Chapter Twenty-One: Snowball Fight.

What else is a bunch of teenagers to do when it has been snowing? Fight!

Saturday 21st December 2019. 10.10 a.m. Marinette's home.

"Good morning Adrien! Good morning Christophe!" Tom shouted from in front of the dough mixer. "Everyone's already upstairs so go straight on up!"

Adrien gave a small sigh. Gorilla patted him on the back consolingly. He was a little disappointed to find that they were the last to arrive despite aiming to be one of the first to get to the bakery. It couldn't be helped though. Just as they'd got into the car to leave, Gorilla had got a security alert to his phone. One of Adrien's very pushy fans had been seen in the area and so, out of necessity, they had to detour around some of the other arrondissements before arriving at the bakery.

It was annoying but it was also a necessary evil in his life.

Sabine appeared at the door then, a large tray full of snacks in her hands. "Good morning you two. Is that your Secret Santa gift, Adrien?" she looked at the brightly wrapped box in his hands and he nodded. "Wonderful. If you could leave it in the large sack with the others, that will help to keep the secret."

Adrien only just hid a wince. Even if no one saw him leave it, everyone would know it was him when Alix opened it.

Sabine walked them both upstairs, chatting on about the snow, how glad she was that it was sticking, and then gently reminded Adrien to leave his present in the bag and opened the door to her home.

"Look who's here!"

"Adrien!"

Everyone shouted greetings to him and he smiled back at them. They were all clustered around the coffee table, with every spare centimetre of space occupied by someone. Only Chloé was absent but that wasn't really surprising. If she wasn't the centre of attention at a gathering then she wouldn't attend, especially not if it was hosted by Marinette. Nino and Alya waved him over to where they had saved a seat for him on the sofa next to Marinette and he hurried over, giving Nino and Alya a fist bump and a hug before sliding into his seat and wrapping an arm around Marinette. "Hey."

She smiled at him. "Good morning. Now, who wants presents?" The cheers were deafening. "Okay, okay, mama, if you please?"

Sabine grabbed a scrap of fabric off the kitchen table where she had been stood talking with Gorilla and Alya's mother (Adrien couldn't believe he had missed her standing there but a group this size probably needed some supervision) and threw it into the crowd. Ivan grabbed it when it sailed past his head, startled, and Kim groaned.

Marinette smiled. "Ivan, you got the hat, so you're our Santa!"

He chuckled but obligingly put the red and white hat on his head and accepted the large bag of presents from Sabine with a smile. "Who will be first?"

Kim and Alix both groaned. "Stop teasing!" "Get on with it!"

"Ok, the first one is for…" he reached right down to the bottom of the bag and pulled out a green and gold wrapped present and read the tag. "Mylène!"

Mylène took the present with a soft smile, ignoring Kim's joking cries of the draw being fixed since Ivan gave his girlfriend her present first, and quickly tore the paper open. "Oh, how lovely!" she admired the set of fruit scented candles and the Marcel Marceau biography. "Thank you Rose!"

Rose blinked. "But how… oh, the candles!" Rose hid her blushing face in her hands and giggled. Her mother made those candles and Rose was always able to give them to her friends as gifts, but it wasn't the best choice for a Secret Santa gift. Juleka wrapped a comforting arm around her girlfriend's shoulders.

Ivan reached for the next present. "This one is for Kim."

Kim whooped with delight and ripped open the paper, spilling the lactose free chocolate bars all over the floor. He grinned sheepishly and picked them up before looking at the card that was wrapped up with them. "Three free lactose-free ice creams? Awesome! Oh, and… no way!" he burst out laughing. "My Secret Santa dared me to go lactose free for all of January! Whichever one of you did this… I accept!"

Everyone laughed at him then waited for the next present to be drawn. Ivan complied. "Chloé?"

Sabrina perked up at that. "I'll take it, thank you." She accepted the bright yellow wrapped gift from Ivan with a small smile. "Chloé couldn't make it here today but I promised her that I would get our presents and hurry over so we could open them together."

A few people frowned at that but Alix was the one who spoke first. "So you're not staying once you've got yours?"

Sabrina shrugged, suddenly finding the floor very interesting. "I promised."

