Unintentional continuation of an idea from the previous chapter that I couldn't get out of my head.

Enjoy!

Chloe stood out by the back door behind the bakery. She had been half-tempted to go inside the front, but both Marinette's parents were inside and Chloe had a feeling that this would be one time she would be recognized and wouldn't want so. So she stood at the more formal back entrance and waited for Marinette to come downstairs. As much as she didn't want to go the front, she was beginning to see that as her only option. Marinette hadn't come down yet and Chloe was beginning to get odd stares from passerby's. She stuck her tongue out at them the moment the door swung open.

"Oh, Marinette there you—."

But at the door was a slightly surprised Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng instead of Marinette. She blinked a moment before a small, but hesitant, smile crept on her face. "Bonjour. Eh, are you here to see Marinette?"

Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng's French held a slight accent and Chloe, who'd never spoken to anyone in Marinette's family sans Marinette, blinked a little surprised. "Um," uh, so undignified, "Oui. Is she here, uh, Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng?"

"Just Mademoiselle Cheng or Sabine will suffice, Chloe. She's upstairs. She didn't mention that she was having anyone over," Sabine said, moving over to allow Chloe to enter the house. "But then again, that girl would leave her head behind if she could. She's up two flights and then on the first door on your right and then you'll see another stairs going up into the loft. That's where her room is."

Chloe looked all around her. The smell of the bakery hit her face and she breathed in the warm air. They stood back behind the bakery and the huge ovens poured heat all around them. Sabine smiled apologetically.

"Sorry about the warmth. Afraid there's not much we can do. I'll bring some food up soon, it's almost lunch."

"Sabine!"

"Coming, Tom!" Sabine called. "I'll leave you to it then!"

Sabine left and Chloe stood in the foyer by herself. She glanced at her watch and then up at the stairs. Here she went. She found the door no problem, and slowly swung it open to reveal a living room and a kitchen. And as small as it was, Chloe found it all quite endearing, and wondered how much she'd enjoy sitting on the couch watching one of her shows. In front of the kitchen was a small stairs and a hatch that led to another room. Marinette's room.

Chloe began climbing the stairs, knocking on the hatch, and then waited. She heard a thump, another thump, and then the hatch was opening to reveal a slightly disheveled Marinette in her pajamas.

The girl blinked. "Chloe?"

"It's the weekend?"

Marinette blinked again, as if trying to clear her vision because it was practically unbelievable that Chloe was actually standing out of her room peering up at her through her own hatch. "Um. Oh! Oh right. I thought… okay. Come in."

Marinette swung the hatch open completely and let it fall on the ground behind her. Chloe clambered up and stood in a largely pink room with a chaise in the corner and Marinette's own bed elevated with another set of stairs. Underneath was a large corner desk opposite the chaise, with a computer and several shelves and compartments. Next to the chaise was a huge trunk, which either held clothes or sewing supplies, and a small room divider in the corner. The hatch fell shut and Chloe jumped at the sound.

"Okay so, no offense, but I didn't think you were serious so let me get changed and then we can get started."

Chloe didn't even deny it. She shrugged. "Fair enough."

Marinette smiled shyly and turned to rummage through her trunk. She flung out a small pair of shorts and a t-shirt that had a rumpled picture of Chat Noir on it. She mumbled something about being right back and opened a door behind the hatch that Chloe hadn't even seen. A bathroom.

The room was surprisingly large, and it was cozier than anything Chloe owned. The small round window looked out onto the park and the above her bed was a skylight Chloe was certain could open. Marinette appeared a moment later, shutting the door. Her hair, still wildly flowing just barely past her shoulders, and longer than Chloe recalled.

"Okay so, um, let's take your measurements," Marinette said. She pulled out her small sketchbook and her measuring wrap. "You're, uh, gonna need to strip."

Chloe looked down at her clothes. A Calvin Klein blouse and another pair of designer jeans whose name she couldn't remember. Her normal belt was wrapped around the pants and her hair was up in its usual ponytail. "Oh. Right."

Marinette bit her lip and leaned forward. "Look, if you're not comfortable…"

"Of course I'm comfortable," Chloe snapped. She paused. Breathed. "Sorry. I'm not uncomfortable."

"Okay," Marinette said, one eyebrow raised at Chloe as if she were trying to figure her out. Chloe stripped down to her bra and her underwear and spread her arms out wide. Marinette measured her and wrote it all down in her sketchbook.

After they finished, Chloe was slipping her own shirt back on, leaning over to look at Marinette's sketches.

"So what type of dress do you want? I mean, summer's coming up so I'm assuming you want a summery dress? You know, go out, get some coffee, live the Parisian life."

"I don't like coffee," Chloe replied. "But yes, a summer dress. Naturally."

Marinette blinked up at her. "You don't like coffee?"

"Well…" Chloe hesitated. "It's not that I don't like it. I generally prefer tea. And that's what I usually drink. But if I'm stressed I drink coffee. I've had three cups in the past, I don't know, day. It's miserable. My teeth are going to stain."

Marinette nodded. "Why are you stressed?"

Chloe blanched. "Eh. You know. The normal things."

She looked up at the wall behind Marinette's wall. Pictures of Adrien's modelling were plastered all over it. "Boys are dumb," she said.

Marinette followed her gaze, wincing. "Uh—."

