Marinette wasn't sure how she came this far, but she certainly wasn't complaining.

It wasn't a stretch for her to be outside, walking the snow-covered streets of Paris as the day was coming to its end. It wasn't a stretch for her to finish her Christmas shopping with Alya, who momentarily separated herself from her to be with Nino. But would it be considered a stretch that walking by her side was the boy she crushed on for nearly forever and that she was behaving as a relatively sane person around him? There's also the fact that this lovable ball of sunshine was now her boyfriend for months now.

They have gotten along in the years as full-fledged teenagers, but Marinette, her friends, and practically her entire class looked remarkably the same despite the passing time. Still, a lot happened since Marinette took up the role of Ladybug and likewise with Adrien taking on the role as her partner, Cat Noir. This was worth mentioning as neither knew of the other's identity for the longest time. The battle against the villainous Hawk Moth and his Akumas was endless and unpredictable, but some good had come out of it, simply put.

In short, a few Akumas, ensuing misunderstandings, startling reveals, and healing reconciliations later, Marinette and Adrien were now together and preparing to celebrate their first Christmas as a couple.

It still felt completely surreal to Marinette that she made it this far, but she wasn't going to screw this up now. She already made a ton of mistakes along the way that could've given Adrien a hundred reasons why he shouldn't be with her. Though whether she'd acknowledge it or not, Adrien made his fair share of stupid moments that made her think twice on forgiving him at times, even worse than his cat puns. Though she'd never admit it as to further stroke his ego, his puns were quite the source of humor that easily cheered her up, just as long as they weren't in the middle of a battle against an Akuma.

Right now, the streets were bustling with last-minute Christmas shoppers. Despite the hectic citizens pushing past each other to purchase certain things on sale for their loved ones before it was too late, there was fortunately no chance for an Akuma attack to strike. For one thing, the people of Paris learned to control their emotions with some success after learning from past mistakes. And second, both Marinette and Adrien were sure to have peace at least for this season, don't ask why.

In any case, Mariette was mesmerized by the bright lights illuminating the various store window displays they passed while holding hands. Likewise, Adrien's eyes darted about to check out every window display ahead of their path until his eyes came upon quite the delectable sight.

His juvenile mind then took the lyrics of a popular and long-standing Christmas pop song that he happened to listen to a few days ago via the radio in his bodyguard's limousine and twisted them for his own amusement. Well, he couldn't come up with his new lyrics on the spot, so he began humming out the melody to get his groove on.

"Oh, Adrien!" Marinette giggled, listening to his harmonious humming.

It delighted her to see him filled so much with Christmas joy, at least compared to a previous Christmas wherein he ran away due to his distant father and caused great worry among their small circle of friends, herself especially. She still wasn't sure that she was able to live down the fact that she got Santa Claus to be akumatized. Nonetheless, it was then Adrien had decided to voice out the lyrics as they continued walking.

"I… don't want a lot for Christmas~," Adrien began softly. "There is just one thing I need~."

"I don't care about the presents~," Marinette continued along with her beautiful voice. "Underneath the Christmas tree~."

"I just want it for my own~," Adrien sang. Marinette felt her ears prick up in suspicion. She was sure it was just a slip of the tongue, but she knew the song enough that 'it' was supposed to be 'you,' but she chalked it all up to Adrien being super excited that he inadvertently flubbed the line. "More than you can ever know~!"

"Make my wish come truuuueee~!" Marinette trilled.

Adrien then performed a magnificent twirl as she held her high note before ending in a bow. A lot of warmth filled Marinette's cheeks as she felt like she was being proposed to, which as amazing as that would be right now, they were still teenagers with their lives ahead of them and this proposal setting was a major cliché. Of course the Christmas environment, with the pure white snow and spirit of charitable benevolence prevailing over all else, would provide the warm romantic ambience needed to spur the love.

"All I want… for Christmas…~," Adrien sang with the gentlest look Marinette ever saw.

"Adrien…!" Marinette tittered, hiding her wide grin behind her hands, anticipating the great romantic move he would use on her as to sweep her off her feet.

"… Is…~," Adrien hummed. "… FOOD~!"

"What the hell?!" Marinette yelped in outrage, turning to see that Adrien was proposing to a window display of Christmas treats conveniently stationed behind her instead of her.

"… Huh?" Adrien blinked, stopping his song as he was confused by the sudden angry outburst. "Marinette? What's wrong?"

"I can't believe you!" Marinette huffed, folding her arms and pointing her nose up to avoid looking at him. "You choose food over me?! Is that really why you're dating me?! Am I that disposable?!"

"Wh-What?! No!" Adrien shook his head. "I was… I'm hungry and then I saw the window, then the song came to mind, then you joined in, and… well, here we are."

"Hmm, I see how it is," Marinette narrowed her eyes before releasing a sigh and shrugged. "But you're very lucky you're cute. I can't stay mad at you, Adrien."

"To be fair, you were also having fun singing along," Adrien offered.

"You got me there," Marinette smiled. "That joy of yours is so infectious. I'm sorry for overreacting… again."

"I knew what I was getting into," Adrien chuckled. "Just as you knew what you were getting into when you agreed to go out with me."

"Can I make a quick call to Alya before we go back to my place?" Marinette asked.

"Sure," Adrien nodded.

Marinette then scurried off to the side to make her call while Adrien resumed looking at the food window display. He did feel a bit regretful leading Marinette on like that, getting her hopes up like that with that song. But to be honest, he was sure that he wouldn't be the first to alter the lyrics of that popular Christmas pop song into various parodies, particularly that of the food persuasion. And he probably could've clued Marinette in on his antics as to avoid that mishap, given that she still had this ridiculous notion of him being perfect in her head when he was anything but perfect. She gained a more realistic view on him, which ultimately helped her be more comfortable around him, but still, if anyone out of the two was amazing, Adrien would say that Marinette is the more amazing hands down.

