As mentioned in the summary, this story does contain references to some fairly old S2 spoilers, so if you have somehow managed to avoid all spoilers (if so, impressive work) and wish to continue avoiding said spoilers, consider this your heads-up. If not (considering that most of the fandom knows anyway at this point), great. Enjoy the story! :)

When Marinette found out that Chloe was Queen Bee, she was positive she was seeing things. Alya had already mistakenly identified Ladybug as Chloe once; she didn't need to misidentify another superhero as the spoiled girl. What was next, Nino thinking that Volpina was actually Chloe? Rose suspecting that Chat Noir was Chloe masquerading as a punning cat-boy?

She wasn't going to add to that series of mistaken identities.

Except as a superhero herself, she knew what to look for. Queen Bee's hair was kind of like Chloe's, and her eyes were similar, and Chloe went missing whenever Queen Bee showed up (Marinette had paid attention), and she had definitely heard Sabrina complain about Chloe vanishing without warning more and more often.

Besides, there was the teensy tiny fact that Marinette- well, Ladybug, technically- had seen Queen Bee fly into an alleyway. There had been a flash, and then Chloe walked out. That was pretty good evidence by itself.

So Marinette decided to have a little fun with it.

Chloe didn't like Marinette, that was a known fact. Chloe didn't like most people, unless they could do something for her. But Queen Bee, as a superhero, had to conceal her true feelings and act kindly towards everybody. She hadn't been outstandingly prickly towards anyone, really (and knowing what Marinette did, that was surprising), but it still stood to be seen if Queen Bee would extend that tolerance to Marinette.

So Marinette decided to flip Chloe's behavior towards Ladybug right back on her. She was going to become Queen Bee's biggest fan for a day (well, pretend to be Queen Bee's biggest fan for a day, at least) and see if Queen Bee was even half as good at pretending to tolerate Marinette as Ladybug was at tolerating Chloe. Of course, she wasn't going to do anything ridiculous like talk smack towards Chloe around Queen Bee (a courtesy that Chloe had not extended to Marinette around Ladybug; thankfully Chat Noir had been putting a quick stop to that whenever Chloe tried it, even before they shared their secret identities), but Chloe disliked her enough based on absolutely nothing that it shouldn't be a problem.

Of course, Marinette mused a week later as she snuck away during an akuma attack to transform into Ladybug, it would be a bit difficult to find a time when Marinette and Queen Bee actually interacted. She wasn't going to waste time by staying Marinette during akuma attacks when she could be transforming, especially considering that, if any of the superheroes were going to be interacting specifically with her, it would be because she was being targeted. If that was the case (and it didn't happen often), she was far safer as Ladybug. She wasn't going to tempt fate just to annoy Chloe.

Even if it would be funny.

Her opportunity came almost two months after the new superheroes joined. An akuma had decided to go after Marinette because she put him in his place after he had claimed that girls didn't know anything about video games. For whatever reason, being wrong had thrown the GamerBro into a rage and now, Marinette was once again being targeted for being both a gamer and a girl.

"We need to go protect her!" Volpina exclaimed as the four of them peered around for the akuma, stomping a foot. "We don't know where the akuma is right now and she could get hurt!"

Queen Bee didn't look impressed. "So then she gets hurt. Ladybug's Cleaning Light will fix her up again."

Volpina growled. Chat Noir would have, had Ladybug not elbowed his side first. He pouted at her and she rolled her eyes right back at him.

"You've protected people in the past before, right?" Volpina demanded, turning on Ladybug and Chat Noir. They promptly rearranged their expressions into something more appropriately concerned. "I know you have, I've seen the videos and heard the accounts. You've protected the mayor's daughter before a bunch- not that she deserved it- and the Agreste kid once or twice, and Marinette at least once before, so why the hesitation now?"

The hesitation now was because Ladybug and Chat Noir knew who the other was and so they could avoid the identity shenanigans that had plagued their earlier fights, but they couldn't exactly say that.

"We've felt that perhaps guarding one person isn't exactly the most effective way to fight an akuma," Ladybug claimed after an awkward moment. "I mean, then the akuma gets in too close and we end up having to fight them really close to their target person, which gives the akuma a chance to get to them if we slip up."