No one knew exactly what to say to that and so it was up to Ivan to draw the next present. He reached down into the bag and revealed a large box beautifully wrapped in teal and silver paper. "Sabrina."

She blinked, not having expected her name to be drawn so soon, and took the present slowly. "Oh, wow," she stared down at it. "It's beautiful. It really is." Her fingers twitched towards the ribbon but then she snatched them back. "I… I'm sorry but I promised Chloé."

Marinette leaned over Alya to place a hand over Sabrina's. "That's ok, we understand. We're just really glad you came over."

Sabrina nodded and quickly made her goodbyes, thanking Sabine for letting her stay, and hurried out of the room. Alix waited only a few seconds before speaking. "So, I got Sabrina's name," she started. "I got her some spa stuff, because damn does that girl need a rest, but also this new book series. Jalil's boyfriend works for the publishing house and got it for me. It reads like a fantasy fiction adventure, but it's actually about recognising and getting out of toxic relationships." Alix smirked at the door. "I really hope she puts it to good use."

Everyone looked impressed at that save for Mylène who looked worried. "I got Chloé," she admitted. "All I got her was a fancy box of honeycomb chocolates. I hope she doesn't get mad at Sabrina for having a better gift."

Ivan placed a comforting hand over Mylène's. "Don't worry, love. Sabrina's strong," he murmured then reached for another present to distract them from their worries. "Rose."

Rose grabbed the bright pink present with a happy squeal and carefully opened the ribbons and paper, saving them for later for her scrapbooking. She screamed in delight when she saw the fluffy pink puppy plushie and hugged it to her in delight. "I love it!"

Adrien saw Marinette nudge Nino and grin and suddenly knew who had drawn Rose's name. Looks like he wasn't the only one who went to Marinette for help with gifts. She startled when Ivan called her name next and beamed as he passed over the second pink present of the day.

She gasped in surprise when she lifted the lid of the box and saw a sea of pink sewing accessories. Adrien knew what some of them were, a measuring tape, a pin cushion, and a seam ripper, but some of them were unfamiliar to him, like the odd scrap of fabric with grooves in. Marinette, however, beamed and looked straight at Juleka. "I love it, Juleka, thank you so much! It's just what I needed!"

Juleka nodded. "How did you know?"

Marinette held up the pin cushion. "I taught you how to sew these."

It was Rose's turn to comfort her girlfriend for giving away a gift with an obvious tell, but everyone quickly looked to Ivan again. "Nathanaël."

He carefully opened the generic snowflake themed paper and handed it straight to Rose for her collection and smiled at his treats. He had a large box of kosher fudge and a Ladybug and Chat Noir themed sketchpad. "Thanks Alya."

Alya laughed. "I wouldn't be me if I didn't get you something heroic. Maybe you could use it for your comics?"

Adrien tensed when the next present that Ivan pulled out of the bag was his gift to Alix. He had wrapped it as nicely as he could, which was far better than his previous attempts now that Marinette had taught him how, but it was the contents that were the issue. Marinette gave him a concerned look that vanished when Alix screamed.

And boy did she scream!

Everyone looked stunned as she held up the brand new top of the line and extremely expensive skates that Adrien had bought for her, looking at them in awe, before carefully handing them to Max and launching herself over the table to grab Adrien in what was meant as a hug but looked more like a headlock.

"Adrien Agreste you rule! Oh my fucking god this is awesome!" she shouted then screamed again and she brought one hand up to ruffle his previously perfect locks.

The rest of the room was laughing at him, including Gorilla who just smiled over his cup of coffee and snapped a photo on his phone, and Adrien blushed. "You're welcome?"

"Dude!" Nino chuckled. "What did Mlle. Bustier tell you?"

"I know, I know, but there was nothing else!" he just about choked that out around Alix's grip.

She plonked herself down in his lap, still clinging to his neck, and pointed at everyone else. "All you losers need to up your gift giving game! This beats all others, hands down!" she grinned at him. "If I wasn't aroace I'd totally fight Marinette for you. I'd lose, but I'd totally fight her."

"You would indeed. Now hands off!" Marinette said, completely deadpan.

Alix rolled her eyes but did as told and hurried over to hug her skates. She held a threatening fist up to Kim when he tried to touch them. The rest of the room was in varying states of laughter, and Ivan wiped his eyes as he reached into the bag again and pulled out an envelope for Alya.

