mind over mask

fifty

Marinette's POV

"Chloe. Chloe. Chloe!" I freaked out over the phone. My heart was still pounding from what happened only hours before. I had just gotten back from the police station, after giving my report to Commissioner Gordon himself.

I called the first person I trusted. I couldn't call my parents, they'd drag me back to Paris if they ever found out about what just happened.

"What?" She asks, yawning. Chloe probably just work up, thanks to my call, but I'm too crazed to care. "What happened?"

"You'll never believe it. Go to turn on Gotham News." I tell her, not trusting myself to tell her myself.

I can hear her groaning, and hear the TV play softly in the background.

She gasps, and then picks up her phone again. "MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG!" She screams at me.

"... yes?"

"YOU'VE BARELY BEEN IN GOTHAM FOR TWO WEEKS. YOU STOOD UP TO A SUPER VILLAIN, WITHOUT TIKKI, AS A CIVILIAN! YOU COULD'VE DIED, OR WORSE BEEN EXPOSED AS THE GUARDIAN OF THE MIRACULOUS!"

"She's got her priorities straight," I joked, but it only brought more hellfire from Chloe.

"YOU ARE SICK FOR JOKING ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THIS! YOU'VE GOT TO BE MORE CAREUL; YOU CAN'T ATTRACT ATTENTION LIKE THAT!"

"What was I supposed to do, let someone die?" I question her. It was a cruel thing, I guess, to ask her a question like that.

This time, quieter, Chloe begins, "No, of course not. But you're important too, Marinette. I'm just glad you're okay."

"Same here."

"Say it," she sighs.

"Say what?" I ask.

"I know you need to get it out, so just do it."

I smiled, Chloe knew me so well, "Okay. It was pretty cool beating a villain like that. I solved all of his riddles within seconds, honestly it felt too easy."

"And there we have it folks. The newest addition to the BatFamily, Marinette from Paris." She announces.

"Oh shut up. Like Batman will ever find out." In his wildest dreams, would the Dark Knight ever find out.

"You never know." She says in a singy song voice.

"How's New York City?" I ask her, it's the first time we've really been able to catch up.

Chloe gushes, "Oh it's amazing Marinette! I love working at my mother's company, and college, and not being stressed out because of some magical terrorist. I mean, New York has its problems, but it's one less thing I have to worry about."

"How's the night life? I thought you were going to hit every club by the end of the summer," I remind her.

"That's because I forgot you can only drink when you're 21 in the United States. Besides, I stay in most nights." She tells me in complete honest.

"That's not the Chloe I know. You haven't made any new friends? Any new guys?" I press. I hadn't made any new friends either, but I hoped that Chloe had been faring better than I was.