Possible Presents

-Scarf and mittens X

-Coat X

-Jewellery X

-Cakes X

-Chocolate X

No matter what he wrote, Adrien just couldn't figure out what would be the perfect Christmas present for Ladybug. Although clothing like scarves and coats would be cute and practical in the colder weather they were experiencing, he would either have to ask his Lady what size she wore or guess, and he'd been a model long enough to know that wasn't a topic you attempted to breech. It had got to the point that he was considering if giving her some kind of anime box set was appropriate – would she appreciate Sailor Moon more or Puella Magi Madoka Magica? On second thoughts...

"What'cha writing, Adrien?"

He'd been so occupied by his thoughts that he hadn't even been aware of someone approaching him. So much for cat-like senses, he thought bitterly.

Slowly, he turned to look at the inquirer, discretely trying to shuffle his arm over the list. Alya stood behind him, eyes large and owlish behind her glasses, and her hand resting on her hip that was jutting out.

Adrien put on a perfectly practised smile. "Alya! How can I help you?" He hoped she hadn't seen what he was actually writing.

Her fingers started drumming out a rhythm on her hip. "You could start by answering my question: what are you writing?"

His smile slipped slightly, but didn't fall completely. "A physics report?" When he looked back on it, posing his answer as a question probably hadn't helped him.

"Mhmm," She hummed, "Because I don't remember Mme. Mendeleiev setting us anything with the title 'possible presents'." She raised an eyebrow. He'd been caught.

He finally let his smile drop, seeing no point in trying to keep up the facade. "So, purrhaps," He winced internally and reminded himself to keep control of that, especially when he was around the infamous Ladyblogger, "I am planning what present to get someone. I didn't know it was a crime."

Alya moved and took a seat next to him on the bench. He had hoped that by sitting outside in the middle of December he wouldn't have been disturbed, but evidently the wannabe journalist was there to stay.

"It isn't, but I'm willing to give you my help and expertise in finding the perfect gift." She winked and grinned at him the same way he had seen her do when she was teasing Marinette, "And since Nino isn't here today I don't think you have many alternatives if you do decide to seek some help."

It was true that Nino hadn't come to school on account of being ill, but was Alya really his only alternative? He could go to Chloé, but she would inevitably find some way of making it about what present he planned on getting her, and, although he was friendly with the other students in his class, he couldn't say he knew them well enough to ask them for advice. Alya also claimed that she was Ladybug's biggest fan (something he would quietly scoff at but never voice in fear of someone figuring out his identity) so, really, who better to ask about what gift to get the miraculous person that was Ladybug.

With a sigh he handed her the piece of paper. She smiled and her eyes immediately started flicking over it.

"Well," She began after a minute, "You're obviously buying for a girl."

"Yeah."

"Friend or love-interest?"

Adrien made a weird noise that was somewhere between choking and squealing and he felt his neck get uncomfortably warm under his blue scarf. If she was always so blunt then he couldn't help but pity Marinette should she ever get a crush on someone.

Alya surveyed him for a moment before nodding sagely.

"'A friend who you'd like to be more with' it is then."

He gulped audibly. "H-how...?"

She tapped her nose and winked again. "Call it women's intuition. But you sure are gonna break more than a dozen hearts if this gets out, boy."

He frowned, a crease appearing in his forehead that would most certainly get him scolded if he was at home. It wasn't that he was oblivious to his fans; he just felt it was wrong for him to be held accountable for their happiness.

"Don't say that." He mumbled.

There was a shift in the atmosphere around them and Alya suddenly became very serious. She placed a gloved hand on his shoulder. "If they really care about you then part of them should be happy that you're happy. And if they're not then just ignore them and let Nino, Marinette and me deal with 'em."

Adrien looked at the red head beside him. They'd never really had many conversations before, or at least not when Nino and Marinette weren't present as well, so he was a little surprised at how quickly she was willing to stand up for him. It was... nice.

He offered her a small smile and she grinned back, before turning her attention back to his list.

"So, I'm guessing I can cross Chloé off the list," It wasn't a question, but he felt obliged to confirm with a nod, "Good, because I was going to suggest a frog if that was the case."

He sighed. "She isn't that bad."

Alya gave him a pointed look over the top of her glasses.

"Well, not all the time."

Alya stretched her arms out in front of her, the list clutched between her two gloved hands (Ladybug inspired, naturally) and laughing slightly at his admission. She quickly turned her attention back to the list though.

