build your home brick by boring brick
Chloe nearly threw herself across the back seats of her limo in her rush to escape the campus. Jacques raised a curious eyebrow at her, but didn't comment. She was grateful for that. She'd had enough of those today.
As relieved as she was to watch the school disappear, being home wasn't much better.
A majority of her time after school was painfully boring. Her father established that she was required to have monitored homework time to make sure that she was staying on task. As she stared at her text books, pretending to read, she wondered how on earth Adrien put up with this type of treatment for so long.
He'd mentioned it before. How Nathalie or one of his tutors was always there while he studied because apparently his father couldn't trust him to do it on his own. She'd asked him about it a few times, but he always brushed it off saying that he was used to it by now.
As she turned the page of her text book she wondered how true that really was.
It seemed like forever before she was able to take a break for dinner. Normally she and her father would talk non-stop about their days, but tonight there was an oppressive silence. There were loads of things going unsaid between them, but neither of them wanted to speak any of it aloud.
Chloe, especially.
Once she was finished eating, far sooner due to a lack of appetite, she sat and waited for her father to dismiss her. Any other time she would excuse herself, but she had no bearings as to whether her father would find more punishment to dish out if she were to do so.
Thankfully he didn't keep her too long. After a short reminder to behave at school, he dismissed her and she took her leave gratefully. Once in her room, though, Chloe soon found the space suffocating. Lyssa attempted to make conversation with her, but she wasn't really in the mood to listen to the kwami's inane chatter. All Chloe wanted to do was unwind from the very stressful day, but all she had for entertainment were a few magazines that she'd read hundreds of times and stuffy books that she wouldn't be caught dead reading.
She was going to go insane before the end of this.
Eventually, Chloe couldn't stand it anymore. Groaning, she threw the magazine that she had been attempting to read onto the floor. The action was so sudden that it startled Lyssa from her peaceful perch on Chloe's bed to burying herself under the covers.
After a few moments the kwami peeked her head out.
"Chloe?"
"I'm so bored, Lyssa!" Chloe yelled as she stomped on top of the glossy pages. "What does he expect me to do? Go to bed early? Read novels? Write in a journal?"
"All of those are valid ways to constructively deal with your frustration," Lyssa said calmly. "You could also go exercise—"
"That's a great idea," Chloe deadpanned, "I'll just go run on a treadmill, staring at a blank wall, in silence. I'm sure that will be exciting."
"Chloe, I understand that this isn't pleasant for you, but that doesn't mean that you have to be rude and interrupt me."
"Oh. I'm sorry. By all means. Tell me how to not be bored oh wise one." Chloe gave a fake bow. As she righted herself she crossed her arms and started tapping her foot as she stared down at the kwami.
Lyssa sighed. "As I was trying to suggest, perhaps you could spend some of your time exercising and training as Queen Bee in order to get rid of some of your energy. Now that Paris knows of your existence, you have a lot more freedom and don't need to worry about being seen by the press."
"... That's actually a great idea," Chloe said. Surprised, she let her arms fall to her side as she approached Lyssa. "I thought you were going to tell me to do something dumb like meditate or something."
"If you would like me to teach you, then..."
"No, no. I like your first idea. Lyssa: Stripes Across!"
Without wasting much time, Queen Bee made it look as though Chloe had fallen asleep already. Once finished, she flung herself from her balcony. It frightened her how quickly she dropped down story after story, but her wings were quick to unfurl and catch her before she could fall and injure herself.
There weren't many people out and about to notice her descent, but those that were putzing about stopped to gawk at her. She waved to the few that were out and about as she started flying around the city.
Chloe had been all over the city in her limo, but she had never seen it from above like this. Sure she had gone out and about a couple of times since receiving her Miraculous, but there was something about having the freedom to be seen that made her appreciate the view even more.Especially from a height that she had never been at before.
It was all just so pretty. The sun was starting to set, casting peach and strawberry shadows across the city. She wished that she could take a picture and keep it forever. And, yet, she didn't mess with her purse to see if there was anything that could aid her. Maybe, when she got her phone back, she'd take it around with her so that she could marvel at them in the future.
