Chapter Text
Chloe was mindlessly scrolling on her phone because she was bored waiting outside for him. They had their weekly sleepover tomorrow (a tradition started ever since childhood.) and she was not gonna let him get away like the last time. She had to resort to calling Sabrina who was such a bore the whole time. Anyway since when he was so busy for her?
As she spotted Adrien and a rando she took her steps towards. "ADRi-"
Her words died out as the stranger removing their helmet revealing a cutest girl she had ever seen. Wait a minute, the blue hair, the posture, is she ladybug? She had to be as the resemblence was uncanny.
She looked even more gorgeous, stunning without the mask. Her hair was bit shorter than expected but it was probably magic that gave her pigtails or something. Maybe it was a wig to deter hawkmoth from her identity. No offence to Ladybug but pigtails seriously? İt's giving kindergarden. She hadn't got a chance to inspect her further as she got in her limuzine. İs Ladybug rich too? That made sense as there was no way she was able to idolize someone who was poor expect Robin Hood. She ideologically might have disagreed with him (because being rich meant being superior duh.) but she admired his rebelious spirit.
As she was lost in her thoughts she realized Adrien was gone. This happened way too much for her liking. An Adrien fan would be appaled to hear this but sometimes he really was annoying.
During the akuma attack she hid in the school the whole time. She hated helplessly waiting from the sidelines but at least the heros were competent enough, at least one of them. She watched the whole fight from the ladyblog, she was reluctant to admit the blog had potential.
She gave up trying to find Adrien even if she was unsure if he would see. She decided to text him just to make sure he is fine after the akuma attack. She sended 'Are you well?' İt had one tick.
Usually he was busy to respond to messages, it took two weeks for him to respond to the last one, all of that paitently waiting just for him to say 'Ok'. She was really close to murdering him.
She had tomorrow to drag his dumbass to their awesome as usual sleepover and maybe ask him who was the girl from earlier.
----
Today she did what she normally wouldn't do. She made sure she arrived twenty minutes earlier than she usually is. She had to wake up 5.30 am instead of her usual 6.00, he better be grateful.
All of that thoughts went away as she spotted Adrien who was with Nino. Before they could talk she intrupted with a biggest smile she could manage.
"Adri-kins!"
Did both of their faces soured? She probably imagined it out of the stres of yesterday's events. Before even Nino could open his dumb mouth Adrien tried to dissmiss her.
"Hey Chloe. I am busy right now can we talk later?"
Busy with what, chatting with Nino? He was wearing his model smile as if it could fool her. She was more offended by the fact that he wasn't even trying to make a proper excuse.
At first she thought he was too nice to turned down others invitations but as the time went on she realized he had no problem ditching her. She just had it enough with him. She was beyond frustrated. She pointed her finger at him accusotery. "Adrien Émile Gabriel Donatien Athanase Agreste Graham de Vanily."
She glanced around to see if the Dupain Cheng was near by (thankfully she wasn't). Otherwise her carefully planted messing with her by flirting with him would have been broken.
They were both suprised at her tone shift. Nino muttered. "Holy shit man. You made her angry."
"Do you know I have been looking for you yesterday stratch that basically everyday since you started this stupid school! Do you know how worried I was yesterday when you couldn't even answer a stupid text message after the attack?"
As she thought over this more and more she got more agitated. "This is the forth fucking week in a row where you ditch me claiming to be busy. You probably don't even remember today was suppose to be the sleepover day."
Nino's eyes wiedened over her words whereas Adrien stared to the ground, figetting with his hands. Her voice unintentionally broke. "When did you stop your promise we would be friends?"
Knowing she wouldn't get an answer, she was about to fix her make-up in the bathroom (they were suppose to be waterproof) Adrien said. "I am still your friend Chloe."
She didn't even bother to turn around. "Then why aren't you acting like one?"
She quickened her steps as she realized people were staring at her. Not only he ruined her day he also ruined her reputation of being the queen. What a mess.
The rest of the day she was sulky enough to be silence. The tension could be cut through with knife in the class.
During recess Rose asked what is wrong (likely wanted to know the juicy drama so she could gossip with the rest of the class, laughing at her misery. Maybe that was a bit too much assumption but being dramatic was in her genes, sue her.) Even when she told her firmly to leave her alone she kept bothering and when she touched her shoulder, the discomfort made her flinch backward, resulting to her almost falling. The classmates laughter irritated her enough to lash out.
