Prompt: Feliz Navidad
"Now, remember speed limits are there for a reason."
"Yes, Sir."
"Papa?"
"And you need to load her up with diesel, not petrol. You should get a good amount of kilometres before she needs a top up."
"I've got it, Sir, diesel not petrol."
"Seriously, papa?"
"And amber lights mean slow down not speed up! Regardless of what my daughter might say."
"Dad!" Marinette shouted, her hands covering her face as Adrien laughed in her general direction.
"Oh, come on Marinette, he just wants to check that his baby is going to be okay," Sabine said, handing a cardboard holder to Marinette complete with two peppermint hot chocolates; extra cream and marshmallows.
"I'm going to be fine — Adrien drives like an old granny."
"Hey!" The blond replied in mortification, turning his attention away from her father and back to Marinette. "You know full well your Nonna wouldn't be impressed by that comment."
Sabine started to laugh, placing a hand on Marinette's shoulder and giving it a quick squeeze.
"Oh, sweetheart, your papa doesn't mean you," Sabine responded, "he means the van."
Marinette turned back to her father just in time to see the big guy cuddling the hood of the van, nuzzling his cheek into the cold icy metal. She turned to Adrien, her mouth pulled straight and eyes apologetic; her parents were not doing well for her street cred with him. He wouldn't ever want to marry into a family of car huggers.
"Have you called your father, dear? Is he okay with driving the van? I don't want to cause any issues." Sabine turned her attention to Adrien, obviously realising Marinette was embarrassed enough.
Marinette knew as well as her mother that Adrien hadn't even bothered to speak to his father, instead he had spent the time since they'd arrived at the bakery eating the merchandise and complaining about her heels — which there was absolutely nothing wrong with.
Adrien stretched up to rub the back of his neck, his gaze directed to Marinette's as he answered Sabine's question. "Yep he's fine with it; absolutely Hunky Dory!"
Marinette snorted, almost dropping the drink tray as she removed the cups and placed them in the centre hold. Adrien's eyes narrowed, Marinette shrugging nonchalantly as she held back a second snort. "Hunky Dory," she whispered to herself.
Sometimes he was a dictionary of weird sayings, almost equivalent to Hugh Grant in Notting Hill. She was now on standby ready for 'Oopsie Daisy' to leave his lips, though she could help the thought of that gem coming from him all suited and booted falling over on the ice as it escaped his lips. It would be so Chat Noir to say such a curious expression.
She finished placing the cups in their holds and turned back to her Maman, taking the smaller woman in her arms and kissing her cheek. "I'll call you when we get there."
Seating herself back in the chair, Marinette took the seat belt and fastened it, Adrien following mere seconds later.
As Sabine moved away, closing the door, both Adrien and Marinette turned their attention back to Tom who had remained firmly connected against the hood, it was like some sort of old fashioned romance movie.
They laughed together as Sabine manhandled her husband off the van and into the bakery, the bigger guy reaching to his car in the way a toddler would their mother — Marinette thought she was embarrassed before, well, that had nothing on this.
She turned her attention away from her father sobbing in the window and to her partner in anti-crime.
"What are you waiting for Thelma?" Marinette smiled at Adrien and raised an eyebrow, wanting to get the show on the road before her father did something crazy like throw himself in front of the vehicle with a box of chocolates and a red rose.
Adrien nervously coughed before turning the key in the ignition and starting her up. "Ready when you are, Louise?"
Marinette plugged her phone into the centre console, Back in Black by AC/DC blasting from the speakers as she plugged in their destination on Waze and gave Adrien two thumbs up. Stepping on the gas, the van lurched forward… and stalled. Marinette turned towards him gobsmacked. That was quite the skill to stall an automatic, even by Adrien's standards.
He laughed nervously, stretching up to rub the back of his neck, turning off and restarting the ignition. He wiggled himself back into the seat and Marinette couldn't help noticing how cute he was when he was concentrating. Everything he possessed at the moment was going into pulling the van away from the curb — the pout, the eyebrows… she reached for her phone and snapped a photograph, marvelling at it as Adrien signalled and prepared his manoeuvre once again.
Mirrors, rechecked.
Ignition, restarted.
Hands — 10 and 2.
He was such a dweeb, a dweeb who constantly reminded them he was the first one with a licence and that he passed on the first try. Marinette was quite sure 6 was her lucky number and that 6 times would be a charm. They couldn't keep failing her for pushing the car over the speed limit; maybe she should suggest taking her test in a Lamborghini whilst being chased down by an akuma? They'd see some skills then!