She opened it and scoffed. "€20 on a gift card. Wow, Chloé, you really shouldn't have," she drawled and pocketed the card. Chloé always did this.

Ivan drew his present next and stared in awe at the not yet released copy of Jagged Stone's autobiography. His hands were shaking when he opened the cover to reveal that it was autographed. He looked up at Marinette. "Did you…?

"No." She shook her head, also looking at the book in awe. "He said he'd get me an advance copy when he visits in January, but I never thought to ask for one for this."

Everyone looked at the book now. The only other people in their class who could get this book were Adrien and Chloé but they knew it wasn't either of them.

"Sabrina," Mylène breathed.

Ivan looked down and the book and nodded. That made sense. He quickly took off the hat, dropping it on Mylène's head, and whipped his phone out of his pocket. "I need to tell her thanks."

Mylène leaned up to kiss him on the cheek before taking over Secret Santa duty. "Nino."

Ninoe didn't waste any time tearing into his present, leaving the wrapping paper in shreds, and unrolling his hoodie. "This is so freakin' awesome!" He pulled it straight on and held his arms out. "What do you think?"

Rose giggled. "Marinette does awesome work! It looks great." Marinette pouted at being found out. She had bought the hoodie but been unable to resist embellishing it.

Mylène grabbed another gift. "Adrien."

He reached for the present, admiring the superhero themed Christmas paper for a moment before ripping into it, then promptly burst into hysterical laughter when he saw the notebook. Science cat. It was covered in images and jokes and science-cat puns, and each page inside had a different joke written on it. "Purr-fect."

Max was next, meaning that Juleka had the one remaining gift in the bag, so Mylène handed them both out and counted to three. They both gently opened their gifts, keeping the paper and ribbons intact for Rose, and cooed over their gifts.

Max got a book on coding and a ticket to a computing conference that he had wanted to go to. "Kim, these are perfect. Thank you."

"What makes you think it was me?"

Max laughed. "You're the only one who knew that I wanted both of these things."

Kim gave up protesting then and wrapped and arm around Max's shoulders then, grinning wildly. "Anything for you!"

Juleka, meanwhile, was holding up her brand new purple and black polaroid camera and marvelling at it. It didn't take long for her to put one of the film packs inside and she immediately pulled Rose in for a selfie. She had become quite the photographer after her photo curse had been lifted, but she always made sure to take a good selfie with her girlfriend.

"And that's everyone!" Mylène smiled and folded the bag up. "It was so much fun!"

Everyone agreed but Alya was the one to speak up. "I kinda don't want to leave just yet. It's been super fun."

"If you don't want to go, ma chou-fleur, then you could always play in the park," Marlena Césaire spoke up, looking out of the window with a smile. "The snow out there is pristine, and perfect for a-"

"SNOWBALL FIGHT!" Kim roared.

"Girls against boys!" Alix added.

Everyone else whooped and grabbed their coats, running towards the door en masse, racing down the stairs in a waterfall of teenage enthusiasm. Adrien had jumped up with them but then stopped. He could practically hear what his father would say about joining in a snowball fight, and it wouldn't be good.

"Come on, kid," Gorilla walked over, shrugging his coat on, and holding Adrien's out for him. "Show them how good your aim is."

"Really?" he beamed. "Thanks!"

Sabine chuckled and walked over with Marinette's winter wear and helped her daughter to bundle up. "Have fun and destroy your opposition," she grinned. "I'll make some hot chocolate for you all in a bit. Can't have all of you freezing."

Marinette was bouncing in her excitement. "Thanks mama! Let's go Adrien!"

They hurried after their friends, Gorilla following at a more sedate pace, and screamed as they were immediately assaulted by snowballs the second they stepped through the park gates. Kim jeered, having gotten both of them, but then yelped when Alix smashed one in the back of his head. "No one is getting Adrien while I'm around!" she declared.

"That's fine!" Kim smirked. "Because I'm not after him, I'm after you!"

That signalled the start of the Great Class Snowball War. It was meant to be girls against boys but it quickly descended into a free for all brawl. Kim and Alix were going after each other with great gusto, and Ivan soon joined in on Alix's side after a stray snowball of Kim's hit Mylène. Mylène sat out with Nathanaël at that point but contributed by making as many snowballs as they could for the rest of them.

