There is no such thing a lying in on Christmas morning in the Cesaire household.
Alya as rudely awoken by her younger sisters at six in the morning. There is a moment of confusion when she realised she was in bed but couldn't for the life of her remember how she ended up there. It got more confusing when she realised there was a shiny parcel sitting beside on the bed.
With a surprised blink, Alya reached out and picked up the parcel. It felt lumpy and soft so she immediately deduced it must be clothing and it smelt a little bit like a bakery which made her think of Marinette before she even read the gift tag.
Dear Alya, Marinette's handwriting read, Merry Christmas. Love, Marinette.
Alya ripped the wrapping paper without a second thought and squealed in delight when she caught sight of the scarlet red, fluffy, jumper that spilled out. It felt so soft and wonderful and looked brilliant with the big, black, spots that decorated it.
Marinette knew she would love all things Ladybug and this was definitely no exception as Alya hurriedly shoved it over her head. It fitted her like a glove and emphasised curves that Alya didn't even know she had.
She looked downright hot in this jumper.
"Jesus, girl," Alya murmured as she admired her reflection, "you've spoiled me."
She wondered how Marinette was able to get her present to her on time. The pair hadn't been able to see each other for almost a week (a first for them, Alya can now barely remember a time she spent so long without Marinette) thanks to Marinette's bout of flu. Every time Alya had come over to drop off some homework her poor, adorable, snuff-y best friend was fast asleep and impossible to wake up.
Before Alya could text Marinette and ask thought her door banged open and Alya found herself being forced out of her room by her younger sisters as the gift opening began. As soon as all the presents were opened and their parents were thanked, she was asked to help her Dad clean up, and then she barely got dressed (with her new, awesome, amazing, jumper on by the way!) when she had breakfast shoved under her nose and then asked if she'll help do the dishes, and then she had the vegetables to peel too.
Being the eldest sucks.
Alya was in the middle of peeling some carrots when the doorbell suddenly went off.
"Alya, sweetie," Mum said absentmindedly, "can you get that?"
Alya sighed but did as she was told. "Who the hell is it on Christmas day?" she grumbled to herself. "Everyone should be at home and – Adrien?!"
Adrien looked gorgeous and angelic as ever with his cheeks flushed pink from the cold and his green eyes sparkling with joy. He was bundled up in many layers but the most notable item was the pale blue scarf Marinette had made him for his birthday and its new matching woollen hat and gloves that were blatantly made by Marinette as well.
"Merry Christmas!" Adrien smiled.
"Hey," Alya grinned back, "Merry Christmas. Nice threads, Christmas present?"
"Yeah," Adrien's smile took a dreamy and sappy turn, "Marinette made them," he said with matching dreaminess in his voice, "I don't know how she managed to get the right shade to match my scarf. In fact they even feel as soft as the scarf. Marinette must be so talented to recognise the right wool without seeing my scarf more than a handful times."
Alya stared at Adrien utterly gobsmacked. How could someone be so clever and smart could also be so painfully oblivious sometimes?! It was obviously the right wool because it was the same wool! Alya's shock and disgust must have been extremely apparent on her face because Adrien suddenly looked really nervous.
"I hope I wasn't interrupting," he mumbled sheepishly.
Alya shook her head rapidly to snap out of her surprise. "No, no, you weren't interrupting," Alya said reassuringly. "I…I don't mean to be rude but why are you here? I would have thought your father would have the perfect Christmas scheduled. He sounds like the kinda guy that would have Christmas scheduled to the last minute."
"He has," Adrien said, "for himself. The only things I had scheduled was gift giving early this morning and dinner later this evening. I'm a free agent all day." Alya's heart went out to her friend who must be so lonely on a day that was supposed to be about families. It was just on the tip of her tongue to invite Adrien to stay for dinner (Mum wouldn't mind she cooked enough to feed the whole army) when Adrien smiled radiantly and spoke up again; "So I thought," he said a little more nervously, "that since Marinette put so much effort in not only making our presents but making sure we got them despite being sick that I should go round and play Santa. Do you have a present you want me to give her?"
Alya was stunned.
First - for literally the first time ever! – Marinette had finally signed a note to Adrien. That was enough to shock Alya's heart into temporarily stopping because she honestly thought with the scarf incident and Valentine's Day and several other attempts of writing a love note that Marinette would never remember to sign her name to anything.
She would have gotten over that completely but then there was the fact that Marinette managed to not just sneak into Alya's house to leave her present but into Adrien's mansion. The gigantic fortress of solitude that was armed to the teeth with security and probably weapons of mass destruction (she wouldn't put it past Gabriel Agreste installing a missile for the crazy fangirls).
