A/N: I know some people might not be thrilled that I decided to focus on the spoiled brat of the show, but Epiphanies has always basically been me trying to reach through the screen and trying to slap a bit of sense into some of the characters, and Chloe DEFINITELY needs that slap. That girl is ridiculous.

It started, as most things in Paris did nowadays, with an akuma.

Rose Glasses was not a flashy akuma by any means, nor was she particularly destructive or dangerous to the majority of Paris. She struck in the evening, slinking through the shadows of the city in search of people oblivious to the world around them. It was an unusual target to have, but once the dust settled, Ladybug and Chat Noir had learned that the akuma victim had a sister who was being scammed by her boyfriend and who was missing all of the obvious signs. The victim and her sister had recently had a fight about just that, and the sister had scoffed when accused of seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses. Hawkmoth had struck only seconds after the victim hung up the phone.

But that didn't matter, not really. All akumas started like that: angry, upset, emotional. Rose Glasses was no different in that way. Not all akuma were super-flashy and dangerous either; some flew under the radar for a surprisingly long time before surfacing.

But none were quite like Rose Glasses.

Rose Glasses had headed to the Mayor's hotel as soon as she had finished her visit to her sister. She had landed on Chloe's balcony while the girl was reading the most recent fashion magazine on her chaise and had proceeded to storm right in. Chloe hadn't been remotely worried by the supervillain's sudden appearance- and why should she? Akumas had threatened her before, time and time again, but Ladybug and Chat Noir never let then harm her- and she had said as much. The akuma only laughed, colder and crueler than Chloe's own laugh.

"You are blind to the world around you," Rose Glasses crooned with a smirk playing at the edges of her lips. She sneered at Chloe. "Oblivious child, thinking you are the darling of Paris when the world hates you."

Chloe had bristled at that. A lot of akumas had said the same thing, claiming that they hated her, that she was responsible for their akumatization and that she was an awful person. It was all lies, obviously. Akumas often said that they hated Ladybug and Chat Noir, but how often was that true? Hawkmoth was just twisting their perception so that they thought that they hated her. People were just jealous that she was rich and the daughter of the mayor, so they tried to make their pathetic selves feel better by insulting her. That was what her father had told her when she was little right after a visiting musician's son had made her cry by calling her a crybaby and a whiny brat, and that was obviously why she was the target of so many akuma attacks.

Obviously.

Chloe had said something in response, but she couldn't remember anything after that. Rose Glasses had struck her with the staff she had been carrying, sending Chloe into lucid dreams- or rather, lucid nightmares. She was lost in a fantasy world where people hated her, where Sabrina would leave her for the first friendly face that came along, where people in their class rolled their eyes behind her back and groaned when she was involved in things, where when she decided not to be in their stupid class photo in the park, they all breathed a sigh of relief instead of being saddened that she, the darling of Paris, wasn't there.

A world where her first friend drifted away as soon as there were other people there for him to be friends with.

Chloe was stuck there in her dreams, watching day-to-day events that had actually happened in the past, but here they were just a little different. Her eyes were drawn to the subtly annoyed expressions of the people talking to her, the eye-rolls and hushed conversations going on behind her back. She could feel the annoyance of the people talking to her, even when they put on a neutral face. Worst of all, she was being forced to believe them when they said they hated her.

Lies. Everybody loved her! But the dreams didn't let her think that, didn't let her sniff and turn her back on the idiots that claimed not to like her. It shook Chloe more than she would ever admit.

It took Chloe's father almost four hours to find her, since it was late at night and Rose Glasses had turned off the lights in Chloe's room before taking off so that it would look like she was just sleeping. It wasn't until her butler heard her nightmare-induced cries- how embarrassing!- and couldn't wake her up that anyone knew something was wrong. After that, it only took half an hour for the Mayor to raise enough of a hullabaloo to get Ladybug and Chat Noir's attention, even though it was the middle of the night. The superheroes came in to investigate (Ladybug saw her asleep and messy, Chloe was going to end Hawkmoth if she ever found out who he was) before heading back out to find the akuma.

All things considered, it hadn't taken Ladybug and Chat Noir much time to take Rose Glasses down once they knew what to look for. Ladybug's Miraculous Cure spiraled across the city, releasing dozens of people from their nightmares and cleaning up the small amount of damage their fight had actually caused.

But the ladybugs didn't get rid of the lingering memories from the dreams. Chloe remembered everything from the false dream world- all the judging stares, all of the eye rolls, all of the barely-concealed annoyance and exasperation aimed at her. It was annoying, since Chloe knew perfectly well that it wasn't real. The akuma was meant to make people feel bad about themselves, to doubt the world around them. Rose Glasses' dream world was a cruel made-up one that was nothing like reality. She was just a random victim, of that Chloe was certain.

