Title: Best Friends

Length: 1868 words An

Rating: K

Summary: A debate of who is Ladybug's best friend takes place.

"Césaire!"

Marinette looked up from her upcoming design to look at the angry blonde stalking towards them with her phone in a death grip. She had no idea what had upset the mayor's daughter, but Alya herself just looked annoyed, not intimidated at the least, and snarled back.

"Isn't it too early for this, Bourgeois?"

Chloe's ice blue eyes were lightning with fury, but Alya was not in the mood to deal with a bitchy blonde when she had just spent the whole night fixing a bug on the Ladyblog. Marinette, knowing this, settled her gaze on her notebook again and ignored the angry voices shouting over her head. Alya had this covered.

Now, this shirt would look much better with some dark blue, but what fabric to use...

She sketched out an idea for a scarf beside the shirt while her brain picked up some of the banter around her.

"...-blog!"

Maybe purple?

"... out of ... business..."

No, that seam doesn't look good with this type of fabric.

"...-don't care... definitely... -friends.."

And on it went. By the time Miss Bustier came into the classroom to start first period, Chloe and Alya looked ready to murder each other and left for their seats with a final word of 'This isn't over.'

Marinette spared a glance down at the seat in front of her, where a blonde head was missing. Nino looked up and shrugged to her silent question.

She wasn't the only one to notice a certain boy's absence.

"Agreste, Adrien?" Miss Bustier called. Weird, since he was rarely away from first period without notice. He was one of her best students, even though he had a bad habit of disappearing when akumas came around. She was about to move on when the door burst open and an out of breath Adrien stuck his head in.

"..Sorry I'm.. late." He breathed out and supported his weight on the wall. Miss Bustier just sighed and gestured to his seat. He sat down, blushed when Nino raised an eyebrow at him and smiled sheepishly before Miss Bustier continued roll call.

Classes went fast. Before Marinette knew it, lunch was next on the schedule, and so was the discussion between Alya and Chloe. This time around, Alya was the one stomping towards the blonde with a frown and as the good friend she was, Marinette followed after so they could hang out when they were done.

Chloe lifted her chin to meet the standing brunette's hostile glare. "Oh, here to confess that you were wrong?" She flipped her ponytail over her shoulder with a smirk. Alya rolled her eyes and grimaced.

"No way, I'm here to open your eyes. There is no way you can be seeing right with those fake lashes, after all."

Marinette observed this exchange from the bench she was occupying. It was weird, Alya and Chloe had actually gotten better at tolerating each other lately, but this certain topic had them back at fighting. It almost made her regret not catching what this was all about from the beginning.

Chloe seemed upset about something on her phone and went to Alya, so it most likely had something to do with her blog. Trying to recall something that would annoy Chloe that Alya might have posted was hard, especially since she posted a lot. The most recent thing had to be some fanart of the whole team she had seen this morning, but nothing else really stood out to her.

"But it's so obvious! Ladybug and Queen Bee are best friends!"

"Are you stupid? The chemistry is so much better between Vixen and Ladybug, not that striped buzzkill!"

Oh.

They were fighting about that?

Marinette slumped in her seat.

What a relief... She thought it was something serious, something that might've destroyed every ounce of tolerance they had towards each other, but then it was just that.

This argument was doomed to blow over soon. No way they could fight about something so silly for more than five minutes!

... That's what she thought 15 minutes ago, but they were still not ready to let this stupid topic go. Even Adrien was dragged into the discussion, mostly because of his rather cheeky comment about it being Chat Noir who was Ladybug's best friend. Let's just say that Chloe and Alya did not take that comment well.

When arguments, pictures, articles and the likes was thrown around to prove who the red hero's best friend was, Marinette snuck a peek into her purse and spotted a gleeful Tikki munching on a cookie, no doubt enjoying the show.

"Chat has known her for the longest amount of time. He was there when they were still struggling to become better, that's a solid bond right there."

"Queen Bee and Ladybug do the best combo attacks, it's like they read each other's minds."

"Ladybug always go to Vixen when something troubles her, no one can make her feel better than that fox!"

It was almost the end of lunch, but they were still debating. Marinette was almost tempted to reveal that she was Ladybug just to shock them enough to shut up. She let out a frustrated noise and stood up, ready to go and cool down for a bit.

Of course it would never be that easy.

"Hey, Marinette! You know Ladybug, right?" Adrien voiced when he saw her ready to leave. She turned around to see a pair of blue, green and hazel eyes locked locked on her. She grimaced and shrugged, not quite sure about what way to handle this. "Eh.. Kinda? I guess?"

"Then tell us who you think is Ladybug's best friend."