"Oh, don't worry about defending it. I'm not in the mood anyway. You're doing me a favor. Well, kind of, I'm obviously going to pay you. Favors generally don't mean you pay people."

"You're not? Wait, you are?"

Chloe turned and sat back on Marinette's chaise. "I've been stressed this week. You know, the normal things— school, my dad, fashion, what I'm wearing the next week. But about other things too. I've been thinking about my mom a lot and… and myself, too. A lot of self-reflection. I am not a good person am I?" she asked bluntly.

"I don't think I should answer that," Marinette said quietly. "But actions speak louder than words. And your actions are really loud, Chloe."

Chloe breathed a shaky breath. "I'm not, is what you're saying. I get it. I do. I'm not a good person. I've realized that in the last couple of days. It's what I've been thinking about. I guess you could say I had a bit of a mid-life crisis if a mid-life crisis occurred when you're a quarter into your life, basically."

"Well, what are you going to do about it?"

Chloe sat up, looking at Marinette. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you've come this far. So do you keep doing what you've been doing or do you change? Do you take a step back and say 'I haven't really been a good person' and change or do you acknowledge that you aren't and then just keep doing what you've been doing? Most people really don't like you. Most people find you cruel and manipulative and a definite spoiled pest. I'm sorry. It hurts to hear. I understand, I think. You have to take that next step, Chloe. No one can take it for you."

"Thanks, Marinette."

Marinette's eyes softened. "You're welcome."

"I'm sorry. For everything. I've been terrible to you."

"Yeah," the girl agreed. "You have."

Chloe had been somewhat looking for Marinette to lie and say it was okay. But that's what everyone else in her life had always done and where had that gotten her?

"Well, I'm sorry. I know…" she sighed heavily, tears prickling her vision. "I know it isn't an excuse. I was jealous of you."

"I kinda figured," Marinette said, wincing. "But I never knew why."

"My mom," Chloe said softly. "My mom she… well. I compared myself to you and I always thought that my mom wouldn't have left if I was like you. She would have stayed if she had a daughter that was like you."

Marinette's eyes grew wide. "Chloe, I—."

"What do you even say to that!" Chloe exclaimed, jumping up, the tears streaming down her red cheeks. "What do you say to a girl whose mom left her because her daughter wasn't good enough for you? What do you say to a girl who has no mom and a dad who addresses her every whim!?"

"I don't know. I'm sorry. I know… I know it isn't my fault, Chloe. But I'm sorry that that happened to you. I'm sorry your mother left."

Chloe grabbed a pillow from behind her and hugged it tightly. "Thank you," she said. "I don't deserve your forgiveness."

Marinette gave a small laugh. "I don't know if I've forgiven you just yet. That's something I need to work through on my own. It'll be tough but maybe I can one day. You've done a lot of awful things. But you're acknowledging them and, like me learning to forgive you, you'll need to learn to do good things too. I know I've done pretty awful things— no is perfect. A good person is good because they learn and know they've done some bad too. I think you're a good person, Chloe. Really."

"You think so?" Chloe said with a hiccup. She covered her mouth.

"You didn't have to come to my room on a Saturday. You didn't even have to commission me to make you a dress. But despite everything, despite you being really jealous of me for, admittedly, a legitimate reason I guess, you still did that. I understand, Chloe. I'm not excusing it, but I understand it," Marinette explained. She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her stomach. Chloe looked over and nodded. Marinette bit her lip.

"Look, I made a mistake. I… this girl was saying some pretty bad lies about me and I kinda just wrecked her in front of the guy she was saying it all to. She ran off crying. I don't like liars and I think, no, I know I overreacted. But I went back and found her later and apologized. I told her I shouldn't have said the things I did. I expected her to forgive me and she didn't. She won't have anything to do with me. I guess I understand and… it still bothers me though."

Chloe listened, loosening her grip on the pillow. Marinette didn't specify anyone in the class or at school, but there was one distinct person who Chloe knew was notorious for telling lies. Lila. But Marinette hadn't, even after all that, wanted to ruin Lila's impression of her. And a feeling she had rarely ever had rose up from her stomach. Pity. She felt bad for Lila.

"Thanks for telling me that. That really seriously sucks."

Marinette shrugged. "Nothing you can do. Nothing I can do. I put my hand out to her, only thing she can do is accept it or reject it. There's still time."

"Just like there's time for me?"

Marinette grinned, and it was that, before, Chloe had it found so infuriating, but now she found it welcoming. She smiled tentatively back.

"Definitely! You okay?"

Chloe rubbed her eyes, laughing just a little. "Yeah, yeah. I think so."

"Great! Let's talk about this dress! I know you want yellow flowers but picture blue with your hair!"

Chloe smiled wide, pulling out her phone to show Marinette what she planned. The two sat there for another few hours before Chloe had to leave. At the end, she gave Marinette a short but warm hug. She left with a chocolate croissant in her hand and a smile on her face.

A few weeks later and several more visits and Chloe had a blue A-line dress with a ribbon back that she wore to every summer event she could. It was her favorite dress. A couple more months later and she found a small red and black box sitting on her balcony, waiting for her to open it.

Fin.

Didn't really have any intention of giving Chloe the Bee Miraculous in this fic. I wanted it to be left open-ended, with no connection to the miraculous, and to have Chloe do the right thing, "narratively", because it's the right thing to do and not to get any sort of prize. But I couldn't resist it lol. Hope you enjoyed! Please leave a review!