#marinette racoon hair bits for the with

[cookiedough77]

emo adrientte... mirror pic?

i gave them different hair because... well ❤

took me 5 hours going to go pass out now

[zoe-oneesama]

Okay, semi-serious question! What would each member of Miss Bustier's class in the Scarlet!AU, including Lila, dress up as for Halloween?

Well I think my ideas would probably apply to canon. And obviously I know France doesn’t really do Halloween (at least not how America does), so we’re gonna just retcon reality and pretend Halloween is a common thing to these kids, so basically:

Marinette: A character costume. From a cartoon or movie or game, whatever it is she’s handmaking and handstyling all of it and is scouring the internet to make sure every detail is 100% canon accurate. Every year she tries to outdo herself by getting more and more intricate characters. Year 1 - Princess Peach Paper Mario version. Year 5 - Princess Peach Smash Bros verison.

Adrien: It’s the first year he gets to participate and it’s not some bougie adult wine drinking party, so he either goes for a visual pun (sticking a bunch of beige paint swatches to himself to be 50 Shades of Grey) or goes super basic royalty free costume, like A Vampire or A Devil. If he has a partner he’d totally go couples costumes, but who decides the costumes depends on the partner. (Marinette would totally bow to his whims but Kagami would reel him in)

Alya: She’s been in different store bought Majestia costumes since she was old enough to call the shots. Only this year is she going for Hometown Heroes, but she’s completely caught between who to choose - Ladybug because obviously, or Carapace because her boyfriend, or Rena Rouge because it’s hilarious?! So many options!!!

Nino: He’s never gotten super into it but keeps it alive for Chris. Typically he’ll pull together a “closet costume”, like pulling out the plaid button up and sticking some straw out of the pockets to be a scarecrow. Going to parties with Alya makes him want to try a little harder this year so he’ll probably actually buy a full costume this year to go with whatever she decides to be (”Wait, you’re gonna dress as me this year?!”)

Canon Chloe: She’s worn her Ladybug costume a few too many times in public, so she’ll probably go for Queen Bee but with a twist - like a full ballgown princess but Queen Bee themed. It’s super expensive decorated with real rhinestones, as are all the costumes she’s had in the past because she’s in a personal competition with Marinette. It kills her that Marinette always gets way more compliments on her costumes. 

SL Chloe: Same as above but Scarlet Lady themed. She’s at least smart enough to forgo the mask and demands pockets to shove Tikki into.

Canon Sabrina: In order to match Chloe but not outshine her, Sabrina is ordered to be a bee (to be Queen Bee’s “Pollen”, though Sabrina doesn’t know what that means). She’s an adorabee and her outfit is also pretty expensive because it was commissioned by Chloe, but that also means Sabrina got zero input on it. 

SL Sabrina: It’s the first time Sabrina hasn’t relied on Chloe to “make” her costume (or rather DECIDE her costume) and all the independence has Sabrina scrambling a bit. In the end, by borrowing some of her dad’s old things, she dresses as a Cutie Cop complete with a too big hat and handcuffs she has to SWEAR not to use.

Max: With some carefully painted cardboard and foam, he’s one of the bots from UMS III. Despite the crudeness of the costume, it is also meticulously model accurate, and also very difficult to move in.

Kim: 100% one of those inflatable T Rex costumes.

Alix: She’d probably wear her regular clothes but invest in a high quality wolf mask and hands and sneak up on people all night.

Nathaniel: He’d have to prepare months in advance but he’d show up as Super Nathan. He skips on the face paint but considering it’s his OC and he still draws it in his comic, I think he’s not emotionally tainted by being an akuma and it’s own little “Fuck You” to Hawkmoth. Plus it makes Chloe stay 10000 miles away from him. 

Mylene: Mylene walks into a costume shop with no plan, wanting to be taken in by how a costume looks and feels on her. Because of that she has an eclectic background and no one ever knows what she’s going to come as. Last year she was a racoon because the costume dress had ears on the hoodie, but maybe this year she comes as a Mad Hatter because the costume came with a lot of pieces. Who knows?!

Ivan: He knows he’s going to avoid anything with a mask if he wants his girlfriend to come near him. That does knock off a lot of his favorite horror characters, so he goes an Adrien route and shows up as A Ninja. Yep. Definitely not a video game character, noooo, this is TOTALLY just A Ninja. Uhuh.

Rose: Unicorn Princess. With wings. And a tiara. And A wand. And a tail. And rainbow chalk in her hair. And stickers. 

Juleka: She’s a witch, but not a store bought cute short skirt one. Like a voodoo hag that dragged herself out of the swamp to curse mankind. She’s basically one every year so she just adds onto her costume and every year her witch costume just increases in collectables. Vials around her waist and a fake crow on her hat, a spell book appeared one year, and spider webs draped over her shoulders. Uh, are you sure that’s just a costume Juleka?

Canon Lila: She doesn’t care much about the actual costume but takes a lot of care making sure it’s juuuuuust towing the line between cute and sexy. It needs to be attention getting but not bad attention. She goes for slightly childish characters, like Little Red Riding Hood, so she can get away with saying she thought it was “just adorable!” when she knows it’s showing her off. If I wanted her to be even cheekier, I’d have her find a “Sexy” Rena Rouge costume that’s pretty much Rena Rouge but in a skirt, and watch Alya convulse.