Crap, what to say, what to say? If she didn't choose Vixen, Alya would be sad, but then again, Adrien would also be upset if she didn't take Chat, and Chloe would definitely not be happy if she chose one of the others. But she really didn't know it herself. What a mess. She felt the weight of their stares and tried to think of something, but it was kinda hard when they were all staring at her like that.

"All of them."

"No, if she had to choose one."

"Then no one."

"What do you mean 'No one'?" Chloe said with a raised eyebrow, forgetting to add the usual snarl at the end of the sentence. Marinette's shoulders sank.

"I don't think she'd want to answer that. They're her teammates, and she'd never be able to choose one when they all mean so much to her. It's all of them or no one."

The reactions were multiple. Adrien was staring at her like she just told him something he'd never thought of before. Chloe grumbled something about how that didn't answer the question, but she still had a small smile as she looked away. Alya gave her a pat on the back and a quick 'You go, girl!'.

OoO

"Ugh, my neck is killing me!"

"You'll survive, Queenie." Chat said and shot her an annoyed look before focusing on his belt tail. It had almost been ripped of during the fight and afterwards was repaired by miraculous ladybug, but it was still weird to swish it about.

Vixen gave Queen Bee a pat on the head -which she brushed of her saying not to ruin her hair- before going back to complaining about her neck. Vixen, in return, poked her tongue out and murmured something about moody bees that's impossible to please.

"What was that, fox?" She snarled.

"Oh, you know, just the tru-"

"Enough. Vixen, stop teasing Queenie, and Queenie, stop complaining!" Ladybug's voice rang from above them.

The three superheroes looked up just in time to see Ladybug ease herself down from one of the higher up beams of the Eiffel tower. Chat shot the two girls a smug grin, pleased that his lady wasn't annoyed at him this time.

"Stop grinning like an idiot, Chat." She spoke with her back to him, facing the sleeping city of Paris. Vixen snorted. His dark ears sank a little as he couldn't find the joking tone he was so used to hearing.

Finally, he noticed her stiff posture and how her shoulders slumped. "What's got your yo-yo in a twist, Bugaboo?" He asked. The other two females also crunched their eyebrows in worry as they picked up on her mood. The black spotted hero sat down at the edge, feet swinging limply back and forth. After a long break, she replied with a sigh.

"It's nothing, Chaton, just tired. I took a bad hit today, and miraculous ladybug only did so much."

They all winced as they recalled the sound of their favourite bug hitting that building. Vixen especially, it was her the akuma originally aimed for. Their eyes met behind Ladybug's back, and silent agreement sounded through them.

"Why don't you take today off, Bug?" Queen Bee asked with an undertone that had no room for discussion.

Chat and Vixen made an agreeable sound in the background.

"No, I can't bail on you now. I'm already here, so let's get this patrol over and done with." She tried to sound enthusiastic, but couldn't stop the yawn from escaping her. The looks from her teammates proved just how unconvinced they were.

It was Vixen that broke the silence first. "Yeah, you know what?" All eyes turned to her expectantly. "We save Paris every damn time there's an akuma, and we patrol every single day to make sure everything under control. Paris should manage one night without us. We deserve a break sometimes."

Ladybug was ready to protest once again, but Chat Noir lifted her up, ignored her squeal, and set her down on his lap so his chin rested against her head. Queen Bee settled beside him and tilted her head to rest on his shoulder while Vixen draped herself over their laps like a blanket. The mighty superhero team that protected Paris against akumas were now reduced to a giant cuddle pile.

The red suited hero soon stopped protesting as her body relaxed into her teammates. Maybe this was just what she needed. She was half asleep when Vixen spoke.

"Bug?"

"..Yeah?" Her voice was heavy with sleep, and she felt herself drift away.

"Which one of us is your best friend?" If she hadn't been halfway to dreamland, Ladybug might've noticed how Chat tensed and how Queen Bee's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Why is that such a popular question nowadays?" She mumbled to herself.

"Who?" Chat asked. He knew he should let this go, but it was too tempting. Marinette had basically told them Ladybug can't afford to have a best friend in the team, but as they say, curiosity killed the cat.

"Idiot.. You're all my best friends. I could never ask for anything more than I already have with you guys.."

That night, no akumas broke loose. No trouble of any sort took place, and the city was as peaceful as it could be. It was a beautiful night where four teenagers who'd trust each other with their lives just relaxed. Recharging their batteries.

They might not be together forever, but the time they'll share is enough.

It's more than enough.

An

I did it! My entry to ML Fluff Month! This was prompt 19 Best Friends. Okay, it's short, it's unedited and not my best, but I'm proud of it. Kinda. Reviews are like water. It's good for you.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!

~Vilchen