Naia held a few sheets of paper in her hands as she stood outside of her guardian's office. She had scheduled this 4 days ago and was still appalled that she'd had to be penned in like a client. The door opened and Natalie stepped out,
"Mr Agreste will see you now,"
She nodded and walked past the secretary and into the office,
"Hello Naia, what can I do for you?" the man asked in his cold demeanour,
"Adrien and I have a friend, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and we were hoping that you would allow us to go to her birthday party and help us with our gifts." Naia asked in as brisk a manner as she could summon without being antagonistic.
"Marinette?"
"She won one of your design contests a few months back. She's the kindest person you'll ever meet until you get on her bad side and incredibly brilliant in any way you could think of." Naia spoke but refrained from going on too long. It wouldn't do to get on his nerves currently.
"Yes, I remember her. Alright, you can go to her party, just tell Natalie when and where it is. Now," Gabriel walked out from behind his monitor, "What can I do in regards to your gifts?"
Naia blinked back her shock at how easy it was to get him on board.
"Well, a few months ago Marinette gave Adrien a handmade lucky charm and Adrien wanted to make her one so they could match. He wanted your opinion on the idea. "
The untransformed Hawkmoth stayed quiet for a moment, "If they are close then this is a brilliant display of sentiment and caring. I take it she means a lot to my son?"
Naia chuckled, "I think it's at the point that everyone but Marinette and Adrien see his crush on her."
Gabriel remained impassive and only nodded, "And your gift?"
She readjusted the papers in her hands, "Marinette, as you know, is a designer and I was hoping that you would make a critique on or annotate a copy of one of her designs. She's great at taking constructive criticism so you wouldn't need to sugarcoat anything. It would be a brilliant thing for her to know and learn from."
Gabriel held out his hand, "You truly care about this Marinette?"
Naia looked up defiantly, "She is only second to Adrien."
She placed the sheets in the outstretched hand.
"They will be ready for you by dinner tomorrow. And by the way Naia," he called as she made to leave.
"Yes Mr Agreste?"
"From now on Damien will drive you to the Place des Vosges. You needn't sneak out to play and since you were kind enough to give Adrien's personal chef a heart attack, you and he will be permitted to get lunch with your friends." The girl squeaked and ran out of the door
"Wait he just, Agreed? Like instantly?" Adrien asked incredulously.
"Well, he checked who I was talking about and based his decision on their previous interactions. He loves your gift idea by the way," the cunning girl said.
"Really? And he just let you go unpunished for sneaking out and almost killing my personal chef?" Adrien continued incredulously.
"It wasn't my fault!" well, it sort of was. All that happened was that Jaques walked in on the two of them eating tacos and had a heart attack in shock, "Besides I don't think he realised that Jaques has told every dietician and personal chef in Paris to stay far away from us so he's rewarded us before he looked at the consequences of my- ahem, actions."
Adrien burst into laughter.
On the 9th of July, Naia stood by André the ice cream man and was chatting with him whilst he served his customers,
"So you'll join the party at around 7?" She asked for confirmation.
"Indeed Miss Naia!" He said as he handed her an ice cream. A white haired woman in a motorcycle jacket turned up in front of them and Marinette could be seen on the phone a few feet away.
"Hey, are you here with my friend Marinette?" Naia asked
"Yes, that is my wonderful Marinetta!" she awesome grandmother proclaimed.
"Awesome, so you're Gina. Mari's told me about you but," she looked the woman over, "Words can not do justice. D'you mind if I talk to you for a minute? About Marinette."
"Of course! Anything for my little fairy!" they walked to the opposite end of the bridge.
"I'm supposed to be taking Marinette to her surprise birthday party but I also just arranged for André to meet us there later. We've heard of how cool you are and I can honestly say that you'll be welcome and wanted. Would you like to come with us and meet Mari's friends including the boy she fancies?" Naia spoke in a soft tone.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea!" Gina exclaimed in jubilation.
