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their-destinys-writer · 1 year

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ML Secret Santa 2022

Merry belated Christmas @perditaalottachocolate-blog from your Secret Santa! You have no idea how loud I screamed when I saw your name in my email! I noticed several pairs you mentioned, but I was especially intrigued by the mention of Lukadrinette. So, I thought, why not? They’re a lovely throuple! (Full disclosure, this is the first time I write a polyamorous ship, so I hope I did them justice). I hope you’ve had fantastic holidays and I’m very happy to write for someone I’ve known for so long already <3

As always, huge thank yous to the team behind the @mlsecretsanta, who have hosted this wonderful event almost every year since 2016. You are the true MVPs of the fandom during the Holidays.

(Also on Ao3)

I Choose You Both

It hadn’t been a conscious choice. They didn’t wake up one day and say: “this is what we are going to be,” and announced it to the whole world. It had been slow, quiet. Like the rising sun at dawn in the countryside. You don’t quite notice it’s no longer nighttime, until those slivers of sunshine slip through the cracks of the curtains.

It all started when Luka confessed to Marinette he knew her identity. Saying she was shocked was an understatement. In fact, her exact words had been “Augh-bleh-uh, what? I’m Bladyburg, I mean, no, gah!” That small laugh Luka let out immediately reminded her of how endearing he was. But more importantly, that day he reasserted why she could trust him.

He had known for months, he said, as he held her hand to keep her grounded. Only revealed the information because it would affect the outcome of the fight. Since that day, Luka took up a stronger presence in her life, with quiet nighttime conversations. Sometimes about nothing, many times about the things she couldn’t talk about with many.

Only a few days had passed from the event, when Adrien confessed his identity to Luka. Circumstances had turned dire, the enemy lived in his home, and he could only trust the one holder he chose. Of course, he hadn’t expected the words “I know” to grace Luka’s lips. But more than the unexpected response, he also offered comfort, advice, and shelter.

When Adrien had needed it most, Luka had been his rock, along with Ladybug.

The event also pushed Luka to be honest with both, confessing he knew both of their identities, and that they should know before they decided to move forward in the last fight against their enemy. It had been bittersweet for him, seeing Marinette and Adrien gasp after the lights that enveloped their transformations were gone. Yet, despite the feeling of longing, he was happy for his friends. For those he wished he could be with at one point or the other.

That’s not what’s important, Luka always told himself, anytime his thoughts lingered a little too long on either Marinette’s life saving smile, or Adrien’s soft-spoken words. Nevertheless, the feeling didn’t fail to make his heart flutter at least once a day.

And yet, after the miraculous were recovered from Gabriel Agreste, those feelings became more important than any of them thought.

The first event had happened in Luka’s room. Adrien had been staying in the Liberty for several weeks already, and in that time, Luka had been nothing but amazing. Whenever a self-deprecating comment slipped out, he made sure to counter it with Adrien’s best qualities. Words of encouragement and sympathy were often in Luka’s vocabulary, making his best efforts to help Adrien see it for himself.

It wasn’t a special night. If anything, it was the most mundane night Adrien had had in weeks. No akumas anymore, no patrols, he was a normal teenaged boy. Late at night, the two young men were still awake, Luka once again attempting to get Adrien out of a particularly long spiral.

“Stop,” Luka had said, as they sat on his bed crossed-legged, facing each other. “You’re kind, generous, sweet, funny, and most importantly, you’re a hero. You could’ve chosen to follow your father into the darkness that overtook him, but you didn’t. You chose to do the right thing. No matter what he says, you’re a wonderful person, Adrien. And anyone should consider themselves the luckiest person in the world to have the chance to love you. Like you deserve.”

Adrien sighed, covering his face. “I know you keep saying that, but it’s been weeks and Marinette hasn’t even made a passing comment about dating. I don’t know, I wouldn’t blame her if her feelings changed after what happened.”

“Hey,” Luka softly grabbed Adrien’s wrists, pulling his hands away. “Give her time. I’m sure she can already see the wonderful person that I see.”

He hadn’t meant to phrase it like that. But it seemed his heart had needed to break free. And Adrien didn’t miss it. A breath left his lips as the realization dawned on him. He didn’t even allow his mind to think of a logical reaction. So, he did what his gut told him.

The lean was automatic, and fast enough for Luka to miss it, receiving the full force of a kiss he didn’t expect to ever experience. It was only a second, but it was enough to fully break the cage in which Luka had locked half of his heart. No longer keeping a cool head, Luka placed his hand under Adrien’s jaw and pulled him in for a deeper kiss. For one moment, they didn’t question what was happening, why it was happening, or even where it was going. It just was.

However, the very next day, they pretended that kiss never happened. Or at least they tried. Luka knew better: Adrien and Marinette were meant to be. Wishing to be with either of them would only lead to further heartbreak. Adrien, on the other hand, had unlocked a new wave of confusion. He was still very much in love with Marinette, but he couldn’t deny his feelings for Luka. Yet, Luka seemed determined to not acknowledge it.

In an attempt to do damage control, Luka had decided it was a good idea to visit Marinette. Imagine his surprise to find that she had being going down a similar rabbit hole Adrien had been the night before.

“Adrien doesn’t need me pining over him like this,” she rambled as she walked in circles in her room. “He deserves someone who didn’t help make his life a living hell. How can he ever be happy with me? I ruined everything! His life is ruined because of me! I am the worst, most awful—”

“Awfully amazing person he can be with right now,” Luka interjected, softly grabbing her shoulders to stop her steps. “Stop selling yourself short, Marinette. You didn’t ruin his life. His father did. But it doesn’t mean it can’t be pieced back together. And I know you’ve been amazing about helping with that lately.”

“You gave him a home, Luka,” she responded. “You have been so extraordinary with him. And with me. I’ve only caused him pain.”

“That’s not true,” he quietly said. “You freed him, and he appreciates that. Now that everything is over, you can be honest with him about everything. You can finally show him how truly amazing you are without holding back.”

“Stop saying that I’m amazing,” Marinette groaned, pink dusting her cheeks. “Even if that were true, he deserves better than me.”

“You’re not a consolation price,” Luka said, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. “You’re meant to be. You’re the girl I wish I could be with.”

It took a heartbeat for a gasp to escape Marinette’s lips. Luka’s hands backed away in an instant, as if he had just touched a hot pan. There was no excuse for what he said. He wasn’t as sleep deprived as the previous night. He had thought the other half of his heart was still caged up. But it seemed to have sneaked out to join the half aching for Adrien while he’d been attempting to fix what he broke.

“Luka?” Marinette said, reaching out to him, but hesitating before touching.

“I’m sorry,” he said, brows furrowed. “I think it’s better I leave.” He placed his hands in his pockets. “Just talk to Adrien. I know you two can work all of this out. See you around, Marinette.”

As he walked past her, Marinette grabbed his arm. He looked back to see her with a hand over her heart, lips slightly parted from calling his name.

“Did you mean that?” she asked.

Luka gave her a sad smile. “You know I mean every word I say,” he admitted. “But my heart is divided between two people, and I don’t think that’s something either of you want.”

“You didn’t even ask,” Marinette responded, leaving Luka breathless. A sliver of hope emerged within him, but he couldn’t find it in himself to nourish it. “Luka, ever since you told me you knew my secret identity, things changed between us. And my old feelings came back. I didn’t say anything because I thought you didn’t feel the same way. But…”

Luka’s heart was beating faster. “What about Adrien?” he asked.

“I love him, too,” she said. “I love you both.”

With a heavy sigh, Luka took her hands. “As much as I had longed for you to say those words, I don’t want you to miss your chance with Adrien because of me. Talk to him, tell him how you feel about him, and be happy.”

Marinette let out a shuddered breath, unsatisfied with his response. Nevertheless, she nodded. Thinking it was resolved, Luka leaned in to kiss her cheek. But instead, he caught her lips, as she had turned at the last second. It had been a soft kiss, yet determined, with a pinch of hope in it. There was no desperation, no insistence, only love. Even as she pulled away, what she gave him was that life-saving smile of hers, almost as if she was sure their situation would find a way, eventually. But Luka preferred not to cling onto that.

After that day, the subject never came up again. At least, not verbally. All Luka knew was that Marinette and Adrien eventually did go on their date. Eventually, Marinette started spending time in the Liberty, invited by Adrien. And eventually, they started inviting Luka to activities.

Nothing special, really. A picnic here, the movies there, mundane events. Their justification had been that he was part of their group. As a friend, he assumed. And yet, something didn’t feel quite correct. And he had been right to think so, as things slowly evolved.

There were small things, like Adrien’s hand quietly slipping to his as the three of them watched television together. Clearly noticeable to Marinette, yet she didn’t say a word. If anything, she seemed almost content. There was another instance in which Marinette got accepted into the university of her dreams, and she hugged both Adrien and Luka, with a kiss on the cheek to both. And then there was that time when Luka was practicing with his violin, and he saw both Adrien and Marinette on the reflection of his window, simply gazing at him. Like he was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen.

But Luka didn’t notice the sun had completely risen on what they had until several weeks later. Marinette mentioned something about a romantic dinner on the deck of the Liberty, to which he paid no attention to. He figured that was where the line was. That was, until he walked into the room he had been sharing with Adrien and was asked why he wasn’t ready.

“What?” Luka asked, brows furrowing.

“Dinner is in ten minutes,” Adrien clarified, as if that answered his question. When Luka only continued staring, Adrien elaborated. “Marinette wants us to look nice. Not fancy, per say, but nice. Weren’t you listening earlier when she talked about it?”

“I-I—No, I wasn’t listening,” Luka admitted.

“Oh?” Adrien’s head tilted. “Well, you have ten minutes to get ready.”

“I thought it was a date,” Luka questioned.

“It is.”

This time, it was Luka’s head that tilted. “And I’m invited?”

