A Masked Mistake

Champagne Problems [24: Soul Mates]

Marinette opened her eyes to the dimly lit room, though it was daytime no-one had opened the thick blackout curtains, keeping the room dark and dingy. She moved one leg, the tell-tale clink of wine bottles alerting her to why she suddenly felt like there was a balloon inflating behind her eyes. She squinted, dry mouth sticky with thick saliva and moaned before retreating under the duvet; closing her eyes once more.

For the first time in months Marinette hadn't woken with the intense need to murder her alarm clock, her awakening coming natural from a good nights sleep... if you ignore the vice gripping her skull. The room was still silent apart from the faint humming of the air conditioning unit overhead, a noise equivalent to a Black and Decker drill repeatedly chisling into her cerebral cortex.

She couldn't help but moan and lower herself deep into the duvet, waves of nausea adding to her misery. Her phone pinged with message after message, each signalling it was Alya; her 'Do Not Disturb' now void on her phone.

Her brain felt like it would swell beyond the capacity of her skull and now her dehydration was too obvious to ignore. She would have to crawl into the bathroom to grab some water, anything to dampen the fuzzy feeling in her mouth. Her stomach lurched and gurgled at the thought of movement; the only inspiration to move being the welcome relief her painkillers would bring.

Marinette raised her heavy eyelids half way only for them to fall shut once more. How much had she drank last night?

She attempted to open her eyes again, her intense headache screaming at her to stop being so stupid and keep her eyes firmly shut. So she did. She lay brain functioning where her eyes wouldn't, and began to piece the previous night together.

It was Sunday...she was almost one hundred percent sure about that, unless she'd slept for two days. No! There wasn't a chance. It was definitely Sunday, which meant yesterday was Saturday.

Saturday, where she'd patrolled with Chat Noir. Yes! That was right. She remembered thinking 'oooo a Saturday patrol? How peculiar!' Because they hadn't patrolled together on a Saturday evening in about six months; Chat was always busy for some reason or another. She never knew the exact reason why, and she didn't ask. You know, secret identities and all that jazz.

But yes! She was certain there was a Saturday night patrol.

They met at the Arc de Triomphe, and Chat Noir wanted Thai food before they set out on their usual route. Neither knew of a decent restaurant, their favourite having closed due to a 'mouse' situation, so they had decided to pull up Google Maps on Chat's baton and look for a suitable restaurant.

Yes! They had definitely searched for a top class Thai restaurant.

And then...oh yes! Chat had said, "M'Lady, if you don't mind travelling I know this ameowsing place" and of course, she trusted her partner wholeheartedly so she said "yes, kitty, let's go to this totally awesome place."

Okay...so maybe she hadn't replied exactly like that. But she'd definitely agreed to go. Which came to the next memory.

They had used Kaalki.

Yes! She had most certainly combined the Miraculous' together becoming 'Pegabug' and led them too...

Las Vegas.

With the time difference they ended up having Thai food for their lunch rather than their dinner, which seemed strange at the time but then they decided that because it was evening in France they could have a glass of wine with it too.

Yes! They'd gotten drunk. Horrendously, unacceptably drunk; because that one glass of wine, slyly turned into a bottle, and then...Well, you catch the drift. They were meant to be heroes, they were meant to take care of the world but they seemed to think singing 'New York, New York' at the top of their lungs was more important at that moment.