Rose and Juleka had chased each other around the fountain for a bit but found it much more entertaining to make snow angels. Max stood by them to prevent the others from running over - he greatly disliked using snow as a weapon but he loved to play along, so his job was always to keep score between Kim and Alix, because they were the only ones interested in the score, and so wherever Max stood was a no-play zone.

Alya and Nino had hoped to team up with their friends in a mini boys-v-girls battle of their own, but Adrien and Marinette were having far too much fun trying to destroy each other to pay any attention to them, so they shrugged it off and joined Alix and Ivan against Kim who immediately called unfair. Try as they might, though, they couldn't help but keep watching their friends.

Adrien and Marinette were in a world of their own and completely unaware that they were being watched. They were having far too much fun for that. Bending and swooping down for more ammunition, using the terrain to their advantage, hiding behind trees, leaping over benches, twisting around the fountain, spinning and turning in an intricate dance as they launched icy projectiles at each other… it was just like their patrols when they played rooftop tag. They were completely in their element here and having the time of their lives.

When Adrien got distracted by a well-aimed snowball from Kim Marinette took her chance.

She slipped around a tree and ducked behind a bench to scoop up a handful of snow. She didn't press it into a ball though and just waited for the right opportunity.

There.

The second his back was turned, quick as lighting Marinette crossed the distance between them and raced up behind him, yanking the back of his shirt down and pushing the handful of snow against his skin.

The sound Adrien made was barely human, in fact it was more reminiscent of a cat having its tail stepped on, and everyone stopped in their tracks to watch the scene unfold.

Marinette giggled uncontrollably as Adrien flailed about, yelping and slapping at his back, trying desperately to dislodge the snow. It was a bit mean of her to laugh at his misfortune but he had never looked or sounded more cat-like before. She wiped away a few tears from her eyes but her laughter quickly stopped when her turned and looked at her, his smirk promising dire vengeance.

She shrieked and ran as fast as she could, darting around the fountain to the other side of the park and yelping when he ran straight through the currently empty fountain to get to her. He had the clear advantage on the ground where she had it in the air, and he caught up to her in no time and tackled her to the snowy grass. He rolled them mid-air so he took the brunt of the fall and so she wasn't the one who was lying on the cold ground and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Well what do you know, the cat caught the bug this time," he smirked.

Marinette stared down at him, still trying to catch her breath from their battle, and watched as his expression changed from victory and smug satisfaction into something resembling worship and adoration. He brought a hand to his lips and bit down on his glove, pulling the wet fabric off his hand before cupping her face and caressing her cheek with his thumb. She didn't dare breathe as a hint of determination joined the awe and love in his eyes.

"You know, I had a whole plan for this."

Marinette's heart was racing in a way that had nothing to do with the snowball fight and everything to do with the way Adrien was looking at her. He looked at her like she was his world. "For what?" she managed to ask, sounding far more breathless than she should have from playing in the snow.

His smile was so soft and tender that she thought her heart might skip a beat. "Asking you out."

Ok, scratch that, now her heart skipped a beat. Or five. Was it possible for a heart to race so fast that it felt like it had stopped? Because Marinette was pretty sure that was what was happening to her right now. She knew this was coming, how could she not with all of their flirting and declarations of love, but the reality of it was so overwhelming.

Fortunately, Adrien was unaware of her mental shut-down. He carried on talking, gently sweeping his thumb across her cheek, and looking at her with love in his eyes.

"I had a plan that I thought was pretty damn perfect, I had a speech prepared and everything, but this-" he used his free hand to gesture around them and between them and Marinette became aware that she was still sprawled on top of him in a couple of centimetres of snow in the park. "This is just so much more."

He sat them both up then, which was a good thing because Marinette's brain had lost all connection with her body and she wasn't sure how to do things like moving or talking. Heck, she was impressed she was still breathing. He carefully brushed the snow off both of them and took both of her hands in his, never dropping eye contact for a moment.

"Marinette, will you go out with me?"

Talking.

Talking would be a good thing to do right now. Like, right now!

"Really?"

Adrien smiled. "Yes."