“Why wouldn’t you be?” Adrien asked. Yet, something seemed to have dawned on him, because his eyes suddenly widened. “Wait, didn’t we—I thought we…” He slammed a hand against his face. “Just get dressed. I’ll go ahead to talk to Marinette.”

Adrien then rushed out of the room. Yet, it was clear to Luka that he had missed something big, something that made his heart give several leaps. He tried calming it, scold it into not creating hope, but Adrien’s words made it impossible. So he proceeded to put on the only pants he had without holes in them, a white buttoned shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and black high-top sneakers.

As he reached the deck of the Liberty, there were Adrien and Marinette. Adrien wearing something similar to Luka, with a dress jacket, while Marinette wore a cute pink dress that stopped at her knees. And next to them was a small table with three chairs. Perfect for three people.

“What’s going on?” Luka asked. Marinette shuffled her feet, staring at the ground, while Adrien invited him to sit. As he sat, the other two followed, and each took one of his hands.

“So,” Adrien started, “we kinda unintentionally screwed up.”

“We thought we told you about a conversation we had a few weeks ago,” Marinette said quietly. “A conversation after we both kissed you.”

Luka’s stomach jolted. “You both know?”

“Yeah,” Adrien whispered, as Marinette nodded. “We realized that, not only were we in love with each other, but we were both also in love with you, Luka.”

“S-So, after a long conversation, we decided to i-include you in our relationship,” Marinette said. “But, u-um…”

“We, um,” Adrien continued, “we seemed to have forgotten to tell you and ask you if you were okay with that.”

“Wait,” Luka’s heart was beating so fast, he didn’t know how he was still conscious, “is that why you’ve both been so affectionate with me these last few weeks?”

“Yeah,” Adrien and Marinette said in unison.

“So, you’re saying I’ve been in a relationship with both of you for weeks, and you both forgot to tell me?” Luka asked with an arched brow. To which both Marinette and Adrien sheepishly nodded. Luka couldn’t help but snort. A snort that quickly became a giggle, and then evolved into a full laugh. As the other two started laughing, too, he wrapped his arms around them and pulled them to him, as tears of joy started spilling out of him. “I really do love you both.”

Adrien and Marinette immediately returned the embrace. This time, with no doubt of what they were. Of what they had created together.

“I have to ask, though,” Luka said. “Marinette, I knew you were open to polyamorous relationships, but Adrien, I thought you were a monogamous guy.”

“Luka,” Adrien said, placing his hands on said man’s face, “you have any idea how excited I was to hear that not only one, but two people wanted to give me the love I’ve missed out on for so long? How can I pass up an opportunity like that? And I love you, as much as I love Marinette. So, I realized I’m not as monogamous as I thought.”

The words made Luka give a watery smile, as Adrien caressed his cheek.

“So, um,” Marinette said, her hand caressing his arm, “is it okay with you if we’re a throuple?”

Adrien snorted. “You just wanted to say the word throuple, didn’t you?”

“Absolutely,” Luka and Marinette said in unison, each answering their respective questions. They let out simultaneous laughs that quickly subsided, as they processed what was happening in that very moment. Luka took a moment to look at each, now holding a hand of each.

“Thank you for letting me choose you both,” he said, to which both responded with giving him a kiss on the cheek, each lingering for as long as the night allowed them.

#mlss2k22 #mlsecretsanta #ml secret santa 2k22 #perditaalottachocolate #Lukadrinette #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #luka couffaine

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lulilulkkbd · 1 year

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Merry Christmas! This is my @mlsecretsanta gift but my giftee dropped out so i’m not giving it to no one, but anyways, I wish you had a miraculous Christmas!!!

#art #mlss2k22 #ladynoir #christmas

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chatonfils · 1 year

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Happy Holidays @akidoodles !! I had a lot of fun creating this piece for @mlsecretsanta this year! :3

I really wanted to get the roughhousing/tickle fight vibe ^-^

#mlsecretsanta #mlsecretsanta2022 #mlss2k22 #adrino #adrien agreste #nino lahiffe #miraculous fanart #miraculous ladybug #ml #ml art #my art

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angelofthequeers · 1 year

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Tangled in You

My @mlsecretsanta giftee this year is @madchattery! I really hope you like your gift! ❤️💚 And a massive thank you to @faunusroman for beta reading this for me! I really appreciate your help 💙

AO3 link here and spoilers up to Transmission!

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

This is set in some vaguely nebulous post-Transmission time where Marinette’s acknowledged that she’s still in love with Adrien as in canon but they’re still not together because, you know…the fact that Marinette and Adrien are still Ladybug and Chat Noir in Protection and Emotion, which canonically come after the Kwami’s Choice episodes.

“Not one word,” Marinette hisses.

Alya pastes a smile on her face, the epitome of innocence, except that she’s a lying liar who lies, and Marinette knows better than to trust the former wielder of the Fox Miraculous.

(Her heart jolts in her chest at that. It’s gotten a little better over the last few weeks but she’s not sure she’ll ever be rid of the pain. Not until she’s rescued the kwamis she let down.)

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Alya sings, shifting her bag on her shoulder. Marinette narrows her eyes.

“I mean it! You know I can’t be with him! Not as I am!”

Alya sighs. Her smile fades. “I’m sorry, Marinette. I took on being Scarabella so that you and Adrien could be together, and I couldn’t even do that right.”

“Don’t apologise,” Marinette says firmly. “What you did for me – what you were willing to take on…it means the world to me, and I’ll never forget that. We’ll figure out how Monarch found out you and Kitty Noire, and we’ll kick his butt!”

“Are we having a rebellion meeting?” says a bright voice. Marinette yelps and somehow manages to jump backward and forward at the same time, resulting in sprawling over Alya in a tangle of limbs, while her best friend tries desperately to keep her somewhat vertical.

“Adrien!” she complains. “Don’t do that!” When she manages to right herself – with great help from Alya – and turns around, she’s punched in the face by Adrien’s wide sunshine smile, and it takes everything she’s got to keep herself upright.

Why is this so hard? Adrien knows she’s in love with him. He knows that she wants to be with him, even if there’s some mysterious reason she can’t that starts with M and ends in onarch. Why is she still a complete mess around him?

“Sorry,” Adrien says, not looking sorry at all, like the evil person he is.

“I swear, one of these days, I’m gonna get you a bell so you stop doing that to me,” Marinette grumbles. Adrien’s face flushes bright red in response to that, so Marinette allows herself a triumphant grin. There. See how he likes it.

“Are we done with whatever we’re doing?” Nino drawls from behind Adrien. “And no, this isn’t a rebellion meeting, dude. I’m not letting Monarch take our Christmas.”

“Perfectly said, babe,” Alya says, crossing over to peck him on the lips. Marinette’s eyes flick to Adrien’s own peach pink lips. He notices – of course he does, because the universe hates Marinette Dupain-Cheng – and those lips curve into a smile that almost brings Marinette to her knees.

“Can we just get on with it?” she whines. “The tree won’t decorate itself.”

“How did you even get it up here?” Adrien says, as the four of them head up the stairs to the apartment above the bakery.

“Dude,” Nino says. “How d’you think? Her dad’s a beast.”

“I helped,” Marinette huffs and flexes her arms. There’s an immediate clatter as Adrien trips on the second-last step. He would’ve face-planted into the front door, if not for Marinette reflexively grabbing him by the back of the shirt and yanking him back, just like she’s done to her kitty many a time with his tail.

“Th-Thanks,” Adrien stammers, rubbing the back of his neck. “You’re strong. Muscles! Strong girl!”

“Oh my god,” Alya mutters but her words barely pierce the blood rushing through Marinette’s ears. Why does this have to be so hard? Why can’t she just Lucky Charm up Monarch’s ugly face, go kick him in said ugly face, then ride off into the sunset with the boy she loves?

(“One of two boys,” says a little, nasty voice. Marinette staunchly ignores it. Chat Noir made his choice and she has to live with it.)

“Anyway!” Marinette almost shrieks and points at the tree that towers over them, dispersing the fresh scent of pine needles throughout the room. “Tree! Decorations! Put on them!”

“Have you ever decorated a Christmas tree, Adrien?” Alya says loudly, steering Marinette away from the haphazardly stacked boxes of decorations. Marinette wants to be offended but…no, it’s probably for the best. Balance is a challenge at the best of times, without her current state of near hysteria.

“No,” Adrien says. The melancholy in his voice immediately snaps Marinette out of Stupid Mode and into Cheer Adrien Up Mode. “My father always hired people to decorate the tree. He said it was too big, and he didn’t want me or my mother to get hurt.”

“Or he could just stop overcompensating and buy a normal tree like normal people,” Nino scoffs. Marinette bites down on her bottom lip to keep her laughter at bay, while Alya lets out a strange cough. “Oh. Sorry, dude. Forgot he’s trying and all now, and I can’t talk smack about him anymore.”

“No, it’s okay,” Adrien says with a small smile. “I never said how much I appreciated all the times you stood up to my father for me, before he started trying. You’re a really good friend, Nino.”

“Aw, shucks, dude.” Nino’s whole face flushes. “Just what friends do, y’know?”

“Right!” Alya claps her hands. “If we’re done with the sappy Hallmark moments, I have just what we need for decorating the tree!”

“The decorations?” Marinette says dryly, pointing at the boxes. Alya rolls her eyes.

“Nope,” she says as she unslings her bag and rummages around inside. As soon as she emerges with a handful of eye-watering fabric, Marinette immediately starts looking around for the nearest window from which to defenestrate herself.

“No,” Nino says immediately because he’s the only other person in the world who currently has a brain cell. Marinette would kiss him for that if a) Adrien wasn’t here and b) Alya wouldn’t be Extremely Unhappy at her for it. “No way, babe. Nuh uh.”

“We promised to show Adrien the joys of a normal Christmas!” Alya insists, shoving an absolutely hideous orange sweater at him. “And that involves wearing ugly Christmas sweaters!”

