#chlolyanette

When it came to Miraculous-related business, Sabine and Tom knew many things, but they were blind to a lot of other things too.

First, they knew that their daughter and her girlfriend were Ladybug and Rena V, as the latter called herself. They also knew that Marinette and Alya knew each others’ identities.

They didn’t know what the V stood for.

The current question they’d been tackling was an… interesting one. The two wanted Chloé Bourgeois to join in their relationship, despite all the pain the queen bee (Tom had laughed at the pun even harder when they realized who the girl behind the striped domino mask was - none but Hawkmoth were hidden from their superhero radar either) had caused her. Sure, she and Marinette were childhood friends, but why did it come back now?

The Dupain-Cheng adults weren't going to blurt or anything. Now wasn’t the time, and it ruined the fun of… well, life isn’t like Scooby Doo, so there were no meddling kids (though there WOULD be meddling adults).

Well, they’d tried everything they could think of - offering their services to Grand Paris for work, catering at birthday parties, and so forth. Nothing worked (most likely due to Andre’s child stepping in). Later, Tom and Sabine decided it was time to talk about everything.

Sabine was sceptical. They shouldn’t tell the kids they knew about their night activities. Tom rebutted that they would learn eventually, and the kids needed help outside the suit as well. Nightmares weren’t often heard from the two girls, but they still happened. Overall, it was best that the baker duo stepped in before things went out of hand.

That was the plan, at least.

WAS.

They’d been hiding from a furious circus strongman who was after Tom (Macho Monster, he called himself). The virile villain wanted to be the strongest, and that meant eliminating all the competition.

Queen Bee had swooped in to get them out of the way of a earth-fracturing fist when he’d gotten his eyes on the two. He was strong, but he wasn’t fast.

Tom and Sabine were not dextrous in the same way their daughter was, but the Marinette was clever as she was held no major relation to the luck-based powers.

Queen Bee held her maul with the determination and confidence only the recently mid-redemption Chloé could have in a good mood. And that’s when she made Sabine and Tom understand the affection Alya and Marinette had for her. She held off Macho Monster alone and kept Hawkmoth’s moth-mutated minion from getting close to Tom and Sabine until everyone else showed up to hold Macho Monster down so that they could take his arm band, release the akuma, and save the day.

Queen Bee seemed hesitant to leave the bakers behind, though. They couldn’t help but go up and ask if anything was wrong.

“...I used to be in love with a boy; now I’m in love with girls and boys. I used to be in love with Ladybug; now she’s dating Rena V. I tried going back to the boy, but he’d starting dating another boy, and I’d fallen out of love with him! It feels like everytime I fall in love with someone, something changes and they show they don’t love me! It’s like I’m…”

In understandable hesitance, Sabine asked what the feeling was like.

“…it’s like I’m not allowed to love.”

She cried, and they consoled her. It wasn’t until they’d finally broken that all 3 realized her transformation had broken. Chloé seemed to pale, but they consoled her before they could worry too much. They told her that they’d known, that they knew the identities of everyone in Team Miraculous. They helped her “kwami” Pollen heal up (thankfully, strawberries were in season then), but before she could go, Tom asked her one last question:

“Who do you love now? You will find the love you want, need, and deserve; we’ll help if you want.”

A beat passed.

“I fell in love with your daughter and Alya.”

Tom and Sabine had to hide the squees.

“I don’t know why they’d love me back. They're already dating, and after all the time I had spent being terrible to them, I don’t think they’d ever love me back…” Sabine just advised her to try asking Ladybug and Rena V for advice. Apparently, the two other superheroines knew the younger Dupain-Cheng and Cesaire rather well, and they would have good wooing advice for the bee. Chloé thanked them profoundly, but when she eventually had to leave, she promised them she’d treat their daughter like a queen whether things went out well or not.

Time went by. Not much time, of course - Chloé was a go-getter. When everyone learned that Chlolyanette was a thing, Marinette started helping out more in the bakery when she could. Alya and even Chloé would help too.

Tom and Sabine didn’t have to wonder why.

1. By the way, the V stands for Vulpis.

When she and Marinette were 14, Alya Cesaire joined their class. Chloe being Chloe, she didn’t pay any mind to the new girl. In fact, she didn’t even bat an eyelash at seeing her enter the room. The only thing that caught her attention was the large birthmark on her wrist, which Chloe instantly grabbed onto when Alya had tried sitting next to her.

She glared and shook her head at the new girl, whose brows were drawn together in confusion until Sabrina came in and sat where she had tried to.

“Oh. Didn’t know you were saving the seat, sorry.”

