DISCLAIMER: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or its characters. Nor do I own the artwork for the story cover.

All rights go to respective owners.

One Shot 1: The Art of Affection

Chloe Bourgeois walked like a moaning mummy into her physics class. She rubbed her eyes sleepily as she'd been out almost all night as Queen Bee. She alongside Ladybug and co. had to stop another one of Hawkmoth's akumatized victims, who was just a little girl who wanted to stay up all night and made every sleeping person in Paris into sleepwalking zombies. Chloe let out a yawn as she sat down beside her best friend and personal assistant Sabrina. The ginger haired girl got Chloe's books and pencil case out for her and set them up in front of Chloe like she normally would.

"Feeling tired Miss Bourgeois?" Ms. Mendeleiev spoke sternly to Chloe, noticing her tired look. "If you fall asleep in this class, I'm making you stay behind."

"Eeh… Whatever." Chloe moaned back. She wasn't thinking clearly.
"Chloe!" Sabrina said, now trying to get her to wake up. Ms. Mendeleiev just frowned.

"Fair enough. You'll stay behind." She said before walking back up to her desk.

"Hey! No fair! I wasn't sleeping!" The blonde girl called back to her teacher as she stood up from her seat, now coming awake from hearing that comment.

"You were rude to the teacher Chloe. You'll be staying behind and that's final."

"Ugh! Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!"
Chloe slumped back into her seat, pouting like the spoiled girl she was. Much to the delight of the other students, especially Marinette and Alya.

During the class as Ms. Mendelevive droned on to the class about particles, fields of motion and things like that, a certain boy whose hair was as red as a fresh ripe tomato was busy doodling in one of his many sketchpads.

"Ahem. Nathaniel…" Ms. Mendeleiev called up to him. He looked up to see the purple haired woman with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face.

"Yes Miss?" Asked Nathaniel, peering up from the brim of his book.

"I suppose your artwork is more important than the lesson?"

"N-no Miss. I just wanted to get it finished while the idea is still in my head."

"Well you can finish it. When you stay behind after class is over. Now put the art book down and focus on your textbook." Ms. Mendeleiev finished before turning back to the interactive board.

The defeated artist sighed quietly and closed his sketchbook.

One long lesson about the formulas of forces and motion later, everyone had packed up and moved on towards their next class. All except Chloe and Nathaniel who were now sitting at the front of the class. Chloe just looked straight ahead, her head resting on her hand while Nathaniel sat there, trying not to sink himself deeper into trouble. Ms Mendeleiev was looking around her desk for something with little success of finding it.

"Oh come on…" she grumbled. "Where did I set those papers?!"

The two students watched with some amusement as their teacher looked through drawer after drawer, frustration growing with each passing second.

"I'll be right back." She said to them before storming over to the door. She stopped before going out and turned to Chloe and Nathaniel. "I expect you to be sitting there when I get back."

The teacher left the room, leaving the two students alone in the room with each other. Now, Chloe didn't particularly like Nataniel because he was a nerdy artist who drew lame pictures and Nathaniel didn't like Chloe because she could be rude and snobbish so the two didn't want to make eye contact with each other.

Chloe took out her expensive looking compact mirror and inspected her flawless face. She smiled a smug grin at her reflection.

"Oh Chloe…" the vain mayor's daughter thought to herself, "you are the most perfect girl in the world and don't you forget it!"

In the corner of her eye, she spotted Nathaniel taking out his sketch pad. The cover was green and very creased, showing its age and that it was used quite often. Stickers of superhero logos and fantasy symbols were plastered all over it. The redhead took out a pencil and was about to draw…

"So, you're just going to start doodling again behind the teacher's back? And I thought you were a good student." came Chloe's snarky voice, still looking at him through the corner of her eye and not directly.

"You're one to talk." Nathaniel replied back in a low mutter, not really interested in arguing the toss with the blonde haired girl. Chloe's eye twitched.

"And what's that supposed to mean?!" she snapped.

"You were gawking at yourself in the mirror just now, making silly faces."

"I was admiring my reflection you dweeb! Besides, at least I look better than any of your stupid drawings. That beaten up book probably contains all kinds of lame superhero fan art."

The artist didn't reply. He didn't take kindly to people blindly insulting his work. He prefered constructive criticism.

