Project: Miraculous Ladybug

Marinette Dupain-Cheng, who Chloe had dubbed her rival and mortal enemy when they were just kids. Marinette, who smiled the most infuriating smile when they got in each other's faces, even before they started dating. Marinette, who laughed when Chloe would hurl some silly insults her way before returning them.

Marinette, who Chloe had been smitten for since the first time she spotted her bouncing hair and heard her bubbling laughter.

Water suddenly pours to the ground and slops against the tiled floor as she stands up and walks over to the sink, slapping her hands down on the countertop and staring at her reflection. She pays no mind to the drip, drip, drip of water, but instead looks into her own eyes, wearing her best look of determination.

"You," she starts, pointing an accusatory finger at the mirror, "will not screw this up. You won't decide you're suddenly not good enough just because Ladybug is Marinette. You won't…" She swallows a lump down and stands up straight. "You won't push her away, too."

Giving her reflection a firm nod, she turns around with a whip of her wet hair and turns the shower off, grabbing a towel for herself and to dry the floor and counter- something she only started doing when Ladybug- Marinette- commented on it.

"She knew exactly what she was doing," Chloe mutters, and wraps a towel around her torso, tucking it into itself so it stays up hands-free. She drops the other to the floor and drags it around with her feet, deciding that that's good enough and turning her attention to her hair.

Chloe knows that to maintain healthy and beautiful hair, it had to air dry most of the way. Or, well, that's what Ladybug had told her one day, after she'd been blow drying her hair for more than half of their conversation. Running her fingers through a few times, she sighs, and lets it fall back over her shoulders.

Ladybug… Marinette…

Her heart thumps painfully in her chest and she closes her eyes, feeling her stomach twist over the earlier reveal. She'd been shocked- of course she had been, who wouldn't be? But, in her shock, she'd yelled something she can't even remember before stomping away, not giving Marinette a chance to say anything. The only thing Chloe could remember with startling clarity was the look of hurt on her girlfriend's face.

Hurt that was Chloe's fault.

Would Marinette even want to talk to her after that? That, on top of everything she'd done since the first time they met?

Heat pricks at the corners of her eyes, and it's a fight to hold her tears back as she releases the bathroom's steam into her room and faceplants into her sheets. She wishes Pollen were there with her- the little kwami gave her the best advice, especially when it revolved around her love life. But without her, Chloe had no idea what to do. Apologies weren't exactly her strong suit.

By the time she registers the sound of knocking against her window, she'd practically convinced herself that she'd ruined everything again.

Her body tenses at the tapping of glass, and her head rises from the pillows at breakneck speed. Her heart pounds to the beat of the knocking, drowning out all other sounds as her feet hit the floor in time with her stomach.

Trudging over to the door feels like walking through a swamp of chest-level water, her feet dragging slowly forward and her breathing taking more effort. But she gets there, eventually, and she almost considers walking by, but the frown on Ladybug's face is another twist of the knife in her heart, and it pushes her into opening the door.

"Marinette," she says, holding her head high, even though she hates that she's doing it. She hates it even more when Ladybug winces, and drops her transformation before her, becoming the person addressed despite being one and the same.

"Chloe," Marinette replies, and just stands there, twiddling her fingers and keeping eye contact.

Neither make any move, and the silence stretches an uncomfortably long time, until it grows unbearable and suffocating and they both move forward at the same time, wrapping each other in their arms. Chloe buries her nose in Marinette's hair, and she can finally breathe again. Marinette rests her head in the crook of her neck, and she must flutter her eyes shut, because Chloe can feel a small tickle against her skin.

"I'm sorry," Marinette whispers, the heat of her breath pulling a shiver from Chloe.

"No," Chloe tells her, firm in her opinion. "I shouldn't have reacted so terribly, I shouldn't have left, I-" she pulls away, just enough to be looking into Marinette's eyes- "I'm sorry."

"Chloe-"

"Wait- just let me finish." Taking a deep breath, she takes a moment, appreciates that the silence is lighter than before, and continues. "Look, you, for some reason, chose me to be Queen Bee. And one of the first things I had to learn was how important secret identities are. So I should've… I should've been more understanding."

Marinette watches her as she talks, a small smile finding its way to her face. When Chloe stops talking, she moves her hands up to cup Chloe's face between her hands. It feels so weird without the suit between them, but at the same time, there's never been anything more right.

"It's okay, it wasn't that bad," Marinette lies, and Chloe knows it's a lie because it makes her feel a little better. "I'm just glad I came tonight."

"Me too." Chloe closes the distance between them once more, this time with a kiss, but after such an emotional day, neither has their heart in it. Pulling away, Chloe sets her hand over Marinette's, which still rests on her cheek, and leans into it.

"I don't really want to prolong this," she murmurs," but I also want to say I'm sorry for whatever it was I yelled at you."

"I'm not," Marinette says with a laugh, taking Chloe aback. "It's kind of what gave me the courage to come."

"It is?" She doesn't even try to hide the shock. With a huff, she takes her hand away and crosses her arms. "Well, what'd I say, then?"

