Luka felt his hat slip as he set the gift underneath the tree, the hat's bell nearly falling into his face. He ensured that the present was properly in position, then went to adjusting his hat by forcing it down as far as it would go. He was not going to lose his hat on the way back to the North Pole if he could help it.

He turned back to Santa's sack of presents, then walked over and dug inside. He pulled out the first present he touched, checking that it was properly marked with the name of the house's owner because he honestly didn't trust the magic sack to not mess with him, given that he wasn't Santa Claus.

Thankfully, the name was still the same as Santa had told him and also the same name marked on the last gift he'd already set down: Marinette.

Luka sounded out the name with a hum. The more he saw it, the more of a ring it had. So much so that, as he knelt down to set the gift next to the one already in place, a melody formed in his head.

Tapping rhythmically on one of the gifts, he swayed his head back to induce the chime of his bell. "Ma-ma-marinette~"

He giggled to himself, humming louder as he turned back to the sack to grab another gift. He found himself getting lost in the tune, his body relying on muscle memory to take the gifts out of the sack so he could develop his little song without interruption.

Then, a voice interrupted him. "Um…"

Luka had hummed for another few seconds longer before noticing that there was a sound in his verse that wasn't his own. He jerked his head back, seeing a woman standing in the archway between the living room and kitchen. She wore slippers, long poofy pants that nearly touched the floor, and a turtleneck sweater that had the sleeves extending past her wrists.

She was also staring at him. It took Luka a moment to snap out of his stunned trance and realize that maybe it wasn't a good idea to wear a hat with a bell on it when he was supposed to be stealthy.

"Uh." He stood up, glancing at the sack of gifts, then the presents, then her. "Look, I—"

She cut him off with a giggle, raising a hand in apparent reassurance. "You're one of Santa's elves, right?"

His mouth hung open for a long, dumb second before he managed a, "What?"

"Those gifts weren't there before," she said, gesturing to the obvious reason why he couldn't be a thief, "and your ears; they're elf ears, right?"

He reached up, feeling and tugging at his inhuman ears if for no other reason than to prove to her that they were real. "You're not… surprised?"

"A little, but—" She looked away, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. Idly, Luka noticed that her ears were pierced, even though she wasn't wearing earrings.

"—I'm pretty used to magic by now," she explained. She glanced his way, then at the open window that he'd come in through, her expression turning apologetic. "Oh, sorry, do you need to go? You're on a time crunch, aren't you?"

Luka was still in a daze, seeing the woman before him, so he didn't even think before responding, "No. Timewarp. As long as I'm gone before morning, everything's fine."

"Ah," she chimed in understanding. "So you're technically all over Paris right now?"

He smiled. "Yeah, something like that."

So this was Marinette, he registered after far too long. It was obvious, as no one else lived in the house and she had a certain "ring" to her just like her name did. Luka knew, of course, that he shouldn't be talking to a human, but outside of Mr. Claus and Mrs. Claus, he never got to communicate with humans, making the occasion seem a bit more desirable than it would otherwise. He blamed his mother, honestly; she'd always been the rebellious type.

There was also something about Marinette that he inherently felt calm around. The melody he'd made around her name had been a little off from the full person, but in the best way.

"Mm," Marinette hummed, nodding in response to what he'd said. She lingered their momentarily, then smiled and turned away. "Anyway, carry on."

Luka frowned as she walked away, feeling a sense of disappointment that their conversation couldn't continue. It seemed strange how quickly she cut off their little chat, but he wasn't well-versed in human customs, so he presumed that it was normal and reluctantly went back to placing her presents below the tree.

He'd only gotten one more underneath it before he heard a small clanging sound from the kitchen. He froze, waiting to see if there was maybe a yelp or cry that required his attention, but when nothing came, he went back to pulling out gifts.

Another gift went under the tree, just as more sounds continued to come from the kitchen. Luka's attuned hearing picked up the sound of things being set down, things being moved, and metal clinking against metal; perhaps silverware.

