Chapter Text
“-all I’m saying is,” Dupain-Cheng said, somewhat patiently as Chloe held up two tops to her chin, “is that focusing on your ‘good deeds’ is a better look than putting all your faith in Jagged drawing in the votes.”
“I don’t even need to work hard,” Chloe rolled her eyes, catching the bakergirl’s stare in the mirror – and smirking. “Without you running for president, everyone else will fall in line!”
Dupain-Cheng sighed. “You’re really not beating the supervillain allegations if you keep talking like that,” she cocked her head to the side. “Try the purple one, that fits more with your hair, especially if you let it down.”
Chloe hummed, holding up the purple sweater – it was getting colder and she needed a new winter cozy outfit. “Purple is an akuma color though,” she mused.
“Are you of all people seriously going to let Mothman influence how you dress, Bourgeois?”
That sounded like a challenge.
Chloe pursed her lips. “Of course not!” She struck her nose up high and added the purple sweater to her ‘to buy’ pile. The other top – a soft cashmere with creme colors – she pushed towards Dupain-Cheng. “Try this on.”
“What?”
“If it’s good, I’m buying it for you. We should be roughly the same size, top-wise,” Chloe commented, her eyes dipping below the bakergirl’s neck – to her chest and waist.
Girlfriends, Jagged Stone’s comment rang in her ears and she averted her eyes with an angry flush. “I won’t have any associate of mine dressed in rags!”
Dupain-Cheng gave her a flat look. “I design most of my own clothes.”
“Yes, but as pretty as they are, none of the clothes you wear are professional enough,” Chloe claimed, waving a hand, “you need business casual, not just smart casual! Especially since Jagged Stone will be bragging with your name everywhere – I won’t allow you to walk into another contract like that!” She gestured at the girl, from top to bottom. “They are not looking for cute, they are looking for effortlessly beautiful!” She flipped her hair. “Like moi.”
Dupain-Cheng was still watching her with slightly narrowed eyes. “Bourgeois,” she started, “are you trying to thank me for helping you?”
Chloe snorted. “Oh, please.”
The bakergirl hummed.
Chloe did not want to listen to any more of her crazy theories. Her, thanking someone like Dupain-Cheng, like the bakergirl was doing her a favor?!
“Hurry up,” she clicked her tongue. “We still have to go to daddy’s office. The staff there absolutely has to replicate my vision.”
Dupain-Cheng hummed again – but in the mirror, Chloe could almost make out a smile in the corner of her mouth.
Stop looking at her mouth, Chloe told herself. She had- She had more important things to think about!
Like how she was guaranteed to win class president, especially with Dupain-Cheng’s exasperated ideas added to her own genius!
***
“A statue unveiling?” Alix asked Rose, helping arrange their snacks for that week’s meeting. There were no new members – for once.
For some reason, she wasn’t sure it would stay that way.
“Yes!” Rose chirped. “They are putting it near the school too – we should go!”
“Sounds nice,” Mylene commented with a smile. “Ladybug and Chat Noir deserve to be appreciated like that.”
Alix’s throat constricted. “...right.”
“We’re totes going, right Alix?!” Kim yelled into her ear – she had to push him off.
“We were planning on going,” Ivan said quietly, exchanging a look with Juleka.
“The likelihood of the heroes also being invited to such an event is also quite high,” Max declared from his corner. “If that influences your decision.”
Alix knew who that comment was directed at.
“We don’t all have to go,” Luka’s melodical voice came over their heads. He was looking over them with that enigmatic smile as always. “But it might be nice.”
“I shall keep an eye out,” Ramier declared, nodding seriously. “I would love to go, but my lovelies keep to a strict schedule.”
Alix snorted – right. Even if she did end up going – and she wasn’t sure she wanted to, Kim’s excitement aside… She wouldn’t be alone.
“Is a formal event?” Kagami asked Juleka.
She hummed. “Kinda, kinda not?”
Kagami nodded thoughtfully. “If official, I will sneak.”