As time went on and with no sign of Ms Mendeleiev to stop him, Nathaienl kept working on his next project. His pencil making the idea in his head become reality on the page. He was concentrating to get all the finer details right because as the saying goes, the devil is in the detail and it was especially true for him.

Chloe was fiddling on her 4th new phone this month. She was playing a Ladybug themed game she downloaded when she looked up over the phone to Nathaniel looking down at his now finished masterpiece, smiling happily.

"Admiring your ugly doodle, tomato?" The girl asked him rudely.

"Yes. Yes I am." The aspiring creator replied smugly to get back at her. This just made her cross.

"Then let me see it then!" Chloe demanded. "I wanna see how lame… this… is?"

The drawing was of Queen Bee and another superhero was wearing a red and blue full body outfit with a spider logo on his chest, swinging into action side by side.

"Wait… It's not… Ladybug?" She asked him, raising an eyebrow at him. "I mean… I thought you were a complete Ladybug fanboy like that bla bla blogger Alya is."

Nathinel shook his head, making his long red hair move from side to side quickly.

"No. Well… Yeah, I like Ladybug. I mean, who doesn't?"

"Hawkmoth." Chloe answered quickly. The two shared a quick chuckle before he pressed on.

"But I prefer Queen Bee. She's just as kind, smart and heroic as Ladybug is." he continued. "And together with her teammates, she's an unstoppable force for good against Hawkmoth and his Akuma."

A small blush had began to form on Chloe's cheeks. Nathaniell then blushed himself as he looked away.

"And… I really like her style." he muttered. "She really rocks that outfit. Probably explains why I draw her so much."

By this point, Chloe's face was almost as red as the boy's hair. She looked away as not to draw any attention to herself.

"I… I was not expecting that." she thought. "He's a fan of ME?! But, he hates me when I'm… me. But still…" the girl shook her head. "No! Chloe, you only have eyes for Adrikins! Not this red haired tomato artist who… who… really brings out my curves when he draws me as Queen Bee…"

She peeked over at him again, watching him sign the drawing. A rare genuine happy smile came onto her lips.

"Plus he's quite nice too." She thought whilst looking at the drawing. She then decided to speak up.

"Hey Nathaniel." Chloe said in a polite manner, which was unusual for her.

"Yes Chloe?" he answered, setting his pencil down.

"I-"

Before she could answer, footsteps could be heard coming up towards the classroom door. The two students panicked and quickly put their things away before they were spotted with them out and would have them confiscated.

"You wanted to as-"

"Later. Right now, just sit down and shut up."

After the school day was done and the two students had gotten an extra physics assignment from Ms. Mendeleiev, Chloe saw Nathaniel waving goodbye to his friends Max and Kim.

"See you online then!" The redhead called to them as he waved.

"Hey Tomato." Said Chloe from behind. He turned to face her.

"Oh… Hey Goldilocks." He retorted.

Chloe just rolled her eyes."Yeah… Great comeback. Anyways, I came to ask-"

"If it's about the assignment. No. I have no clue how the formulas work."

"It's not about that! Sabrina's doing it for me anyway. I came over to ask you if…"

Nathaniel just looked confused. What was up with Chloe? She never came over unless she wanted to belittle you, let alone ask you something.

"If what?" He enquired, noticing Chloe's slight blush on her cheeks.

"If… You could do a… request for me… Please." She asked quickly. He was taken back a bit by what she just said. She normally didn't like art and he'd never heard her say please in a polite once.

"Uh… Sure." he replied. "What do you want?"

"A picture of Queen Bee looking heroic as always. With her on the roof of the Le Grand Paris hotel."

"OK. I'll have it done by Thursday."

"Good. Now don't be a slacker! I expect the best artwork possible!"

"Don't you worry. I'll make sure it's done to your standards."

Nathaniel went to head out to go back home, but Chloe called him back.

"Wait! I forgot to say this earlier." she said as she came up to him, standing for a moment before saying what she had to say. "I don't think your art is ugly. Or garbage. Or anything for that matter. You're… a good artist Nathaniel. That's all I have to say."

The boy almost couldn't talk. Chloe was not only being polite, but now she was complimenting him. What had this imposter done with the real Chloe Bourgeois?

"T-Thanks Chloe. I'll see you tomorrow then." was all he could say to her before he left, trying to make sense of what had just happened that day, leaving a blushing blonde girl at the school entrance.

Chloe took out her phone and called Sabrina.

"Sabrina… I need an herbal tea. Like… yesterday."