The van lurched forward once more, taking her out of deep examination of the photograph she'd just taken and onto focusing forward, where her partner had managed to bunny hop the van from the curb and onto the road. They were off. The adventure had begun, Adrien cruising at a massive 15 kph around the corner only to break.
Red light.
Marinette sighed and leaned forward, banging her head against the dashboard. This was going to be a very long journey.
.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .
They'd been on the road just under an hour, with about one more to go. They'd made good progress, Adrien was finally used to the weight of the delivery van and Marinette had stopped teasing him — as often at least.
She'd spoken to Alya, the reporter warning Marinette that the weather was building up the closer they got to the resort, and for them to keep focused and drive safely. With Adrien at the wheel, safely was the only way they were getting there, his keenness to stay below the National speed limit quite annoying in all honesty, but he was doing a brave thing driving them so she wasn't going to complain too much.
A horn blasted as another crazy granny drove past, sending them a rather interesting hand signal. She looked down at the speedometer… 100 kph – 10 below the limit in wet conditions. Marinette sighed, banging her head back against the rest a couple of times. Thanks to Driving Miss Daisy they weren't going to get anywhere tonight, especially not to the resort. She took a deep breath and looked over at Adrien. He was so absorbed in his driving, his eyebrows had knitted together and were making the quite impressive monobrow.
She needed to think of something to chill him out a little. The way he was tensing his shoulders and clutching his teeth together, she couldn't help but think something was going to shatter within moments — maybe her patience.
Leaning forward, she grabbed her phone and began to flick through her playlist. She prayed he wasn't looking at the screen as she navigated through the lists to find her Christmas one. She passed her 'Ways to tell Adrien I love him' list and the 'I'm so sad Adrien doesn't love me' list, finally landing on her Christmas hits.
Selecting shuffle she let it play.
'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, toys in every store…'
Marinette began to hum along to the sounds of Michael Bublé, as Adrien continued to get closer to the windscreen, any second now he was going to hit his forehead on the glass.
"You know, Christmas is only Christmas once you start playing the music. It really is one of the most wonderful of things," she sighed, prizing her wonderful boots off and placing her feet up on the dashboard.
"You mean when Michael Buble comes out of his cave?"
"That too." Marinette giggled, closing her eyes to enjoy the song, only to open them once more and check the road was safe for Adrien's driving. She felt sorry for those behind them.
"I swear that guy is just stuck in a suit all year waiting to make his grand entrance," Adrien chuckled, moving a couple of inches back away from the windscreen. Her plan was working, she needed to keep going. He put on his best Canadian accent as he mimicked the artist. "Ladies, I know it's been a while, but I'm back; suit and all."
Marinette giggled and closed her eyes. "Do you think he sleeps in the suit?"
"What do you mean?" Adrien asked. "Like pyjamas that look like a suit? Or a suit suit?"
"Definitely a suit suit," Marinette said, head swaying along to the song.
"If I looked that good in a suit, I would." Adrien shrugged his shoulders in response and Marinette couldn't help laughing.
"You look better, Kitty." She felt her cheeks heat up after she'd spoken, mortified for what she'd just said.
"What's your favourite Christmas song?" she asked, in means of changing the subject. Adrien's shoulders dropped a couple of inches in response, maybe he wasn't as really to let it go.
"Well… my mother used to say it wasn't Christmas until you've heard a little Cliff, "
"What's a little Cliff?" Marinette chuckled, unsure where he was going to go with this conversation. She loved to hear stories about his mothers background, she seemed like a fascinating lady and Marinette couldn't help but wish one day maybe she'd return. She had so much to say to Émilie Agreste about her wonderful, kind and caring son… she also had a lot to say about her husband. But it was Christmas… she'd leave those thoughts until after the loving season.
Adrien went to rub the back of his neck only to remember he needed to keep both hands on the wheel. He moved them quickly back into position, causing the van to sway and Marinette to lower her legs in fright. Moving around, she grabbed hold of whatever she could for stability, which just so happened to be the door handle and Adrien's thigh.
He let out a gasp, her own squeak and squeal following. The sudden realisation of what she'd done bolted through her and ignited the internal fires in her cheeks. She slowly lifted her hand away and back into her lap.
"Cliff…" Adrien's voice came out high pitched and not too dissimilar to Tweety Pie. He coughed, wiggled a little in the seat, coughed again, and spoke once more. "Cliff Richard. He's a British singer and sang some religious Christmas songs. My mother always said it reminded her of her childhood and her grandparents."
Marinette leaned forward and grabbed her phone from where it was plugged in, searching for 'Cliff Richard Christmas' on YouTube and playing the first song which came up.