Sabine interrupted them. "Kids!"

She stood in the doorway of the bakery, a coat held loose around her shoulders to ward off the chill, and shouted over to the group in the park. The rest of their friends stopped their snow games and looked over to Sabine, and Marinette realised that no one had been close enough to witness Adrien's question. They were all completely oblivious to what was happening between them on the other side of the park.

Sabine waved them all over. "Come at get some hot chocolate before you freeze!"

Rose, Juleka, and Mylène led the charge back to the bakery, but the whole groups soon followed. Alya was wrapped up in Nino's arms as she went, shouting back over her shoulder for Marinette to hurry or she would miss all the mini-marshmallows. She wouldn't have been so laid-back if she'd known what had happened between Marinette and Adrien just then.

Adrien pulled her to her feet and helped brush the last of the snow off her clothes and out of her pigtails and Marinette caught his hands before he could pull away. "Yes."

Adrien froze. "Yes?"

"Yes." Marinette nodded.

"Yes!"

With a whoop and a shriek of pure joy, Adrien scooped her up and spun her around. His happy laughter was joined by two tiny high-pitched screams from Marinette's bag where Plagg and Tikki were hiding (and losing their minds by the sound of it). He gently lowered her down until they were pressed forehead to forehead, beaming in pure joy.

"Yes," he whispered.

She giggled. He sounded so relieved. "Did you really think I would say no, kitten?"

"Nothing was certain until you said yes, my Princess," he laughed and kissed her forehead. "Now let's get you inside and warmed up before you turn into a bug-cicle."

Gorilla was waiting for them by the bakery door, where he had stood guard for the duration of the snowball fight. Marinette swore she hadn't seen him look so happily at Adrien before and she couldn't help but blush when the large man winked at both of them. He was way too observant.

They hurried upstairs where Sabine gave them two tall mugs of her special recipe hot chocolate and they joined their remaining friends at the table. Mylène and Ivan had taken their drinks to go as they had promised to help Mylène's dad with some stuff for the Christmas plays his theatre company staged. Nathanaël was getting a lift home with them as his house was on his way to the theatre so he had accepted a to-go cup of hot chocolate too. Kim and Max had bowed out too so they could finish packing for their trip down to Lyon on Monday, thanking Tom and Sabine excessively on their way out.

That left Rose and Juleka at the table with Alya and Nino.

Alya noticed their unusually happy smiles as they sat down but didn't say anything. Instead, she got that gleam in her eyes that meant she was planning something and deliberately started drinking faster. She put her hand under Nino's cup and tilter it up, making his drink faster too. Rose and Juleka looked at her in confusion until they caught the way she was looking at her best friend and then they eagerly drank their drinks too.

Ten minutes later they were left alone at the table as the rest of their friends saw themselves out with profuse thanks and sly looks at the new couple (not that they knew that). Marinette barely resisted the urge to facepalm at Alya's behaviour.

Next to her, Adrien relaxed into the sofa and chuckled. "Wait until she finds out."

"Let me live in peace for a little longer, please."

He just laughed again. "So are you busy on Christmas Eve? That was when I'd planned to ask, but I'd love to be able to take you on a special date then."

A loud crash from the doorway startled them and they turned to see Tom stood there, a shattered mug of coffee on the floor in front of him, and the largest and happiest smile they're ever seen on his face.

"Date?" If anything his smile got bigger. He turned to the door and stuck his head out. "Sabine! Sabine! It's happened!"

Marinette didn't resist the urge to facepalm this time and groaned into her hand. She mock-glared at Adrien through her fingers, pleased that he looked a little flustered. "I hope you didn't have any plans for dinner, because you'll be staying here now."

"Don't worry, Mlle. Marinette," Gorilla's answering laugh had her groaning and Adrien blushing again. "We're not busy tonight. We'd love to stay."

She glared at Adrien again. Dating for only half an hour and they'd already landed in the middle of an embarrassing dinner with the parents. He gave her a sheepish chuckle. "Oops?"

Author's notes. Reminder, I have still not seen all of season 2 and none of season 3. Please check my author's profile for a list of the episodes I have seen.

Tom is a shipper, you cannot change my mind on that, not after seeing his heart-eyes in Gamer. Gorilla ships it too.