The Birthday Trap

Chapter 8 - Epilogue

They woke up to the annoying sound of something buzzing uncontrollably at the side of Marinette's bed. Adrien opened a sleepy eyelid, and it took him a second to focus, because his ceiling wasn't pink. Uh, and his bed wasn't as soft.

"Mmmmmmh."

His bed also didn't moan. Oh well, at least not when the smell of Plagg's fouling cheese didn't reach his nostrils because the wee God had decided to bring a slice into bed with him and was in a cheese-induced coma. But all that came to his nostrils was the wonderful smell of coconut and wildflowers.

Uh. Marinette's smell. Yes, now he remembered...

He lifted an arm to pick up the phone and Marinette lifted an extremely sleepy head that had been buried deep into his chest until then.

"If it's an akuma, I'm giving them my Miraculous. I'm too tired...fuck off, Papillon," she drawled, very slowly, eventually crashing her face again into his chest and hugging him tighter.

Adrien started chuckling. "Not a morning person, are you, Marinette?"

She groaned into his chest. "Stop moving. And you should know, I've known you five years."

She had a point. Adrien picked up her phone from her bedside table, just to quickly glance at which akuma they were relinquishing their Miraculous to, but was met with the grinning face of Alya from the phone's calling ID.

"Alya," he said, putting the phone down to gently pat her head.

"What about her?" she whimpered.

"She's calling you. And from the look of it, it's a video call."

"Fucking hell, video calling me at stupid o'clock in the morning..." She fumbled on the bedside table, picked up the phone and sighed. "Do you want me to get up to answer?"

His hold on her didn't loosen. "Not a chance; you stay right here."

She looked over her shoulder to meet gaze with him. "You know what this means, right?"

He smiled at her. "She deserves her reward."

"Indeed she does." She smiled back and pushed the green button.

"Oh, good morning sleeping—uh!--beautIES. Hello there, Sunshine!" As she said that, Nino's face popped on the screen too, and they both aw-ed.

"I knew my little bird would leave the nest finally," squealed Nino.

"NO! Don't tell me," said Alix's voice from the background. Sure to God, Alix's face appeared on the screen seconds later. "Good for you! Nice to see you not looking as perfect as usual, Adrien!"

By now, both Adrien and Marinette were redder than Ladybug's suit.

"Okay," said Marinette with a little growl. "Is there anyone else who wants to enjoy the show, or can we just get back to sleep?"

Alya picked back the phone. "Marinette, my dear sweet Marinette. Have you forgotten we agreed on a picnic today for your birthday?"

Marinette rolled her tired eyes. "Yeah, not this early, though."

"It's three o'clock in the afternoon, girl," laughed Alya, her laughter increasing to a roar when she saw their shocked faces and how quickly they had buckled out of bed. "Guess I don't need You-Know-Who to tell me whether you went through all the games last night! Ah, I wasted so much money on galettes for no reason..."

"About that..." started Marinette a little angrily, but Adrien picked up her phone and cut her off.

"By the way, Alya, maybe you could clarify a little doubt we had last night while we were, uh, playing your game." He put the phone down to pull up his underwear, and then his trousers.