for Plagg, four chocolate chip cookies for Tiki, and half a dozen honey crackers for Pollen.

“Mm, thanks Mari,” Adrien says, taking a big bite of a scone. His cheeks bulge out like a chipmunks and Chloé chokes back a laugh, which makes Adrien laugh too. Plagg pops out of Adrien’s pocket and descends on the cheese with an inhuman wail of greed. Tikki and Pollen follow more demurely, with Tikki rolling her eyes.

There’s a beep, and Chloé thinks that the kettle is ready, until Marinette takes her phone out of her pocket. Right away, Chloé can tell the text isn’t something good. Marinette’s smile fades as soon as she sees it, her blue eyes widening slightly as she reads. Adrien swallows his mouthful and glances curiously at Chloé, who shrugs. When Marinette does nothing but stand there, Adrien speaks up.

“Are you okay, Marinette? What happened?”

“It’s – it’s Alya,” Marinette says, clearly shocked. “She just texted me asking if I want to meet up for coffee today. She – she wants to talk.”

Well, shit. Chloé’s stomach starts doing some flipflops. She exchanges a quick glance with Adrien, wondering if this is going to be the day when she’s replaced as Marinette’s best friend. Or does it really count as being replaced, when Chloé is the one who temporarily stepped in? Marinette and Alya were friends long before Marinette and Chloé became friends, after all.

“What are you going to say?” Adrien asks. For some reason, he reaches out and puts his hand over Chloé’s, giving Chloé’s hand a comforting squeeze.

“I don’t know,” Marinette says. “What should I say?” She looks up at them, eyes wide.

“You should meet with her,” Chloé says, proud when her voice doesn’t tremble. She wants to be selfish and keep Marinette to herself, but she knows she can’t. Marinette’s feud with Alya has been a small source of discord in the hive so far, mostly because it happened before the hive really formed – but that may not always be the case. Besides that, Marinette misses Alya. They all know it.

“Adrien? Tikki? What do you think?” Marinette asks. The kettle beeps, and she moves to tend to it automatically, pouring out three cups.

“I think you should do it. It can’t hurt to hear her out,” Adrien says.

Tikki nods. “I agree. Maybe she won’t say what you want her to say, but at least you’ll know the answer either way.”

That was a kwami’s pragmatic approach for you, Chloé thinks, a little amused.

Marinette puts the tea on the table and sits, sighing. “You’re right. I guess I’ll say yes, then.” She takes out her phone again and types quickly on it. Her fingers are shaking, Chloé realizes. Marinette wants this, wants this bad, whether she’s willing to admit it or not.

And because of that, Chloé hopes really, really hard that Alya doesn’t fuck it up. Alya might not know it, but Chloé has the feeling that this is Alya’s last chance.

Chapter Text

While Marinette goes to lunch with Alya, Adrien and Chloé head back to the boat to talk to Luka. Chloé is nervous as they walk across the plank. She’s pretty sure that Luka will want to keep on being a miraculous holder, and she has to admit that he seems like a decent choice. But the thought of bringing anyone else into the hive, when there’s already so much to worry about, makes her want to cry a little bit.

Still, it has to be done, and so she and Adrien find Luka sitting on the deck strumming his guitar. There’s a pile of cue cards, several books, a textbook, a notebook, and a bunch of pens and highlighters sitting around him, and Chloé gets the feeling that he’s probably supposed to be working rather than playing with his guitar. Luka opens one eye as they approach, then smiles.

“Good morning,” he says, gently running his thumb down the strings.

“Is it? It looks like you lost interest,” Chloé says, sitting down on the ground. She picks up one of the cue cards and quickly skims it. It looks like Luka’s writing a speech about music in general.

“It’s too nice of a morning for schoolwork,” Luka says, a twinkle in his eyes, and Chloé has to admit he’s not wrong. The haze laying across the water is slowly burning off. It’s going to be a nice day.

Maybe Marinette and Alya will sit outside while they become best friends again. The thought shoots into Chloé’s mind with uncomfortable speed, and she has to struggle to push it back out. She puts the cue card back down, making sure it’s in the exact place where it was before because Luka seems to have some kind of organization going on, and wipes her sweaty pants on her clothes.

“You’ve got an assignment about music?” Adrien says with interest, picking up one of the cards too.

