Chapter Text
“How long are you going to cry over it?”
Adrien made an angry groan but didn’t move even a millimeter.
They came back from school two hours ago and since then Adrien, the heir of proud Agreste linage and defender of great Paris, France capital city, the bearer of Cat miraculous of destruction, was laying face down on his bed, crying his eyes out. Hawk Moth was surely super busy right now, not noticing this perfect display of akuma material. But to be honest, Plagg doubted that there was bigger drama queen, than Adrien in this whole damn city.
Plagg sighed heavily, massaging his temples with his little paws. He had to act fast before he loose this Chat Noir to a madness too. He was not going through this again. Ok, Plagg, a little cheering up never killed anybody.
It would be much easier with Tiki here.
Oh well, tis the season, right?
“Hey, why don’t you stop acting like a Disney princess and start looking on a bright side of this whole situation?”
Boy’s green eye appeared above the pillow’s edge.
“Which is?”
“You are skilled poisoner, kid!”
Kwami squeaked and scattered to the left. A second later Adrien’s shoe slammed to the wall and fell to the floor.
“Rude!”
Adrien rolled on his side and hugged his Ladybug pillow tightly. Today his life finally has ended. There was no point of living anymore. The girl he secretly and openly loved for years, probably hated him right now.
“Oh big deal you poisoned one girl. I bet there are thousands cases like this over the year!”
Adrien glared at him. His kwami had big stinky cheese instead of a heart. He wondered what Ladybug’s kwami was like. Given she had opposite powers than Plagg, probably she had completely different personality. Well he couldn’t imagine Marinette putting up with someone rude as his kwami. She was so sweet and kind and…
Oh God!
Adrien pressed both fists to his temples. Image of smiling Marinette appeared in his mind and that alone made his heart skip a beat.
Marinette is Ladybug… Ladybug is Marinette… And this was so simple that he felt super stupid right now. Come on, how could he not have seen that before? Adrien really questioned his intelligence right now. How on earth could he be so blind?
The girl was like right there, next to him almost every day. If not Chloé’s intervention, he would had kissed Mari for God sake! He had her in his arms like a thousand times, met her parents and was in her room.
He. Was. In. Ladybug’s. Bedroom.
Adrien started kicking his legs up in the air, furiously, making noises like dying animal or little angry cat. Plagg hover above his chosen one, waiting patiently. Finally after few minutes Adrien got tired and went back to laying and moaning.
Suddenly his phone chimed. Adrien jumped up, catching it with superspeed.
“It’s Nino!” Adrien announced, not that Plagh cared much. “Oh my God! They want to meet tomorrow during Agreste charity event to exchange gifts!”
Ah finally a ray of happiness. The perfect opportunity to check on Marinette and maybe ask her few casual questions about some cat shaped cookies.
“So? It’s good right?” Plagg sat on the top of boy’s head, to have better look on the phone screen. “You would finally get the chance to meet your Ladybug and give her no life threatening gift.”
“Yeah… well… Plagg! I don’t have any gifts for my friends yet!”
Kwami was blown away as Adrien rushed to his closet and started frantically dressing himself, putting his shirt inside out and two different socks on his feet.
“Oh jolly me… This one is a nutjob too…”
“No mom, I feel so much better now. You don’t need to come home early. Have fun at aunt’s Anaïs and say hello from me to everybody. Love you. Bye!”
Marinette, who sat wrapped in fuzzy blanket in front of tv, hung up the phone and smiled at Tikki.
“Back to work?” asked red kwami, as Mari took knitting needles from the coffee table.
“Yeah I have only a few hours to finish this. Oh I can’t wait to meet them! I’m so excited!”
Next to her, on the couch laid already finished woolen gifts for Alya and Nino. Right now she was making beanie for Adrien - blue to match his scarf. There was also a fourth gift, the one she kept in secret from everyone. She spent two nights making it and had to redo it two times, because she wasn’t happy about the final result.
At first she was sure that it was guilt messing up her plans but then she realized that, it wasn’t the problem. Everytime Mari was thinking about Chat, the image of his dumbfounded face appeared in her mind, making her strangely flustered and confused.