SL Lila: Drop the act and just admit she likes feeling sexy. Her friends help her find costumes that are age appropriate but scratch that itch and Lila puts more thought into the actual character. She gets a new appreciation for merging horror with pretty stuff - like a Zombie Cheerleader or Elsa but with ice coming out of her skin. It also lets her stretch her makeup skills. 

[fragileizywriting]

rain

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Chat Noir hates the rain.

It’s very easy to explain why, and it’s not that hard to understand, because there is that whole cat demon part— because hell doesn’t have rain, so of course it would be his luck that he never got used to it— because it makes Marinette’s scent disappear and wash out of his nose and makes everything all muddy when he tries to sniff the air and, well, he really feels better when he knows where she is.

Marinette herself, the darling little witch, doesn’t hate it as much as he does. She doesn’t use her nose to sniff for him, since she’s only human, so she isn’t too upset when the grass starts to upturn that sappy scent that makes him sneeze— but he does catch her mouth starting to twitch downwards at the sign of the clouds turning dark in the sky, already succumbing to the fact that she’s going to have to listen to him whine about it until it stops raining again.

Ah well. If they’re miserable, they’re at least miserable together.

He relies more on his sense of magic when he’s washed out like this, which is fine— if he’s searching for her, which he often is, he’s able to find her easily just by the way their magic push and pull against each other. His magic searches for hers even without him wanting to, it’s embarrassing. No amount of internal berating is able to stop his magic from curling into the air and wanting to wrap around hers to form a unified ball, because their powers are so connected with each other they fit and nestle into each other like missing puzzle pieces, and his magic wants nothing more than to be attached to hers.

He’s never asked her if she feels it. If she feels the puzzle pieces, and how they fit together. He knows that she’ll just chalk it up to it being because of her summoning him up onto Earth, or that she’ll say that it’s because his magic wants to make sure that the person who he’s assigned to won’t try to run off on him. She’ll skirt around the issue. She’ll completely deflect. Even as their magic push and pull back and forth, curling and uncurling, keeping each other precious company.

He doesn’t need his nose to find Marinette.

But if there’s one of their precious hens on the run, because the thunder scared the little bird off— and Marinette is keen on trying to find the poor thing before any wolves do— well, there’s not much he can do.

Hens do not have magic, as far as he’s aware.

The sound of rain is loud in his ears. It’s not a roaring thunder, but it’s no drizzle, either— it plasters his hair to his face and makes his ears sag down from the weight. He’s miserable, just like he is when there’s water involved and he’s introduced to it unwillingly. He can pick up the noises of water droplets hitting all the leaves in the back woods as he searches the area for Henrietta— it’s loud and invasive to hear the branches whistle from the soft draft.

“Did you find her?” Marinette’s boots sink into a wet and nasty pile of leaves behind him, and he all but finds himself with two heavy armfuls of the witch as she stumbles while trying not to fall over. He tries wiping out some of the water from her bangs with one of his hands, but the strands are so drenched that they end up just curling in the direction of where his hand passed through— he can’t help but smile at her, even if he’s a little exasperated.

He sighs in defeat, looking back into the woods. The clouds above make it so that it’s impossible to see through, even with his night vision. “Maybe it would be better if we go looking for her after the rain is done, Princess.”

“But she could be terrified out here all alone!”

“She’s a tough bird,” He tries to flick his tail free of rain to no avail. Miserable. Absolutely miserable. It’s going to take him forever to dry off. He can see the resulting fight once he tracks water back into their house already, and he’s not excited for it in the slightest. “You saw how she demolished that racoon. There wasn’t any fear in her eyes.”

Chickens are ruthless. He’s thankful he hasn’t tried to show up into the coup in his cat form— he’d be pecked to death. He’s not even sure if he can actually die, but trust in a chicken to make his life difficult and figure that out for him in his stead.

“But—”

“—And any predator who attempts to go hunting right now is a sign that there’s trouble. It’s far too wet to be trying to hunt without a nose, so only the truly desperate go out. We’ll have bigger problems than just Henrietta to worry about if that’s the case.”

Her face pinches as she continues to think about it. “Oh, no. Are you talking about that fisher from last week?”

“We—” Well, “—I killed it. You saw all the bite and scratch marks, remember?”

Marinette hates watching him go hunting. She finds the spectacle almost nauseating, and he can’t really blame her— there’s far too much teeth and far too much hissing for it to be considered a fun thing to watch.

But absolutely under no circumstance is he going to let a dirty animal attack his property without him putting up a fight.

The hens may be a little apprehensive of him, sure, but they’re warming up to him— they’re family, even if the hens don’t agree. He’s really trying his best not to terrorize them anymore, but it’s been a gradual process. It’s taking a little bit of time— they’re aren’t as completely trusting as they are with Marinette and they flee the coup sometimes whenever he barges in on their clearly busy mornings— and Chat’s starting to suspect it might be because of his fangs. Or claws. Maybe his ears. Or his height, even. Something about his appearance makes the hens a little skittish, but they’re still their hens. He’ll do anything to protect them from harm, even if that means getting into a fight with an animal the size of one of his legs and leaves nasty bites.

Trying to figure out if he should fight the animal in his cat form or in his normal form had been exhausting. The fisher was much too big for his cat form, even with a supernatural bite force and supernatural speed— but fighting the fisher in his demon form had just been embarrassing whenever that angry rodent-esque animal decided to weasel out of his grasp. He ended up nearly burning the whole animal alive once he’d gotten a good grip on the tail just purely out of frustration.