And then she saw how other people responded to Rose Glasses' powers.

Ladybug had been hit by a glancing blow from Rose Glasses' staff during their fight, and the superheroine had only wavered for a second, starting to topple over before being caught by Chat Noir. She had woken back up immediately, leading to the theory that the more a person was oblivious to the world around them, the deeper a sleep Rose Glasses' powers sent them into.

Chloe could barely believe that when she saw the coverage of the fight later. She was still trying to deny the deep-seated, sick feelings the akuma had stirred up and that the Miraculous Cure hadn't gotten rid of, and seeing Ladybug so unaffected by the akuma that had thrown her for a loop. Chloe had wanted to believe that the akuma was lying, that she wasn't seeing the world through rose-colored glasses, that her classmates and most of Paris didn't dislike her. But something was obviously different between herself and the heroes.

"It's the suit," Chloe told the empty room as she slammed her computer shut and shoved her chair away from the table. "Ladybug wasn't affected because she has her supersuit. Her Miraculous protected her."

That's not true, the taunting voice that had taken up residence in Chloe's mind ever since the attack said. Ladybug and Chat Noir have been affected by akumas before. Chat Noir was affected by Princess Fragrance, and the Puppeteer, and Dark Cupid. Why would Rose Glasses be any different?

Akumas are all different, Chloe argued back. Just because they got affected by one thing doesn't mean that it'll be the same for all of them. Besides, Ladybug hasn't been affected by any other akuma before. She's the better superhero; she probably has more power to protect her.

Still, the uncomfortable feeling in her gut got stronger.

It was yet another blow to Chloe's wavering confidence when footage showed up of random civilians getting hit by Rose Glasses' staff as Ladybug and Chat Noir deflected it. Most woke up as soon as their face hit the pavement, which meant that they hadn't been in that deep of a sleep. That only strengthened the theory about how the akuma's powers worked, the news reports claimed; the average person wasn't terribly disillusioned about their lives, so they wouldn't be all that affected. Their dreams would be light, in comparison to the deep nightmares that people like Chloe had fallen into.

Chloe scowled and tried to ignore the footage. Maybe those other people weren't as affected because they had only been hit by glancing blows instead of direct hits, like she had gotten. Maybe it was because Rose Glasses hadn't been paying attention to their insignificant selves. There were plenty of reasons why there might have been a difference between Rose Glasses' targeted victims and her accidental ones. Still, it was infuriating that she, the daughter of the mayor of Paris, would be more affected by an akuma than an average person off of the streets. She was not average, so therefore she should have been less affected. It was just the way the world was supposed to work.

Her brain, it seemed, had not gotten the memo. It was still dwelling on the images Rose Glasses had created, wondering how accurate they were even though Chloe knew that they weren't, so why waste the time and energy worrying about it? It was stupid.

Still, as Chloe stepped out of her limo on Monday morning, she couldn't help but remember the oh-so-vivid dreams. Most of her nightmares had been set at the school, with the same classmates she saw every day and who were supposed to look up to her and be jealous of her. The dreams had claimed that that wasn't the truth, that most of them disliked her instead and wished she was in another class, far away from them. They didn't want to invite her to class events, but instead only invited her because of the ever-present threat of the Mayor using his influence to expel them if they didn't.

All of a sudden, Chloe felt sick. Her hand tightened on the car door as she looked around at the other students milling around the building, talking to their friends and waiting for school to start. Instead of seeing classmates that would gladly scramble to get fashion advice from her, she saw people who didn't care about her opinion and didn't want her advice. She saw people who loathed her, and not because they were jealous.

And the worse part was that now she couldn't unsee it.

Chloe hurriedly got back in the car and shut the door, fighting to keep her expression aloof and haughty. Even if it felt like her world was getting shaken at its foundations, there was no reason to show it. She was certain that she would get past this soon enough, after all. She was Chloe Bourgeois. She didn't show weaknesses.

"Take me back to the hotel," Chloe ordered the driver. "I'm suddenly feeling unwell and won't be able to attend classes today."

Her driver nodded obediently and started the car back up without any questions, pulling away from the school's curb and back into traffic as they headed back towards the Grand Paris. Chloe stared straight ahead at the headrest in front of her so she wouldn't have to see the curious stares that her classmates were no doubt giving the car as it left the school with its passenger still inside. Sabrina would no doubt be flooding her phone with questions shortly, but it didn't matter. Her friend could be appeased by the same lie Chloe had told her driver and would have to tell her father as soon as she stepped back into the hotel.

