"Mariiii," Adrien whined from the other side of her apartment door, "You can't stay in your apartment all day."

"Go away, Adrien," Marinette yelled back.

Her former partner in crime-fighting had been trying to get her out of her apartment for nearly half an hour now. She thought that they'd come to an agreement after Alya cancelled her plans to come home for Christmas in favor of an internship at a magazine. He'd tell everyone that she came down with a bug. And, instead of wallowing in her longing for her girlfriend at a party that would have far too many romantic parties, she would watch old horror movies.

She would still be wallowing in longing for her girlfriend, but she'd be surrounded by distractions instead of reminders. It seemed that he didn't have any problem with her plan as long as she promised to let him check in on her. And open her Christmas gift from him and Nino sometime before the end of the year.

And yet...

"C'mon, Mari," Nino chimed in, "It'll just be for a little while. Then, if you're not having fun, someone'll bring you home."

"What's the point? I know I'm not going to have fun so we'll be back here in thirty minutes. It'll just be a waste of everyone's time."

"It won't be a waste of time, I promise" Adrien said. "Please? You don't even have to dress up or anything. All you have to do is show up for a few minutes. Then—"

Marinette stalked over to the door and wrenched it open.

"Half an hour. That's all you get."

Relief visibly fell down upon the pair at her doorstep.

Marinette had no idea why they were so insistent to change their original agreement. And why were they so happy that she'd show up for half an hour at a Christmas party that she was sure that she wouldn't enjoy? They knew she'd be miserable watching everyone enjoy the fun with their chosen partners. And, instead of reveling in her distractions, Marinette would only be reminded time and time again of the fact that hers was over 5,000 kilometers away.

"Thanks, Mari," Nino said as he scratched the back of his neck. "We owe you."

"On the way back the two of you are buying me two pints of ice cream, tissues, and a new throw blanket."

"Mari—"

"That part is non-negotiable," Marinette said, cutting Adrien off. She could see that he wasn't happy that she was already shutting out the idea of staying longer than the time she had allotted him, but she didn't particularly care. "When does the party start?"

"In about half an hour," Nino said.

Marinette raised an eyebrow. "Cutting it a bit close aren't you?"

"Naw," Adrien said waving his hand dismissively, "Everything's all set up, and Chloe said she'd hang around just in case coming to get you took longer than we planned."

"Alright, give me about ten minutes."

Marinette didn't wait for a response. Instead, she shut the door in their faces and stalked off to her bedroom. In the back of her mind she could hear a small voice that sounded distinctly like Tikki, an odd side effect of having lived with the kwami for years, but she ignored it.

She was already missing one person today, she didn't need to miss another.

It didn't take long to find a cute outfit to replace the pajamas that she hadn't changed out of all day. A nice pink top, dark jeans, and a necklace that Alya had given to her for their anniversary would be more than enough. Normally Marinette would take the time to carefully apply makeup to match, but she barely took the time to apply foundation and eyeliner before she was heading out the door.

"I see you haven't lost your touch, My Lady," Adrien said, signature cocky grin spreading across his face. Nino laughed as Marinette rolled her eyes. While thoroughly unamused, she found it difficult to not fall into the familiar banter.

"Yeah, yeah, Kitty. Let's go. Your thirty minutes starts the moment we walk through the door."

It didn't take them long to arrive at Adrien and Nino's place.

Their townhouse, which was nearly two times the size of Marinette's one bedroom apartment, was decked out with Christmas decorations as far as the eye could see. Marinette had a sneaking suspicion that Adrien went out and bought every Christmas decoration he could find without any care as to whether it matched with any of the others. But, even though there were obviously bits and pieces of various sets of decorations, it seemed as though they still provided a cohesive color scheme.

Marinette was tempted to keep her coat on, but a pleading look from Adrien convinced her to leave it in the coat closet. Sighing to herself, she followed after her friends and tried to ignore the hollowness surrounding her hand as she watched them lace their hands together.

"About time, dweebs," Chloe said from where she sat on the sectional, "I had to get up at least three times to answer the door while you were gone."

"You mean that you begged me three times to get the door for you," Sabrina said with a knowing look. Chloe colored slightly before crossing her arms and turning away.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I distinctly remember asking you politely to get the door so that I could rest my feet."

"I don't know, Chloe," Alix said from where she stood beside the refreshment table with Kim and Max. "I'm pretty sure that bribing your girlfriend with—"

"Excuse you! There is no reason for you to sully my good name with unfounded accusations!"

"It's okay, Chloe," Sabrina said placing a hand atop hers, "Alix was just joking."

Chloe stared at Alix for a few moments, looking for some form of confirmation. Even though she had made up with almost everyone, it wasn't uncommon for misunderstandings to still occur. The two of them stared for a moment before Alix sent her a wink.

"W-well, then. I think it's about time that I go call the caterer."

Chloe stood and walked down the hall, Sabrina close behind. There was a small awkward silence before the first few bars of a Deck the Halls remix filled the room. Marinette turned and found Nino fiddling with his computer.

