Day 1: S.O.S Present Disaster
Alya looked at the paper she had drawn out of the bowl a few weeks ago. She had hoped for Marinette's name or even Adrien would have been fine, but of course she had to draw out her boyfriend's name. Which mean she couldn't just give him some body lotion and deodorant, like she would had done if it was Adrien's name on the paper. No, it meant she had to come up a gift that he really wanted and / or had a lot meaning.
She had tried to figure out if there was something Nino really wanted to have without being too suspicious about it. However, she didn't had any success as it seems that Nino already had everything he wanted to have.
And so she found her way to the Agreste mansion, hoping that her boyfriend's best friend could help her get something for him.
"Hello?" A female voice said once some camera had come out of the wall and was aimed on her.
"Hello, is Adrien home?" Alya asked
"I'm sorry but fans aren't allowed be around the mansion. Have a good day."
"Wait. I'm not a fan, I'm Alya. I'm in Adrien's class and we're partner for a project that has to be done after the Christmas vacation." Alya said quickly.
"I see… come on in. I'll bring you to Adrien."
The camera disappeared into the wall and the doors of the front garden opened. Alya walked towards the front door. She had been here a few times before, but the huge garden and mansion still impressed her. Once she reached the front door, she saw Adrien's father's assistant Nathalie.
"Adrien is in his room right now. You can follow me." she said professionally.
Alya followed her quietly. Nathalie seems like a kind woman if you really knew her, but if you weren't close she looked rather like an intimidating strong women. Even Alya and her journalistic skills couldn't stand a chance to have a conversation with her.
Nathalie had knocked on the door of Adrien's room before she opened the door and walked in, Alya following quietly.
"Adrien, your classmate Alya is here to work on your school project." Nathalie announced.
Adrien looked confused for a split second as they didn't have gotten any homework that needed to be finished after the holidays. Alya hoped Nathalie wouldn't notice it. Adrien soon enough confirmed it that they were project partners before Nathalie could even suspect anything. School projects had often been the lie the group of friends used when they wanted to hang out with Adrien.
"Adrien you need to help me." Alya pleaded her friend once Nathalie had left. "I don't know what to buy as a present."
"You know the thing with secret Santa is that you don't tell anyone, let alone go straight to the person who you have on your note." Adrien said as he placed his book back on the shelf.
Alya looked at him in confusion by the conclusion he had made.
"I'm not talking about a gift for you… I'm talking about the gift for Nino. I don't know what to get him, so please help me…"
"He's your boyfriend… Aren't you supposed to know what to get him? I mean Marinette is my girlfriend and I was able to get her something." Adrien held his hand in front of his mouth when he noticed his slip up. "I didn't mean to say that…"
"You're lucky… Marinette is never too hard to shop for…" Alya mumbled. "I know that Nino is my boyfriend and that I should know what to get, but now he is my boyfriend, I'm expected to get something he really wants or something super sentimental… Adrien please help me…"
"Okay, okay don't worry I'll help you." Adrien said and chuckled.
Alya happily thanked him and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him in a tight hug.
"There isn't much Nino wants." Adrien began once Alya let go of her. "But there is one thing he had been going on and on about around me. The Z-Jay tablet. Its three tablets connected with each other, and can be used to make music with. He had been saving up money for it, but had complained about it that it takes to long for him to get all the money because he recently lost his part time job at Starbucks."
"How much is that Z-Jay tablet?"
"A little more than 600 Euro, if I say it correctly."
Alya looked at Adrien with widened eyes. How could she not come up with that herself? Nino had told her about it a few times, he even showed some promo videos of the Z-Jay tablet.
"I know it's expensive, but other than that he hasn't been really talking about anything else he wants to have, except for a new PlayStation 4 because his broke last week."
"Where can I buy this Z-Jay tablet?"
"You're seriously going to buy it?"
"I am, I've been saving money for a surprise vacation to Austria with Marinette since last year. I'm planning to take her with me next year so she finally got to go skiing for the first time in her life. So I got enough money." Alya said with a smile. "I just want to make him happy."
"I understand, I got the same with Marinette and her present. Anyways, you can buy the Z-Jay tablet at the music store at des Champs Elysées."
"Thank you Adrien! You're a lifesaver!" Alya said before she walked back to the door. "I got to go now. I need to buy Nino's present!"