“I might have sunk to some lows, but I’m not going that far,” Marinette says.

“Thank you,” Nino says.

“But Alya says it’s a Christmas tradition!” Adrien proves that he’s even eviller than Monarch by turning on the puppy dog eyes and pouting with the careful precision of the model he used to be. Alya beams and tosses him a scarlet sweater.

“And we want to honour the hard work of the superheroes in the room, don’t we?” Alya grins, gesturing to herself and Nino. She dumps a black and green sweater on Marinette’s head and, while Marinette splutters and bats the offending garment away, shrugs into the emerald sweater that she’s left with. “After all, I appreciate Carapace very much.”

“And Ladybug does so much to keep us safe,” Adrien agrees, now in his ugly spotted sweater and with messy hair so eerily reminiscent of Chat Noir that Marinette’s heart almost vacates her chest through her mouth. “It’s really the least we can do.”

“And it’d make Adrien happy,” Alya sing-songs. Marinette looks between her evil best friend and evil crush and lets out the most pained groan of her life.

“Fine,” she grumbles, pulling the Chat Noir sweater over her head. “I hate you both.”

“Seriously?” Nino complains. “Marinette, we were s’posed to stand together! Now they’re gonna bully me into it!”

“Pleeeeease?” Alya adopts the same puppy eyes and pout as Adrien, as they conspire to psychically destroy Nino’s will. Nino groans even louder than Marinette had.

“Okay, okay, fine!” He awkwardly slips into his Rena Rouge sweater, knocking off his hat and glasses in the process. “Not like I could be the only one not doing it. Thanks, Marinette.”

“Hey, blame Adrien!” Marinette huffs. “He insisted on it and he did those stupid eyes and everything!”

“It’s not my fault!” Adrien says. “I just wanted to have a normal Christmas!”

“Speaking of, let’s decorate the tree!” Alya grabs the first battered box and pulls a clump of lights. She gives the clump a shake and grimaces. “Seriously, Marinette?”

“I didn’t put them away!” Marinette protests. “It happens every year!”

Alya sighs and lowers herself to the ground. “Okay. Adrien, you’re about to learn the sacred Christmas tradition of spending ten hours untangling the damn lights.”

“If it’s tradition,” Adrien says with a cheeky smile. Marinette resists the urge to punch him for being so damn beautiful.

“Hey, if Ladybug and Chat Noir can take down an akuma with, like, a piece of paper, we can untangle the lights,” Nino says, dropping down to sit next to Alya cross-legged.

“Our lives depend on it, with the way Alya’s going,” Marinette says under her breath as she kneels and hunts for the end of the string. Adrien joins her, and when his hand brushes hers as they navigate the clump of lights, Marinette’s soul is almost evicted from her body.

“You know,” Alya says, “after everything I’ve done for you, you’d think I’d get more respect around here.”

“Just because you know my deepest secrets doesn’t mean you’re not a tyrant,” Marinette retorts.

“Don’t make me throw a bauble at you,” Alya says.

“Please. I’d tie you up with the tinsel before you could even blink.”

It’s not Marinette’s fault. It’s really not. How is it on her that the lights are this bad? She hadn’t put them away! After ten minutes of cursing and putting on a better show than a professional ballet performance, the lights are still matted together and Nino’s throwing a mini tantrum and cursing the name of Marinette Dupain-Cheng, which is totally uncool of him after everything they’d been through with their ugly sweaters.

“I’m done!” Nino throws down the length of lights that had been half-tying his hands together. “I signed up to show my bro a sweet Christmas, not get strangled by a bunch of lights!”

“Careful, you’ll give Monarch ideas,” Alya drawls, kicking her way out of her multicoloured prison. “I’d kill for a croissant right now.”

“You know where everything is downstairs, make yourself at home,” Marinette says absently, trying not to look too hard at Adrien, and how he’s somehow managed to get his head tangled in a makeshift light cocoon, like the beautiful dork he is.

Dork. Marinette from just a year ago would’ve pitched a fit at the mere thought that Adrien Agreste could be anything less than perfection. But after that game he’d played to help her confess her feelings? And the stupid jokes he tells that she can now listen to, since she can actually hold a conversation and not run away in lovestruck terror? Adrien Agreste is a certified dork, and Marinette’s no longer afraid to face the truth.

“Nino, come help me get us some pastries,” Alya says loudly, piercing through Marinette’s trance. Marinette jumps and somehow gets herself even more entangled in the lights from this one action.

“How do you need help to get pastries?” she splutters. “You already know where –”

“Nino’s tall,” Alya says with a smile so innocent that it’s completely devoid of innocence. “What if I need him to grab me something from a cupboard?”

“But the pastries aren’t –”

“Couple bonding activity!” Alya yanks Nino to his feet. “Besides, do you really want him here when he’s ready to set those lights on fire?”

“I’ll do it,” Nino says immediately. “Don’t tempt me.”

“Thank you, babe,” Alya says, patting him on the arm. “Besides, the more of us there are doing the lights, the more we’re just tangling them up even worse. You and Adrien have this!”

“Alyaaaaa,” Marinette whines.

“Marineeeette,” Alya whines back.

You know I can’t! Marinette pushes at her best friend psychically. Thankfully, because Alya is the best friend ever, she’s tuned in to Marinette Air and immediately picks up on the waves coming her way. She whips out her phone, types furiously while Nino raises his eyebrows and Adrien looks adorably confused, then nods and tucks her phone away.

“C’mon,” she says, grabbing Nino’s hand as Marinette’s phone buzzes twice. “Pastries! You and me!” She disappears with Nino before Marinette can so much as blink.

“…Marinette?” Adrien says carefully when Marinette remains frozen where she is in the wake of Alya’s departure. “Aren’t you gonna –”

“Yes! Right! Message!” Marinette fumbles for her phone and somehow manages to get herself even more ensnared in the evil fairy lights from the simple action of reaching into her pocket. She hugs her knees to her chest, takes a deep breath, then swipes open her phone and clicks on Alya’s message.

>> Look I get it girl. I get you’ve got this massive thing on your shoulders & I’m so sorry I can’t do more to help. But you deserve to be happy and you shouldn’t have to commit to being sad just bc of everything you do for all of us. You didn’t mess up bc of love you messed up bc of a jerk who took advantage of you and it wasn’t even the first time he did it to you.

>> You help us all bc you love us. You’re strong bc of it not weak. Pls let yourself be happy Mari I hate seeing you like this bc of big bad douchebag and hey I think Adrien gets the secret thing more than most ppl and you know I wouldn’t be pushing if I thought it’d turn out like Luka. Ily ❤️

Marinette blinks. Why do her eyes hurt so much? It’s not until something splatters on her phone screen that she realises she’s crying, and she lets out an ugly sob and hugs her phone to her chest.

“Marinette?” Adrien’s by her side in a heartbeat, throwing an arm around her without a care for how this wraps a thread of lights around her neck. “What’s wrong? What did Alya say?”

“N-Nothing,” Marinette sniffles. She lowers her phone with trembling hands and reads the message again, which sends a fresh wave of some massive, unnameable thing crashing over her, forcing her back under and filling her lungs. She gasps, accidentally dropping her phone in her attempt to bury her face in her hands.

“Marinette. Hey. It’s okay.” Something warm meets her face; warm and soft and smelling of pure radiance, and she instinctively takes it in as she gulps in oxygen. When she cracks an eye open, the few brain cells still functioning inform her that Adrien’s pulled her into a hug, and her face is half-buried in his ugly sweater, before they cease to work, and all she can do is sob into the scarlet fabric and lose any awareness of time as she drowns. Adrien just rocks her and squeezes her and grounds her in the hurricane, and she clutches to him like a life raft, praying that he doesn’t let go.

“S-Sorry,” she finally manages to say, her voice thick, cringing at how pathetic she sounds. “Messed up your sweater.”

“Marinette, I don’t care about the sweater,” Adrien says. “I care about you. What’s wrong? I know Alya wouldn’t make you cry to be mean or something.”

“She’s not – she didn’t –” Marinette wipes her streaming eyes and snotty nose with her sleeve. “She just –” After another few moments of trying in vain to explain, she gives up and shakily fishes for her phone to offer to Adrien. He doesn’t take it.

“Are you sure?” he says. “Whatever’s between you and Alya’s none of my business.”

“Just take it. Before I change my mind.”

Adrien hesitates for another moment before the phone is finally gently prised from Marinette’s fingers. She reburies her face in his sweater, tensing, praying that she hasn’t just absolutely messed everything up, even though Adrien clearly likes her, and she clearly likes him, and the only thing stopping them at this point is her and her messed-up brain.

“What happened?” Adrien eventually says. His voice is low and sharp, and Marinette pities anyone who ever ends up on the other side of this voice, because it’s a side of Adrien she’s never seen before. “Who took advantage of you? How? Do I need to punch someone?”

“I don’t think your father would appreciate having to bail you out,” Marinette says with a weak hiccup of laughter.

“I’d do it for you,” Adrien says. Blood rushes to Marinette’s face and pools in her cheeks until she could probably melt the polar icecaps with just her skin.

“Just…some guy,” she says vaguely. “Lied to me and made me think he was someone else. So…I trusted him. And I messed up big time. Big, big time.”

“I’ll kill him,” Adrien says straight away, his arms tightening around her. “No one gets to take advantage of Marinette Dupain-Cheng. No one. Not when you’re so sweet and kind and smart and brave and – and loving – Alya was right, you know, you love so easily and so much and it’s why I…you know…fell for you.”

“Stooooop,” Marinette whines. “Shush.”

“Nope. Look…you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but what exactly happened?”

“I –” For a long moment, Marinette wavers. But she steels herself. She can’t give in. She has to stay strong. “I can’t tell you. Not without giving away my big…big secret.”

“The one that got between you and Luka?”

Marinette nods jerkily. Adrien sighs and squeezes her.

