Disclaimer: I don't own ML.
People keep mentioning my daily updates here and on AO3 so I felt like I had to mention: it's already written. And it took months to write XD
Thanks to yellow 14, KaseyKay17, The Keeper of Worlds and DragoonSensei for your reviews :)
After all the excitement at the photoshoot and then Chloé's party, the next week and a half of school is thankfully quiet, with the most exciting thing being Chloé glowering at Marinette whenever Adrien's not looking because he still won't talk to her. Although to be fair, that gets old after a few days anyway.
It's not until one Thursday afternoon that things with Chloé come to a head. Marinette's just finished in the bathroom and is about to head to the cafeteria to meet up with Alya, Adrien, and Nino, when the bathroom door slams open. She jumps back, eyes darting to the stalls behind her as a quick exit with their windows if it's an akuma coming into the bathroom right now.
"Dupain-Cheng." Chloé advances on Marinette, backing her into the bathroom wall. It's only now that she's close to Chloé that Marinette can see just how…imperfect the blonde is. Chloé's makeup and clothes and hair are still impeccable, but this close to her? The way her bottom lip quivers and her eyes are ever so slightly red are very apparent.
"What is it, Chloé?" Marinette sighs. "If you're going to tear into me, it's gotten old –"
"Teach me how to be nice."
Marinette blinks. For a moment, her mouth can't find the appropriate words in her brain for this situation, and she wonders if she's stuck in some dream. Her shock must be plastered clean across her face, because Chloé huffs and crosses her arms.
"Trust me, the last thing I want is to be asking you for help," Chloé snaps. "But Adrien won't even say one word to me anymore unless it's asking if I've learned how to be nice. And since it's your fault that I lost my best friend, you can help me get him back."
"My fault?" Marinette says incredulously. "What did I do? You're the one who's been picking on me and everyone else for years! I didn't make Adrien do that to you! And if you really want him to be your friend again, you need to stop blaming everyone else for your rotten attitude!"
"That's exactly what I'm talking about!" Chloé jabs a finger at Marinette. "You have this – this stupid moral compass where you know how to be good and nice and whatever!"
"Well, do you want to be nice for Adrien? Or for yourself?" Marinette says. "If you want to be nice just to get Adrien to be your friend again, you're not going to stay nice. You're not going to want to stay nice. And I'm not going to put the effort into helping you unless I know that you'll be nice even after you get what you want. Not after you spent years bullying all of us, Chloé."
"I never had a reason to be nice before," Chloé says. "Being nice lets people walk all over you."
"Nice doesn't mean being a pushover," Marinette counters. "You can be nice and still stand up for yourself. That's something I'm learning."
"Whatever. Look, are you going to help me or not? I want my best friend back."
Marinette sighs. Is she really doing this? Yeah, she is. Doing this might help Chloé become a better person and stop bullying everyone.
"On one condition," she says. "You actually try. I don't want anything from you except a promise that you're going to try and be a better person and not just pretend to be to get what you want. And I'm not going to hold your hand and tell you what to do every step of the way."
"Yes, yes, whatever." Chloé waves a hand. "You can come to the hotel after school and start teaching me. I'm not going to waste my precious lunch time." She turns and struts out of the bathroom, leaving Marinette to try and process what had just happened and wonder if someone had tried to divide by zero and shattered the universe as they know it.
She debates all day about telling her friends about the confrontation in the bathroom, but eventually decides to stay quiet for now. Not only does she not want to give anyone false hope, but she also recognises that the trust Chloé has reluctantly shoved on her is tentative and breaking it could ruin what little chance there is of helping Chloé to be a better person.
When she gets to the hotel after school, she's stopped by the same doorman as when she'd tried to get in during Prince Ali's visit to rescue Tikki. He clearly remembers her from that time, if his unimpressed eyebrow-raise is any indication.
"I swear, I'm telling the truth," Marinette insists. "Chloé's expecting me."
"Just as she was expecting her friend last time?" the doorman drawls. Marinette huffs.
