Happy Holidays, everyone! I've got a new holiday treat for ya! This is dedicated to my good friend Kikisuteru on Ao3 - but I decided to post it here as well.

This will be a daily update thing all the way until the 25th! Hope you enjoy!


Marinette sat quietly at the back of the room, a piece of her raven fringe falling into her worried sapphire eyes. Glancing over the accounting packet, a pad of paper balanced on her lap and sat ready to document the minutes of the meeting. She glanced up to the handsome man standing awkwardly at the projector, his green eyes steady, but his tan hands nervously trembling at his side.

Dressed in a black-pressed suit, dark red tie, and thick leather shoes, he looked uncomfortable as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. His blond hair, slicked down to his scalp with jell, was starting to fight the obvious attempts to tame it as a small sweeping lock slipped rebelliously to his forehead.

She bit her bottom lip as the silence grew tighter. Sitting at the right side of the conference desk, her boss, Luka Couffaine, had his grim face on; those ice eyes gazing from one red number to the next. He was a straight-laced man, young and cut-throat. One of the many reasons he'd gain so much momentum within the company.

His stern face was spilling with hard doubt.

"From these statistics, it looks as though the South Branch has become our only source of revenue this past quarter," Luka said softly.

"Yes, sir." The young man nodded briskly and reached down to the side table to click a slide on his computer. The projector displayed a broken bar graph. "You can see my forecast on the line here." He tapped his finger to the arrow pointing down. "This graph predicts three revenue quarters from now. The heavy spending of-" he faltered as all seven executives seated around the conference room straightened their backs with intimidation, "-…the-the corporate offices has created a deep impact on the company's budget."

"You're basically saying that the South Branch is going to support our entire company with a year and a half?" The rotund CEO barked from his thick, comfortable seat. The female assistant at his back jumped in her chair in fear.

"If I refer to the previous graph, it is currently supporting the company, sir," he corrected.

Fear had laced into her stomach, but Marinette had to hand it to him.

This accountant guy had guts.

"What of the North Branch?" Luka asked quietly.

The accountant frowned. "North Branch? You didn't… know?"

"We closed down the North Branch four months ago, Luka," the Human Resources Executive piped in with a red fingernail touching her chin thoughtfully.

The CEO's frown grew more pronounced on his forehead. "There you have it. We have downsized. The numbers should be better! What has caused this to happen?"

The young man clicked on his computer screen again and the bar chart changed into a pie chart. Marinette's eyes went wide.

"Corporate expenditure. Trips to the tropics, meetings held at the capital, garden parties for executive birthdays, high salaries." He pointed at each cut, and the room grew heavier with hostility.

"Nonsense!" The CEO roared. "Utter nonsense!"

"The forecast is right there in front of you. The South Branch can only do so much to compensate these charges," he countered. "With minimum wage on the rise, this has cut even further into the budget. Our higher-ended invoices are growing steadily harder to pay. Our debt is only mounting. I fear it will become critical before the year is out."

"How did you not catch this before, Monsieur Raincomprix?" Luka turned to the Finance Controller at the far left of the table. The nervous man twitched in his chair, opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

The CEO snarled. "Yes, how did this projected outcome slip through our sights? Even with the Northern Branch closure!? This should have been announced in our quarter close!"

"He gave me permission to handle this meeting, sir," the accountant spoke up with a nod to his boss. Raincomprix sighed quietly with relief. "I'm sure our CFO would have loved to step in, but he is on vacation at this current moment." He seem to let that comment sink in for a bit before continuing, "Our sales, both online and in-store, cannot compensate. We need to cutback and soon or we will be declaring bankruptcy."

Marinette's mouth fell open slightly and spikes of fear swirled inside.

Bankruptcy…


The eleventh floor was almost tacky with all the luxurious decorations. Having grown up in a large house as a child, Adrien's expert gaze had flicked over the expensive heavy curtains, lovely Turkish rugs, and the large brick fireplace at the back of the room and was followed with a low sigh.

Corporate expenditure at its finest.

His office downstairs was a small space that barely had enough room for the three people who worked there. There were no windows for drapery, no squashy couches except for the broken love-seat in the corner of the room, and they had to go to the sixth floor to use the restroom.

As all the Executives filed out of the glass doors of the conference room, Adrien shut the laptop with a soft click and sighed slowly. He had done his best. He'd given the warning. It was up to them to take his advice - not that he expected them to.

As he grabbed his briefcase, he felt the passing glare of eyes. He kept his gaze low, his fingers methodically pinning the laptop to the inside of the case. Finally, he glanced up and started in surprise.

The woman with those bright blue eyes stood silently beside her chair in the back. She regarded him with a look and Adrien was pleasantly surprised to find there wasn't a trace of hostility in her gaze. As she fiddled with her pad of paper and pen, she actually looked scared. Straightening his packet in her fingers, she gave him a nod and a small smile curled on her pink lips.

She filed out behind her boss, her lovely eyes drifting to the floor and breaking eye contact.

Adrien blinked and shut his briefcase with a small blush.

He'd been staring at her… how embarrassing…