“That’s okay. You don’t have to tell me.”

“R-Really?”

“Of course. Alya was right, you know. I get the secrets thing. And…I’ve got a big one of my own. One that I can’t tell anyone. So I’d be a real hypocrite if I tried to make you tell me yours.”

“What a pair,” Marinette mumbles, sagging against Adrien as the energy drains out of her and leaves her loose and limp and jelly limbed. Adrien laughs.

“I don’t know what happened,” he says, “but Alya’s right. Whatever happened, it didn’t go wrong because of love. It went wrong because this guy took advantage of your trust and kindness and love.”

“But I messed up!” Marinette jerks away but can’t go far, thanks to the lights that have somehow managed to glue them together like limpets. “Big, big time! My mistake could get people killed! It’s caused so much pain already!”

“So you’ll fix it,” Adrien says. His smile is so kind, so warm, and Marinette can hardly stand to look at it, but she also can’t stand to tear her eyes away from its radiance. “You always have the solution to any problem, Marinette. You’ll fix it.” His face falls and he looks away. “I messed up, too. I hurt someone really bad. Two people, actually. The second one almost died if she wasn’t a – look, I didn’t get to fix my mistake but I know you’ll fix yours, because that’s the person you are, Marinette.”

“But it’s because I love you!” Marinette blurts out. “It’s because I love you that I messed up! I should’ve known, I should’ve known it wasn’t you, but he looked just like you and I was an idiot and let my heart rule me and I trusted him – I trusted him – and he took everything from me!” She squeezes her eyes shut and hides back in Adrien’s sweater.

“M-Marinette…?” Adrien whispers.

“I just make mistake after mistake because of how much I love you,” Marinette sniffles. “And then I fell for Chat Noir and I almost got akumatised. I even got my father akumatised the first time! And I got Luka akumatised because I couldn’t be honest with him and I don’t want that to happen to you and I just keep messing up again and again every time I try to love someone and –”

“Shh. Breathe,” Adrien says soothingly as a fresh wave of sobs racks Marinette’s body.

“I c-can’t love Chat Noir or th-the world will end,” Marinette bawls. “I c-can’t love you or M-Monarch wins. I c-can’t love anyone.”

“It’s okay,” is all Adrien says. “It’s okay, Marinette, I swear, just let it out. I’ve got you.”

“I’m pathetic,” Marinette blubbers. “Weak and pathetic.” Her insides chill as her words from just before flood her senses and she groans and shakes her head. “And of course I only managed to say it now when I’m having a breakdown. Not when I actually want to say it to you. I really am pathetic.”

“No.” Adrien’s arms tighten around her. “You were wrong back then, and you’re wrong now. You’re not weak, Marinette. You’re not pathetic. You’re brilliant – strong – you’re so clever, so giving and loving, and I’m just sorry it took me this long to see what was right in front of me.”

“I d-didn’t exactly m-make it easy.”

“And I’m sorry that Félix took advantage of you. It’s my fault, I should’ve known he was up to no good when he offered to pretend to be me.”

“W-What?” Marinette’s brain record scratches, then shuts down. Slowly, barely able to breathe, she draws back and stares up at Adrien as her brain feebly struggles to comprehend the fact that two and two equal four; that Adrien knows, he knows who was having a mental breakdown on his bathroom floor. “F-Félix – but I didn’t –”

“You didn’t have to say it,” Adrien says with a small, wry smile. “I couldn’t think of anyone else who’d taken advantage of you by making you think it was me. Apart from Volpina, of course, but that was just an illusion.”

“I – but – Vol – what –” The trembling in Marinette’s limbs intensifies as the implications of Adrien’s words truly sink in. Adrien hadn’t been there. Volpina had been holding an illusion. The only other person who’d been there, who knows what happened on the Eiffel Tower… “You didn’t – you weren’t – it wasn’t –”

“I don’t know how loving me ended the world,” Adrien says while Marinette’s brain undergoes a total system reboot. “And I don’t know how our love could let Monarch win. But I swear that won’t happen, milady. I can’t let it happen. I won’t. Not now that I know you’ve loved me all this time. And not now I know that the two most amazing girls I know are the same person.”

“No!” Marinette throws herself away from him, toppling backwards. But since she’s currently tied to Adrien with the devil’s lights, he follows her right down and sprawls over her with an oof. “I didn’t – you can’t know, you can’t be him, I can’t –”

“We won’t destroy the world.”

“It happened twice! Because we knew! And now I’ve messed up again and I don’t have the Snake to fix it and Bunnyx is gonna show up and –”

“We don’t know what happened, Marinette. Milady. Please.” His green eyes are soft, crinkled, filled with love that Marinette doesn’t deserve. “Don’t shut me out. Not when you need help. I’ll be super extra careful, I swear, I won’t call you milady or do anything Chat-like in public, so long as you get to lean on me.”

“Nooo!” Marinette covers her face. “I’m so tired. I’m so sick of being miserable and not being allowed to be happy or even really be sad in case I get akumatised! And no one else can do it or they’ll be in danger! Monarch managed to figure out Scarabella!”

“Well, that’s what your dashing partner’s here for,” Chat Noir says. No, Adrien, it’s Adrien above her, except that it’s also Chat and Marinette’s about to have a mental breakdown. “You can always count on me, Marinette. And Alya – I’m guessing she knows?”

“Who do you think was Scarabella?” Marinette mumbles into her hands.

“Oh. Oh. So much makes sense now.”

“I don’t even care anymore.” Marinette lets her hands fall away from her face numbly. “I don’t care that you know. I don’t care that Monarch’s gonna win. I’m tired. I’m so tired, Adrien. I should get to worry about school and boys and fashion without having all this weight on my shoulders!”

“Exactly,” Adrien says firmly. He brushes strands of hair out of Marinette’s eyes, making her battered heart leap into her throat. “You shouldn’t have to deal with all of this. But you’ve got Alya now, and you’ve got me – you’ve always had me, ever since Stoneheart. We’re gonna win, Marinette. We’ll beat Monarch and rescue the kwamis, and you’ll finally get to be happy. And what Félix did to you doesn’t make you weak. Okay?”

“If you say so,” Marinette says. Adrien rolls his eyes.

“I do say so. And I’m your charming, dashing partner, so I’m right, and you have to listen to me.”

A weak giggle wrenches its way out of Marinette. Once the dam’s been cracked, there’s no containing everything that pours out of her in hysterical laughter as her brain meshes Adrien and Chat Noir together – the two boys she loves, the two people aside from Alya who’ve been there for her through everything – and she tries to process everything that happened in the last few minutes. Or hours. Or days. Really, what even is time?

“Why am I laughing?” she hiccups, wiping her streaming eyes while Adrien smiles like the cat who got the cream. Or rather, in this case, the ladybug. “Why? You’re not even that funny.”

“Au contraire, milady,” Adrien says, still grinning. How had she never connected the dots before? He’s so…so…Chat. It’s so obvious. “You confessed to finding me absolutely amewsing when you had to tell the truth, remember?”

“I hate you,” Marinette mutters. But Adrien’s smirk widens, because she’s just as much of a lying liar as Alya, and there’s no way on earth she could hate her kitty, no matter how obnoxious his puns are.

“Liar,” Adrien sings. Then he frowns. “Does it usually take that long to get pastries? Alya and Nino have been gone for ages.”

“They’re just making us talk about this, silly kitty. Alya’s a meanie and abandoned me in my hour of need.”

“Well, I never will.” Adrien exaggeratedly puffs out his chest and Marinette can’t help but laugh. “We should – ah, no –” He tries to sit up but only succeeds in pulling Marinette up against his chest, thanks to the lights that have somehow further entwined them. “How did this happen? How? We barely even moved!”

“The magic of Christmas,” Marinette giggles. It’s still there, deep in her chest, looming and threatening to suffocate her again…but maybe Adrien’s right. Maybe she can do this with him. And maybe whatever happened the last two times won’t happen now, and Monarch won’t be able to take advantage of their love.

She has to believe that. She just has to. What other option does she have, besides losing her mind and throwing her earrings at Monarch for a chance to have five minutes to breathe? And if this was going to lead to the end of the world, surely Bunnyx would’ve shown up by now, right? Right?

“I thought this just happened in the movies!” Adrien says. “Okay, uh – you try moving this way, I’ll put my arm here –”

“You’re making it worse!” Marinette says when Adrien’s move just plasters her face against his neck.

“Do we need to call in the cavalry?”

“No! Alya will never let me live it down!”

“No, I won’t,” says the voice of someone eviller than Monarch. Marinette groans and lets herself fall into hiding against Adrien’s throat so that she doesn’t have to see the look that’s going to be on Alya’s face.

“Alya!” Adrien says. “Our saviour! The second most amazing girl in the world!”

“Second?” Alya splutters.

“She’d better be second to you, bro!” Nino says.

“Great, they’re both here,” Marinette groans. “What do we owe you, Alya?”

“Hmm,” Alya says, clearly relishing the situation before her. “Let’s just say a favour for now. This is way too good for me to think of something on the spot.”

“Fine,” Marinette says pathetically. “Just get us out of this mess.”

“Alright, alright. Nino, try and figure out where the hell the end is.”

It takes an entire half hour. Half an hour of cursing and sweating and playing festive Twister before Alya and Nino can finally detangle the lights enough for Marinette to slip out and off Adrien. She’s craving a nice hot chocolate to drown herself in by now, so she grumbles and staggers into the kitchen to make drinks for everyone because really, there’s nothing better than a hot chocolate and a good croissant when you’ve just had a meltdown and want to feel warm inside. Once the hot chocolates are made, Adrien’s also free from his merry prison, and Alya’s untangling the lights with a deft ease that makes Marinette very, very suspicious of why Alya had escaped downstairs. And the entire half hour she and Nino had taken to untangle them.

