Meanwhile, the moment Chat returned to the group, Caline grabbed his arm "Okay, I thought it through, and I have a plan. I need to borrow you." She turned to the group. "You guys cool if we duck out?"

Chat blinked. "Wait, what?"

"Go ahead," Chloé said, gesturing to Adrien. "I'm not using him. Feel free."

"Come on, you," Mamabug said as she dragged Chat towards a classroom. Chloé watched Caline shut the door behind them and then turned her attention to Alya.

The fox hero was standing still, her arms crossed. She had been like that the entire time Caline had been gone, and at first Chloé was fine to ignore her. She and Alya had never been what anyone would call friends, after all. It was no skin off Chloé's back if the reporter was having a bad relationship day.

But the more Chloé tried to focus on the newsfeed on her top, the more she kept finding her attention drifting to the fox hero, and the more it did, the more Chloé felt something deep inside of her start to bubble up.

It wasn't until Caline came back (and then promptly left) that Chloé realized to her horror what she was feeling.

'Oh no,' she thought as she looked to Alya.

'Oh God. Is this empathy?'

Chloé shuddered. She saw how red Alya's eyes were from crying.

'NonononoNONONOAAAAAAAAAAND I feel bad for her.'

Chloé sighed. She forced herself to look away from her top as she turned towards Alya.

'Fuck everything about today.'

After a minute, Alya finally noticed Chloé staring at her and snapped, "What? You wanna say something? Wanna comment? Just spit it out!" She sniffed and looked away. "I know you're gonna rip me up, so just get it over with already."

Chloé considered her for a moment. She slipped a compartment open on her top and took out a juice.

"Here," Chloé said as she handed it to a confused Alya.

Alya hesitantly accepted the drink. "Um, thank you?"

Chloé nodded and then moved to stand beside her, mirroring her pose.

"So, um, sometimes? I have thoughts about people other than Sabrina," Chloé said.

Alya nearly choked on her juice. "What?"

Chloé frowned. "I didn't stutter."

"Sorry," Alya said, confused. "I just, are you opening up to me?"

"Commiserating," Chloé corrected her. "I get it. Sometimes, you feel like you're not at the same level. Sometimes you question things, and it leaves you feeling unsure." She glanced at Alya. "But that doesn't mean you don't love each other. Like, you two in particular are the most disgusting couple… Second most disgusting couple in our school. So what if you're unsure? Or if you've had second-thoughts? So what if you're not perfectly in tune all the time? Show me a couple who is."

"But now he thinks I don't love him," Alya said, her voice cracking.

"Oh bullshit," Chloé said. She rolled her eyes for good measure. "Nino is 100% committed to you and you're about as easy to read as a large-print preschool book. He knows damn good and well you love him. That's not the issue- you heard him just now. That boy is going to follow you to Hell and back. He just needs to know that when its his turn to go, you'll be by his side."

Alya looked intently at her juice can as Chloé put her top away.

"You were right," Chloé continued. "True love is about commitment, compromise, and also understanding. It's not perfect, and it's never going to be perfect, but you can be on the same page, and I think that's what our special friend over there is asking for. So, like, don't beat yourself up. Or do. Whatever, I don't really care."

Alya snorted. "But, that's the problem. We need a couple that's in tune with one another." She looked around. "Um, maybe we shouldn't have gotten rid of Marinette. Is Adrien outside?"

Chloé shrugged. "Dunno. Dunno if she even can help. You know what's up with her?"

Alya shifted, slightly uneasy. "What do you mean?"

Chloé eyed her. "Nothing."

They thought about it.

"There's Mylene and Ivan," Alya noted.

Chloé nodded. "And Nathaniel and Marc. They constantly have to be in tune. They tell a story together."

Alya nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Their latest arc is pretty good." She eyed Chloé. "You subscribe to their feed?"

"Hell yes I do," Chloé said. "They did that whole Dawn of Queen Bee storyline. In return, I've been funding their advertising campaign. They get a bonus every time I'm mentioned."

