WELCOME! To another romantic and drama filled chapter offffff Cat got your tongue! I hope you enjoy what is up ahead as always and that you have the most pawesome day/night! And without any further interruptions… Chapter 26…
Chloe's shoulders shake as she tries to gather herself on the floor of Nino's room. She wipes the tears away from her face, leaving black smears along her cheeks. She takes a deep breath in as Ximia stokes her hair.
Then she hears the door creek open and she gasps, her kwami hiding behind her in the process. But it isn't Sabrina, it's… Nath. His amber hair making his eyes even brighter in the dim lighting, he walks over to her with a hidden emotion on his face. "Nathaniel?" she says quickly, rubbing her face to try and rid the hint of tears.
He slumps down next to her on the floor and slips his hand into hers, "I know what you're feeling right now" he says, not looking at her, knowing he will do something drastic if he does. "w-what?" Chloe stutters out, almost passing out from the sudden closeness of him, his cologne intoxicating.
"I know it hurts, seeing that happen. Seeing them kiss and hug and just, hang out. I know it stings but you just have to put up with it." Nathaniel then turns to Chloe, glassy eyes hiding so many secrets, so many feelings untold. "You have to put up with it because their happiness is more important than yours. Seeing them happy everyday should be enough, so you just have to push through the pain".
Chloe's eyes are wide as she looks at him, guilt filling her up like a bottle in the river. Nathaniel studies her pretty face, blue eyes filled with tears and guilt and hurt, his gaze drifts down to her lips, 'What are you doing! This is why you weren't meant to look at her!' his head booms with regret as he inches closer to the girl. She leans in, her own mind screaming for her to back away, she ignores it even though she knows it's right.
Just as their faces become inches apart and they both feel each other's breath against their skin, Nathanial throws himself back, breath heavy and fast as he shakes his head, "what am I doing?" he says aloud, standing up and raking a hand through his red hair. Chloe shakes her own head and returns to wrapping her arms around her knees. "I-I thought… I'm sorry" She whispers timidly as Nath stares at her, still breathing fast.
He looks down to the floor then, hair hiding his face, "Just… Ugh, I don't know! You're not good for me!" he says, then leaves. Chloe now alone again and crying ten times harder than what she was before.
Nath heads back to the main room, Kim and Alix now here and the party turning to a calmer state. Nino then yells out, "Spin the bottle!" The whole group 'woops' with excitement as the clock ticks over to 8:30. Everyone sits in a circle and as Nino spins the bottle in the centre, it slows and then stops on Kim, who groans in knowing of what his dare will be.
Everyone knows Kim likes Alix, and everyone knows that Alix likes Kim, even though she refuses to admit it. The whole class has been shipping them for two years now, but the pair are just too stubborn to admit it.
Nino grins wickedly as he clasps his hands together, "Kim, Kim, Kim, oh whatever will I do with you!" The boy blushes and gulps, Alix doing a similar thing in her lime green short dress and pink hair completely out, black, studded, rocker chick boots on. The class laughs excitedly, except Nath, who looks kind of conflicted in the colourful disco room.
Marinette notices this and makes a mental note to ask him later. "I dare you, to kiss Alix!" Nino states simply. Both Kim and Alix turn bright beetroot, "No way!" they say in unison. But Nino just laughs again, gesturing for Kim to move closer to his pink haired crush. Neither of them move, so the birthday boy sighs, "well, if you won't do it then I guess I'll have to commence plan B" Alya and Ivan both stand up, edging closer to the couple with mischievous grins, the two victims fret in their seats.
"P-Plan B?" Kim says nervously, eyeing his two friends who edge closer. Alix's mind races, 'I don't want them to make us kiss like this… maybe I should just…' Alix then stands up abruptly, cheeks beaming pink as she blurts out a response, "No need for plan B!" she walks over to Kim who has eyes as wide as saucepans. Alix grabs his shirt collar and yanks it up, making him stand, she then pulls him in for a kiss.
The whole room goes crazy as their classmate's cheer and 'whoop' and whistle. When Alix pulls away, she looks at Kim with wide blue eyes, a shy smile on her face, still holding his shirt, but then he launches on her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close, they kiss again and everyone goes wild, yelling and laughing.
Max is shaking his head in disbelief, "My calculations states that there was a 99.8% chance of Kim not kissing Alix. I guess he was lucky." Rose giggles at that, swinging her arm around Juleka, "oh Max! You can never make a prediction with love!" Her sweet voice making the boy smile and shrug, "maybe you are right, Rose."
After a while, Chloe slips out of Nino's room, heading for the bathroom. She wipes away her old makeup and quickly applies a new layer, smiling fakely at her reflection before putting her makeup back in her overnight bag. Nino was very kind to invite her to stay, maybe he believed she really could turn things around if she tried.