“You could’ve done this all along!” Marinette accuses. Alya snickers.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she says sweetly. Marinette narrows her eyes. “Okay, time to put them up before someone lights them on fire!”

As the two tallest people, Adrien and Nino take on the task of stringing the lights around the tree while Alya directs them, because apparently “journalistic instincts” translate into knowing the best way to decorate a Christmas tree.

Once again, Marinette thanks the universe for bringing Alya Césaire into her life. Where she’d be without her best friend on either side of the mask, she has no clue, even if said best friend deviously engineers for her to be tied to her crush with Christmas spirit and actually have a conversation about her feelings, instead of being able to escape.

“Adrien, you can have the honours,” Alya declares once the lights are strung up. Adrien beams and bends down to plug them in, and the childlike wonder on his face as the tree lights up in reds and yellows and greens and blues is enough to make every organ in Marinette’s abdominal cavity quiver and flutter. At this rate, her body’s well on the way to shutting down, and she can’t even be upset about it.

“Okay,” she whispers to Alya. “I take it back. You know what you’re doing.”

“Don’t I always?” Alya grins and tosses her hair. But then her smirk shifts into a softer smile. “I’ve never seen him so happy. Not even last Christmas.”

“He’s never decorated a tree!” Marinette waves her hands around. “How wrong is that?”

“What’s next?” Adrien says, popping up in front of Marinette out of nowhere. Marinette yelps but manages to keep her footing this time.

“Tinsel!” she blurts out. “Shiny!”

Adrien laughs and bends down to fish out the golden tinsel from one of the boxes. “It’s okay, princess, you don’t have to be scared of me. I don’t bite.”

“What the hell,” Nino says while Marinette lets out a squeal so high that every dog in Paris has probably been summoned to the bakery. “I hate it here.”

“You’re even more disgusting with Alya,” Adrien says.

“Yeah, you stayed behind when I was a zombie,” Alya teases. Nino shrugs.

“Fair. You do stupid things for love.”

“Yeah,” Adrien says, looking directly at Marinette, who flushes and looks down. “You do.”

#aotq fic #miraculous ladybug #ml season 5 spoilers #love square #identity reveal #hurt/comfort #marinette dupain-cheng #adrien agreste #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #mlss2k22 #ml secret santa #christmas fluff #marinette is a hot mess #nino's done with everything

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lilredcamaro14 · 1 year

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Merry Christmas @ange-lica-3 🎄from your @mlsecretsanta 🎁 this year. I hope you enjoy this story, I had fun writing it. I hope you have a wonderful holiday!

#mlsecretsanta #miraculous ladybug #secret santa 2022 #adrienette #ange-lica-3 #ml fanfic #mlss2k22 #lukagami

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purplerose244 · 1 year

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Special delivery

Here we go again! Another wonderful @mlsecretsanta! Thank you for hosting this beautiful event every year! 💕

This year my present is for @gyroshrike! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and I wish you the best New Year! I really had fun with this fic so I hope you enjoy it, in full Christmas spirit! 🎄🎄

The link to the AO3 posted fic is here!

Summary: Adrien just wants to see his friends and spend time with his girlfriend on Christmas, Marinette just wants to have fun at the party and see her boyfriend on Christmas. When it looks like the merry day will be filled with nothing but disappointment, how about the local heroes do what they do best and intervene to save the day?

Could Chat Noir truly hope for some luck on this fine day?

To be fair, Christmas had to be the unluckiest celebration for him – second only to his birthday, or his friends’ birthdays, or just general parties… maybe he should had stopped partying in general. So, if all of his physics lessons were worth it and if something could go wrong it will, it had to happen today. With that being said, this is not what he had expected after learning that his father had somehow caught a cold in this specific period and completely disappeared from the radars, pretending like he had been somehow present in the house before. That had felt like a weird kind of déjà-vu, somehow there was no way to normally celebrate with father on this specific day. When Nathalie had even dared to ask Adrien to stay at home in case his conditions improved enough for a small party, there had been absolutely no doubt in his mind that some air needed to be taken.

Yes he did leave a message this time, yes he did make sure someone got his back making sure no one panicked – Gorilla was the best –, he didn’t want a repeat of last time. Besides, he just wanted to run around a bit, maybe lick a bit of snow, let it out over the fact that he had turned down his friends’ party in the vague hope of a normal Christmas and he was once again disappointed.

He would have expected an akuma coming his way, honestly. He would have not blamed Hawk Moth even – alright that wasn’t true he wasn’t that desperate.

Yet apparently, he hadn’t been the target.

“I am Prizencer!” The reindeer-looking akuma raised up his horns, that shined like the snow covering the city of Paris. “Christmas is a stressful occasion where you have to spend and save money and feel uncomfortable! I’ll make sure nothing of this tedious festivity remains!” Rays of lights started to hit all over and, in a blink, decorations of holly and stars were gone. Along with the people and the building those decorations were near to.

The little upsetting scene of all the merry decorations of the city disappearing had been going for a solid thirty-second lapse, and it wasn’t like he didn’t want to jump in it and save the day. In all honesty, Chat was simply a bit taken back.

Sure it was horrible, sure it was frustrating, but… that was his reasoning?

“Festivity stress? Really?” He rotated his staff, just to have something to do with his hands while contemplating. “I’m not saying it’s not valid, but-”

“Not worth interrupting a day of shopping and Christmas activities?” Chat Noir touched the side of his nose. As usual his lady was on point. “Although the fact that we both have stuff to do and we’re frustrated by this is a point in his favour. The poor guy might’ve stayed up all night finishing the present for his one and only, only to realize the kind of stitch he made is tight and not very tight and wondered for an hour if take it as it is or accept the fact that perfection doesn’t exist and the world is flawed and cruel…” She blinked, closing her mouth for a second. “… just a hypothesis.”

Chat giggled. Confident Ladybug was impossibly charming, yet when the genuine girl that he knew was there came out of the mask every once in a while, it made him want to know her even more. Of course, this was not permitted, although he felt a little more peaceful about it ever since the both of them got committed and serenely told each other.

Was he still starstruck by her every move? Yes, of course, but who wasn’t in Paris – aside from Hawk Moth and being a villain was no excuse anyway.

“That went personal pretty quick, milady. Is Christmas affecting you as well?”

“Well, it did until yesterday evening, then I had a bit of a wakeup call.” She sighed and oh, who had dared making her feel even slightly unhappy? “I was hoping to spend time with my boyfriend today, but apparently that won’t be possible. I knew it was a possibility, it just sucks you know? You were expecting some special time but you kinda have to adapt.” Ouch, alright, murder tendencies at bay. Too relatable to talk bad about. “I guess I’ll give him the present after festivities, although I hope I get to see him eventually.” They had talked about their relationships before, on a very vague account.

It sounded like a long-distance, even, from how complicated it seemed to be seeing each other.

“… is it food? The present I mean.” Ladybug arched an eyebrow, Chat Noir raised his hands in surrender – yep Prizencer was still wreaking havoc, whatever, it was gossip time. “Hey, just saying, if you need someone to make sure not to waste good holiday food I’m down!”

“That’s more of a pig thing and less of a cat, you know.”

“Alright, I’m kidding! I’m feeling you, I’m also probably not gonna see my girlfriend today. There were complications at my house, you know.” A romantic like him not having a special Christmas kiss now that he was finally with Marinette, it was absolutely outrageous. “I’ll have to be satisfied with her Merry Christmas message from this morning…” There had been so many hearts in that single text – Adrien had answered with double the amount.

Ladybug looked at him and smiled sadly. On one side, bonding over tragedy was a bit melancholic. On the other, having each other’s backs for this too? Awesome.

“Same here. To think I was so excited for it too, and there are so many parties all over the city!”

“Oh yeah, I heard Kitty Section is holding a concert in one too? Over the Seine?”

“Yes, that one! Oh, it was so beautifully prepared, captain Anarka really never do things by halves!” All of his classmates were certainly going to be there. Except him. Woo was him. “Mm… it’s not far from here, you know? How about we get this over with, then go have a peak? Maybe your girlfriend is over there, but no name calling of course!”

Bless her bless her bless her bless her-

“That’s a great idea!” Whoops, how did half the city disappear already? Did they really stop to talk that long now? “Uhm, maybe you should…?”

“Maybe I should. Lucky Charm!” In a wonder of ladybugs and sparkles, a red and black dotted Easter egg appeared. “Oh, yeah, I guess he wouldn’t care to hit stuff about other holidays… what a sad egg though, not even a bow?” It was quite plain, yes.

Chat Noir couldn’t help himself.

“Not as sad as the Agreste mansion, that’s for sure.” Ack, that wasn’t supposed to come out. Too late, his lady’s eyes were already on him. Alright, no need to panic, he did slip up before and he could play it cool. “Nothing, it’s just that I’ve passed nearby while coming here. The place is pretty alright, but there’s no one in there celebrating or doing anything.” To be honest he would have liked to see even just Gorilla or Nathalie enjoy themselves, like having a coffee and some buche de Noel in the kitchen. But no, anyone and everyone in that house had to only serve Gabriel Agreste.

Ladybug didn’t seem satisfied with the answer, and for a terrifying second Adrien feared she didn’t believe his carelessness. Then he saw worry in her eyes.

“But aren’t Gabriel Agreste and his son celebrating?”

Ah, right, she was the most compassionate girl in the world. Silly cat, rookie mistake.

“Huh, I think I saw Mr. Agreste in bed? He looked sick so maybe that’s why there wasn’t anything going on.” She was speechless. In retrospect, perhaps it was shocking from an outsider knowing that such a wealthy family was spending Christmas in bed – and in pain in his own case, but that was personal. “Uhm, maybe they’ll be more active on Boxing Day? Let’s just focus on the akuma.”

“Oh, Adrien…”

“What did you say?”

“I said prepare Cataclysm and wait for my signal, I’ll get his attention through the Lucky Charm and use it as a decoy. The akuma is probably in the wallet between his horns.”

