It's what she does every year, but everytime it becomes something to look forward to, to be excited about, whether it's more of her dad's decision or hers, you really couldn't say, even if that fact mattered. She brought them to school, and they tasted amazing.

Every heartfelt gift, every smile, felt like another ripple of kindness from the relatively shy designer. Marinette held a kind of smile that could brighten anyone's day, and a kind of usually positive giving spirit regardless.

Just every macaroon was made with joint love from her parents' hands, and from her eager gifting. In fact, macaroons, a simple act of gifting, gave her her best friend.

Marinette handmade every single birthday gift, would even look into the things that she didn't know anything about to really make it count, whether it was hours on a tired night listening to metal music or rock trying to understand the band to know just what to give Ivan or whether it was a carefully made Jagged Stone scarf for Luka on the cold nights or just an attempt at love by making a blue scarf for Adrien.

She was kind to the point that others were often surprised by, even as she carefully tried drawing characters from one of Nathanael's favorite comics and already was trying to plot designs to go along with the mini comic for her friend. Everyday, it seemed like she had another kind gesture and another great idea.

It was no wonder why most of her classmates adored her or at least felt extremely kind feelings for her or why many boys harbored crushes on her that they seldom attempted to tell her about.

She's kind as she crafts a bee themed shirt for Chloe, fingers tired and sore, eyes nearly closing from the strain of spending all night working on it. It's an apology of sorts for Queen Bee, for Chloe, to make up for not trusting her before and to encourage her when she's a superhero. It takes more effort to deliberately make it for her and gift it as Marinette than she'd ever admit to struggling with.

Marinette rubs her pretty blue eyes and considers the sweet abyss of sleep, before she reminds herself that she's almost done and that it has to be perfect. Queen Bee's a good ally, no matter the size of her ege often enough, and Marinette has learned to trust her with her life. It only makes sense to pay her back somehow and to apologize.

Her hands shake from holding the needle for so long, from the careful stitching that was all hand done in her attempt to make it perfect and show that she really cared, and she knew better than to let the shaking drive her into quiting. She'd give it to her tomorrow, and get through this mess as she debates the merit of sleep for the fifty second time that night.

It took her forever to come up with this design, and she refused to back down from it.

"Marinette, honey, how about you get some sleep?" Her mother, Sabine, peeks into her room to find her still up, sewing needle in hand, carefully weaving fabric together, and trying to perfect each individual stitch.

"I can't, Maman." Everything sounds like a pun to her tired mind; did her mom say, honey, because this was for Queen Bee? Even though Marinette knows that her mom often says, honey, she still wonders.

"Marinette, you should get some sleep before tomorrow. You do not want to fall asleep in class again." Sabine chided her, with warm and well meaning intent.

"Yes." Marinette mumbles into the fabric, "I know, Maman." She hates to admit that she won't sleep until every stitch is done and will not take the easy way out. Queen Bee has earned this anyway, and any delay is just a weak, unheroic side of hers, she's sure.

Whether her mom sees the stubbornness or not in her eyes, she leaves her daughter's doorway, "Goodnight, Marinette."
It's probably as much a command as it is a goodnight call, but Marinette rubs her tired eyes again, trying not to poke herself with the needle, and fights another yawn, and presses on.

She got what felt like five minutes of sleep the night before, but she pauses to check the shirt in the morning, glad that it looks well stitched and hand done. Marinette knows that it would have taken a lot less time to finish up, if she'd turned on her sewing machine, but somehow that is just not the same for a handmade gift.

Marinette almost doesn't want to get up for school, but she pushes herself into getting ready, triplechecking that her homework is done, because she doesn't quite remembered if she worked on it after patrol or just on Chloe's shirt. it's done, so she credits herself with getting something right, hopefully her tired eyes have seen it right.

"Chloe?" Half of its caught in a yawn, "This is for you, for Queen Bee." She holds it out on tentative fingers as if equally scared of hurting it as dropping it, but Chloe steps closer, sneer becoming something gentle instead.

"For me?" Chloe breathes out the question, "For Queen Bee?"

"Yeah, you do a lot for Ladybug, Cat Noir, and the rest. You've earned it." It's not that she wouldn't ever grow to gift Chloe things without heroics guiding her, but it's the best that she can word it now as she fights to stay on her feet and not fall asleep. Lunch break would be the perfect time for a short nap as she wasn't that hungry today anyway.

"Oh, thank you." Chloe's face flushes in surprised joy, and any harsh words are forgotten.

Needless to say that her nap doesn't come as Chloe treats her to lunch, still looking positively surprised, and wearing her new shirt that she'd rushed to put on after Marinette had given it to her. Nevermind the fact that it came as so much of a surprise that Chloe checked it for needles and pulled it on, expecting it to be either too big or too small, and yet it fit perfectly.

Some acts of kindness just surprise you until they become a memory that you will never forget.