Before they can get too far derailed, Chloé clears her throat. “Actually, we came to talk to you about something in particular,” she says, shooting Adrien a meaningful look. “Well – I came to talk to you about it, I guess. I’m here on behalf of Ladybug. Adrien is tagging along for the ride.”

Luka raises an eyebrow, a half-smile sliding across his face, and Chloé suspects that he knows exactly why Adrien is here. The miraculous magic offers them a certain level of protection from the obvious, but at a certain point even that magic will begin to fail. And Luka is close to the situation, closer than any non-miraculous holder has been for a long time.

“Alright,” Luka says pleasantly. “Go ahead.”

“Did you like using the Dragon miraculous?” Chloé asks, which might seem like an odd first question, but if Luka didn’t like it, then this whole conversation may be short.

“Very much so,” Luka says. “I wish I had gotten the chance to explore more of them. Longg has been telling me about them. They sound fascinating.”

“You haven’t transformed since, right?” Adrien says, to which Luka shakes his head.

“Ladybug told me that I was only to use the miraculous when told to,” he says. “To be honest, I expected her to come back for it. I was surprised when she didn’t. Is that why you’re here? You’ve come to collect it?” His eyes settle on Chloé with a surprisingly heavy weight.

“No. We – I – would like to invite you to be a part of the miraculous team officially,” Chloé says.

Luka’s expression lights up. “Wait, seriously?”

“Seriously,” Adrien says with a faint smile. “You’d be – err – Chat Noir’s second.”

“What does that mean?” Luka asks.

“It used to mean that Chat Noir would be the one to hold your miraculous, and that he’d come find you if we needed you,” Chloé says only slightly guiltily, exchanging a quick look with Adrien. It’s been a little while since Marinette collected Nathaniel’s miraculous, or since Chloé thought to take Juleka’s. Master Fu would be having a fit if he knew, no doubt.

“And now?” Luka says, looking at her expectantly, and Chloé shrugs.

“I don’t know anymore. It might mean that again in the future, but for now...” She trails off. She’s too tired mentally to care about anyone keeping their miraculous. Especially Juleka, given that Chloé now lives with her. Does it even make sense to take the Tiger miraculous away from her at this point?

“Okay. That makes sense,” Luka says.

“If you agree to be a miraculous user, you must keep your identity a secret from anyone outside of the team,” Chloé tells him. “And of course, you must only use your power for good, never for evil or selfish purposes. When Hawkmoth attacks, you’ll need to drop whatever you’re doing and come to the city’s aid.”

“And it’s dangerous,” Adrien adds, looking at Luka seriously. “Though Ladybug’s miraculous magic will eventually fix everything, it can be painful in the meantime.”

No one knows that better than Chat Noir. Chloé wordlessly reaches for Adrien’s hand, giving it a squeeze. Out of all of them, Chat Noir is by far the one who has suffered the most due to Hawkmoth. He’s been brainwashed, thrown across the city, even erased from the timeline. Fortunately, now that they have more miraculous holders, he’s not taking the brunt of the danger now. But it’s still a risk.

Luka’s quiet for a few seconds before nodding. “I understand. I want to keep being a part of the team.”

“Good,” Chloé says, relaxing slightly. She didn’t really think Luka would say no, but there was always a small chance. Juleka, she knows, will be thrilled.

“Good to have you on board,” Adrien says with a smile, reaching out his free hand. Luka takes it and they shake, before Luka gives him a curious look.

“Chat Noir?” he questions.

“Correct,” Adrien says, nodding as they let go.

Luka exhales, shaking his head with a quick laugh. “And Artemal is Juleka, clearly.”

“Yeah, we didn’t hide that one too well,” Chloé says, thinking back to the first time she showed up to get Juleka’s help. Time was of the essence, and secret identities had been the last thing on Chloé’s mind at the time.

“And Marinette... she’s Ladybug?” Luka seems very impressed by this.

“That’s right,” Chloé says, squeezing Adrien’s hand again. She can tell he’s still a tiny bit jealous of Luka and Marinette, even though Chloé genuinely doesn’t think there’s anything to be jealous about. Marinette is so head over heels in love with Adrien that there’s just no space for anyone else.

“And Filou?” Luka frowns slightly. “Nathaniel, I’m guessing?”

“Yup. We really should spend less time together as civilians,” Chloé says.

Adrien shrugs. “No one else has put it to together.”

“Yet,” Chloé points out, but Adrien just gives her a silly grin and she can’t help smiling back.

