Sitting in her family limo, being driven to school by one of the hotel's chauffeurs, Chloé was exceptionally amused by the way the staff had been acting since she had gotten back from spending the weekend at Marinette's. It wasn't like she couldn't understand the mixture of confusion and apprehension.. but neither was she a nice enough person not to find it as funny as she did.

Although if she thought about it she supposed there was something ironic in the fact that the only two times she'd been eager to get to school early involved first Adrien and today Marinette; both of whom were infamous for being tardy or outright missing some classes.

She frowned a bit when she thought about how often they were both missing.. honestly if she didn't know them so well, she'd have thought they were sneaking off together. She couldn't help but start smiling again though; she knew Marinette. It was almost shocking how much they had caught up over the weekend, especially considering how antagonistic they had been towards each other.

To herself she could admit a large part of their reconciliation was likely due to her own loneliness and Marinette's forgiving nature.. as well as the fact that their entire conflict was based on a misunderstanding. She had forgotten how much Marinette could talk though! Not that Chloé minded, but it was jarring to realise how large a part of her personality Chloé had managed to bully away.

She suppressed a wince and turned to look at the buildings passing as they drove to school. Marinette had said they should just let bygones be bygones, and she had agreed, but still.. somehow she would make it up to her.

Walking into class, Chloé paused for a moment before taking her usual seat. Next to Sabrina. She resisted the urge to slam her head into the desk; she'd forgotten that since Adrien was back from helping his father with the tribute show for Emilie Agreste, he'd occupy the seat where Sabrina had been sitting for the week of the project. Which meant Sabrina had taken her old seat again, and with the project over and done with, she had no acceptable reason to sit next to Marinette anymore.

Guess she was back to occupying herself with her phone during classes. Taking a look around class to make sure neither Adrien nor Marinette were here yet, she noticed how a small group had surrounded Nathaniel at his desk. They all seemed pretty excited, and judging by his smile and body language of the others he assumed he was showing off some of his best artworks.

He only ever showed the class those pieces he deemed perfect after that time she got him akumatised.. she shook off the small flutter of guilt at the memory though. He was one of the few she had apologised to for causing their akumatisation. The only one in their class actually, since soon after Lila had shown up, and Chloé outright refused to waste an apology on stupid.

Turning back towards the front, she was just in time to see Marinette storm in, check for the teacher, and fist pumping on noticing the lack of adult supervision in the class. She then noticed Chloé watching her, gave a wave and went up to her seat at the back, without bothering to greet anyone else.

As if Marinette's arrival had signalled the start of the school day, Madame Bustier entered class and everyone else took their seats. Though Chloé noticed Ivan and Mylene as well as Rose and Juleka - who had been at Nathaniel's desk - still seemed to be discussing whatever it was that he had shown them. Since Bustier was one of the few people who had always been nice to her, even at her worst, Chloé always tried to at least pay attention.. although her curiosity about Nathaniel's works kept coming back throughout the day.

Chloé stretched out to ease out the stiffness in her shoulders from the day's classes; not spending that much time behind a desk, she tended to develop a stiffness near the end of the school day. She and Marinette had arranged to try and finish their homework from last week at the bakery after school (reigniting an old friendship after years of conflict pushed schoolwork waaay down their list of priorities).

Yet as she turned around to call out to her friend, she saw that she was having an animated conversation with Nathaniel and Max. Shrugging her shoulders, she decided to just wait for them to finish and then ask Marinette what it was about; she wasn't exactly sure how to join a conversation without a leading barb or sarcastic comment, and she'd promised both Ladybug and Marinette she'd try and tone it down - even if she didn't mean the sarcasm maliciously, her history worked against her there in people's interpretation thereof.

She'd only been waiting for ten minutes or so before they finished, and Marinette came over to where she was sitting. Pretending not to see the odd looks they received as they walked out the school and over to the bakery, she finally voiced her curiosity.

"So what has Nathaniel been showing everyone today? Everyone seemed a lot more interested in it than his usual stuff from what I could tell - even Max, who prefers his world digitised."

"Oh that! It's actually pretty amazing, you remember how he did that one project in Art Class on those comic book heroes or something?"

