✩𝔻𝕒𝕣𝕜𝕖𝕤𝕥 ℕ𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥, 𝔹𝕝𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤✩

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦

Being caught between the devil's French tips shouldn't be so angering under normal circumstances but Chloe just happened to choose today of all days to pick a fight in the little ladies' room and Marinette wasn't having any of it.

"Look Chloé., whatever you have going up against me this time can wait for the school cafeteria-"

"Can-it Dupain-Cheng, not everything revolves around you," the blonde huffed before rolling her ice blue eyes and shaking her ponytail back and forth. "Where's your plus one?"

Marinette cocked her eyebrow at her.

"You know who I'm talking about, the one that's always trying to get into people's faces with her phone and taking unsolicited photos of everyone at school."

"Wait, are you talking about Alya?"

Chloé nodded her head furiously with a frown growing wider across her face.

"Why would you want to know?" Marinette asked as she crossed her arms at her.

Chloé huffed and raised her chin to the air and pointed to the badge that was written 'Owner' on it.

"Daddy said he had some important business to run in New York so he left me in charge of the hotel whilst he's gone. It may be temporary but my job is to keep all the little trouble makers out and my guests truly satisfied and that starts by making sure she isn't here."

"Oh yeah? Good luck with that," Marinette snorted before attempting to head for the bathroom door only for the other teen to block the exit with her entire body.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Wherever I want Chloé. Now move aside."

"Not until you've confirmed that your friend isn't coming."

"Whether she's here or not is none of my business. I'm not sticking around for the party anyways."

Chloé raised her eyebrows at her.

"You...turning down a challenge?" Chloé" scoffed. "You are hardly the type to even give up on fine dining and the chance to win something for yourself."

"Is it so hard to believe that I don't wanna make stupid little toys all day?

"Well, it isn't very you Dupain-Cheng. It's rather disappointing."

Marinette's mouth was left slightly ajar. Chloé is probably the last person on the planet she would ever expect to check up on her well-being. Her concern for her was almost too concerning to brush off.

"Well, you aren't really acting very you Chloé," the bluenette retorted in an attempt to regain composure. "It's like I can smell sincerity underneath your fake valor."

Chloé gave her a smug smile.

"I'll take that as your way of showing me thanks, after all friends should feel grateful for one another.

Marinette froze. The mere mention of being a 'friend' in her mind was entirely forbidden.

The bluenette raised her arms in the air and waved them furiously.

"Wow, wow, wow! Since when did we become friends?"

"Yesterday morning at school. Lila wanted to take some time off school as my playdate or whatever and decided that I needed another real friend instead. Of course, the screening was highly vigorous, and you just happened to be the best available candidate who could be genuine about friendship things."

Marinette clenched her fists and tried to put on her best fake smile. She really did sign her soul off to the devil when she talked to Lila so empty mindedly. Before the bluenette could register any excuse to get her out of the situation, she was suddenly pulled into a hug by the blonde.

The last thing Marinette expected to happen to her on a Tuesday afternoon in the girls' lavatory was getting smothered by Chloé before the bathroom mirror. Before she knew it, her shirt was beginning to smell like Chanel No. 5.

"Geez, what's wrong with you?" Marinette asked as she attempted to pull the girl off her body.

"Best friends hug each other all the time for no reason, right?"

"No. Yes. Okay, maybe not all the time, but I'm not okay with this!"

"Oh yeah. How could I not have  possibly known that. You are a kisser, not a hugger," Chloe said before pushing herself off Marinette and placing two small french kisses on each of her cheeks. "There, now we can officially begin our lifelong friendship. I expect many great things from you, Dupain-Cheng, and don't worry, I'll be sure to compensate you for your valuable time."

Marinette gave her a nervous grin. The poor teen was beaming brighter than the sun. This wasn't the perfect glossed up queen bee she was used to dealing with. Chloé degrades, sneers, and snickers. No sane person wants to be friends with her then again Lila somehow managed to make it work with her and now the torch was being passed on to her in the most unceremonious way possible. It was cheap and underhanded as it was honorable to be selected for such a grand task. This would probably be the best time to just flat out reject the job offer, but a promise is a promise, even when it was made under a lost gaze with dubious consent

If anything, this was Alya's cue to step in and save her decently humble social life from crumbling under the queen bee's soul-crushing attention, but from the looks of it, backup was miles away.

"Look, Chloé, I don't know what's going on," and she frankly didn't want to be a part of it, "but let's talk about this later."

Just as Marinette walked past her and reached for the door handle, she stopped. She felt like she should have said something more, but didn't this feel like karmic justice being served to her from the universe. It had to be! It must have been those damn turkey sandwiches from that prank she pulled on the blonde in the past. Maybe Damian's salty endeavor was mixed in there too.

Marinette turned back and pulled the corners of her mouth up her face.

"Text me," Marinette managed to say out loud before escaping the hotel.

At this point onwards, Marinette was certain that the karmic justice might have come from the fact that she threw the ladybug earrings a little too hard against the wall.