Adrien spent the next day with his head up in the clouds. All day long he felt the memory of her kiss on his lips, thought about the enchanting blue of her eyes and heard her laugh in his ears. Never before had he experienced such a fuzzy, tickling feeling and he knew that this had to be love.
But his high spirit got dumped just a few hours after his first kiss.
"Adrien." His father looked down at him and Adrien was afraid of what he had to say. It was a rare occasion that his father spoke to him personally instead of delivering news through Nathalie except for when they were dining together. If he was completely honest to himself Adrien already knew what his father had to say but he fought back the disappointment and instead kept his hope alive until his father continued.
"I have to excuse myself this evening. A… situation appeared and I have a lot of work to do. I'm aware it is only the second year we have to miss your mother and I genuinely regret this unfortunate situation."
Adrien gulped. Don't cry.
"But we'll still have dinner together. Just… a little earlier. I'll spend Christmas with my son nevertheless", his father added quickly as he easily realized that his son was desperately trying to hide how deeply hurt he was. Even Gabriel Agreste recognized that he couldn't let his own son feel so bad on Christmas Eve so he reluctantly made a decision and sighed. "You may even spend the evening with your friends. Just be back home in time."
After that open showing of emotions he left immediately and Adrien was too overwhelmed to stop him. He knew exactly where he wanted to spend his Christmas Eve. Or rather: With whom.
Dinner with his father was unexpectedly amusing and light-hearted. Obviously Gabriel tried his very best to make up for not being able to spend Christmas Eve with his son by even trying to joke around a little. Of course he wasn't funny at all but Adrien highly appreciated the effort he made.
Maybe the unexpected meeting his father had to participate in was the best thing that could have happened after all. Adrien couldn't even remember the last time he had had so much fun spending time with his father so it truly didn't matter to him if it was Christmas Eve or Christmas Noon.
In addition he also was super excited to meet his friends and especially Marinette later. He had never spent a holiday with friends before and the anticipation of changing that today flooded through his body with every heartbeat.
Christmas at the Dupain-Cheng household was the purest thing Adrien had ever experienced.
The love this family had for each other could be heard in every word they spoke and seen in every gesture they made. There was not a single moment anyone seemed stressed or annoyed, let alone angry. Even when Tom forgot to get the dough for his Bûche de Noël out of the oven in time due to a video game he and Adrien lost against Marinette he laughed wholeheartedly instead of complaining about it. Now Adrien knew where all the warmth Marinette had to share with everyone was coming from.
This little flat near Notre Dame was filled with more affection on only one evening than the mansion Adrien called home had been all the days since his mother had disappeared taken together. And the absolute best part about it was that he truly felt like he belonged there with Marinette and her parents.
Knowing that the comfy, homey feeling warming every inch of his body wouldn't last forever made him enjoy it to its fullest. After all it was impossible anyway to not be extremely happy spending the whole time right next to Marinette.
"You haven't opened your present yet, Adrien!" Sabine's complaint startled him out of his thoughts as she handed him a nicely wrapped, round package.
"Excuse me, my what now?" Adrien asked bewildered and Sabine giggled nearly as cute as her daughter always did. It made Adrien smile despite his confusion.
"You're our guest and we are more than happy to have you here on this special day! Of course we prepared a little something for you." The smile she gave him made Adrien feel that appreciated and even loved that it almost caused him to cry. Almost.
He couldn't believe it. The evening got better with every passing second despite his assumption of it already being perfect.
"But… I asked if I could spend the night here less than three hours ago. How could you possibly find me a present in that time?" Adrien asked genuinely confused but not any less curious.
The weight of Tom's huge, strong hands settled down on Adrien's shoulders. "It's nothing big but we want you to feel truly welcome here. Open it already!"
Still hesitant Adrien reached for the package, unsure if he should really take it but Marinette's encouraging smile sealed the deal. Excited he ripped the paper apart and gasped as he held a little jar filled with homemade cookies in his hands. And as if that wasn't enough already he realized they were shaped like cats as soon as he opened the jar to try one.