After a moment of silence, Alix gave her an unwanted commentary. 'Yes, classic Chloe. For a moment I thought she was being replaced by the aliens.' which resulted more laughter. She left the place in hurry. She seriously hated these people.
----
At the night she decided she shouldn't let Adrien being an asshole deter her and do sleepover herself as she deserved a break from everything. Sabrina gave her a flimsy excuse (which she normally would chew her out for it but she didnt have enough energy to care) to not participate. When she was browsing the movies she could potentially watch, someone knocked her window. Great, akuma again. She was not in the mood to be the helpless victim.
As she got closer to the window ready to curse her heart out, the catboy was standing there shivering. "Finally, do you know how cold it is out there?"
Her shoulders relaxed upon being in no danger, just a forming headache. "Ugh, aren't you suppose to be used to the cold, street cat?"
He launched himself on the couch like he owned the room, in reality he was the unwanted visitor. "So whatcha doing?"
She closed the window. " What am i doing does not concern you. Unless ladybug asked you to look after me like a thoughtful person she is, you can tell her I appericiated but it is compleatly unnecesary as I can look after myself. So bye."
He blinked with a blank expression. Was he dumb? "Sho sho."
He recovered quickly. "Wow, how rude. Ever heard of the concept of hiss-pitality?"
She crossed her arms. "Excuse moi." Seriously the audacity of this cat. "Ever heard of manners?"
"Clearly a lot more than you. Throwing the helpless cat onto the harsh streets." He acted dissapointed. "Not pawsome at all."
She was not impressed. "Why are you even here?"
He paused before returning to his annoying self. "Can a cat want some com-paw-ny around?"
"Let me guess, Ladybug wasn't around so you decided to bother the next best thing."
"Can I just wanna spend time with meow second favourite civilian?"
Even Cat Noir saw her awesomeness when Adrien couldn't. "Fine, I am gonna watch a movie. You can be here too I guess. Just no talking during it." She only reluctantly let him in out of pity, nothing else.
"Cool." His mouth was full with snacks as he talked.
"Gross. Close your mouth when eating." And he called her impolite. "The most basic table rule of all time."
He reached to the side and threw her pillow at her. İt was so on.
After the pillowfight he insisted since he won (that only happened because of his superpowers obviously.) he should pick the movie. She let him, only for him to pick a outrageous musical with a shit eating grin. They eventually both comprimised on 'Heathers'. He told her it fit her vibe or whatever that means.
During the film, she broken her own rule to comment on how bad the guys's clothes were. Veronica was crazy to leave Heather's for his ugly ass. There was zero (not even that, a minus infinity) appeal.
Chat noir said he thought he was hot, not as hot as himself tho (Egoistical much?). Of course he would think that since his taste was trash. (Besides liking ladybug.) She vocalised her thoughts minus the last part.
During the party scene He was yelling at the screen to Veronica to not go with the plan of messing with her friend as if that would affect the outcome. However the whole scene felt familiar to her. He had a sappy grin when Veronica stood up for herself and her friend.
He tried to sing along to every song (resulting an disaster because he didnt know the lyrics so he improvised a lot) to her ears dismay. As she told him to shut up, he sung even louder to maximize her annoyence.
Chat noir was wiping his tears during 'our love is god' whereas she rolled her eyes. She even threw a popcorn at the TV causing Chat to laugh.
The school felt like mindless zombies the way they revolved around Heather's. İt kinda was like the real life as her classmates did the same with the baker girl. She might have been pretty (not that she would admit it to her face) but so was she, she also was billion times more talented, richer and powerful than her. İt was suppose to be her who would get adored. So why wasn't she? She kept that thought for another day.
She concluded Veronica had to be stupid to let go the social power over a boy of all of the things. If she sucked up to the red one instead of listening her lying boyfriend, none of the bad events wouldn't have happened.
He turned towards her. "So what did you think of the movie?"
"Not as bad as I thought it would be."
"So who is your favourite character? Let me guess yours is the yellow Heather." He pointed at her yellow paw-jamas (What, his punning disaise was contegious.) With banana symbols on it.
She gave him a taste of his own medicine. "So yours is Jd then? Because he is all mysterious and tries to act cool but is a loser. Also the color scheme matches."
"No way. He might look good but not enough to be my favourite. I just dont have a favourite."
She slowly clapped. Her tone was as condescending as it could be. "Wow, what an remarkable answer."
He crossed his arms. "Then what is your favourite?"
"I don't have one. Everybody sucked."
He muttered, hiding his mouth with his claw like gloves like a child. As if that would have prevent her from hearing. "Hypocrite."
