Chapter One: It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year.

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year… unless you're a millennia old kwami who has never experienced a 21st century Christmas before.

Plagg eyed the camembert in his paws and wondered if he dared to commit the horrendous and unforgivable sin of shoving it into his ears.

"... fa la la la la, la la la la…"

It wouldn't be so bad, would it? He could probably, possibly, maybe, still eat it later on, right? Heck, it might even be a novel twist on the proper presentation of the delightful cheese.

It would certainly do the job of drowning out Adrien's terrible singing.

"... fa la la la la, la la la la…"

For someone so amazingly talented with music, his singing voice was atrocious! It was one of the worst voices Plagg had ever heard. Considering how long he had been around, that was saying something.

Plagg winced when Adrien somehow combined two notes that should never have been combined and wondered if this was karma for something. But he couldn't really think of anything he'd done that was awful enough to deserve this! He yelped at a particularly shrill note and glared at his human. "Urgh, will you please shut up! You're curdling my cheese!"

Adrien just grinned at him and continued spinning excitedly on his desk chair, ignoring the mountain of work in front of him. "But Plagg, it's the most wonderful time of the ye-ouch!"

Plagg couldn't take it any longer and committed the slightly less horrible sin of throwing his beloved camembert at Adrien, where it hit him on the back of the head and finally, finally, shut that terrible noise up! "Silence! Blessed silence! How I have missed thee!"

"There's no need to be snippy." Adrien rolled his eyes as he checked the back of his head for camembert flakes. "I'm just celebrating."

"Oh, is that what you're calling it these days? I thought it was a cruel and unusual torture."

"Plagg, it's nearly December! It's nearly Christmas! Lighten up and have some fun."

It was Plagg's turn to roll his eyes. "Please. It isn't even a real festival. They just took a mid-winter festival and slapped a different label on it. Big deal." He floated across the room, ignoring the scandalised look on Adrien's face, the kid was so dramatic after all, and grabbed his cheese from the floor. It was a little squashed but surprisingly intact given the force he had thrown it with.

"But… but Christmas!"

Like that was a good comeback. "It's nothing special kid. Nothing like it was in Egypt back in the good old days." Plagg floated down to lie on Adrien's ignored homework on his desk, still examining his cheese. It might actually be edible. Of course he wouldn't be able to enjoy it properly until the kid had stopped trying to shatter every bit of glass in the house. "Those were good times back then. Feasts and festivals that went on for days and days at a time. The streets were overflowing with food and wine. Nothing like this dour and short little festival of yours. They knew how to party, and how to treat a magnificent cat such as myself," Plagg preened, lost in his memories. He sighed softly. "I do miss my Bastet."

He sniffed at his cheese again but Adrien just didn't seem willing to let the subject drop. He was still gaping with that incredulous look.

"Have you ever celebrated Christmas before? I mean a real one!" Adrien scoffed. "You can't have if you think there are better holidays."

Well, that sounded like a challenge Plagg couldn't leave unanswered. "I know there are better. I've had better. But, since I'm a wonderful and amazing kwami, I'll answer your question. I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I don't know if I've had a 'real' Christmas, as you call it. I mean, I probably have. I've been all over the world in my millennia of making cat heroes. I'm sure there was bound to be a Christmas festival somewhere in there at some point."

Plagg took a delicate bite of camembert and chewed it experimentally. Neither the taste or the texture seemed to have been adversely affected by it's aerial adventure. He'd have to do a few more taste tests which meant ending this conversation quickly. The sooner Adrien realised that Plagg had seen it all and done it all, and was therefore right about everything, the easier their lives would be. Now, when was his last Christmas?

"Hmm, well, it wasn't the last time I was awake…" Plagg mused. He had camembert now, and last time had been rǔbǐng - that was rural China over a century ago so no Christmas there. "...or the time before that…" he'd lived on paneer for two years then, so that was India and Biladi, "...or the time before that…" he'd been back in Egypt then and, oh, hadn't that rumi been divine! Where had he been before that? He'd been eating kochkäse, hadn't he? Yes he had. "I've got it! Germany, 300 years ago. That was Christmas. I'm sure of it. Hans stopped making cheese because of the festival," Plagg rolled his eyes and scoffed. "What a stupid rule. No cheese. Trust me kid, I've had better festivals."

"Plagg… oh my god, Plagg, you've never had a real Christmas before! This is a disaster! We have to change that right now!"

"You mean it's changed since then?" Plagg sighed. Was he ever going to be able to eat his cheese in peace?

"You have no idea!"

"I doubt I'll like this new version."

"Oh, just you wait. I'm going to prove to you how amazing a modern Christmas can be!"

The telltale sounds of explosions and screaming suddenly erupted from the streets outside and Plagg quickly gulped his cheese while he still had the chance. So much for savouring it. "I guess that'll have to wait of course. Along with my lunch!"

"Claws out!"

Author's note: I'm back. I'm doing my Christmas writing challenge again. The full list is in my profile and over on my tumblr if anyone wants to read it.

2020 was not a kind year for me, and I imagine many others are in the same boat, so this is just a nice, fluffy, friendship-focused fic to end the year on. It is set during Marinette and Adrien's first Christmas as heroes, so they've only been with their kwami for a few months and are still learning about each other. I'm ignoring the Christmas musical special because a) I never saw all of it, b) I can, and c) I want to. This is just my headcanon of it. This can technically be considered a prequel to my All I Want For Christmas fic, but they can be read as stand alone fics.

Please note - I have not seen all of season 2 or season 3 of Miraculous Ladybug, so please do not spoil it for me. 2020 has taken many things from me but I will not let it take this from me either. I will watch them and catch up.