Alright, Alix thought, grin returning – if Kagami was willing to sneak out to meet them, she’d have to be there too. “See you there, katana princess.”
Kagami’s smile was full of teeth.
***
“Ooooooh, Chlo!”
Adrien yelled at her from afar – Chloe was talking to Marinette, again.
Were they wearing matching sweaters too?!
“Sorry darling, I’m busy,” Chloe greeted him when he got closer, waving a hand to Marinette. “Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous – even I know Jagged and XY have nothing in common!”
Marinette rolled her eyes. “I know right?” She glanced at Adrien, watching the two of them – getting along – with a giant, dopey grin. “...what is it?”
“Nothing,” he denied, shaking his head. “I just love to see my friends getting along.” He winked. “Was actually gonna ask if you’d be free to come watch my match next week? Kagami’s playing too!” He added quickly, seeing Marinette’s opening mouth.
“Kagami?” she asked, her tone instantly switching – and she was smiling too, he noted. He knew her well by now, he thought, even if – well, Kagami was nice. He was glad Marinette was happy to hear about Kagami.
It had nothing to do with how she could get extremely short with him still.
“...what’s so special about her?” Chloe asked flatly, crossing her arms. Every piece of her screamed a sort of guardedness that Adrien didn’t really associate with her – what was wrong between Chloe and Kagami, he wondered. Would he have enough time to salvage that friendship too?
“She’s amazing!” Marinette declared, grinning. “I’ll be there.”
“For Kagami and not me?” Adrien whined playfully.
She swatted at him. “Yeah, yeah, I guess I’ll wish you luck too.”
“Any chance of good luck cookies?” he bargained, leaning into her space.
She met his gaze. “Maybe something for the victor,” she said, tapping her chin in mock-thought.
Adrien nodded seriously. “Best motivator ever, thank you Mari.” He looked over to Chloe, who was sneering. “Chlo?”
“Yes, I’ll be there.” She wasn’t looking at him when she said that – but hey, she’d be there, Adrien cheered internally, grinning.
“Amazing! I’ll leave you to your very important work then,” he chirped, waving at the two girls – who almost immediately launched right back into whatever they were talking about before.
As he walked away, Plagg stuck his head out of his shirt. “You sure like causing drama lately, kitten.”
Adrien huffed. “I’m solving the drama.” Marinette and Alya could make up – and then Chloe could naturally integrate into their group! Adrien couldn’t wait – especially since lately, Chloe’s been kinda alone if it weren’t for him, what with Sabrina slowly making friends with everyone else – it was only natural that he’d meddle and make sure it all went well!
***
The statue unveiling was obviously a last-ditch effort by Mayor Bourgeois to keep his seat – but that didn’t mean Alya wasn’t going to cover it live!
Nadja might have banned her from the studio, but she couldn’t ban her from her own livestreams. “Hi everyone, your favorite blogger here!” she greeted her camera, grinning widely as she gestured around in the park, the as of yet covered statue in the background. “Guess where your girl’s signing in from?!”
She took a couple moments to narrate the events – the backstory of the mayor opening a contest, the quick construction, the crowd that gathered, Chat Noir himself showing up-
Alya screamed in excitement along with everyone else – the cordon kept people back, but she did her best to get closer and maybe catch him and-
“-is Ladybug?” A guy asked the superhero, slightly awkward. Alya wondered who he was – probably someone in the mayor’s entourage or even the sculptor himself? She remembered someone named Theo winning, she should definitely ask him a couple questions-
“Bugaboo’s a busy lady, you know how it is,” he replied, barely looking back at the guy, waving to his fans – and winking to Alya when he caught her pointing a camera at him. With the background noise, she could barely make out his words as it was.
And the mayor was stepping up to the podium to start the show – and Alya redirected both her camera and her attention to focus on that, missing the scowl overtaking the guy’s face.
***
“...do you feel like you forgot something?” Chloe asked Dupain-Cheng, who was spread out over her bed, chewing the end of a pencil.
“Nope,” she spat, then started to scribble something. “Switch tracks.”