She then joins the group, explaining that she felt a little 'sick' and that's why she was gone. Marinette see's right through the excuse and stares at Chloe, who looks away awkwardly with red puffy eyes. They play spin the bottle for a while longer before Nino's mother turns off the lights in the kitchen and makes an announcement. "Time for cake! Everyone in the kitchen!"
Adrien stands up almost straight away, Marinette laughing at his excitement and linking her fingers through his. The group all stand in the kitchen, chattering quietly as Nino's Mother comes out with a big pink and blue cake with bits of poufy fairy floss sitting on top. Nino gasps and then whispers, "fairy floss cake!" into the darkness, Alya snorting.
As Mia starts to sing, everyone joins in, Marinette managing to sing beautifully even through her giggles as Nino moves his hands along like he's orchestrating a group of musicians. Mia finally sets the cake on the table and the whole group cheers. Excited for their friends 17th.
When Nino cuts the cake his mother warns him, "Don't touch the bottom or you'll have to kiss a girl!" Nino grins then, pushing the knife all the way down, "Not a problem Mum!" he turns around to the ombre reporter, looking into her greeny-gold eyes, then he kisses her.
His mother gasping and his dad rooting for him, "yes son! That's the way" Mia lightly slaps her husband over the back of the head, "Himmat! Did you put him up to this?" the chuckling man rubs a hand behind his neck, "maybe".
…
Once the cake had been eaten and the clock ticked over to 9:45 people started to head home, first Maylene and Ivan, then Juleka, rose and Sabrina, next Alix who would have walked home alone if not for Kim insisting he walk her home since it was 'too dangerous for a pretty girl like her' Alix stopped arguing after that, letting him come along, a blush settled firmly along her cheeks.
After that the rest of the guests left fairly quickly, leaving Nino, Alya, Adrian, Nathanial, Chloe and Marinette. Nino sighs in satisfaction, flopping onto the couch "best. Birthday. Ever." He says as he munches on a bowl of chips. They sit in silence for a bit, but then Alya stands up excitedly. "Your birthday isn't over yet! It's PJ time~!" She coos in a sing-song voice, grabbing her best friend and Chloe by the hand, yanking them up off of the couch.
"Us girls will get our stuff and go change in the bathroom. You guys head to Nino's room, no pervy stuff!" she says jokingly, bopping Nino on the nose with her finger and pulling her friends along behind her, all of them giggling.
Marinette slips off her attire, ruffling through her night-bag to find her cat hoodie, a pair of ugg-boots and her ladybug PJ shorts, her friends doing similar actions beside her. Alya chucks on her favourite cookie monster shirt with matching daggy PJ pants that are white with cookies scattering the fabric.
Chloe has a different approach with her pastel yellow bunny shirt and small PJ shorts with Easter eggs as decoration, she slips on her fluffy pink bunny slippers and grabs out an old ragged bear, probably from when she was little, just like Marinette and Alya's.
Marinette ties her own hair in two plaits, then does Alya's in a single braid down her back, ombre curls sticking out in odd spots. She shifts her gaze to Chloe, unsure of if to ask, "You want yours done too?" The blonde jumps on the opportunity, eyes a bit wide, "yes please!" she throws herself in front of Marinette cross legged and waiting.
When Marinette unties Chloe's pastel blonde hair from the messy bun, it spills out in wavy locks around her shoulders and Marinette gasps. "Did you curl it? It's so pretty, I think you should leave it out!" Chloe laughs nervously, "no, this is my natural hair, I normally straighten it before school. But yeah if you think it looks good then why not?"
The three girls file out of the bathroom to meet the boys in Nino's room, when they arrive the boys are laughing and joking around, they go silent when the girls come in, Adrian Grinning, probably holding in a cat pun, Nino trying to muffle his excited laughter with one hand and Nathaniel blushing slightly while looking away, a frown on his face.
"what's with you?" Alya says, eyebrow quirked at Nino, "I love your PaJammers!" he blurts out and leaps on her, scanning the fabric of her cookie pants. Alya laughs and peels him off, pecking him on the head before sitting down on a heap of pillows with her scruffy bear to her chest. The kwami's chattering away quietly together in the little box on Nino's desk.
Marinette eye's Adrien closely, predicting his actions, "Your looking Paweso-" "Shut it cat!" Adrien doubles over with laughter, Alya and Nino holding on to their stomachs as they cackle, Nathaniel laughing quietly despite his off mood, Chloe also holding a hand over her mouth to muffle her sweet giggles. Marinette the only one not finding it funny, "what are you all laughing at? He's not even funny!"
