Marinette paced the floor. A Christmas sweater. Made from wool. Could the teacher have been any tackier?
She sat on the bed and toyed with the large spools of red wool that laid before her, glimpses of designs swimming through her head. She pulled her journal out from underneath her pillow, unclasping the magnetic front to lay atop her legs. She knew she wanted a bulkier knit, not a tight-woven sweater. She'd had first hand experience with the shrinking power of tight knit within a laundry machine, and it was not a mistake she'd like to make again. She glanced once more to the spools of maroon sprawled across her bed, and began to work on a blank sheet of paper.
She'd designed a sweater out of cotton before, a cream color she wore on her mother's birthday last year. She decided to take some elements from the design. Minutes later, she laid her pencil down, extending the drawing before her with a satisfied grin. A lower cut neckline swooped from one shoulder to the other, gratuitously showing off the collar bone and neck, but managing to be somewhat modest. If she could finish the sweater this week, she'd wear it to meet with Chat.
Marinette blinked, was she supposed to come in uniform? Or casual wear? Of course, she would be wearing the mask replica she'd made for a Halloween costume, but what about the clothing? She shook the thought away, she had to make the sweater anyways. She might as well just be prepared for whatever.
The girl plodded over to her sewing machine, flicking her gaze to the photos of Adrien that adorned her walls before settling into the office chair. Of course, there was still the matter of his Christmas present. She'd pondered for hours over what to give him, spending weekend nights staying up with Alya on the phone talking about gift ideas. They'd come to the consensus that a design made by her own hand would be most romantic. It was just the decision of what to make that they had trouble with. In the end, the pair had discussed a matching glove and tuque, one that would compliment the scarf she gave to Adrien for his birthday last year. Of course, he would think it a coincidence that the colors matched so well. She giggled to herself.
Marinette had spent many nights awake, thinking of the scenario. She could give it to him at school, but there was the chance Chloé would get in the way. Maybe she could drop it in his mailbox again, but she didn't want last year's happenings to occur again. It was this decision that she was drawing a blank on, and she needed to resolve it quickly, there was only about a week and a half left before Christmas break.
She shook her head clear, bringing her focus back to the unraveled yarn in her hands. First, she need to finish the sweater.
..
..
Marinette knew that she'd made a mistake when reaching the classroom the next morning. She always told herself that staying up until 1 am in the morning was going to make the next day miserable, but when the time came, adrenaline overpowered her rationality and she went through school the next day in a zombie-like state.
"Again, Mari?" Alya slid into the seat next to her, a grin playing across her lips.
Marinette sluggishly turned to face her friend, her eyes half drooped and the dark bags beneath large enough to fit her mother's groceries. She let out a grunt of disdain before turning back to the front, Alya chuckling beside her.
Her classmates began to file in quickly, one after the other, as the school bell drew near. The thumping of shoes down the hallway grew louder as Adrien clutched to the classroom door, swinging in just as the bell rang. With a small heave of air, he trudged over to take his seat in front of her. His condition looked similar to her own, she noticed with a smile. She wondered what could have kept him up so late.
She noted, though, the way his emerald gaze avoided her own as he slumped into his seat. Her smile faltered in confusion, usually they greet each other in the mornings, in some way or another. He turned slightly in his seat to place his bag at his feet, and glanced over to meet her stare. Perhaps it was her tired state, but she thought she saw a faint blush behind the grin he quickly flashed her.
She knew there was no way for anyone to mistake her own red face for a hallucination.
Alya, seeing that the teacher was momentarily late, took advantage of the situation.
"Did you guys see the latest Akuma catch?" She leaned onto her desk, her voice dripping with pride and excitement, "I got it all on my blog." She held her phone up with pride, the small ladybug keychain glinting in the morning sunlight.
Nino turned to face the mahogany haired girl, a toothy smile greeting her. Marinette grinned into her palm. If she hadn't been Alya's best friend, she may not have noticed the slight subtleties of flirting. She knew they liked each other, but Alya was to oblivious to her own feelings to make something out of it. And thus, the flirtatious banter continued between them.
The two chatted happily about Marinette's alter ego, until Nino popped a surprising question.
"Do you think Ladybug is going out with someone?"
Marinette jolted slightly in her seat, her comatose state slightly revived with interest. She noticed how Adrien shifted slightly in his seat, lifting his head and listening in on the conversation. She wondered with the model would be interested in this topic above the others.
"Pfft-" Alya interjected, "What makes you say that?"
Nino shrugged, "Well, I mean, she always shakes off Chat Noir's flirts, y'know? Doesn't that seem weird?"