"I… I don't know what to say… that… thank you so much!" Adrien's smile was so wide that his cheeks started to hurt but he couldn't care less. "That's incredibly nice of you, Monsieur Dupain and Madame Cheng, but I don't think I can eat them. They're too adorable."
Proudly Tom put an arm around his wife who beamed at Adrien, glad that he liked his present. "It's our pleasure! And please, call us Sabine and Tom." Before Adrien could thank them again or say anything else Marinette threw her arms around him in a tight hug, successfully silencing him.
His heart stopped.
"In that case I'm going to make you more cookies in any shape you want!" she laughed and Adrien wanted to tell her so badly how cute she was - but he couldn't. He also wanted to tell her that he was the one she had kissed just yesterday and that he wanted to do exactly that again, better sooner than later. Right now, actually. He wanted her to know the truth, about him being Chat Noir and about his feelings for her. But not a single sound made it over his lips.
Fortunately the bell rang at that very moment, saving him from becoming a blushing, stuttering mess.
"Alya and Nino are finally here!" Marinette exclaimed cheerfully and sprinted towards the door, leaving Adrien alone with his thoughts that twirled around in his head like a hurricane. A few moments later Nino startled him out of his thoughts.
"Dude, you're coming?"
Quickly Adrien jumped up to his feet, exchanged a short goodbye with Sabine and Tom and followed his friend to Marinette's room where she and Alya were already chatting animatedly. It seemed Alya told the tale of Totoro's latest adventure in their backyard but Adrien was too distracted to even realize they were talking his favorite kitten.
"Okay I can't wait a single second longer, you need to open my last present right now! You know I'm your Secret Santa anyway." With a shrug but still fidgeting with barely contained excitement Alya handed Marinette an oversized present, her eyes shining with anticipation. Marinette's mouth fell open and she stared at the present, hesitant to take it.
"Oh my god Alya, what's that?" she asked astonished.
"You know, the whole point is that you have to open it to find out" Alya explained laughing and pushed the wrapped whopper towards Marinette, basically forcing her best friend to finally take it. Still in awe but knowing that she wouldn't get any more information out of Alya, Marinette carefully removed the paper.
Once it was gone it revealed a huge framed screenshot of a website that threw the bold headline 'THE GREAT MARINETTE BLOG!' to its reader's faces. Some of Marinette's designs were spread over the page and there was also an article named 'A list of things everyone has to love about Marinette Dupain-Cheng' that was as long as the size of the page had allowed it to be. In the center of it all, forming the core of the site, was a photo of the two girls along with the headline: 'Does she have the best friend in the world or what?'
"She does!" Marinette squealed and threw herself into Alya's arms, her smile so bright and genuine that the corners of her eyes wrinkled. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! This will definitely get a special place on my wall. I love it! I love you!"
"You're next!" Regardless of the cuddling going on Nino passed a package to Adrien who, admittedly, would much rather keep watching overjoyed Marinette. On the other hand he figured that he might be staring and that a distraction wouldn't be too bad so he took it, curiosity about what could be inside already taking over.
In the meantime Nino realized that it wasn't official yet that he was Adrien's Secret Santa and got afraid that he'd just screwed up the entire exchange. Frantically he tried to come up with anything that would allow him to keep up his act. "I… uhm, I found it over there… It had your name on it… so I guess… it's from your Secret Santa?"
The gift did not even have a name tag on it but Adrien was too excited to notice and quickly opened the present.
"What is that even supposed to be?" Alya, who was still holding a happily smiling Marinette in her arms, crocked an eyebrow at the… thing in Adrien's hands.
"It's a cat!" he answered without missing a beat.
"A… cat?" Instead of clearing anything this only confused Alya further.
"But of course! It is obviously a cat" Adrien said again, not any less confident with his answer.