But, for now, looking was enough.
Sometime later, after the sun had set but before all of the light had gone from the sky, Chloe decided to fly down and see some of the sights up close. She had been flying on the north side of the city, so she decided to land atop one of the Sacre Coeur's steeples to take in the sights.
There weren't a whole lot of people in this part of the city. Most of the tourists and churchgoers had left for the day. A few stragglers noticed her presence, but for the most part she was ignored. There was a part of her that felt a bit annoyed by how blasé these people were, but in a city where jump-suited people flying about were the norm… she wasn't all that surprised.
From where she stood she could clearly see the Eiffel Tower in the distance, but it was disorienting to look at. Because, from her vantage point, it looked to be small and inconsequential. Her mind couldn't wrap itself around that, knowing just how large it really was.
Shaking her head, Chloe decided to pay more attention to sights nearby. The gardens surrounding the church were well manicured and contrasted well with the masonry surrounding them. A few couples were standing on the observation deck that jutted out enough to give them a good view of the city. A man and his dog were jogging along the road that surrounded the church.
And a familiar shock of red hair bent over a sketch book.
Chloe did a double take to be sure, but it did appear as though Nathanael was sitting on one of the more secluded benches, sketching. She didn't know exactly what time it was, nor where it was exactly that he lived, but she was pretty sure that he wasn't supposed to be here this late.
Normally, Chloe wouldn't care one bit about, but she was intrigued. Looking a bit closer, she noticed that he kept glancing up. He was probably sketching something nearby, then. But, as she looked longer, she noticed that he wasn't just looking up at one of the nearby fountains. Oh no, he was very obviously looking up far higher than that.
Was he looking at her?
Chloe's cheeks burned red. She was half tempted to confront him about it, but she'd had too much confrontation for today. So, instead, she let it go and took off in the direction of the Eiffel Tower.
She'd have to make her way back home soon. Knowing her luck, her father would choose to try to have a chat with her or something and discover the fact that she had left her room without permission. And, if that happened, there was no telling just how much trouble she would get into.
She landed on the tip of the tower a few moments before it began its nightly light show. It was a bit blinding so close, but it was still beautiful to behold. The lights made it difficult to see the city in the waning twilight, but she still found what she could see quite pretty.
"Good evening, Queen Bee!"
Chloe's head whipped around to find Chat Noir landing lightly beside her. His smile was as bright as ever, but he almost seemed a bit winded. Did he rush over to catch her or something?
"Hello, Chat Noir," she said carefully. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Well, I heard through the grape vine that you were out and about. Since we missed you yesterday, I thought I'd try to catch you."
She winced. So much had happened since Saturday that she'd completely forgotten about her promise to meet up with her new teammates.
"Sorry, something came up."
"That's okay! I can't tell you how many times I've struggled to find a place to transform because life-stuff got in the way. I'm sure that Ladybug has had to deal with it, too."
"What did you two want to talk about with me?"
"We mostly wanted to make sure you felt welcome, and knew the ground rules. Y'know the typical stuff that you'd go over with a new-bee."
Chloe groaned as he winked at her.
"Well, it was nice working with you," she dead-panned as she pretended to make her way to the edge.
"W-wait!" He scrambled to get to her before she could leave. "Please stick around. I—"
She sighed. "Don't worry I'm not actually going anywhere. I'm just not really in the mood right now."
"Oh. Is everything okay?"
Chloe opened her mouth and nearly spilled everything about how much trouble she'd gotten into after her first transformation, but snapped it shut before she could. Chat Noir might be a new teammate of hers, and he seemed to be the type to be genuinely concerned, but he was a complete stranger to her.
So, instead of opening up, she clamped down even tighter.
"Just… a long day," she said carefully. "So, what did you have to go over?"
She turned around to face him and found him debating over what to say to her. It looked like he really wanted to press her over what was wrong, but in the end he shook his head and answered her question.
"Mostly about how important it is to keep your identity a secret. You haven't told anyone your identity have you?"
