Prompt: Mistletoe Kisses

Adrien studied his outfit in the bathroom mirror, Plagg had chosen surprisingly well. His white shirt was pristine and rolled to just under his elbows, the grey waistcoat fit him like a glove and the matching slacks had the perfect crease line running down the front and back; all paired with the shiniest shoes he'd ever worn.

"Looking good, Kid." Plagg flew around his hair, plucking a couple of strands and making sure they lay correctly on his holder's head.

"Do you think Marinette will like it?" Adrien said, twisting his body a couple of different ways to check the back of his outfit. With one last turn he was ready, this was it. Tonight he was going all in, be damned what happened next, by the end of the night Marinette would clearly know how he felt and his heart would literally be on the line. He'd never had nerves like this before.

When they'd arrived back from the snowball fight Adrien had every intention to chase after Marinette and sort this out once and for all. Unfortunately, after the wind forcefully blew the door closed and Plagg had ambushed him, he had no other option to make his way to the bathroom and the selection of clothing Plagg had left lying out. Apparently Plagg had a plan, and apparently Tikki needed a moment with Marinette; so he did what his kwami asked – as much as it hurt him to leave her.

"And Marinette will be dressed up too? I'm not going to look like an over enthusiastic idiot."

Plagg cackled, flying around the room. "You already look like one of those, and yes Marinette will be dressing up too. Oh, and yes she's going to like your outfit. Now you need to get out there, get the food in the oven and prepare to woo your girl. I have it under good authority tonight is the night."

"Oh yeah," Adrien said, moving towards the door as Plagg ushered him out. "Whose authority is that then?"

"If I told you I'd have to kill you." Plagg cackled again and led Adrien out into the kitchen.

He felt good and he knew he looked good, now he just had to make sure he proved it with his actions.

"Okay, so I'll put the food in the oven to heat up, wine is out on the table and now I just need to find something for the atmosphere. Maybe I could play music off my phone or something?" Adrien looked around the kitchen before placing the items in the correct place and moving towards the oven. Grabbing hold of the mitt, he placed it on and opened the oven door sliding in whatever concoction was in the foil tray Plagg had given to him.

"How romantic! A crappy old iphone playing out love songs, and people say romance is dead." Plagg snorted before flying off towards a small table in the corner of the room.

He called Adrien to come and take a look, the blond curious to the kwami's sudden enthusiasm. The closer he got the more he could see Plagg was struggling to lift something, something that looked suspiciously like an old vinyl record.

"What have you got there Plagg?"

"It's an old record, see there's a phonograph here too. Why don't you try it out?"

Adrien took the record from the kwami's hands and gently pulled it from its packet, a trail of dust exploding from the action and causing him to sneeze.

"I wonder when this was last used?" Adrien mused, lifting the stylus from where it was resting on the base of the phonograph and gently setting the record on the platter.

"I'm guessing," Plagg scratched his chin, "about 62 years ago."

"What? Are you some sort of dust expert now?" Adrien laughed, lifting the stylus and positioning it on the edge of the record. His mother had had one like this in the music room of the mansion. She used to say nothing beats a vinyl track, well… that was until she caught Fèlix pretending to be a DJ on her deck and hid it away from him and his cousin for the remaining time she was around. Adrien suddenly had the urge to go searching for it when he returned home.

"Aren't you just a regular comedian? You'll soon be charging me for your award winning performances," Plagg huffed, causing Adrien to laugh once more.

"At least you're seeing the worth of my jokes now then."

"There is no worth."

Adrien stuck his tongue out as he moved to turn the volume up on the player.

'Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,

Jack Frost nipping at your nose,'

"The classics! I like it," Adrien stated, moving back into the kitchen and looking for the bottle of wine he'd found earlier. The kitchen smelt devine, the meal heating up to perfection as he waited for Marinette to exit the bedroom. He opened and closed cupboards as he searched for the wine glasses, finally finding a couple plus a corkscrew.

This was the moment of truth. Adrien took the wine bottle and removed the cork, filling to glasses and placing the wine bottle back down. He fidgeted from one foot to the other, his anxiety almost taking out the roof.

"How do you think I should stand?" Adrien asked Plagg, the small kwami glaring back at his holder.

"What do you mean? How should you stand? I thought it was quite obvious really… on two legs."

"Why are you suddenly so sarcastic? I thought the whole point of me going into the bathroom and getting dressed into all this was your plan for helping me get with Marinette? If it wasn't, why didn't you just let me run in after her and grovel at her feet?" Adrien stood, arms crossed, glaring at his kwami.

"As funny as that would have been to watch, my idea is definitely better," Plagg responded, before turning to look in the direction of the hallway. "And the results are about to be in."

Adrien looked up and in the same direction as Plagg, his ears picking up the thadunk of heels hitting the wooden flooring as the owner moved closer to the room. Within a matter of seconds the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen stood shyly in the doorway. The red satin of her dress hung perfectly over her body, cupping the right places and sitting draped in the others. The thin straps of the dress reached over her shoulders as a second set crossed over her chest. But the aesthetic which had his eyes almost bulging out of his head was the colour — Ladybug red.

"Hi," she said with a small nervous wave.

"Hi," he breathlessly sighed back. The strong 'go get her' demeanour he'd been building up over the past hour flew out the window along with his heart.

Coughing, Adrien straightened himself up. "You look wonderful, Marinette. Beautiful."

He walked over to her and placed a hand on her lower back, bending slightly to kiss her cheek. His palm burned as he realised he was touching bare skin; the dress obviously lacked a back, a design which had crept up into his top 5.

With the added addition of her stiletto heels, her head was level with his chin, they hadn't been this close in height since they were 13 and a realisation hit him about how close their lips now were.

"You look very handsome yourself, Kitty."

