"So," Chloé said, taking her chair, "What did you want to talk about, Bri?"
That was a good sign, Sabrina thought. Nicknames happened when Chloé was in a good mood.
"Oh, not much," Sabrina said, finding a spot on the bed with a thump.
"Every part of your body language says you're lying," Chloé said, frowning and paying more attention to Sabrina. "We talked about this."
"I think I want to start dating," Sabrina said.
"We also talked about this," Chloé said, exasperated. "I'm not interested, and Dupain-Cheng is off the table. Unless you want to ruin our friendship."
Sabrina's eyes narrowed slightly, enough that Chloé noticed.
"There's more?" Chloé prompted.
"Yeah," Sabrina said, "there's more."
"Well, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal, but get on with it," Chloé said.
"Ugh, I'm not betraying you, Chloé," Sabrina snapped. "I thought you would be happy for me."
"Why would I be happy? My friend is telling me that I'm not enough for her."
Sabrina sighed, removing her glasses and rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"Chloé, you've known longer than anyone else I was interested in girls, too. Like, kissing-interested. I spent a long time hoping that you would be, too, and that we could be a great couple together, but, like we've talked about, you don't see me that way."
"Is that why you always wanted to be Chat Noir?" Chloé said, as if the pieces had just fallen into place for her. "So that at the end of the adventure, you'd get to kiss the girl?"
"Yes," Sabrina said, managing not to roll her eyes at Chloé's cluelessness. "You and Ladybug are regrettably alike on how much you were going to allow that."
Chloé smiled for a moment, before realizing it hadn't been meant as a complimentary comparison.
"So," she said, deciding that moving on was the best course of action, "what does you dating mean for us?"
"Not much right now," Sabrina said. "I have to, y'know, ask and see if someone's interested. In the future, it might mean spending less time with you and more time with her, depending on how our relationship goes."
"So you are leaving me," Chloé said, turning her chair away on a huff.
"That's not true, Chloé. Do you think I would just start trusting anybody to see me as as intimately as you already have?"
Chloé's jaw snapped shut as confusion took over her features. She ran through many of the situations where she had seen Sabrina undress: Changing rooms, sleepovers, camps, the bathroom here and there. Had there been any time where she had—
"Locker rooms," Chloé said, as it came to her.
"Always late," Sabrina said, smiling. "Mme. Bustier knows and has been really accommodating."
"What about at the pool? Or the water park?" Chloé insisted.
"I wait until they're empty. Or it's just us. Sometimes I can be late there, too."
Chloé racked her brain, trying to think of some other situation or time where there had been more than just them present.
"But we're friends," Chloé said, noting defeat, "Isn't that what friendship does? I'm pretty sure that Dupain-Cheng and Césaire have gone swimsuit shopping together. And boys strip around each other all the time. Adrikins—"
"Is a model with no professional boundaries around his body, and thus an outlier, and should not be counted," Sabrina said firmly. "He is absolutely not any sort of model for a queerplatonic anything."
"What?" Chloé said. "Queerplatonic?"
Sabrina strangled the scream that threatened to escape. "You didn't read what I sent you, did you?" she said.
"Why?"
"As I suspected. I thought it might help you undestand better if you had some background reading. I should have edxpected this, based on how much as you copy my homework." Sabrina sighed. "So, something that's queerplatonic is where people aren't necessarily interested in sex with each other, or sometimes even romance and kissing, but they're doing things together that don't really fit inside the boundaries of friendship."
"Like what?"
"Like that when I can sleep over, we sleep together in the same bed, cuddled with each other," Sabrina said. "Or that we're both still only half-dressed from play time and nether of us is hurrying to cover up. And you don't seem to mind it all that much when I put my head in your lap and ask you to stroke my hair. Or when you're the one asking for petting."
"Okay, you've made your point," Chloé said. "But why do you want to change that, if this is so good for you?"
"It's good, Chloé, and for the longest time I wanted to believe that you could be enough for me, but it's not true. I need more."
"What more could you possibly need?"
"I want someone to kiss, and hold hands with, and possibly steal food from their plate, instead of having it constantly stolen from mine. I want to have romance for myself, Chloé."
"You're going to abandon me, your best friend, to go chase after some...floozy who bats her eyes at you?" Chloé grumbled.
"I'm not abandoning you, and I'm open to anyone batting their eyes at me, regardless of their pronouns." Sabrina retorted, feeling her cheeks flush with irritation. She took a deep breath and exhaled.
"I'm polyamorous, too, Chloé. The idea of having all my needs met by one person is—"
"Ridiculous," Chloé said at exactly the right spot, although Sabrina wasn't sure if that was what Chloé had intended.
"Right. I'm romantically attracted to more than one person, Chloé, and that's if you just look at our class."
"Well, if you want to date everyone in the class, that's fine with me!" Chloé said, turning away from Sabrina with a pout. "Just don't expect me to take you back when they're done with you."
"Chloé," Sabrina said gently, "I want to keep what we have together, even though I want to date other people. I'm not Audrey."
