''Chloe, what- wait, are you crying?'', Ladybug asked shocked. She had never seen the blonde girl so distraught. Of course she had seen her sad before but it was more because she was playing an act or because of selfish reasons. This however seemed serious. Her makeup was smeared, her entire body trembling with sobs, her eyes puffy and red.

''N-no, I'm-, i-it's nothing'', she replied, wiping her face with the sleeve of her jacket. Ladybug wondered why she was even wearing one, after all it was super hot outside. She would give everything to have a more appropriate superhero outfit and Chloe Bourgeois was running around in a long jacket - Wasn't she afraid of getting sweat stains or something? It wasn't like her to take risks of anything like that.

''Yeah sure'', Ladybug said sarcastically. When she noticed that one of Chloe's eyes was actually puffy from something other than crying though, she was worried. The eye didn't have a red colour, it was starting to become blue. Someone hit her. The dark haired girl took some quick steps forward to inspect it more. She frowned. ''Chloe, seriously, what happened? Who did this to you?''

Those words seemed to trigger some strongly repressed emotions, with a loud inhalation of air, accompanioned by bone breaking sobs, she just collapsed. Ladybug was fast enough to catch her and rather helplessly kneeled on the ground, holding the violently shaking and weeping girl in her arms who could hardly catch a breath between the truly heartshattering cries.

After quite some time, Chloe had stopped crying - not exactly because she was finished but more so because there were simply no more tears left.
Ladybug slowly pulled away and put her hands on her shoulders, looking at her worriedly.
''Chloe... I need to ask you again. What happened?''

She hesitated a long moment.
Her mind was trying to comprehend and make out whether she was able to talk about it, about him, with Ladybug.
In the end, she decided it was worth the try. After all, she was a superhero, right? Surely, she would know what to do. Surely, she would not judge her.

She gulped and with a voice which was quite hoarse from crying for so long, she started to explain what had been going on - for almost 10 years now.
She had to break her explanation numerous times to recollect the strength to go on.
The entire time, Ladybug stayed quiet. For one, to give Chloe all the time she needed without pushing her and for other, because she was just stunned and completely caught off guard by what the girl was going through. Without anyone knowing, anyone helping her. She had been going through this absolutely terrible, unspeakable thing and no one knew. So many people despised her for her behaviour, even though it was, and Ladybug understood that now, just a facade to keep herself safe, protect herself from getting hurt.

When she was finished with the story, ending on the point, she had found her, it was silent for some time.
''I'm so sorry, Chloe. I- I don't even know what else to say.''
The blonde hung her head and shrugged helplessly, not knowing what to say either.

''Do you want me to bring you home?'', she asked cautiously.
Like the snap of a finger, Chloe's head shot up, her eyes pierced by fear. ''No. I can't go there. He's gonna be there. I- I can't. At least not now, not tonight.''
''Okay.'', Ladybug replied softly, holding up her hands in a calming manner. She thought for a moment. ''I could take you to Marinette Dupain-Cheng's house. She's a friend of mine and I'm sure she would-''
''She hates me. I... I don't think she'd truly want me there.'', Chloe sighed. ''I don't think anyone would want me. No one likes me.

Ladybug felt a twitch of guilt in her heart. But she knew it was true. Kind of. Only because no one knew what was really going on and why Chloe was the way she was. No one could be able to go through so much pain alone and come out fine and kind hearted. She wanted to help her desperately. She couldn't just leave her, she needed to-
Suddenly, she had an idea. ''I know where you can go.''

A few moments later, the girls stood in front of the Agreste Mansion, waiting for someone to answer.
''I don't know if this is such a good idea... I- Adrien and I, we had a fight and he doesn't-''
The assistant Natalie opened. Ladybug asked whether Adrien was at home which the woman confirmed. She let them in when Ladybug told her it was an emergency. She went to lead them to his room but the superhero just declined politely, saying that they knew the way perfectly well on their own.
While walking upstairs, she replied to Chloe's statement. ''It's gonna be fine. I promise.''

She knocked on Adrien's door and just seconds later, his voice piped up with a ''Come in''.
She was nervous to enter his room but she pulled herself together. After all, this was an emergency and she was Ladybug, not Marinette.
She opened the door and took a few steps forward.

Adrien looked up when he didn't hear the voice of Natalie like he expected. What or more so who he saw surprised him obviously.
''Ladybug?'', he blurted out, jumping up and coming nearer with quick steps. ''What are you doing here?''
''I have a request for you. And I hope that you're not gonna deny it.'', she said.
He raised his eyebrows, going to ask what it was when his question answered itself in form of Chloe Bourgeois walking out of the hidden place behind Ladybug. She had her head down, fidgeting her fingers.

''Chloe?'', he now said, confused. Basically repeating his question, ''What are you doing here?''
Ladybug took it upon herself to reply. ''She needs you, Adrien. You two should have a talk. You'll understand what I mean. Just forget for a moment that you had a fight, okay? She really needs you to be her friend right now.''
She then turned to Chloe, putting a hand on her shoulder and saying quietly ''Just tell the truth. It'll be easier.''
Then she quickly walked away, yelling a goodbye before throwing her yoyo out of an open window of Adrien's room and swinging herself outside and across some trees.

She landed on a bigger branch, close enough to Adrien's window to look inside but not be immediately spotted from inside.
To her relief, she saw Chloe talking, with her head still low. Her eyes appeared to be closed but she couldn't exactly tell from the distance. What she could see happening next was Adrien's growing more and more into an emotional mess of anger, sadness and shock. As soon as Chloe stopped moving her mouth, he closed the distance between them and pulled her into a gentle hug. Soon enough Chloe returned it, burying her face in the crook of his neck.
While on the one hand, she felt better that the blonde was in good hands now, on the other hand Ladybug couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy but scolded herself for it. After all, this was absolutely and a hundred percent nothing to be jealous of.