Luka sat there, unmoving as he listened to the assorted noises. He realized after a minute or so that he wasn't getting anywhere with Marinette's gifts until his curiosity was satiated, so he pushed himself up and headed for the kitchen.

Marinette was standing at the island in the center of the kitchen, an apron on and a mixer to her side as she seemed to be preparing ingredients. He eyed the assorted bowls she had lying around, trying to gauge what she was doing so late at night, but as soon as he glanced up at her to ask, she was already looking at him with a knowing smile.

"What do you like in your cookies?" she asked.

Luka stared blankly at her, but she didn't waver. He blinked, then glanced back into the living room, seeing a plate of cookies already resting on the table along with a glass of milk. He looked back at her, wordlessly asking a question.

"Those are for Santa," she told him with a dramatic wave of her measuring spoon. "It wouldn't be right to give it to you when it was intended for someone else, so I'll just have to make something for you too."

Luka was struck by how casually she'd said it. "You don't have to."

"Then I want to," she stated matter-of-factly, immediately going back to measuring her ingredients. "So, what do you like?"

Her gaze was so inviting that Luka approached the island almost without thought. Now that he was up close, he registered a few things about her.

One, she was tall. Well, not in a general sense, but given that he was an elf, she was tall to him.

Two, the apron she was wearing said, "Safety Hazard" on it. Luka agreed with it, but knew that probably wasn't what it meant.

Three, her eyes were blue; really blue. He'd seen blue skies at the North Pole before, but he liked her blue better.

Four, she had a cute smile, and he was again reminded that the melody he'd made up hadn't done her justice.

There was a stool near the island, so he hoisted himself up onto it and rested his forearms on the counter.

"Marshmallows," he replied simply, watching as Marinette almost instantly turned to go collect said ingredient. He shifted in his seat, feeling weird about sitting still. "Can I—"

"No, you can't help," she interjected, cutting open the bag of mini marshmallows with a knife. "You've already brought me gifts."

He grinned sheepishly. "They're Santa's gifts for you, not mine."

"Still." She began dumping a few ingredients into the mixer, occasionally glancing at him. "So then, if they're Santa's gifts, what are you doing here instead of him? Is he sick?"

Luka didn't doubt that she would've made medicine-infused cookies if he said 'yes.' "I… actually just offered to help out."

"Really?" she asked, looking curious. She flicked on the mixer, cringed at the noise, then shut it off and opted to whisk manually.

He looked away, slightly embarrassed to admit, "I'm not all that great at making toys. I guess I wasn't born for it like most elves are. I can make instruments, but that's only because I know how all the sound is supposed to work."

She let out a hum of interest. "So you're a musically-inclined elf?"

He snorted, at least happy that she didn't laugh at him for it. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Is that why you were humming earlier?" She stopped whisking and reached for the tray resting on top of the stove. "You write songs?"

He blushed pink. She wasn't wrong, but he didn't know how to explain that he was humming her. "I don't always write them down, but I like making music out of what I feel."

"It was really pretty," she commented as she scooped out the cookie batter in tiny amounts evenly spread out along the tray. She laughed with a hint of embarrassment. "I was actually so taken by it that I didn't know what to say at first, but I thought it was rude to listen when you didn't know I was standing there!"

Observation five: scratch the cute smile, she was just cute overall. Luka couldn't even stop grinning. "It's alright, Marinette. I didn't mind."

She lifted the tray, but stopped to glance at him, likely noticing that he'd said her name. However, a quick look at the gifts in the living room probably reminded her that of course he'd know her name, so she simply turned to slide the tray into the oven.

She shut the oven door, then stood and placed her hands on her hips. "O-kay," she said, stretching out each syllable for flair. "That should take about…" She rubbed her chin in thought. "Fourteen minutes? Yeah, maybe twelve just to be safe."

She reached out, setting the timer on the oven. Luka tried not to think about how much he was making Santa wait, being content to just watch Marinette exist.

Besides, Luka knew full well that Santa could sometimes linger too, even if it was just to savor the cookies and milk. Surely it wouldn't be a problem if he did it for once instead?