"You mean his take on what amalgamations between heroes from different franchises would look like? Personally I think his sketch of the Dark Claw - you know the combination of Wolverine and Batman - was his best work. That said, even though the sketch itself was done well, I think it was a bit derivative to also design a villain amalgamation between Joker and Sabertooth. Like I get where he was coming from, but seriously the villains he should have combined are Silver Samurai and Ra's Al Ghul. That would have been better in every way; more original, probably stronger, as well as having a better theme going on."

While Chloé had been ranting on the topic, they had both entered the bakery and she suddenly noticed that Marinette as well as her parents were staring at her. Marinette's jaw had dropped, and Tom seemed to be both surprised and impressed.

"Chloé.. I know you're a fan of Ladybug, but are you a superhero geek?" Marinette asked with a far too gleeful smirk on her face.

Feeling a blush coming on, she just huffed and followed Marinette up through their home into her room.

"My possible likes or dislikes aside, what does his old project have to do with today? Did he remake them or something?"

"No actually; he started his own superhero blog about the heroes of Paris - that's why Max was talking to him after school. Nathaniel may be a good artist, but he needs Max to help set up the site itself."

"A blog about the heroes of Paris? Does he realise Cesaire is probably going to try and snap him like a twig for budging in on her turf?" Chloé asked, pretending not to notice the tightening in Marinette's expression at the mention of Alya.

"Well no, it isn't like the Ladyblog. It's more like a way for him to get his art out there? From what I understand it's going to be filled with paintings or sketches or anything he creates really, but all themed after the miraculous users?"

Chloé tried to keep her excitement down; but hey, she was a hero of Paris too! That means she was likely going to be on there as Queen Bee.. she may have made fun of Nathaniel (Although honestly she made fun of everyone; the only one she had particularly targeted was Marinette) but he did good work. She was practically buzzing with excitement.

It had been days since Chloé had found out about Nathaniel's new website, and even longer since it had actually gone online, and she was still buzzing.. though for an entirely different reason. She didn't quite know if it was anger or disappointment; she just knew it wasn't a happy feeling. Nathaniel had done a bunch of pieces involving Ladybug, Chat Noir, Ladybug and Chat Noir - even multiple pieces on Carapace and Rena Rouge!

Queen Bee however? Not even a mention! She knew she hadn't made a flawless debut, but c'mon! She'd done her best to be a better hero, and she was pretty sure she had managed to.. and yet nothing. Just thinking about it got her so worked up, she turned around to glare at him where he sat at the back of the class, just in front of Marinette's desk.

..Only to notice he was already staring at her with the strangest expression; if she had had to take a guess, she'd say it was a strange mixture of focus and daydreaming. Like he was daydreaming, but at her - it was kind of weirding her out. Looking past him and making eye contact with Marinette.

'What's with the tomato staring at me?' she mouthed.

Marinette frowned a bit before glancing back at Nathaniel. Frowning a bit more, she stared at Nathaniel, before her eyes widened in understanding and looked back to Chloé.

'I'll explain later. That's his..' was as far as she got before Mendeleiev suddenly slammed a ruler on her desk.

"Forgive me for interrupting your long-distance squabbles Miss Bourgeois, Miss Dupain-Cheng, but I am paid to teach. So kindly be silent and pay attention."

Chloé tried not to roll her eyes at the assumption; she and Marinette had been getting into arguments for years after all, although she couldn't help but wonder how long everybody was going to miss the fact that they were now friends. Considering how easily Lila manages to master the people of this city in general, she wasn't betting on them figuring it out for a while.

Regardless, she knew lunch was due to start soon, so she decided to face forward and appear attentive for the next five minutes at least. As soon as the bell rung, she was out of her seat and heading towards the empty classroom she and Marinette had been using when they stayed at school for lunch.

Her curiosity was something that easily got the better of her, but when you combine that with her frustration with Nathaniel's blog she was downright jittery. Which is why she barely waited for Marinette to enter the classroom, before asking.

"So what were you trying to say earlier, before Mendeleiev called us out? It seemed like you know what that face meant, although I could be wrong since I'm not exactly a professional lip reader. If you know anything spill!"