Volpina fixed her with a look. "Funny I haven't heard about this until now."

"It's something Ladybug and I have been discussing lately," Chat Noir chimed in, stepping up behind Ladybug and placing a steadying hand on her back. They exchanged a nervous look. Both of them knew full well that if they went to Marinette's house, she wouldn't be home. If she had to secretly detransform to satisfy the others, that would raise too many questions.

"Well, maybe you should try it the next time, not this time," Volpina said sharply. "It seems to have worked in the past well enough, and why fix something that's broken?" She sent them a sharp look. "Or is there something else that you're not telling us?"

Ladybug and Chat Noir both gulped.

Chat Noir was doing an awful job at keeping a straight face, Marinette noticed as she bounced around Queen Bee twenty minutes later, after she and her partner had given in to Volpina's glares and Ladybug had excused herself to "go look for the akuma" while the others went to protect Marinette. He had known full well how uncomfortable Ladybug had been around Chloe, and when she told him who Queen Bee was after their reveal... well, he had thought her plan was as funny as she had and so he was fully on board with it. If Chloe had acted the same way with Chat Noir, he might have considered doing the same.

Or maybe not. Knowing Chloe, she would probably go transform and immediately run off to try to attach herself to Adrien's side, and he would never get rid of her again.

Volpina was sulking over in the corner as Marinette tried to wrestle Queen Bee into a selfie. Marinette felt a little bad, especially considering that she did like the fox more than Queen Bee, but really, this was too much fun. She would have to exclaim over her other teammate some other time.

"Okay, one picture," Queen Bee finally said, giving in with a sigh and slumped shoulders. Marinette pasted on the biggest grin she could and snapped the photo before thanking the superheroine and finally backing away. The picture was hilarious- Queen Bee looked like being close to Marinette was putting her in physical pain- and was the perfect companion to all of the selfies Chloe had forced Ladybug into.

"Can I get a picture with the other two of you?" Marinette asked innocently as possible after a long moment of deliberation. Chat Noir wouldn't mind being blown off since he knew full well what she was up to (and he would no doubt sneak over later for his own dose of affection, the clingy cat), but Volpina was clearly grumpy about the difference in the amount of attention she was giving each of them. "It's too bad Ladybug couldn't make it, I would have loved getting a picture of all of Paris' superheroes at once!"

Chat Noir only barely managed to contain his snort of laughter at that. He struggled to force a straight face before responding, though Marinette could hear the laughter trying to bubble up out of his throat. "Of course! We'll have to come back sometime with Ladybug. It's really too bad she had to take off today." He grinned at her. "A big fan of superheroes, are you?"

"My best friend is," Marinette volunteered as Chat Noir and Volpina bunched in behind her. Chat Noir slung a friendly arm around her shoulder and leaned in to the picture with a toothy grin. "You know, Alya? She runs the Ladyblog. I want the pictures for her, because I noticed that she hasn't been able to make it to as many fights as usual recently."

Both Marinette and Chat Noir noted Volpina seizing up and looking suddenly guilty with carefully concealed interest, but said nothing.

Several pictures later, they heard the roars of the akuma getting closer. All three (well, four) superheroes instantly went on high alert. Volpina and Chat Noir rushed to the windows to glance out at the street below, where GamerBro was stomping up the road towards them. Queen Bee glanced briefly in their direction before going back to examining her nails.

...yeah, Marinette wasn't entirely sure why she had initially doubted that Chloe was Queen Bee. When they weren't in immediate danger, her mannerisms were just all Chloe.

"Well, it looks like we're needed, pri- er, miss," Chat Noir said, hurriedly correcting himself. Marinette swallowed a smile at the flub. "Don't worry, we'll keep you safe. But perhaps you should find a room to hide in until the akuma has been defeated, so you can stay safe."

"Of course," Marinette said, immediately latching on to Chat Noir's excuse. If she was out of the way and hidden, then if either of the other superheroes went looking for her, she would have an excuse for not being in her room. "We have some back rooms that are pretty out of the way, I'll just hide there. Uh, good luck superheroing!"

"Thank you, thank you," Chat Noir said grandly as he ushered Volpina and Queen Bee out in front of him. He shot her a subtle wink and held out a hand for a high-five that Marinette gladly gave before he bounded up onto the window frame. "Stay safe!"