"Obviously!" Nino emphasized Adrien's statement with a forceful nod.
The object of current interest was a stuffed black sock with two corks glued to each side and two buttons poorly sewn to what Alya considered the front as it appeared slightly thicker than the rest of the 'body'. At the other end some loosen strains of wool were tucked to the fabric, seemingly forming what was supposed to be a tail. It did not have ears though.
Obviously Nino could have used Marinette's help even more than Adrien.
"Moreover it's an absolutely gorgeous little kitty" Adrien added. And he meant it.
"Adrien, please tell me you didn't draw your own name and kept quiet to not cause us any trouble and please tell me you were not making these crappy gifts for yourself" Alya said in a tone between disbelief and frustration, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Crappy?!" An offended yell escaped Nino's lips. "I made those with love!" The moment the words were out he paled as much as his skin tone allowed. "Wait, I just exposed myself. Now he knows that his Secret Santa is neither Marinette nor you. It's obvious now, I screwed up everything!"
"It's already been obvious, babe" Alya comforted him with an amused smirk tugging at her lips.
"No!" Nino insisted strongly.
"Yes. It's been as obvious as your Secret Santa since the very moment you opened your first present."
"No, it wasn't!"
"Nino, I can't even knit. And I guess neither can Adrien."
"Maybe I was in the misconception of believing that both of you loved me enough to learn it for my sake."
"Nino, you can't be serious. Since it's obvious that I am Marinette's Secret Santa yours could only be Marinette herself or Adrien and you cannot convince me that anyone would assume that Adrien is capable of creating the gifts you got! No offense" she added with a short glance to Adrien.
"None taken" he laughed amused, not bothering to look up from his present.
"People are full of surprises, Alya! I'm profoundly convinced that everyone has an unexpected, hidden talent inside of them! ...also I may have gotten a little too excited and wasn't able to think straight anymore" he added quietly.
"Yeah, that's obvious" Alya answered after a victorious laugh.
"I get it now!" Adrien suddenly interrupted her, triumphantly holding up the sock. "A basket, cat toys and a collar! You made sure that I would be able to secure a comfy, proper home for my new kitty friend and that he has everything he needs! You're at least as precious as this little boy right here." Proud and happy Adrien beamed at his best friend.
"Aw, man!" Nino clutched the fabric of his shirt right above his heart and started to tear up while Adrien put an arm around his shoulders, still showering him with praises.
"These guys…" Alya shook her head with a smile while Marinette giggled next to her. Before Nino could truly start to cry Marinette decided to step in.
"Do you want to open your final gift now too?" she asked carefully, smiling softly at him.
"YES!" he said a little too loud without hesitation so she handed it to him with a wide grin. Within seconds Nino had ripped the paper apart and revealed a fictile trophy that looked like a Grammy Award.
"Best musician in any universe and all dimensions - ever" Nino read out loud and looked at Marinette, tearing up again. "Dude. How can you expect me to act all unimpressed and manly while you guys are being so overwhelmingly adorable?" He threw his hands up in despair before putting his glasses down to dab his eyes with the tissue Alya offered him.
Coughing sheepishly Adrien took out the last Secret Santa present of the year.
"So it really is you." Alya whistled impressed as she reached out to take the package and started to unwrap it. Adrien blushed a little, scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment and avoided her eyes but smiled brightly when he heard her surprised gasp.
"I did everything on my own, I swear! But I had great help when it comes to instructions." With that he sent a warm smile Marinette's way who would have been proud of him if the plush Alya was currently holding wouldn't have been a Kwami. Of course it was possible that he miserably failed at the proportions of an actual fox but it seemed more likely that he instead did very well at Kwami proportions.
"I love it" Alya exhaled, her eyes basically sparkling while she inspected the small stuffed animal from all possible angles. "Seriously, Agreste. This is awesome."