As the driver pulled up to the front door of the hotel, Chloe couldn't help but wonder what he thought of her. It wasn't that she cared- it wasn't like his opinion mattered or anything, he was just the hired help- but she wondered all the same, just for a moment. And then she stopped, because it was a waste of time and really, she didn't care.

Really.

By the time Tuesday rolled around, Chloe had managed to wrestle the sick feelings of doubt under control enough to attend school. Sabrina fussed over her, of course, and Adrien looked a bit concerned, though he didn't ask her how she was doing like he should have.

Chloe scowled and turned her back on her former friend. What did she care if he was stupid and had forgotten his manners since he had started to hang out with that DJ? He would come to his senses soon enough and remember that having her as a friend would get him connected to the right people. After all, it had been Chloe that had introduced him to Jagged Stone when he stayed at her father's hotel- or, rather, she had tried. The akuma attack had screwed up her plans more than a little bit, and then the rock star had been too busy to oblige her requests. She had tried to introduce Adrien to XY after that, but the model hadn't been interested. Adrien clearly didn't have the same great taste in music that Chloe did, despite all of her attempts to convert him.

Hhmph. See if she bothered to invite him to exclusive meetings with international celebrities anymore if he was just going to be all distant the rest of the time.

Chloe didn't let her eyes wander from the front of the room during class. It was stupid, she knew it was, because of course people wouldn't be giving her irritated looks like they had in her dreams, but it was safer not to check. Besides, she would look weird if she kept turning around during class, and then the stupid teacher would probably try to get her in trouble for not paying attention- it wasn't like it mattered if she were paying attention or not, really, since Sabrina did all of her homework anyway, but Chloe supposed that the teacher probably wanted to at least try not to look like she was obviously favoring her.

It was going to be a good day, Chloe could just feel it. Maybe she would even get a hold of Ladybug and get this whole problem cleared up before ii started affecting her life.

"Ladybug, wait up!" Chloe ordered as she raced across the lobby of her father's hotel. She had been waiting all week for an akuma attack to happen close enough to her that she could get Ladybug's attention, and now that the superheroes were standing in the lobby of the Grand Paris, she was not going to let them leave before she could speak with them. Especially when the nightmares showed no signs of ceasing any time soon. "I need to talk to you about something!"

Both heroes paused, turning in near-unison to face Chloe as she skidded to a mostly dignified halt in front of them. They both had slightly apprehensive looks on their faces, which Chloe decided to interpret as worry about their Miraculous timing out and not in response to her presence. She was sure that if their transformations didn't have time limits, they would have looked thrilled to see her because really, who wouldn't want to talk to her? She wasn't going to let one stupid akuma make her doubt herself.

"Your Miraculous Cure after Rose Glasses didn't work right," Chloe informed Ladybug as she planted a hand on her hip and tossed her hair over her shoulder. She wanted to cut right to the chase before Ladybug could make up her excuses about her beeping Miraculous earrings and go. "I thought you should know."

Ladybug blinked at her, clearly puzzled. "But you're awake."

Chloe huffed at that. Well, duh. That was obvious to anyone with eyes. "But I remember all of the awful dreams that Rose Glasses forced me to have. Your Miraculous Cure didn't get rid of them."

Ladybug's eyes widened at that and she exchanged a quick look with Chat Noir. Chloe bristled a little at that- she didn't want their sympathy, she just wanted the dreams to go away and stop messing with her head- but she held her tongue, not wanting to accidentally upset the superheroes who could get her back to normal.

"Miraculous Cure has never gotten rid of people's memories of akuma attacks, Chloe," Ladybug said slowly, clearly picking her words carefully. "And the dreams Rose Glasses caused would fall under the category of memories, I'm afraid. I'm sorry, Chloe."

Chloe's heart dropped and her stomach filled with dread. She had never considered this as a possible outcome to her conversation with Ladybug. In her mind, their impromptu meeting would finish with Ladybug apologizing profusely for the inconvenience her faulty Lucky Charm had caused, followed by her casting a second Lucky Charm and Miraculous Cure for the sole purpose of ridding Chloe's head of Rose Glasses' nightmares. Ladybug might even agree to join Chloe for dinner or on a shopping spree to help apologize.

Clearly that wasn't going to happen.

Chloe wiped all evidence of her disappointment off of her face as she forced her regular disinterested expression into place. It wouldn't do to look like a distraught child in front of her idol. "Oh. Well. Uh." She swallowed hard, trying to keep her composure. "I see."

"I really am sorry, Chloe," Ladybug offered, still looking concerned. "If the dreams keep bothering you, maybe you should talk to someone-"

"I'm fine," Chloe snapped immediately. "They're a minor inconvenience, that's all. You don't need to be worried about me getting all upset over them or anything." She swallowed hard again. "They're just stupid dreams caused by a stupid akuma."