And finally there's the fact that for once – for once! – Adrien actually seemed to notice all of this and wanted to do something just as sweet and wonderful back.
Alya's shipping senses were telling her that something amazing was going to happen.
"Yeah!" she grinned. "I have a present for Marinette. Hold on one second." She quickly dashed back to her room and rummaged around before she found the poorly wrapped present (gift wrapping was not a talent of her's) and dashed right back to the front door. "Here!" she panted slightly "Give my love to her, won't you?"
Adrien turned an interesting shade of pink that almost bordered onto red that made Alya smirk knowingly. "S-s-sure!" he stuttered. "Thanks," he hastily slipped Alya's gift into a large bag. "I better be off. I still have several houses to go before I have all of Marinette's presents."
"Wait," Alya said disbelievingly, "are you telling m you're visiting all of our classmates to pick up Marinette's presents so she can have them on Christmas Day?"
"Y-yeah," Adrien said nervously as he scratched the back of his neck, "is that a problem?"
"No, no, that's very….sweet." trust Marinette to fall in love with the sweetest guy in Paris. Urgh, Alya could just picture their children. They'll be so sweet that people would think they were made of sugar. "Just…do yourself a favour, yeah? Don't go to Chloe's. You'll never get out there alive."
Adrien chuckled at that. "I won't," he reassured Alya, "while Chloe is a good friend to me," Alya snorted at that. Adrien really needed to work on his definition of a good friend if he thought Chloe's clinginess and aggressive behaviour towards anyone that tried to approach Adrien was good friend material. "I know that she and Marinette don't really get on and I doubt Chloe would have a present for Marinette."
Alya opened her mouth to say something about Chloe and coal, she wasn't sure what, but it would have been really witty and funny. However Adrien suddenly interrupted her with his goodbyes and hastily went off on his way to finish his quest for Marinette's Christmas presents.
As soon as her front door was shut, Alya whipped her phone out from her back pocket and hurriedly jammed her fingers at the buttons.
Girl, I hope you're feeling better, she texted as quickly as possible, because your Christmas is just about to become AMAZING!
MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB
Marinette answered the door wearing the Santa Claus hat from the night before. Adrien was taken back for a few seconds by the utter adorableness of it all. Her cheeks were flushed pink and her beautiful blue eyes were bright with joy. Adrien felt butterflies flutter in his stomach just at the sight of her.
"Merry Christmas," Adrien smiled, "Marinette."
Marinette suddenly went pinker. "A-A-Adrien!" she stammered. "What you here doing? I-I-I-I mean you here are doing? Blah!" she grimaced. "I mean what are you doing here?!"
"Well I got your Christmas present, obviously," Adrien said feeling a little self-conscious. Last night as Ladybug and Chat Noir, she was sassy and comfortable with him, but now when they were Marinette and Adrien, she looked distinctly uncomfortable and seemed incapable of forming coherent sentences around him. It always left him feeling awkward and worried that he was doing something wrong. "And I thought that…well…you weren't in school, so no one had the opportunity to get you your presents, and you made sure we got ours, so, erm….here!"
Much to his mortification he suddenly thrusted the bag filled with presents in Marinette's face. She looked startled and shocked and he feared that he freaked her out so much that she would slam the door in his face.
Instead though she smiled a smile so beautiful and radiant that Adrien's insides melted and his heart somersaulted at the sight of it. "That's so sweet of you!" Marinette whispered in such awe that Adrien's chest swelled up in pride. "You didn't have to."
"Of course I did!" Adrien cried out. "I couldn't let you be the only one without presents on Christmas Day."
"Oh!" Marinette gasped delightedly. "Thank you, but I'm not entirely without, my parents would never, not that this isn't lovely," she babbled rapidly as she started to make her usual flustered hand gestures and looked anywhere and everywhere that wasn't directly at him. "I, erm, ah, would you like to come in?"
Adrien smiled warmly. "I would love to," he murmured.
"Good!" Marinette squeaked. "Good…" they stood there in utter silence for a moment and Adrien savoured every second of it admiring her beauty. "Erm," Marinette coughed, "so coming in?"
"Yes, yes," Adrien said hastily as he tried to step in. unfortunately this was at the same time Marinette stepped to his side and therefore she blocked his way. There was a mumbled apology from the pair of them as they both tried to step the other way only to find they were once again facing one another. "Erm," Adrien mumbled, "I'll go this way," he pointed to the left.
"And I'll stay here," Marinette said weakly.