"I'm super glad you like it. It's a sidekick!" Adrien explained genuinely happy but distracted by Marinette's reaction, unsure about the reason that caused her to look so shocked.
"Isn't it time for the two of you to head back home to your families?" Marinette heard herself asking, sounding weirdly far away as her thoughts circled around only one single question.
"Unfortunately yes... It got kinda late so I have to leave now but we'll see each other tomorrow, right?" Alya asked with a hopeful smile.
"Of course! Say Merry Christmas to your family for me, would you?" Marinette tried her best giving a believable smile and it seemed to work since Alya nodded and opened her arms for their usual goodbye-embrace.
While the girls hugged each other Nino faced Adrien who was still worried about Marinette's odd behavior. "Man, I'm still kinda sad that you're spending this big day with her family instead of mine but I get it that it's too crowded at my place with the whole family for you. Save some Christmassy happiness for me, would you?"
"Of course" Adrien laughed and for a moment he thought that maybe he was only overreacting but as soon as Nino and Alya were out of the door Marinette's expression got serious and she dragged him back to her room.
"How did you come up with the idea for the sidekick?" she asked as innocently as possible. Surprised he looked at her.
"What do you mean? You showed me how to easily sew plush toys out of socks and that's exactly what I did" he explained, wondering what she wanted to hear.
"Yeah but… why did you chose these proportions? It looked… quirky" she tried again, already losing her patience. She wanted to know. Now.
"Oh… well I guess that's all I was capable of" he answered nervously, trying to laugh it off. When he'd decided to sew Alya a Kwami he had been sure that no one would get suspicious since they had no idea what Kwamis were, much less what they looked like.
"Yeah, makes sense" Marinette answered without a trace of amusement in her voice. Tensed Adrien tried to withstand her observing look but he failed miserably and his eyes darted to his bag where he assumed Plagg being asleep as usual.
"Ha!" Marinette blurted out and sprinted to the bag to rip it open. Helplessly Adrien reached out his hand in an attempt to stop her but he was too slow and could only watch her, now paralyzed.
Although she had already expected this view she was still flabbergasted and stared at the black cat-like Kwami inside the bag in awe. It yawned. "Hey kiddo, why did youuuu…" It's already huge eyes widened even more as it saw Marinette. A few moments passed where they just silently stared at each other, mouths agape. Eventually she small creature shook his head to get out of his trance. "It's too late now to act like a doll, isn't it?" he asked with a resigned sigh and flew up to be on eye-level with her. "Hello Marinette. My name is…"
"Plagg. I know. Tikki mentioned you before" Marinette interrupted him as if someone else was controlling her body.
Plagg's jaw dropped open again while Adrien finally overcame his state of shock, hurried towards them and grabbed Plagg, laughing nervously. "Hahaha, Marinette that's kind of embarrassing, you found my… You know that's just a toy that… Wait. Who's Tikki?" And how does she know about Kwamis, Plagg in particular? he added mentally. This situation freaked him out and he had no idea what was happening let alone how he should react to it.
Already opening her mouth, intending to answer his question, Marinette was stopped by a red flash that dashed towards Plagg from a hidden corner of her room. It happened too fast for Plagg to elude so he got caught up in a tight hug from Tikki, her voice even higher pitched than usual.
For the very first time since he had met him Adrien heard something like a giggle from Plagg as he snuggled up to his red companion. He didn't know which fact bewildered him more: Marinette holding a Kwami or Plagg being delighted at shown affection towards him.
And then it finally hit him.
"Wait… wait. Waitwaitwait. That would mean that you… you are…"
"Yes, Chat."
"You are… You are… I mean it would mean that you are…"
"Chaton!"
"But… You are- wait! You are…"
"Tikki, I hate to interrupt your reunion but spots on for the sake of that adorable dork" Marinette chuckled lightly with a fond smile playing around her lips.
Dumbfounded Adrien stared at Marinette. Ladybug. Who was Marinette.