Marinette drops a hand to her side, and with her other gestures for Chloe to come close. Her gaze darts from side to side in a dramatic fashion before her hand makes a barrier on the side of her lips furthest from Chloe's ear.

"You said it was unfair that Ladybug just had to be the other girl you were crushing on." She pauses. "Except not in those exact words. And a lot meaner."

Chloe's cheeks grow warm, and a familiar scowl forms. "I've never been mean in my entire life, Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

"Aw, don't be like that, Bourgeois, your mean streak is something I find fascinating," Marinette claims, leaning back in.

Not to be fooled by her girlfriend's antics, she turns on her heel and storms back to her bed. Belatedly, she realizes she's still in a towel, and her cheeks grow even hotter.

"Come on, Chlo. You can't stay mad at the two girls you have a crush, can you?" Marinette calls out to her, closing the door before following after. She sits on the edge of the bed and leans forward until Chloe has to look.

Her shoulders droop a little, but in a way that makes Marinette's smile grow. "You must think you're real special, huh?"

"Maybe, but this isn't about what I think. It's about what you think," she says, and waggles her eyebrows suggestively. Chloe snorts at that and Marinette sidles closer, sobering up a little. "It really is alright, you know." Their knees knock together. "It was… unexpected. And a little rough. But now you know me a little more than anyone else does, and…" Her words seem to dry up, her gaze turning from Chloe's.

Chloe frowns at that- Marinette has never been short on confidence in all the time that she knew her. "What's wrong?" she prompts, taking hold of Marinette's chin and tilting up so they're facing each other.

Marinette's eyes search her own, and she must find what she's looking for because she breathes out a slow breath and straightens up. "Nothing. It was silly."

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure," Chloe mutters, rolling her eyes. "It's not silly if it matters to you. So spill."

"Pushy."

"Stubborn."

"That's fair."

"I am the fairest in the land. But enough trying to distract me." Chloe pokes a finger at Marinette's chest. "Speak."

"Well… I just want to make sure that this is all okay? I mean, you're okay with knowing I'm Ladybug, right? It won't get in the way?" As the words leave her mouth, she falls back against the mattress with a muffled thump.

"Of course I'm okay with it," Chloe answers, laying back beside her. "As for getting in the way…" She intertwines their hands and brings them to her mouth, leaving a kiss on the back of Marinette's.

They were sitting on the edge of one of the hundreds of churches that littered Paris.  There was nothing particularly special about this one except that Ladybug happened to like its view.  Chat Noir didn’t see what made this rooftop any different from a dozen others, but when she was with him the view was always breathtaking.

Chat leaned over to bump his shoulder with hers and grinned.  “With you by my side?  Never.”

She didn’t respond.

“My lady?”

Ladybug ignored his searching gaze, her eyes focused far and away across the smoking rooftops and electric lights of their city.

She had been in a Mood since he arrived for patrol and no amount of kitty-quick grins, stumbling one-liners, or orchestrated falls could shake her from her funk.  He’d thought the night would end that way and send him home defeated when she had unceremoniously dropped onto their present perch and gestured for him to join her.

His lady wanted to talk.  She just needed some help getting there.

“It’s nothing, Chat.”

He hummed, his legs swinging out and back.  “Isn’t that what partners are for?  All the little nothings and somethings.”

She breathed a laugh.  It wasn’t a happy sound but he felt it like a victory all the same.

“I just… got some disappointing news today.  It’s got me thinking.”

“That’s never good.”

Ladybug shot him a look but there was no heat behind it.  Whatever the news was it must have stung.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He offered gently.  With Ladybug, when it came to her other life, he always had to be gentle.  

“An internship I wanted.” She hesitated, not meeting his eyes.  “Like really, really wanted. They went another way.”

“I’m sorry,” He said. “That happens sometimes.”

Ladybug shook her head, her hands jerking violently in her lap.

“I had it, Chat.  I had it.  Then there was that ridiculous akuma - right in the middle of my interview.  I had to go.”

He nodded, quiet. There wasn’t much to say when there wasn’t anything to change.  She had to go.  They both did.

That didn’t make it suck any less.

“I know being a superhero is all about self-sacrifice.” She sniffed, gesturing out towards the horizon and Paris.  “I guess I just never really thought I’d have to sacrifice so much of myself, you know?”

He didn’t know.  At least not in the way she wanted him to.

Chat Noir was the choice he never had to think to make.

“How can anyone take me seriously when I’m always disappearing?” Ladybug murmured and it amazed him how much could be said with so little.

She sounded so small.

“There are only so many times I can cry akuma before it’s just… me.”

Chat slipped his arm around his partner’s waist and pulled her close.  “It’s never just you, Bug.”

Because sometimes all you can be for a person is there.

Ladybug hiccupped a small, sad laugh.  “It’s too bad being a superhero doesn’t come with a retirement fund.”

He squeezed her shoulders.  “If you end up on the street I’ll be in the cardboard box right beside you.”

“Oh?” She said, pulling away just enough to catch his eyes.  “You wouldn’t want to share?”

Chat flashed her a devilish grin. “I’ll have you know, my lady.  This cat won’t purr unless it’s collared.”

Ladybug really laughed then, leaning her head on his shoulder.

“Thank you, Chat.”