“What if it’s another fisher?”

“Princess, I would’ve smelled another one.”

Her shoulders drop. It dawns on him, then, that she’s starting shake like a haphazard leaf on a branch in the middle of the storm, she’s so cold. Her small, fragile hands in his are so ridiculously cold, he’s certain she’s under a freezing spell. “You can’t even smell Henrietta. She’s out here, cold, and hungry— it’s raining too much for her to be comfortable anywhere other than the coup—”

“She’s going to be okay.”

“I miss her so much, Chat. It’ll be my fault if she gets hurt— I’ll never be able to forgive myself. I shouldn’t have kept the fence open— I thought they knew better— but the thunder— Chat, I’m just so stupid—”

“Princess, come on.” He sighs. If he doesn’t stop her soon, she’s going to berate herself until she cries. She’s getting there, he thinks— he can’t tell if the tracks of water on her cheeks is because of the rain or because of her watering eyes, but he doesn’t want it to last any longer than that. “We’re being useless out here, and you’re going to catch a cold in the rain if you stay here longer. Let’s go inside, let’s worry about Henrietta in the warmth of our house.”

“But— but—”

He raises a brow. “I’ll haul you back into the house myself if you don’t go.”

Marinette sags. “Alright. Alright. We’re sitting ducks out here, anyway.”

“Exactly.”

“Henrietta wouldn’t like us getting sick because of her.”

“Perhaps.” He’s a little iffy about it. Henrietta isn’t particularly fond of him.

“Chat,” That brings a smile to her face.

He’s thankful. So, so thankful to see that hint of a smile that turns the sides of her pretty lips up. “Trust me, Princess. Everything will be okay.”

“I do trust you,” She blinks at him, agreeing easily. He tries not to give into rubbing at the mark on his chest as it burns with her honesty. It’s a dangerous thing, he thinks, to have someone like her be so trusting of a demon like him— he doesn’t know what he’s done to deserve it. And from someone who deserves more than just him.

Either way, he eases her into turning her entire body to face the back of their little house. Hopefully there’s enough firewood to draw a bath for her, or at least get out of those petticoats and aprons that are most likely absorbing so much water and is making it impossible for her to move as swiftly as she usually does. He guides her back into their cottage with a hand on her lower back, careful of any more nasty leaf piles, turning one last time to the woods before ducking his head to enter through the door.

AO3 | Start here | Next Chapter

[royalfoxfics]

Art by Twin Doodle

Ao3

FF.net

In which we round out the cast, Chloe needs some sleep, and someone only thinks outside the box.

Adrien smiled as he stepped out of his private (and still completely unnecessary) limo and saw Nino, Alya, and Marinette waiting for him at the top of the school’s stairs.  The three of them waved to him and he said a quick goodbye to Nathalie and Gorilla before going up to meet them.  

 “Yo dude, what’s up?” Nino asked, exchanging their patented “secret” handshake.  

 “Not much, just glad to be back at school,” he told them, with a tired smile.  

 The other three smiled, but still looked at each other anxiously.  It was no secret that yesterday had been the anniversary of his mother’s death.  All the fashion industries of Paris had paid tribute to the tragic passing of one of the most beautiful and beloved models it had ever had.  Gabriel Agreste made sure of it.  

 The four of them stood awkwardly looking at each other for a minute.  Finally, Alya dropped the casual act with an exasperated groan and grabbed Nino and Marinette to pull all four of them into a big group[kw1]  hug. The other two resisted a little at first, but soon gave up and wrapped their arms around Adrien as well.  Adrien chuckled a little and did his best to hug them all back.

 “Thanks guys…”

 They had all made it clear to Adrien that they were there for him, and each had called to check up on him throughout the day yesterday, and had repeatedly offered to come over if he needed them.  He could never tell them, but it was their support that made him choose that day to finally confront Chloe and mend their relationship.  He knew his friends would be there for him no matter what, and that convinced him he needed to start being there for his family.  Well, the family he thought he had a chance of reaching anyway.

 The four of them separated with each one of them wiping their eyes.  This time their smiles were all much more genuine.  Nino patted him on the back and they all silently made their way to class.  There wasn’t anything more to be said, his friends were there for him, and that was that.

 As he climbed the stairs his thoughts turned to Chloe.  She hadn’t answered any of the texts he had sent last night, or this morning for that matter.  She had looked pretty tired when he had left her though, so she had probably just went to bed early and had woken up late.  She was going to need the rest for this afternoon.  He was so excited to show her what she had been missing, he had been half tempted to call her this morning and ask if she wanted to skip school for the day so they could get right to the fun.  Ladybug probably wouldn’t approve of such a thing though, so they’d wait.  But once that bell rung they would be out the door and hitting the rooftops faster than you could say “Claws Out!”  

 He was so lost in thought, he barely noticed that Chloe was already in her usual seat when they entered the classroom.  She had her back to them and seemed to be muttering to herself while digging around in her purse.  As usual the other three completely ignored her, save for Alya who just shot her a nasty look. Adrien only realized she was there after he had sat down and started taking out his things.  