To be honest Marinette didn’t wanted to admit, even to herself, that it was really exciting seeing someone reacting like this after she kissed him. Hell she had known Chat was big flirt for years and was prepared for some kind of smug comment, stupid pun perhaps? Not the definition of pure happiness on his face. Definitely not that. It scared her how much she liked it.
And that’s why she fled.
“Strange…” Mari murmured to herself, frowning. “Stupid cat…”
Tikki stopped munching her gingerbread cookie and looked at the girl.
“What’s that?”
Mari jumped, not aware that she voiced her thoughts.
“Nothing! I was not thinking about Chat! I… no! Um I…”
Tikki ambiguous smile made Mari angry and embarrassed at the same time.
No, she wasn't thinking about him! Not like that! Chat was just a friend! Just… then again… Adrien was a friend too. And both boys were very important to her.
She shook her head, to chase away those annoying thoughts.
“So…” Mari got up, her smile only a bit forced. “I need to wrap this all in paper and prepare for tomorrow.”
They both went upstairs. Mari’s bedroom was a total mess. There were packing paper and ribbons all over the floor.
As girl was busy with gifts for her friends, Tikki watched her carefully.
“You know, tomorrow can be the perfect opportunity to confess your love to that special person…” said kwami and Mari froze, blushing violently. “Just saying…”
Marinette sighed, slumping a little.
“Don’t put your money on me, Tikki… I doubt that I would be able to give him his present without stuttering… Besides Adrien will be busy because of the event. We will only drop by and give him presents. ”
Marinette looked at the hat, she had in her hands and smiled. Tikki drifted to her and nuzzled to the girl’s cheek. “I believe in you. Go get him girl!”
“Marinette, Alya is here!”
Mari, who was in the middle of making her make up, squeaked and put eyeliner in her eye.
“Oh don't tell me you slept through your alarm… again!”
“Alya! Help me!” cried Marinette, running around her room with hairbrush in one hand and the pair of knee socks in the other. “I couldn’t sleep last night because I was worrying about if you guys like the presents and then....”
Alya caught her mid run in a hug, giggling and took the brush away from her friend.
“Girl, chill! You gonna hurt yourself with that thing.” she started pushing Mari towards the bathroom. “Get ready quick! Nino is waiting for us already! Adrien texted him that he will have a break around noon, so we have to get going.”
Marinette made high pitched noise and started dressing herself.
“Take those presents from my desk!” she called from behind the bathroom door. “Oh no! Lipstick on my teeth!”
Alya shook her head, smiling to herself. While her friend was losing her mind next door, she took three packages and packed them in Mari’s bag.
Ten minutes later and one express hairstyling, girls were ready to go. Alya’s mom gave them lift for place where the charity event was. With every passing minute, Mari was getting more nervous. She had like milion doubs in her head. And when they reached the final destination, she was really close to bailing and running home. Thanks to Alya she didn’t.
As they were squeezing through the crowd of fashionable guests, they heard someone’s calling their names. Nino was coming towards them, three visitors passes in his hand.
“Adrien is waiting for us. He has only five minutes or so.”
“Guys! Over here!” Adrien who stood near the podium, beamed at them.
Oh hello mister model, thought Marinette, feeling weak in her knees. He looked perfect in a suit, like he was born in it. She fought a mighty need of putting a big bow on his head and shoving him under the christmas tree.
“I’m so glad that you came”
Maybe that was just her imagination, but she was almost sure that as Adrien spoke, he was looking directly at her.
“Let’s go backstage” suggested Adrien, offering Marinette his arm. “My Lady?”
Alya opened her mouth but Nino pinched her just in time.
Ok, Mari you can do this, said the girl to herself. Just try to channeling your inner Ladybug. This is just a normal boy. Treat him like human, not a god! Ah! Act as if he was Chat Noir.
“Lead the way, fair knight” she nervously smiled, accepting his help.
“Are you feeling alright? Alya told me why you were absent at school.” His voice was oddly tense but Mari guessed it was probably because his big role in this whole charity event.
“Oh I’m fine. Thank you.”
“Nino mentioned something about poisoned cookies.”
