#oughhh the intrigue. the DRAMA

[wisteriasymphony]

GoldenLady Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 5

Goldeneye, as per usual, was spending patrol time braiding Ladybug's hair. It helped to not have to look at her face as she talked, watch as the girl seemed to share almost everything with her without even the slightest hint as to who her Prince really was. Goldeneye didn't want to be the one to tell her princess the truth no matter how much she was paid to do it. That was what her Client had taken as his eventual duty, after all.

"..And that's how Chat Noir and I saved the city, uhm... for the 45th time!" she exclaimed, jostling about as she spoke with almost enough fervor for the braid Gold was working on to slip out of her hands. "—Sorry, I probably shouldn't talk about him as much as I usually do."

Gold hummed to herself, finding where she was in completing her princess's plait, and simply replying with, "It's no matter to me, little lady. Your voice is like the most wonderful music to my ears."

Speaking of ears, Gold noticed how Ladybug's own ears turned red at the compliment. She just chuckled, finishing off Ladybug's plait with one of her extra velvet ribbons.

"There you are, my princess," she spoke, laying the braid over Ladybug's shoulder and tucking a strand of her bangs behind her small, reddened ear. "Beautiful as always."

"You don't really talk often about yourself, do you?" Her princess said, turning back to face her. "I always feel like I'm sharing too much about myself."

Goldeneye couldn't bear to meet her gaze. There were a lot of things she could share... who she was... why she was here... who she'd seen die, and what that had done to her. Nothing suiting the image of a prince, really.

"I told you about my castle, haven't I?" she crooned. "Where I plan to whisk you away once my corrupt father has finally been overthrown?"

Ladybug laughed, her face bright as the morning sun. "But that's not real," she said.

Goldeneye clasped both of Ladybug's hands in hers, planting a kiss on her princess's head. "And what of the balls I'll invite you to, should I no longer be exiled? Surely I've spoken of the opulence of it all. How beautiful you'd look in a gown."

"Gold, I know that's not real either," she laughed again. "I want to know you. The real you."

Goldeneye wasn't sure what else to say. She hadn't been given enough "factual" information from her Client yet. Her Client didn't seem to be the type of man to share such things. Gold looked away, pondering about what she was being paid to do. If she could sabotage her lie, get herself out of this mess... with a little bit of the truth.

"I'm a sex worker," she said.

Ladybug nearly repeated it before the gravity of the words dawned on her.

"You're kidding," she chuckled. "That's..."

Goldeneye wasn't giving her the princely look she usually did. Goldeneye wasn't looking at her at all.

Ladybug spoke her next words without really thinking, covering her mouth with her hands.

"That's awful."

Her Golden Prince simply sneered at her.

"It's not awful." Gold shook her head, eyes still trapped into looking towards far-off places. "It's just work to me. I get a Client, that Client pays me, I do my thing, and they're off. It's..." she sighed. "It's certainly not the best job in the world, maybe, but I've been through a lot worse."

Ladybug still felt like she had to pity Gold, for some odd reason. Maybe it was just because of how different it made her Prince seem. She'd thought this was Adrien (and part of her still did), but... This seemed to make it even harder to tell.

"Is that why you smoke?" she asked.

"No? Princess, those are nowhere near related." That was a lie, at least in Gold's case, but there was still a truth to it too. "You know what really got me to start smoking? Retail. You don't know what 'selling' your body's really like until you're taking a 12 hour overnight shift on a goddamn holiday, that's for damn sure."

Goldeneye realized just how much of the truth she was telling. How much of her usual voice was coming through.

"I apologize, my princess," Gold sighed. "Ignore me. Just another one of my flagrant lies coming through again." Gold snapped a ball of her Cataclysm into the shape of a rose, hoping to distract her princess. "Care for a flower, little lady?"

"Oh, no, I could never," her princess replied. But the hand that was still attached to Gold's held on tight. "Please, enough of your flowers."

"As you wish, my princess." Goldeneye just kissed her gently on the forehead, the magical mark of black lipstick vanishing just as quickly as it came. Ladybug wished one day those marks might stick, but she'd never tell Gold that.

"I'm glad you told me something about you," the princess spoke, her thumb caressing the back of Goldeneye's hand. "..Even if it was a 'lie'."

Goldeneye smiled. "So I've found the words you want to hear then? No more talk of castles and princes and masquerade balls?"

"No, no, tell me everything about that, my prince!" she laughed. "But leave in a few lies as well."

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