Marinette straightened, her hand moving away from the timer and resting on the front edge of the oven. She stood there, back still facing Luka as she kept staring ahead for seemingly no reason.

Luka got the distinct feeling that she was either nervous or thinking, the fidget and anxious sway of her hips giving her away. "Marinette?"

She looked back at him, suddenly appearing shy. She hesitated, then stared at the floor, asking, "Um, can I hear the rest?"

"The rest?"

"Of the song," she clarified. "Since we're waiting anyway."

It took Luka a moment to reply. It was just so rare for someone to ask him to play for them. After all, while elves did enjoy music, they usually resorted to listening to human music that had lyrics, and Luka wasn't well-versed at lyrics.

"I… don't have any instruments on me," he warned.

"That's okay," she assured. Her blush was beautiful as she added, "Your voice is enough, if that's alright with you."

"It's alright with me," he said, definitely too quickly to not be considered eager. Him leaning forward and hovering slightly off the stool probably gave it away too.

Marinette smiled sweetly, but faltered as she looked around at the kitchen. Her hands fiddled with her apron, taking it off and depositing it onto the messy counter. "But, ah—let's go somewhere else. I'll—" She walked away from the island, gesturing vaguely to it. "—I'll take care of that later."

Luka chuckled, then got down from the stool and followed after her. She led him back to the living room, down the hall, and finally into what Luka soon realized was her bedroom. It was mostly pink, her black hair easily standing out from all the bright colors, and a quick scan of the room basically put her whole self on display for him to see.

The mannequins adorned with clothes and sticky notes. The patterns lining the wall. The tiny accessories resting on the table.

Luka admired all of her work. Kind, pretty, and creative? He'd have to revise his melody again.

Marinette sat down in her chair, spinning around so she was facing the table. "Do you mind if I work while you hum? I like keeping my hands busy."

He walked over, seeing that she seemed to be gathering materials to start on something new. "No. I don't mind at all."

She tossed him a thankful gaze, then started working. It almost seemed wrong to start humming when she looked like she was about to get in the zone, but she asked, so he obeyed.

He clutched the edges of the table, then leaned back and closed his eyes. He mentally brought himself back to reading her name for the first time, then the soft tap of his fingers against a gift box, then the chime of her voice as she made herself known.

In the end, he decided not to change the melody. He kept it just as it was, instead adding new notes after his original tune and shifting the song accordingly as his memories drifted through the short experience with her.

Quiet and curious at her name, bouncy and thoughtful at his pondering of it, jumpy and surprised at her calling out to him, then calm and soft at her offer to make something for him.

Once again, he lost himself in the melody, though he was sure he would've snapped out of it had she spoken to him at all. Instead, however, she merely listened, and he could've sworn that he heard her humming along if he ever repeated something that was recognizable enough to her.

Minutes passed without his notice. It wasn't often that he got to get truly lost in a song, the tune frequently broken by his hands reaching for a present and finding nothing, or Santa belting out that they arrived at their next destination, not always hearing Luka's humming over the sound of the snowstorm.

He couldn't blame the interruptions, but it was nice to have someone just listen for once; just enjoy something he created himself and not made out of the obligation that was his job. In fact, he actually ran out of notes in her song rather than be interrupted, his humming trailing off as he realized that he was able to complete a melody for once.

He opened his eyes, readjusting his vision to the room and briefly trying to find a clock to tell him how much time had gone by. When he didn't see any indicator of time, he looked back at Marinette.

She was hunched slightly in her chair, her hands clasped together and her eyes blinking back emotion. Silently, Luka wished that he had more memories to add to the song.

"That—" She breathed up, then met his gaze with a smile. "That was beautiful."

He blushed, the compliment combined with that look doing unfair things to his heart.

"What's it called?" she asked gently. "Does it have a name?"

Her question was more direct this time, so he couldn't wriggle out of the subject again. Seeing how she was staring at him though, he smiled and found that he didn't want to. "'Marinette.'"