"Just ask her!" she says. "You don't even have to leave. Just get someone else to ask her and she'll tell you."
The doorman's silent for a few moments, no doubt weighing up whether she's bluffing or genuinely wants him to alert Chloé of her presence. His fear of upsetting Chloé seems to win out, as he reaches into his pocket to pull out a small phone. After a minute of Marinette fidgeting with her fingers and wondering if Chloé's just playing a huge joke, because it would be like her, the doorman clears his throat and steps aside.
"Go right on up, Miss Dupain-Cheng, and don't hesitate to ask for assistance if you need it," he says in a far friendlier tone. Marinette just smiles and slips through the massive double doors behind him, then heads for the elevator and takes it to the top floor. Once she's standing outside Chloé's bedroom door, it takes a good minute of nibbling her lip and taking deep breaths to steel herself before she's finally able to knock.
"Ugh, finally. I swear, it's so hard to find competent staff these days," Chloé scoffs when she opens the door. She stands aside to let Marinette in, and Marinette has to school her features into surprise and act like she hasn't seen this room plenty of times as Ladybug. Or, to be more accurate, this massive entrance chamber of Chloé's whole suite.
"It's…big," Marinette finally says.
"This? Big?" Chloé says. "Oh, right. I forgot that you're just a baker's daughter."
"You know, I can just walk right back out if you're not serious about learning to be nicer," Marinette says. "And I can't think of anyone else who'd agree to help you."
"Right, like you're not just doing this to suck up to Adrikins."
"Funnily enough, some people do things because it feels good to be nice and helpful. And if you think the only thing I'm getting out of this is impressing Adrien, you've clearly forgotten the past few years before he even came along." Marinette crosses her arms. "I'm actually being pretty selfish in doing this, you know. My life will be a whole lot better without you being mean all the time. And so will everyone else's."
"So, Dupain-Cheng's got bite." Chloé smirks and leads Marinette through the right door and into her sitting room, where a tray of snacks such as cut fruit and sushi rests on the glass table. Chloé settles herself on one of the chairs and waits until Marinette hesitantly sits down in an adjoining seat before speaking again. "Alright, chop, chop. How do I be nice?"
"First, you figure out why you want to be nice," Marinette says. "Because if it's just to make Adrien happy, I'm walking straight out of here. You have to have a reason for yourself or you'll never stay nice."
"Then why are you nice?"
"Because it makes me feel good. I like seeing people happy because of something nice that I've said or done."
"Boring," Chloé sings. Marinette resists the urge to roll her eyes.
"Well, if you're nice then people will like you," she says through gritted teeth, wondering why she even agreed to do this. "And if people like you then they'll treat you better. Which means they'll want to do more things for you."
"Wait, so I can actually get something out of being nice?" Chloé says. Marinette considers rushing out to Chloé's balcony and throwing herself over the railing.
"Not that you should want to be nice for selfish reasons, but yes," she says. "And then once it becomes habit, you'll find that you like being nice –"
"Don't worry about that part," Chloé says. "Let's focus on the part where being nice gets me stuff."
"It's not as simple as saying a few nice things," Marinette says. "You have to keep showing that you mean it, or people will see that you're being fake. I suggest you start treating Sabrina nicer."
"What do you mean? Sabrina loves me!"
"You treat her like a servant!" Marinette strongly considers throwing the piece of pineapple in her hand at Chloé – it'll blend in nicely with the other girl's hair and jacket – but she forces herself to not lose her cool. "You make her do your homework, steal for you, whatever else you say!"
"I give her gifts all the time! I gave her an old dress of mine just the other day!"
Breathe, Marinette. Breathe. Don't beat up the annoying blonde. "Just because you give Sabrina your old things doesn't mean that you're being nice to her," she says. "Try thanking her for doing your homework. Ask her opinion on things and don't think that she agrees just because she rushes to back you up. Treat her like an actual person."
"Okay, sure, whatever. Is that all I have to do? Sabrina's coming over to do my homework for me right about now and I don't want her seeing us associating like this."