"Of course not. Do you think I'm an idiot?"
"No. But it's still important to go over."
His accompanying frown made Chloe realize that what she'd said wasn't the response that he was looking for. Was it the tone or the words she'd used? It was hard to tell, and before she could ruminate on it too long he continued.
"I imagine that your kwami has gone over a lot of the reasons why it's important to not share identities, but we also wanted to stress how important it is to keep them a secret from each other, too."
"Wait, you and Ladybug don't know each other's identities?"
"No, we don't." It sounded as though he was a bit disappointed about that fact. "We still don't know if miraculous wielders can be akumatized or not, and, besides that, we all need a little bit of balance between our lives and superhero work, y'know?"
"I guess that makes some sense…" She crossed her arms. Yes, it made some sense, but there were quite a few scenarios that came to mind where it wouldn't. It certainly explained how caged the two were around even each other during the gala. "But how do you coordinate or contact each other in an emergency?"
"We… manage. Also we're able to leave messages for each other on our weapons, which helps a lot."
"How do you do that?"
Chat cocked his head curiously. "We just… call each other? Here, I'll show you."
He pulled out his baton and tapped the paw print on it. A moment later it slid up a small degree to display a screen. He angled it so that she could see it better. On it was a rather simplistic display, but there was a call button. He tapped it and on the next screen a ladybug symbol and a bee symbol popped up. His eyebrows went up in surprise.
"I guess Plagg already added you in."
"Huh," Chloe said in consideration. She looked down to the satchel on her hip. Did that mean that if she tapped the yellow hexagon in the center that it would transform itself into a phone or something?
Deciding to try it out, she pressed into the center of the flower. At first it didn't do anything. But then, suddenly, it rearranged itself into a phone the size of the center hexagon and of the same shape. Swiping across the surface of the "phone", Chloe was greeted with Lyssa's version of her a smart phone. It was just as simplistic as Chat Noir's display, but there were a few other apps available. Deciding to investigate them later, she opened contacts and found Ladybug and Chat Noir listed.
"Anyways," Chat said. "If we're ever suited up and the other isn't, we just call each other and leave messages for each other. It's a little inconvenient at times, but it allows us to keep our identities safe while we communicate with each other.
"Have you ever tried getting fake numbers and using that?"
Chat Noir blinked. "We… hadn't thought of that."
Chloe scoffed.
"Hey give us a break! We don't know everything there is to know about this."
She stopped short. "You don't?"
"Well, no. It seems that kwamis like the 'learn as you go' approach to all of this. " He rolled his eyes. "I didn't even know what this baton did until I was using it. "
"That's because you didn't ask," Ladybug drawled as she landed beside the two of them.
Chloe immediately went rigid. "Ladybug! What a surprise!"
"Hi, Queen Bee. How have you been?"
"Oh, things have been swell!" Chloe pushed a blinding smile forward. She might feel conflicted over telling Chat Noir the truth, but not Ladybug. There was no way that she'd bother her hero with any of her problems.
Ladybug had better things to do than worry about her.
"That's good. We missed you yesterday, did something come up?"
"Yeah, sorry about that. I really wanted to make the meeting, but you know how family can be."
Ladybug smiled. "Yes, it can be hard to balance the two. Did you already give her the run down, Kitty?"
"Yup! I think she understands why keeping our identities is so important," Chat said.
"Did you bring up the idea of patrols?"
Chat shook his head. "I hadn't made it that far yet."
"What about patrols?" Chloe asked.
"Well," Ladybug began, "After what happened on Saturday we were considering the idea of taking turns patrolling the city. I don't think we could cover every night, but if we each took a night and then have a joint one on the weekend, then we could cover a majority of the week."
"Don't you do that already?"
"We tried for a little bit last year, but I think we bit off more than we could chew. Between our busy schedules and attacks during the day, it became too much to handle. "
"And, because we noticed a trend of most attacks happening during the day, it seemed unnecessary after a while," Chat chimed in. "I think that a schedule like that would make a lot of sense, my lady."
"What do you think, Queen Bee?"