Alya eyed her. "That explains the special. Huh. Yeah, but, um, are they a couple?"

"Yes," Chloé said without hesitation.

"Man," Alya said. "They kept that low-key. How'd you know about that?"

Chloé shrugged. "I see things."

"And you didn't mock them for it?"

Chloé shot Alya an angry look. "Are... Are you serious? Okay, what the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Nothing!" Alya said defensively. "You just strike me as the type to, well, exploit people. Is all."

Chloé crossed her arms and shot Alya some side-eye. "There's a difference between being a bitch and being a fucking bigot. I grew up in the fashion industry. I saw so much that by the age of six, sexuality to me was as varied as flavors of pie. And in case you haven't noticed, I'm currently very open about the fact that I'm fucking a goddess, so I can't exactly call the kettle black, now can I? Seriously, what kind of person do you think I am?"

Alya shrugged. "Honestly? A world-class bitch."

"Thank you," Chloé said with a smile. "And a world-class bitch can do far better than shame someone for their sexual preferences. I'd go after their artistic talents, first. Then their hair, but that would be picking low hanging fruit. There's also their individual family's income, their clothing, the whiny tone in Marc's voice, the plushy that Nathaniel still sleeps with..."

"Okay, okay! I get it. Christ, just stop." Alya considered the blonde beside her for a moment. "You're actually alright. You know, when you're not being you."

"And you're the worst Goddamn reporter I've ever seen," Chloé said. "You know, while we're laying everything out and all. Just thought I'd mention that."

"Excuse me?" Alya sputtered.

Chloé glanced at her. "Lila."

Alya looked away and crossed her arms. "Everyone makes mistakes."

Chloé just smirked.

They stood and watched as their science teacher moaned and rolled around on her desk.

"I'm never going near that desk again," Chloé said.

"That desk has seen some things," Alya agreed.

They shuddered.

"By the way?" Chloé said. "This never happened, and I'll put you through a wall if you tell anyone I was nice to you."

Alya smirked. "Like they'd believe me."

As soon as they were safely in the classroom, Caline turned to Adrien. "Okay, I have a plan and I need your help."

Chat nodded, eager to be useful. "Right! Tell me what you need me to do!"

Caline held out her hand. "Give me your miraculous."

Chat blinked. "Wait, what?"

"I know," Caline said, cringing. "Look, I think… I think I know what we need to do here, but for this to work, I need you to give me Plagg for this one."

"But why?" Chat asked, honestly offended. "I mean, I can do this, I promise I can! I'm… This is what I'm good at."

Caline saw the look on Chat's face. "Oh kiddo," she said. She stepped forward and hugged him. "Hey. You're amazing. And you've done so much and dealt with so much in the last couple of weeks. I am so proud of you, you know that?"

Chat nodded. She had told him that almost every day since he had taken up residency at the hotel. At first, he was content to take a standard room, but neither Chloé nor Caline were having any of it. Within a day, his room was reassigned to be down the hall from the rest of them, and as a result, Adrien had found himself sitting down to dinner with Chloé, Sabrina, Caline, and André every evening he wasn't at his fiancé's, and to a family breakfast every morning before school.

It was weird, but a good weird. Adrien had gone from having practically no family contact to being forced to split his time between two manic households who were showing him more love than he had ever felt in his life. Marinette's parents had completely adopted him, while Caline hovered over him at the hotel like a mother hen. Also, both Chloé and Sabrina had slipped into sister roles so fast it had made his head spin. Chloé would dote over him and shower him with attention, while he was discovering Sabrina was more of a conspiratorial partner.

It was Chloé that would moan about wanting late night snacks or sneaking into the pool after hours. It was Sabrina who would break into the hotel kitchen or swipe a pool card. Not that they even had to- it was more just for the thrill of acting like they were doing something they weren't supposed to.

And of course security knew what they were up to, but hey, Chloé's dad owned the hotel. They got a pass.

Often times if Adrien couldn't sleep, Sabrina would play video games with him. When he was feeling lonely, Chloé would take him out for the afternoon. And when he was feeling sad and was struggling with his thoughts about his father, it was Caline who had sat down with him and given him a journal to help write down his feelings.