“I haven’t transformed again,” Luka says, drawing both their attention. “Will I get the chance to practice?”

“Absolutely. In fact, we can go practice right now if you want to,” Adrien says, which isn’t exactly how Chloé planned to spend the afternoon, but she supposes that it’s alright. It’s better than sitting around agonizing over Marinette and Alya, anyway.

Luka’s eyes light up, and he quickly takes off his guitar and gently sets it down. “I’m ready!”

“Plagg, claws out!”

“Pollen, buzz on!”

“Loong, bring the storm!”

*******

Marinette is unaccountably nervous as she slowly walks towards the café where Alya suggested they meet. It’s a new place that opened up a few weeks ago, and Marinette hasn’t had the time to go there yet. Too bad her first time going there is when she won’t be able to enjoy it. Her nerves only intensify when she sees Alya is already there, waiting outside for her.

“Hey,” Alya says when Marinette is close enough. She looks as uncomfortable as Marinette feels, which is almost reassuring in a way.

“Hi,” Marinette says. “So, uh, should we get a drink?” She actually didn’t eat that much of breakfast, so she should be hungry. But she’s not. Her stomach is twisting too much for that. But the sound of a hot drink that she can wrap her cold fingers around sounds nice. Maybe if things get too awkward, she can pretend to spill it.

“Sure. I didn’t eat breakfast, so I might get a scone. Though I’m sure it won’t be as good as the ones from your parent’s bakery,” Alya says.

“You never know,” Marinette says with a small smile. At one time, she wouldn’t have left the bakery on a weekend morning without bringing along a treat for Alya, whether it was a scone or a croissant or a muffin. Whatever her papa had cooked up that day. Today, it’s somewhat discomfiting to realize that bringing something for Alya didn’t even cross her mind.

They both enter the café. Marinette orders a coffee, while Alya gets a coffee and, after examining the display, a muffin. By the time their orders are up, Marinette is feeling a tiny bit more confident. She follows Alya outside again, clutching her coffee, and they find a table on the outdoor patio. Marinette sinks into her seat, cradling her coffee in her hands, and looks at Alya.

“I like your shirt,” she says.

Alya brightens. “Thanks! It’s new, I just got it. My mom picked it out, if you can believe it.”

“It looks good on you,” Marinette says, feeling a pang. She used to love shopping with Alya.

They look at each other for a moment. Alya looks tired, Marinette notices. Even though Alya’s taken the time to put make-up on, the skin under her eyes still looks puffy. Is it because of Lila’s death? Because of their meeting today? She’s in the middle of trying to figure out what to say when Alya speaks first.

“Marinette... I’m sorry.”

“You are?” Marinette says, automatically suspicious. “For what?”

Alya hesitates a bit before sighing. “I – I let Lila come between us,” she admits. “And I wish I hadn’t done that. I don’t know what was going on between you two, but you’re my best friend. Were my best friend.” Her lips pinch together into an unhappy frown.

A little part of Marinette longs to reassure her that they’re still best friends. It’s what she would have done a year ago. But she already knows, deep in her heart, that she can’t. It’s funny. A couple of years ago, Marinette would have sworn that there was nothing that could become between her and Alya. She would have died on the hill that she and Alya would be best friends forever.

“Lila was terrible to me,” Marinette says quietly. “She lied about me and to me, and she got me in trouble for things that I didn’t do. I wish you had listened to me when I tried to tell you that.”

“Lila was so nice. What you were saying just didn’t make sense,” Alya replies. “Sure, she exaggerated a little bit, but...” She shrugs her shoulders and drops her gaze, tearing off a little piece of her muffin and eating it.

Marinette struggles to hold back a jolt of frustration. It seems as though Alya still isn’t willing to admit to the truth about Lila. Maybe she never will be. Lila’s death has certainly complicated things in that respect. Now there just seems to be no way that Marinette can prove the truth about Lila and all her lies to everyone. And even if she did somehow, what's the point? Lila isn’t there to be punished. The damage that Lila has done to Marinette’s relationships with Alya and the rest of her friends, with Madame Bustier, with her parents, that can't easily be fixed now.