Marinette, slightly annoyed, opened her mouth but was promptly cut off by Alya.
"Just because a girl doesn't like a guy doesn't mean she has someone else." She states.
"What makes you think she doesn't like him?" A new voice interjects.
The trio turn their heads to Adrien, who faced them with a cross expression. His gaze flicks to the corner of his vision, making eye contact with Marinette. She blushes fiercely, and forces herself to turn away.
"Well, it's pretty obvious she doesn't." Alya counters. Nino lets out an uncomfortable huff of a laugh.
"Why does it matter to you anyways, man?" His friend grins, playfully shoving his arm.
Adrien blinks, realizing what he said. His expression softens.
"I-It doesn't! I mean, I don't really care-" He's cut off by the exchanged glaces made between Alya and Nino. Marinette watches his action carefully, there's no way...
"Adrien..." Alya prods with what Marinette knows to be her 'discovery' voice, "You can't hide from us." A devlish grin consumes her expression.
"U-um- What? What do you mean?" Adrien searches left and right, heat traversing his cheeks and coloring them with a delicate shade of pink.
"Dude..." Nino leans in with a murmur, "You like Ladybug?"
Adrien's mouth closes with a seal and he jolts back in his seat, another wave of red surfacing like paint on his cheeks and sweeping over them in an even darker hue.
"No!"
Marinette now is fully awake, her eyes wide as she realizes his lie. Her heart sinks and floats at the same time, undecided whether it should be overjoyed or crushed at the revelation that he likes Ladybug. The grins on the interrogator's faces widen, but the conversation is cut short when the teacher arrives in the classroom with a short apology for being late.
..
..
"He likes Ladybug!" Marinette states for the seventh time that evening.
She is sitting with Alya on her bed, Marinette staring at the floor in a rigid cross-legged position, while Alya assumes a lounging position against her wall.
"So it seems..." Alya's voice is laced with empathy, "Are you okay, Mari?"
Marinette nods several times, she's fine. No, better than fine. No wait, maybe she's worse than fine?
"Well hun," Alya places a tender hand on her shoulder, "You can steal him away."
Marinette turns around to her friend, giving her a blank stare. She almost laughs, but manages to hold it down.
It's Friday night, one week until winter break. Alya searches for a distraction, and notices Adrien's gift sitting on the dresser.
"With this!" She cries triumphantly, retrieving the light blue materials, "With this, it won't matter that he likes Ladybug! You'll definitely steal his heart away!"
Marinette looks from the pair of accessories she made, back to Alya. Adrien likes Ladybug. It suddenly dawned on her what she would do.
"Alya!" She laughs, pulling herself off the bed to wrap her arms around her friend, "You're a genius!"
..
..
It's nearly eight thirty when Marinette reaches the rooftop of the Agreste mansion, dressed as Ladybug with a carefully wrapped package in hand. The brisk evening air did nothing to stop her stomach from turning into a furnace. She paced atop the tiles as she fought with her short sighted decision. She had no clue whether he was even in his room, she didn't really know for sure that he did like Ladybug, and she definitely didn't know what she'd say to him once they met.
"Oh Tikki, what was I thinking?" She whispered aloud, knowing her small kwami would not be able to respond.
It was on her third pace that she hardened her decision. She would knock, wait one minute exactly, then if he didn't answer, she'd leave. Even if he was in. She took a step forward and hooked her yoyo onto the eavestrough, using her feet to balance her as she slowly descended before his window. Now or never. Upside down, she extended her hand hesitantly before rapping twice on the large window. She fiddled with the packaging on the gift before deciding it had been sixty seconds. She had been dumb to think he'd be there. She pulled her yoyo to wind back up before hearing quick plodding towards the balcony. She was barely out of sight when she heard the doors swing open.
"Hello?" Adrien called.
Ladybug gulped down her nerves before descending once more to meet the boy eye to eye.
"Hello." She said rather breathlessly.
Adrien's eyes widened an he let out a small cry of surprise, stumbling back a step.
"Ladybug!" He choked.
She unhooked her yoyo from the gutter and flipped to face upwards, somehow landing in front of him in what she hoped was a graceful way.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
He nodded, blushing lightly behind his swept blonde hair. He stared at her with those emerald eyes Marinette had so longed to look into.
"What're you doing here?" He asked, a smile unconsciously creeping onto his face, "I mean, not that I'm complaining."
Ladybug blushed beneath her mask, tilting her hand to bring attention to the gift. He glanced at it with slight surprise, turning back to face her.
"Come in!" He beckoned, holding the transparent doors open for her.
"A friend of mine-" She halted, noticing her frequent lie being used yet again. She shook her head, "I mean, I made this for you."