In fact, between the casual love and attention she focused on him and the genuine caring and praise she was giving daily, Caline was quickly filling a role that Adrien didn't know he so desperately needed in his life as of late.

And the girls?

Both Chloé and Sabrina were welcoming and kind towards him. Both had always wondered what it would be like to have a brother, and he was their ideal candidate.

Everything came into focus for Adrien about three days into his stay. He had come home from school and an afternoon fight against Mr. Pigeon to find a sandwich, a tea, and a strawberry danish on a tray by his bed. There was also a note from Caline telling him how proud she was of him, and what a good job he had done on his math test. Chloé had scribbled underneath it that they were having a movie night that night- no excuses (and that he could invite a plus one if he had to). Sabrina left a side note asking what snacks he would like and a doodle of the three of them together with a little heart.

He broke down sobbing in his room, completely overwhelmed by the casual, wonderful feeling of being loved, and how alien it was. The note was carefully placed in a drawer beside his bed.

It was soon joined by many others.

In short, Adrien was just so happy to feel like he was in a real family he could burst. He felt valued, and respected, and he was proud of himself for the first time in so very long. Which honestly, was why he was rather surprised to be effectively sidelined by his new surrogate mother.

"So," Adrien said, still confused. "So why not let me help? I mean, once the akuma drops the shield, I could get in there and take care of this in a second."

"I know you could, but that's not the plan this time."

"But, but..." Chat floundered.

"Hey," Caline said, looking him in the eye. "Do you trust me?"

Chat nodded.

"Then trust me, kiddo." She gently patted the side of his head. "I know what I'm doing."

Chat blushed. The conversation felt a little too familiar for him.

"Claws in," he said. Adrien slid his ring off and handed it to Caline. He quickly wiped at his eyes and nodded. "I lo..."

He coughed.

"...Trust you," he said. "We all do."

Caline smiled and nodded. She did her best not to well up when she saw the look on his face.

'Lord, how many kids am I going to end up adopting?' She thought.

She ignored the small voice in her head that answered, 'All of them.'

"Thank you so much. I know what a huge thing this is for you. I'll be back with this soon," she said. "I promise. Wait here, okay?"

Adrien nodded as Caline headed for the window and popped it.

"Yeah," he said as Caline jumped out. "I'll wait here."

He almost said something else as she left, but he wasn't sure if he was allowed to yet.

'Maybe someday,' he thought to himself.

Rose anxiously stood outside the school with her fellow students and several waiting EMT's. Beside her was Juleka, equally anxious, but looking pretty placid to the untrained eye. They were rotating between watching the school and checking their phones for any update on what was happening.

"Gosh, they're taking forever!" Rose said, frowning.

"I know," Juleka said. "Normally, something like this is over in the space of 22 minutes, tops."

"I can think of one or two occasions that it felt like double that," Rose said.

"Well, yeah, but those were special one-offs. This is really dragging out."

Rose checked her phone. "Maybe there's something on the Ladyblog about what's going on. I don't see Alya. Maybe she snuck in?"

Juleka eyed her for a moment. "Maybe?" She offered.

"Huh," Rose said, staring at her phone. "Nothing yet…"

"Oh, my God!"

"Holy crap!"

"Your jacket rules!"

Rose blinked in confusion at the numerous cries around her. She looked up at the sound of her girlfriend letting out a scream that seemed to quickly trail off into the distance.

"Jules?" Rose said, looking around. The crowd was staring, wide-eyed, towards the school.

Juleka was mysteriously missing.

"Stop doing that!" Juleka yelled at Mamabug as they touched down on the school roof.

"Sorry!" Caline said. She stepped away from the angry goth as Juleka shook out her nervousness.

"Seriously! Like, the first time? You at least asked me." Juleka said, glaring.

"I know, I know, but, um… Time is of the essence. I've got a classroom full of kids being held hostage and none of us can get to them."