“She wasn’t nice to me,” Marinette says finally. It's on the tip of her tongue to tell Alya everything that Lila had done, but she refrains. This isn't a conversation that she wants to have with Alya, she realizes. It's a conversation she wants to have with Chloé. Because while Alya would demur and maybe even defend Lila, Chloé would be openly furious, without concern for Lila’s memory. The latter is what Marinette needs.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Alya says, sighing again. “I just – can we just be friends again, Mari? I miss you. We don’t have to talk about Lila. She’s gone now anyway.”

Marinette is quiet for a moment. She's not surprised, but she is a little disappointed. She realizes that if she wants to be friends with Alya again, this is going to be the terms of it. They will never be able to talk about Lila or anything relating to her, and there's no question that this will shadow their friendship forever. The days where Marinette told Alya practically everything have ended; they can be friends now, but only superficially, and that stings. But she still doesn't want to lose Alya forever.

“Sure,” Marinette says finally. “I’d like that.”

Alya brightens. “Really? Oh, that’s amazing!” She beams at Marinette, who returns the smile shyly. They’ll need to rebuild their friendship in many ways, but that's okay. If this is as good as things between her and Alya can be, Marinette can accept that.

Chapter Text

“Whoo, bring it!” Chat yells out, right before Chat Noir’s baton and Dracones’s sword meet in a flurry of sparks that makes Queen Bee’s eyes smart. She blinks rapidly, looking away from the two of them. They’ve been at it for about an hour, and neither one shows any sign of slowing down.

“Men. I should’ve invited Ladybug or Artemal,” Queen Bee sighs, kicking her legs out. She glances back at the two boys, then smiles to herself.

It’s been a long time since she uploaded anything to the miraculous Instagram account. Chat has occasionally been uploading photographs from their patrols, but Queen Bee hasn’t had the heart to since she posted that image of her and Filou and Alya ended up getting akumatized over it. Then, of course, all that shit happened with Lila, and the account just dropped to the bottom of things all of them care about.

But she supposes that it can’t hurt to snap a couple of shots of Chat Noir and Dracones, can it? No one has ever used the Dragon miraculous before, so it’s not like she needs to worry about anyone else getting akumatized. And surely it’s only fair for Dracones to get an introduction too, right?

With a soft giggle, she yanks out her phone and spins around. She’s patient, watching the two of them on the screen until she sees the perfect moment to snap a couple of pictures. Then she takes a few more just for the sake of it, because Dracones looks pretty damn cool and she’s 100% positive that these pictures are going to stir up a lot of interest in their female fans.

The first image shows Dracones with his sword in hand, held aloft towards Chat Noir. There’s a confident grin on his face, and his free hand is beckoning towards Chat Noir.

The second image shows Chat Noir leaping at Dracones with his baton held aloft. Dracones is sinking back onto his left leg, raising his sword to meet the blow.

The third image shows their weapons meeting again. Chat Noir is grinning so wide that it stretches from ear to ear, while Dracones is wearing a small smile and a look of concentration.

Perfect, Queen Bee thinks with another giggle, and quickly opens up the miraculous Instagram account. She thinks for a few seconds about what she should write along with it as the photos upload. Scrolling quickly through the latest photos doesn’t provide much inspiration, as it seems like Chat has been fairly lowkey with the tags lately. Well, that’s going to change. Finally, she writes:

#MiraculousSquad #Dracones #Dragon #NewMember enjoy this sneak peek just for our favorite fans, everyone say hello to Dracones

And then she presses send. It takes about two seconds for her phone to start vibrating with the overwhelming amount of notifications pouring in. Chat jumps too, letting out a surprised yelp. His baton slips away form Dracones’s sword and nearly sends Chat faceplanting. He catches himself just in time, yanking out his phone to see what’s going on. He lets out a laugh and shows Dracones.

“Queen Bee is making you famous,” he says.

“Oh... wow,” Dracones says, eyes wide. “That’s a lot of likes...”

“I thought it was best for Paris to know about your new member before anyone thinks you’re an akuma,” Queen Bee explains. “If anyone sees you fighting with Chat, it could give the wrong idea.”

“Good point. I didn’t think about that,” says Chat. “Whew, I’m dying for a drink. I’ll be right back.” He swipes up his baton and heads for the edge of the roof, dropping over the side of it.

Queen Bee pats the ground beside her, and after a moment, Dracones walks over and sits down beside her. She shows him the Instagram account since she doesn’t think Luka is the kind of guy to look at it. She scrolls slowly through the photos, feeling a twinge when she comes across one of herself, Filou, and Ladybug. They’re all laughing hysterically, though she can’t remember what about. The date says it’s from before Lila died, and she finds herself envious of what was a much simpler time.