---
Few months have passed. Her mom actually visited (although that day was horrible), she accidentally became a superhero, she almost revealed her identity (remembering Kagami's secret has prevented her from doing that), Ladybug even praised her (which gave her the courage to finally talk to civilian her.), saying she did a good job although she said she should more act like a teammate but that part wasn't that important.
Aside from an old man who was the guardian or something her identity was safe. She asked him what would happen if one of them find out others secret and she got told the person would have to permanetly stop being a hero which would have been the last thing she wanted.
Learning the exsistence of kwami's confirmed something with her. Marinette's toy looked suspiciously like one. Kagami and Marinette were friends (because of course they were.), Marinette and Ladybug were also friends. That meant Kagami was certainly Ladybug. Marinette likely got the kwami back for Kagami. Which meant she likely knew Ladybug's identity too. She decided to avoid her just in case she complained about her to Ladybug which seemed to work like a (lucky) charm as Ladybug seemed more tolerant to her civilian self.
Best of all, the old man let her keep Pollen with her (if she only join fights when someone asked her to and if she listened to Pollen, which she accepted of course.). He said he was planning to make a 5 person superhero team to lead to the victory against hawkmoth, on the leadership of Chat Noir and Ladybug. And somehow she was selected to be apart of it. İt was a dream come true as being a hero was always been her dream and she get to work alongside of her idol! How could she refuse?
Pollen made her feel less lonely and she and her got along fairly well besides her being bit strict (which shouldn't be a suprise as she was the literal embodiment of subjection). At first she was not happy with it but she tried her best to listen to her (which was not as easy as it seemed.). What was she suppose to do if learning about her powers and the history was hard and listening her advices were boring and confusing (but it proved to be useful whenever she did listen. Her relationship with Sabrına were bit better thanks to her.). Nowdays she appericiated having her around to care for her in her own way.
She had a garden now for Pollen. Apperantly being a kwami didn't stop her from acting like a real bee.
Chat noir's visits were slowly becaming a constant in her life. She was half sure he was homeless and was coming for the food. She even had his number, he usually texted her cat memes at most random times. A stirking compression of Adrien whom she ignored which wasn't that hard to do as he only tried to reach out once.
Chat was not as bad as she thought him to be. She tried to force Ladybug's number out for threatrics from him but he didn't relent. İt didn't matter as she knew Ladybug's identity (she didn't even told that to Pollen in case she would rat her out to the guardian). The only problem was to talk to her.
She was not not idiot because of this heavy secret (also being a real superhero), she knew she had to not get akumatized at all cost. She tried meditating, gave up after 15 minutes as it was boring. İn the end she hired a teacher to learn Savate. Her dad wasn't even aware of this.
Anyway she already was planning on not getting akumatized because she only had to mispleasure of experiencing it once and it was not a good. İt all were blury but she recalled few moments from that time and that was enough to haunt her dreams sometimes.
İt felt disgusting the voice in her head chanting her commends she has to obey. He acted like he knew everything she could do and it wasn't worth much, like he owned her, the smugness reeked in his voice. The constant of intense emotions draining her. That whole week was a fiasco.
Anyway she was gonna find her and talk to her. She wasn't gonna let her know she knew her identity (at least at first) because she would have been mad at her (even Chat wasn't allowed to know that afterall) like before and she didn't wanted that.
Today was her lucky day because Adrien was sick so she could freely talk to the civilian ladybug. She watched the girl in red suit dominating every match with ease. Normally she would be bored resulting to her phone but the girl captured her attention fully with her graceful but fierce moves. İt was fascinating to watch.
As the girl was taking a break she decided to approach her. İt was now or never. She stood in front of her. Shit- she totally forgot to practice what she was gonna say.
"Can I help you?"
Oh shoot. "Hi?"
The girl looked more than confused. "Hello?"
She could start with asking her name. There easy. She was a genious (Godesses help her.). "What is your name?"
"My name is Kagami. What is yours?"
"Chloe. Chloe Bourgeois."
She intensely inspected her. A sheer power of her stare forced her to take a step back. "I heared about you."
"Of-of course you would. I am Mayor's daughter afterall. Ha ha." What was that nervous laughter? She had to return to being her exceptional self instead of whatever this is.
The girl's expression was unreadable. "So why are you talking to me?"
She couldn't let the harsh tone affect her. "Um-" The teacher yelled. "Kagami!" As she was leaving she grabed her arm. She did not look pleased. "Wait." As soon as she got her attention she pulled her hands away. "30 seconds."