 “Hey Chloe,” he called. She stiffened up.  Clearly, she hadn’t been aware of him either.  “How are you…”

 His voice died when she turned around to face him.  She didn’t look especially happy to see him.  Though that may have had something to do with the large and painful looking black eye she was sporting.

 Alya whistled loudly, while Marinette did a double take, and Nino quietly whispered “dude” under his breath. They all stared at the bold new ‘racoon’ look the Mayor’s daughter was trying out.  She had bags under the eye that wasn’t completely bruised, which were clearly visible since she wasn’t wearing her usual makeup, or even any foundation. Though going off of how swollen and bruised her eye was, it may simply have been too painful to put it on that morning.  

 Adrien was frozen in his seat one second, and the next he was less than an inch away from her in a state of near panic.  

 “What happened?  Who did this?  Are you hurt?  Should I call an ambulance?  Do you need a doctor?  Has anyone seen Rose?”

 “Adrien!”  

 Chloe grabbed him by the cheeks and brought his now fishlipped face level with hers.  

 “I.  Am.  Fine.” She told him, looking him straight in the eye, or at least as straight as she could.  “I’m okay.  It’s just a black eye, nothing to worry about.  So calm down, okay?”

 Adrien did calm down a bit and Chloe let go of his cheeks and gave him a gentle and reassuring smile.

 “…wow.”

 Chloe stiffened as she realized they were in public now.  A quick glance around and she saw that most of the assembled class was staring at her in surprise.  Well, Alya looked like the universe had just turned upside down and Marinette was looking from Adrien to Chloe like she was about to burst into tears, but on the whole the expression was surprise.

 “I mean, I’m sure I’ll be fine if my charming Adrikins would give me a kiss to make it all better!” Chloe declared for the classes benefit, being sure to aggressively cuddle up to (elbowed) Adrien and make large pouting kissy lips at him.  

 Adrien gave a subtle grunt, and gently pushed her back into her seat, giving her an unhappy frown as he clutched his ribs.  

 “Uh…  Yeah you’re fine,” he said, getting the message as she let herself be pushed away, though he made no effort to move from his spot next to her.  

 Seeing them go back to their normal dynamic, the rest of the class dismissed the odd exchange without a second thought and went about their business.  Alya continued to look at them suspiciously, but Marinette breathed a deep sigh of relief.  As usual Adrien failed to notice her, but Chloe still shot her a glare, silently telling Marinette not to get too comfortable.  

  “Seriously though Chloe, what happened to you?”  Adrien asked quietly.  

 Chloe pursed her lips for a moment before answering.  

 “I had a little… pest problem in my room last night.”

 Despite being across the room, Alya suddenly perked up asking, “Was it another Akuma attack?”  

 Adrien looked worried, as did Marinette for some reason, but Chloe quickly shook her head.  

 “No.  It was just a… wasp or something.”

 Alya looked at her skeptically.  

 “A wasp gave you a black eye?”  Then she laughed.  “If that’s true, then I think Ladybug might be in danger of losing her place as most heroic bug in Paris.”  

 Chloe and Adrien looked at her appalled while Marinette seemed to wilt a little for some reason. Noticing Marinette, and the dangerous glares the two blonds were giving her, Alya quickly corrected, “I mean, Ladybug’s still number one of course!  She just�� never punched the walking Akuma magnet in the face is all.”

 The mood did not improve

  “For your information, nobody punched me,” Chloe said, tossing her head back dismissively.  Then she cringed and gingerly rubbed her still sore and bruised neck.  “I just tripped over some furniture while dealing with the little home invader,” she grumbled.

 Alya smirked.  

 “Well, glad to hear karma finally caught up with you.”  She said, then went back to her phone, though she gave Marinette an apologetic look.  

 “Yeah, it can be a real Bee-itch.”  Chloe mumbled, still rubbing her neck.  

 Adrien beamed at her.

 “Did you just make a pun?” he whispered to her.  Chloe shot him a wiry look.  

 “Don’t push it,” she told him and nudged him back towards his side of the aisle.  

 He went, smiling proudly the whole way until his mind began to connect the dots.  He looked over at Chloe again and realized for the first time that she was wearing a new hair accessory.  She caught his eyes and saw him looking at the golden bee sitting just in front of her pony tail in place of a hair tie.  It blended in with her golden blond hair perfectly, so you wouldn’t notice it immediately unless you knew to look for it, but Adrien did, and he quickly realized who the “pest” in her room last night must have been.  

 Before he could do anything but give her a guilty and questioning look, a loud gasp and the thudding of falling books drew everyone’s attention to the front of the class. Rose, with Juleka of course, had arrived.  

 As soon as she had spotted Chloe’s black eye, Rose had dropped the school books she was carrying and thrown her hands up to her face to gasp in horror at such an injury.  Juleka on the other hand looked almost impressed.

 “Oh my goodness!  Are you okay?”  

 Rose produced a bright pink first aid box from… somewhere, and nearly flew to her injured classmate. It made no difference that Chloe and her toady Sabrina were still the number one source of torment and suffering for herself and everyone else at the school. Someone was hurt, so Rose had to take care of them.  Juleka just shook her head and began picking up the books Rose had dropped, as Rose pressed her palm against Chloe’s forehead and started shining a light in her eyes.

 As Chloe tried in vain to fight off her class’s self-appointed nurse, she leaned back and accidently stuck her hand into her purse.  

 “OW!”  

