"Are you sure that you read the weather forecast correctly?" Marinette asked her parents, disbelieving what they said.
The one time she woke up early for school and she already gets bad news. Great.
"I'm sorry sweetie. But it's not going to snow this year," her mother repeated to her daughter. Sabine tried making the young designer feel better by making her favorite chocolate chip cookies, but it wasn't really working.
The ravenette sighed as she slipped one of the treats into her purse for Tikki. Sure she had snowless Christmases before, but those holiday seasons weren't nearly as great as the ones filled with snowflakes and building snowmen.
Snow was one of the things that made the sting of the cold more bearable. Last year while patrolling right before Christmas Eve, she and Chat Noir had an epic snowball fight on the rooftops of France. It caused a bit of trouble when it distracted the pedestrians walking by, but it was still fun nevertheless:
"Got you!" Chat Noir grinned as he watched his snowball hit his target. Ladybug almost dodged in time but missed by a hair.
Ladybug rolled her eyes and just launched another snowball back, "You did not!"
With that statement, she sent dozens of frozen bullets his way. The blonde superheroine dodged nearly half, but that didn't escape the fact that he already won.
"You already lost my lady," Chat smirked as he dusted himself off. He paused before looking at her, "Unless you want a rematch?"
He was up for it. It was a miracle that his lady decided to join him at all. Usually, she was serious about patrol and protecting the city.
"There's no need for a rematch because you didn't win," Ladybug insisted as she stubbornly refilled on her snowball supply.
Chat laughed as she shot another one at him. He already knew that she was stubborn, but it seems that she was really keen on winning.
"I'm pretty sure I did. Just admit it," he smiled, dodging yet another attack.
Ladybug pouted, and Chat had to bite down on his tongue to keep from laughing. She was too cute sometimes.
"Does Bugaboo have a competitive streak?" Chat teased. That would make sense, since she always managed to beat the akuma every time.
If it wasn't for his cat ears, he wouldn't have heard her reply, "Maybe."
They played for a few more rounds before settling down. After their game, the pair sat down at the top of the Eiffel Tower, looking down at the view while sipping hot chocolate that Ladybug happened to bring along.
"We should do this every year my lady," Chat said contently, focusing on the much better view beside him.
Ladybug looked back at him with a shy smile on her face, and Chat swore that time froze still, at least for just one moment. "Can't wait for it kitty".
"Marinette!" Sabine called out, making the startled girl snap out of her daydream. She turned around to face her mother, who held out her lunchbox.
"School is about to start remember?"
Marinette nodded as she grabbed her things and thanked her mother, making sure to kiss her and papa's cheek before walking out the door.
The cold air reminded her of what wasn't coming, and she couldn't help but frown at the barren ground. Hopefully, next year would be better.
As she approached the school, a familiar figured waved her over.
"Marinette!" Adrien called out as he ran to greet her. Putting on a polite smile, she greeted him in return.
This was a new routine that the pair developed ever since two months ago. She wasn't sure why, but one day out of the blue, Adrien started hanging around her more. After some time, Marinette realized that her crush was a giant dork who loved puns. Upon noticing this, she got over getting tongue-tied around him.
"It's nice to see you too Adrien," she stated, walking up the stairs beside him. They made small talk for a while before Adrien stopped abruptly and looked at her.
"Is something wrong?" the model asked. "You seem more quiet than usual, and while we were talking about the new release of Ultimate Megastrike 4, you weren't doing your hand gesture thing."
He demonstrated by making a mini impression of Marinette, flailing his arms everywhere and smiling widely. Hmm...he noticed it after all. The ravenette didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"It's a silly reason. Nothing to really be upset about…" she trailed off.
"Yet you can't help but feel upset anyways," Adrien finished her thoughts.
Even though they only started recently hanging out, it felt longer than that. Adrien managed to know exactly what she was thinking of right before she said it.
"You know how the weather said it's not going to snow this year?" she started off.
Adrien nodded, signaling her to continue.
"Well, the reason I was upset was because it's not going to snow this year."
The model had no expression on his face. Then again, her problem was insignificant in the first place.
"It's nothing really," she tried explaining again. She was probably making herself look like a little toddler complaining about wanting to play in the snow. "You see it's always so magical with snow around and I have the best time sledding with my friends. Not to mention the snowflakes, and I really wanted to get started on this tradition I started with a friend last year about snowball fights-"
She stopped herself there. Adrien didn't really need to know about Chat Noir right now. Secret identities and all.
"Sounds like your friend must be pretty great," the blonde grinned before switching to a different subject.
On one hand, Marinette was grateful for the chance to talk about something else. On the other hand, Adrien was the type of friend who would comfort someone after they seem upset.
Yet, he moved on from that topic as soon as she was done speaking, other than making the comment about her "great friend." And she agreed. Chat was pretty great. He just wasn't her crush.
The rest of the school day passed by in a blur. A couple of times Marinette heard some conversations about the lack of snow, but no one seemed nearly as sad as Marinette was when she found out.
That night, Marinette found herself looking at old photos with a steaming cup of cocoa in her hand. She paused and looked up at one particular picture.
It was taken last Christmas when she and all her friends went to Adrien's mansion after the Santa akuma. Everyone took a group photo, with big smiles and snow falling in the background. That Christmas moment was magical.
She sighed as she shut down her computer, getting ready for bed. Tomorrow was the day before Christmas Eve after all, and she had plenty of presents to hand out right before the holidays.
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For the second time in a row, Marinette managed to wake up early again. It was just to prepare her gifts for the day, but it didn't really matter. They all deserved something for Christmas, even Chloé.
So when it was time for school to start, everyone started going around the class handing things out for the holidays.