"How dare you mention that name!" Chloé shrieked. "I can't believe you would be so cold to talk about her around me!" Tears welled up in Chloé's eyes. "You want to spend time with all of those...other people, instead of me, you want to kiss them and hold hands with them, and soon enough, you'll be laughing in their bedrooms, spilling secrets from my most vulnerable tinmes with you, and talking about what a bitch Chloé Bourgeois was and how glad you were that you ditched her when you had the chance!
You're not going to stick around, Sabrina! Nobody ever does, once they have the opportunity to trade me for something "better"! They always blame me, and say that if I were nicer, or more polite, or that I didn't say the complete truth about everything, that I might keep a friend. I'm the best thing that's ever happened to any of them, and none of them appreciate me nearly as much as I deserve. Not even Ladybug! She doesn't want me to help her save Paris when Hawkmoth attacks. Everyone talks about how nice she is, but she's mean to me. She hates me, Sabrina. Everyone hates me. All I wanted was someone who will stick around and be my friend, instead of just tolerating me until they can find someone else.
I thought you were different. I thought you were special. I—hic—oh, great. Now I've—hic—got the hiccups from how—hic— upset you made—hic— me."
Sabrina rubbed Chloeé's back. "Feel better?" she asked.
Chloé looked up at Sabrina. "You're still here? You're not mad?" she said, trying to wipe away the tears in between hiccups.
Sabrina smiled as gently as she could. "I know you're scared, Chloé," she said. "The way your mom treated you wasn't okay, and this is potentially a big change for us. But we can't keep going on like this. I'll start to resent you, and then, maybe, I'll end up akumatized and I'll hurt you. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I did."
"And what if I say no?"
"I'm not asking for your permission, Chloé," Sabrina said as forcefully as she could muster. "I'm telling you what's going to happen. I want you to be okay with it, and I want you to be happy, and I want us to still have our relationship, but you can't stop me. It wouldn't be good for us if you tried."
Chloé crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Sabrina with a hurt look.
"If you want, maybe tomorrow we can both go to the counselor at school?" Sabrina ventured. "She's a really good listener. I'll hold your hand, like we used to when you had to go to the principal's office, and we can go together."
Chloé turned away from Sabrina again.
"Get dressed, Sabrina," she said, still sounding hurt. "Get out."
Sabrina hurriedly put on the rest of her civilian clothes and made her way to Chloeé's door.
"At lunch," Chloé said, still with her back to Sabrina. "Don't be late."
"I won't," Sabrina said, smiling at Chloé's back. "See you tomorrow."
no subject
That was a good sign, Sabrina thought. Nicknames happened when Chloé was in a good mood.
"Oh, not much," Sabrina said, finding a spot on the bed with a thump.
"Every part of your body language says you're lying," Chloé said, frowning and paying more attention to Sabrina. "We talked about this."
"I think I want to start dating," Sabrina said.
"We also talked about this," Chloé said, exasperated. "I'm not interested, and Dupain-Cheng is off the table. Unless you want to ruin our friendship."
Sabrina's eyes narrowed slightly, enough that Chloé noticed.
"There's more?" Chloé prompted.
"Yeah," Sabrina said, "there's more."
"Well, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal, but get on with it," Chloé said.
"Ugh, I'm not betraying you, Chloé," Sabrina snapped. "I thought you would be happy for me."
"Why would I be happy? My friend is telling me that I'm not enough for her."
Sabrina sighed, removing her glasses and rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"Chloé, you've known longer than anyone else I was interested in girls, too. Like, kissing-interested. I spent a long time hoping that you would be, too, and that we could be a great couple together, but, like we've talked about, you don't see me that way."
"Is that why you always wanted to be Chat Noir?" Chloé said, as if the pieces had just fallen into place for her. "So that at the end of the adventure, you'd get to kiss the girl?"
"Yes," Sabrina said, managing not to roll her eyes at Chloé's cluelessness. "You and Ladybug are regrettably alike on how much you were going to allow that."
Chloé smiled for a moment, before realizing it hadn't been meant as a complimentary comparison.
"So," she said, deciding that moving on was the best course of action, "what does you dating mean for us?"
"Not much right now," Sabrina said. "I have to, y'know, ask and see if someone's interested. In the future, it might mean spending less time with you and more time with her, depending on how our relationship goes."
"So you are leaving me," Chloé said, turning her chair away on a huff.
"That's not true, Chloé. Do you think I would just start trusting anybody to see me as as intimately as you already have?"
Chloé's jaw snapped shut as confusion took over her features. She ran through many of the situations where she had seen Sabrina undress: Changing rooms, sleepovers, camps, the bathroom here and there. Had there been any time where she had—
"Locker rooms," Chloé said, as it came to her.
"Always late," Sabrina said, smiling. "Mme. Bustier knows and has been really accommodating."
"What about at the pool? Or the water park?" Chloé insisted.
"I wait until they're empty. Or it's just us. Sometimes I can be late there, too."
Chloé racked her brain, trying to think of some other situation or time where there had been more than just them present.
