Lovebug

Part 14

Marinette half-opens her eyes, finally over the wicked hangover she experienced for the previous 2 days.  A strange shape appears to be flying above her and in instinct, she bats it away repeatedly

"Hey!" Tikki yelps.  That strange flying shape was Tikki!

Marinette fully wakes up. "Oh Tikki, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that was you." she laughs

"I was just trying to wish you a happy birthday," Tikki says, presenting Marinette with a homemade card. It has a scrawled drawing of both Marinette and Tikki on the front and is covered in red glitter. The inside reads:

To Marinette

Happy 18th Birthday!

You are one of my best and closest friends and I love you so so much, have an amazing birthday.

Love from Tikki

"Tikki, it's beautiful!" Marinette exclaims, a tear in her eye.

Marinette places the card on her windowsill and heads downstairs where she is greeted by her parents, grandparents, and a large number of presents. After opening these presents and eating breakfast, Sabine takes Marinette out shopping and the pair spend hours and hours out of the house, buying clothes and going for lunch, then shopping some more.

At around 5 pm, they return to the house, Marinette still on cloud nine from an amazing birthday. The lights in their house are off and the house is eerily silent. Sabine flicks on the light switch and the atmosphere changes.

"SUPRISE!" all of Marinette's friends jump out from behind furniture and scare her. The living room of the house has been transformed and is now covered in balloons, banners, and other various party decorations. The dining room table is completely full of alcohol and presents. At the forefront of it all is Alya, beaming at her best friend. 

"Oh my god! I... I don't even know what to say!" Marinette is in total shock.

"Alya planned the whole thing," Sabine tells her. 

Alya sheepishly steps forward and gives her best friend a hug. "Alya, thank you so much! This is amazing!"

"It was an absolute pleasure planning your party girl. Now, run upstairs and get ready so we can get this party started!"

Marinette runs upstairs, takes a quick shower, and does her hair and makeup. She then pulls one of the dresses she had bought earlier that day; it's pale pink with a glittery bodice and a flowy skirt resting just above her knees. This was paired with white wedged heels and some light jewelry.

She examines herself in the mirror and smiled, fixing her hair. This was one of those moments you can hardly believe, even when it's happening. She was eighteen years old, a responsibility not to be taken lightly. But how do you prepare for a responsibility that you didn't ask for?

"Marinette... Can I come in?" Alya shouts through the door. Marinette snaps from her ponderous trance and grants her best friend access to the room.

"Ahh, you look hot girl!" Alya squeals

"Thank you, you don't look so bad yourself" Marinette smiles. The pair embrace again.

"Alright, let's go down to the party!" Marinette exclaims, heading towards the door. With a gentle pushback, Alya restricts her from reaching the door to exit.

"Umm, before we go down, I have to tell you something and you kinda have to promise not to get mad." Alya shyly says.

Marinette takes a seat on the nearby bed. "What's up?"

After fidgeting about for a few seconds, Alya takes a seat beside Marinette on the bed. "I... I don't quite know how to say this, but some people who weren't invited to the party have shown up and I'm not sure how you are going to feel about it..."

"Who is it?" Marinette asks, increasingly worried.

"... It's Lila Rossi..." Alya finally blurts out. "The other day, me and the girls were getting supplies for the party and we ran into her. She asked about the party, but we never invited her and she just sorta showed up about ten minutes ago."

Marinette sighs. The childish arguments with Lila have gone on long enough and if Marinette were to kick her out of the party, everyone would feel bad for Lila. "It's fine, I'm just going to be polite and if she wants to kick up a fuss, then she can do that and be ignored."

"Wow, that's really mature of you." Alya smiles

"So is that it? Is anyone else who hates me downstairs?" Marinette laughs

"Umm well... Adrien is also there..." Alya says. "I'm so sorry, I know things are weird between you guys since he rejected you but Nino invited him behind my back. It is his best friend and I can keep him away from you all night if you want."

The memory of Adrien kissing Marinette flashes back into her mind and Marinette's face goes bright red. "Oh my god. No! He can't be here, not after..." She pauses and her eyes dart back and forth.

"Ok, can I let you in on a secret..." Marinette says, pulling Alya close and dropping her voice to a rambling whisper. "At the graduation party, Adrien and I met in the bathroom, and we were having a laugh but then I felt a bit sick so we went on the roof and we were talking about what happened and I thought we were cool and then he kissed me and then I vomited so now things are worse than when he just rejected me!"

Alya almost yelps at Marinette's confession but manages to stifle the scream before it attracts attention. "He! kissed You!?" she asks, trying to keep quiet but just barely able to in her shocked state.

Marinette nods. "I have no idea what to make of it. Does that mean he likes me? Oh my god, what must he have thought when immediately after kissing him for the first time, I vomited?!"

"More importantly, why am I only just hearing about this now?" Alya asks

"I was embarrassed," Marinette replies. "Wouldn't you be?"

"I guess so... But it will be alright. Chances are he's forgotten all about it. He was very drunk too you know."

She sighs again. "Yeah, totally. Plus it's my birthday, if he didn't want to be here, he didn't have to come."

"Damn straight!" Alya stands up and offers an arm to her bestie. Marinette links up her arm and they make their way downstairs to the party.

"Damn it!" Hawkmoth exclaims. He has watched this entire conversation from his lair.  "She would have been perfect to akumatise! Embarrassment is such a powerful negative emotion, there was no telling what I could have done with her!"

"Maybe it's for the best." Nathalie interrupts, "The Adrien she was talking about was Your  Adrien, he would have been unsafe if she was akumatised."

"I suppose you're right" He agrees. Ever since Ladybug and Cat Noir's interview, there haven't been any strong enough negative emotions for him to akumatise. Sure, there was the odd person angry for spilling their drink or stubbing their toe, but nothing strong enough to fight Ladybug and Cat Noir with. That was, until he caught wind of the newly divided half of the Ladybug and Cat Noir fan club.

In a community hall, somewhere nearby in the city of Paris, sat a room full of no more than fifteen young people. Standing in front of this crowd at a lectern were Olive and Pedro; best friends, both madly in love with the respective members of the crime-fighting duo. Behind them, a poorly projected PowerPoint lights up a blank wall. 

Hawkmoth reads the title slide of this PowerPoint and feels the negative emotions pouring out of this building. The corners of his thin lips twist up into a conniving smile. "Perfect" He laughs.