Chloe huffed. “I’m not your maid, you know!” Still, she tapped the forward button on the remote – not just once; twice.
The bakergirl’s face softened. “That’s not the next song,” she murmured, not looking up from her sketching.
Chloe watched her, pretending to check the social media feed on her phone – she posted a couple shots of her and the bakergirl from the last few days, with various ‘previews’ and sneak-peaks of her campaign… Most of the class, not that she cared, have been liking the posts and she even got a couple comments from Kubdel and that annoying blonde midget. Good PR or whatever the bakergirl called it. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Dupain-Cheng smiled – still not looking up. “Right.”
Chloe told herself her rising heartbeat had nothing to do with knowing that out of Jagged’s new songs – the one she switched to was the bakergirl’s favorite. It was natural, after days of working together.
(Even if it had only been a couple days-)
***
“Hey, Chat!”
His ear twisted at the familiar call – and he didn’t waste a second in leaving the mayor and the douche of a sculptor behind. “Jules!” he greeted, coming closer to the end of the cordon to where the Akuma Club was gathering – almost all of them, he thought, seeing their smiling faces.
Not all of them were truly happy, but they seemed to ease in his presence.
“How are my totally unbiased-favorite civilians doing?” he asked, finger-gunning them. “Miss meow?”
“Always,” Luka said, always an angel and ready to play along with him. Chat could have kissed the guy.
As it was, he only blew a kiss at Luka, whose smile only widened.
“Could be better,” Ivan muttered, standing with Kim and Rose.
Chat wrinkled his nose, his face easing. “No new members this week at least?” He said quietly, then yowled. “Oh, fuck, I just jinxed it didn’t I?”
Thankfully, they all laughed along at his joke – but others were also stepping up to the cordon, nameless people, civilians, danger – he’d need to cut this short.
“We’ll try to swing by again soon, okay?” He said, ear twitching in discomfort at the uptick in noise. “Bug and I.”
“You’re not arguing anymore?” Rose chirped, a hopeful smile on her face.
Chat chuckled weakly. “Something like that.” He glanced over to where the security was still keeping people back – and decided that it was best he ran off before anyone broke through. “Keep on being meow-velous!” He saluted them, backing away, “Cat-th you later!”
With that, he made a running leap, extending a baton to catapult over to the nearby rooftops – without Bug here, he sure as hell wouldn’t be doing a live press conference.
Speaking of Bug…
He stopped, twirling his baton into a phone, but… Only her voicemail, huh, he noted. Where was she again?
Did she forget?
Chat huffed, changing directions. The statue was nice, but it would have been even nicer to needle his favorite person in the past hour instead of having to fend off ‘where is Ladybug?!’ questions.
Time to take a well-deserved rest, he decided. At least until Natalie figured out where he ran off to.
***
His transformation was still dropping, but Adrien waltzed into Chloe’s room like he owned the place. “Chlo, I can’t believe you!” He called, aghast, as Plagg drifted off to raid Chloe’s minifridge, “what kind of a childhood friend miss-”
The words got stuck in his throat.
“...hi Adrien!” Chloe greeted loudly. “Finally woke up from your nap? Oh, I told you to put on sunscreen, you’ll get wrinkles like that!”
Even her quick diversion could barely throw suspicion off of them – the suspicion of one-
“Marinette!” Adrien realized with cheer. Marinette, her body thrown over Chloe’s bed, was watching him with slowly blinking eyes, a tablet in her hand. “When did you get here?” He enthused – he knew Chloe and Mari were becoming friends! Just as planned! “Whatcha doing?” He walked closer, peering over her shoulder, before loudly ooh-ing. “That looks cool! Is that Jagged Stone?”
“Yes!” Marinette beamed up at him, then cleared her throat. “That is, yes, it is – what are you doing here?” She sounded hella suspicious.
“Fell asleep on Chloe’s balcony,” he retorted without wasting a second. That was the lie Chloe said not even a minute ago, he’d stick to it. “Is it a commission?”