"But we're friends," Chloé said, noting defeat, "Isn't that what friendship does? I'm pretty sure that Dupain-Cheng and Césaire have gone swimsuit shopping together. And boys strip around each other all the time. Adrikins—"
"Is a model with no professional boundaries around his body, and thus an outlier, and should not be counted," Sabrina said firmly. "He is absolutely not any sort of model for a queerplatonic anything."
"What?" Chloé said. "Queerplatonic?"
Sabrina strangled the scream that threatened to escape. "You didn't read what I sent you, did you?" she said.
"Why?"
"As I suspected. I thought it might help you undestand better if you had some background reading. I should have edxpected this, based on how much as you copy my homework." Sabrina sighed. "So, something that's queerplatonic is where people aren't necessarily interested in sex with each other, or sometimes even romance and kissing, but they're doing things together that don't really fit inside the boundaries of friendship."
"Like what?"
"Like that when I can sleep over, we sleep together in the same bed, cuddled with each other," Sabrina said. "Or that we're both still only half-dressed from play time and nether of us is hurrying to cover up. And you don't seem to mind it all that much when I put my head in your lap and ask you to stroke my hair. Or when you're the one asking for petting."
"Okay, you've made your point," Chloé said. "But why do you want to change that, if this is so good for you?"
"It's good, Chloé, and for the longest time I wanted to believe that you could be enough for me, but it's not true. I need more."
"What more could you possibly need?"
"I want someone to kiss, and hold hands with, and possibly steal food from their plate, instead of having it constantly stolen from mine. I want to have romance for myself, Chloé."
"You're going to abandon me, your best friend, to go chase after some...floozy who bats her eyes at you?" Chloé grumbled.
"I'm not abandoning you, and I'm open to anyone batting their eyes at me, regardless of their pronouns." Sabrina retorted, feeling her cheeks flush with irritation. She took a deep breath and exhaled.
"I'm polyamorous, too, Chloé. The idea of having all my needs met by one person is—"
"Ridiculous," Chloé said at exactly the right spot, although Sabrina wasn't sure if that was what Chloé had intended.
"Right. I'm romantically attracted to more than one person, Chloé, and that's if you just look at our class."
"Well, if you want to date everyone in the class, that's fine with me!" Chloé said, turning away from Sabrina with a pout. "Just don't expect me to take you back when they're done with you."
"Chloé," Sabrina said gently, "I want to keep what we have together, even though I want to date other people. I'm not Audrey."
"How dare you mention that name!" Chloé shrieked. "I can't believe you would be so cold to talk about her around me!" Tears welled up in Chloé's eyes. "You want to spend time with all of those...other people, instead of me, you want to kiss them and hold hands with them, and soon enough, you'll be laughing in their bedrooms, spilling secrets from my most vulnerable tinmes with you, and talking about what a bitch Chloé Bourgeois was and how glad you were that you ditched her when you had the chance!
You're not going to stick around, Sabrina! Nobody ever does, once they have the opportunity to trade me for something "better"! They always blame me, and say that if I were nicer, or more polite, or that I didn't say the complete truth about everything, that I might keep a friend. I'm the best thing that's ever happened to any of them, and none of them appreciate me nearly as much as I deserve. Not even Ladybug! She doesn't want me to help her save Paris when Hawkmoth attacks. Everyone talks about how nice she is, but she's mean to me. She hates me, Sabrina. Everyone hates me. All I wanted was someone who will stick around and be my friend, instead of just tolerating me until they can find someone else.
I thought you were different. I thought you were special. I—hic—oh, great. Now I've—hic—got the hiccups from how—hic— upset you made—hic— me."
Sabrina rubbed Chloeé's back. "Feel better?" she asked.
Chloé looked up at Sabrina. "You're still here? You're not mad?" she said, trying to wipe away the tears in between hiccups.
Sabrina smiled as gently as she could. "I know you're scared, Chloé," she said. "The way your mom treated you wasn't okay, and this is potentially a big change for us. But we can't keep going on like this. I'll start to resent you, and then, maybe, I'll end up akumatized and I'll hurt you. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I did."
"And what if I say no?"
"I'm not asking for your permission, Chloé," Sabrina said as forcefully as she could muster. "I'm telling you what's going to happen. I want you to be okay with it, and I want you to be happy, and I want us to still have our relationship, but you can't stop me. It wouldn't be good for us if you tried."
Chloé crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Sabrina with a hurt look.
"If you want, maybe tomorrow we can both go to the counselor at school?" Sabrina ventured. "She's a really good listener. I'll hold your hand, like we used to when you had to go to the principal's office, and we can go together."
Chloé turned away from Sabrina again.
"Get dressed, Sabrina," she said, still sounding hurt. "Get out."
Sabrina hurriedly put on the rest of her civilian clothes and made her way to Chloeé's door.
"At lunch," Chloé said, still with her back to Sabrina. "Don't be late."
"I won't," Sabrina said, smiling at Chloé's back. "See you tomorrow."