"Great, but fyi, Adrien is a bit of an idiot when it comes to feelings so doesn't really know she likes him; and he's also my brother." the wingwoman whispered in Gina's ear.
"And you're okay with him being in a relationship soon? I remember when my brother got his first crush, I was ready to rip the girls head off! Then again this is my Marinetta we're talking about." the grandmother debated whilst Naia laughed.
"Exactly, it's Mari so I trust her. If it were ANYONE else they'd already have lost their head." The two females laughed before the younger got semi serious,
"Your granddaughter is very mature. She's kind and compassionate and if she cares about someone, she will do anything to keep them happy. She's talked about the Befana sweets you get her and knows you love getting her them; but the truth is she's grown out of liking them. She just doesn't want to hurt your feelings. If you get her sweets I'd reccomend getting her strawberry taffy,"
Gina looked to her granddaughter who was waiting patiently, "I never knew."
"The important thing is that you do now."
They arrived in front of Marinette.
"Grandma! Naia? What are you doing here?" Marinette asked.
"I have a free day! So I thought I'd grab some ice cream before going to talk to Alya." the girl laughed as she twisted her ice cream in a spiral.
"Alya? She's at the park, I was gonna go meet her there- uh, if that's okay with you nonna?"
Gina smiled, "I'll drive us all there!"
Marinette and co arrived at the Place des Vosges to see a beautifully decorated area. The party began and everyone wished her a happy birthday and one by one presented her with her gifts.
"Happy Birthday Mari," Naia said as she handed her a thin package.
"Thank you Naia. . ." She opened the present and gasped, "You didn't! You- you- Oh my god Thankyouthankyou! I love you! Y-you have no idea, I mean you do but, this means so much to me. I can't you believe that you did this for me, I-" She threw her arms around the girl who'd given her the gift, "You're the best friend I could ask for." she whispered in her ear. They split apart and Alya walked up,
"SooOo, what was so awesome that you freaked out like that girl."
Naia looked sincerely happy for her friend as she gushed, "SHE-HAD-GABRIEL-AGRESTE-CRITIQUE-MY-DESIGNS!"
Her friends started gushing over the brilliant gift and Adrien looked nervous and panicky,
"There's no way I can give this to her now, it's going to be so lame compared to your gift!" she slapped him. Not hard enough to bruise, but definitely hard enough to shock.
"Stop that! My gift may have material and intellectual value, especially for a designer but you have HAND MADE a gift for that girl and it will mean even more because it connects you 2 in a way that no one else is, through something no one else has! Now get over there and give her that gift before I slap you again."
He walked over too Marinette and held out his gift, "Happy birthday Marinette."
Adrien and Naia had half an hour until they had to be picked up and so Naia made a decision that she had chosen to never let herself regret. She grabbed an empty Coke bottle and forced all her classmates to sit down,
"We're doing spin the bottle! I don't care if you don't particularly want to do that but we are and for the sake of all things satanic, give us a bit of a show if you get chosen." She called and got a couple of groans, whistles and cheers back along with,
"Just not too much of a show, we wanna keep it relatively PG!" It was Alix, and as usual all if the shy people in the class blushed like they were the colour of Ladybug's super suit.
"Since you seem to be the most confident person around, you can start us off." She handed the bottle too the sporty girl, "Just be warned that if you're in a relationship you are not exempt, you can just go lighter than making out."
Alix span the bottle and it landed on Nino who Alya playfully huffed at before quipping, "Go on Cappy, like Naia said 'give us a show'," Alix and Nino kept their lips locked for approximately 5 seconds before breaking apart and Nino scrambled back to his seat.
Kim, who was next to Alix, went next. He span the bottle and it landed on Myléne. They kissed for even less than Alix and Nino because Kim was terrified of the little girls massive boyfriend.
Next it was Nathaniel's turn, who blushed and stuttered when it landed on Naia. Naia had hoped for entertainment by playing this game and so,
"I said to put on a show, and since no one has done that. . . I guess I'll just have to set an example."