Alya manages to sit up and speak between bouts of laughter, "No, he's not funny, but your reaction is!" she laughs again as Marinette huffs, her cat hoodie falling over her freckled face in the process, the temporary blindness not helping her friends much as they laugh breathlessly, Alya's snorting echoing through the room.
She lifts up her hoodie and growls, Adrian finally sitting upright to confront his grumpy girlfriend, he places his head on her shoulder, grinning devilishly, which makes her turn the colour of a strawberry in a matter of seconds. She still manages to hold her scowl. She then returns the look with her own grin, having an idea. "What's the matter purr-incess? Don't like my puns?" Adrian's grin widens.
Marinette smirks and leans her face closer to his, she shoves a finger on his chest and quirks her head sideways, "Oh no my, purr-ince, I love hearing your puns. But I think I rather when you're silent, ok?" The model's face is pink and stunned as Marinette's seductive blue eyes bore into him.
Marinette then turns back to the group, smiling like nothing happened, 'that ought to teach him a lesson' she thinks as Nino and Alya snuggle in a bundle of pillows, both muffling their laughter. Nath laughs a little bit too but the bluenette spots the pain behind it, she frowns and then realises her mistake, turning to a frustrated looking Chloe, who looks at the floor, thinking something through.
Alya and Nino sense the tension and the DJ stands up, "how about we watch a movie? I have three options for ya'll to choose from!" his silly cowboy voice lightening the mood, "we have, Batman, Superman or The Exisist, take your pick" Chloe's sweet giggle cuts through as she stands up, cocking one hip out with a hand to rest on it sassily. "two of them are hero movies ay? I wonder why" the friends laugh at that.
Once the vote was made and The Exisist was chosen, the group sit down in a mountain of pillows and blankets, the mouth-watering smell of buttered popcorn wafting from the kitchen. Nino gets up to fetch the remote as Marinette and Alya chatter about her latest designs and how the lady blog is gonna work now that Alya has her powers.
Chloe's voice interrupts the girls, "Thankyou" she squeaks, preying they didn't hear. Alya and Marinette turn around, Nath looks up from his sketchbook with unreadable eyes, Nino returns with the remote and flops onto the pillows, watching Chloe all the way, Adrien stares with wide eyes, never hearing her say a polite word before.
Marinette pushes her hoodie back from her head, "pardon?" Chloe takes a deep breath and looks up with a shy smile, "thank you, all of you, I have never been anything but unkind to you and you still let me in to your group, you still invited me, you still treat me like your friend. And I am so, so sorry for all that I've put you through. All the akuma's I've caused, all the hearts I've broken, the people I've hurt… I can never thank you enough, for what you have turned me into."
When Chloe finishes the only thing that fills the room is silence, Marinette's eyes are wide and glassy, Alya smiles sadly, Nino and Adrian smile contently and Nath just stairs at her, brows creased in frustration and a look like he's solving a puzzle, figuring out what pieces go where, if they go in the right places. She then notices that her face is wet with tears and her lip quivers slightly.
Before she can speak another word, all of her friends are on top of her, crushing her in a big group hug. Once they pull away after a good thirty seconds, Marinette shakes her head, "Chlo, you will always be our friend, no matter what you did ok?" Alya chuckles, her laughing hazel-gold eyes making things better, "yeah girl, whether you like it or not, you're stuck with us. There's no escaping the miraculous team!"
"Dude, we weren't the ones who changed you, you changed yourself, and for the better too, I was really getting tired of the mayors' stroppy daughter storming into class every day. We need a little more… um, what to call it? Chloeness, yep that's it!" Adrian's laughter bubbles up in his chest, soon Alya joins in with her loud snorting cackles, Marinette with her sweet giggles and Nath with a soft chuckle.
Only then does Chloe realise that Nath is hugging her too, his smell of blueberries and cologne making her blush, with enough courage she looks at his face, when they make eye contact he turns bright pink, then pulls away. But not before Chloe spots the smile on his lips… and a lip piercing?
"hey! You have your lip piercing in!" Chloe squeals, automatically grinning and grabbing his face with both hands. Marinette gasps and shuffles over to get a better look, "Nath it looks so cool! Why don't you wear it more often?" Chloe nods in agreement, pulling hands away from the blushing red heads' face with hesitation.
After a while of chatting, (yes I did) Nino puts the movie in the slot of the CD player, including a few dirty jokes along the way, and Alya retrieving the big bowl of popcorn and orange Fanta to share, they all snuggle down into the pillow/blanket fort prepared for some movie action.
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ANNNDDD THERE WE GO! Another chapter for you! Getting into a little of that Chlothanial! I'm so sorry that its late AGAIN, but I hope you enjoyed and as always remember to comment your feedback and ideas good or bad they make me super happy! So I guess I'll see you next time with chapter 27!
Claws out!
-Charlie x