Insufficient Smoke (Chloenette)

And You'll Drop Your Coffee Cup

(A/N: If there's a misuse in word choice or any mistake in general, please tell me so I can fix it!)

It's not enough. Marinette knew, to Chloe, it wasn't sufficient. She was just... so terrified. Afraid that nothing she did, that she would never be enough for Chloe. Enough for her to smile, to sparkle, to fret about... to anything. It took her six years to get her to laugh; genuinely, that is.

Marinette should've eschewed her. There shouldn't have been any way for Marinette to despise her less than she already should have. She should've cursed her for destroying her peace offering of macaroons and making her weep when they were ten, for demolishing her reputation when they were eleven, for making sure only the new people took her macaroons at twelve, for making sure no one took her macaroons at thirteen, for having no friends, for making every day of that year a living ordeal with no one who would dare stand up for her. For letting her steal her ability to smile.

But she couldn't. When they were fourteen, at that moment, watching her hurl off the Eiffel Tower, face Death in the eye, giving him her cold stone stare, she had to. She caught her and carried her away to a nearby building, Chloe's legs shaking in Ladybug's arms. She stared at Chloe for a while, putting her full regard to the fact that though Chloe was crying, they weren't tears of sorrow, and she had no sign on her face that represented ease or terror. Her tears were big blotchy and her eyebrows arched as though she was pissed. She looked enraged.

Then ice met bluebell.

Chloe didn't say anything. No snarky or bratty remark, sarcastic comment, cocky specifying. Just bitter silence. She turned to the Eiffel Tower repeatedly, with determination in her eyes, as if she was going to climb back up and meet whatever monstrosity was at the top, but then lowered her eyelids in hindrance, and silently spoke.

"Anywhere but home."

From then on, Dupain-Cheng had made it her life calling to make the Bourgeois, even if it was for a nanosecond, overlook her worries and the intensity and just... beam. Be content and full. (She furnished Chloe the bee miraculous.)

Marinette sat next to her in every class, every lunch, every break. Every day after school, Marinette would drag her somewhere fun. Chloe quirked a brow the first few times but got used to Marinette's pestering after a while.

Chloe smiled, all the time, but they weren't sincere. None of them were ever true. Marinette wouldn't be satisfied until they were real. They had to be real.

So she kissed her.

When Chloe came in to pick up breakfast but got caught up in consultation with Marinette outside, the crackling sound of thunder slapped, and before either girl processed the sonance, they were drenched in rain. They went inside and moved upstairs, into Marinette's room. While there, Marinette changed, lent Chloe her clothes, made hot chocolate and ordered sushi on Tikki's silent proposal.

When she went upstairs, Chloe had asked for the Wi-Fi identification, and after finding out how long the password was, asked Marinette to spell it out for her. Of course, that came with confusions and dilemmas that neither girl wanted to deal with. Marinette asked for Chloe to just give her the phone so she could type it in. Chloe declined, hesitance in her voice, before finally giving in. When Marinette unintentionally opened up the home screen, she found a picture of them. Well, of Ladybug and Queen Bee. Chloe immediately snatched the phone from Marinette's hands, and both got into a heated controversy due to Chloe's... stew(?).

Chloe huffed and turned her back to Marinette after telling her off, and Marinette went back to her desk and computer, where the latest assigned school project was waiting to be concluded. They sat in silence for a while(on Chloe's roared order), before Marinette went downstairs, where Tikki gave her pep talk about trying to figure out what was the predicament instead of getting into a row and making the condition graver.

Chloe followed her downstairs because when people say they're going to the bathroom, they usually don't take that long, so Marinette said the sushi was there - which wasn't a lie - and complained about Chloe saying "not to talk to [her]" one minute and forced her to speak the next.

After a vague explanation, Chloe began to cry. Marinette apologized, not knowing how much Chloe cared for these insignificant things.

But, God, she looked so precious.

Marinette wrapped her arms around her waist and pulled her closer to her chest. Chloe didn't push forward, but she didn't push backward either, so Marinette placed her lips on Chloe's. The kiss tasted of strawberries and honey and soy sauce. It was the sweetest thing Marinette had ever tasted in her life, though she had to admit the kiss probably would've been better if the girls didn't have the smell of raw fish in their breath.

...

Visions.

A nightmare.

She never hallucinated things that have already occurred before.

She didn't analyze the dreams.

...

Bluebell eyes opened to a bright red and yellow room. Her world was so bright. She closed her eyes. Too bright. It was hard to breathe. Was that alright? What was happening? She was convulsing now. What was happening?

And where was she?

Oh, thank God.

Chloe and Marinette wrapped their arms around each other as everything around them went into flames. There were three doors. Two exits, no keys, and a smoke-filled room.

No, no. No doors this time. Just a smoke-filled room.

Photo frames on fire.

Portraits went blurry.

The faces of an auburn-haired colored girl, an emerald-eyed boy and a boy with headphones around his neck vanished.

They didn't have faces.

Just the two of them. Lying in bed, together.

Neither screamed. Neither tried to evade their way out of the situation.

It was never enough for Chloe. Marionette knew that.

But, just there, wrapped together, breathing the fumes, Marinette finally dared to believe Chloe was at least light.

And when Marinette looked at her,

Chloe smiled. A genuine smile.

And Marinette was happy too.

So they'd kiss and their lips would turn to sand and their bodies would cascade through their still hands forever alone, and no one would ever know what happened.

In this smoke-filled room.

~fin~