The human body wasn't exactly the canvas Nathanaël Kurtzberg expected to work with for his first job, but it paid the bills. Quite well when he took tips into consideration. He wouldn't turn his nose up at the experience either, because every day seemed to be something different. He'd done wedding bands. He'd done tramp stamps. He'd done declarations of love he'd had to cover up weeks later. He'd even done a Triforce on a guy's chest. And oh, the ridiculous number Miraculous hero tattoos he'd done. Ladybugs and cats. Turtles and foxes. Bees aplenty, but hardly any peacocks. Granted, he was relatively new to the team, and he was coming off the heels of his Miraculous being used for evil, but he'd still like for someone to show him some appreciation.
Imagine his surprise when that someone turned out to be Chloé Bourgeois.
After a few death threats meant to deter him from ruining her "flawless body", she made her rather simple request: a peacock feather on the back of her neck. No big deal, maybe she just liked peacocks. It didn't necessarily have to be Plume Bleu. Except in the midst of small talk (because what else do you do when you have to sit perfectly still for hours on end?) he discovered she harbored a small crush on the avian hero. It bothered her that people treated him worse than they treated Rena when she first appeared, like he was nothing more than another Volpina, or worse, Le Paon trying to get Ladybug to trust her. It warmed Nathanaël's heart to know that someone in Paris thought he was a hero, even if that someone was his lycée bully.
As Chloé paid him, a blush spread across her face and she muttered out something that sounded like an apology. When pressed further, she said she was sorry for how she treated him years ago, she'd just never gotten the opportunity to properly apologize for her behavior. Nathanaël accepted, having moved on years ago, and as a gesture of forgiveness, offered her a discount on some herbal tattoo rub. The smile she gave him sent heat flaring through his face. He'd never seen her smile like that.
She was...beautiful.
Nathanaël shook his head. Where did that thought come from? Sure, Chloé was objectively pretty, but he didn't like her like that...did he?
(#)
A 3am Akuma ripped Nathanaël from the best night's sleep he'd had in a while. Hawkmoth had gotten far more aggressive since he lost the Peacock Miraculous, not caring much for civilian casualties, not even caring if the heroes were alive when he retrieved their Miraculous. As evidenced by the telekinetic villain flinging cars and trees and chunks of building down the Parisian streets. Plume Bleu and Queen Bee, as the most agile of the heroes, had the job of clearing the streets of civilians. Unfortunately, the volume of debris only increased with the Akuma's rage, and it was only at the last second that Bleu noticed the bus flying towards Bee.
He didn't think. He flew at her with all the speed he could muster and tackled her out of the way. They landed hard in an alleyway, his arms around her and his head tucked into the crook of her neck. It took a few seconds for him to realize two things. One: she was holding him just as tightly as he held her. And two: he could smell something on her. It smelled like...aloe and mineral oil. The same ingredients in the herbal tattoo rub his parlor sold. Why that was the first thought that occurred to him, he didn't know. It could be her shampoo. It could be her lotion, her perfume...
Or it could be that Queen Bee was a blonde, blue-eyed girl who made no secret of her crush on him, just like Chloé. For the rest of the fight, and for every patrol and Akuma thereafter, he kept his eyes on the back of Queen Bee's neck. There were times he swore he saw the wispy tips of a feather emerging from beneath the collar of her suit, but it could be anything. It could be her hair, it could be a completely different tattoo. And even if it was a peacock feather, that didn't mean he did it.
But there was a way to find out.
(#)
Two weeks passed and Chloe came back to the parlor to have her tattoo shaded in. After examining his work to ensure the tattoo had thoroughly healed, and to memorize every detail of the mark, he began to fill the black outline with a particular shade of blue he'd mixed himself. He blended in some green, then red around the eye of the feather. The entire time, Nathanaël let Chloé dominate the conversation. He kept his responses short and non-committal, anything to keep from asking if she was Queen Bee, though he was almost certain at this point. Partly because he didn't want to startle her, cause her to jump and ruin the tattoo, but mostly because he didn't want to put her off in case he was wrong.
But he wasn't. His confirmation came just a few nights later. He was on patrol with Queen Bee and they'd stopped atop the Arc de Triomphe for a short break. He'd made a point to stay behind her the entire night, waiting for the moment when he could get a good look at the mark on her neck. He got it when he saw her fluff her hands beneath her hair as she stretched. Her blonde locks jumped up and revealed the shaded-in feather peeking out of her suit. Even with the dim light of night, he could see it was the same shade of blue he'd used. That was his work. This was Chloé Bourgeois.
"Hey, Bee?"
She spun on her heels and smiled back at him. "Yeah, Bleu?"
"Uh..." Okay, he hadn't planned this far ahead. He hadn't actually thought about what he'd say when he finally confronted her about her identity. He vaguely gestured at her and muttered, "Was...was that a tattoo? On your neck?"
She clamped a hand onto the back of her neck. "You saw that? I thought I told Pollen to make the collar on my suit higher..."
"It, uh, it's a peacock feather, isn't it?"
She smiled brighter at him. "Yeah. You don't get enough love in this city, birdy."
"Well, um, thank you." Just get to it, you idiot! "Um, Bee? What would you say if...if I told you I figured out your identity?"
Her smile morphed into a smirk and she said, "I'd say it took you long enough, Kurtzberg."
Plume Bleu froze. She just...did she...she knew? "H-how?"
She shook her head and chuckled to herself, her hands on her hips. "Maybe you should watch what details you let slip about your personal life. You've told me you've been akumatized, you used to go to school with Adrien Agreste, and you worked at a tattoo parlor in the 3rd arrondissement. The moment I saw that mop of red hair walk into your parlor, I knew I found my birdy." She strutted forward and flicked him on the nose. "What I want to know is why it took you so long to figure me out. Was getting a peacock feather tattoo and gushing about your alter ego too subtle?"
"Um," he swallowed thickly, trying to process the fact that not only did Bee confirm she knew his identity, but she knew before coming to the parlor. Which meant that whole time she was telling him about her crush on...on him. "Well, it was the tattoo, but I didn't know for certain until after I shaded it. I mixed the blue I used myself. I...I matched it to your eyes." Queen Bee's smirk disappeared and her face reddened. "So, all I had to do was see if the tattoo on your neck matched your eyes and-"
He stopped when Bee grabbed the sides of his head and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Bleu soon found his arms slipping around her and pulling her closer, his eyes closing as he leaned into the kiss. Her lips felt warm, soft. He couldn't understand exactly what happened, when he stopped seeing Chloé as his former bully and started seeing her as a girl he could possibly love, but he believed it was somewhere between seeing her smile when she first came into his tattoo parlor and now, the two of them in each other's arms, their lips gently working against each other.
He hated when she pulled away and rested her forehead against his, but still his heart still warmed when he saw that same beautiful smile. "What does this make us?" she asked. "I mean, I've made my feelings no mystery, but you..."
Plume Bleu chuckled. "I don't really know, Chlo, but I think I'd like to find out."
"You know what I'd like to find out?"
"What?"
"How you'd feel about getting a tattoo of your own. I'm thinking-" she spread her palm against his chest, right over his heart "-a bee. Right here."
Bleu lifted his hand to lace his fingers between hers. "With a little crown on it, my Queen?"
She laughed, a sound that was magic to his ears. "Oh, Nath, I like the way you think."
