Every Christmas, the Dupain-Chengs had one very special tradition. Once the bakery closed and the kitchen was clean, Marinette's papa would sit down in the big armchair by the fire, clear his throat, and look Marinette straight in the eye where she sat on his knee as he asked, "Are you ready?"
Marinette always nodded frantically, her maman chuckling from behind her, as she waited for her favorite story about her hero.
"It was cold that Christmas eve. Bitter, bitter cold…"
As if the world itself was angry. Everyone was home, leaving Tom and Sabine to sweep their shop in frustrated silence. They had fought again. It seemed they fought about everything these days- whose turn it was for dishes, what to put in the pies that day, how to ration the flour. What to cut when taxes were next raised. How much they were fighting. It wasn't always serious, but sometimes their frustrations snapped, and they lashed out. Tom and Sabine loved each other very much, but something was missing. There was a problem. And now, stuck in the bakery with only the wind and snow to distract them, the air was thrumming with tension.
Sabine spoke first. "Maybe we should give up." Tom whirled around
"No! We can't give up! We'll just...find another way."
"Tom, we've tried everything. Herbs, songs, rest, exercise, charms… Even that old soothsayer. 'Nothing short of pure fairy magic will bring you what you want.' And the fairies have been gone for a hundred years."
Tom looked away. "We could find them."
"We tried that. Hell, everyone has tried that, and no one's succeeded. Not even the king. The closest to fairies is Papillon, and-"
"That's not an option."
"Exactly." Sabine stroked her husband's chin. "I know how much you want this. I do, too. But it's hurting us, Tom. We keep fighting. I'm so sick of fighting. And the bakery. We can't keep sneaking food and money to those who need it if we drive off customers like we've been"
Tom closed his eyes. "You're right. We can't help anyone if we don't have ourselves together." He wrapped his arms around his wife, and they held each other together as the wind screeched outside.
Wait.
That sound.
Crying.
Tom pulled away, listening intently. Sabine watched, curious but silent.
It came again, louder. "Maman!"
Their eyes widened, and they rushed to the door. A small figure tottered at the end of the street, dark against the whirling snow. "Maman!" It sobbed.
Tom rushed out, worried. His head swiveled to look for "Maman", but no one was near. He approached the little figure and slowed, not wanting to scare the child. Abruptly, the youth collapsed, landing in a small heap on the ground. He hiccuped and warily looked up at the approaching giant. Tom looked back into green, green eyes rimmed red. He knelt slowly. "Are you lost, little fella?"
The boy-or angel, Tom hadn't decided which he looked like more- nodded slowly. "I can't find Maman. She ran away, an' I tried to follow her, bu-but then she was gone, an' now I can't find her, an' it's cold an' I'm hungry!" He declared his misery in a rush.
Tom blinked. He looked around one last time, but they were alone on the street. The boy shivered, and Tom made a decision
"Why don't you come with me? We'll get you nice and warm. Maybe even a nice treat, too." He winked.
The boy stared at him before nodding slowly. Tom grinned, and pushed himself off the ground. He reached out a hand for the boy, who latched on tightly as they made their way to a worried Sabine.
She ushered them into the warm shop and immediately began fussing over them. "Look at you both! All cold and covered in snow! We can't have that!" She threw one towel to her husband and held up another to her husband's small friend. She gave him a soft smile as his gaze met hers in its journey around the room. "Honey, can I dry off your hair? That golden mop of yours is going to give you a cold if it stays so wet!"
The boy nodded absently, still taking everything in. Sabine smirked and covered his head with the towel. He squeaked in surprise, but then giggled when she made whooshing noises as she rubbed his hair.
"There." She pulled the towel off with a flourish. He beamed up at her. "My name's Sabine," she began. "That man is my husband, Tom."
"And Tom brings the cookies!" He sang to their visitor. "Would you like some, good sir?"
The boy's smile dropped, but his eyes didn't leave the plate. "No thank you," he mumbled. Tom and Sabine shared a confused glance.
"Why not, buddy?"
The boy bit his lip before he stood straight and closed his eyes. "Sweets will make me fat, and princes are not fat," he recited.