 Rose jumped back as Chloe swore and quickly pulled her stinging hand out of the angrily buzzing lion’s den she had foolishly stuck it in.

 “Oh no!  I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt-”

 “It wasn’t you!” Chloe snapped, holding her already swelling hand and glaring at her previously beloved designer handbag.  “I just… pricked myself on something in my purse…”

 Rose gasped again and grabbed Chloe’s hand.   She pulled a magnifying glass out of the first aid box and began looking it over closely.  

 “Was it broken glass? There could be shards in the skin! We’ll need to cut them out immediately if it’s broken glass before it gets into the bloodstream.”

 Chloe felt close to tears as she tried to pull her hand back and saw Juleka carefully lift a sterilized pink scalpel from the first aid box to hand to Rose.  

 Adrien couldn’t help but give a sympathetic smile as Chloe began pleading for her hand back and insisting that there was no glass.  He didn’t enjoy seeing her suffer, but even he had to agree she had it coming.  Like she’d said, karma was a real bee-itch.  Though Chloe would get a chance to dish out some just desserts of her own soon, and he was sure she’d start changing her ways once she got a taste of that sweet nectar of justice.  

 …And got to flirt with a few girls.

 ‘Well,’ he thought, as he watched Rose lead a still frantic and almost broken Chloe out the door and off to the school nurse’s office.

 ‘If she can survive that long...’  

    Chloe lay on the school’s hospital bed feeling like a partially wrapped frozen mummy.  

 Once Rose had noticed the bruise on Chloe’s neck while they were waiting for the nurse to fetch an icepack for her eye, she had nearly stripped Chloe naked searching for more. Of course, Chloe had had to go through a similar experience the previous night after Serge had found her kneeling in the wreckage of her penthouse, but at least the private doctor Serge had called to see to her hadn’t gasped in horror at every injury, and repeatedly asked her if she was being abused at home.  

 She couldn’t fault Rose or the Nurse for asking those questions.  Heck, she had been abused last night, but she couldn’t very well tell them it had been by her new… friend.  Still, the questions only stopped when the nurse called Serge himself to have him verify her “pest control” story.  She did find it a bit odd that the Nurse had known to call Serge instead of the mayor’s office, and even had her butlers cell number on file, but then it may well have been Serge who had signed all of her school paperwork.  Her father was extremely careful about what he put his signature on.    

 However, while Serge confirmed that she had been seen by a trusted doctor the previous night, he had also expressed his support of Rose and the Nurse’s refusal to allow Chloe to return to class, given the battered state she was in.  Her father was still blissfully unaware of the extent of the previous night’s incident, so Chloe had little in the way of threats to offer as argument.  

 Which was why she now found herself laying on a cheap, commoner’s hospital cot, wrapped head to foot in compression bandages, both to hold the multitude of icepacks covering her bruises in place and (she suspected) to keep her from sneaking away.

 She glared angrily at the ceiling.  She couldn’t even shop on her phone while she waited because it had been smashed into a thousand pieces after its’ three story drop, and the replacement wouldn’t be ready until that afternoon.  She was sore, she was cold, she was humiliated, and she was dreadfully bored.

 She adjusted herself a little so she could look over at her purse sitting a few feet away.  The Kwami was still inside as far as she knew.  No, it had a name…  what was it again?  Pigeon? Pippin?  Something like that.  

 She closed her eyes and tried to think back to the previous night.

    “I still do not understand why you are so insistent about going to school tomorrow, Mademoiselle,” Serge replied curtly from the empty closet where he was hanging up her clothes for the next day.  

 Chloe adjusted herself on the hotel room’s bed uncomfortably, and not just from the welts and bruises covering her body.  Serge had called a private doctor to check her over as soon as he had seen the insect stings covering her face and arms.  She had spent the last hour being poked, prodded, and examined as she repeated again and again that she had been stung by a very big bee.  The doctor had eventually released her back to Serge’s care, saying that she would be sore for a day or two thanks to the bruising, but the swelling from the stings would likely go down by morning.  

 Serge had then called her father and made her explain to him what had happened.  Of course, she may have glossed over the true extent of her injuries while on the phone with him, which earned her a suspicious look from Serge, but her father didn’t ask to many questions.  He never did.  

 Serge did ask though.  She’d long ago learned that a half-truth was the best lie, so she told him everything from the moment she left the bath.  She just left out the bits about the miraculous or the fact that the bee could talk.  Still, he could tell she was hiding something.  He was normally good about giving her her privacy, like any good butler should, but it was another matter when he thought her silence could be putting herself in danger.  

 Which was why he had made her change rooms for the night.  He said it was because he couldn’t have the broken windows of her penthouse replaced until morning, but Chloe knew it was so he could keep a closer eye on her. Not that changing the room would keep her safe from the tiny terror when it was still trapped in the history book she was still holding.  Serge had to have been aware of how protective she had suddenly become of her homework, but he had yet to say anything about it.  She’d kept a death grip on the book since he had found her, even during the medical exam.  The Kwami inside had gone completely quiet after she slipped away to hide the miraculous while they were waiting for the doctor.  She’d snapped the jewelry box shut with the comb still inside and stuffed it into her purse while Serge was marveling at the destroyed closet.

 Now she was waiting for Serge to finish setting up her temporary room and leave, so she could try to make nice with the creature she had repeatedly bludgeoned over the head and kept pressed flat inside of a high school text book for the last hour and a half.