Marinette then pressed herself flat against the door frame to let Adrien walk past. As he did he brushed against her ever so slightly by accident. His elbow bumped against her stomach which sent fireworks exploding beneath his skin and did nothing to help his frazzled apologies which he stammered through until Mrs Dupain-Cheng swooped in to save him by asking to take his coat.
They finally ended up on the sofa and Adrien watched intently as Marinette opened her Christmas presents. Every gift ranging from the homemade mixed CD from Nino to the beautiful, and blatantly expensive, collection of fine threads from Alya earned a thrilled look from Marinette. Adrien hoped desperately that this was the same look that he elicited from her with his gift as Chat Noir to Ladybug and then instantly dreaded that he wouldn't earn it with his gift to her as Adrien.
Chat Noir's gift had come from many months of thought and searching and worrying and a lot of love and admiration.
Adrien's gift had come from a frazzled, desperate, search that resulted in a gift that didn't feel right when it was just between friends.
(Marinette always deserved so much more even before he knew he loved her.)
He gulped when Marinette's dainty fingers traced his handwriting on the gift tag. There was a soft, serene, smile on her face that took his breath away and immediately made his stomach plummet as he pictured it fading away when she saw what he had brought her. Desperately he sought out a distraction, anything, something, the weather, an Akuma, something Christmas-y, so-
His eye was caught by a silver sparkle on Marinette's wrist and a grin blossomed on his face. "Nice bracelet," he commented as he nodded to the charm bracelet on her wrist.
It was a simple, delicate, chain and only boasted two charms. One was a little Ladybug and one was a little cat with emerald chips for eyes. He planned to fill that bracelet with more charms in the future providing she liked this one.
And by the looks of it, she liked it very much.
"B-b-b-bracelet?" Marinette stammered out. "Oh, you mean this," her hand clutched the charm bracelet against her wrist. "It was a Christmas present from a friend," she said quickly, her cheeks were now as red as her Ladybug suit.
"Oh yeah?" Adrien's grin had definitely taken on a Chat Noir quality to it. "A good friend?" he asked.
"My best friend," Marinette said firmly, unaware of the ecstatic cheering Adrien was inwardly doing, "well," she added sheepishly, "my best friend after Alya."
Adrien could live with that.
After all he didn't want to be just her best friend.
He was so busy feeling like he was on cloud 9 that he didn't realise that Marinette had gone back to unwrapping his gift until he heard a loud rip. He stiffened as Marinette happily tore through the wrapping paper and braced for the worst when –
"The History of Fashion?!" Marinette read out as she held up the gigantic book. "Oh my God, Adrien!" she cried out as she started to flip through the pages. "This is amazing! Just look at these pictures! It has everything!"
"I-I-is it okay?" Adrien asked nervously. "I wasn't sure what to get you, I mean, I know you liked fashion, and games, and Jagged Stone, but I wasn't sure what you had, and I saw this, and I thought it would interest you, but I know you weren't keen on reading, so I-"
Marinette suddenly flung her arms round his neck and squeezed him tight. It was enough to make Adrien forget his name as he melted into her warm, sweet, embrace and breathed in her delicious scent of baked good (how did she still smell like that?! Surely her parents didn't bake on their day off?). "It's wonderful!" she exclaimed. "Vintage is really in right now and I can get some really good id-EEK!"
Adrien blinked bewilderedly when Marinette suddenly threw herself onto the other side of the sofa when she realised that she still had her arms round him. He immediately felt empty and lost without her but pushed it back in order to smile politely and not make anything worse.
"Marinette," Mr Dupain boomed cheerfully as he stepped into the living room, "dinner is going to be ready in five minutes. And I'm sure Adrien's family would want him back for their own Christmas celebrations."
"I wouldn't worry," Adrien said reassuringly, "my Dad is busy working right now so as long as I'm back before eight for our dinner reservations, I can stay, but," he added hastily when he realised how pushy that could come across as, "if you want me to leave so you can go back to your family celebration I have no problem with leaving."
Mr Dupain frowned at that. "And do what until your dinner plans?" he sked.
"I don't know," Adrien shrugged, "I might play some videos games. Dad brought all the latest ones. And I'm sure Nathalie has asked the chefs for something nice for lunch."
"But you'll be by yourself," Mr Dupain said softly.
"It's all right," Adrien mumbled self-consciously, "nothing I haven't done before."
"No one should be alone on Christmas," Mr Dupain stated, "if you're not needed back home till late then you should stay here with us."
"Oh!" Adrien felt extremely flattered and pleased and embarrassed and ashamed all at once. It was enough to make his head spin. "I couldn't impose!"
