AN: This is a continuation of the last chapter. Again, Fox!Alya is Volpina for lack of a better term.

The next time Nathanael saw Chloe outside of school, she was Queen Bee.

There had been an akuma attack, and Nathanael had unknowingly walked right into it. Again.

I've really gotta start following these things better, he thought. Or not following, I guess.

She paused briefly when she saw him, her eyes flashing with...well, he wasn't sure, then she kept fighting the akumatized person on her own. Where were Ladybug and Chat Noir? Where was Volpina?

Nathanael was caged and trapped along with twenty other civilians, his only hope Queen Bee. He knew she'd save him—er, them. It wasn't a matter of whether she could, but rather whether she wanted to.

But she did. She took down the akuma victim, Ladybug arriving in time to break the object with the akuma and purify the black butterfly.

The cage door opened, Queen Bee on the other side, refusing to look at him. When the rest had cleared out and it was just the two of them standing in the cramped cage, concealed from the rest of the world, he spoke.

"Thanks," he mumbled, but he couldn't walk away. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get himself to move.

Because he wanted to see her. Didn't he deserve to be happy too?

No Nath. Not if it breaks her.

So he'd have to start following the Ladyblog and the news to avoid any more akuma attacks, to avoid her. He didn't think he could bring himself to read the Buzz On Queen Bee. Not yet. And maybe not ever.

Because if he couldn't pull himself away for her own good when he was this close to her, he didn't deserve to even read about her.

She looked behind her cautiously—she was thinking of leaving—but she turned back around, putting a hand on her hip. "You're disappointed." Her stance was casual enough, but her eyes were wary and guarded.

"What?"

"That I'm Queen Bee." She sounded sadder than he'd ever heard her sound. "You liked her, but when you found out she was me, you ran."

He took a deep breath. Was that what it looked like to her? Was it possible she really wanted him to stay?

"I didn't run." He tilted his head. "I didn't mean to. I thought..."

But he didn't finish.

Instead he stepped towards her, and they were suddenly standing face to face, only inches away.

He reached to touch her, brushing his thumb along her jaw then curling a stray lock of hair with his finger. If she had known there had been a stray lock of hair, he was sure she wouldn't be standing in front of him any longer. He watched the color rise in her cheeks as he pushed the hair back behind her ear, but she didn't pull away, so he got closer still.

He pressed his forehead against hers, feeling the shaky breath she drew in as her eyes closed.

He had never been an impulsive person; he always thought things through, then re-thought them through again and again until he knew every detail, every option, every second. But he wasn't himself now. Standing so near her, he was better. He was what he'd always dreamed of being.

He was Super Nathan.

So he didn't have to think this through. Even if he did, it would always come back to her, to what he really wanted.

He wanted to close the space between them. No matter how his mind spun it, he knew he'd ultimately return to that.

Right then and there, he didn't have to think thrice or twice or even once. He could be impulsive. He could kiss her knowing there was absolutely no other option—nothing else he wanted to do in that moment.

So he did. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her.

She was hesitant at first, but when he pressed his hands into her back, she melted into him and kissed him back.

He'd dreamed about this—kissing Queen Bee—but knowing Chloe was behind the mask made it sweeter than he ever could have imagined.

The flash of light pulled her away from the kiss—from him—and he let her go, afraid to ask too much. Chloe's face stared back at him, shock and a hint of embarrassment written in her features. "I-I shouldn't have done that," she whispered, suddenly shy. She really hadn't done anything; he had instigated it, and he wasn't the least bit sorry. "I should go."

But she didn't move, and he took it as a good omen—one they both deserved.

"You don't have to go." He gulped down his nervousness. He'd never said such serious things to anyone before. He was always so shy—where was Super Nathan now?—but he forced it out of his throat anyway; she needed to know. "You can stay here. With me."

She raised her startled blue eyes to him—eyes that were overflowing with questions and fears that cascaded down her cheeks in tears.

He pulled her into a hug, partly because he wanted to hold her close, partly because he wanted to comfort her, and partly because he knew she didn't want to be seen crying.

"Why are you even still here?" she murmured into his shoulder.

He couldn't answer that. Not out loud. Not yet.

Instead he turned it around on her. "Will you tell me what's wrong?"

He had never really known. He knew she was hurting—why would anyone be so mean otherwise?—but he didn't know specifically why. He'd assumed it had something to do with her mother, but he didn't know how to ask without making her close up on him again.

He felt her cringe against him at his words. "Maybe," she said finally. "But not today."

He smiled. "I thought so."

She leaned back and smiled up at him in return. "I don't know how you do it, but you always make me feel better." He hadn't realized until now, but this entire time he was somehow healing the wounds in her heart that had been left unattended her whole life. "I guess I've got no experience, though. I'm always the one causing pain." She winced. "I guess I should apologize for that."

He shook his head. "It's okay. You didn't mean it." His hand slithered into the one resting on his chest. "Not all the time."

"No." She shrugged. "But some of the time I did."

"Everyone has bad days."

She pursed her lips at him, and it took all his strength not to tackle her and kiss her again. She needed him now to listen, and once their lips touched, he knew his mind would be far, far up in the clouds.

"You're too nice to me and you know it."

He bit his lip to keep from leaning in again. "You deserve it a lot more than you think."

Chloe pulled back, untangling herself from him and his body went cold from the lack of her warmth, from the tight expression on her face. "I'm not who you think I am. I can't be that person."

Nathanael frowned. "You already are."

"No," she negated. "I'm really not."

He had said the wrong thing—he knew that now—but he didn't know if he could fix it by continuing to talk.

He wouldn't give up, though. He had to try.

He put a hand on her shoulder, and she flinched ever so slightly that he wondered if she'd pull away; she didn't—not yet at least. "You're Queen Bee, and she helps people." Couldn't she see that she already wasn't controlled by the pain she felt, that she was already a good person? "You help people." He placed his other hand on her other shoulder, hoping to make sure she wouldn't run away from him again. "No matter what you think about yourself, there are people who care about you."

"People?" she asked in unbelief.

Nathanael couldn't keep the smile off his face. "At least one that I can think of."

She inhaled until he thought she might explode, then let the air out slowly. "I want to be the girl you think I am." She nodded. "I'll need your help though."

"I'll be happy to help."

She nodded again, still thinking it through in her head. "And I need you. Just in general."

He smiled. "I like that."

Chloe gave him a small smirk, somewhat returned to her normal, sassy self. "Of course you do."

"I like you."

She wore a smug look on her face now, but the laughter in her eyes held no haughtiness. "Of course you do."