“Whatever. Just sit somewhere else,” Chloe muttered, letting go of Alya’s wrist before returning her attention to her phone.

She didn’t look back up until Alya walked away to sit in the front row, the birthmark on her palm tingling.

She almost missed it, when she laughed over Marinette tripping down the stairs. But it was unmistakable- Alya, who had a second birthmark on the hand opposite the wrist Chloe had touched, grabbed Marinette’s arm, below the sleeve, and helped her to her feet.

Both stared at one another for a long moment before breaking into smiles and introductions.

Chloe hid her disappointment and ignored the sadness in her heart by focusing on Adrien, who hadn’t yet come to class like he was supposed to.

And, when he didn’t show up at all, she promised herself that that was the only reason she started to tear up.

Alya sided with Marinette over her.

After her first encounter with Ladybug, and following their many encounters after that one, Chloe often searched herself for a third birthmark on her back.

She’d checked mirrors after mirrors, had taken pictures with her phone and a selfie stick, and even told her butler to check again. And again. And again.

But, there was no birthmark on her back, where Ladybug first held her when Stoneheart had thrown her to her from the Eiffel Tower.

“Check again, Jean Baptiste,” she commanded, crossing her arms and turning around for him.

With a sigh, her butler did as she told, and repeated what he’d already told her a hundred timed. “There is nothing there, mademoiselle.”

Chloe squared her shoulders and bit her lip, refusing to let the tears in her eyes fall.

“Check. Again,” she whispered, voice shaking.

He did.

But nothing was there.

Getting her miraculous was the best thing to happen to Chloe since meeting Adrien when she was a little kid.

Not only did she get to work alongside Ladybug, who was amazing and kind and an inspiration, despite not being Chloe’s soulmate, but she also gained a chance to get closer to Marinette and Alya both.

Her first opportunity to do so came when she was just quick enough to whisk Marinette out of an akuma’s path. She zigged and zagged around buildings until she was sure she’d lost the akuma before setting Marinette down.

“You alright there?” she asked, nervous but not backing down.

“Thanks to you, I am! I really appreciate it,” Marinette answered with a smile.

“Um, right, o-of course! Anytime you need saving, I’ll totally be here!” Queen Bee exclaimed, wincing at how she sounded. But then Marinette laughed, just a bit, and suddenly she didn’t care so much. “Well, stay out of trouble! I gotta buzz!”

Not waiting for a response, she stepped away and flew off, back towards the akuma with her heart hammering in her chest for reasons unrelated to the monster that nearly swatted her down when she arrived back on the scene.

The next opportunity came when Alya approached her for an interview.

She was far less nervous talking to Alya than she had been talking with Marinette- maybe because her history with Marinette went further back, and wasn’t any better.

“Oh, man, thank you so much for agreeing to do this! You’ve been around for like, a month and I’ve barely gotten any good pictures because you’re always flying too fast- speaking of which, that’s so cool that you can fly!” Alya exclaimed, bouncing in place just a little.

“You’re right, it is pretty cool,” Queen Bee said, sitting up straighter and puffing her chest out proudly. “Not even Ladybug can fly yet.”

“I bet it really comes in handy, right? What’s been your best use of it so far?”

Chloe thought about it for a moment and tapped her fingers to her chin.

“Well… I think it’ll have to be that I saved one of my soulmates from an akuma.”

“Really? Can I ask how you know they’re your soulmate? How do birthmarks work around the magic of a miraculous?”

“I know because I’ve met them before, out of the suit. And I don’t know. That’s more a question you should be asking Ladybug or Chat Noir, not the newbee,” she said with a laugh.

“That’s fair.” Alya nodded to herself and wrote something down on a notepad. Queen Bee watched her ever move, knowing this wasn’t something she could do as Chloe.

“Alright then, so…”

A few weeks later, Ladybug answered the question Alya had asked Queen Bee first.

“The magic masks all traces of birthmarks to ensure our secret identities. For example: I’ve got one neck-up, but you can’t tell where or how big.”

Chloe reached for her laptop’s screen-

“And yes, I’ve already met my-”

-and slapped it down against the keyboard, cutting Ladybug’s words off.

She didn’t really want to hear them.

Eventually, when Hawk Moth was defeated and Le Paon rose to be top villain, the miraculous team of three became a team of four, Rena Rouge being added into the mix.

Chloe wasn’t a fan, at first, but slowly their friendship grew, just like it had between Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Queen Bee.

All four of them would crack jokes together, and they would double up on patrols where games of tag and i-spy would take place until it was time to go home. But even then, sometimes they would stay out later than they had to, just to talk and share little details of their lives.