“Can I ask you a question?” Dracones says.

“Sure.”

“What happened? With – with Lila? Sorry,” he adds quickly when Queen Bee flinches. “I’ve just been curious... but you don’t have to tell me.”

“No, you should know.” Queen Bee sighs. “I’m sure you know that Lila was Mayura. We don’t know how she became Mayura. It’s hard to know whether she was willing working with Hawkmoth or whether he manipulated her into it. Or maybe it’s both.” She wraps her arms around her bent knees.

“Juleka didn’t really like Lila,” Dracones says, somewhat cautiously. “I know she thinks Lila was working with him willingly.”

“That’s what I think too. But either way, it doesn’t matter now. What does matter is that Lila was using the Peacock miraculous. There’s something wrong with it. It’s broken,” she says.

“Broken?” Dracones cocks his head slightly.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with it exactly. But transforming with it was dangerous. It made Lila really sick. On the day she died...” Queen Bee squeezes her eyes shut, trying not to envision that terrible day. “I – we tried to stop her. We tried to tell her that the miraculous was dangerous. But she thought we were just trying to stop her. She ran away, and then she attacked us. And then...” She trails off, swallowing hard.

She hated Lila. Hell, she still hates Lila. That’s not a secret. But watching Lila collapse right in front of them was one of the worst moments of her life. She’ll never forget the panic, the fear, the desperation. It’s one of those moments where Queen Bee truly feels like they failed as heroes. If they had only handled the situation better, they could have surely saved Lila.

It startles her when she feels a hand touching hers. She opens her eyes and sees that Dracones has shifted closer and put his gloved hand over hers. She stares at their hands for a moment, swallowing, before looking up into his face. She hadn’t noticed before, but Dracones has very nice, very bright blue eyes.

Softly, he says, “It’s not your fault. Even heroes can’t save everyone.”

“We should be able to,” Queen Bee says, though she gets what he means. Being a superhero doesn’t mean that you’re perfect or infallible. The absolute mess that is her life right now shows that all too well.

Dracones sighs and nods. “We should be able to,” he agrees. “But that’s not really how it works, and you shouldn’t beat yourself up for that. Especially when you consider everyone that you have been able to save. Paris probably wouldn’t even be here anymore if it weren’t for you guys.”

“For Ladybug and Chat Noir, you mean,” Queen Bee corrects him. Because everyone knows that those two are the truly important ones in the battle against Hawkmoth.

“Nah, you and Filou and Artemal matter just as much. Don’t you remember what a hard time Ladybug and Chat were having before Queen Bee came on scene?” he asks.

Queen Bee opens her mouth, then pauses, because she does remember that. Hawkmoth had really upped the amount of akumas he was sending there for a while. That’s why she originally suggested bringing Nathaniel in to help. Thankfully, possibly after realizing that the miraculous team was adding members, Hawkmoth had slowed the quantity of akumas somewhat. But the quality of the akumas continued to rise, with more difficult akumas coming each day, which was how Artemal had ultimately joined the team.

“They wouldn’t have been able to make it this far without you guys,” Dracones says sincerely. “Even I, a stranger who wasn’t part of the team, could get that. Don’t underestimate your importance in this fight, okay? I don’t think Ladybug or Chat would know what to do without you.”

Even though Queen Bee isn’t so sure about that, the reassurance is nice to hear. She nods slowly and gives him a tiny smile, saying, “I’m glad you joined our team, Luka. I think you’ll be a good addition.” And she’s surprised to find that she means it.

If someone else has to join the hive, she’s glad that it’s Luka.

He smiles back at her. “I’m happy to join. I worried a lot about Juleka. But now I can be there if something goes wrong. I know I can’t protect her, but – just being there sometimes is enough, you know?”

“I get it,” Queen Bee says, nodding. “I didn’t want to talk about this in front of Adrien, but being a miraculous holder is hard sometimes. You have to drop everything if an akuma comes. It’s hard on relationships. Your friends and family will wonder about it. They’ll think it’s weird. My dad tried to stop me from being Queen Bee.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for telling me,” Dracones says, looking thoughtful.