She'd be fine. She was Chloe Bourgeois, after all.

Chloe was pretty much the absolute last person Marinette ever thought she would be sorry for. The other girl was spoiled, petty, cruel and an all-around brat who refused to acknowledge the problems she caused. She had akumatized more people than Marinette could count- she had lost track after fifteen, and that had been months ago- and she often complained about how long it had taken when Ladybug and Chat Noir saved her from the akumas that she had created.

But the nightmares from Rose Glasses had clearly had a huge impact on her, if the bags that she was barely keeping hidden under her eyes were any indication. Chloe might have tried to play it cool in front of Ladybug, but clearly she was still feeling more than a little affected by the nightmares. There was nothing Ladybug could do- Tikki had confirmed that when Marinette asked- and Marinette couldn't think of what she could do as herself.

Still, she couldn't stand to see people suffer. Even if that person was pretty much her worst (civilian) enemy.

"So she's getting nightmares because she's worried that her dreams are reality," Marinette said, frowning as she stared blankly out of her room's window. Tikki perched on the sill, nibbling at a cookie and watching as Marinette thought. "Which is unfortunate, because people really don't like her that much."

"Marinette..."

"It's not like it's without reason!" Marinette protested, eyes snapping back to Tikki as she refocused her gaze and frowned. "She's cruel to everyone and she refuses to acknowledge that she's in the wrong! She got Alya suspended for just peeking in her locker that one time, and she tore up Rose's letter to Prince Ali, and-"

"Perhaps she wouldn't have the nightmares if she grew as a person," Tikki suggested, cutting Marinette off before she could really get rolling on the (very extensive) list of awful things Chloe had done. "You could guide her in the right direction, maybe. You can be persuasive."

"I can be persuasive when people are open to listening." Marinette sighed and slumped into her chair, perching her chin on her fist as she thought about Tikki's suggestion. "But I mean, I guess I have gotten Chloe to do things I wanted her to do in the past."

"No phone-stealing," Tikki warned immediately. Marinette had to laugh.

"No, that wasn't what I was thinking of. When the class made the monster movie, I got Chloe to leave the room- by telling her what she wanted to hear! So I need to work with her, not against." Marinette had gone straight into Ladybug mode. "I shouldn't be completely redirecting her, just maybe seeing if I can get her to not be so cruel."

Tikki blinked up at her. "And how are you going to do that?"

"I'll find an opening somehow." Marinette frowned again, deep in thought as she absently spun around in the chair. "I just have to keep my eyes open and think about it. Maybe something will come up."

Chloe sniffed in disdain as she inspected the outfits displayed in the lobby of the hotel. The fashion program at a nearby university were having their yearly display of outfits made by the students, and her father had been generous enough to offer up the hotel's lobby as a display area. Chloe was there now, inspecting the pieces up for show. Some of the dresses were decent enough, but others?

Some people were trying way too hard to be original. Their outfits- if they could even be called that- were awful.

"God, that one is ugly," Chloe sneered at one particularly awful outfit. There was a twist in her gut when she received the increasingly familiar disgusted look that the designer sent her and behind her, her classmates were sending her similarly irritated looks. But she was right. The outfit was awful and really, if the older girl honestly thought it was a good piece, she needed to reconsider her career. She should have used a different neckline if she wanted to keep all the details on the front of the dress, and she was clearly overcompensating with the sheer number of little tucks and folds worked into the design. Maybe it would have been all right if the assignment had been to show their technical skill. But it hadn't been- they were simply supposed to have designed something that represented them- so this kind of dress was simply unacceptable.

Next to her, Sabrina nodded loyally. "It's awful," she agreed.

"Really, people shouldn't go into fashion if they can't make things that look nice," Chloe sniffed, delighting in the feeling of being half-drunk on the thrill that she got when her words carried enough power to affect someone. It really had been too long. The feeling only grew when the designer's expression crumpled and she dashed off, leaving her creation behind.

Really, Chloe was doing her a favor. The design was positively ugly and if it really was an accurate representation of the so-called designer's work, no sane woman would ever wear her clothing. It was better than the designer's dreams got dashed now, instead of letting her bankrupt herself producing awful designs that would never sell.

"You could have found a better way of saying that, Chloe," Marinette scolded as the fleeing designer's footsteps faded away.

Chloe rolled her eyes, her lofty thrill already fading away to annoyance. "No one asked you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng," she sniffed, injecting as much haughtiness into her voice as she could. Much to her surprise, it wasn't coming as naturally as it used to. It had been too long,, she decided. She was out of practice. "And what, did you expect me to lie and say that her design is actually good?"