On rarer occassions, Chloe would leave her room, on nights she didn’t have patrol, and just fly above the city awhile.

The wind in her face, the freedom from all the shackles she had placed on herself, the feeling of falling mixed with trust that she would never crash and burn.

It was everything she needed to feel better.

Sometimes, she would see Marinette and Alya having their sleepovers, and would wish on every light in the city that she could join them.

Chloe’s school life had turned around awhile after becoming Queen Bee.

It hadn’t happened over night, and it’d taken a lot of work, but she made herself a better person, one people would be proud to call friend, and one that people would accept if they figured out who she was.

But most importantly, she became the kind of person who could apologize, and see her mistakes for what they were.

She was a better person, no doubt about it.

“But I can still be more,” Chloe would preach to her reflection in the mornings.

With a determined nod, she would finish putting on her lipstick and head to school.

A scream ripped from her lungs when Ladybug jumped into Le Paon’s path.

Queen Bee had already been prepared to take the hit, to protect Alya who’d gotten caught up in it all.

But no, Ladybug stepped in and saved them both, bought Queen Bee enough time to fly Alya away even as she was blinded by her own tears. When Alya was safe, she didn’t stick around for silly banter like normal.

No, as soon as Alya’s feet touched the ground, Queen Bee was gone, rushing back to the fight and freezing when she saw Chat Noir, crouched over an unmoving Ladybug, the only thing between her and Le Paon.

She saw red- blood, dripping from the cuts across Ladybug’s torso and down her; Ladybug’s suit, torn; Le Paon’s wicked gaze, the eyes of her suit staring into their souls; Rena Rouge, arriving late and freezing just as she had.

She saw red, and suddenly everything was a blur.

Paris celebrated the fall of Le Paon that night.

Chloe, Alya, and Adrien were in the hospital, waiting to hear about Marinette.

“You did really great, you know,” Marinette coughed out when she finally woke up. “Always knew you’d bee the best.”

A smile tugged at the corners of Chloe’s lips at that. “Stop being silly. You need to rest up and get better. School is dreadfully boring without you around.”

“We don’t have any classes together.”

“So?”

“You make a great argument.”

“Of course I do, I’ve been arguing since I was in diapers.”

“That sounds about right,” Marinette laughed, wincing at the pain it caused.

“Oh! Here, let’s call the nurse. And I’ll call Alya and Adrien and your parents so they can come see you.”

“Thanks, Chloe.”

“I get to go home in two days!” Marinette announced when Chloe, the last one to arrive, walked through the door.

“Wait, seriously? You’re not joking?” Alya asked, excitement creeping into her voice.

“If you think my joking’s that bad then I’m offended,” she teased, laughing when Alya practically launched herself into Marinette’s waiting arms.

Adrien smiled brightly at the scene and sat on the edge of the bed. “So you’re all good, health-wise?” he asked.

Voice muffled by Alya’s shoulder, she answered, “Yep! They’re just keeping me over for observation now, and if no more problems come up, I’m home free.”

“That’s great to hear!”

“Yeah, you must be really excited to get out of this drab place,” Chloe commented, holding her head high.

“Oh, totally. Everything here is white, white, white. I miss my pink walls, pink bed, pink curtains, pink-”

“We get it, you like pink,” she deadpanned.

Alya snorted as she finally pulled away.

“Don’t be like that, Chlo. Pink is the perfect color for our girl right here, and you know it.”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t, but- did you say our?” Chloe asked, catching the way Alya had said the word as if it was meant for her.

Marinette and Alya exchanged a subtle glance, and had Chloe not been looking between them she would’ve missed it.

“Adrien, would you be a dear and go get us something to eat? Sneak Mari up something too.”

“You got it,” he replied, patting Chloe’s shoulder on his way out.

As soon as he left, the tension in the room grew twofold, only breaking when Chloe finally spoke.

“Really?“ she whispered, staring at them and just daring to hope.

“I’ve been waiting for you to come around since I gave you your miraculous,” Marinette admitted.

“And I thought you’d at least say something when you started being nicer to everyone.”

“I thought-” she swallowed down the lump in her throat- “I thought I’d lost my chances.”

“If you thought that,” Alya started.

“Then let us offer you a new one,” Marinette finished.

Both held out a hand to her, and unable to spend a second more apart from them, Chloe leaped forward and pulled them into a hug, ignoring the makeup that ran down her cheeks as she cried, sobbing into the shoulders of her soulmates.

A few days later, and after multiple talks with the school principal and her counselor, Chloe walked into class and sat down right between Alya and Marinette.