"I-um. Can we talk somewhere else? İt could be anywhere, my treat."
She looked like she hadn't expected that although she recovered quickly. "Why."
"To talk?" She offered lamely. Kagami had to be a witch or something to make her into this fumbling mess.
"No." The girl left her with a broken heart. Ladybug must have hated her if she didn't even wanted to talk to her. She took a day off, spending her time rotting in her bed. She would have taken more but Jean promised to making up stories with her (just like they used to) if she returned to school. Talking with Pollen also helped.
---
She decided to watch the view from the rooftop they all use frequently to meet. It wasn't her day to patrol (that was yesterday) but she could be a backup incase an akuma attack happens, they were getting increased overtime. Maybe she could even join on of the hero duos to do patrol. Today was suppose to be Ladybug and Carapace. After watching the view for approxametly thirty minutes she spotted the heros were coming to take a break. "Hi guys, I brought snacks."
"Dude, you are a life saver." He immedialty grabbed one.
However she doesn't seemed as happy with her. "Can we talk?"
He gasped in the background. She was a wreck on the inside, trying to figure out what she did wrong. But she showed none of it on the outside.
As they found an isolated corner she asked. "What is it?"
"Queen Bee, you started rough but over time you became a great teammate. We all trust each other with not only our lifes but also the whole Paris's. You are doing your job without a single complain." She would normally cherrish the compliment, she knew there had to be a 'but' somewhere. İt made her more nervous. She froze.
"Thats why I am saying this because I care. You are doing more than enough everyday constantly. You can- you should rest on your free days. Spend your day with loved ones." While you can went unsaid.
İt was hard to explain but she tried. "I just.. I liked it better here."
"What do you mean?"
"Being Queen Bee is better."
"I know what you mean. Y'know everyone thinks I am this brave confident person but I was insecure outside of the suit. But I've learned that superpowers isnt what makes one a hero. This does." She pointed at her heart.
"You don't get it. I don't wanna be civilian me. I know nobody actually likes me."
"Of course not. We all here for you."
"No, you are there for Queen Bee. Not if you knew the real me."
"Pff trust me, you can't be worse than this girl at my school."
She doesn't mean- Of course she was. "Are you perchance refering to the Mayor's daughter?" She couldn't help but to sound bitter.
She looked really panicked. "How did you- No."
She gave a hollow laughter. "Relax bug, I just guessed since she is the prime akuma target."
Ladybug was dead serious. "Bee promise me that you don't know my identity."
Sorry... "I don't."
She gave her a proper look to assest her statement. "Good. This convorsation never happened."
"Right."
She watched them leave. The view didn't changed but she couldn't bare to look at it anymore.
--
Ever since she arrived at the Paris her days were relatively uneventful (not counting Riposte incident) except a girl asked her out? It was flattering (that was the first time someone asked her.) if she didnt have a crush already she might have considered.
Although it was rather strange, ever since she arrived here she heared many bad things about her. Upon first impression she would have thought the girl was a bit meek. Those two things contrasted each other.
The point was she didn't know what to make of that girl so she turned to her only friend for an advice. "Adrien, what do you think of Chloe Bourgeois?"
He looked suprised. "She is my friend. Why? Did she said something rude to you?"
"No." So the rumors were somewhat true if this was his initial reaction, İnteresting. "She invited me to talk." İt wasn't her place to out her.
"What? Why?"
"I don't know. I refused."
He looked just as lost (if not more) as she was. "Hmm. I th-" Gorilla rushed to his side as his time was up. "Sorry, I gotta go. I'll text as soon as I can. Bye."
She wawed as she watched him leave. "Farewell."
----
Normally he would mind his own busniess but he was curious what was up with Chloe. Once checking her as Chat Noir (because she refused to even look at Adrien's direction.) turned into constant visits. He wanted to fixed Adrien's friendship with her (it was weighting on him.) but he didn't have time as Adrien so his other persona had to do. Plus it was rather fun to hang out with her.
Since the convorsation with Kagami, he needed to know what was going on for both of their sake as a friend. That's why he decided to subtly question her as Chat.
He was eating the cucumbers in his eye as he asked. "So what is it with you and Kagami?"
She looked up from her magazine, purr-plexed. "Huh! How do you know that?"
"I have ears everywhere. Now spill."
"Why do you even care? Go catch a mice or something. "
"Tasty but I'll pass." He brought out his puppy (or kitten?) eyes, he begged with a whiny voice. "C'mon I am bored." She didn't look convinced. "I'll do your nails. Not to brag but I do purr-fect nail-polishing."