The bakers stared, only then seeing his fine clothes and tiny embroidered was the prince. Prince Adrien was in their kitchen! But that was a matter for later. Tom knelt once more and offered the plate. "Prince or not, you're still a little boy, and little boys can eat a hundred cookies before they get fat. I think you can sneak a few. Besides, you deserve some for being so brave out there."
The boy- Prince Adrien!- stretched one wary hand out to grab a cookie. He took a small bite, then a big one, and soon he was giggling into his second cookie as Tom broke out his stash of cookie puns.
Sabine smiled at her husband's silliness while she hung up their coats by the fire to dry. She turned back around to grab their boots when the sound of many voices yelling in the distance reached her. They must be looking for the prince! She pulled on her own coat, nodded to her husband, and ducked out the door to alert the searchers.
In the kitchen, Adrien had heard the voices too. "They're looking for me." The boy watched intently as Tom nodded. "You don't want me to go. You're sad," he stated, just as definitively as the sentence before. "Why are you sad?"
Startled, Tom stared into green eyes that suddenly seemed too wise to belong to a child. "I…" The words tumbled from his heart uncontrollably. "I want a child of my own. A girl or boy just like you, someone sweet and wonderful who I can adore as much as I adore you, little prince. But wife and I can't have a child. Having you here was wonderful, but now you have to leave, and that's why I'm sad."
Adrien nodded thoughtfully. "Did you ask the fairies?"
Tom stared at this small child who was so much more. "No… How-"
"I'll ask them, then! Maman says they'll always listen to me, as long as I ask for good things." He ran to the window and clasped his hands as Sabine stepped into the room. Her husband gestured to her to be silent, and they watched the boy with golden hair and green, green eyes kneeling by their window.
"Dear fairies, can give you these people a child? Their names are Tom an' Sabine, an' they live in a cookie shop. They're really nice. They want a boy or girl jus' like me, an' they should get one because they'd make really good mamans and pères. So please? Can you use your magic?" Something in the air had changed. It was humming. The moon, too, was brighter. The stars twinkled and the sky shimmered and suddenly the wind dropped.
"Thank you!" Adrien said into the silence. The wind whistled softly before starting to howl once more. The bakers stared, unsure of what to think. The prince turned back to them, a child once more. "Do I have to go now?"
Sabine shook herself into action. "Yes, honey, it's time for you to go. The palace guards are outside with your friend Nathalie."
He wrinkled his nose and muttered, "Nathalie isn't my friend," but allowed Sabine to lead him to where his escort awaited. Tom followed them numbly to the two figures standing next to a carriage in the snow. The woman, Nathalie, he guessed, gave her charge a stern look before passing him to a man as big as Tom but without his smile. She then turned to the couple and pushed a small bag of coins at them. "Thank you for finding his highness," she recited, tone curt with something more than formality. "Happy Christmas." Quickly, she climbed into the carriage, and it rattled away.
The next week passed like a dream. Tom spread the unasked for reward among those who needed it most, and Sabine pulled the bakery back up to its earlier standards, but neither could stop thinking about the prince's wish for them. It was silly, they knew, just a child believing in the steadfast way children can. The fairies were gone, and one boy would not summon them back. Yet...that moment. That could not have been nothing. They felt it, deep in their bones, in those moments in the dark when the mind could not control the heart. They knew. And a month later, everybody else knew, too.
"Tom! Tom! I'm pregnant! We're going to have a baby!"
"And that baby was me!" Marinette would always interrupt excitedly.
"Yes indeed, and we couldn't be happier for it, darling. We will forever be thankful for Prince Adrien because he gave us you. Him and the fairies."
"Because the fairies are real! I told the others! But they didn't believe me."
"Well, you know better. The magic is still here, you just have to watch for it," Tom would smile as Marinette looked around carefully.
"Yeah. I just have to watch for it. And one day, I'm gonna show the world how to see it."
A/N: First fic I finished: Is it about the series that got me into fanfiction? Or the series I've been a fan of for almost a decade? Maybe the one that showed me how wonderful noncanon ships were? No. It's actually about the little kids' show I've known for a month. But, these characters, they're just so cute! Aaah! So, hey, tell me what you think. It feels kind of weird to me, but I figured, what the heck? Why not? Criticism is very welcome; I'd love to know how I can improve and maybe if I should continue this. I got a lot of the idea from The Legend of Holly Claus, if any of you know it (love that book!). Thank you for reading!