She put her pencil between her teeth and tapped her fingers impatiently on the table, muttering unintelligible things under her breath.

Then she heard a knock then two. At first she was confused because it didn't sound like it was from her normal trapdoor, but then it clicked that it was Catnoir.

"Princess..." He called and knocked again. She quickly dismissed the kwamis and they flew into different hiding spots before she quickly climbed to her bed to open the hatch. He was leaning over it but leaned back as she opened it.

Finally getting to see her, Catnoir smiled. All day he'd been looking forward to this. He could hardly feel the brunt of being home alone because he was just so eager to come.

Marinette watched as the smile grew on his lips and she just couldn't help but smile back. "You're early today."

"I couldn't wait to see you." He beamed and slid in through the hatch, landing on the bed. He immediately reached forward to hug her and the force almost had them both falling back on the bed. He held her tight, his face nuzzled in her neck.

The hug lasted a full minute before she reluctantly pulled away. And she giggled when he whined, "You can get more hugs but first I wanna show you what we're doing today." She clapped excitedly. He took a moment to watch her. A smile adorning his lips, she was too cute for her own good.

"Come on." She climbed off the bed and down the stairs, him following behind her. He noticed her room was much more tattered than usual, she had obviously been working.

She squatted beneath her desk and pulled out a carton box. It was filled to the brim with different ornaments, decorations a d other stuff. Pushing her other stuff, she lifted the box to the table.

Catnoir's eyes lit up as he caught sight of the dangling ribbons and ornaments dangling out of the box. He was at her side in no time staring in awe at the box. In the last two years, he'd never gotten the chance to actually decorate a tree.

"My parents finally went to deliver the order they'd been working on since and they'll probably be there all night. So I thought we could decorate today since we have the house all to ourselves." She smiled sweetly at him, "That's okay right?"

And there was that all too familiar knot in his chest. Unable to reply for a moment, he just bobbed his head up and down. "It's more than okay." He whispered after.

She beamed, "That's great. Come on!" He could see that she was giddy. And just the fact that it was somehow because she was with him made him happy. Much more than words could describe.

He helped her lift the box and followed her as she made her way out of the room, downstairs. She was actually excited, she'd only actually decorated a tree with anyone besides her parents and having to do it with him just felt too good to not be excited about.

They were finally in the living room and there it was, the said tree already standing by the corner. The tree wasn't too big and it wasn't too small either. He couldn't actually tell but there was something more homely to that tree than the one in his own house.

Or it was probably because he couldn't remember anything homely about Christmas. And here she was taking the time to remind him. She was making him feel too much for words to describe.

"So do you like it? I know it's not that big but this has been in our family for a few years now. It has so many memories." She explained as she gestured him to drop the box right next to the tree. He nodded in negation, "I love it, it's perfect."

"I should go get a ladder." She suggested, "I don't think I can reach the top yet. Not even if I stand on my toes." Catnoir looked at her, still reasoning what she said for a moment then he chuckled. "I didn't say you should laugh." She pouted.

He moved closer to stand right in front of her so he could properly compare their heights. He hovered his hand over her head showing his own height. "Wow, you are short." He teased and she frowned, "Stop making fun of me." She smacked his hand hovering over her.

He laughed but put his hand right back, "Shortie." He muttered again, placing his hand right back. "I'm not that short." She lifted herself, standing on her toes bit still she didn't reach him. She pouted and another chuckle rumbled from him.

"It's not bad you know." He finally dropped his hand, "You're actually just perfect the way you are." And he moved his hand to the side of her face as he got serious.

She smiled, leaning into him, "You probably tell this to all the other girls in Paris you visit on their balconies." She joked and he laughed, "Definitely." And they both laughed before he stopped and leaned closer to her, "But you're my favorite one."

Caught in his stare for a moment, she didn't reply just nodded vaguely. They stayed like that for a while and she felt a sudden need to just keep staring even longer.

But as usual, she ignored it. And no matter how her body begged to differ, she tore her gaze away from him and moved away so his hand fell to his side. After one last glance, she turned away and squatted next to the box of ornaments. "You ready?"

"For you, princess, always." He moved to kneel right next to her while she dramatically rolled her eyes, "I thought I told you not to call me that."

"But it suits you do well."

"I'm far from the description of a princess." She made air quotes trying to laugh it off, "How many princesses do you see tripping on air?"

And there it was, the opportunity he'd been waiting for, just to tell her enough sweet things to let her know she was special too. "You don't need grace or class to be a princess. It's more of your heart, you're so kind and sweet and amazing. That's what makes you a princess. So that's your name forever now."

A small blush crept unto her cheeks and she looked away from his stare to hide her flushed cheeks, "You know I'm none of those." She tried to brush it off as she began to remove the decorations one by one.

He held her hand to stop her and then clasped her small hand in his. She kept her gaze on their entwined fingers still trying to hide her face. "You're all that and more. Believe me, you're wonderful. One of the most amazing people I've ever met."