“Oh! No! It’s just…” she couldn’t not to smile while remembering how ecstatic Chat was when she said that his cookies were good. “Well my friend, who learned how to bake, gave me cookies as a present. They weren’t bad actually, I just ate lots of sweets earlier that day and… um… that happened.”
She was doing good, great actually - no stuttering nor babbling. Sadly all went to hell when Adrien pulled her closer.
She could swear her heart went straight up her throat when he did that.
“Sorry…” murmured Adrien, looking away. “I just don’t want to lose you… in this crowd, I mean…”
Holy guacamole! Was that a blush?! Did Adrien freaking Agreste blushed because of her? Suddenly Mari had forgotten how to walk and talk properly. She stumbled and if it wasn’t for Adrien who caught her, circling his arm around her waist, she would probably fell face down on the floor.
When it came to exchanging gifts, she was so dazed that she almost gave Nino present which was meant for Alya. And when it was finally her turn to hand over Adrien’s his gift, some guy with a clipboard bursted into the room.
“Monsieur Agreste is summoning to the stage!”
“Ah… showtime” Adrien smiled bitterly and then looked at his friends. “I’m so sorry guys. Thank you for coming. I’ll open my presents after this.” He waved at them and followed the man with a clipboard.
Marinette sighed heavily and Alya patted her on the head affectionately.
“You did signed your present, right?”
“Of course! Moreover I did something even better. I attached a note.”
“Is it a love note?” asked Nino, grinning.
“Well… maybe…”
“She knows!”
It was simply the best feeling in the world, like the every firework from Fête Nationale exploded all at once in his chest.
He went through her note once again, probably sixth or seventh time.
“May this Christmas be the most wonderful time of your year. Thank you for everything. Love, Ladybug.”
Not only Marinette signed it as “Ladybug” but she also added “love” and few little glitter hearts. If that wasn’t the proof then Adrien didn’t know what else it could be.
Again, he was smiling like he had lost his mind but couldn’t care less.
“This is the best day ever!” shouted Adrien, jumping up and down on the bed. “I feel so light right now! Like… like I could jump over the moon! Or dance, or sing!”
“Please don’t do that… We both know that you sound like a cat in March…”
Plagg, who was observing his chosen one from the distance, rolled his green eyes. He tried to talk with the boy, convincing him to act reasonable and little quieter but did he listened? Noooo...
Well it was up to the tiny god of destruction to end this nonsense and…
Adrien suddenly froze, madness glittering in his eyes.
“Plagg! I must see her! Right now!”
“No, Adrien, listen… What if she....”
“Plagg, claws out!”
It was past midnight when Marinette heard a loud thud. She was so excited that she couldn’t sleep. The memory of the way Adrien acted and blushed today was still too fresh in her mind, so she wandered to the kitchen to drink some warm milk with cinnamon powder.
As soon as she heard strange noise, the girl jumped on her feet, her body automatically in battle stance.
“The balcony” whispered Tikki, looking up at the ceiling.
They both rushed upstairs, to Mari’s bedroom. The trapdoor was closed but someone was clearly up there.
“Tikki, hide.”
Marinette wasn’t ready for the view she got, when she opened the trapdoor.
Chat Noir was laying spread eagled on her balcony.
When he saw her, he went crimson red and tried to smile casually despite the embarrassing position he was right now.
“The banister is slippery”
Marinette smirked, crossing her arms.
“Oh… well that’s explains… nothing…”
He scrambled on all fours and then slowly got up.
“Sorry… I must have scared you.”
“What are you doing all by yourself out in the cold?”
Chat Noir grinned widely and leaned on his baton. There was something strange about the way he acted. Not to mention the fact that he was transformed even there was no akuma attack as far as Marinette was concerned. Did she missed something? Her phone was silent so there was no new notifications. So why on earth, he was here?
“Well I’m not alone anymore, right?” he said and took few steps closer. Mari stumbled backwards. Her back hit the wall at the end of the balcony.
“Hey, why so surprised?” Chat asked, cocky grin not leaving his face. He took something out of his pocket. When Marinette recognized papier and her own handwriting on it, her heart sank and her whole body went numb.