 …Then again, maybe she could just tie the book shut with a belt or something and leave it till tomorrow.

 She was pulled out of her thoughts when Serge stepped back into view and repeated his request.  

 “Mademoiselle, please. You are hurt, you are tired, and you will most certainly have a horrendous black eye tomorrow amongst all your other injuries.  Would it not be better for you to simply stay home and let yourself recover, rather than needlessly risk going out in public in such a state?”  

 Chloe sighed and tried to roll onto her back with only a small groan of pain.  

 “I’m sure seeing me in ‘such a state’ would only boost the school’s morale,” she said bitterly. “Plus, Sabrina’s still out with the flu, so I have to take notes and get our homework.”  

 There was a long pause and then,

 “I am calling the doctor back immediately.  Clearly Mademoiselle is suffering from some horrific head injury that was missed in the initial diagnosis.”

 “Fine!” Chloe groaned, forcing herself up into a sitting position to look at him with a tired glare. Serge simply looked back at her expectantly, waiting for the truth.  Chloe’s attitude held for only a few seconds under his gaze before she had to look away.

 She didn’t trust anyone completely, but her personal butler came close.  She had known Serge longer than she could remember, and he was one of the few people in the world who cared about her enough to tell her when she was wrong.  She’d never lied to him, but there were some secrets she had never told anyone.  She wouldn’t lie to him now, but it seemed another half-truth was in order.  

 “Look I…  I made up with Adrien today.”

 Judging by his expression, Serge hadn’t been expecting that answer at all.    

 “We talked and I… I apologized for the way I had been using him for the last few years.  I told him I was only flirting with him so I wouldn’t have to deal with any other boys flirting with me.”  

 “That much, was obvious,” Serge said flatly.  Though he had an amused smile on his lips.  Chloe shot him a warning look and continued.  

 “Anyway, I apologized for being weird, he apologized for…  I don’t know, he didn’t do anything wrong.  We talked about how much we missed Aunt Sophia and about Uncle Gabriel and we… made up.  We’re friends again.  For real.”

 Serge walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder gently.  “I’m sure Mademoiselle Sophia would be most happy to hear that.”

 Chloe just nodded.    

 “Yeah, well.  Adrien said he wanted to meet up after school tomorrow so we could hang out, just the two of us.”  If you don’t count the ancient spirit partners anyway, she added mentally.  “It hasn’t been just us for so long, and Sabrina is still out sick and Adrien’s schedule is actually clear for once so I don’t want to miss the chance and...”

 She trailed off, keeping her eyes focused on her bedspread instead of Serge.  Everything she had said had been the honest truth, even if she was dancing around some of the minor details.  Like how she had talked with Adrien in person after he had cat burgled his way in to her apartment, or that their little get together tomorrow was for superhero training.  

 Minor or not, Serge still seemed to know she wasn’t giving him all the facts.  However, he seemed satisfied that she would be in safe company, so he relented.    

 “If that is the case, then I shall of course ensure that mademoiselle’s schedule is also clear tomorrow afternoon.”

 She smiled at him gratefully.  

 “However,” he added sternly, “I must insist that you not push yourself, Mademoiselle.  As you have said, you will be without Mademoiselle Sabrina tomorrow, so-“

 “I promise I’ll behave,” Chloe interrupted.  Serge looked skeptical so she added, “hey, the last thing I need is to be running from another Akuma like this.”  She gestured to the red welts still throbbing on her otherwise flawless complexion.  

 Serge gave her a sympathetic look and nodded.  

 “Very well, Mademoiselle. Is there anything else you require?”

 Chloe let her eyes fall shut and shook her head slowly.  

 “No, I think that will be all for tonight, Serge.”  

 Her butler smiled and helped her lay back down and tucked her into bed.  She yawned and could feel herself quickly drifting off to sleep when she heard Serge say,

 “I’ll just leave your text book on the bedside table for you then.”

 ‘…Merde.’  

 Chloe kept her eyes shut and her expression neutral as Serge turned off the lights and left.  He paused only a moment to half whisper, ��goodnight Mademoiselle,” before closing the door.  

 As soon as she heard the soft click of the latch, Chloe threw off the covers with a muffled groan of pain and switched on the bedside lamp.  She silently berated herself for letting go of the book.  It was still completely motionless on the bedside table, but for all she knew the Kwami had slid out of it the moment she had loosened her grip.  She tapped tentatively on the beaten-up cover.  

 “Hey?” she whispered. “You in there?”  

 There was no reply.  

 Carefully, she picked up the book by the front and back covers and shook it out over the floor.  A few more pages fell out, but no Kwami.  

 She put the book back on the small table with a soft thud. Wonderful.  She had a pint-sized terror with an elephant-sized ego and a grudge to match hiding somewhere in her room, waiting to strike with a venom tipped needle attached to its’ rear end.  Was it really too much to ask for this night to just be over already?  

 She wracked her exhausted brain for options as she looked about the unfamiliar gloom of her temporary room.  The little pest could be hiding anywhere and she had no means of finding it, or even properly defending herself without creating a racket and waking up everyone on the floor.  Still, she couldn’t just wait for it to attack her during the night.  She needed help, but who?  And how?  Her cellphone was smashed to bits on the sidewalk below, and she couldn’t risk Serge or one of the other servants finding the guardian spirit of a Miraculous…

 ‘The Miraculous!’