In any case, she was forgiving and gracious. Adrien promised not to take that for granted, especially as Marinette was back to her cheery self as she reached back out to him after finishing her call to Alya. They went on their way back to her home, which itself was a sanctuary of food. Why he couldn't hold back his desire for food until they got back to her place was a mystery to him. Maybe he was just that hungry.

It didn't take long for them to walk back to the Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie. They stopped at the decorated front door with Marinatte smiling up to Adrien.

"So… you still hungry?" Marinette inquired tentatively.

"Uh, sort of, but if you want to do something else right now, I'm cool with it," Adrien assured.

"Don't worry, I told my parents we were on the way for dinner and they insisted on setting extras aside just for you," Marinette winked. "But… I just want to know one thing, Adrien."

"What is it, little lady?" Adrien grinned.

"Flattery aside, I want your honest opinion," Marinette stated. "If you have to choose between me and a lifetime supply of your favorite food, which would it be?"

"We're going back to this again?" Adrien grimaced. "Look, I'm sorry."

"Just please answer the question," Marinette rolled her eyes.

"Of course, I choose you, Marinette," Adrien affirmed. "Food always comes and goes, but I want to make sure you know that you are an amazing girl. You're very important to me after everything we've been through, and I realize the last thing I want to do is to make you upset before Christmas."

"Good, your answer is sincere as expected," Marinette smirked, pulling the doorframe decoration from the side to reveal a large peculiar plant hanging overhead.

"Milady, what's the meaning of this?" Adrien questioned, recognizing the hanging plant. "Mistletoe? It wasn't there before, was it? Did you plan this?"

"Let's just say a certain tiger lily was involved," Marinette commented, mentally thanking Alya for setting this up before they got back.

"… I don't get it," Adrien responded. "How are tiger lilies involved with mistletoe? And besides, purr-incess, do you really need an old tradition just to kiss moi?"

"I needed proof," Marinette tried to nonchalantly shrug, disliking the inner flaring doubt she had that Adrien might've actually chosen food over her.

"Funny thing about tradition, the whole mistletoe tradition comes from Norse mythology before carrying over as a seasonal romantic thing," Adrien explained. "It's said that the mistletoe bough's power in compelling lovers to kiss comes from the number of berries it holds and that after a kiss, couples pluck a berry from the bough until there's none left."

"Interesting," Marinette remarked. "Because this mistletoe seems to have plenty of berries ready to be plucked."

"Oh," Adrien realized upon closer inspection. "Somehow, I know you planned this out."

He felt Marinette practically lean upon his chest. Gone was the shy and insecure little girl he usually hung out with, at least for the time being. In her place was the sassy and strong-willed lady that had just proved to him that she was better than food ten, probably twenty, times over.

"What do you think, silly kitty?" Marinette smirked enticingly. "Food's got nothing on me."

"Blasphemy!" Plagg, popping out of Adrien's shirt, interrupted. "Cheese, especially camembert, is the one true love of us all! Adrien, don't give in to her 'girlish charms.' She didn't even let you eat back when—."

"Plagg, don't ruin the moment!" Tikki castigated, flying out of Marinette's mini-purse and snagging him by the ear. She and her fellow Kwami felt the eyes of their holders blankly staring at them because of their interruption. Tikki mustered a big sheepish smile as she pulled the complaining Plagg back into the purse to keep him quiet. "Eh heh heh… Carry on."

"Let me go!" Plagg demanded, struggling to pull his ear out of her inescapable grip. "Tikki, these fools need to be called to repentance. Cheese will always be number one! Cheese is number ONE!" He was promptly pulled into the purse, but not before leaving some muffled, yet audible parting words as it closed. "I will not be silenced!"

So much for that.

Marinette and Adrien wound up staring at each other awkwardly for the next few seconds, which felt like long agonizing hours. Marinette was losing her bravado while Adrien appeared hesitant to stick around, rubbing his stomach as it was reminding him to eat. Determined not to lose to food, Marinette went with her original plan by pulling Adrien along to snog the daylights out of him to make him forget. The frantic impromptu session also somehow pulled the mistletoe on top of them, allowing them to pluck off the berries for every kiss they had.

And as Marinette mentioned, there were plenty of berries to pluck. They were nearly late for dinner and almost caught by her parents. Marinette was sure her parents would never let her live it down if they caught her making out with Adrien at their front door nights before Christmas.

Aside from Plagg's interruption, this whole thing didn't turn out too bad. Christmas came early for Adrien that evening as he didn't have to worry about hunger in any shape or form ever again, whether it'd be physical nourishment or emotional fulfillment. He finally understood.

All he would ever need for any Christmas was Marinette.

This is my attempt at a Christmas fic between these two dorks with the whole premise inspired by a parody of the ever popular "All I Want For Christmas Is You". I've been listening to the "All I Want For Christmas Is Food" cover by adrisaurus while I was writing this.

I've been majorly stressed out since the end of November this year, so much so that I've wound up neglecting my ongoing AU crossover story. This is to show that I'm still alive and relatively sane despite the hard school semester I just experienced. I've also been busy with Breath of the Wild DLC, the Champions' Ballad. Playing helped me feel a bit better about myself. At least with the holidays coming up, there's no reason for me to keep moping about.

I apologize if this feels a bit scattered while reading. Certain events that happened the beginning of this month left me really out of it.

Anyway, please review and have yourself a Merry Christmas!