When she blinked, clearly about to say, 'Yes?', he added, "It's called 'Marinette.' I wasn't lying when I said that I write what I feel, but… I write what I see too."

She just looked at him, blankly, her wide blue eyes bright and vibrant. Then, her blush reappeared, matching the red hints in his suit, and her gaze darted down to her hands still clasped together, as if she felt that she'd been staring at him too long.

In Luka's opinion, it wasn't long enough. He'd come up with another five minutes worth of her melody, just on those eyes alone.

"Um—" Marinette squirmed in her chair, not looking at him as her hands slowly rose up, level with his chest. "Here."

Luka looked down as her hands opened up, revealing a pair of black earrings. He sucked in a breath, then reached up and grabbed the edges of her hands, tilting them slightly to get the best look he could at the gift. "For me? Was this what you were working on?"

"Is that weird?" she asked quickly. "Sorry, I just—your ears. I kept wondering what they'd look like with earrings, and now you've made a w-whole song about me apparently, s-so…"

He gently took the earrings in his gloved hands, as if they'd break apart at the slightest pressure. He held them in his palm and shifted them occasionally with a finger to see every millimeter of them. They were even clip-on earrings, meaning that he didn't have to pierce his ears to wear them (his mother would've approved regardless).

"I love them," he said softly, really having no other words other than that. Elves receiving gifts was an extremely special occasion, so his heart was doing flips in his chest even if he didn't tell her that information. "Can I put them on?"

"Oh! Yeah, yes, please!" Marinette slid her chair away, grabbing hold of a small mirror resting on the table, then slid back to him and set it down.

Luka leaned down, staring at his reflection and turning his head to give himself the best view of one of his ears. He fumbled a bit to get one of the earrings between his thumb and index finger - darn gloves - but stopped as he realized something. "…I've never actually worn earrings before."

"Really?" she asked, her voice a mixture of surprised and fascinated. "Do you want me to…?"

"If that's okay."

"It is."

Her hand brushed his as she took the earring he'd been holding. She instructed him gently for future reference, showing him the basics of how a clip-on earring worked, and he nodded with everything she said just to assure her that he was listening.

Then, she reached up with both hands, one hand holding the earring and the other hand touching his ear to hold it in place. At the cold but pleasantly sensitive contact, Luka sucked in a breath, his face suddenly turning red as he forced himself to hold still.

Thankfully, Marinette seemed wholly oblivious to his suffering, sticking her tongue out to the side as she clipped the earring in place. Luka turned his head as she let go, at least more mentally prepared as she held his other ear too.

No one had ever touched his ears before and he mentally noted that he probably should've kept that in mind.

"There!" she exclaimed, Luka feeling the other earring clip on right before she pulled away. She seemed so excited to catch his reaction that she grabbed and held the mirror up herself.

Luka gave her a smile, then looked down at the mirror - he was still blushing, shoot - and tilted his head appropriately to admire the earrings. Black wasn't a color he often got to wear, but it clearly looked good on him. He didn't have any of the fancy words that Marinette probably would've used to phrase it, but he definitely liked how it looked on his ears.

"Tha—" He was briefly cut off by a beeping noise coming from the oven in the kitchen, so he waited for it to stop before finishing, "Thank you. They look amazing."

She beamed, her eyes sparkling dangerously at the praise. "You're welcome!"

She handed over the mirror, then stood up and ran off excitedly to go check on the cookies. Luka stared at his reflection, taking a few breaths until his face was a normal color again, then set the mirror down on the table so he could follow after Marinette.

By the time he got to the kitchen, he could tell that she'd indeed rushed all the way there in her eagerness since she was already pulling the tray out. He approached, standing next to her and appreciating the room-filling smell of freshly-baked sweets.

Setting the tray down on the oven and placing her oven mitt aside, Marinette eagerly reached for one of the cookies. Luka flinched, but didn't call out to her in time as she recklessly picked up the piping hot cookies in her ungloved hand.

"OW!" she yelped, practically throwing the cookie up into the air and then frantically trying to catch it without burning herself. "Hot! Hot!"