"Of course not." Marinette didn't even look bothered by the aggressiveness of Chloe's voice. "But you could say what specific parts you didn't like instead of outright saying the whole piece is trash."

Chloe snorted. "But it was trash."

Much to her surprise, Marinette's lips twitched in- was that amusement? Agreement? Impossible. "Generally it's considered bad manners to tell someone that to their face."

Chloe couldn't help blinking in surprise. Surely Marinette didn't agree with her that the dress was ugly? Marinette would never say something like that. Maybe that was the whole point- Marinette might think that something was ugly, but she would never say it. She was too timid to make her opinions known-

Except timid didn't fit Marinette at all, not this year. Marinette had snapped back at Chloe plenty. The timid wallflower had finally grown a spine, it seemed, and Alya was to blame. Marinette had stood up to the principal and to teachers as well, so that clearly wasn't the issue.

"Well, what would you have said?" Chloe asked, making it sound like more of a challenge than a question. "Nothing at all, I bet, or maybe you would have said that the color was nice but not addressed the fact that the design was completely horrendous?"

"I would have said that I liked the color and that the pockets were a nice touch and I liked some of the details, but the design would have held up better with a woven fabric instead of a knit, and that the design would come through better with fewer tucks and pleats, and a different neckline would complement the details up top better. It's called constructive criticism," Marinette added, her voice sharp. "You might try it sometime. I would think that it would be something you would like. After all, it's telling other people what you think and then telling them how you could do it better."

Seconds after Marinette finished speaking, the Fashionista burst into the room, turning people's clothing into her own ugly designs. The class scattered, fleeing out doors and under tables. Chloe bolted.

She really didn't need any more bad experiences with akuma. Not now.

Chloe was three rooms over and hiding in a closet full of designer outerwear by the time Ladybug and Chat Noir showed up. She didn't come out until the yells had died away and been replaced by cheering, and then she waited for five minutes more before leaving the room and heading back to the lobby. The fashion display had continued as normal, not at all thrown off by the sudden akuma attack or the battle that followed. Chloe could see her classmates milling around in the crowd from where she stood. The designer that had been akumatized was standing near her awful dress again. Marinette was talking to the woman, and...was that Adrien standing behind her, nodding along and looking perfectly content, as though he wasn't standing close to one of the biggest offences to fashion Chloe had ever seen?

Chloe was one-hundred-percent certain that if Adrien's father was the one standing there, he would probably look as though a pile of steaming garbage had appeared under his nose. And rightfully so, the design was completely unredeemable-

No, no, that wasn't actually true. Chloe had to admit that there was a halfway decent idea under all of the frills that dragged the dress down. And what was it that Marinette had said earlier? Tell people what she thought and then what she would have done that would make it a million times better? But why would she bother doing people how to do their job? They should know how to do it, or else risk being fired.

That was the way the world worked. You did your job and you did it correctly or you got fired. If she held other people's hands while they did their work, how would they ever learn?

Chloe turned around and stomped off. There was nothing in the room that was deserving of her attention, after all. They were just students trying to sell their assignments while claiming the title of fashion designer.

Pft. If she wanted fashionable clothes, she'd ask a real designer, not a wannabe.

Speaking of clothes...

It was reaching the end of winter, which meant that there would be spring fashion lines coming out soon and she would have to go shopping and order a few custom outfits. She couldn't keep her clothes from last year- it wouldn't do to have the mayor's daughter seen in last season's fashion, after all- so she would have to clean out her spring closet. There were a couple pieces that could probably pair well with pretty much anything and she might keep those, but the rest had to go. No old clothes for her!

Chloe shivered at the thought as she headed for her room. She was so, so glad that she didn't have to wear really old clothes like Sabrina did. Sabrina's father got her all of her clothes as hand-me-downs from her cousins, who had already worn everything for several years before they outgrew the clothes and passed them on. They were so out of style that Chloe couldn't even figure out when they had been in style- possibly never- and some were so awful that even the brooches Chloe heaped on Sabrina didn't help make her clothes look any better. A wide scarf would have been better, to hide the sweater-vests from sight. Maybe Chloe should suggest that. Sabrina would probably be so thrilled to get her advice. Of course, Chloe would have to go along with Sabrina when she went shopping or Sabrina might pick out an ugly scarf. Even though Chloe had tried to teach Sabrina how to pick out fashionable things from the store, her friend still had trouble picking things out that would actually go with her red hair.

It was actually kind of terrifying how talented Sabrina was at finding the most hideous things in even the most high-end boutiques.

Maybe she could just give Sabrina one of her old scarves, Chloe thought once she had gotten to her room and was standing in front of her open closet. She had a couple that didn't go perfectly with her complexion, but she would hate to see them paired with those awful sweater vests.

Ugh. If only Sabrina's clothes were less ugly.

