A/N: Cross-posted to AO3.
Adrien burst out of the coat closet, Plagg tucked safely in his pocket, just as Marinette came crashing down the stairs. They called each other's names at the same time, the syllables of Adrien and Marinette jumbling together and echoing oddly in the empty foyer of Chloe's mansion. Adrien was starting in Marinette's direction when she flew down the last steps and launched herself at him. He instinctively froze, but instead of bowling into his chest, she seized him by the upper arms and frantically looked him over.
"Are you all right?" she demanded. "We all hid in the attic, but then you weren't there, and no one knew where you'd gone, and I…" She trailed off, struggling to catch her breath, and searched his face. The worry etched into her brow and around her eyes visibly faded as she realized that he was unhurt. Her vise-grip on his arms relaxed, and her shoulders sagged. "I'm so glad you're okay," she whispered.
Emotion – gratitude, relief, exasperation – welled up in Adrien's chest, and he crushed Marinette into a hug. "Thank you for looking for me," he murmured into her hair as his brave, idiot class president stiffened in his arms. "Don't ever do it again."
He'd seen what she'd done – Chat Noir had arrived at the scene in time to witness Marinette deliberately antagonizing the akuma that was chasing her, no doubt hoping to keep it distracted from wherever her missing classmate had ended up. He'd managed to get her an opening to escape, and Ladybug had arrived soon thereafter to help him bring an end to the fight, but he'd never been so scared in his life. It was the closest he'd ever let an akuma get to actually killing someone before he or Ladybug could jump in and save them.
A great, deep ringing cracked across the fraught silence, making them both jump. "H-happy New Year's!" Marinate laughed nervously as the Bourgeois' imposing grandfather clock tolled out the twelve strokes of midnight. She drew back from Adrien's embrace, predictably pink, and opened her mouth to stammer out something else. Adrien caught her chin and pressed a kiss on her bottom lip.
"New Year's luck," he said, pulling back. He cocked an eyebrow at her. "No more close encounters with possessed party-crashers, okay?" He watched with dark satisfaction as her flush deepened to an alarming hue and the power of speech abandoned her completely, then grabbed her wrist and dragged her towards the stairs. "Let's go check on everyone else."