Marinette forces a smile and says, "Oh, there's a lot more to being nice, Chloé. A lot more. But that's for you to figure out, not for me to coddle you over. And I've got some homework for you to do without Sabrina's help."
"Wait, there's homework?" Chloé whines. "I didn't know you'd be making this like school!"
"Your homework is to think of a nice thing to say about every single person in our class." Marinette ignores Chloé's complaining, for her own sanity. "Then you're going to go up to each person and say it tomorrow. I really don't care if you can't bring yourself to do it for me, but I want you to do it for everyone else. And no, it can't be a backhanded compliment," she says before Chloé can even open her mouth. "It has to be something genuinely nice."
"But what if there's nothing nice to say?" Chloé says. "What if their outfit and their hair and everything is ugly?"
"Think of something!" Marinette throws her hands up. "Offer them advice if you absolutely have to, just in a helpful way! If you want to be nice then you need to practice, and you need to make others believe that you're trying."
"This is all such hard work," Chloé sighs, sprawling dramatically in her chair.
"Which is something you need a lot of practice at," Marinette deadpans.
"Oh, whatever. Get out of here, Dupain-Cheng. And you're not to come back unless I ask you to."
"Believe me, it's not like I'd want to come unless I had to."
There's a twisted sense of curiosity about Marinette when she races to school the next day as to what exactly Chloé's going to say, or if she's even done the homework in the first place. Everyone else is already in the classroom by the time a breathless Marinette tumbles through the door, although no one spares her a second glance, no doubt used to her being late all the time by now.
"Girl, I think there's an akuma or something," Alya comments when Marinette sits down.
"Akuma? Where?" Marinette bolts upright, ready to make her excuses and rush off to transform. In front of her, she notices that Adrien's back is stiff as a rod, although she doesn't pay it much mind when she's already scanning for the threat.
"Chloé." Alya points at Chloé, who's sitting in her usual seat with crossed arms and a scowl. "She said that she thought Rose's dress was sickeningly cute in a princess-y kind of way. Then she said that Nathaniel could at least draw more than basic shapes. She's being…kind of nice again."
Marinette fights to keep the smile off her face. Maybe Chloé really was genuine about wanting to change and be nice. As if reading her mind, Chloé looks over her shoulder at Marinette and curls her lip, although there's nowhere near the usual amount of malice present in her sneer. When Marinette smiles at her, she sniffs and looks back at the front, ponytail whipping around.
"Thank…you…for doing my homework, Sabrina," Chloé says loudly. Her voice carries across the classroom, although this is probably just because everyone's gone dead silent to stare at her. Sabrina looks like she's questioning reality.
"Um…it's no problem, Chloé?" the redhead says slowly. "You know you don't have to thank me for it."
"Well, I thought it would be…nice. To show that I…appreciate you. You're…a good friend."
"What the heck is going on?" Marinette hears Alix mutter from the other side of the classroom. "Did an akuma zap her or something?"
"Oh, thank you, Chloé!" Sabrina throws her arms around Chloé, who stiffens and puts on a pained smile.
"You're wrinkling my jacket!" the blonde says. Sabrina immediately lets go.
"Sorry!"
"It looks like Chloé can be nice if she wants," Marinette says loudly. Chloé turns to shoot her a death glare but when Marinette just nods down at Adrien, Chloé's glare immediately morphs into a big smile.
"Of course I can, Dupain-Cheng!" Chloé says. "You see, Adrikins?"
"I'm proud of you, Chloé," Adrien says, leaning forward to rest his weight on his forearms. "I hope you keep it up so that we can be friends again."
Chloé's smile turns rather forced. "…Sure, Adrikins. Of course."
Marinette just sits back in her seat to survey her handiwork rather smugly. If she was a meaner person then she'd probably take a lot more joy in the power she has over Chloé…but she's not like Chloé, so she just keeps her less than savoury thoughts to herself and waits for Ms Bustier to arrive and start the lesson.