"What are you up to, princess?" Chloe's father stuck his head in her door and spotted her standing in front of her closet. "Did the akuma spill something on you? Did you tear something?"

"It's almost spring!" Chloe told him a bit impatiently. Really, he should know by now that she needed to be redoing her wardrobe at this time of the year. In fact, he should have reminded her a full week ago so she could start investigating what the newest trends were. She adjusted her scarf, warm and fuzzy for the winter. "And all of this is last season. I can't wear it anymore."

Her father's slightly concerned expression cleared right away. "Oh! Of course, of course. I will call up the usual designers and set up some viewings so you can pick out some pieces. Are the boutiques showing spring pieces already?"

"No, not yet." They would start showing spring pieces in another week or so, and Chloe would do her shopping then.

"Are you cleaning out your spring closet, then?"

"Yes, papa." Chloe pulled out a couple blouses and tossed them to the side. "I can't wear something that's old. I'll just get rid of them."

"Of course, of course." Her father headed back in the door, then popped back in a moment later. "There's a student fashion presentation going on in the lobby, sweetheart, if you're interested."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "None of it is any good."

"Okay. I'll go call the designers. Have fun with your spring wardrobe cleaning."

Chloe rolled her eyes again as her father chuckled and vanished. He wasn't anywhere near as funny as he thought he was. Returning her attention to the closet, she pulled out a flouncy dress and tossed it over a chair. A scarf was draped over the dress's hanger, plain purple with a soft fringe. It would go well with Sabrina's hair, but it also went fabulously with the dress and it would be a shame to separate the two. Chloe paused, thinking.

Keep the scarf with the dress...or give it to Sabrina?

With the dress...or to Sabrina?

If she sent it with the dress, she didn't know if they would stay together. Some know-nothing worker at- well, at whatever place her father sent her old clothing- might divide the two up. On the other hand, if Chloe gave the scarf to Sabrina, it would just get paired with some awful old thing of her cousin's.

...of course, she could just give Sabrina both the dress and the scarf. It wouldn't look half bad, and then Chloe wouldn't have to look at plaid sweater vests day in and day out. Sabrina would no doubt treasure the dress because it was Chloe that gave it to her, so she would wear it as often as possible.

Actually, why not just pass on everything to Sabrina? Chloe was just going to get rid of everything anyway. Normally she didn't do charity, but really. Sabrina's cousins' taste in clothing was a disaster zone if she ever saw one. Whenever someone happened to take a photo of the two of them out and about, Sabrina's awful clothing always brought the whole thing down. It really was embarrassing for her to keep such company.

Chloe frowned and looked at her closet. She couldn't give everything to Sabrina, of course- she had a lot of yellow shirts and dresses, which went well with Chloe's blonde hair but would clash with Sabrina's reddish-orange hair- but considering how many outfits Chloe had, there were plenty that were more redhead-friendly. Sabrina would still probably be able to ditch the decades-old hand-me-downs.

Chloe couldn't help the smile on her face at the thought of how her friend would react. There would be thank you Chloes and you're so greats and endless fawning. It would be the perfect remedy to her recent troubles.

She couldn't wait.

"Oh, these don't fit you properly at all," Chloe said in disgust as Sabrina modeled the first dress for her. Her friend's figure was nowhere near as nice as her own, and it showed from where the dress hung a little too loosely. It threw off the entire composition of the dress, making the designer threads look more like something off a department store rack. "That's not going to work."

Sabrina looked almost frightened, for some reason, and she clutched the skirt of the dress in her fists. "They fit all right! I'll grow into them."

Chloe shook her head in disgust. Didn't Sabrina know anything? If the dress was too long maybe she would grow into it, but the real problem was the way that Sabrina's figure clashed with the fit of the dress "No you won't. It's fine length-wise, but it's too loose around the chest." She circled Sabina again, looking her up and down with a trained eye. "I'll call in my tailor. Lucky everything is loose on you instead of pulling tight, or it would be harder to fix. And don't hold the skirt like that, you'll make it all wrinkly."

Sabrina promptly let go of the skirt. It swished back into place against her legs. "Y-your tailor?"

Chloe didn't get why Sabrina seemed surprised. It was normal to have a tailor come in and alter pieces until they sat perfectly when she got new clothing. It wasn't just her either, Chloe knew that. Adrien's clothes were all tailored to fit his measurements exactly. Marinette's clothes looked like she had them made to fit her specifically- or she altered them herself, more likely. It was just something that was done.

"Daddy will pay for him to come in and alter everything for you," Chloe said, already reaching for her phone to send a text to her father. He would set everything up for her. "Take the dress back up and hang it up. There's no point in trying on the other things if this one doesn't fit."

