Christmas came along quickly enough, and I had already seen Monsieur Labelle and Madam Gos- excuse me, Noel and Astrid, as they have been telling me to call them almost constantly, more than enough times in the five days after the exhibition. At this point, I was pretty sure they were all dating. Evangelique, I had seen less of. They must have a babysitter for her, which is a rather happy thing for me because while I loved the girl, she was adamant on saying Adrien and I were superheroes and it just made me a nervous wreck.
Last night, mom had gently nudged me out of the house, saying not to be back until about noon without Adrien, and that she had set it up with Nino's family that I could spend the night at his place. I was confused, but the moment I saw Astrid and Noel still there, I had a small idea what they might be doing, so I smiled and waved and went on without a fight.
Now, I was coming back with Adrien and the others after having convinced his father to let him come. I knocked on the door before entering, wanting to make sure Mom and the others had a little time to finish doing whatever they were doing.
The last thing I had expected when I opened the door, was to see Christmas lights and decorations covering every inch of doorway and stairwell. Immediately, I could smell cinnamon and pine as we walked in to take off our shoes and hang out coats.
Mom came skipping over to us dressed in a Santa outfit, a large grin on her face. Now, when I say Santa outfit, I don't mean a dress or a sexy Santa. What I mean is, she's wearing a much more feminine version of Santa's suit. "Merry Christmas!" She cheered. Noel chuckled as he walked around the corner into the hall, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He had a Santa hat placed lopsidedly on his head, and a few kiss marks on his cheeks.
"Jasper, you never told me your mother is so gung-ho about Christmas."
I shrugged, more concerned over why mom had a cat-like grin on her face and her hands behind her back. Mom giggled and walked over, trying to look innocent.
Suddenly, she was bouncing behind Adrien and me, one arm stretched over our heads. Glancing up, my eyes widened when I saw the mistletoe she had in her hands. "Alright, boys! Kiss!"
Right after she said that, I heard a snort from Alya and a muffled laugh from Nino, and Marinette made a strangled sound of opposition. My cheeks flared red, and when I looked at Adrien, his were in a similar state. "Mom!" I mouthed, hoping my embarrassment and shock got through. Noel snickered from the area he was perched and I gave him a small glare. He knew she was planning this, didn't he?!
The glare only made him laugh more, and he tried to muffle it with his hand as Astrid popped around Noel, curiosity in her eyes. "What's going-" She squealed when she noticed the situation Adrien and I were in, her eyes lighting up, "Oh, it's the boys! Go on, kiss!" Adrien's blush only deepened as Marinette giggled, and I stared at her in betrayal.
No. Way. All three adults were against us and even Marinette was finding this entertaining.
I let out a strangled whine and hid my face in my hands as I pouted in defiance. Mom pouted in return before turning to Adrien, smiling sweetly at him. "Sweetheart, be a dear and give my son a little kiss, please?"
Adrien bit his lip, smiling shyly and rubbing the back of his head. He was surprisingly quiet, but I wasn't complaining.
I felt like my heart was going to pound straight out of my chest at this point, watching Adrien warily. He glanced at me then looked away, biting his lip once more. Mom seemed to notice just how nervous he was and her smile softened. "You can just kiss his cheek, if it makes you more comfortable. No need to rush things." She said softly, and Adrien glanced at her again before looking at me.
"Are you okay with that, Jasper?" He asked softly, and after a moment I nodded. He smiled happily, taking my arm and gently pulling me closer. "Okay." He hummed, and he quickly kissed my cheek. The adults gave small cheers and whoops, which only made us more embarrassed.
Mom lowered her hand and hugged Adrien and me, rubbing our arms. "You guys did wonderful. Now, do you guys want to kiss your friends?"
Marinette let out a squeak at that, and Alya pushed her forward. "She does! Adrien," she looked at Adrien, smiling, "Would you mind?"
"I don't mind." Mom nodded at Adrien's answer, and she held the mistletoe up between them. Marinette was blushing so much, steam may as well be coming out of her head. Adrien gave her a quick peck on the cheek as well, and Marinette just about fainted right then and there. Alya was laughing along with the adults, and Mom went to Alya and Nino.
"Kids? Your turn!" She hummed, and now it was Alya and Nino who were blushing. I smirked at them, motioning for them to go on and kiss. Nino pulled Alya closer and gave her a small kiss on her cheek, and she laughed happily.
Mom hummed, pleased, and went back over to Noel and Astrid, holding up the mistletoe. "Alright, my turn!" Astrid laughed and kissed mom briefly on the lips, and then Noel did the same. My friends and I all looked at each other and then groaned, pretending to be grossed out by the affection before laughing.
The adults laughed, too, and Mom came bouncing back over, going behind all of us and pushing us forward. "Anyway, kids, come along, come along! It's present time!"
"Where's Evangelique?" Adrien asked, and Noel chuckled a little. "She's spending it with the rest of the family. They spoil her rotten, and they didn't want to miss out on Christmas with her."
"Shouldn't you be with them?" Nino asked as Mom made him sit down next to a small pile of wrapped presents before doing it to the rest of us. Mine was a tiny bit smaller, because my birthday was only two weeks ago.
Noel smiled and shrugged. "I told them I wanted to spend it with a my girlfriends and Jasper, and after explaining what that meant, they told me to let them have Eva for the day so I could spend it with all of you."
"Wow, that's surprisingly lenient of them." Alya said, surprised, and Noel laughed.
"Yeah, I was just as shocked as you."
"Well, I'm glad the both of you could spend time with us!" Mom said, linking her arms with Noel's and Astrid's before sitting down with them.