Marinette smirked in a way that Chloé had come to realise was in a teasing way; she couldn't put a finger on why, but for some reason it reminded her of a cat playing with its food. It meant Chloé probably wasn't going to like what came next.

"Well, I know you've been bothered by the fact that Nathaniel hasn't made any posts about Queen Bee.."

Chloé opened her mouth to interrupt that she was no such thing, she was above caring about what others thought about her hero self, yet before she could even draw a breath to start Marinette had continued.

"Don't even try to deny it, Chlo! You have exactly two websites on your phone registered to give you a notification whenever they update; one is the Ladyblog and the other is Nathaniel's. And whenever Nathaniel posts something new, you barely glance at the posts while scrolling through.. sure you go back later to look at everything, but first you surf the site searching for a certain black and yellow heroine."

Chloé closed her mouth. She should have realised by how intricate her designs sometimes were (as her embarrassing escapade with a certain hat, with Marinette's name designed into it, had proven) that Marinette was pretty observant. Crossing her arms, Chloé just nodded her head at her friend to continue.

"Anyway, I think he will be posting something about Queen Bee pretty soon! I recognised his expression as one he got when he tries to both memorise and envision something; and since he was staring at you.. I think it's safe to assume he's working on a painting, or he would have been drawing in class."

"Oh.. well I suppose if he does paint something with Queen Bee I'll take a look at it."

Pretending not to notice her friend's giggling, Chloé focused on keeping her excitement contained.. which she barely succeeded at. She kept wondering about this painting he was making; was it a of her during battle? If so, then facing which akuma? Or if not, then was it a superhero pose, or perhaps a shot of her and Ladybug on patrol? She browsed both the Ladyblog and his art blog enough to realise his work was based on actual pictures.. she decided to just wait and see.

And when two weeks later, there was still nothing posted about Queen Bee? She decided she was going to take matters into her own hand.

Nathaniel was not having a good time. Somebody was messing with him, and honestly he had no clue who or why or how. He supposed he could think of a possible reason for the way whoever it was had been messing with him.. Although the fact that it was something he kept secret from everyone in school, made him stress even more.

He'd been having a pretty good few weeks after he initially started his art blog; the reactions were overwhelmingly positive (bar the occasional critic, but at least it was helpful criticism) and he had been working at a faster pace than ever before - no lack of inspiration at all.

And then one day he came to class to find a printed out picture of Queen Bee during the fight with Malediktator. He'd asked the people in class if anyone had forgotten it on his desk, but no one seemed to know where it came from, so he'd put it out of his mind.

A few days later there had been more pictures; also all involving Queen Bee. Again, no one claimed to know where they came from.. And again he'd put it out of his mind; after all students often used the empty classrooms during lunch or after school. Perhaps it was some sort of fan club?

About a week later he was forced to accept that these pictures were being placed there directly for him - after all, he doubted there was an after-school fan club inside his locker. The lock wasn't even broken! How did they manage to get so many different pictures inside without anybody noticing? Still, there was no note or anything of the sort; so what could he do but ignore it?

After that things got even weirder; he swore he lost his phone one day when he looked for it during lunch but couldn't find it.. until it turned up back in his locker by the end of the day. If it wasn't for the fact that he suddenly had bookmarked shortcuts on his phone to various videos and pictures involving Queen Bee, he would have assumed he'd just missed it going through his locker.

Now this all would have been strange enough to anybody else, but to Nathaniel? He just knew someone had somehow figured out his secret and was mocking him.. except other than the pictures showing up, nothing happened. He had a sneaking suspicion about who was involved.. even if it made no sense, and his only evidence was the duo moving away from the lockers in a hurry the day he had.. misplaced.. his phone.

If she knew the truth, Nathaniel had no doubt that Chloé would be making fun of him (for surely that was what these pictures were about; it was probably building up to something hugely embarrassing for him), but what he couldn't make sense of was Marinette apparently helping her.

Sighing in boredom (he always had trouble staying awake in the last class of the day), he started to absently draw a picture of Queen Bee from an interview a few weeks ago; there had been a particularly long-lasting battle with an Akuma and afterwards she had started ranting at Hawk Moth, forbidding the supervillain from attacking during the fashion week in honour of Emilie Agreste. Eyes blazing, face set in a determined expression, it was impressive sight - made even more so by the fact that there hadn't been any akuma attacks that week..

