Chapter Thirteen: Marzipan.

The Dupain-Cheng family man a stall in the Christmas Market selling their Christmas speciality - marzipan. Marinette is exhausted from helping out and Adrien does his best to help her out.

Friday 13th December 2019. 08.10 a.m. Outside the Tom and Sabine Boulangerie-Pâtisserie.

Marinette was exhausted.

She had passed tired several hours ago and quite frankly she had no idea how her body was putting one foot in front of the other to walk her to school that morning. In spite of her best efforts she did not have a restful night and had already worked her two jobs before the school day had even begun. At this rate she was going to fall asleep in class and finish the year stuck in detention.

She was so tired she nearly walked straight into the to-go cup of coffee that was floating in the air in front of her.

Marinette stopped, blinked, and inhaled. The delicious aroma woke her up just enough to realise that no, of course the cup wasn't magically floating in mid air, though given how much magic was involved in her day-to-day life that could possibly happen one day. Instead, Adrien was stood there with a fond smile on his face holding it out to her.

"Coffee delivery, as promised."

Marinette lunged for the cup. "Oh my god I love you!" she mumbled around the lid as she took a deep drink. God that was good. It was certainly helping her feel slightly more prepared for the day than before.

"I can't tell if you were talking to me or the coffee." Arien chuckled.

For a moment she had no idea what he was talking about, she was far too focussed on draining her coffee cup. But when it was half empty the caffeine kick-started her brain enough to realise exactly what she had just said to him. She nearly choked. "The coffee," she squeaked. "Definitely the coffee."

Adrien didn't seem to believe her. In fact, he smirked at her. "Purr-haps, but I'm paw-sitive I recall a chat where you admitted that you adore me."

Marrinette gave him the biggest glare she could manage in her exhausted state. "No. Just no."

His smile dimmed somewhat. "Too much?"

"Yes. I am way too sleep deprived for any of this."

That apparently was the wrong thing to say. Or the right thing depending on how you looked at it.

The miniscule trace of hurt in Adrien's face fell away immediately, and Marinette was kicking herself for being a little too harsh in cutting his teasing off, and for not seeing his reaction sooner, but he was moving before she could even begin to think of an apology, let alone speak it. She was wrapped in his arms before she knew it and held firmly in his warm embrace. She could just detect a hint of his purr and that, the hug, and the coffee combined into a wonderful feeling of warmth.

It was heavenly. She could honestly fall asleep right here right now in his arms.

"Oh Princess," Adrien sighed, his voice rumbling with the promise of a purr, and he nuzzled at her head. She sank into him with a happy sigh. She really did love the cat side of him. "I'm sorry. Did you get any sleep after I took you home?"

Did she? "Maybe half an hour? I guess?"

Last night they had been unlucky enough to get a night-time akuma.

These akuma were fortunately quite rare, probably because it was hard for Hawkmoth to find a target when most of the city was fast asleep, but they were among the most trying opponents to face. The akuma alert had gone off just after midnight and the akuma had been tricky enough, and they had been tired enough, that it wasn't defeated until just after 4am.

Adrien had taken Marinette home, dropped her off on her balcony with the promise of a large coffee in the morning, then promptly gone home and passed out in his bed. Marinette knew this because Plagg had used Adrien's phone to send Tikki a text to assure them that their cats were fine. He'd managed to get some sleep before the battle and a few hours afterwards and so he wasn't looking too bad right now.

Marinette, on the other hand, was utterly exhausted.

In spite of her best efforts to go to sleep early she hadn't managed to go to sleep until almost 11 p.m. and had only just scraped an hours sleep before the alert went off. By the time the post battle adrenaline had worn off enough for her to sleep, she was barely able to get 30 minutes of sleep before her alarm was going off again.

Today was the first day that her family had a stall in the Christmas Market.

They loved doing the Christmas stall each year. It was their chance to show off their skills and their products to a wider market as well as greatly expand their repertoire. As they were a boulangerie-pâtisserie their product range was necessarily limited to ensure that their customers were able to purchase a little of everything. They mostly relied on seasonal specials and recipes of the week to showcase their skills.

But they could go all out with the Christmas stall.

They had done christmas treats from all around the world this year, along with Parisian favourites, and their much sought after marzipan creations.

Marinette got up early to help them make the marzipan, colour it, shape it, and pack it ready for the public. It was precise and delicate work, exactly the kind of work she should not be doing when this tired, but somehow she had muddled through it all. She had worked with her father to sculpt the intricate creations then helped her mother to decorate them. Tired as she was though she still made sure to set a box of her finest work aside for Adrien to have later. She was pretty sure that her parents had given her some teasing looks but she had definitely been too tired to notice and react to them.

She had toyed with the idea of staying home from school but she was too tired to come up with a good enough excuse for her parents as to why she was so tired. She couldn't claim to be ill after working so hard and she couldn't tell them the truth. She'd just have to tough it out.

But it was so tempting to just stay here in Adrien's arms and drift off to sleep.

He gave her a small squeeze. "Can you manage a cat nap in today?" it took far too much effort for her to lift her head and glare at him, but she did it anyway. He just chuckled. "How about this then? You take it easy in school, rest since you can't sleep, I'll make sure you have all the notes from our lessons today, and I'll bring you another drink after lunch and after school, does that sound ok?"