“And it’s tiring. Sometimes Hawkmoth bombards us with akumas. Plus the press doesn’t exactly like us anymore after what happened with Lila. They don’t always print the nicest stuff. And you can expect to see yourself on the Ladyblog too,” Queen Bee says. Mentioning the Ladyblog makes her think about Alya and Marinette again, and she has to take a deep breath.

“Hey. I said yes, and I’m not going to change my mind now no matter what,” Dracones says firmly. His hand is still on top of Queen Bee’s, and he gives her hand a light squeeze.

“Okay,” Queen Bee says. She looks around. “Man, Chat has been gone a while.”

“Do you think he’s okay?” Dracones pulls his hand away and puts it on his sword, looking fully ready to fling himself into battle on Chat’s behalf, and Queen Bee smiles.

“No, I think the more likely answer – ” She creeps to the edge of the roof and kneels down, peeking over the edge. What she sees below is exactly what she expected, and she shakes her head slightly even as she beckons to Dracones. He joins her, and they look down to see an awkward-looking Adrien holding a tray of drinks, surrounded by a crowd of adoring fans.

“I thought Adrien and Marinette were dating?” Dracones says, looking confused.

“Oh they are. Those two are disgustingly in love, believe me,” Queen Bee says. “But that’s never stopped Adrien’s fans before. He should’ve known better than to detransform and walk into a café in the middle of the afternoon.” She shakes her head again, fondly this time.

“Poor Adrien,” Dracones says, but he sounds a little bit amused at the same time. “Should we rescue him?”

Queen Bee considers this for a few seconds before sighing. “Yeah, probably. That’s a pretty big crowd. He’ll be there forever if they all want autographs.” She pulls out her stinger.

But Dracones grabs her wrist before she can throw it out and says, “Hey, isn’t that Marinette and Alya?”

Queen Bee looks, startled, and sees that Dracones is right. Marinette and Alya are walking up on the crowd. Alya looks a little confused, but Marinette’s shoulders are thrown back and she’s walking with purpose. She marches right up and starts pushing her way into the crowd, shoving and squeezing until she manages to make a space for herself next to Adrien, who looks relieved to see her.

“Guess we’re not needed after all,” Queen Bee says. Either the crowd will disperse now that Adrien’s girlfriend is here, or Marinette will pull Adrien away and they’ll hide somewhere for a bit. Either way, seeing Marinette and Alya together makes her heart ache.

“Well, if Adrien is otherwise occupied, and Marinette is busy too, then could we do some more training?” Dracones asks hopefully. “I feel a little better at using the sword now, but I’d like to see what else I can do. Can we run around the city or something?”

“Sure,” Queen Bee says. A good, hard run around the city sounds pretty nice right now. “You should be able to do everything that we can. Your suit will protect you from damage, so don’t worry if you mess up.” She holds up her stinger again. “And if you fall, I promise to catch you.”

She means it as a joke, but Dracones flashes her a warm smile. “I know you will.”

Chapter Text

It’s past dinner time by the time that Luka and Chloé return to the ship. Luka is beaming, brimming with enthusiasm and confidence the way that Nathaniel and Juleka used to. She misses the excitement of being a new miraculous holder. It’s adorable watching Luka run down below so that he can tell Juleka all about the training that he and Chloé did today.

Wanting to give the siblings privacy, Chloé doesn’t follow. Instead, she pulls out her phone to check her messages. She instantly sees one from Marinette asking Chloé to sleep at her place tonight. Chloé hesitates for a few seconds. Part of her doesn’t want to know how the meeting with Alya went, nor is she sure she wants to see Marinette’s parents again. But even though she’s not a cat, her curiosity wins out and she types out a quick confirmation.

“It’ll be fine, Chloé,” a little voice whispers in her ear, and Chloé turns to see that Pollen is hovering over her shoulder looking at the phone too.

“Are you reading my messages?” Chloé asks with a small smile, and Pollen giggles.

“Of course I am! Going to Marinette’s means that delicious honey pastry tonight,” Pollen says with a dreamy gaze. “Someday I hope I can give my compliments to Marinette’s papa.”

“You and Tikki both,” Chloé says. “Alright. I almost wonder if I should bother packing a bag since Marinette has a bunch of my stuff at her house.” She shakes her head fondly at the memory. “But I will anyway.”

