You're The Music That's Been Playing In My Head: Book 2

Befana: Part 1

"Marinette this is quite a special day for you!" Tikki exclaims excitedly. Today was Marinette's birthday, and she seemed a bit perkier today then again most people are on their birthday. My phone vibrates and I quickly respond, everyone in class had decided to throw Marinette a surprise birthday party and they would set it up, I was on Marinette Duty. Basically, I just had to keep her from finding out about the party but somehow she figured it out so I've had to throw her off the trail more than a couple of times to the point she's given up trying to hide the fact she knows about the party from me. My attention turns back to Marinette who was putting away her laundry at the moment. "It sure is Tikki," She looks at her phone with a frown.

She was waiting for Alya to call the cover story we had gone with to get her to the party was that we were taking Alya's sisters to the dentist and then would go out to eat to celebrate Mari's birthday. Mari heads to the roof for the billionth time to look for Alya and Tikki and I follow her. "There's a ritual we kwamiis perform on a day like this." "Really? That's nice," She answers back, though clearly still not engaged in the conversation.

"But I dunno if you humans would like it. I wonder if you guys even give each other presents on your birthday," This catches Mari's attention. "You got me a birthday present Tikki?" "A kwamii specialty." "That's so awesome! What is it?" Tikki performs a little ance before spitting in Marinette's hands. The both of us staring at the spit in confusion. "Miraculous birthday Marinette! Oh no, you don't like it do you?" 

"No! I l-love it! It's amazing! It's...uh...What is it?" The spit disappears and in its place is a small red object that looked like the swirl in a Yin and Yang symbol. "A Kwagatama. A great symbol of friendship among us kwamiis. We take a hair from our miraculous holder and join it to the hair of every former miraculous holders and with them we grow a magic resin for a few months and-" Tikki starts to explain before stopping after noticing Marinette wasn't listening. She was watching her phone and I jab her with my elbow as Tikki tells her "I know you don't wanna tell me because you don't wanna hurt my feelings but it's obvious you don't like it."

"I'm sorry Tikki! That's not it, I do really love your gift. It's just that Alya should've already called me by now. We're supposed to be taking her little sisters to the 'dentist', at 4 o'clock today" Mari air quotes and Flaake asks "Humans celebrate their birthday by going to the dentist?" "Of course, not Flaake, it's a secret code, they're actually throwing me a surprise birthday party!" I cross my arms and sigh while our kwamiis exchange a confused look. "But how can it be a surprise if you know about it?" 

"The thing about surprises is you know about it but you pretend you don't so you don't spoil it for the people who organized it," Mari explains and Tikki asks "What about the dentist?" "It's a fake-out. You see Alya and (y/n) are gonna pretend to take me to the dentist but they're really gonna be taking me to my surprise party. Right (y/n)?" Well if she did know it was my job to convince her otherwise so I give her a look and blankly state "No. We're going to the dentist's and then we'll go out to eat to celebrate your birthday. I told you this multiple times. We found out about your birthday too late to throw a party. Mari gives me a challenging look. "Impossible, all the signs are there. Juleka totally jumped when I caught her holding a bicycle pump."

"Maybe she has a bicycle," Flaake points out, she understood what I was trying to do. "No Flaake, obviously she was planning to use the pump to blow up balloons. A surprise birthday party always has balloons." "One, Juleka is shy and introverted so she gets startled easily sometimes. Two, Luka has a bike, his tires went flat and he needed them refilled so he could do his job. She was getting it for him," I explain as we head back down into Mari's room. 

"Fine then explain why yesterday I caught Nino listening to my favorite song?" "It could be his favorite song too," Flaake says only for Mari to shake her head. "Are you kidding? He hates it, he has no reason to listen to it unless he's making a playlist for my surprise party! Elementary." "Again no. I don't know why you're so convinced there's a party after I told you why there wouldn't be one but Nino is a DJ he does gigs, he was probably making his playlist for his next gig next week." "Then why was Alya having a secret convo with Adrien huh? Which means he's going to be there!" "Because she can. It's their private conversation which means you have no business knowing what they were talking about. But since you insist, Adrien overheard Alya telling Nino that their original dentist went out of business and needed to find a new dentist so he suggested a dentist for her."

Marinette groans into the pillow next to her before giving me a challenging look. "Fine, there's one no-fail way to see if there's a surprise party in the making," She drags me down to the bakery. "Watch their faces," She opens the door and calls to her parents. "Mom? Dad? Do you know anything about Alya and the rest of my class planning a surprise party for my birthday?"

The two freeze, they were currently working on Marinette's birthday cake as walked in, finishing it up in fact when Tom tosses the large cake into the trash can and sits on it, causing me to give him a look, you didn't have to do that. If she asked about the cake you could've said it was for someone else's birthday or for an event...But then he goes and makes it worse by being awkward. "Party? What party? Which Alya again?" Sabine throws a berry at his face whispering "You're overdoing it, we're talking about her best friend." "Oh, Alya! Of course, Alya, we haven't seen her in years," I facepalm and Mari turns to me with a triumphant smile.

"See? Parents always know when there's a surprise party in the works," The doorbell rings and Mari smiles. "And now on the other side of this door, check out who's coming to get me just in time for the party," I look at my phone confused Alya wasn't supposed to be here yet, there were still ten minutes till three. Marinette opens the door. "It's...Grandma?!" I look out the door to see a woman in red pants, boots, a black top with a ship design on the front, a black leather jacket, jewelry, and red sunglasses with a pixie cut holding a helmet at the door. This is her grandma? "Mom?" "Gina?" Tom and Sabine ask as Marinette pulls her grandma in for a hug.

"Marinetta, you're so tall for your age. Did you get my letter from Patagonia?" Gina speaks with a clear Italian accent as she comes in. "Yes, and the ones from Australia, Bali, and Estonia, too! Did you really get chased by a bear?" "Yes but we wound up good friends in the end," She laughs out and I surmise she likes to travel and can be impulsive...Which explains the sudden visit. Tom tries to explain the situation to his mother.

"Mom it's her birthday-" "Why do you think I'm here?" She cuts him off before turning to the helmet on the counter and pulls out a small gift for Marinette. "Happy birthday my fairy! My Inuit friend knitted especially for your tenth birthday." "She's twelve," I point out and Gina jumps a bit. "My! Oh, how time flies." Mari opens the gift to reveal a shirt with an owl print on it that was clearly too small for her to wear.