It sounded perfect, just like him. "I love you," Marinette murmured into his shoulder.

Adrien choked. That one didn't sound like a tease but she was exhausted, so… "Me? Or the coffee?"

Marinette gave a tired hum and snuggled deeper into his embrace. He wasn't about to complain about that but he did want an answer to his question since it was the most important one he had ever asked in his life. Though he was hoping that there would be a few other important questions in the near future.

He almost didn't hear her reply. "You. Always you."

Adrien felt like screaming his joy to the world. He felt like crying. He felt like dancing and singing. He felt invincible. He felt like transforming and running through the city to shout his joy from the rooftops.

Instead her just held her tighter. He basked in the feel of this incredible, amazing, wonderful, miraculous girl in his arms, the girl who held his heart, and the girl who had just given him hers.

He nuzzled against her before leaning close to her ear. "I love you too, Marinette," he whispered.

Adrien was not prepared for her reaction.

She stiffened and pulled away, almost spilling her coffee, and looking up at him in pure shock. He could see the blush staining her cheeks and travelling down her neck. "Oh god," she groaned. "Please do not tell me I was so tired I just blurted out a confession?"

Adrien laughed. He could hear it echoed from his school bag and Marinette's tiny purse which just made Marinette moan and him laugh a little louder. That was his Lady. "Afraid so my Lovebug."

"Just kill me now," Marinette whined. She sank back against him and seemed determined to smother herself in his winter coat.

"Nope, sorry, you're mine now, no killing allowed."

She sighed. "Just make sure you bring me lots of coffee today."

"But you're so entertaining without it."

Marinette pulled back and glared at him. "Don't push your luck," she warned, poking him in the chest for emphasis.

A wolf whistle startled them then.

Adrien automatically zeroed in on the sound and was immensely relieved to see that it was only Alix. She was stood over the road in the entrance to the park with Rose and Juleka at her side, both of whom looked delighted to see him with Marinette. He could clearly see her smirk as the girls walked over to greet them.

"Are we interrupting anything here?" Alix teased.

"Hi guys," Adrien smiled. "I was just giving Marinette a little present before school."

The second he said those exact words he knew he'd messed up. Alix's smirk turned positively evil, Juleka gaped, and Rose looked to be so excited she was on the verge of passing out.

"Oh you were, were you?"

Marinette sighed and turned to face her friends, showing them the coffee cup. "He means this, Alix."

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Alix frowned, losing all hints of teasing.

Rose gaped. "Are you ok, Marinette?" Juleka flanked her girlfriend and nodded.

Marinette smiled at them, glad of their support. "Insomnia kicked my butt last night," she said. It was a half truth - something did kick her butt last night but it wasn't exactly insomnia. "I only fell asleep half an hour before I had to help baba get the marzipan ready for our stall today."

The girls winced in sympathy. "School is going to suck for you today," Alix comisserated.

"I know!" she flopped back against Adrien with a whine. "I'm going to die."

Adrien shook his head. "No you won't," he promised. "I'll keep supplying your coffee for you."

She was surprised and pleased that he did. He took notes for the both of them in school all day, walked her home for lunch and picked her up afterwards with another fancy coffee, and he had Gorilla meet him after school with a third coffee for her. He walked her over to the stall, Gorilla following discreetly behind, and marvelled at the beautiful display they had put on. Marinette was just pleased to see that the stall was popular - Tom and Hélène, one of their workers, were currently manning the stall - and that her special box for Adrien hadn't been accidentally sold.

He gave her a hug goodbye and kissed her cheek before letting Gorilla walk him back to the waiting car. Marinette did her best to ignore her father's happy sighing behind her.

It might have been Friday 13th but it had been a very good day for her indeed.

Author's note. I actually really wanted to post this one on Friday the 13th because I really wanted her unlucky confession to take place on an unlucky day… but as you all know my sprained wrist had other ideas. It's still adorably fluffy though and some real progress at last. On the subject of my wrist it is almost fully healed. Chasing an energetic sproglet isn't helping but I should be able to get rid of the support by Christmas Day (fingers crossed) and with a bit of luck and a Christmas miracle I will manage to get totally caught up and end this fic on 31st December. Here's hoping. Also, I've loved all of your autocorrect stories. It never works but it is hilarious.

Replies to reviews.

sup (guest) - autocorrect can be hilarious but not when its happening to you. I'm really glad this is helping you feel a bit more festive. I've done Christmas in New Zealand before and, while beautiful, it was lacking those touches of home. Particularly the cold. I hope you have a good one though.

Cals1686 - I like a bit of angst myself but I wanted non-stop fluff for Christmas and I'm loving it. I'm really glad that you like it too.

OnlyLonelyStars - thanks for your well wishes, it is slowly getting better. Alya is one of my favourite characters to write. She isn't perfect and she does things without thinking but she has a heart of gold! Plus she's off her nut crazy to chase those akumas so that's fun too. I'm glad you like my interpretation of her here. Also, I'm not quite sure what you mean my fandom salt since I've been staying away from it because I am so behind on the series, but I hope that the fluff helps to offset the salt for you somewhat.

yellow14 - they did, they were just so eager to help. Plus I did age them up a bit so they have been waiting a long time for these two to get together.