“You’re looking at the designer of Jagged Stone’s new album cover,” Chloe inserted herself, looking very much at ease with having a supposed ‘riff-raff bakergirl’ in her room, not to mention her bed.
Adrien’s jaw officially dropped. “No way.”
“Yes way!” Marinette cheered. She cleared her throat again, cheeks flushing. “That is, if I don’t fuck it up… Gods, I hope I don’t fuck it up.” She lifted her eyes to the heavens, murmuring a quick prayer that Adrien didn’t catch the words for.
“If it’s even half as good as the hat – as the costuming you came up for our movie – you’re gonna be fine,” he assures her, grinning. He would need to buy as many copies of that album as possible – oh, or ask for her autograph! Adrien wondered how bad her flush could get.
“The movie was a joint project,” Marinette protested half-heartedly. “But… I guess.” She didn’t seem too convinced.
Adrien plopped down on the bed next to her, knocking their shoulders together. “Welp, it’s still gonna be my favorite album cover ever.”
Marinette snorted. “This is not even the finalized version!”
Adrien shook his head, mock-serious. “Nope, you’re not escaping this. I decided.” He mimed securing a tie and cleared his throat. “I, Adrien Agreste hereby declare that anything MDC is officially the best.” He bowed his head. “Thank you, no questions please.”
Chloe hurled a pillow at him wordlessly – disapproval in her stare – but Marinette laughed and that was all that mattered to him.
“And everyone has to listen to you, huh?”
Adrien, with his best Chloe impression, fake-flipped his hair. “Obviously.”
Marinette only laughed more – meanwhile, Chloe rolled closer and, with the precision of a pro, struck him straight in the head with another pillow.
Adrien fell with an ‘oof’ – right next to the pillow that his childhood best friend threw at him earlier.
He raised it with a cry of, “Time for my revenge!”
Marinette, stuck between the two of them, didn't even have a chance of staying out of the pillow fight.
***
If anyone told her even a week ago that she’d be in Chloe Bourgeois’ bed, giggling breathlessly after a pillow fight with the aforementioned Bourgeois and Adrien Agreste… Marinette would have blamed such hallucination on her sleep deprivation.
Now, it didn’t feel as strange.
It seemed only logical to stay at the hotel, first off all – she hadn’t yet had the chance to investigate the mayor as Marinette, not to mention that Chloe kept texting her with random details about her campaign and ‘needing someone to bounce ideas off of’, plus Jagged was just a couple floors down, she could run down to get his input anytime…
Then, the company – although she had no idea where Adrien showed up from, Chloe was showing a side of herself in the past few days that Marinette never saw before. I guess that’s what she is like with friends, she reasoned to herself. Not like Chloe had much chance before to call Marinette a friend.
Now though? Maybe… Something like that.
She heaved for air. “Okay, okay, I gotta get back to work now-” she tried, attempting to roll over-
Twin protests met her words. “No, no, stay-”
“You have already worked so long, Dupain-Cheng, you better take a rest!”
Marinette didn’t listen though, grabbing her phone with a chuckle. “Thanks, but it’s-” Her words halted as she saw the notification, the countdown that was approaching minus forty minutes. “THAT WAS TODAY?!”
Her shriek did not go over too well. “Loud much?” Chloe commented.
“Oh fuck,” Marinette declared, head falling back on the bed. “Fuck, fuck, fuck-”
“What was today?” Adrien asked. He sounded innocent enough – Marinette still froze.
She wasn’t home – she wasn’t alone with Tikki. She should be more careful with her words. “The Ladybug and Chat Noir statue unveiling,” she said, smiling robotically as she raised her head. “I… I promised Alya I’d be there before…”
Adrien winced. “Ah.”
“You must not have missed a lot,” Chloe added, worrying her lip.
I’m Ladybug, I was supposed to be part of the ‘lot’, Marinette thought, but she nodded. “Yeah, I guess… I’ll just go online, I guess,” she murmured, pulling up the news media… “Huh.”
Once again, she felt her world flip, her eyes narrowing.