And she grew hotter at his words, "Oh Kitty, you're too much." She releases her hand from his grip and covered her face with both hands.

He chuckled, she was too cute. And he'd totally meant what he said, she was downright wonderful.

When they finally got to decorating, Marinette couldn't stop smiling. She loved the awestruck look on his face whenever she explained the memory behind almost every ornaments.

"This was the first bauble I made when I was 6. Look how much glitter, I poured the whole can of glitter on myself. And I was glitter girl." She laughed fondly at the memory. And the thought of a little version of Marinette running around with glitter all over sent him reeling with laughter.

"That woulda been adorable."

She nodded, before handing him the next bowed ribbon to hang. "Hey maybe we could make one together." She suggested, "That way I can think of you whenever I want to hang it."

He smiled, overcome with sweet sweet feelings at her words, "I would love that."

"I'll go check if I still have the stuff to do it. Wait right here." She went up to her room leaving him to his thoughts. And for some odd reason, he couldn't wash the smile off his face. He loved the feeling in his chest even if he had no idea what it was. It was great and that was something he hadn't felt in a long time.

In a moment, she was back and then she pulled him with her to kneel beside the table so they could get to work making it.

"When I was much smaller, I just used to wrap a colored paper around a plain bauble and decorate it but I actually learned a more difficult method recently."

"Let's go simple. We could do more later." He smiled at her and she nodded. "Okay, here we go."

So she went for the plain bauble and wrapped a green colored paper around it. "You have to pleat the edged before gluing it, so it's neat and follows a pattern." She explained as she walked him through the process. When done, she lifted it, "Now you can just write whatever you can." She held a black marker pen.

He watched her as she carefully designed 'Catnoir' on the ornaments. She drew many small paws next to it and smiled as she lifted it to show him, "So what'd you think?"

"Can I add one more thing?" She muttered breathlessly trying to hold back the emotions wanting to overflow. "Sure.." she handed it to him.

She looked over his shoulder and looked as he wrote 'Mari, his princess' in a small corner and then he beamed, "Now it's perfect."

She giggled and they designed it more with flowers and candy sticks before "accidentally" pouring the whole glitter can on it. They both cracked up and laughed hard.

They tied the thread through it, "Perfect! And now to hang it." She stood and hurried to hang it. The tree was already almost full since they'd almost emptied the ornaments box. So she reached on her toes to hang it up since it was more scanty. As expected, she could not reach it. She stood on her toes and stretched up but frowned as she still couldn't.

Before she could contest, she felt a warmth behind her. Her body froze for a moment and she felt his hand brush hers lightly as he reached up to take the bauble from her. "Let me hell you with that." He effortlessly hung it.

Her breath unsteadied for a second as he was almost pressed up to her. His warmth lingered for a while before he finally stepped away. She releases a breath beforr turning to him, "Let's...uh...hang the rest."

After hanging the rest, there were only a few cut papers in the box. "What about these?"

She took one out of the box, "We don't really use them anymore. When I was little, my mum used to say my letters to Santa should be what I'd like him to do for my friend. So we used to hang each letter every year." She explained and he nodded with an oh.

Of course, it was nothing new to him that Marinette always put others before herself. It had to be the quality he admired most in her, her beauty aside.

"By the way, I do have one I plan to hang this year." She continued. "It's my special wish for a special friend." She shifted her gaze to him and let it linger hoping he'd catch on.

He did and his smile widened. She thought about him. He mattered to her. His chest felt unbelievably hot. That was what it felt like for someone to care about him. Gosh, he loved it.

He moved closer to her and held her hand in his. She looked up at him. "You're incredible, princess." He gushed.

She giggled, looking up at him through her lashes. She smiled bashfully, "Thank you."

After spending the next moment just staring at her, he finally snapped out of it. "So what's next?"

She shrugged, moving away from him. "I don't know actually. I didn't really plan anything more for today." She trailed off.

"Well it looked like you were busy when I came. If you don't mind, I can stay and watch you." He offered and she smiled packing up the discarded materials in the box before carrying the box, "That'll be great."

After a moment, they were in her room again. After some minor arrangements, she was laying on her stomach on the chaise while he was sitting beside her watching her. Her sketch pad was laying open on n blank page in her front.

She groaned for like the umpteenth time then put the pencil between her teeth.

"You're stomped?"

"Yeah...I just can't get any inspiration." She tapped her pencil on the open page.

"Maybe you're stressing too much, try to relax." She sighed and nodded. Still noticing she was entirely comfortable, he offered again. "Try thinking about something that makes you happy. Or something you enjoy doing or someone you enjoy seeing."

She closed her eyes for a while. Then tried to picture something. Something that makes her happy like he'd said. At first there was nothing. And then there was something. In a moment, she could actually picture it. A smile dotted her lips as she opened her eyes.

"Thank you." She whispered as she looked back to him.

He smiled back softly.