 Chloe got out of bed as stealthily as she could and made her way over to her purse.  Chat Noir and Ladybug were supposed to be able to call each other with their weapons.  Maybe she could use the Miraculous he had given her to contact Adrien so he could come over and deal with the little monster he had given her.  It was a slim chance admittedly, but it was the only chance she had.

 She tiptoed over to the desk where Serge had left her things.  Her nerves were nearly shot, but she kept on high alert, her every sense straining to detect even the slightest hint of movement.  Her imagination kept taunting her with images of the Kwami waiting to lunge out from the shadows to attack her ankles.  Reaching her target, she quickly snapped open the five-hundred-dollar handbag and pulled out the unassuming looking wooden box.  It looked remarkably innocent, especially since it was the source of the utter fiasco her quiet evening had turned into.  She opened it to grab the comb inside, but nearly dropped it as she was blinded by a sudden flare of bright golden light.  When she could see again, the Kwami was hovering in front of her, blinking and swaying slightly.  

 “What?  Where are We?”  The Kwami shook its’ head and nearly fell out of the air.  Once it got its’ bearings it noticed Chloe standing in the gloom.  “Oh! You must be our new…  Oh, it’s you again.”  

 The Kwami glared at her and Chloe gulped.  The book was across the room, so she knew she’d best choose her words very carefully, else her face be used as a pin cushion again.  Taking a deep breath, she started to set the box down on the desk so it wouldn’t distract her and addressed the Kwami as politely as possible.

 “Okay, look.  I think we may have got off on the wrong-“

 “Stop!”

 Chloe jumped and froze. The Kwami was staring at the box in her hands as if it’s life depended on it.  Absentmindedly, she had nearly closed it while setting it down.  Sensing a vulnerability, Chloe opened the jewelry box all the way and watched as the Kwami relaxed slightly.  Then she slowly started to close it again and saw it worriedly tense up and look anxiously from Chloe to the box.  

 “You need this to stay open, don’t you?”  She asked. The Kwami’s silent glare was all the answer she needed.  “This box turns off the miraculous, doesn’t it?  Or like, blocks the signal or something so you can’t…  project from it?  Like putting a cellphone in a led safe!  I’m right aren’t I?”   Again, the Kwami only glared in response.  Chloe smiled in triumph.  She had the power now, and it felt good.  

 The temptation to just snap the box shut so she could sleep undisturbed for the rest of the night was strong, but she knew that the threat of punishment was sometimes more advantageous in the long run than a direct show of force.

 “Alright, here’s the deal. You stop stinging and spitting insults at me and do what I say, and I let you stay awake and bask in the life of luxury with me, alright?”  

 The Kwami grumbled under its breath, but nodded obediently.  

 “We have no choice in the matter.  If you truly are our chosen, then we must do as you wish, no matter how… distasteful We find it.”

 “Yeah, well, I’m still not really sold on this whole ‘chosen’ thing,” Chloe said, more to herself than to the Kwami.  The Kwami still perked up however, somehow looking both hopeful and offended at the same time.  

 “What do you mean you are not ‘sold’ on bearing our miraculous?  It is an honor any would gladly give their left eye for!”

 “Keep it down!”  Chloe hissed, glancing over at the door.  “Do you want to wake up the whole hotel?”  

 “Hotel…”the Kwami repeated. “We are visiting some foreign land then?”

 “No, I live here,” Chloe explained, rubbing the bridge of her nose.  “Look, I live in the greatest hotel in France, you trashed my penthouse so I’m staying in a commoner’s room for the night.  My dad is the Mayor of Paris, my best friend is Chat Noir, and he’s the one that gave you to me.  He and Ladybug have been fighting Hawkmoth and his Akumas for like, two years now, and I guess they need more help now or something.  Anyway, Chat thinks I’m the girl for the job, but I wasn’t supposed to open your box until tomorrow after school when he was going to train me.  Right now, I’m tired, I’m sore and I’d really like to get some sleep.  So, how about we just forget about all the fighting and yelling until tomorrow, okay?”

 The Kwami seemed to be dazed again by Chloe’s quick and dirty summary of events.  Chloe let it have a few seconds more to process the information until the pain in her back and lower extremities became too much, and she turned to hobble back to bed.  

 “Wait!”

 “Oh, what now?”  Chloe turned again and looked back at the Kwami impatiently.  

 “You… We never made proper introductions.  Also, you will have to put on the Miraculous before We will recognize you as our new master.”  The Kwami added, closing its eyes and putting on that infuriating air of superiority again and turning its’ nose up at her.  Well, it didn’t have a nose that Chloe could see, but still.  

 Chloe sighed, and decided the quickest way to bed would be to just give it what it wanted.  

 “Fine.”  

 With some difficulty due to her swollen finger, Chloe finally took the golden comb out of the box and put the box back into her purse.  After a few seconds of trying to figure out how to wear the comb fashionably, she gave up and pulled her loose hair into its usual ponytail and used the comb to hold it in place.

 “Happy?”  She asked, gesturing at the hastily made and slightly lopsided ponytail.   The Kwami looked her over unimpressed.

 “It will have to do for now, We suppose…”

 “Good.”  Chloe limped over to the Kwami and stuck out her hand. “Chloe Bourgeois, Mayor’s daughter.”

 The Kwami just looked at her.

