breeeliss:

• i want chloe to go too far
• i know that’s hard to imagine with chloe, but for a moment, imagine she says something impossibly cruel, something she doesn’t necessarily mean, perhaps as a way to keep the upper hand, to win an argument, to keep up the superiority complex she has, what have you
• imagine it’s directed to marinette who’s usually up and ready to banter back with her….and marinette doesn’t take it well
• maybe it’s personal. maybe it digs deep in a way that marinette didn’t expect. but it leaves her with tears welling up, or perhaps it makes her run from the room in mortification
• adrien screams at chloe, asks her what she was thinking. even sabrina is edging away from her and can’t look her in the eye. imagine the entire class losing complete respect for her and completely shutting her out. 
• imagine chloe being alone
• it’s maddening: adrien and sabrina won’t talk to her, no one will sit next to her in class, no one acknowledges her, and all she gets from the entire class is dirty stares
• marinette’s are the worst. marinette stares at chloe like she’s wishing the world’s misfortune on her. marinette’s never looked at chloe like that. 
• and it isn’t until she sees how marinette bores holes into the back of her head during class that chloe realizes she really messed up
• imagine her hastily putting together a half-assed apology so that people will start talking to her again. but marinette isn’t having it. 
• “you know, that’s really cold. to just apologize to me bc you want your friends back and not bc you mean it. how dare you. don’t waste my time with this again unless you mean it.”
• after that, marinette isn’t mad at her anymore. she’s just done. it’s as if chloe is invisible, as if chloe isn’t at all worth her time, as if nothing chloe does can affect her anymore. sabrina still won’t speak to her. adrien acts as if he can’t recognize her. 
• and that’s when chloe realizes she made a huge mistake. and she feels bad. 
• so she actually starts apologizing. leaving apology notes in marinette’s locker and on her desk. sending her fb messages pleading with her to hear her out. approaching her desk everyday and asking her if she’ll just please speak to her and let her apologize. 
• but marinette throws the notes out. blocks her on fb. ignores her when she approaches her. won’t let her in. 
• chloe tries to do little things. orders huge commissions from the dupain-cheng bakery just to give them business. stops by in the mornings for croissants and fills their tip jar with bills. sends marinette expensive designer clothes in the mail to give her inspiration. offers to drop off her homework to her parents when marinette is sick.
• it does nothing, even though marinette notices the gestures, but chloe keeps trying
• because she never actually meant to hurt anyone this bad. she knows no one will believe her when she says this but this isn’t what she wanted. she didn’t want marinette to treat her like this. didn’t want anyone to treat her like this. 
• and deep down, she realizes that ladybug – her idol, her hero, her role model – would hate what she’s done. and disappointing ladybug is the absolute last thing she ever wanted to do. 
• so chloe keeps working. working to make ladybug proud. working to win back marinette’s trust. working to show adrien and sabrina that they weren’t wrong to befriend her. working to show the whole class that she’s a good person. deep down. somewhere. she is. she promises. she’ll show them. 
• one day after school, when there’s a torrential downpour and marinette has no umbrella, chloe catches her before she leaves, gives her an umbrella, and apologizes for probably the hundredth time. marinette doesn’t respond to the apology, but accepts the umbrella, mutters a short thanks, and heads home
• chloe accepts the coldness, realizes she deserves it, and doesn’t stay angry. instead, she pulls her sweater over her head to cover herself from the rain, and waits on the steps for her car to come
• she doesn’t realize that there’s an old man a few blocks from the school who watched the whole exchange
• when chloe gets home, she finds a small wooden box with strange markings sitting on her desk that she doesn’t remember putting there
• she opens it to find a haircomb shaped like a bumblebee

Marinette: I think Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth.
Master Fu: *sucks in a breath* Yikes. Maybe I shouldn’t have made his son Chat Noir, then.
Marinette: What?
Master Fu: What?