“You most certainly did not say that, but you’re the boss!” That confidence meant that things were going to be taken care of quickly at least. Besides, Chat was almost one hundred percent sure she was an Adrien Agreste fan so that was probably where the fuss came from. In a couple of jumps he was behind the akuma, hand out. “Cataclysm!” It went pretty fast from there, it looked like the lady was suddenly quite in a hurry. She straight up threw the egg in Prizencer’s face, who was double confused from the attack and the anachronistic present, so he had all the time to jump on his back and free the akuma. The guy came back as a very sweaty waiter man pretty quickly.

“No more evil, bye butterfly, yadda yadda! Miraculous Ladybug!” Alright now she was very clearly eager to leave. “Sorry kitty, I know I was the one to propose the concert, but I realized I need to do something really important!” Oh. So much for the enthusiasm.

That was on himself though, believing in a good Christmas? Really?

“That’s okay. What do you have to do, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I gotta talk to someone. Then I have to pick up someone else, maybe… I’m putting it together as I go!” She extended her fist and he, of course, hit back. “Pound it and Merry Christmas, Chat!”

Aaand she was gone – limping a little, wait maybe that was his imagination. That was quick, it looked like finding a new purpose on this day had done wonders to her mood. Chat wasn’t quite sure what had changed and if it had to do with that quick talk about the Agrestes – talking about himself in third person was never not going to be weird –, but at least she had something to do.

Unlike himself. Well, aside from bringing home whoever this waiter was.

“Hello sir, how about I get you back home?”

“Oh, thanks Chat Noir! I’m really sorry about this!” He looked genuinely distressed, like he needed to vent – therapists in Paris were all getting their specialization in akuma PTSD, right? “I’ve been working nonstop at the ‘Lost Navigator’, the famous restaurant, and the stress made me lose it!”

“No worries, it’s understandable.” He took out the baton, sighing a little. Going to the party with Ladybug would have been fun. Perhaps he could still go have a peak on his own, or even joined in, but what if someone questioned his presence with so many people around? Wondering how did he appear out of nowhere? “Hold onto me and relax, I’ll get you back in no time.” Or maybe he was a bit resigned at spending this day on his own. Why would this even change after all? “Hang in there sir, I’m sure your luck will change… Christmas is just hard work for some people, huh.”

***

Could Ladybug truly hope for some luck on this fine day?

Now, she was a designer and one extremely creative person, so hands down themed festivities were her absolute favourites. Yet whenever something so happened to be very important to her, and whenever her entire being started to be focused on that event and that one only, life tended to be quite funny with her.

Funny, as to say that if life was fiction and someone was looking from above, seeing her trip in the only trait without snow on her way back home would have been pretty hilarious to see – huh, what a wild concept. For her, of course, a sprained foot wasn’t particularly amusing, but hey it was Christmas! Better work hard to make sure she had all presents ready for it. Wait her boyfriend had declined the invite to the party so she wasn’t going to see him? She had sobbed maniacally all over Tikki the last night but hey it was Christmas! Better focus on the party even without her favourite blondie. Wait her sprain was so bad she couldn’t walk and she didn’t want to make others worry about her so she had decided not to come at all? She was angry and couldn’t even stress walk but hey it was Christmas! Better make happy thoughts and look over photos of Adrien to calm down.

Wait, her boyfriend apparently got disappointed by his father for the umpteenth time and was not going to be celebrating like he had said? She had added another reason why Gabriel Agreste wasn’t going to be invited to their future wedding but hey it was Christmas!

… oh enough Christmas, her buttercup needed her!

After a quick pause to de-transform – Tikki looked so conflicted between supporting her but worrying about her injury, she deserved more cookies for later – she was charged and ready for action. The little detour all the way to the Seine had been necessary solely to check if having Adrien around was going to be a problem with the amount of people, but somehow the Liberty was a sturdy as ever, even with a quarter of Paris’ population on it – laws weren’t allowed on board, so perhaps even science was banned. From above Ladybug had seen Alya, Nino, Nathaniel, Mylene, Ivan, basically the entire class aside from the ones that shall not be named – she wanted to be nice on Christmas, not seething. It looked so fun, she really wished she could just stop there.

Unfortunately, every movement and step reminded her of her sprain, even in full Ladybug costume. It had softened but it still hurt, she would have not forced it if it hadn’t been for the akuma. She didn’t want people to worry about her and look at her as the usual clumsy Mari, besides she wasn’t going to be able to stand up anyway so there was no point.

Even if it hurt, even if it made her sad, it was no reason not to power through and give someone else a bit of a bounce back from last year’s Christmas.

It took a bit longer to get to the Agreste mansion than usual, pushing her foot more and more. Just like Chat had said, not like she had not trusted him for a second: the place looked great, from the windows lots of very expensive decorations could be seen. Yet no party, no dinner, no happiness around. It looked even lonelier than the first time Marinette had seen it, it was like all the hope had been pushed on the outside so it couldn’t get in.

To give credit to Mr. Agreste he was, in fact, in his room. He didn’t look particularly unwell but perhaps she wanted to judge him with all of her strength – no one she knew was going to blame her for it. No matter anyway, she certainly wasn’t here for him.

She just had to circle the house a bit to look over that specific window. Oh, he was laying onto the bed so miserably, moving his lips as to talk to someone – maybe he had headphones?

Ladybug smiled a little, knocking. Adrien gasped.

“Ladybug?!” His voice arrived to her a bit muffled. He hurried to open the window, a bit smile on his face. Ah, this was already better. “What, I don’t, what are you doing here?” Yes by dating Adrien she had learned about her boy’s old little crush on her superhero persona. Yes it was impossibly adorable seeing him so gushy about her, while still giving her plenty of room.

She thought for a moment, imagining herself as the most passionate person she knew – Chat Noir, easy choice – and pulling on her best playful side.

“Oh-oh-oh, Merry Christmas! I’ve come to deliver a very special present today!”

Adrien blinked. Yeah that was probably a bit out of there for her.

“A present for me? Oh, you didn’t have to come all this way! You must be busy.”

Ladybug grinned. This was fun, she could understand why Chat liked to mess around so much.

“Oh, there seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding! I have no present for you!” She acted fast before he could even think of making a disappointed face. She sprinted and scooped him up between her arms. “Because you’re the present!” Oh she had been wishing to do this for so long now and there was no way to do that without the costume’s super strength. This moment was going to be highlighted inside her journal – ‘Dear diary, today I held up Adrien like a prince on a Christmas day, I think I exhausted half my life goals in one day so I’ll sleep for a week’.

Her boyfriend was red, blushing didn’t even begin to describe how he was. He had a natural light complexion and right now it brightened his cheeks beautifully. It took such an effort not to kiss him right about now – the poor guy probably would have straight up fainted.

“I’m- uh- huh- what?!”

He wasn’t making it easy on her to hold back smooching.

“I heard from a friend of mine that you’re not spending a good Christmas. Well then, I believe there are several people that cannot wait to see you today, so I’m bringing you to them.”

Finally lucidity in his eyes. Adrien parted his lips in wonder.

“Wait, really? You saw my friends?”

“They’re at the Liberty. If they had known about you being on your own, I’m sure they would have tried to break into the place and as a superhero I can’t have that on Christmas day!” Alright now Chat Noir was really rubbing onto her, better not freak her boy out. “You don’t have to be alone, especially not today. If you’re okay with it, let me take you there.” She really didn’t want to leave him here, in a cold room, with no one to celebrate with.

“Of course I’m in! Thank you so much!” Look at him brightening up like the sun, seriously what kind of unbreakable stone was Gabriel Agreste’s heart made of? “Just, uhm… could you give me a second?” He patted her awkwardly and she – regretfully – let him back to the ground. He sprinted towards the door, leaving her alone for a couple of minutes. After that he was back, panting and smiling. “Sorry! I had to warn Gorilla, since last Christmas me disappearing was a bit of an event.” Ah, yes, when she freaked out and accused a random civilian – Adrien had to stop being involved with akumas, it was better for her heart. “I’m ready now!” He looked at her expectantly.

Oh. Ladybug smirked a little. He loved being scooped as much as she loved doing it, huh?

“Well then, let’s not waste any more time!” She quickly grabbed him between her arms once again, feeling that thrill in the stomach – like, you know, the excitement of being alive for this exact moment. “Hold on tight, I promise not to let you fall. Trust me.”

“Always.”

He needed not to talk for the rest of the travel, because that gave her weak knees and you couldn’t have that while jumping from one building to the other.

The Seine wasn’t too far from the residence and the Liberty was docked pretty close as well, so it didn’t take her nearly as much time as usual to get into the designated place – yes, not all akumas spawned conveniently outside of her own school and yes, Paris wasn’t little. The only problem was that annoying foot that was still bothering her, giving her a reminder every once in a while, of how flipping clumsy she still was despite being a superhero for over a year now. For the life of her though she wasn’t going to make a fool of herself right now, especially not by dropping the most requested teen model of Paris. Sure it had been established by Adrien that he found her adorable nonetheless, but she wanted to be cool at least with the suit. At least. Please.

Her wish seemed to be granted, as they managed to land nearby the party with no casualties. The Liberty was covered in holly and Christmas lights all over, it was shaking by the sheer power of the music playing onto the bridge and it looked like tonight no police officer was going to make a fuss about it – mostly because Officer Roger was right there dancing like there was no tomorrow.

Almost as soon as Adrien made his way towards the Liberty, Nino caught sight of him and went to tackle him on sight.

“Dude, you’re here! Awesome!” He tilted his head, noticing his entourage. “And you’re with Ladybug! Double awesome!” As that one affirmation had caught the attentions of other people, Nino looked around. “And you got no bodyguard or Nathalie around! Triple awesome!”

Adrien beamed – heart be still.

“Stuff happened, but never mind that, you don’t need another motive to hate on my dad.”