She turned towards Adrien, holding out the gift for him to take. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"For me?" He asked, "Why?"
Ladybug's mind went blank, and she fumbled for an answer.
"Um, someone told me you were a fan!" She mentally applauded herself for coming up with such a witty excuse.
Adrien grinned, blushing. He laughed a little, scratching his head. She found herself feeling feverish at this action, and had to look away before she did something too rash. Adrien took the gift from her hand, and made his way over to his king-sized bed. He motioned for her to join him, which she did despite the heat threatening to make her limbs useless.
She watched as his hands, large and callused, tugged at the ribbon holding the packaging together. She bit her lower lip as he pulled the hat and mittens from the box, his eyes widening with awe.
"These are amazing!" He murmured, turning them over in his grasp.
She let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, her stomach settled within her once more. He rolled them over in his hands again before a questioning look crossed his face.
"These look a lot like-" He coughed, sweeping back his hair as if he'd almost said something unnecessary, "I mean, thank you. So much. Really."
Finally, Adrien looked up to meet Ladybug's gaze. She hadn't intended the stare to last as long as it had, nor for the familiar tingle to begin to spread from the soles of her feet. She sat, entranced, as the tingle spread up her entire body, bringing the heat with it. Oh my god, the heat. It was an inferno. Stronger than ever. A huge, well knotted rope that entangled some part of her and pulled her towards her long-time crush. She could barely fight it. From the looks of it, though, she didn't need to. Adrien's eyes were drooping themselves, dropping to the lower half of her face where she vaguely remembered her lips to be. She wanted him to kiss her, oh god, she wanted it more than she knew how to breathe. Adrien was all that was on her mind, and it seemed inevitable that when her body tilted forward, she would have no way of stopping it.
The two met somewhere in between. At some point during the leaning, Marinette had closed her eyes and like a blind person, used her other senses to develop her reality. It was her lips that contained what seemed to be every electrical impulse in her body. She was feeling Adrien in high definition, every crease in his lower lip accentuated as she pressed her own slightly harder to him. It was a sweet, mild kiss. A small, wonderful kiss. Her first kiss.
And it quickly came to an end.
They pulled away from each other, dazed. Adrien blinked and widened his eyes, realizing what had happened. Marinette herself was in seventh heaven, flying as she realized she'd finally made a move. They both did. It was mutual.
"Adrien, I-" She was cut off.
His lips were on hers, desperately, feverishly. One hand was pressed against her cheek, complimenting her jawline with the curve of his fingers. The other, used for support, was entangled with her own, fingers interlocking on the bedspread. The kiss was hard. It was no longer small, wonderful, or sweet, or mild. It was hot, it was so hot, hot, hot. And she wanted more. She moved her hand from the comfortable position on the bed and together with the other they moved to his neck. A low purr sounded from somewhere deep in his throat, and called to something deep at the base of her belly. She reached for the few strands of blonde hair that hung at the base of his hairline, swirling and tugging them in her fingers. He moved his hands to her hips, and somewhere along the way the two had made their way to the middle of the bed. Adrien was now leaning on his tailbone, Ladybug on her knees. The kiss was a tug of war, except opposite. Each of them refused to lose the fervent battle of pushing. Adrien lost his balance and fell onto the bed, his legs now between hers. He refused to lose. He wrapped his arms tighter around her small waist, pulling her closer to his body. She could feel the chiseled structure underneath his thin black T-shirt. It made her stomach tingle slightly more than it already was. Suddenly, Marinette felt something poke at her lower lip, a demand to enter. Of course, there was no lock on her lips and she allowed the kiss to deepen even further. He explored every inch of her mouth, and she tried her best to keep up with his pace. She thought she would explode.
It's possible she would have, had it not been for the single, quiet beep that went off in the room. The two broke apart, panting, gasping for air. Marinette felt dizzy, gaining her bearings and realizing again that she was Ladybug right now. She knelt over Adrien for a few moments before leaning back, tottering off the bed. Adrien sat up on the edge.
"Sorry, I," She said breathlessly, "I have to go."
His eyes were wide pools of emerald, just as before, however now there was something more lurking beneath the waters. Something... Hungrier. It took all of her effort to not succumb to his gaze. More beeping. She made her way to the balcony, Adrien following behind her. She turned to bid him goodbye, meeting a soft kiss instead. She melted once more, the bruised and swollen state of her mouth instantly made better by the sweet peck.
"Merry Christmas, Ladybug." He murmured huskily.
She bit her lip, hooking onto the eavesdrough once more.
"Merry Christmas."
She took off into the night.