“Why do you have it?” she asked, feeling that deep down she had known the answer. “Oh no… he threw it away…”
Well of course he hated it. It was just a lame hat. Not like it could compete with all his designer clothes. Probably all her friend threw away her presents. After all it was just woolen rubbish. She should probably give them something which she brought in the shop.
She shouldn't be surprised, right?
Right?
There was something wet on her cheek. She reached and realized that she started crying.
Oh no Chat was still here. It was so embarrassing. She didn't wanted him to see her like this. She tried to wipe off those stupid tears but they keep on coming.
“Oh my God, I’m so stupid…” she wailed, sitting suddenly on the snowy floor of the balcony. “I’m sorry… I just… give him this and… I really like him a-and... He threw it away…” she whispered, clenching her fists. “He… he didn’t like it…”
“Oh no…” reached for her but in the end hesitated and let his hand fall to his side. “Please don’t cry, Ladybug…”
Marinette’s mind emerged from the depths of her neurosis, and started to process Chat’s words.
“Wait, what now? Oh my God! You know?! How…?” She was so surprised, that she forgot to deny it.
“I’m sorry it was accident! I didn’t meant to… It’ because those stupid cookies… food poisoning… your note… ” he babbled, going really red on the cheeks. He looked at the note then back to confused Marinette.
And then she saw package in his clawed hands. She frowned trying to figure out what was really happening. How come Chat had Adrien’s present? Wait… did he said that she gave him this? But their patrol was supposed be tomorrow… Why How?
The packing and the bow was right, and the note… but there was something black sticking out through ripped paper. It was triangular shape and made of wool.
Oh…
Oh!
Of course! It was so simple! Dear God she was stupid!
“Ah I mixed up the presents! I’m so sorry…”
Marinette wanted to burst into laughter but she looked up at Chat’s face and it surprised her how horrified he was.
“Oh…” he said, his cat ears dropping. “So… This wasn’t for me…?” He murmured, going pale all of the sudden. “Oh well of course…I’m sorry! I should go now…”
“Wait! Chat!”
But it was too late. Chat extended his baton, took two steps back and jumped over the banister. She was ready to follow him, but Tikki caught her in the last second.
“Marinette, you’re gonna hurt yourself!”
Mari gasped, remembering that she in fact was not transformed. She pinched bridge of her nose and squeezed eyes shut. That was the craziest ten minutes of her entire life and she battled a guy who wanted to take over the city by mind controlling parisian pigeons.
“Oh damn… That boy could win a gold medal in jumping into the wrong conclusion…” she hissed.
“And you silver in not realizing that the boy you loved and the one who loved you, was the same person…” added kwami with sour smile.
“What? He loves me?”
“Make that a gold…”
“Adrien…”
“Plagg… can you just… leave me alone?”
“But…”
“Please…”
Kwami drifted away, to the farest corner of the room, letting Adrien to himself.
He blew it. He blew it so bad.
If there was a list with all things not to do while revealing yourself to love of your life, he might checked all points as “done”.
And when he was considering resigning of his position as Chat Noir and living rest of his life locked in his room, his phone rang.
“Pick it up, kid!” said Plagg with unusual eagerness in his voice. “This might be important!”
Adrien dragged himself to the other side of the bed and reached for his phone.
“It's an unknown number… I don’t wanna talk…”
“Just. Pick. It. Up!”
“Ok, ok! Take it easy!” Growled Adrien and pressed the green icon. “Hello?”
There was silence on the other side. Great, a prank call, just what Adrien needed right now. He was about to hung up when he heard something on the other side of the line.
“Um…”
Then came muffled whisper.
“Go on! Say something!”
Adrien sucked the air in his lungs and waited with his heart hammering in his chest. In the split of a second he sat up straight on his bed.
“Marinette?” Adrien breathed, clenching his fist on one of the pillows.
She made nervous giggle.
“ Hi… um...I… um… In front of your gate!”
Adrien went almost in warp speed as he rushed down stairs, taking on his jacket and shoes on the way. When he reached to the gate, there was terrifying lack of Marinette’s presence. His first thought was that she ran away, because he was not fast enough, but then he heard Plagg, who went ahead, through the gate’ bars, calling from around the corner.
“On the ground!”