"All of these are very generic, y'know? I'm sure they'd all be good gifts, sure, but if you really want to get her attention you've got to make it personal to her, or, better yet, personal to both of you."

Adrien quickly picked up his discarded pen and began jotting what she was saying on a spare piece of paper. The authority and confidence in Alya's voice inspired him to take note of what she was saying."Okay, and how do I do that?"

His companion clicked her tongue. "Well, what is she like? What are her likes and dislikes? Is there anything she's mentioned in the past year?"

His pen paused and he stared at his paper. What did his lady like? She remained adamant that they would not reveal their identities to each other and so she tried hard not to tell him too much. He had always found her lack of information annoying in the past, but now that he needed it to get her the best gift its absence was infuriating.

Sure, Adrien could probably talk for the next few hours about how silky her hair looked and how every time he looked in her blue eyes he could see another constellation, or how her smile when she helped people could power a dozen hospitals, but none of that was any help in deciding what gift to get her.

After his prolonged silence, Alya seemed to take pity on him. "Alright, why don't you tell me about her personality and then I'll try throwing some ideas out there."

So he did. He told her about how she was incredibly selfless and was always trying to help people, how she would stand up for people she barely knew if she felt it was right and how she could take charge of a situation and bring about the best results for almost everyone. Once he started he found he couldn't stop himself from talking about how she didn't like his puns much, but would still crack a smile sometimes; how she was creative and always seemed to approach problems with interesting ideas, or how sometimes, when she was quiet, he could see her eyes get hazy as if she was thinking about something and then a small smile would grace her features.

When he finally came to an end he turned to Alya only to find her giving him a confused look. "Are you crushing on Marinette?"

"Marinette?" He echoed. And Alya called herself Ladybug's biggest fan.

"What about her?" She shot back.

He felt his eyes narrow in his own confusion. "You just mentioned her."

She folded her arms across her chest stubbornly. "No I didn't. Maybe you're just mishearing her name for some reason."

Adrien felt his mouth open, but had no idea what to say. She had definitely said Marinette's name, so why was she now denying it? Nino was right when he had said Alya could be difficult to figure out.

His eyebrows furrowed as he became impatient with whatever game she was trying to play. "Okay, fine, but what about presents?"

She blinked then began tapping a finger against her cheek. "It's hard to say," she drew the sentence out, "How much are you willing to do?"

"I'm willing to do anything!" He'd probably said that a bit too quickly if Alya's teasing smile was anything to go by.

"Well then, what about making her a scrapbook? I'm sure you've got plenty of pictures of the two of you together, or just her on her own. You could make it classy and minimalistic, or cute and expressive depending on what you'd think she'd like more. You could even put little charms or something that could hark back to things you've done together. And even if she doesn't reciprocate your feelings in the same way, I'm sure it would solidify your friendship."

The whole time she'd been talking, Adrien had been scribbling furiously, desperately trying to get all of the idea down whilst simultaneously adding his own ideas to it. True, he didn't actually have any pictures of the pair of them that he'd taken, but Alya had a whole blog of pictures and notes; if she was willing to help him come up with the idea, she would probably be fine with her using them.

"You're a genius, Alya!"

"I did tell you I'd lend you my expertise, didn't I?" If he hadn't been so busy looking at the paper he would have seen her smiling.

"How long do we have until lunch ends?" He heard a shuffle and out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of the Ladybug phone charm he immediately associated with Alya's phone.

"About twenty-five minutes if you definitely want to be back in time for lessons."

He finally finished writing and quickly shoved his pen and paper into his pocket. "And the best place to buy a scrapbook would be?"

She paused in thought for a moment before answering. "Marinette showed me a cute stationary shop next to the café two streets over. They had some pretty nice scrapbooks."

As anxious as he was to get to the alleged stationary shop, he hadn't forgotten his manners, nor the amount of help Alya had given him. He pulled her into a brief hug and, upon straightening, finished with a two fingered salute.

"Thank you! I'll tell you how it goes." And he began to hurry away.

Even though his mind was filled with plans for the scrapbook, Adrien was sure he heard Alya mumble "I'm sorry, Mari." But when he glanced behind him she wore a big, encouraging smile. Perhaps he really was just mishearing her name.

oO-0-Oo

This was a prompt from konarediss on tumblr who was trying to help me get out of a writing slump with a pompt for Adrien and Alya friendship. It took a while, but I hope it's okay ^_^