She'd called him his nickname and he could have melted on the spot. To hear such a good word from her lips, dressed like a world class Princess, was more than any dream or fantasy he could have ever imagined.

"Oh this," he laughed, "it's just something I had lying around." He reluctantly took his hand from her back and walked over to the table, grabbing a glass of wine and handing it over to her.

"Yeah," she smiled, "me too. I had it folded in my bag, keeping Tikki warm." She took the wine glass from him and tipped it gracefully against her lips, a sparkle of amusement dancing in her eyes.

They stood in silence, alternating between drinking and smiling at each other, Adrien knowing Plagg was somewhere facepalming,

Just do it, you idiot! He would say.

A click from the phonograph signalled the start up of the machine and suddenly a Christmas melody began to play through the room, obviously this was Plagg's signal to get on with it.

'Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Let your heart be light

From now on

Our troubles will be out of sight'

Taking Marinette's glass out of her hand, Adrien positioned them both on the small, oak side table offering a hand out towards her.

"Dance with me?"

She nodded her head in response, placing her petite hand into his and allowing him to lead her in front of the fireplace. Keeping hold of one hand, he placed the other around her back and pulled her tightly into his body, her head coming to rest against his chest in a familiar position. How many times had they danced like this in the past? Like a couple in love without being a couple at all.

They continued to sway in practised precision. Adrien felt the comfort from the heat and weight of her body next to his as his thumb began to caress her bare back, his heart longing for her, but not as much as his lips.

'Through the years we all will be together

If the fates allow

Hang a shining star upon the highest bough

And have yourself a merry little Christmas now'

"So about what you said outside." He broached the subject of their past endeavours, tightening his hold so she couldn't try to run away.

"Don't worry about it, Adrien, I don't know why I said it. Can't we just keep dancing?" Her head remained buried in his chest, her head tucked under his chin and her voice a mere whisper.

"I'm bored of dancing with you, Marinette. It's time we stop all this."

The hand he was holding began to tremble and he moved them both in towards his chest, manoeuvring them around so her palm was pressed against his heart and their fingers intertwining. He continued to sway them to the rhythm of the music.

"Feel, Marinette, just close your eyes and feel."

Adrien knew his heart was beating crazy. If he was a cartoon it would be pushing out of his chest right now as it attempted to break free and run to her.

"What can you feel, Marinette?"

Silence took over, the next track scratching as it began to play, but Adrien had no idea what it was. All he could hear was the hard beat of his own heart in his ears and the silence suddenly seated between himself and Marinette.

"Your heart is beating so fast." Finally she spoke, breaking the silence and allowing him to breathe again.

"This is how it is everytime you're near me, Marinette. You're pure adrenaline to my body, you make me feel like I can do anything — with or without a Miraculous."

"That's because you can Adrien, I've always believed in you."

He shook his head. She still didn't get it. Gramps' words playing in his mind, he needed to be obvious and open.

"You don't get it, Marinette. The reason I feel that way is only because of you. You give me this feeling that's so overpowering I feel both stronger and weaker every time you're around."

Marinette pulled herself away from him, looking into his eyes quizzically, as if she was trying to work something out. Maybe the truth in his words or the effect in his heart.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered once more, her voice hoarse with emotion. "I'm sorry for being such a mess, for not trusting you enough, for not believing you."

"Marinette —"

"Please," her hands moved onto his chest. "Just let me speak."

Adrien nodded in agreement, placing his now redundant hand onto her back, not wanting to break any type of connection with her.

"I've made rash judgements about you pretty much from the day we met. The gum incident, the first time you gave me a rose, when we went for ice cream with Kagami. I've always done everything in my power to make sure I pushed you away – as heroes and as us. I've been scared of you hurting me — terrified even. But that was a big mistake because out of everyone I know you've always asked the least out of me. You've never demanded anything, you've never judged me or made fun of me, you've been my biggest supporter in every way since the day I met you. You've accepted me for all that I am."

The sniff that came from her as she attempted to control herself was unattractive and quite disguising, yet he'd never seen such rare emotion from her since the day they met; he loved her all the more for it.

"You're perfect the way you are Marinette, you've always been perfect and I've been scared too. You knocked me down time and time again as heroes, and I never thought we'd have a chance. I've always wished for it though."

"I've wished for you. On every shooting star, every time I've blown out my birthday candles and every Christmas. It's always been you Adrien, you and only you."

He couldn't help the smile lighting up his face from the words. He'd dreamed of this for years — first Ladybug, then Marinette, then the full picture of this wonderful girl declaring her feelings for him. He didn't know if this was love, but it most certainly felt like it.

A flash of red and black appeared above their heads as Tikki and Plagg struggled with something green in their shared grasp. Mistletoe.

Not wanting to question where they got it from and spoil the mood, Adrien did the only thing he could think of. To make the most of it.

Pulling Marinette back into his body, he moved forward full on intending for his lips to meet hers as both tilted their heads in synchronisation. She was moving in to kiss him too.

Their lips met in a long, long kiss, a kiss of relief, a kiss of patience, and love, and alliance. Their kiss belonged to the start of a fresh relationship, where heart and soul and sense joined together and concentrated into the meaning of love. Where blood blazed like lava against a sprinting pulse and each small kiss which followed would cause a heart-quake.

Finally breaking away, understanding the depth of their new connection, Adrien was quite sure he was floating on air.

"Can you kiss me again?" Marinette looked as dazed as he did. Her eyes were glassy in an effect which usually came with the drinking of an expensive, fine wine as she asked her question.

"No," he said.

"Kiss me."

"No." And then he smiled. "You kiss me."

Marinette placed her hands on the back of his neck, pulling him towards her, his body going willingly. And she kissed him. She kissed him. And she kissed him. Again and again and again.

And he couldn't help but keep on kissing her back.