He had gotten so caught up in the sketch that he hadn't noticed the bell had rung and the class dismissed; in fact he had just started to add colour to it, when he noticed too late that Chloé had been heading up towards Marinette's seat - right in front of his. He tried to put everything away quickly, though she seemed to catch a glance at it before he could. Getting up he started to leave, before he was stopped by a threatening blonde.

"Stay right there Tomato head, or I swear I'll juice you!"

It had taken Chloé a week to convince Marinette to help her; she had begged, pleaded and bribed the Bluenette, although she knew Marinette's reticence had more to do with not wanting to be associated with Chloé's plan than anything else.

Even after Marinette had told her she thought Nathaniel was drawing something about Queen Bee, she still had seen nothing on his blog.. which is when she realised the problem: he didn't have the proper inspiration! So she decided to give him a picture she thought he could do justice.. and nothing.

So she left a bigger variety on his desk. Still nothing. She was starting to get annoyed now; and with Marinette helping her break into his locker and access his phone (Marinette steadfastly refused to share why she was so good at that) she thought it would happen any day now.. but nothing.

Or at least nothing until she went up to Marinette's desk in front of his and noticed the sketch before he managed to hide it away; and now she had seen it, she was going to be demanding some answers since he clearly did do pieces on Queen Bee! Hence, an admittedly lame threat of juicing him. You know, 'cause Tomato head.

Still, the indignant way he stopped and turned back seemed worth it.. and it did get him to stop. Regardless, back to her own indignation now:

"What exactly is your problem with Queen Bee?! Do you think I'm somehow not good enough to join the others on your blog? I get I haven't always been the nicest person, but I have been doing an excellent job as a hero! Of course you can't compare me to Ladybug or Chat Noir, but compared to the other part time heroes? So maybe some of my fights weren't as.. explosive or shocking as some of those that Rena Rouge or Carapace have been involved in, but my patrol hours beat the two of them combined! Do you know why? Because I'm pretty sure I've triggered more akumas than anyone else in Paris, and I'm trying to make up for it. You're even one of the few I've apologised to for it! So. What. Is. Your. Deal?!" she finished with all the frustration of the last few weeks, only vaguely registering the look of horrified fascination on Marinette's face.

Feeling his eyebrows rise higher and higher as Chloé unleashed.. whatever it was she just unleashed. By the time she had finished her rant though, she had moved uncomfortably close and he actually had to take a step back.

That.. well, actually he didn't know how to describe what he had just heard. That was a lot of information to take in, and he didn't know where to begin processing.. So it was Chloé who had been leaving the pictures, but rather than an elaborate attempt at humiliation (and come to think about it, maybe he should work on his paranoia?) it was her wanting to be featured on his blog? And she thought Queen Bee wasn't, because she wasn't as good as the other heroes and.. hold up.

"What do you mean you've apologised? You've done no such thing!" Nathaniel would definitely have remembered if anything of the sort happened. His confusion only grew when Marinette, glancing between himself and Chloé with narrowed eyes, suddenly sighed loudly and pinched the bridge of her nose. After a few moments she looked back at Chloé and asked:

"Chloé.. how - exactly - did you apologise to Nathaniel? Did you grab him at lunch for a word, try talking to him before or after school or what?"

Huffing like the question was beneath her, she nevertheless surprised him by answering.

"Well of course I didn't do that, it would have been mortifying. I left him a note apologising - and then the class got stupid, so I didn't bother with the rest. Since he didn't even get that, it seems to have been a waste of time!"

Nathaniel blinked. Blinked again. Replayed what Chloé had just said. Blinked some more. Finally the meaning of what she had said settled in his mind, and most of the confusion he'd been feeling in this conversation vanished. Reaching into a pocket, he pulled out a folded piece of paper.

"You sent me a note? You sent me this note?"