“Whaaat, no way!… My list of reasons can always get longer!” This was why Nino was the best. He pointed at the party with a thumb. “Come on, let’s party!”

“Yes, right away!” Adrien turned to her, smiling. “Thank you so much Ladybug, you don’t know how much this means for me! It’s the best Christmas present you could’ve given me!” Oh, did he know how easy he made it all worth it? How fast it was for her to thank the stars for being here, just to have one of his smiles? If he did, man he was taking advantage of it. “Alright, I’m ready! I can’t wait to see Marinette, is she wearing something awesome as usual?” Oh, did he also know how much she was affected by all of his words? Nino was making a face as well. “… what?”

“Sorry Adrien, Mari isn’t here.” Whoa, when did Alya arrive? And when did she start taking pictures of her? And why she was questioning her after knowing her journalist impulses for so long? “Girl gave me no explanation. Not like she has to, I know she sprained her foot.” What?!

“What?!” Good thing Adrien’s shout covered hers. Seriously her best friend was too good of a journalist in the weirdest of situations. “Is she okay?? Why didn’t she say anything?”

Alya made a sad smile.

“The usual, not wanting to worry people. But since she can’t walk there’s no helping.”

“… maybe.” Adrien blinked a little, giving a quick look to his hand. “Uhm, thanks again Ladybug! But I gotta go to the bathroom really quick, sorry!” With the same speed witnessed before the boy was gone, almost leaving a cartoonish puff of smoke behind. That was unusual, although Marinette knew how random that boy could be.

Too bad she couldn’t see him more than this for tonight.

“Have a good party tonight, everyone! Be safe!”

“Whaaat, I was gonna ask you for a Christmas interview!”

“Maybe next time, Alya! Bug out!” With that she was back into the sky, going for the quickest route to bring her back to her bed, a cup of chocolate and a bunch of cat videos. Not the Christmas night of her dreams, but it was going to have to do… unfortunately. She sighed, aiming at her house with the eyes. “Awesome Christmas Marinette, Awesome Christmas.”

***

Could Adrien truly hope for some luck on this fine day?

Despite being universally known as an extremely oblivious person – it took Chloe, Lila, Kagami, Marinette, Marinette and Marinette for him to realize it –, there were times when he was quite aware of the situations. Not many times, he could admit that, but after being disappointed over and over by people he didn’t even need to name, one tended to develop a certain acknowledgement. Maybe it was sad how he was mostly conscious only over how life liked to give him a cookie as a prize, then hit him with an empty box. One little peak of happiness, only for that one door to slam violently in his face.

He had no idea how seeing Ladybug and being carried bridal style over Paris on Christmas could had ignited that annoying pattern, yet the moment Adrien heard about his favourite designer being literally grounded in her house, even that idyllic dream meant nothing anymore. Of course it was never this easy, of course something bad had to happen. It was Christmas after all.

Except you know what? There was no way he was sitting this one out, whining and waiting like he didn’t have the power to change things. If he could have his favourite hero pay a visit in this special day, there was no reason why Mari couldn’t have the same treatment.

… well alright, the reason was that Adrien had forgotten to ask Ladybug for help, since he really wanted to get Marinette himself. Hopefully she was going to be okay with the cat.

The Liberty was literally vibrating with music, Kitty Section was playing at full volume and as much as Adrien couldn’t wait to put into practice what he and a certain someone had been working on, it was going to have to wait. He ran through the people, dodging Nathaniel sneakily making a sketch of Marc while he wasn’t there – was this how it felt to look at obliviousness from outside, whoa – and almost bumping into Ivan.

“Adrien, you’re here!” It was rare to see Ivan so brightened up, perhaps it had something to do with the big colourful sweater he was wearing – ‘On the naughty list’, which meant that by the law of matching sweaters Mylene was ‘On the nice list’, which was to be expected. “We thought you weren’t going to make it, Marc was freaking out! Ready for the plan?”

Right, that, absolutely.

Not before Marinette though.

“Yes but in a minute! I really need to get to the bathroom!” He almost jumped two steps, then turned around. “Random question, are there windows in this ship’s bathroom?”

Ivan blinked.

“Huh, I think so?”

“Perfect! Thanks!” There had to be less conspicuous ways to get to a secluded place with an opening to pretend to be busy without anyone disturbing him. Tonight there was no time for bright ideas anyway, he was a kitty on a mission – also Ladybug was in charge of the brain cell anyway. “Ah, there we go!” The bathroom was empty and, luckily, with a pretty accessible window. He hurriedly locked the door behind him, took a deep breath, then opened the porthole. All the time for Plagg to come out and smirk at him. “… what?”

“Running away from home without a second thought, Ladybug contributing with your escape, and now you’re being all mischievous at a party! Finally some action!” Right, this kwami was the embodiment of the devil on his shoulder. “Too bad you’re getting suspicious for a cheesier reason than Camembert, but as a Christmas present, I’ll avoid puking.”

Adrien rolled his eyes, snickering.

“Wow, thanks. I’ll have to wrap another form of cheese for you to put under the tree.” It was half ironic half true, and Plagg was already drooling. “But that comes later! For now, Plagg, claws out!”

There he went. The change was always pretty dramatic, it was like a rush of excitement that made his entire body stronger. It was amazing every time, but he was too focused on the goal to care right about now. He had already taken a good look at how beautiful everything was tonight, he was a hopeless romantic and despite how much Christmas felt like a bit of a depressive holiday, it was a view coming out of his most vivid dreams.

They weren’t worth it without her though.

Marinette’s house was a bit of a strategic point, not only because it had a nice view over the park and was a pretty high standpoint, but because the Tom and Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie had to be a magnet, especially on such a special day. Of course it was closed at this hour, which was a bit of a pity, but it wasn’t like he could had gotten in without gathering lots of attention on himself – one would think he was tired of people being all over him in both lives… that one would have been right. It was still so beautiful, a little place of sweet magic, just for how deeply loving was the family living under this roof.

Okay, Adrien surely was completely gone for this girl, but he knew more people than would have wanted only good things for Marinette than people looking for her downfall – name-calling was not necessary – so he didn’t really blame himself. Now, if he knew this gorgeous, smart, clumsy, dreamer of a girlfriend, she was definitely on top of the rooftop despite the cold.

Ah-ha. She was also sitting down, even though her standard position was leaning onto the railings, which meant Alya was right and her foot was pretty bad. She was also pouting, which was an immense waste on such a beautiful face.

Time to turn that frown upside down.

Luckily, it so happened to be one of his specialities.

“Well well well!” She somehow managed to jump from sitting all the way to the ground. Seriously, how could he not have heart eyes for her? “Good evening princess, come here often?”

“Chat, what…?! You…!” She slowly tried to get up again and he felt a bit guilty for scaring her so much, so he hurried to help her up. “You don’t get to appear out of nowhere with such a lame opening line! What are you doing here, my parents’ shop is closed!” Was it really so obvious to think he was here solely to get some treats? On second thought yes it was. “And I don’t have any saved in my room this time, so you won’t find anything to eat.”

“Why do I feel like a stray cat anytime I come here?”

“I don’t know, why do you?” Now she was grinning, crossing her arms. “I’m glad to see you though, being on my own wasn’t how I wanted to celebrate… uhm, Merry Christmas.” How dare she being anything other than ecstatic, that was not going to stand.

Chat Noir took out his staff, playing around with it as his usual.

“Merry Christmas to you too, but I’m afraid this isn’t a pleasure trip. I’m currently on an extremely serious mission, in order to prevent the arrival of new akumas in the city!” She was more worried than expected at the prospect, a little more than he would have thought considering that he was joking around. “I recently learned that a certain person couldn’t attend a certain party, therefore so many of her friends are very disappointed not to be able to have fun with her.” He smirked when her face changed. “We wouldn’t want people to turn evil because they couldn’t see their favourite designer, right? Think of the field trip Hawk Moth could have!”

Maybe he was kidding around, maybe it wasn’t that weird of a reasoning considering that several akumas had been born because of something Marinette related – of course, he really couldn’t talk.

Marinette blinked, then she smiled shily.

“I didn’t want people to worry about me.”

“I’m afraid that is officially mission failed, but we can still turn it all around! How about I escort you tonight? It will be my little present for you!” He totally stole that one from Ladybug but honestly how to blame him, that was totally his style and she totally stole it from him. “Don’t worry, flying with Chat Noir Air is the smoothest and funniest experience of all, you’ll see!” As long as there weren’t gigantic gorillas running rampant over Paris, that was.

“Oh Chat, you don’t have to!” Mari shrugged a little, despite her smiled getting wider. “I’m fine, I can see my friends and my boyfriend another day… I guess.” Ah, she could be more convincing than this, their class representative. That was a good sign, she wanted to come.

Chat smiled at her, letting just a bit of Adrien out.

“But your boyfriend wants to see you today.” She immediately gaped at him. “The blonde one, right? I peaked at the party, he was looking everywhere for you.”

“He was?” She blushed, her eyes lightening up. “Oh, Adrien…”

It took everything inside of him not to kiss her right now. Instead, he extended his hand.

“If I were him, I would want you to hurry up and reach me as soon as possible. I promise you, the party at the Liberty is exceptional, you’ll love it.” She was still hesitant, he sighed. “You’re always helping others out, how about tonight you let others take care of you? Don’t think about how the others will feel, just this time.” He wanted her to have a great night. He wanted the both of them to have a great night together. She deserved it for always being everyone’s rock. He hoped he deserved it for giving a hand at keeping Paris safe.

When she grabbed his hand at last, he felt like his night was already so much better.

Ladybug was much more graceful at going from one roof to the other, but from how Marinette would cheer for every little jump and turnaround he felt like he was doing a fairly good job. Carrying a princess all the way to a Christmas party was obviously amazing, and the fact that he wasn’t doing it to run away from an akuma even more incredible.