“What is it?” Adrien asked, leaning over to see her screen.
He drew in a loud breath.
On her phone, in real time, Chat Noir was walking around his hand lit up with Cataclysm, held up to a struggling Garcia.
So that’s what you’ve chosen to do with your freedom, she thought, bile filling her stomach. And yet… Marinette stood up in a daze.
Once again, she had a job to do.
She would end him, even if he took her down with him.
***
It was quiet in the station.
Perhaps that was the first real warning.
DI Cartier even had time to open the folders for their other cases. Garcia was making coffee – and snacking on the good kind of biscuits because no catty hero came by to wordlessly pawn them away.
And then he did come by.
“I’m here to look at the case files again, see if I can gleam anything meow,” he said, a smile on his face. “My lady and I are having a debriefing date later.”
Garcia stuck around for a beat. “We saw your interview!” Chat Noir tilted his head. “Things are alright between you two then?”
“Why wouldn’t they be?” The hero’s smile was deep. Dangerous, Garcia thought for a moment, before dismissing said thought. This is the teenager who keeps stealing my cookies – I wouldn’t trust anyone else with the power to destroy things with just a word. “We’re not big on catfights, you know that.”
DI Cartier looked up from her files. Garcia stared back.
“...right.” Garcia stood up. “Gimme a second and I’ll grab you the files.”
And so, Garcia left, unable to help from glancing back at DI Cartier – leaving the inspector alone with the hero seemed to be a… bad move.
And yet, it wasn’t long before Garcia returned. “They put it in the updated security area, I no longer have access to it.”
“What?!” Chat Noir spat.
“Calm down,” DI Cartier called, cold. She stood, closing the file on her desk. “I’ll go grab it. Garcia can give you a rundown in the meantime – it’s not like you haven’t been to all the interrogations yourself,” she added snidely.
Garcia glanced back at DI Cartier with a panicked look.
‘I’ll grab reinforcements,’ Cartier mouthed, unease in her expression, if not in her body language. The precinct was busy this time of the day, but not this much.
Chat Noir tapped his nails against the side of the desk he was leaning on.
“...right,” Garcia said. The door closed after the inspector – only me and Chat Noir left, came the thought, leaving a bad taste in Garcia’s mouth. Normally, it wouldn’t be a problem – they could joke about the cookie thefts, Garcia could even playfully admonish the hero.
Now? The air felt thick with tension.
“I don’t exactly have all day,” Chat Noir grumbled.
Garcia smiled awkwardly. “I’m sure the inspector will be back in a second!”
The hero hummed, drumming clawed fingers endlessly.
So… What to say, what to say?
“So…” Garcia extended the sound as long as possible, mind searching for something, anything. “You… You had that statue unveiling today, right? How was it?” That was a normal thing to ask about, right?
And for a moment, Garcia thought everything was alright – because Chat Noir lit up, like he always did. “It was amazing! The statue’s almost handsomer than I – the guy who made it definitely got the cat’s meow.” He winked, grinning.
Garcia grinned back, ease returning.
“But… Bugaboo didn’t show.” Chat Noir’s impatience made itself known again, as he fiddled with his belt-tail. “No idea why,” he chuckled without cheer. “I guess I am feline pretty disappointed.”
“You’re fighting again?” Garcia asked, concerned. Allard said that it would be cause for concern if the heroes ever really started a row – and DI Cartier agreed with him. It would be hard to stop two super-powered individuals, not when their usual methods never worked on even just the villains Ladybug and Chat Noir fought.
The cat hero laughed. “Fighting? We love each other!” Yes, Garcia was sure about that – but still. Love didn’t mean no hate- “What lovers don’t have quarrels?” He continued, smile full of teeth.
Sharp canines, that boy had.
“...lovers?” Garcia repeated. That was… new.
Chat Noir snorted. “Come on, you can’t say you know us and not know that.” He glanced around. “Where are those files already?”
Garcia had to wonder what the heck DI Cartier was getting up to, too. Where were those reinforcements?!