She waited for him to react in any way but he just stood there, frozen. After a few moments that felt like an eternity had passed Marinette got nervous. "Minou? Could you say something?"
"Howcanyoubesocalmrightnow?" he squealed.
"I guess... I kind of hoped it was you…?" she admitted quietly and looked down sheepishly. It was the truth. Deep down, buried inside her heart and hidden behind realism had always been this little light of hope that, maybe, she wouldn't have to let go of her feelings for Adrien after all. That there was a reason why they wouldn't go away and why these two boys had reminded her of each other more and more with every passing day.
Finally Adrien moved, walking towards her until there were only a few inches between them. She looked at him.
"I couldn't have wished for this in my wildest dreams" Adrien whispered under his breath and gently took her face into his hands. "You have no idea how badly I've wanted to do this all day long" he said under his breath and, finally, kissed her.
When their lips touched shyly and soft it caused both their hearts to first skip a beat before pounding intensely inside their chests. While Adrien got dizzy with happiness Marinette somehow managed to mumble the words that caused Tikki to transform her back against his lips. Everywhere his fingertips brushed some of her skin it felt like he caused a fire beneath it while every time her fingers touched his skin it sent waves of electricity through her body.
"I'm so happy right now" Marinette whispered after drawing back slightly and nuzzled his nose with her own, a lovestruck smile on her face. Chuckling Adrien leaned in so their foreheads touched, locking his eyes with hers.
"Me too, Princess. I can't even put into words how happy you make me."
Neither of them realized how long they were standing there just dumbly smiling at each other until suddenly Marinette remembered something and drew back.
"Oh wait, I've got a present for you!" she exclaimed excitedly and rummaged through her drawer while Adrien watched her delightedly.
"But you were not allowed to prepare a gift for me! It's an official rule of Secret Santa Marinette Style™, remember?" he teased her, letting his Chat Noir persona take over.
"I didn't know it was you, remember?" she responded just as feisty without bothering to even look at him.
"Oh yeah, I guess you didn't break a rule then. But I totally did!" With a huge cheeky grin he proudly handed her a small package wrapped in pink at the same time Marinette gave him a small, light green box.
"You dishonored my baby!" she yelled playfully dramatic and threw her present at him, aiming right for his head. Effortlessly he caught the soft bundle before it hit his face and walked up to Marinette to put his arms around her.
"I wanted to give you something special. And Chat Noir did not participate so… it's absolutely fine and doesn't break any rules" he decided with a roguish grin.
"I guess" she answered resigned, trying to hide her smile. Before she could come up with any new arguments (and also because he really wanted to) Adrien cupped her face with his hands and kissed her again. It was still overwhelming and incomparable to anything either of them had ever experienced but they didn't get lost in the moment as much as the last time.
"Now open it!" Adrien demanded impatiently and she began to laugh. Since she really wanted to know what was inside the package she ripped the paper apart instead of teasing and keeping him in suspense further.
Astonished she stared at the present for a moment before her face lit up and she eagerly turned to face Adrien. "Oh my god! This is… open yours!"
As soon as he'd opened his present a similar glowing expression appeared on Adrien's features as well. "We are meant for each other. That's the purrfect purresent, Purrincess" he cooed into her ear and Marinette had to fight the urge to smack his arm and to cover his silly face with kisses at the same time.
"You're not even in costume right now" she complained and he grinned at her devilishly.
"You have to deal with the Chat Noir inside of me all the time now."
She leaned towards him, mimicking his sassy grin. "I guess I can only just live with this."
And with that she decided to give in to the urge to kiss her silly kitty.
"But… you know Umbrion's details aren't green but ye-"
"It's shiny, ok?" she interrupted him. "And, I mean… Do you really think Skitty looks like this?" she held up the quirky sock plush he had made for her with an amused smile. He smirked.
"But you still love it."
She beamed at him. "I do indeed."
"Merry Christmas, my Lady."
"Merry Christmas, Minou."