"Well, for the next week I have an over-abundance of free time at night," Chloe said with a huff. "But, without my phone I have no idea what my schedule looks like after that."
"How about this," Ladybug said, "we'll go over what a typical patrol looks like today, we divvy up this week, and then meet up on Friday or Saturday night to go over schedules?"
Chloe winced. "I won't have my phone back by then."
Ladybug's forehead creased. Chloe could tell that she was trying to piece together why on earth she wouldn't be able to access her phone. All of a sudden, understanding dawned on her face and she smiled sympathetically.
"You got in trouble for last Saturday, didn't you?"
Chloe nodded.
"That sucks," Chat Noir said. "Are you like grounded or something?"
Chloe wished that she hadn't opened her big mouth. As Chloe she would have complained up a storm about it, but she'd hoped that she could appear like a real superhero to them. How was she supposed to be their peer if she let her problems get in the way of her superhero duties?
"Yeah," she admitted. "My father wasn't too happy so he decided to ground me pretty harshly."
They didn't need to know exactly why, though.
"There've been times my parents have grounded me, too," Ladybug said. She gave her an empathetic look and a small pat on the shoulder. "How long are you going without your phone?"
"A week. He took everything else, too," Chloe pouted. "I don't know how on earth he thinks I can survive without anything besides, books and magazines for a whole week is besides me."
"That's pretty harsh," Chat Noir sympathized. "I've actually been pretty lucky and never been grounded."
"Yet," Ladybug said. "Just wait, I'm sure that it'll happen eventually."
"Why would you wish something like that on me? From what you've told me being grounded is absolutely terrible."
"I'm not wishing it on you, Kitty. I'm just saying that you run a high risk of it happening."
"I suppose so."
"Anyways," Ladybug said as she turned to Chloe, "We can make due until you can get your schedule. Then we'll go from there." She pulled out her yo-yo and checked the time. "We don't have a lot of time to patrol tonight, but we can go over some of the basics and go from there. Sound like a plan?"
"Sure does," Chat Noir said.
"Yes," Chloe agreed.
"Great!" Ladybug lassoed her yo-yo to the beam above them. "Follow my lead!"
She lead the three of them across the city, pointing out locations and paths as they went. Chloe found that she could keep pace with the two of them for a short amount of time, and then quickly lost steam after that. She thought for sure that her wings would make it easier for her. And yes, they did for a short amount of time, but, in the long run, her compatriot's experience outclassed her immensely.
In fact, not only were they more agile, she almost felt winded after they were only halfway through. It'd taken out a large chunk of her pride to ask for the pair to slow down a bit so that she could keep up. She half expected them to make fun of her. But, surprisingly, they'd both been understanding. In fac,t Ladybug seemed almost sheepish for not noticing her struggling.
After they finished up their own tour of the city, something that Chloe was grateful for, Ladybug led them back to the Eiffel Tower. With how exhausted she felt Chloe had half a mind to ask for them to stop by the hotel on the way, but she knew that would be too obvious of a request. As they landed, the tower began sparkling again.
Had they really been gone for a whole hour?
"Well, that's about it," Ladybug said. "Chat, do you have preference this week?"
"I'm usually free on Wednesday nights."
"I can take Thursday. Queen Bee, would you be free Saturday?"
"I should be."
"Awesome. How about we meet at Notre Dame at about ten?"
Chloe furrowed her eyebrows. "I thought we were doing these patrols alone?"
"Yeah, eventually," Chat Noir said, "but since you're new we thought it'd be a good idea to pair up with you."
"You don't think I can do it, do you?" Chloe clamped her mouth shut as soon as the words were out. She knew that wasn't what he meant, but she'd lashed out on instinct.
"We just thought it'd be a good idea until you felt more comfortable with it," Ladybug said. It was obvious that she didn't appreciate Chloe's tone, but she let it slide. "Also, we don't know what Hawk Moth is up to. What if he decides to attack us directly again?"
"That… makes sense."
Chat pulled out his baton and frowned at the little display. "I should probably get going. It's getting pretty late."