"I don't mind them not fitting-" Sabrina started earnestly. Chloe cut her off with a scoff. She knew Sabrina didn't mind if things didn't fit right. She was always wearing things that were stretched a little too much in the wrong places.

"These are designer," Chloe pointed out, for what felt like the millionth time. "You can't wear designer clothes that don't fit right, it'll make them look like cheap department store clearance rack clothes. Don't you know anything?"

"Y-you know much more about designer things than I do, Chloe," Sabrina said immediately, turning a bit pink. "I g-guess I thought that clothes were meant to fit like this, since that's what I've always had. Thank you for all of the nice things! I've never had anything so fancy before."

"Of course you haven't." Most people didn't. They couldn't afford the designers that Chloe's father hired. Still, Chloe paused. "And...you're welcome."

As Chloe had predicted, Sabrina absolutely loved her gifts. She wore the clothes Chloe had given her every day, matching tops and bottoms remarkably well.

(Chloe had given her a style sheet with strict instructions not to deviate from the planned outfits pictured in it. As always, Sabrina trusted Chloe's fashion advice without a question.)

It was a nice feeling, Chloe thought as she watched Sabrina smooth down the front of the cream-colored blouse Chloe had given her. She had given Sabrina some advice and Sabrina had followed it. Chloe felt appreciated, wanted, a role model. She had done what Marinette suggested, in a way. Instead of making fun of Sabrina's awful clothing, she had steered her friend in the right direction. It definitely had produced much better results than when she simply scoffed over whatever Sabrina was wearing.

Huh. She hadn't ever thought that she would be taking advice from Marinette Dupain-Cheng, of all people. Normally she would rather swallow nails, but she supposed that even people like her dark-haired classmate had decent ideas from time to time.

A month and a half after Rose Glasses was defeated, Chloe arrived at school to find everyone fawning over the dress Marinette was wearing. The other girl spun, making the skirt flare, and everyone ooohed. Chloe headed over to investigate.

"That looks great, Marinette!" Rose squealed as the skirt settled back around Marinette's legs. "It's so pretty!"

Chloe, much to her annoyance, couldn't disagree. Marinette had clearly been experimenting with the origami folding that was fast becoming the season's top new trend, and she had actually managed to use it in a new way that looked pretty good. The dress accented her slight figure well, and the fabric choice had been- to Chloe's eye, at least- good for the techniques Marinette used. Still, it could have been executed better. The origami folds were all right, but they weren't quite perfect. Marinette had probably learned how to do it off of internet tutorials, which was the best she could do with her resources, but it meant less than superior techniques. A proper designer could do better.

Of course, most of her classmates didn't know any better. They didn't have Chloe's eye for good designer clothing, so of course they wouldn't be able to see the imperfections. And of course, they weren't paying any attention to Chloe's actual designer outfit, even though it was executed perfectly and even contained a couple of the origami folds that they were so enraptured by.

By all rights, she should be the one having people cooing over her outfit. It looked fabulous. But instead, they were cooing over Marinette's arts and crafts project.

Chloe's hands twitched around the latte she had been carrying. She could get the attention back on her, she knew she could. One "trip" over someone's foot and Marinette's fancy cherry-red dress would be half brown. It was probably the kind of dress that would need to be hand washed, and scrubbing at stains too roughly would probably destroy the stitches holding the design in place. Marinette would have to go home to change into something boring, and then the only truly stunning outfit left in class would be Chloe's. For a moment, she was tempted.

All of a sudden, her mind filled with the faces her classmates would make at her if she accidentally spilled her coffee on Marinette. Faces that would be disgusted with her, furious with her, hate her...

Chloe quickly drank up the rest of her latte in one gulp and tossed her empty cup aside before joining the crowd around Marinette. She felt a quick jolt of annoyance when she noticed Adrien among her other classmates, his attention entirely on Marinette. He of all people should be noticing the less-than-sharp folds and minutely crooked lines of the origami. The mistakes weren't obvious, of course- Marinette wouldn't wear something that had glaring problems with it- but Adrien should have a trained enough eye to be able to spot stuff like that.

Still, if he was noticing the problems, Adrien wasn't letting it show. He looked impressed. That simply wouldn't do.

Chloe marched forward, drawing attention away from Marinette and to herself instead. People parted for her almost automatically and she came to a stop in front of Marinette. The other girl straightened, drawing up to her full height.

"You actually tried making an origami dress?"

"Yes, I did," Marinette said primly, spinning around and making her skirt flare out in response. It didn't show nearly as much as movement as Chloe's designer dress did. "I had to redesign it three times before I found a way to make it stand like I wanted it to, but it finally worked."