Pollen’s light weight settles on her shoulder as Chloé walks slowly down the steps. She can hear Luka and Juleka chattering away as she heads into her room. She’s like 90% sure that both of them will be out tonight running around the city, which means that there will be images of them on social media in no time. The post she made about Dracones on Instagram absolutely exploded, and now all of Paris is on high alert to snap pictures of the newest miraculous team member.

She enters her room and rummages around for a moment until she finds a small bag, which will do for overnight. She packs in an outfit for tomorrow and pajamas, plus her make-up bag and usual hair stuff. As she does, her nerves mount. She’s not sure about seeing Marinette’s parents again so soon. This morning was uncomfortable. Maybe she should have suggested Marinette come here instead.

But Marinette probably wants privacy for this, which is hard to get in such close quarters on the boat. Maybe she can sneak in as Queen Bee, Chloé decides, and swings her back up onto her shoulder. Pollen scoots inside, making a little nest for herself in Chloé’s clothing. For a moment, Chloé envies her. It must be nice to be so small and easily hidden, she thinks.

“I’m heading to Marinette’s,” she says, poking her head into Juleka’s room. Juleka is sitting on her bed and Luka has turned Juleka’s desk chair backwards and is straddling it, arms resting on the back.

“For the night?” Juleka says, and Chloé nods.

“Want us to walk you there?” Luka asks.

“Oh yeah, we totally can,” Juleka says. They both look ready to jump up and rush to her side.

Chloé smiles and shakes her head. “No, it’s fine. Good night.”

“Good night,” they say, practically at the same time, and then they grin at each other. Chloé’s heart twists a bit. She always wondered what it would be like to have a sibling. And now she has one, or at least has one coming, and it’s nothing like she ever thought it would be.

She quietly slips out and starts the walk to Marinette’s. As she goes, she can’t helping wondering what Zoé will be like. She must really be something if even Audrey and André like her so much, Chloé reflects, and it makes her feel bitter. It feels like she’s being replaced, and those feelings make her hate Zoé a little bit, even if it’s not fair. Then again, nothing about this situation is fair...

“Chloé!”

Chloé looks up, startled, and sees Marinette hurrying towards her. “What’s wrong?” Chloé asks. Her immediate thought is of an akuma, but the city is so quiet...

“Nothing. I just came to meet you,” Marinette says, leaning over and putting her hands on her knees while she catches her breath.

“You didn’t have to. I know the way to the bakery,” Chloé says, mostly because this ruins her plan to sneak inside as Queen Bee, and Marinette grins as she straightens up.

“I know you do,” she says, linking her arms through Chloé’s. “But it’s a nice night for a walk. I thought we could pick up a pizza for supper on the way back. And maybe stop and pick up some junk food too? I have a major craving for chocolate that cake or pastry can’t fill.”

Chloé shrugs. “Sure, I guess.” She’s dying to ask about Marinette’s lunch with Alya, but fear makes the question tangle on her tongue.

Luckily, Marinette is a step ahead as usual. “So Alya and I met for lunch,” she announces as they walk. “It went... okay, I guess? It was awkward. It’s been a while since Alya and I really talked, and a lot has changed. But she’s still the same old Alya.”

“Is that a good thing?” Chloé asks, because she genuinely can’t tell. For Chloé, who has never had much patience for Alya, it would be a bad thing. But for Marinette, who loves Alya, that’s tough.

Marinette sighs, slowly shaking her head. “I don’t know. A year ago, I would have said yes. But now? Maybe. Sort of? I like Alya, but she can be super frustrating to deal with at the same time.”

“Gee, I wonder who else fits that description,” Chloé says innocently, and Marinette laughs and slaps at Chloé’s arm.

“Shut up! I just meant, like, she still doesn’t want to see or admit that there’s anything wrong with Lila. All she would say is that Lila exaggerated ‘a little bit’,” Marinette says, letting go of Chloé’s arm to make quotation marks in the air. “I know she doesn’t believe me when I say that Lila was a terrible person.”

“She’ll probably never see the truth,” Chloé says as gently as she knows how. “Now that Lila is gone, no one is going to want to think less of her.”

Marinette nods, pinching her lips into a thin line before saying, “I know. I figured that out when Alya apologized to me for letting Lila come between us, but not for anything else.”

Chloé doesn’t say anything, mostly because she doesn’t think Marinette wants to hear what Chloé thinks of Alya right now. She definitely does not have anything polite to say about Alya Césaire right now, that’s for sure. Frankly, she thinks that Alya is a pretty shitty journalist. All of this has been happening right underneath Alya’s nose, and she thinks it says a lot that Alya hasn’t even noticed.