"Alright, so we were thinking the guests go first, but we were going to let you decide the order." Astrid said with a hum, leaning lightly against my mom.
I looked that the others and smiled, motioning for them to decide. They looked at each other and Nino smiled. "I think the best should be saved for last, so Adrien should be last, and Jasper goes before him." He said, looking at Adrien to make sure that was alright. Adrien just smiled and shrugged.
"I'm okay with whatever you guys decide." Adrien said softly, leaning back a little bit as he kept himself up with his arms.
Nino nodded, looking to the girls. "Well, I don't mind when I go, so I think you girls should decide."
Alya looked to Marinette, humming. "What do you think?"
"I think it should go you, Nino, me, Jasper, and then Adrien." Marinette said after a few moments, and the rest of us nodded.
"Sounds good." I wrote in my notebook, smiling.
After that, we opened our presents one after the other. Everyone got presents that fit their personalities, although Adrien's gifts were scattered between many things and many interests. I, personally, rather liked the gift that I have given him. It was a charm bracelet similar to the one Adrien got me for my birthday, although instead of it having a really intricate custom charm, it had a simpler wolf and cat charm that fit into my personal price range. It also had a camera charm and an "A" charm with Black and Green gems in the side. I had another charm to give him later that evening as Wolven.
After we all opened our gifts, we looked to the adults.
"Your turn!" I wrote, showing them and smiling when they all looked a little surprised.
"Really, you want to see us open presents?" Astrid asked curiously, making us all nod. She laughed and smiled. "Well, alright, but I'm sure they won't be as interesting."
Alya waved off her concern, looking just as amused as the rest of us. "Do it anyway!"
Mom laughed, taking two small presents out from a pocket in the top of her suit. She handed them to Noel and Astrid, and Noel motioned for Astrid to open her's first.
She did so carefully, and pulled out a a small brown box with a lid. When she opened it, she pulled out a Disney figurine of Nala from The Lion King. Astrid giggled, setting it back in the box before looking to Noel. He opened his next, finding the same brown box. When he opened it, he pulled out Simba. He laughed, looking over to Mom. "Thank you, Mitzy."
"No problem, loves." She hummed, rocking back and forth a little, pleased with herself. Astrid went next, handing her gifts to Noel and Mom. Her's were bigger than the ones mom gave, but not by much. Mom opened her's first after being prompted to by Noel, and she gasped when she saw a bracelet from Kay Jewelers. It was a simple diamond bracelet, but it wasn't a type of bracelet mom usually wore, simply because of how expensive they could get. She smiled and hugged Astrid in thanks, who laughed and hugged her back.
Noel's gift from Astrid was much simpler, a leather bracelet with a metal plate on it with a horse carved into the metal. He thanked Astrid and then he handed the girls their presents, each in a similar box from some Jewelers.
"Open them together, if you want."
Astrid and Mom exchanged looks before opening the boxes, exposing simple silver chains with a single pendant on them. On mom's pendant, there was a heart studded with turquoise gems and an infinity sign laced around it. Astrid's necklace was almost the exact same, except the gems were topaz instead of turquoise. I clapped for them, smiling a little. Noel put the necklaces on each of them, and the girls hugged him.
"Those are really pretty!" Marinette said with a small smile.
"They suit you." Nino said with a small chuckle.
Mom laughed and stood up after giving Noel and Astrid kisses on their cheeks, stretching a little. "Alright, well, now we should get back to cooking so we can all have a nice lunch, yeah?"
A few hours later, Marinette, Alya, and Nino went back home to celebrate the rest of Christmas Day with their families, and we got Adrien to stay with us. Christmas dinner was simple but the table was filled with laughter and conversation, and Adrien was constantly smiling. It made me happy to see just how happy Adrien was tonight, and when dinner and dessert were done, we all went to the living room.
Mom turned on music and grabbed Noel's hands, already starting to dance with him. Astrid laughed and clapped along to the beat, sometimes being brought into their little group or switching off with one of them. I offered Adrien my hand and when he took it, winked at him before starting to swing and spin him around. He let out a startled laugh, before joining in, spinning me around a bit.
We swung our arms, spinning each other and sometimes kicking around our feet. It was sort of like we were swing dancing, but in a much more subdued way because of my throat and the problems that came with that, as well as the fact that Adrien didn't really know how to swing dance.
A little while later, we snuck over to my bedroom, quietly transforming and leaving through the window. We went to the Eiffel Tower with our gifts for each other and Ladybug, meeting her up at the top.
"Merry Christmas!" We shouted together, startling her. She yelped and looked at us, before smiling and laughing.
"Merry Christmas, boys! Having a nice night?"
"The best!" Adrien said excitedly, his grin stretching across his entire face.
"It's been amazing." I said, a lot more calm but grinning just as much. "What about you?"
"It's been pretty great." Ladybug said happily, before handing us two small packages. "Here you go."
We opened our gifts, thanked her, and then handed her our gifts for her, watching her open them. She laughed, seeing the ladybug theme to the gifts, and thanked us. Then, Adrien and I exchanged gifts. Both packages were tiny and could fit in our palms. We opened them together on the count of three, and we laughed at what we saw.
We had each gotten each other a new charm for our charm bracelets. The one Adrien got me was a notebook, partially open and with small black cursive writing on the cover that said "Stories", and the one I got Adrien was a charm of the Eiffel Tower with small, colorful gems dotted here and there to symbolize Christmas lights.
Ladybug looked a little confused, probably wondering why we have charms but no bracelets or anything. Adrien and I just smiled at each other, enjoying our little secret.