"You don't have a life do you?" She..had a point.
She sighed. "I just I guess I wanted to be friends."
He really wanted to believe his fur-end (she likely was telling the truth) but he had to be sure. "Wow, so no evil scheming whatsoever?"
She frowned, closing the topic for good. "Can we stop talking about this now?"
He couldn't help himself. "Why, cat got your tounge?"
She slaped him with her meow-gazine, effectively shutting him up. "Ouch!"
"...Do you wanna go down to 8 lives?"
"No thanks."
Kagami rejecting her must have hurted her feline-ings considering he had to search her mouth just to get few words. Plus if she wanted to humeliate her, she would have do it openly. Sure Chloe was a bully but she never was a backstabber. She also was getting better over these past months, still rude but not actively hostile. Meaning she told the truth.
He felt guilty doubting her, even more because he knew it was hard for her to make friends. So he decided to help her.
Plagg lifted his time head from his smelly cheese. "Don't you think you are doing too much kid? She is right y'know its hardly your business."
"You don't get it Plagg, I am being a good friend by helping her."
"Sure." He finished the rest of the cheese with one glup. Classic Plagg.
He took out his phone. "I know Chloe can be hard on the edges but I think you should give it a try. You never know you might gain something." A blossoming friendship. Maybe three of them could hang out sometime, that would be cool.
Text sended.
----
She stared Adrien's message longer than she admit. Did he know she asked her out and this was him telling her he was not interested? She tried a lot of mettods she learned from mangas but it wasn't working with him. Either he was that oblivious or he wasn't interested.
Or it could be just a friendly suggestion? After thinking off solutions, she guessed the only way to know was to ask him.
"What did you mean by your message?"
"Huh ? Oh, I just meant you should give her a chance."
So she was right, he was trying to say he wasn't interested. Just to be sure she asked. "Adrien who do you have a crush on?"
His cheeks heat up. "Oh. I like Ladybug. Even tho she has her moments she is confident and means well. She is- " He stopped as he realized he was rambling. "I know it is unrequired but I can't help but feel that way."
It all made sense. They probably were in a secret relationship judging by the way she had seen Ladybug look at him too. İt was such a classic trope. "I see. Best of luck then."
"Kagami, where are you going?"
"I need an air."
------
She was trying to finish the chemisty sheet in the school library because Pollen insisted she must do her homework to understand struggles of middle class or whatever, all of her words went out of her head.
Chemistry, mathematic, physics were super easy. Those were singlehandedly holding her GPA as she really was struggling with literature, english, history, geography. Pollen insisted she should see a profesional about it because her level was so low. Upon seeing her cry she explained she didn't meant it in a bad way she just meant maybe someone could help her. Chloe wasn't sure of that as since childhood all they did was to judge her but she didn't want to dissapoint Pollen.
She had to meet with a therapist who specialized of these types of things on that saturday. Her dad was against it at first because he didn't want the public to think she was seeing a shrink but she convinced him by saying it would benefit his votes with young people. She had seen multiple metal health care posts on social media.
As she was leaving the library she bumped into Kagami.
She needed to get out of here. "Sorry."
She bowed respectfully. "Sorry."
"Chloe wait." Forcing her to stop her tracks. "I think we got off the wrong foot. I didn't mean to be rude."
She could hear Pollen's "I told you so.''
"That is fine."
"I'd like for us to do a fresh start."
Did ladybug really meant she was finally gonna bury the hatched she didn't know why they had. "Sure!"
"Then hello. I am Kagami Tsurigi."
She extended her hand.
She took it. "Chloe Bourgeois. "
"We could also go somewhere to talk to if your offer is still avaliable."
She was too schocked to respond. "Here it's my number. Have a good day."
She went straight to the bathroom and after making sure every stall was empty Pollen came out of her purse.
"You see my queen. I told you she needed time."
"Yeah yeah. You really love saying that don't you?"
Pollen gave a smug smile as she was flying around her. "I do."
After a dramatic pause Pollen asked with an mischevious look in her eyes. "So am I sensing you want to be with her or not?"
She covered her face (which was not red at all) with her hands. "Omg Pollen! No! Its not like that! You are embaressing me!"
"I am just kidding." She didn't sound like she was. "Although it would be compleatly fine-"
She covered her ears. She intrupted her speech. "Blablabla I can't hear you!"
"-If you fancied her. Real mature."
As their eyes met, a laughter erupted.