I do not own ML

Normal pov

"Great, the fact that you all know each other makes this a LOT easier on my part-", a Cheshire grin was planted on his lips as he walked cheerfully away, knowing that he didn't have excess work that he frankly was too lazy to do.

"Wait, it's not like we know each other on a personal level-" Adrien started, only to be cut off by his kwami.

"Then start too", he responded with ease, not bothered to deal with the situation. He made his way to the other kwami's as they started to catch up and make plans. 'What plans?' I hear you ask, and as much as I want to tell you right now, it has to remain a secret.

So they did. Kinda. Well, they attempted to anyway, and that's what is important. They formed a small circle and sat on the floor, no one daring to speak. The only chatter came from Marinette and Alya, as they knew each other well, and from Nino, attempted a conversation with Alya. Adrien didn't speak, as he didn't know anyone, but they knew him. The chatter was general things like 'so, the weather is pretty dope' or 'so, how did the newspaper article go?'.

Painfully strained and awkward was an understatement.

After this went on for a while, Tikki, being the most compassionate at the time, unlike Plagg who was finding enjoyment from their suffering, decided to end this. She came up to the group and placed a tray of severely burnt cookies in front of them as well as a proposal.

"So whats going to happen is you are all going to ask each other questions if you can not answer the question you eat one of these. If you can not trust your team with your secrets and rely on them, you won't last long trying to deceive someone. Wayzz." Without turning back she caught a glass medical bottle that was thrown by Wayzz from the opposite of the room. The amount of trust they had for each other was crazy, almost insane. She flashes a radiant smile and makes her way back.

The teenagers eye the tray, gulping simultaneously before Alya takes charge.

"So Nino, why did you become a street performer?" He paused for a while before chuckling.

"Well, I'm not exactly in touch with my parents. I wanted to be a performer, but they wanted me to, well study and be a good child. So I took my phone which had all my music in it and my bubble kit and left. The thing is though, they didn't care. When you're on the streets you need to make money, and well I already had my performing tools, and performing is what I originally wanted to do anyway. So I thought, this will be dope. It was sick yeah, but still hard. After all, the only money you really get is from 5-year-olds who have limited money anyway. So yeah, that's my melodramatic story."

"Well, that can't beat mine." Alya joked, before continuing.

"I was left as a child with the dupain-chengs, by my mother because she was a professional chef who couldn't spare the time away from her career to care for me. She left me! And you know what adds fuel to the fire? She ended up having more kids and acting like a family to them when she didn't even try for me." By now Alya was using a mocking tone, almost finding humor in her situation. "I got a job to try and lessen the load for the dupain-chengs, I sold newspapers, whatever I sold I got half of it. So yeah. My name is Alya, and that is my tale..." She finished her story, with leaving one question unanswered.

"Where are the dupain-chengs now?" Nino asked. Seemed like a harmless question, but for someone in that room that was a sensitive subject.

Without hesitating Alya grabs a cookie and chucks it in her mouth. Struggling to swallow it and making weird faces at the same time. She glanced at Marinette, then stared back at Nino.

"Not my question to answer." And with that everyone stared at Marinette. She avoided eye contact for a bit, looking to her lap before she raised her head.

"Well. There were three dupain-chengs that were with Alya. My mom, dad, and I. And now there is only one. And for the first time, Adrien spoke.

"What happened to them?" There was a pause. A small but noticeable pause.

"They died on their anniversary due to a car crash. After that I had to give up designing clothes and sewing and take over the bakery, I had to bake bread, work hard and keep what they worked hard to build alive. I had to adapt to survive, much like what I'm pretty sure we all had to do here. My name is Marinette dupain-Cheng, a bakers girl and someone who didn't ask for what the future that they got." With that, she looked at Adrien. "So what's your story?"

"Well, nothing as sad as everyone else's that's for sure." He paused and huddled his thin jacket close to him before starting his tale. "Well as a kid my mother disappeared suddenly, and after that incident, my father became cold to me. He stopped showing love to me and kinda went into a hole. From there I became more of a modeling tool than a son to him. I went to fashion shows, acted properly, and was more so of a caged animal. When I realized this I just ran away from home. Took what was needed and ran away like a scared cat"

"Hey!" Plagg retorted.

"He wasn't talking about you!" Tikki scolded.

"After around five months of living on the streets, this buff dude picked a fight with Plagg, I stepped in and became his pupil. Sometime's I miss father though, maybe one day I'll visit him and show him of what I've achieved without him." He laughed, clearly not knowing of the situation. Marinette, moving uncomfortably finally spoke up.

"Is by chance your name Adrien and your father Gabriel?" His eyes widened a little bit, aware of the fact that he hadn't told them his name while he nodded cautiously. She looked hesitant, doubting whether or not to say it.

"I don't know if what you want to say if it's good or bad, but please just say it." He flashed a smile making her calm down, but her face still filled with caution as she said.

"Mr. Agreste died four months ago, one month after you ran away." As she said that his world came crumbling down. Yes, he felt like a caged animal living with him, but he was still his father, he still loved him.

"Dude are you okay?" Nino asked, putting his hand on his shoulder. The blonde chomped up a cookie, answering the question for them. It was quiet for a while before Trixx came to the group, holding a red Christmas hat.

"Well then! It's almost Christmas, and we are not going to let this opportunity slip away like Halloween."

"Wait, what?" Marinette inquires.

"We are playing secret Santa! You all need to find out what your chosen person likes, and get them a present by Christmas, where we will start to exchange presents. So, write your names on this piece of paper and throw it in the hat!" They looked at each other and at Trixx. Before Alya speaks up again.

"I'm sorry, we're kinda almost broke, so I don't know if we can really-"

"Oh, that's all covered," Tikki said smoothly. They gave her a confused look.

"Well, when Marinette and I met, the mayor kindly gave me some money. So you will all get a budget of $100, so you better get each other something worth it and meaningful!" She said kindly. They looked at each other still hesitant.

"Look, it's not an option. Its part of you're training, so you have to oblige." Plagg said lazily. So they did. They wrote their names on a piece of paper, Trixx shuffled the hat and everyone stuck their hand in and got a name out. Marinette got Adrien, Adrien got Marinette, Alya got Nino and Nino got Alya. (Totally not abusing my power as a writer).

"Okay, we all get it?" Wayzz asks everyone. They all nod.

"Then let's begin!"

End

Reviews:

Pinksakura271: Sakura, seriously thank you so much for being so understanding! Anyway, yeah, in maybe next chapters they'll click, but right now I'm sorta just following what happened in Miraculous where Nino didn't really have much of an opinion for him until they talked personally to each other alone, so yeah. It will happen! But just not immediately xD

WildflowerDar: Haha, thanks, I tried making that end scene memorable or something xD.

I know. I know. It's been a LONG time since I last uploaded. I had a lot of assessments I had to study for and also didn't feel very motivated to write back then. So yeah. That is my lame sorry excuse this time around, prepare for the next chapter's one. I know that saying sorry is not enough right now, so I'm just trying to lighten your frustration. SO saying that here are some jokes: Why did the chicken cross the road, to meet his friends at KFC. Why did the boy fall off the bike? Because someone threw a fridge at him. What do you call a bagel that can fly? A plain bagel. What noise does a train make when it eats? Chew Chew. What do you call a three Jack's at lunchtime? Hungry Jacks. How much does a polar bear weigh? Enough to break the ice? You know the guys who invented knock knock jokes? He should get a Nobel prize. What do you call an author that sucks at keeping promises? A bad author.

Okay! Thank you so much for reading and keeping up with my excuses every chapter! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Later.