She stood up like the pairs before her and pulled Nathaniel into a kiss. She looped her arms over his shoulders and threaded one hand into his hair. His arms curled around her waist and after a good 30 seconds they broke apart to hear cheering from their classmates. Adrien looked just about ready to murder the poor artist for daring to touch his sister; that was until said sister reminded him it was a game and explained that she was messing about.
The game blurred as it progressed.
Max span next and got Rose, who laid her legs across his lap while giving him a chaste kiss, Juleka blushing all the while at her girlfriends antics. Ivan got Marinette which was painfully awkward until Naia excused them from doing it. Alya span and got Naia, who was the first to kiss twice and they were the first same sex kissers. Alya was unashamedly enthusiastic and Nino didn't get to mad because like Naia had said, the class got a show.
Juleka and Myléne both got their significant others. Rose span Marinette and Mari span on Nino. Naia span and landed on Kim who jumped up and did a celebratory dance. And finally it was Adrien's turn.
The bottle span once, twice, it did a third turn and came to rest, pointing at Marinette. The class went silent and Naia jumped up from between them and sat down next to Alya and they both got out the cameras. They communicated silently and agreed that Alya would take the video while Naia photographed the whole thing.
Blushing heavily Marinette began to stutter that they didn't need to kiss but Naia put that to rest,
"Oh you're gonna kiss and follow the rules while you're at it. We want a show." she smirked devilishly,
Adrien turned to Marinette blushing slightly and cupped her face. It felt as if everything was going in slow motion. They edged closer together until ther lips met. The 2 soulmates melted into eachother as they kissed and they didn't seem to be parting anytime soon.
Damien's car horn blared and Adrien jumped back, confused.
"And that's us," Naia declared springing up, "Alya send me that video. We gotta go, see you on Monday byyeee!" She tugged a dazed Adrien up from the floor, towards the car.
"I kissed Marinette," Adrien said for the umpteenth time, "I kissed Marinette. I liked it, but I'm in love with Ladybug."
"I get it! Now get over it, we're going to be late!" Naia said as she pushed a mini projector, a hammer, 2 nails and a massive sheet of white paper along with a DVD into her backpack.
"Late for what? Wher'e we going? And what are you doing?"
"It's Ladybug's birthday too, we're going to watch a movie with her." That shook Adrien out of his reverie. He was going to see his Lady.
The 2 heroes dropped down on the same rooftop where Adrien had planned to set up his date with Ladybug. Said bug was already there and looked like she was in as much of a stupor as Adrien had been.
Naia reached into the bottom of her quiver and pulled out the paper, hammer and nails. She began to set up the makeshift projector screen and talked as she worked,
"You alright Red? You look as though you were just kissed when you weren't expecting it." She laughed at the irony of her statement.
It shocked Ladybug back to normality, "Do I? I take it you have the projector."
"Ding ding ding! Give the girl a lollipop! You get the blanket and the snacks?"
She gestured to the floor where they had not noticed a picnic blanket and basket already set up. Naia sat down And pulled the last 2 things out of her quiver, the projector and a DVD copy of 'Tangled'.
Part way through the movie Ladybug spoke up, "What kind of parent does this shit?"
"A bad one." Lycanthria and Cat Noir chorused and the lycan cocked her head.
"Huh, I only just realised."
"What?" Cat asked,
"If you combine me and Cat Noir's lives and subtract the superpowers, we are basically rapunzel. A girl with blonde hair with green eyes who is being held hostage by a parental figure who pretends to care for them all the while, using their child's magical ability for selfish gain, who goes temporarily crazy and gets themselves destroyed attempting to get them back." She summed up.
"I am so not a Disney Princess!" Cat argued.
"Oh you so are!" Lupa giggled, throwing popcorn at him, accidentally getting Ladybug as she did so.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, "Oh that's it, you're so in for it now!" The 3 heroes dissolved into chaos while the movie played in the background.