'The child is a king, the carolers sing
The old has passed, there's a new beginning'
As much as she would like to say she was paying attention to the song, the joy of Adrien's face triumphed over everything. He looked so calm and blissfully happy, the epiphany of a child at Christmas… only he wasn't a child. She remembered back to the first Christmas after she'd met Adrien, the pain in his eyes for the festive holiday.
His Christmas wasn't like hers. He hadn't had the years of being engulfed in a warm family and celebrating with friends, he'd been isolated and restricted to only certain family encounters; poor guy had to deal with Félix year after year and even worse… Chloé. She made a vow there and then, whatever he wanted for Christmas she was giving to him.
"Christmas time, mistletoe and wine. Children singing Christian rhyme. With logs on the fire and gifts on the tree. A time to rejoice in the good that we see," Adrien had started singing, causing her smile to widen even more. He gave her a quick look, setting his eyes back on the road with a small smile on his face.
"What?" He laughed, his body now one of complete relaxation. Maybe Cliff Richard was the answer to his problems, she'd have to look into this singer.
She shook her head, her own smile gracing her lips. "It's just I lov– I really like seeing you like this. I like seeing the combination of you and Chat Noir. So relaxed and carefree… and happy."
"I'm always happy when I'm with you, M'Lady, it's hard not to be."
The simple words said so normally had a swarm of butterflies attempting to Maypole dance around her heart. When he said little things like this, she couldn't help but grasp onto hope that maybe one day he'd love her again.
It had been two years since the reveal. Both in their mid teens and trying to recover from the most horrendous time in their life. Neither were ready for romance, it was abundantly clear, but it had never been mentioned since. And although a lot of their friends considered them 'the old married couple' it was fair to say they were no more than just really close friends — really close. They spent all their time together, sharing everything. He took all her spare time as she took his, but she wouldn't want it any other way.
"So what's your favourite song?"
"Easy. Douce nuit, sainte nuit," Marinette said, resetting her phone on shuffle and then placing it back in the console.
"And you call me a granny," laughed Adrien, Marinette rolling her eyes.
"If you must know, it's the most beautiful melody, and no matter what country you hear the song, every language just makes it sound like angels singing." A small, content sigh left her lips as she considered the song.
It was always the song she dreamed of using when herself and Adrien would put up their Christmas tree with their children. The fire burning, children jumping and squealing as they battled their over-excitement, herself and Adrien cuddled on the sofa drinking mulled wine as the children tore apart all their hard work; nothing but the twinkling of fairy lights lighting up the room as a reward for a job well done.
"I can play it on piano, maybe I could play it for you some time?" he said, his eyes moving between the screen and the road.
"I'd really like that," she said with a smile. He'd played a lot for her recently and he knew how calming she'd found it. There was just something about the piano which relaxed her — well, the piano or Adrien, that was.
Lost in her Adrien filled dreams of her lying on his piano in a nice dress as he serenaded her in a three piece tuxedo suit, the blast out of the next song made her unexpectedly jump in her seat.
Once the general shock had worn off, Marinette couldn't help moving around in her seat, shoulder shuffling and swaying her head side to side. Feliz Navidad. Now this was a Christmas song.
"Oh man," Adrien said, "I forgot about this one. It's only Christmas once you've sung along to this."
Together they joined in with the lyrics they knew, fumbling through the verses and belting out the chorus. "I want to wish you a Merry Christmas, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas, from the bottom of my heart."
As Feliz Navidad blasted through the speakers they decided to take the song in a round, perfectly performed as any of their battle routines. Adrien started with the melody of the song, Marinette echoing the lyrics milliseconds after. Both fully embracing the Christmas spirit.
They continued to sing and wiggle for the next couple of minutes only to be interrupted by the voice of the navigation system.
'Keep right and exit the autoroute.'
All of a sudden Adrien was back on edge. He straightened himself, and his hands once again grasped the wheel to within an inch of its life.
Marinette turned her attention to the screen, this didn't seem right. She'd checked the map before they left home and it seemed like a straightforward journey on the autoroute. Adrien signalled, checked his blind spot and then manoeuvred, pulling the car off the safety of the autoroute and ending up on a dark single lane road.
"This must be the country route," Marinette said, noting how Adrien's hands had clenched tighter around the leather of the wheel. "Perhaps there's an accident or obstruction on the main autoroute?"
Adrien only nodded in response.
The fear radiated from him as he switched the high beam on and leaned forward to try and make sense of their new road. She couldn't blame him, it was narrow and lined with tall bushes and overhanging trees.
They continued to move forward the late afternoon light closing its curtains on the day, sending them into a slow decline to darkness.
Turn after turn, they followed the system which seemed to have been taking them into the giant abyss of nothingness, only for Marinette to start to panic once more.
It had started to snow.
Heavily.