A Ladybug's Wrath

Eight

Marinette groaned at the sound of her alarm going off. It was the weekend and she had gotten back late from the gala, but she unfortunately couldn't sleep in since she promised her parents she would help out in the bakery. Marinette opened her eyes a crack to see that her alarm clock hadn't even gone off yet, it was her phone that was ringing incessantly.

She closed her eyes again and reached her hand out blindly, trying to find the continuously blaring object. She opened her eyes just long enough to answer the call and pressed it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"I admit, I'm a little impressed, Dupain-Cheng."

"Chloe?" Marinette asked, instantly waking up fully at the sound of Chloe's voice, sitting up in her bed from the surprise.

"But as usual when you dive into a project heart-first, you forgot to account for a few details." Chloe paused dramatically, waiting for Marinette's response.

Marinette grinned slightly, remembering all the times when they were kids that Chloe had stopped her from intervening at every small injustice she saw and made her stop and think before interjecting herself. Everytime she had made a plan, Chloe had been the one to interject with something Marinette would have inevitably forgotten. However this call also meant that Chloe knew she was MDC, and honestly she wasn't all that surprised.

"Well, what did you expect, Chlo? You've always been the other half of my brain. What did I forget this time?" Marinette was sure Chloe could hear the smile on Marinette's face. Chloe was reaching out to her for the first time in years; Marinette couldn't hide how happy she was, this is what she had hoped for since the day Chloe started pulling away from her.

"Hmph, well first of all, if you're going to insist on being anonymous, then you're going to need a public spokesperson to deal with the media to make sure no one spreads false information about you." Marinette let out a breath at Chloe's direct and to-the-point reasoning.

Okay, I probably did forget a few things.

"Second of all, first impressions are important, but so is building trust with the public and your clients, trust that is halted because you wear a mask. Since you want to remain anonymous, you're going to have to build your reputation through your clients and your few public appearances. There will be clients that won't be satisfied with only sending in their measurements, they'll want to meet you face to face. Wearing a mask won't always be an option."

Marinette nodded to herself, it was what she had to do for her superhero persona afterall.

"So what option does that leave me with?"

"A nondisclosure agreement with harsh punishments should they choose to break it, including suing them for all they're worth. It'll keep away the people that only want a meeting to expose your identity."

"Those are really good points, Chloe. So, what do you say?"

"...Say to what?"

"About being my spokesperson."

Marinette let a self-satisfied smile reach her lips, she always did love throwing her old friend for a loop.

There was a long pause, but Marinette waited patiently. She knew this was probably impulsive, but there was no one else Marinette would choose for this. Chloe has interacted in the business industry all her life, so Marinette trusted her competence in that area. The only other person she trusted in business was Penny, and she already had her hands full with Jagged.

In terms of personal trust, Marinette had hope that this could be a new start for them.

"Are you insane, Dupain-Cheng?!"