"I'm not good at apologies, but from what I found on the internet it's not as simple as just saying 'sorry'. You have to mean it, intend not to do it again and when possible give a reason for what you did. Now you don't have to believe me, but I am sorry for what I did to you and what happened after. I'm trying to be better, but it's hard - I never intend to do it again, and am doing what I can to make up for it. I hope you can forgive me."

As he finished reading the short note, he noticed Marinette's slack jawed expression.. as well as what he swore was a blush on Chloé's. So that answers that, it had been Chloé's apology, even if she seemed oblivious to a few important things.

"Chloé.. you realise that nowhere in this note do you actually say what you're apologising for, nor does it specifically say to whom it is addressed or who wrote it. Considering you had it delivered to my doorstep, along with some of the most expensive painting supplies I've ever seen.. do you see the problem?" he said, trying to hide the amusement in his voice.

Chloé was definitely blushing now, and it was pretty cute to be honest. It wasn't an expression he'd seen on her before.. in fact her entire stance, blushing with her face turned away and twirling a lock of hair as some kind of nervous habbit was something new to him.

'She usually acts so cold and stand-offish it's easy to miss that she really is one of the prettiest girls in school. Not that it matters of course. Nope, not interested in her at all. I may have something of an artist's crush on Queen Bee as a muse, but that does not automatically extend to include Chloé and.. Oh, who am I kidding, I won't be able to sleep tonight before I paint her like this. Guess that means I'm officially crushing on Chl.. No! I'm inspired by her. Yeah, that's it. Inspired, not crushing.

As the silence continued though, he shook himself out of his introspection and figured he should probably explain things.. well, up to a point at least.

"Look Chloé, it's not that I have anything against you or Queen Bee, I just haven't made a painting I'm satisfied with putting on my blog yet. I am going to, just not anything that isn't done to my standards."

Chloé seemed to perk up at that.. in fact she almost looked giddy with excitement, which isn't something he'd ever expect to describe her, but apparently this was very important to her. Her eagerness created a sense of pride in him; he knew there were tons of artists out there using Queen Bee as their muse, and even a few with websites solely centered on her. He was already determined to create the best painting of Queen Bee out there (still not a crush!), but seeing her enthusiasm just motivated him so much more.

Now that he knew who those expensive paints were from, what better time or subject to use them for? After all, he was pretty sure there was a paint with actual gold flakes in.. yes, he was starting to get an idea for the Queen Bee painting he'd start.

Walking back to the bakery with Chloé (they'd decided to try and finish their homework), Marinette ran through what had happened after school today.. and from what she had observed, she was starting to lean towards a certain theory. A certain theory based on Chloé's semi-obsession these last few weeks, the way she had apologised (even if it had been adorably socially akward) and how intensely she had blushed earlier.

Another of her theories revolved around Nathaniel's actions today; she hadn't missed when he said he hadn't completed anything on Queen Bee up to his standards.. not that there hadn't been pieces he'd completed. She also hadn't missed the way he looked at Chloé when she blushed - if he hadn't been memorising the moment to paint sometime in the future, she'd eat her sewing machine.

Surreptiously glancing at her friend, she wondered if she was even aware of the huge, genuine smile she had on her face at the moment.

Sitting in the spare room his family had given over to him for working on his art, Nathaniel took a moment to appreciate the quality of the paints he had been gifted as an apology by Chloé. He'd already sketched out the base design for the Queen Bee painting, but he was hesitating.. he couldn't push the image of a blushing Chloé out of his mind.

And suddenly it hit him; he wasn't supposed to. He was supposed to recreate it! The more he thought of it, the more right it felt. After all, Queen Bee may be her hero identity, but these paints were a gift from Chloé herself. The first time he used them should be for a portrait of her.. and what better moment to capture, than the one he was starting to suspect showed the real Chloé?

Decision made, he gently set aside the canvas with Queen Bee's pencil design, and started on the one of Chloé herself. And if he worked all night through to lunch the next day, that was between him and his muse - even if she was unaware of it.

AN:

Personal Headcanon - Chloé is socially akward when it comes to normal behaviour, and most of it comes of as her just being the cliche mean girl.

As an aside, of my stories posted on AO3, this is my least popular; is it because of the ChloNath, or is the writing bad? Reviews are how I learn!