Maybe Mari was feeling the same from how at ease she seemed to be, and how elated she was when they arrived at the party. It took nothing for Alya to take sight of her best friend and going for the hug, making sure to be careful of her foot.

“You silly, hide something like this again and I’ll spoil you to death!”

“You can make better threats than this, Alya.” Marinette laugh, the whole night shook. She turned to him. “Thank you so much, Chat Noir.” He really wanted to hold her. Grab her hand. Kiss her.

He didn’t. Not now. He bowed instead.

“My pleasure. Have an enchanting night, princess.”

He needed to change first.

***

Could Marinette truly hope for some luck on this fine day?

So far, it was going quite incredibly. Maybe it was her superhero nature, but helping out others was already a thrill of itself, so knowing that bringing Adrien to the party had been the highlight of his night had been already such a wonderful moment of the day – also just, seeing him, but that felt like a given at this point. Not enough to make her stop whining about her misfortune, and how freaking swollen was her foot at this point, and how her parents were out on a Christmas dinner thinking she was out with her friends making her feel awful for lying, and how her friends knew she was injured and were worried, and how her butt hurt from sitting, and how-

It turned out that seeing her partner, even without her suit and something menacing approaching, was better than any other medicine – although yes she did take something for the pain, she wasn’t dumb. And like every day ever since they had started to save Paris, he surprised her, giving her a chance at turning this day all around.

At times like these Marinette was sorry that she could never love Chat Noir, the way he used to love her. She was sure that he would have treated her well, they would have had lots of fun, and they would have taken care of each other. Those thoughts were always filled with what ifs.

In her life, though, it could only be Adrien.

At the end, she was happy he had moved on, and she was happy her dream had come true… so why in the name of the Miraculous Ladybug couldn’t she enjoy the moment?!

Marinette was currently resting her chin over her hands, while her elbows were over her knees. She was watching everyone dancing around, standing up over their completely fine feet, having the time of their lives. While she had been forced onto this chair by her friends, with nothing but a glass of soda as a refreshment and giving some unenthusiastic sips as entertainment. The situation had been protracted for some time now, it was seriously getting on her nerves. There had been no one to talk to, nothing to have fun with, and no buttercup in sight.

What was going on, exactly?

“Hey Marinette.” To be clear, she was happy to see Nathaniel, very much so even. With that being said, his wasn’t the voice that she had been looking for. If only she could just stand up. “So, random question, do you have any idea why your Adrien was intercepted by my Marc to go who knows where? They’ve been away for some time now.”

Alright, she could interrupt her current bad mood in favour of her favourite activity: being nosy about his friends’ love stories. She grinned immediately.

“Your Marc, huh?”

“My- as in my partner, as in work! We have the comic book, remember!” There was nothing more endearing than a redhead getting red, it was truly a sight she was happy to be here for. Now if her boyfriend could just magically appear before her, that would have been even better. “I’m not saying something’s going on, but also he was really tense tonight, more than usual. Now Adrien comes out of nowhere, and suddenly he looks relieved? What’s happening?”

Well that was odd. Marinette shrugged.

“Beats me, I have no idea.” As she said that though, from the stage there was movement. A swift idea came into mind the moment Kitty Section, complete with blonde pianist, appeared. With an extra keyboard. “What if…?”

She didn’t have to wait. Rose was quick to get to the microphone, giving a quick wink to the rest of the band, then to the audience.

“Hey everyone! This is Kitty section! It’s me Rose, and Luka, Juleka, Adrien, Ivan-”

“Go Ivan!! You’re awesome!!”

“Ahah, you don’t have to say it every time we introduce ourselves Mylene, I think you’re breaking Ivan!” The kind giant looked pretty steamy from there in fact, red in face with vapor coming out of his ears – also with a smile going from one ear to the other, yeah he was probably fine. “Anyway, I hope you’re all enjoying the music! We interrupt our usual songs for a special request, one of our friends have a really special message for his special someone! It’s his first performance so please be gentle! Give it up for Marc Anciel!”

It was quite the feeling seeing the shy writer marching all the way to the keyboard, even while looking at absolutely no one but his feet. He gave one terrified look at Adrien, who nodded with a dazzling smile. Then he looked up, right where Nathaniel had been left completely speechless. It would have been too easy teasing him over how he knew right away this was for him.

It became meaningless when Adrien started to play, an accompaniment for Marc that was going for the simplified version of the song.

All I want for Christmas is you.

It was such a corny, extremely obvious choice, and maybe that made it all the sweeter for Marc to be this obvious in his intentions for once. As soon as the song picked up the rhythm, becoming joyful and fast, it felt like the day had reached its brightest moment, the one she had been wanting the entire time. Nathaniel was completely gone, smiling tearful, getting closer to the stage almost unconsciously. The people reached out, humming such a well known and even repetitive song.

Marinette couldn’t move anyway. She was fine with it, for once. She was more than happy to take her time to admire him like this.

Adrien was handsome. It was kind of a given as he was a model and that was his job, but that went beyond that; it felt like moments like these, when he was lightly sweaty and still a bit on edge for running away from home, where the times when he was the most attractive. Adrien was talented. Without taking for granted all the work he did daily through his studies and lessons, there were so many qualities and curiosities of him, some that always came out when least expected – the most recent had been him knowing all types of Camembert for some reason. Adrien was kind. Not when he did the perfect son act to please his father, not when he forgot his own needs to appease his loved ones: when he was mindful of the people around him, and helped them with all of his might.

There was a time when Marinette genuinely thought this boy had absolutely no flaw, and that had been superficial of her. Somehow, the more she got closer now, the more this gorgeous buttercup somehow showed twisted petals and even some annoying horns. The more she found out how every imperfection made him even more perfect.

She didn’t realize the song had ended, yet she felt his eyes going over her. Gone where the times when she used to wonder if he was ever going to see her the way she saw him. There was no hiding the adoration coming from those two emeralds.

Marinette had to close her eyes for a moment, basking into what she had, beating herself up for going into such a bad mood over nothing.

When she opened her eyelids again, he was walking towards her.

“Hey.” He leaned onto her, and kissed her. It made her giggle. “Sorry it took me a while.”

“To get to the party despite probably not being allowed to, to come and say hi since you’ve been busy with helping Marc out, or to kiss me?” Adrien genuinely looked conflicted, it made her laugh even more as he sat on a chair next to her. “That was a wonderful thing you did, I think you guys made Nathaniel and Marc’s night.” Looking how the redhead was hugging his likely now boyfriend, who looked like he just won the Pulitzer Prize, that sounded about right. “It’s been such a night filled with sharing and giving favours… you won’t believe who brought me here tonight.”

Adrien tilted his head, casually holding her hand. He had the delicate skin of a prince, yet the callouses of a fencer, he had fingers of a pianist, yet ruined nails out of stress. She was so happy they had gotten close enough for her to notice it all.

“Someone careful I hope, is your foot okay?”

“It doesn’t hurt as long as I don’t think about it, ouch.” Right, these kinds of jokes weren’t good on her extremely worrywart boyfriend. She smiled. “I’m okay, and you might not believe it, but the knight in shining black cat leather that carried me here can be surprisingly delicate when he puts his mind to it.” It was probably a weird image to be associated with Chat Noir.

Her boyfriend widened his eyes, a bit slowly for being told that the local superhero dragged his girlfriend all the way here. Maybe it was the normality at this point.

“No kidding! The one that brought me here was Ladybug!”

“What?! Are you serious?” Did she sound surprise enough? She had been a superhero for so long and she still had no idea how to confidently keeping up appearances. “What a coincidence, I wonder if they’ve been around specifically on Christmas to look after random civilians like us.” It was pretty incredible though, that after bringing Adrien to the party Chat Noir had been the one to return the favour. It made her smile.

Adrien snickered.

“I wouldn’t call me, heir of the Agreste empire, and you, talented designer and trusted artist of Rockstar Jagged Stone, random citizens.” Was he implying that she was not, in fact, just a normal girl with a normal life? “But yeah, it was really cool of them. Ladybug is simply amazing.”

Marinette grinned, clenching her hold onto his hand.

“Yeah, she’s a pretty cool hero.”

“Not just that! She’s so beautiful, smart, creative and courageous… just like you.” He snickered, leaning his head against her. “I always thought of you as our everyday Ladybug after all.”

Oh, the irony. Perhaps one day, if and when she was going to be able to reveal herself, it was going to be extremely fun seeing his baffled expression at realizing who she had been crushing on for so long – as a matter of fact, the exact same person… with two different outfits. For now, she was just incredibly blessed over the fact that no matter what version of her was in front of his eyes, he had the same devotion for her nonetheless. She wanted to make sure he knew how much it meant for her, she wanted to show it to him every day.

“You’re so sweet. You kinda remind me of Chat Noir instead.” He immediately looked at her with eyebrows raised, she burst into laughter. “In a good way! Chat is incredible, it’s a huge compliment I promise!” She hummed a little. “Just like he does, you always try your best to help others. And you’re so funny too, and endearing… just like him.” She hoped that despite everything, Chat Noir was having the best possible Christmas.

Adrien was frozen for a moment. Then, looking happily content, he nuzzled her hair with his nose, scooting a little closer to her. It was cold outside, but between them it was warm.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone telling me I’m similar to Chat Noir.”

“They should, he’s incredible… you know, I used to have a bit of a weird crush on him.” She giggled, knowing that months ago she would have never been able to admit it. “Like, I knew I liked him, just never as much as I like you. But I appreciate everything he does.” Maybe it was a weird thing to say to her boyfriend, but she didn’t want to hide it.

“Oh.” Adrien froze again, then snickered. “Wow. We’re really perfect for each other.” He kissed her head, making her melt. “I hope Ladybug and Chat Noir are having a great day.”

Marinette smiled, thanking everything that she was right here, right now.

“I hope so too. Merry Christmas, Adrien.”

“Merry Christmas, Marinette.”

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