"It's not bad," Chloe admitted, the words bitter on her tongue. "It's a bit advanced for your skill level, though, don't you think? Your folds are sloppy" There. That was better.

"I wanted to experiment with texture," Marinette said defensively, smoothing down a fold that wasn't tacked down quite as well as the others. "I'll fix the little mistakes later, but I wanted to try wearing it first."

"You would wear something unfinished?" That was a ridiculous concept. Clothes were supposed to be kept under wraps during the design process and only trotted out once all of the mistakes were fixed and everything was perfect. Otherwise, the designs just wouldn't have the same impact when they were finished. If Marinette had been around real designers, she would know that.

Clearly she didn't know that. Marinette remained unfazed. "I wanted to see if the folds got in my way at all during a normal day. They make the piece stiffer and the only way to see if they would annoy me at all is to wear the dress. I like it."

"So do I," Rose piped up, and murmurs of agreement went around the little group. Chloe snorted. Clearly none of them knew anything about the design process. And apparently that extended to Adrien as well, because he was definitely nodding in agreement.

Ugh.

"Well, if you really want to give away your design before it's executed properly, I guess that's your call," Chloe finally acquiesced, shrugging. "It just takes away the impact of the final piece if you ask me, but if you really don't care, it's no skin off of my nose." She glanced down at Marinette's dress again- there was really a fabulous pattern going on there, even if it was muddled a little by folds not quite tacked down correctly- and couldn't resist a small dig. "Although maybe that's what the final piece will look like. Only master designers would be able to do those folds correctly, and you clearly didn't."

There were a few hisses at her words and Alya stepped forward with a furious look on her face. But Chloe wasn't quite finished yet.

"So I'll have Daddy send my designer over to teach you sometime so it doesn't look like a mess."

Raised eyebrows and surprised looks dominated the group around them. Chloe ignored them, just like she ignored Alya's suspicious, narrow-eyed gaze. She kept her eyes on Marinette.

Marinette looked startled by the offer, but gave a wary nod of thanks anyway. "Thank you, Chloe."

"And if you make any sunhats with that kind of design, I want one. In yellow, if you could. Daddy would pay you for it."

With that, Chloe turned and trotted off across the courtyard to where Sabrina was waiting for her, not waiting to see her classmates' reactions. It was the closest that she would come to admitting that Marinette's designs were actually pretty good. She wasn't going to shower her classmate in compliments like the other ninnies in her class. Chloe didn't do gushing over other people.

"Isn't her dress awful?" Sabrina said as soon as Chloe joined her. "All of those folds!"

"You have no eye for fashion," Chloe snapped immediately. "It's a nice dress in concept. She just doesn't have the skills to execute it correctly. I'm sending my best designer her way to teach her."

Sabrina looked stunned. "B-but it's Marinette!"

"And she's won several design competitions so far. Clearly she's doing something right." Chloe paused for a moment, considering, and then added, "And if she somehow becomes a top designer in Paris, I'll be able to say that I helped her get there. It's not likely, but it's important to make those connections now. You should know that by now, Sabrina."

Sabrina ducked her head and an embarrassed flush spread up her neck. "Of course, Chloe."

Chloe sniffed instead of acknowledging her friend's words. After a moment, though, she relented just a bit. It wasn't Sabrina's fault that she lived in a family that clearly paid zero mind to fashion and hadn't exposed her to clothes that actually looked good. Her perception of fashion just still needed a bit of guidance. Guidance that Chloe was more than willing to provide, since Sabrina hung on her every word and, Chloe had to admit, at least tried to remember most of what Chloe told her. "By the way, you look nice today."

Sabrina perked up, smoothing down the skirt on the green dress she was wearing. "Thank you, Chloe!"

Chloe didn't say you're welcome. It wasn't a phrase that frequently popped up in her vocabulary. But the small smile that slid across her face said it for her.

A month later, a sunshine-yellow sunhat appeared in Chloe's room. The origami pleats were crisp and neat, and spiraled outward in a similar but slightly modified version of the pattern that Marinette had used on her dress. The color matched Chloe's new favorite summer sundress exactly, and the metallic thread used as an accent added an intriguing sparkle to the hat. Chloe inspected it with a small, pleased smile on her face, then arranged it on her head carefully. A pair of designer sunglasses completed the look, and then she headed out to join the rest of her class at the park. As she closed the door to her room and turned to head down the stair, Chloe realized that something had been different over the past few days. It took her a moment to put her finger on what it was but when she did, her eyes widened.

The nightmares that had once plagued her nightly had finally vanished.

A/N: After forever (whoops), this is finally finished! It is possible that I'll come up with more ideas after another season or two of the show (aka I'll want to reach through the screen and slap some sense into some of the characters about something new), but for now this is it.

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