“Why don’t you have something to eat!” Garcia tried. “I have some cookies open from earlier-”
Chat Noir pulled a face. “No thanks. This cat’s got taste.”
Garcia halted, mid-movement. “...but they are good cookies.”
Yes, not as good as stolen cookies, but-
Chat Noir never expressed distaste for Garcia’s cookies. Ladybug did – only to say that she preferred homemade, even if the good type of cookies really were good, she proclaimed herself to be a cookie-snob.
Well. Chat Noir called her that and she didn’t object to the moniker too much.
“Do you have a lollipop or something?” Chat Noir interrupted, rolling his eyes.
Garcia silently walked through the room to DI Cartier’s stash, back from when she was quitting smoking a couple months ago – last Garcia checked, she’s been clean for a while.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if Cartier picked up something again, Garcia thought, offering up the box to the cat hero. Working with these teenagers was stressful as fuck.
While Chat Noir tore the wrappings off, Garcia reached over to the cookies, still sitting on their shared deskspace – blissfully unstolen.
The wrapping fell to the ground, Chat Noir seemingly not noticing.
Garcia recalled Chat Noir worrying over just crumbs. That, coupled with him gleefully sucking on the candy and ignoring the cookies, even while Garcia was gone from the room – that was what sealed the deal, really.
It made sense, what with all the sense of danger Garcia and Cartier picked up since he came in.
What didn’t made sense is why, no matter how quietly, Garcia ended up blurting out, “You’re not Chat Noir, are you?”
The superhero stilled.
Garcia hoped for a long second that he didn’t hear, despite his cat ears twitching.
Then, a smile spread through his face.
It wasn’t a pretty one.
“Cat’s out of the bag, I guess.”
***
Nadja was meeting with Officer Raincomprix – one of their informants, being a first-responder several times when it came to the terror attacks – Jean along there with her, fiddling with one of their portable cameras, but not filming anything.
Raincomprix only promised a short meeting – something about a family matters in regards to his daughter – so Nadja was not that surprised to see said daughter break into the room without a knock.
Manon wasn’t there yet, but she found out a lot about teenagers recently.
What wasn’t quite normal was the girl’s red-rimmed, wide eyes. “Dad?!” She called, visibly panicked.
“Sabrina, I’m sorry, only a couple more minutes and then we can go to your-” the officer started.
Sabrina interrupted, “Chat Noir is holding someone hostage.”
Nadja’s world tilted.
Her eyes flickered to her partner – Jean was already switching the camera on.
“What?” Officer Raincomprix was on his feet in seconds – Nadja and Jean only a step behind.
Chat Noir was doing what?!
***
conquering_teyvat
So first LB doesnt show to her own statue unveiling (rude)
conquering_teyvat
Now CN is literally about to kill a cop
LBisLife
what she cant have alife besides being a celebrity?????
lil-miss-perfect
MA BOI IS DOINGWHAR
#1CNSTAN
y r all my faves prpblematic :c
delila
A little murder never hurt nobody <3
123456789
eh its a cop thats fine
mads-for-hire
HOW IS IT FINE THERE IS LITERALLY A BROADCAST ABOUT HIM HOLDING A PERSON HOSTAGE
mychemicaldragons
i hope lb whoops his aßß
theTruther
@all the cn stans this is who your boi really is
fandomisshortforfanaticdomain
NO WHYYYYYY
Miss_Claw_Noir
i refuse to believe ir my little meowmeow wwould never
conquering_teyvat
[Link]
just.keep.swimming.
*gagged*
paris-unsolved
Keep watching my money is on this being fake/the cop being an akuma in disguise
chocolate-covered-strawberries
Ooooh like a shapeshifter? Thatd be hella creepy
bugs-are-the-new-black
NO FREAKJNG WAY THAT IS NOT MY CAT
maleficentmagneficent
no, that is a man about to commit murder on live television (cant believe they are stillfiilmimg it)
paris-unsolved
You say that like you arent watching it
maleficentmagneficent
touche my friend, touche