"Nonsense," Mr Dupain said dismissively, "we've always cooked too much food and it's no trouble to add an extra setting on the table. Stay."
"Yes," Marinette added eagerly, "please stay for dinner, Adrien."
How could he ever say no to his Lady and Princess? Especially since he didn't want to go back to his big, cold, empty house. Especially since all he had to look forwards to is Plagg complaining about being dragged away from his Christmas present (the biggest hamper of cheese Adrien could find filled to the brim with rare and unique flavours from around the world) and then gorging himself on cheese before complaining about being too full and feeling sick. Especially when she was looking at him like that with her big, wide, beautiful, blue eyes…
"Then," he murmured, "I should stay."
"Excellent!" Mr Dupain boomed as he smacked Adrien's back. He did it, accidentally, with such force that Adrien almost fell forwards on top of Marinette. "I'll tell Sabine. She'll be thrilled."
"Thank you for inviting me," Adrien said gratefully, "Mr Dupain."
"Tom," Mr Dupain corrected, "all of Marinette's friends call me Tom."
Adrien thinks he said something in reply to that but he wasn't sure as that very much he got entirely lost in the radiance of Marinette's smile and that happy sparkle in her eyes. She was pleased to spend Christmas with him and nothing could ever make him happier…
MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB
Marinette thought she was going to explode.
And not just because she was so very happy (Adrien came to see her! Adrien wanted to make sure she got her presents! Adrien brought her a present! Adrien is sitting next to her looking so perfect and handsome and, most importantly, happy! Adrien is spending time with her! Alone! Without Chloe interrupting!) but because she had eaten so much that her stomach felt like it was going to burst any minute against the extremely tight waist and button of her jeans.
"Urgh!" Adrien moaned beside her as he rubbed his stomach, "I don't think I have ever eaten that much in my life."
"You say that," Marinette groaned, "but Mum and Dad haven't brought out the deserts yet." Adrien whimpered a little. It was utterly adorable and pathetic all at once. "It's Christmas dinner, Ki-Adrien," she stumbled quickly over the term endearment. Was she really going to call him Kitty? Why would she do that?! He was Adrien, not Chat Noir. "Haven't you ever had a Christmas dinner before? All we do is eat."
"I've had Christmas dinner before," Adrien protested with a pout. Oh dear God that bottom lip looked so kissable! And he was sitting so close to her! His head were mere inches away from hers. All she had to do was lean in and - Why was he doing this to her?! "Just not a Christmas dinner like this before. With all the different options and the laughing and the warmth, and the Christmas crackers."
Marinette's heart felt a little twang. Everyone shout have a family dinner filled with warmth and laughter. "You never had Christmas crackers before?!" she asked incredulously instead.
"Oh no I've had Christmas crackers before," Adrien said dryly, "Elegant, designer, ones, filled with expensive gifts like diamante pill boxes and handcrafted cufflinks, and little facts written in silver gilt script." Marinette wrinkled her nose not only did that sound so very dull but who on earth would put handcrafted cufflinks in a Christmas cracker? How unbelievably daft. "There's no tacky paper crowns or silly plastic toys or funny jokes," Adrien said wistfully as his had touched the paper crown on his head.
It was a flimsy green tissue paper one but it suited him perfectly and brought out his beautiful green eyes.
Marinette swallowed before she accidentally said that instead of actually contributing to the conversation like a normal person. "You think those jokes are funny?" she said disbelievingly. "They're appallingly cheesy and corny."
"They're witty and clever!" Adrien protested.
"Eight year olds can write better jokes than that!"
"Oh come on!" Adrien cried out. He pulled away, much to Marinette's everlasting regret and fumbled for his phone. Marinette made a noise of protest when she realised that he was Googling crummy Christmas jokes. "Here," he said confidently. "You'll like this one. Why are Christmas trees so bad at sewing?"
"I don't know, Adrien," Marinette said mocking, "Why are Christmas trees so bad at sewing?"
"Because they keep dropping their needles!"
"Gah!
"Okay, maybe not," Adrien chuckled. "How about this one? Why does Santa go down the chimney on Christmas Eve?"
"I don't know," Marinette rolled her eyes, "why does he?"
"Because it soots him!"
Marinette pulled a face at that. "Blergh!" she groaned disgustedly.
"What do Santa's little helpers learn at school?" Adrien burst out excitedly. Marinette stared back flatly, refusing to play along this time round. She pitied her future children (Hugo, Emma, and Louis, and maybe a hamster!) because she had no doubt that Adrien was going to be one of those Dads. The ones that told corny jokes again and again. "The elf-abet!"
"You're terrible," Marinette said flatly.