Marinette watched him for a while before a thought occurred to her that she voiced aloud: "Don't you normally have catered food delivered before the party starts?"

Adrien, who was returning with a drink for the three of them, nearly dropped all of the glasses.

"W-well yes. But Chloe insisted that we have the food delivered after the guests started arriving. She didn't want it to go coldfrom sitting out too long, you know?"

"I guess." Marinette said before taking a sip from the overly festive cup.

As she continued to drink the hot apple cider, she tried to place why Adrien was acting so weird. It was quite obvious that something was up, but Marinette couldn't quite gather the energy to investigate too far into it. So, when the doorbell rang and he rushed off to answer it, she allowed him to leave without pressing him any further. Instead, she took a seat on the sectional and continued to nurse her drink.

"Seems like it's been forever since I've seen you last," Kim said as he came to stand beside Marinette, "How've you been?"

"Okay, I guess."

"You just guess?" Kim cocked his head to the side. He took a seat beside her. "What's up?"

"I would say that about 90.5% of Marinette's poor mood would have to do with the fact that Alya is going to school at Boston University, which is approximately 5,528 kilometers away from here."

"Oh, right." Kim winced. "Sorry to hear about that. Mylene's talked about how rough it is for her and Ivan to go to universities in different cities. I can only imagine how hard it is to be in different continents."

"Y-yeah," Marinette said with a wince of her own. "It's pretty… tough."

"Dummy," Alix said as she lightly tapped Kim on the shoulder. "You've gotta be more sensitive than that."

"Right, right. Sorry, Marinette."

"It's okay," Marinette said waving her hands placating. She knew that all three of them meant well, but she didn't particularly want to be reminded of how much she was missing Alya.

"So," Alix said as she came to sit on the other side of Marinette. "How is Ms. Reporter doing across the pond?"

"She's," Marinette took a deep breath, "She's good. Working as hard as ever you know?"

"Oh, I'm sure she is! I remember how much of a workaholic she was when Ladybug first showed up."

"Man," Kim chimed in, "I swear that I once saw her climb a building without any help once just to get a good shot of an akuma attack."

"She what?!" Marinette squawked. In all of her time that she had known Alya, the other girl had never mentioned putting herself in that much danger. Even though there was far less of a chance of her doing something so dangerous now that Ladybug and Chat Noir had retired, Marinette still felt a bubble of unease form in her chest at the thought.

"Don't worry too much, though," Alix piped up as she slung an arm around Marinette's shoulders, "She seems to have learned a bit of common sense since we were kids. I'm sure she's being safe over in America."

"I sure hope—"

"Marinette!" Rose cried from the doorway. Marinette turned and had only enough time to hand her cup off to Alix before a blur of pink rushed over to envelope her in a hug. "It's been far too long!"

"H-Hi Rose," Marinette said as she tried to breath around the small girl's, surprisingly, strong grip. A moment later Rose stepped back and beamed down at her.

"Oh, it's so good to see you! How's life as a budding fashion designer going?"

"Pretty good."

"Oh that's so wonderful to hear! I remember all of those designs that you made when we were younger and I just can't wait until I can buy them in all the stores across Paris!"

Marinette laughed awkwardly. She didn't have the heart to tell Rose that it was going to take a lot of time to accomplish something of that caliber. But, all the same, she was grateful to talk about something other than the distance between Alya and herself.

"Thanks, Rose."

"Of course!" Rose situated herself in between Kim and Marinette.

"How are things going for you?"

"Oh, they're simply fantastic! Especially now that finals are over."

"Here, here," Kim said raising his glass.

"Oh, Kim! I'm sorry, I didn't notice you there I…"

Marinette breathed a small sigh of relief as the group's focus shifted from herself completely. It wasn't as though she hated her former classmates' company. If she was being completely honest it felt nice to see everyone again. But, no matter how close they all gathered together, it felt as though there was an Alya-sized gap beside her that needed to be filled.

She only half listened to the conversation going on around her as she checked the time. According to the large ornate clock hanging on the wall her thirty minutes were almost up. A large part of herself felt guilty over the fact that she couldn't wait to go back home. She knew that leaving early would create a stir of sorts, but she could feel herself becoming more and more overwhelmed with longing and loneliness as time passed by.

Not too much later Ivan and Mylene arrived. The room flew into a flurry of activity as the new guests were welcomed. Most of the room stood to greet them, but Marinette remained sitting. She watched from a distance as Mylene hugged Rose.

"Still shooting for that half hour or are you willing to stay a bit longer?" Nino asked as he leaned on the back of the sectional beside Marinette.

"Eight more minutes," Marinette said, refusing to look at him.

Nino sighed. "Do you just wanna head back now?"

"Didn't we agree on half an hour?"

"Yeah, but everyone's pretty distracted so no one'll notice if you leave now. Also, Adrien can cover for you once everyone starts to notice."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks, Nino," Marinette said as she stood.

Just as Nino had said, no one noticed as they left the room.

Well, almost no one.

"Heading out already?" Adrien asked from where he stood by the door.