With that Alya left the room. She ran down the stairs towards the front door, telling Nathalie who she saw on her way to the exit that there was an emergency and had to leave. Once she was outside she rushed towards the nearest subway station to get to des Champs Elysées. Once she was there she had rushed to the music store there to get her boyfriend's present.
What she didn't know was that her boyfriend was struggling with the same gift struggles.
Ever since Nino had drawn out Alya's note from the bowl he had been living dilemmas every single day. He simply didn't know what to get her. Should he go for a necklace? Something Ladybug related? Something for her phone? A new camera? Cloths? A subscription for her favorite magazine? Make her a song? Take her to a concert? Or should he get her cute house slippers? He had no idea what do get her. He wanted his gift for her to be perfect and meaningful.
Christmas was in just a few days and so in his panic he had found his way to Marinette's parent's bakery. He hoped he would be able to find her there since he really needs her help.
The bakery was pretty crowded, which was to be expected with Christmas being just around the corner. He waited for Sabine to help the other customers before he got to the counter.
"Good morning." Marinette's mother greeted Nino from behind the counter.
"Good morning Mrs. Cheng." He greeted her back.
"How can I help you?"
"I was wondering if Marinette's here. I need to ask her something."
"Marinette's in the back helping her father baking, I'll get her for you." she said with a friendly smile.
Sabine turned around and walked towards the back door. She called out for Marinette, letting her know there was someone to see her.
A few minutes later Marinette walked out of the kitchen. She had put her hair up in a high ponytail and there was some flour here and there in her hair as well as on her cheek. She still wore her apron that was quite dirty because of all the baking stuff she has used, from flour to egg white to butter to chocolate drizzle.
"Hi Nino, how are you?" she greeted.
"Hi, it could have been better."
"Why so?" she asked, slightly worried.
"I can't decide what to get Alya for secret Santa."
"I'm not supposed to know about that either, you know."
"I know but I'm really desperate at the moment… So if you got the time… can you please help me pick something?" Nino asked.
"I'll ask my father if I can be missed for a few minutes." Marinette said.
She then turned around and walks back into the kitchen of the bakery. A few seconds later she came out again, this time without the apron.
"We can talk upstairs in the living room."
Once they were upstairs and seated on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate. Nino told her his dilemma and all the gifts he couldn't choose between, while drinking his hot chocolate.
"You should go for a bracelet, and I happen to know what kind she really wants to have." Marinette said as she took a sip of her drink before she put her mug on the coffee table and took her phone to type something in Google. "This."
Nino took her phone in his hands and looked at the image of two bracelets. It were Ladybug and Chat Noir themed couple bracelets. The Ladybug bracelet had a charm on it like Ladybug's yo-yo, the red part of the charm where small ruby gemstones and the spots were from small black spinel gemstones. The Chat Noir themed bracelet was a cat paw that was mostly from small black spinel gemstones, the paw print of it was from small emerald gemstones. Both bracelets could either have a silver, gold or platinum chain. Nino guesses that you could pick the color of the chains. Once he had seen the pictures he had given Marinette her phone back.
"Those are the Limited edition Ladybug and Chat Noir couple bracelets. She wanted to have them for quite some time now, but she didn't wanted to push you in wearing nor did she want to ignore its purpose of being a couple bracelets and walk with both." Marinette explained.
"I don't mind walking around with the Chat Noir one. They are really beautiful. How much are they?"
Marinette closed the photos and scrolled down the mobile web page until she got the price.
"300 Euro for both." Marinette answered, taking her mug back in her hands and continued to drink.
"Oh my… that's pretty pricey…" Nino said as he heard the price.
"It's from Gabriel, so it's not that surprising that the price is so high. Maybe you can ask Adrien for help to get those?"
"No, no, no. I will buy it myself." Nino said. "Thanks a lot for helping me out, Marinette."
"You're welcome." Marinette said as she stood up. "I have to go back to the bakery now and I guess that you need to go to the store know."
"Yeah, that's right."
Nino stood up from the couch as well. Both brought their empty mugs to the kitchen before leaving the house. Marinette went back to help her parents while Nino went straight to a Gabriel store to get the bracelets.
Once Nino got the bracelets he couldn't wait to see Alya's face when she will open her present. He wasn't the only one because Alya couldn't wait for Nino to open her present either.