She lost her grip completely, Luka reacting just in time to catch the cookie before it was sent tumbling to the floor. At the same time, he used his free hand to grasp the hand that she'd picked up the cookie with.

Safety Hazard, he recalled, forcing himself to ignore her cute embarrassed face as he inspected her hand to make sure there weren't any burns.

She was fine, thankfully, not that he would've minded staying longer to tend to her.

"S-sorry," she whispered. "I just really wanted to see if you'd like them, but I guess it won't do if you burn your tongue."

He smiled, placing the cookie with the others on the tray. "I've got time. I can still wait a little bit."

She smiled back, but weakly, due to her embarrassment. She avoided his gaze, her eyes directed towards the living room, but she didn't recoil from him.

He didn't let go either.

"…Oh!" she suddenly gasped, stiffening. Luka tried to follow her gaze, but it was hard to see what she was staring at.

She pulled away, much to Luka's dismay, and rushed over to the fridge. "Hot chocolate, of course! That'd be fantastic to wash marshmallow cookies down with!"

Luka watched as Marinette was getting to work on yet another thing, knowing that there'd be no use arguing with her. He was honestly starting to wonder if she really was a human; could humans actually stay up so late while also being this awake?

After she'd gotten the ingredients together and started to heat the hot chocolate up, Marinette scrambled about and started searching through her drawers. She grabbed two plastic bags, then two to-go cups and the lids that went with them.

She ran out to Santa's cookies and milk first - ah, so that's what she'd been looking at earlier - then stored the cookies in one of the bags. She poured the milk into one of the cups, then ensured that the lid was on tight before returning to the oven.

One by one, she dumped the marshmallow cookies into the remaining plastic bag, leaving one left that she promptly handed to Luka. He waited to try it, seeing that she was distracted by getting the hot chocolate into the remaining to-go cup.

"Mm, it might be too hard to tell whose cup is whose," she murmured to herself. She began to search through the drawers again, but stopped herself and turned to him. "Oh, he's not supposed to know we met, right?"

Luka nodded, glad that she was thinking of him. "It's probably for the best if we keep it our secret."

"Well—" She looked between the two cups, squinting as she tried to see through their pure-white outside. "—I guess you'll know when you open the lid and see what color it is."

When she glanced back at him, her eyes fell to the cookie in his hand. He could swear that he could see the hope in her eyes, so he didn't delay in finally taking a bite.

It was warm, delicious, and practically melted in his mouth. He even let out a noise of delight, though the way Marinette lit up at the sound was even more delightful.

He mentally apologized to Mrs. Claus, knowing how betrayed she'd feel if she'd known that he looked at someone else and admitted honestly, "This is the best I've ever had."

Marinette clapped, bouncing in place. "My parents are professional bakers! The best in Paris!"

"It shows," he said, trying to focus on the cookie rather than how excited Marinette was.

He reached for the cup of hot chocolate, only for his wrist to get grabbed by a piece of rope. Luka let out a small yelp as he was forced to turn, his gaze turning sour as he came face-to-fabric with Santa's sack of presents.

"Um—" Marinette uttered, baffled, "what…?"

Luka glanced at her apologetically. "It does that sometimes. I came out to see you before I finished getting all your gifts under the tree. I think it's impatient."

The rope of the burlap sack tugged on his wrist, almost as if to confirm. Luka frowned, then managed to hand his partly-eaten cookie to Marinette just before he was dragged back to the living room.

He could faintly hear her giggling to herself at the sight, so he couldn't be entirely mad at being led away, especially since he did abandon his job instead of finishing it first like a responsible elf would.

He sat back down, reaching for a few more presents and placing them underneath the tree. He took his time, doing his best to make the gifts look nice and being highly conscious of it since he was in the house of a designer.

Once he'd finished, he heard footsteps and turned to see Marinette approaching with the cups, plastic bags, and partly-eaten cookie. She also had a note in her mouth, given that her hands were full.