Juleka stared. "Um, okay?"

Mamabug looked her in the eyes. "But you can."

Juleka stared in disbelief as Mamabug detransformed. Caline flashed a desperate smile towards Juleka and took off the red miraculous earrings.

"So, I know you know because of the field trip," Caline said. "But the less people who know, the better."

Juleka shrugged. "I mean, like, it's kind of an unsaid thing with us. Like, most everyone knows who everyone is, but we just don't say it out of politeness. Except for Chloé. She's kind of a bitch about it." Juleka realized who she was talking to the second she said it. "Um, sorry."

"No offense taken. I'll have a talk with her. Um, look. The akuma has a shield up."

"Yeah, I heard in class," Juleka said. "Only couples can get in."

"Right," Caline said, nodding. "But it's got to be couples that are 100% on the same page. We tried with Rena Rouge and Carapace, but…"

Juleka's eyes widened at that. "Woah. That's kind of surprising. What about Mylene and Ivan?"

"They don't know who I am," Caline pointed out. "Not that they wouldn't have done a good job. Look, you were the best person I could think of for this."

Juleka blushed. "Well, thanks? I appreciate your belief in me, but, like, there's only one of me."

Caline reached out to Juleka and dropped both the Ladybug and the Black Cat miraculous in her hands.

"Then find someone you're in sync with," Caline said with a wink.

Both Tikki and Plagg appeared beside a wide-eyed Juleka as she held a miraculous in each hand.

Plagg looked her up and down, and then flashed a huge, toothy smile. He started vibrating in midair. "Oh, FUCK yes!"

"Plagg!" Tikki scolded. "Manners!" She looked to Juleka and waved. "Good to see you again, Juleka."

Juleka stared at them for a second. "Good to see you, too? So, um, right. Okay. If I'm doing this? I get to do it my way."

The kwami's nodded. "Anything you want, spooky." Plagg said. He cracked his tiny knuckles. "I have been waiting DECADES for someone like you, let me tell you! So, wow. I wasn't ready for this today, I, let me catch my breath."

Plagg held up a paw and fanned himself as he wheezed a bit. "Okay. Okay. So, lessee." He looked Juleka up and down for a moment as he started to giggle. "Goth, hot, tall… Eeeeee! There's SO MUCH WE CAN DO! I've got a badass vampire thing I can pull off. Do you like vampires? What about a punk rocker? Maybe a dominatrix or a panther woman? HOLY SHIT, I CAN MAKE A GREAT PANTHER WOMAN! Maybe a dark priest or demon nun? OH! How about a Plague doctor! Ooo! A hot Plague doctor? I… wait. Is that too on the nose this decade?"

"Plagg!" Tikki snapped. "Stop it. You're putting too much on her."

"DON'T RUIN THIS FOR ME!" Plagg shouted. He cleared his throat, and from seemingly out of nowhere, he took out a pair of spectacles and put them on. He then manifested a tiny notepad and a pen as he settled in the air in front of Juleka. "Okay. Let's get a good feel for what you're after. Do you want a psycho murderer vibe? Sinister detective? Evil Doctor? Something Egyptian? Something religious? Sacrilegious? Don't worry, I'm a god. It's cool. What are your top five favorite songs? Would you prefer being sexualized, and if so to what degree? Also, as a human girl, what do you consider sexy? Something cheese-themed, perhaps? Or would you like something more functional? Personally, I really don't care. I'm a cat. You tell me where the line is. What do you personally define as empowering? Do you like leather? How do you feel about the undead? What about boots? Do you like bells? I like bells. Chains? Straps? Just, GOD! Tell me what you want, you absolute Goddess! Make me your spooky clay. Mold me."

He lay across her hand and put his paw to his forehead.

Juleka grinned.

Notes:

I love this arc so damn hard.

NEXT TIME!

New Heroes emerge!

Marinette makes a shocking confession!

A question is asked!

And... Will the barrier finally be crossed?

Tune in tomorrow! Same Bug Time...

Chloe: Bug Time? What now?

...Same Bug Channel!