 “…Bourgeois?”

 “Yes.”

 “Your name is Bourgeois?”

 Chloe could feel her anger beginning to rise again as she fought to keep her hand held out in friendly greeting.

 “Yes,” she answered tartly.

 “As in… the middleclass?”

 “It’s an old name,” she said through gritted teeth.  

 The Kwami just continued to stare blankly at her until it shifted its gaze up to the roof.

 “…What did We do to deserve this humiliation?”  

 “Oh, come on!”  Chloe withdrew her hand and felt ready to burst into tears of frustration right there.  “It doesn’t matter what the name means, okay?  My family has been the head of Paris for more than two decades!”

 The Kwami simply scoffed at her.  

 “No doubt thanks to some less than ethical political moves, if your attitude is anything to go by.”

 Chloe was about to argue back, but the words died on her tongue.

 “…You know, you’re right,” she admitted, looking down at the floor.  “That’s exactly how we got here.”

 The Kwami gaped at her in horror, but Chloe kept her gaze elsewhere and continued somberly.    

 “My father has used nearly every dirty trick in the book short of actual murder to keep himself in office.  He’s used blackmail, slander, bribery, anything it took to destroy his opponents image and keep himself looking completely clean.  But you want to know something else?  He has no idea that the biggest scandal in Paris is sitting right under his nose.”

 The Kwami jumped a little in midair as Chloe suddenly looked up at it with an angry fire burning in her eyes.  

 “He has no idea his precious only daughter loves girls more than Jagged Stone loves skin tight leather, and I’ve had to keep that secret from him and everyone else in Paris all my life!  Then Adrien and his smelly cat thing show up and say, ‘hey if you want to help fight super villains we’ll give you some cool superpowers so you can flirt with cute girls without anyone knowing it’s you!’  Only it turns out that the combee of my miraculous is a stab happy little monster with an ego bigger than its own fat head, so I don’t know if I’m ever going to get that chance to actually be me for once in my life!”  

 Chloe managed to hold her furious glare at the baffled looking Kwami for all of three seconds until physical pain and emotional exhaustion overtook her again.  She nearly collapsed and had to reach out to grasp the desk for support.  The Kwami simply hovered silently in the air and watched as Chloe slowly gathered what remained of her strength.  

 After nearly a minute, Chloe limped her way back to the bed and climbed in.  She barely noticed as the Kwami followed her silently and settled on top of the history book still sitting on the bedside table.  Chloe pulled the now cold blankets over herself and let her head hit the silk covered pillow with a dull thump.  She let out a long breath as she tried to relax into the soft mattress.  She was so close to finally getting some rest, when the Kwami loudly cleared its’ throat next to her.  

 “We… We are willing to acknowledge that we have both been… not at our best tonight,” it said slowly. Chloe opened one eye and gave it a tired glare as she made a show of snuggling down deeper into the blankets. The Kwami seemed not to notice and continued.  

 “We…  We would not be opposed to making a second attempt at first impressions.  When we are both in a better state of mind of course.”    

 Chloe sighed and reached to switch off the light in an attempt to end the conversation, but hesitated when she noticed the history book the Kwami was perched on.  Maybe if she gave it something to do it would leave her alone.  

 “Here,” she said, carefully shooing the Kwami off the book and opening it for it.   “You can read this and get caught up on some of the history you missed while I get some sleep.”  

 The Kwami hesitantly approached the book.  When it was sure Chloe wasn’t going to try to trap it inside again, it began flipping through the table of contents.  Once it seemed settled in, Chloe settled back into bed with her back to the light.  

 “Just keep it down, okay?” she asked over her shoulder.  The Kwami gave no response that she could hear, but she took that as a yes.

 Just before she slipped off to sleep, she realized she still had one important question nagging in the back of her mind.  

 “Hey, what’s your name anyway?”

 The Kwami didn’t answer.

 “Are you still there?” Chloe asked, making the mistake of twisting around to look over at the table.  Her body screamed in protest and she quickly flopped back to her original position.  The Kwami was still there, but it was looking off into space again.  

 “What?  Yes, yes We are still here.”  It answered, shaking its’ head.  “It has just been several centuries and We…”  It thought for a long moment until its eyes lit up in recognition.

 “Pollen!  Our name is Pollen.  We are the Kwami of…” Its’ voice trailed off again.

 Chloe waited for it to finish for a few more seconds before giving up and trying to get comfortable again.

 “Whatever, Pollen it is.” She yawned again and pulled the sheets over her head.  “Goodnight, Pollen.”

 Pollen didn’t hear her. They were too busy staring at a chapter in the history book labeled:

 “1800’s Century Political Corruption and “Le Piquer Royale”: The Queen of Thieves”

   Authors notes

 Regarding Serge: Chloe’s butler is an interesting character and more will be seen of him in later chapters. I think his relationship with Chloe is pretty obviously inspired by some other famous butler in fiction.  I chose his name because it means “attendant,” “protector,” or “shepherd.” All of which fit the character I’m giving him perfectly.  

 Regarding the Miraculous Box:  Yes I am aware that Tikki disappeared as soon as Marinette took off the earrings in the origin episode, not when she put them in the box.  Again, AU.  

 Regarding “Le Piquer Royale”:  I do not speak French, but roughly translated it means “The Royal Sting” and we will learn a bit more about her later too.  Though I’m sure you all already have theories.