“It gets better,” Marinette adds bitterly. “She said that Lila was so nice, and I said well Lila wasn’t nice to me, and Alya said she was sorry I felt that way. I almost wish she wouldn’t have said anything at all.” She stares straight ahead, looking like she’s working hard not to cry, and Chloé’s heart wrenches.

She can feel it, beneath the depths of her own despair, the little anxious buzz that means there’s discord in the hive. She reaches out, setting a hand on Marinette’s arm, and Marinette looks back at her, mouth twisting up and eyes blinking furiously. Chloé doesn’t really know what to say, so she does the only thing she can think of and reaches out to hug Marinette instead.

“Chloé,” Marinette gets out, a gaspy little half-sob, and then she’s crying into Chloé’s shoulder. “I just – I wish things could go back to how they were, before Lila.”

“You could use the Rabbit miraculous,” Chloé offers after a hesitant moment, and Marinette shakes her head.

“No – no, that wouldn’t work. And anyway, I wouldn’t want to lose what we have with the hive. I just – ” She pulls a back a little, swiping at her eyes with her sleeve. “I think I wanted Alya to be someone who she’s not, and that’s my own fault.”

“Nothing about this is your fault, Marinette,” Chloé says quietly. It’s not fair for Marinette to blame herself when every day Marinette is out there trying so hard.

She has to tamp down on a jolt of anger and frustration. This isn’t what she meant when she spoke to Alya. She wanted Alya to fix things with Marinette, really fix things, but it seems like Alya can’t even do that much. And no matter how much Chloé wants to step up and fix it instead, she knows that she can’t. And that sucks so much in ways she doesn’t even know how to express.

“I just think there’s things I could’ve done different,” Marinette says, wiping her eyes again. “I don’t know what, but I never thought it would be like this.”

“You could’ve punched Lila in the face the day you met her,” Chloé says impulsively, and Marinette bursts out laughing.

“Chloé! Oh my god, stop.”

“I’m just throwing options out there,” Chloé replies, and Marinette giggles again and wipes her eyes for a third time. But she’s smiling now, even if it’s a sad one.

“I think Lila made me realize that the people around me aren’t who I assumed they were. In both good ways and bad ways,” she says, looking right into Chloé’s eyes. “You stepped up to protect me from Lila as best you could. Alya didn’t, she chose to ignore the situation and doubled down about it even now. We’re just – we’re not kids anymore, you know?”

“I know,” Chloé says softly. Even though they’re young, she knows exactly what Marinette means. They’ve been through a lot.

“I always thought Alya would be my second. The person I leaned on the most. I didn’t know until now that there was still a little part of me hoping she’d still become that,” Marinette says. “But I have to accept that while Alya and I can be friends, we can’t be more than that. We can’t be best friends or teammates.”

“So... no miraculous?” Chloé says, because it did cross her mind that if Marinette and Alya made up, then Marinette might want to give Alya a miraculous again. Not the Fox – she doesn’t think Marinette would take that away from Nathaniel, and she doubts Trixx would have gone quietly if Marinette had tried – but another miraculous.

“Nope,” Marinette says, seemingly calm about this. “But that’s okay. It might sound a little mean, but I don’t really need Alya out on the field anymore. We’ve got an amazing team going here. You, me, Adrien, Nath, Juleka, Luka, we all fit together. We work, and I wouldn’t want to do anything to ruin that.”

“Okay,” Chloé says, absorbing that, feeling a little relieved. She would have made room for Alya, and probably Nino, if she had to, but she wouldn’t have liked it.

Marinette reaches out suddenly, grasping Chloé’s hand, and says, “And anyway, the position of my best friend has already been filled.”

“Marinette,” Chloé says, shakier than she wants to, and Marinette smiles kindly.

“It’s the truth. I like having you as a best friend, Chloé. I meant what I told you before. You can’t get rid of me now. You’re stuck with me and Adrien until the end,” she says with a grin. “Even if Alya and I are friends again, things are different now. I would pick you over Alya now any day.”

Chloé can’t say anything to that, because if she does she’ll be the one to start crying, and she feels like she’s already cried enough over the past few weeks. She settles for squeezing Marinette’s hand as hard as she can, and she thinks that Marinette gets the message.