"How late?"
"It's a little after eleven."
"Oh geeze." Ladybug winced. "We should all get a move on then."
"Yeah. It was nice getting to know you better, Queen Bee. I look forward to working with you more."
Chloe took the proffered hand and shook it. "Likewise."
"See you later, Bugaboo."
"Sure, see you next time, Kitty."
And, with that, Chat Noir was disappearing into the dark city. Chloe could somewhat make out where he was, but soon she lost him amongst all of the buildings.
"Well, I'll see you Saturday, Queen Bee."
"See you then."
Ladybug sent herself flying through the air in the opposite direction from Chat Noir. Chloe wondered if that was the real direction of Ladybug's house. More likely, though, it wasn't and she would weave back and forth before going home. In all reality, Chloe should do the same, but she was exhausted now and wanted nothing more than to go to bed. Taking off, Chloe flew towards home and didn't stop until she was landing on her balcony.
Thankfully, it looked as though no one had been in her room since she'd left. Dropping her transformation, she felt the exhaustion sink deep into her. She eyed her bed in longing, but she knew better than to go to bed without washing up first. So, instead, she gathered her clothes and made her way to her bathroom.
"Do you feel any better, Chloe?" Lyssa asked she came to float beside her, fruit snack in hand.
"All I want to do is go to bed now," she whined. "I thought having super powers would make doing all that exercise easier."
"It does, but it doesn't take all of the strain off of your body. That's one of the reasons why I was encouraging you to spend some time tonight training. It's going to take your body some time to adjust."
"But Ladybug and Chat Noir never looked like they struggled with being exhausted."
"Perhaps they are both just a bit more fit in their everyday lives or they never showed it on camera."
"I guess." Chloe turned on the tap. "Does this mean that I'll have to… exercise?"
"It wouldn't hurt. Though going out on patrols twice a week with Ladybug and Chat Noir will also help you improve your endurance. Perhaps you can even ask them to spar with you so that you'll be more prepared for the next akuma attack."
"I'll… think about it. Right now all I want to do is take a bath and then go to bed."
"That's understandable. I would recommend not taking too long, though, Wouldn't want you to fall asleep in here," Lyssa laughed.
"I won't fall asleep!" Chloe blushed. "Now get out!"
"Fine, fine. Have an enjoyable time."
Without waiting for Chloe to respond, Lyssa flew through the wall and, presumably, went off to do her own thing while she waited. Chloe shook her head and went about taking a relaxing bath. She would never admit it, but she found herself nodding off a couple of times, but she was able to finish without drowning.
She crawled into bed and didn't even have the energy to chastise Lyssa for snuggling too close to her. She could feel her mind wanting her to over-analyze everything that happened while she was out with Ladybug and Chat Noir, her body, on the other hand, wanted nothing more than to go to sleep.
She had to agree with it, though. So much had happened today and she'd much rather sleep than spend hours thinking about what she could have done differently today. Hopefully, after a good night's sleep she would be able to figure out what to do about Sabrina.
And, with that hope in mind, she allowed herself to fall asleep.
Thanks for reading!
Small life update: Things are evening out bit better than they had been! That means that I have had more and less time to work on writing. XD Technically I've had more time, but my friends and family have also realized that I have more time so... you can imagine how they steal quite a bit of that time. Not that I'm really complaining much, overnights did a lot more damage than I realized they had and I've been putting it all back together, bit by bit. I've also fallen head over heels with the anime my hero academia so... if you're into that I'm sure that there'll be some content for that coming out at some point.
Also, I normally don't comment on canon stuff in these little notes (and I'll leave all of my ranting and raving for my blog) but I just wanted to let you guys know that none of what has happened in the latest episodes will be swaying this story. We're pretty far in as it is, and I'm pretty sure all of you guys knew that already, but I just wanted to make it clearer. I have my own ideas for Chloe and the potential that she has so I'll just keep plugging away until this comes to a conclusion.
Anyways, as always, please let me know what you think! This chapter was a bit slower, but things'll pick up a bit on the next go around, don't worry!