Chloé seemed to be in the Christmas giving spirit today too. Earlier she saw her handing a gift to Alya, even though she was Chloe's second least favorite person in the room, other than Marinette.
When Marinette was done, she realized the only gift she had to give away left was Adrien's. She looked around for the blonde model, but she couldn't find him. Eventually, she settled down for tracking down Nino.
"Adrien?" Nino asked as he handed out a gift to Max. Max's face lit up as he gave Nino a gift in return. "You mean you actually didn't realize he wasn't here today?"
Oh. That's why today felt a little different. She didn't even realize he was gone, some friend she was.
Towards the end of the school day, Ms. Bustier gave her students some free time before the bell rung. That way they could all socialize before Christmas break.
"I know we wanted to go sledding this year. Hell, you even planned the whole thing since Thanksgiving," Alya grinned as Marinette gave her a small smile.
"But I'm sorry to say that since it's not snowing anymore, we'll have to plan out a different activity to do over the break," the brunette stated.
Marinette nodded. What other things could they do together? Baking cookies seemed like a festive Christmasy thing to do, right? Or reading Christmas tales by the fire, or having snowball fights...wait. They couldn't do that because it involves snow.
"Cheer up," Alya stated as she patted the ravenette's back, "I'm sure it'll snow next-"
"It's snowing!" Rose excitedly exclaim as she pointed out the classroom window.
People got out of their seats and wandered towards the side of the classroom. It was indeed snowing after all. Marinette knew those white, delicate speckles anywhere. In awe of the Christmas miracle, Marinette opened the window and stuck her palm out, feeling the coldness on her skin.
Except, the texture was a little different. Looking closer, Marinette realized that it wasn't a snowflake at all, but a teeny tiny speck of ice. It definitely looked like snow though. When Marinette looked back at her classmates, she realized that none of them realized any of this at all. Growing suspicious, Marinette looked up. How in the world..? Nevermind. Instead, she asked Ms. Bustier if she could use the bathroom, already knowing how to escape the school once she transformed.
And once she was free, that was exactly what she did.
Ladybug propelled her yoyo to lift her up onto the school roof. As she landed, her partner turned to look at her.
"Nice of you to join me, my lady," Chat winked, not at all surprised that he was caught.
Ladybug rolled her eyes and looked at the set up behind him.
She raised her masked eyebrow, "Really Chat? Where in the world did you find a snow machine? Much less transport that thing onto the school roof."
Behind her partner was a large snow machine, and at least 20 large blocks of ice. After a minute, Chat grabbed one of the ice blocks and transported it over to the machine, where it grated the ice into tiny flakes of snow.
Chat grinned and looked at her. "I'll admit, it was rather difficult moving a snow machine on the roof. I'm sure your yoyo would've been handy in my situation," he gestured towards her weapon. "But it would have been worth it...for a friend," he added the last part as if it was an afterthought.
Ladybug knew that it was possible that Chat went to her school before, and given the facts, this gave even more evidence to support her theory.
"So…," Ladybug trailed off after a great deal of thinking, "Who's this friend of yours?"
It could've been a giant hint to who Chat's civilian's counterpart was, but she was curious. It was a sweet gesture, she had to admit. Whoever was Chat's friend must have been super happy and thankful for all the trouble he went through.
"It's uh, Marinette," Chat smiled as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. A nervous gesture that Ladybug was all too familiar with.
"It's just that she told me how she was really disappointed that it wouldn't snow this year, so I just thought, why not make it snow myself? She is one of my best friends and I just wanted her to be happy and smile again and-"
"Chaton," Ladybug interrupted. He paused in his tracks. "You just gave yourself away, Adrien."
Chat Noir froze up, just like Ladybug thought he would, before relaxing his posture just a little. "A-Adrien? Who's Adrien? I never heard of an Adrien before, have you, my lady?" he awkwardly laughed.
It really should've been obvious before. He was terrible at lying.
"First of all, other than my parents, the only other two people I told was Adrien and Alya. Alya cancels out because she's a girl, and for my parents, well...I'm pretty sure that I would know if they were fighting akumas with me," she paused and stepped towards the snow machine.
"Second of all, only Adrien could get special access to an Agreste Snow Machine," Ladybug pointed to the famous company label at the side of the machine.
"Seriously kitty? I thought your father only specialized in fashion," she teased.
Chat Noir was quiet for a moment before grinning. "We do, but it's always great to have extra tools around, just in case."
He stepped closer to his partner before the atmosphere turned serious, yet trusting. The secret was out.
"How long did you find out I was Ladybug?" the spotted superheroine asked.
Chat smiled at her warmly, "About 2 months ago."
"Well, that explains why you started hanging out with me," she stated before sitting along the edge of the roof. Chat joined her a second later.
"I'm glad that the secret is out, Marinette."
And they both stayed there, appreciating the other's company before the snow machine beeped behind them, signaling that it needed more ice. Chat happily complied.
"So," Chat began as the machine started back on its task, "Do you like my gift?"
"I love it," Ladybug beamed. And she truly did. She had the best partner in the world.
She scooted closer to him and rested her head on her partner's shoulder. They clearly had feelings for each other, yet the silence was so perfect right then. Between the fake snow, and finding out who the other was, Marinette was glad it didn't actually snow for the first time in forever.
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Late again. Oh well. Finals are really starting to weigh me down, but I still want to continue with these prompts. It's just that I haven't been getting as much sleep as I wanted, and I don't want readers to think that I'm slacking off. I know that's not the case because the Miraculous community is just so nice and accepting. I just really hate finals :( Expect some stories to be late, but I'll try getting things out on time! Thank you!