"Yeah." Marinette felt a lump form in her throat. "I'm sorry I just—"

"It's alright. I totally understand. You go home and rest, alright? We'll come by and visit tomorrow to see how you're doing."

"Thanks, Adrien."

"No problem." Adrien leaned forward to hug her tight. "You hang in there, Bugaboo."

"Sure—" Marinette cleared her throat as she stepped back and toward the door. "Sure thing, Chaton."

"Man," Nino said as he and Marinette made their way toward her apartment, "I still can't believe you guys were able to keep your identities a secret for so long."

Marinette laughed. "Me, too."

"Sucks that you guys'll never get officially recognized for everything you did, though."

"Not really. At least this way we don't have to worry about all the press."

"I guess that's true. It's bad enough now. I can't imagine what it would be like if anyone had found out."

"Me either."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence for a majority of their trip back to Marinette's apartment. Nino came to a stop before a convenience store.

"You know you don't actually have to buy me any of that stuff I said earlier," Marinette said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Alright," Nino said with a shrug. "But, when you do need that stuff just give me a call and I'll come over with it."

Marinette laughed. "I guess that sounds like a plan."

The pair began walking again toward her apartment. It wasn't long before Marinette was unlocking her apartment door. She was about to open it when Nino put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey. You know that if you need anything you can always give us a call right? No matter what time it is?"

"Yeah," Marinette said with a small smile.

"Good." Nino leaned in and gave her a half hug. "Now don't have too much fun. See you later!"

Marinette's eyebrows knit together as Nino suddenly turned and walked away at breakneck speed. With how she had been acting all evening why on earth would he wish her such a thing? Didn't he know that she was planning on doing nothing more than crying as she fell asleep watching movies?

Sighing, Marinette let herself into the apartment. She supposed that she would never quite understand why things had gone as they had tonight. But, despite the fact that she missed Alya more than ever, she was still grateful to be reminded that she had so many people that cared for her. Perhaps she'd start calling all of them, even Chloe, when Alya wasn't quite awake yet and she felt especially lonely.

She toed off her shoes and put her coat in her closet. Without thinking too much she turned on her living room light. She was halfway to her bedroom when a figure on her couch made her stop dead in her tracks. Years of being Ladybug under her belt, Marinette reacted on instinct and picked up the closest object, a mop, and was about to swing it when the figure's identity registered in her mind, stopping her short:

Alya.

"Welcome home to you, too, Babe," Alya said through a fit of laughter.

Marinette just stood there, mop held high, for what felt like forever just staring at her girlfriend. How on Earth had she—

"Sorry to surprise you like this. Originally I was supposed to surprise you at Adrien's Christmas party. But since you didn't want to stay too long we thought it'd be better if I surprised you here." Alya waved a key in the air. "I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your mom's copy of—"

Marinette nearly tackled Alya into the couch. In all honesty, she didn't care how Alya had come to be in her apartment, she just cared that she was here. With her.

"H-hey, shh, shh. It's alright, Babe," Alya cooed as she enveloped her own arms around Marinette. "I'm here."

Marinette wasn't exactly sure when she had started crying, but she did her best to calm herself down.

"So— Sorry." Marinette hiccupped. "I'm just… just so happy you're here. I thought you said that you couldn't and—"

"Well, I thought that I wouldn't be able to, but when I mentioned it to Adrien he wouldn't have any of it. Before we finished talking on the phone, he had bought me tickets to come home. I tried to tell him to save his money, but… You know how Adrien is."

Marinette laughed. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure that he'd pay for literally everything he could if Nino didn't reign him in."

"Thank god he listens to someone, though. Can you imagine what would happen if he didn't?"

"Unfortunately, I can. When Adrien was hit by that money akuma he literally started buying things that he thought that people would need. It confused the akuma so much to see his money 'go to waste' that it only took me a minute to get the item away from them."

"Oh my gosh," Alya laughed, "Was that the one that had a slogan for saving money? And who had that ridiculously large top hat?!"

"Yes! Spend, spend, spend, or you'll meet your end!"

Marinette buried her head in the crook of Alya's neck as the two girls laughed. Eventually their giggles died down, but neither girl moved to disentangle herself. Instead, they entwined themselves even further until they were as close as was possible.

Taking Alya's hand, Marinette brought it up to her lips and kissed it gently.

"I missed you," Marinette said softly.

"I missed you, too, Babe," Alya said as she kissed the top of her girlfriend's head.

"Will you stay with me as long as you're in town?"

"Of course." Alya tilted Marinette's head up and looked her in the eyes. "I'll stay here as long as you'll have me."

Marinette shivered. "Then you'll stay forever?"

Alya leaned down and kissed Marinette gently on the lips.

"Anything for you, Babe. Anything for you."

A/N: Thanks for reading! Believe it or not, I haven't written anything for alyanette before! If you have any thoughts please let me know!

This was written as part of the mlsecretsanta exchange for amparts! If you want to check out other pieces that were exchanged just search for mlsecretsanta on tumblr!

I wish you all happy holidays and hope that you find solace whether you're with loved ones or far away. 3