Marinette hid her grin until the superheroes had bounded down to the street, and then she dashed right up to her loft to transform.

After all, Ladybug was supposedly tracking the akuma. They would be expecting her out there shortly.

"What was that high-five for?" Volpina demanded suspiciously as soon as they had landed on the street below and Queen Bee was out of earshot. Her eyes were narrowed suspiciously, and Chat Noir's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't let her know that they had just been protecting Ladybug, not when- based on her reaction to Marinette being targeted by the akuma- they probably knew each other in real life. "You're up to something, I can tell you are."

Chat Noir gulped and tried to arrange his expression into the picture of utmost innocence. "I don't know what you're talking about," he claimed loftily, knowing full well the fox wouldn't buy it. He also knew that if he tried to play stupid at first, whatever weird response he gave afterwards would be much more likely to be accepted.

Volpina flat out snarled at him. "Sure you don't. I know what I saw, kitten-"

"Hey, that's Ladybug's nickname for me, lay off-"

"-and I saw you wink at Marinette and give her a high-five. What was up with that? If you don't tell me, I'll start coming up with my own conclusions."

Chat Noir gulped. Volpina seemed as sharp as Alya at times, so he definitely didn't want her poking around Marinette more than necessary. He sighed and let his shoulders slump in a convincing manner as he scrambled for something that might stand for an excuse. "Fine. Ladybug and I have had a sort of scavenger hunt contest going on for a while, and one of the things we added recently was a civilian's selfie with Queen Bee." He flashed a smirk. "However, we never said that the selfie couldn't be staged. I may have recruited Marinette to get the photo for me, since Queen Bee doesn't really do selfies with civilians that often."

Volpina narrowed her eyes at him. "You mean you decided to cheat."

"No, I mean I decided to take advantage of a loophole Ladybug accidentally left." Smirking, he easily dodged around a flying car. "And Marinette did quite well, don't you think? That photo was hilarious. That expression? It was great."

Volpina's expression relaxed marginally. "Yeah, I guess when you look at it that way." Just when Chat Noir thought that he was safe, her eyes narrowed dangerously at him again. "...and why wasn't I invited to join this superhero scavenger hunt of yours, huh? What's the point of being super-exclusive about that?"

Chat Noir could only sigh as he watched Volpina stomp away, resigning himself to getting the cold shoulder from his teammate for the rest of the week. If he had actually excluded his teammate from something he was doing with Ladybug, he-

Well, he probably wouldn't feel awful. He and Ladybug had been partners first and for longer, and while he was decent enough friends with the new superheroes, no one could match his Lady... especially since she was also Marinette, and therefore wasn't only his friend twice over but was also absolutely amazing on both sides of the mask. They were entitled to be able to have super-bestie stuff that only they did together. But he might feel a teensy bit guilty about excluding the others.

"Do I even want to know why Volpina is giving me the evil eye?" Ladybug asked, landing next to Chat Noir lightly. She glanced curiously out at their teammates, already busy with the fight with GamerBro. Volpina was clearly doing a little better than Queen Bee, who had never played any video games besides Candy Crush on her phone, but it was obvious that neither of them were frequent gamers and it was affecting how they were fighting. "...did something happen in the two seconds I left you guys alone?"

Chat Noir cringed a little guiltily. "...she's sore that we didn't include her in our superhero scavenger hunt."

"Our what?"

"Our superhero scavenger hunt, which just happened to include a citizen's selfie with Queen Bee... which I might have cheated to get by recruiting a very gorgeous and cunning Princess to help me." He glanced over at her. "...and which I rewarded the princess for by giving her a high-five, which Volpina might have seen and questioned me about."

Ladybug groaned. "And since she was already grouchy about me giving Queen Bee all of the attention... how long do you think we'll get the cold shoulder?"

"Mmm. Maybe a week?" Chat Noir nudged her side. "But speaking of being jealous about not getting attention..."

Ladybug couldn't help but smile at the giant green kitten eyes directed at her. Sometimes Chat Noir was too cute for his own good. "Later, kitty."

A/: As with most of my stories, this is a one-shot and therefore complete. Please review, it really makes my day :)