"What did Santa ask Rudolph about the weather?" Adrien carried on undaunted by the fact that Marinette had yet to laugh. "Is it going to rain dear?"
Marinette grimaced. "Horrible!" she cried out appalled.
"Knock, knock!"
Marinette sighed heavily. This was never going to end. "Who's there?" she asked.
"Snow."
Marinette let out another heavy sigh. "Snow who?"
"Snow business like show business!" Adrien said delighted. Marinette stared back, completely unimpressed, as she crossed her arms. Adrien seemed entirely undeterred as he opened his mouth once more. "What-"
"All right, all right!" Marinette cried out as she threw her arms up in the air. "That's enough before I die of boredom and embarrassment on your behalf."
Adrien pouted again and Marinette tried to squash the fluttery sensation it caused in his stomach. "One more!" Adrien begged.
"No!"
"Please!"
"Definitely no!"
"Just one more little joke," Adrien wheedled as he flutter his eyelashes, "pretty please Princess."
Marinette flushed. He looked so pretty and wonderful, and oh my god what did he just call her?! Only Chat Noir had ever called her Princess and lord knows he had never meant it seriously like this. Surely not. "O-o-one more!" Marinette stammered out.
Adrien's eyes sparkled with mischief as a familiar, smug, smirk crossed his face. Marinette blinked as she tried to place where she had seen that smirk before. "Who delivers presents to cats?" Adrien asked.
"Oh my God!" Marinette burst out crossly. "If you say Santa Claws I will never forgive you!"
She still thought it was the worst pun Chat Noir had ever come up with.
Adrien, for some reason, looked utterly delighted at that. "Actually the punch line is Santa Paws," he said and Marinette groaned in disgust, "but I think Santa Claws is far more refined and witty and clever, don't you?"
"Absolutely," Marinette replied sweetly and Adrien lit up even more radiantly, "not!" she tacked on and Adrien suddenly deflated with another big, kissable, pout.
Marinette was on the verge of either giving in and kissing him or saying something stupid like the jokes were rather funny just to get him to stop. Fortunately she was saved from messing her friendship up completely by her parents bursting in with trays laden with cakes and deserts.
"Pudding!"
After gorging herself on even more food, and regretting it, she got roped into trying her new video game with both Dad and Adrien to compete against. Hours went by quickly, as did the aching feeling in her stomach from eating too much, and before she knew it, it was almost seven o'clock in the evening and Adrien noticed.
"Is that the time?!" he yelped as he hastily jumped onto his feet. "I'm going to have to go," he said regretfully, "Thank you for having me."
"Anytime," Mum smiled warmly.
"Come back soon," Dad grinned, "son."
"I will," Adrien promised. Marinette swooned slightly at the thought of Adrien coming back and spending time with her again. All those games they could play, all those conversations and silly jokes, all those sweet moments…she couldn't wait! She hastily got up and walked Adrien to the door in a rather awkward silence as she helped him with his coat, scarf, hat, and gloves. "So…" Adrien trailed off helplessly as they stood by the front door.
"So…." Marinette smiled weakly.
"Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas!" Marinette replied. "Thank you for coming and for the presents and, well, everything." She flushed with embarrassment as she realised that she was babbling again. "W-w-will I see you before school starts up?" she stuttered.
"I wish I could," Adrien murmured sadly, "but Father has me booked in for different shoots and classes and events until school starts."
"Oh," Marinette sighed, "That's too bad."
"Yeah," Adrien mumbled. He looked so dejected and depressed that Marinette wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms round him. But then, before she could move forwards and open her arms, something deliciously mischievous flickered across his face as he stepped close to her. Marinette's heart hammered loudly and quickly in her chest as he leaned into whisper in her ear. "Mistletoe."
Oh dear God! She had forgotten that her parents had put that up! She spluttered and stammered and failed hopelessly to form a single coherent word let alone an entire sentence as Adrien slowly pulled back with a soft smile.
Before she could say or do something, he quickly leaned back in and pressed a soft, fleeting, kiss on the corner of her lips that made her knees buckle, her cheeks burn, her heart do the backwards flip, and her skin tingle all over. "Goodbye Marinette," he said pleasantly before he opened the door and stepped out. "I'll see you in school."
"S-s-s-see you in S-s-s-school!"
As soon as the door was closed firmly behind Adrien, Marinette felt her knees give out entirely as she collapsed against the supporting wooden door.
This was the best Christmas ever!
…right, up until she realised her parents witnessed the entire thing and were now staring at her with the biggest, goofiest, knowing grins in the world.
That was when Marinette died of embarrassment.