Luka stood, reaching up and taking the note so he could read it. It was addressed to Santa, thanking him for all the presents he'd given her last year and insisting that the extra drink and cookies were in thanks to that. She even added that he shouldn't try to drink and eat it all in one sitting.

Luka glanced up at her with an amused grin. She sent the expression right back at him, though a shuffling noise got both of their attentions as they turned to see the burlap sack crawling along the floor to get to the window.

"Uh—"

"Let it go," Luka muttered, watching as the sack threw itself out the window and used the rope around its opening to climb up to the roof. "It's off to wake Santa up, since he's probably napping by now."

"Ah."

Mentally formulating how he was going to climb back up to the roof with all this extra stuff, he began to take the cups from her.

"Couldn't the sack carry these?" she asked.

"It'd probably just eat it," Luka replied dismissively. Gathering the cups in his left arm and pressing them to his chest, he took the plastic bags in his right hand and transferred them to his left. He kept the note in his left as well, then took the cookie from Marinette with his right, offering her a grateful look.

She smiled, but it was faint. "…Before you go–" She sounded just as sad as Luka felt towards the inevitable. "–can I at least get your name?"

He smiled for her, not wanting this to be a solemn moment between them. "Luka."

"Luka," she repeated, a thoughtful hand to her face as she seemed to ponder the name like it was some sort of special thing.

Luka looked towards the window, lifting the cookie up to his mouth. He was mid-bite when he felt a warm pressure against his face; Marinette had softly kissed his cheek.

"Thanks for the song," she whispered.

Involuntarily, he inhaled, the rest of the cookie going into his mouth. He reacted just in time so as to not choke and managed to keep his expression neutral enough so that she didn't notice his brief state of shock.

"Will I see you again?" she asked quietly.

He couldn't give her a definitive answer, even though he badly wanted to. He and Santa actually took turns on who took what household, so there was no guarantee that he'd be instructed to do hers again, even if Santa deemed that he did a good enough job helping out.

He swallowed the rest of the cookie, then answered honestly, "I hope so. If I can make it happen, it'll happen."

She seemed satisfied by that, standing up to her full height and giving him a wave.

He waved in return, turning and heading for the window. He made sure everything he held was secure, then took one last glance at her before climbing out and navigating up to the roof.

Santa was indeed waiting in the sleigh, now awake and looking at Luka with a hint of curiosity. "You took some time on this one, my boy."

Luka noticed his eyes taking in the surplus of stuff he had in his arm. "…That woman," he began, refraining from using Marinette's name; it definitely would've sounded too warm and familiar coming out of his mouth. "You had a lot of gifts for her."

Internally, he corrected himself: a lot of gifts that she deserved.

"I see. Well, anyway, let's get going then!" Santa exclaimed, perhaps too innocently for Luka's liking. "We have a lot more houses to get to!"

Luka nodded obediently, approaching Santa's side of the sleigh first. He handed over the bag of non-marshmallow cookies, then punctured one of the lids on the cup so he could look inside. When he confirmed that the liquid inside was milky-white, he handed it to him and gave the note afterward.

Circling around the back of the sleigh, Luka hopped into the passenger side and punctured the lid to his hot chocolate. He took a long sip, savoring the taste, then placed the cup between his legs so he could grab another marshmallow cookie out of the plastic bag.

He felt Santa's curious eyes on him, so he turned away. They'd mutually agreed that Luka could take the sweets and drinks as he pleased, and while he imagined that he looked a little weird right then since he didn't usually do it, there was nothing inherently wrong about it.

He leaned on the side of the sleigh, trying not to gaze too fondly at the house. He raised the cookie to his mouth and bit into it, the treat tasting a little more bitter than before.

He heard the snap of Santa's reigns, then saw the roof underneath him quickly fall out of sight as the sleigh went back into the air again. Luka had to resist letting out a sigh, just hoping that he'd succeed in seeing Marinette again next year.

"By the way," Santa began as they flew across the sky. Letting out a hearty chuckle, he continued, "those are nice earrings you've got there."

Luka choked on his cookie.