Adrien crouched and took a small cardboard box, which sat on the snowy sidewalk. Inside there was an old school dictaphone with cassette inside. As he passed play, music started playing.
“Oh yeah, yeah
Last night I took a walk in the snow
couples holding hands, places to go
Seems like everyone but me is in love
Santa can you hear me?”
“Is that… Britney Spears?” asked disgusted Plagg but Adrien shushed him.
“I signed my letter that's sealed with a kiss
I sent it off, and just said this
I know exactly what I want this year
Santa can you hear me?”
Music suddenly stopped and Marinette sweet but bit unsure voice rang out.
“Hi… A-Adrien… I never got you a proper christmas present… I mean, the one you deserved… I will be waiting for you tonight… I’ll understand if you won’t come… and… Oh yeah, the address is inside. See you!”
Adrien frowned, trying wrap his head around this. He looked inside box but there was nothing more.
Oh! Inside!
Boy scrambled with a dictaphone for a while and took the cassette out. There was sticker on it with scribbled address.
Adrien turned on GPS on his phone and set off.
When he reached the park there was no one there. He made few circles, just to be sure that she’s not hiding behind one of the trees. Finally something caught his attention. A single candle stood at the pedestal of Ladybug and Chat Noir statue. And there was small card attached to it by a red ribbon.
“I really like this statue. For me it’s like a symbol of our friendship - unbreakable. I’m so glad that I have someone, who I can trust with my life. One time I used this Chat as a confessing practice. Turned out I was practising confessing to you, with you… Ok park might be not the best place. Maybe I’m somewhere more grand? If you know what I mean.”
When he turned the card around there was a postscriptum.
“Take a scarf! I bet you forgot yours!”
Woolen black and green scarf hanged from the neck of metal Chat Noir. He took it, chuckling. It was amazing how that girl knew him so well. He couldn’t wait to see her.
But… when he arrived at le Grand Paris Hotel, Marinette was nowhere to be found. Instead Alya’s mom gave him a small bowl of hot “Marinette’s soup”. When he finished eating, she handed him a bouquet of mistletoe, then instructed him to go to the place where he have seen double for the last time.
“I hope you know what that means because I have no idea” mrs Cesarie smiling and then waving him goodbye.
It was no surprise that when Adrien reached the Trocadéro esplanade and saw two girls, none of them was the one girl he was looking for.
“You’re really close, Adrien” said Rose, handing him another clue. It was another envelope, this time it had red lipstick mark, shaped like Marinette’s lips.
“I hope so, because I can’t wait to see Mari.”
“Happy Christmas, Adrien” Juleka offered him shy smile and then put black beanie on his head. It was the same hat he left on Mari’s balcony but now it had attached bright green pin shaped like cat’s paw.
“Oh I have a feeling that I’ll never forget it!”
Inside the envelope there was another cassette. Where she was even getting those things? The whole world stopped using them like over a decade ago. Marinette was sure something.
Smiling to himself, Adrien put the cassette into the dictaphone and pressed play.
“Hello friend, it's me again
I just called to tell you
Even though I miss you so
I've been thinking of you
All my dreams are coming true, at last...oooh
The perfect ending to a wonderful year
Would be to celebrate the good times with you here
Cuz I know
For sure
I never wanted anything more
The greatest gift that there could be
that's underneath my Christmas tree
Would be the same my whole life through
I'd spend the perfect Christmas with you
Though the winter seems so long
My faith in love has kept me strong
So if I had a wish come true
I'd spend the perfect Christmas with you.”
When the music died out, Marinette spoke in a more confident way than before.
"Adrien, listen. I was never disapointed that you are Chat Noir. What I said back then was true. I mixed up the presents. I gave you the one that was for Chat Noir, but since you are him... Well, let's just say that it will save me time I would spent choosing between two boys I really like..."
Adrien heart fluttered. That was no doubt the perfect Christmas for sure. Another sticker with address led him cute teahouse. Adrien went inside. She had to be here, this time for sure. As he was looking around the place a waitress, who strangely looked familiar to Marinette, came to him, holding big thermal cup full of hot tea and a pink box.
“Again?” he tried to act annoyed but in fact deep inside he wanted to jump with joy like little kid.
Waitress shrugged and winked at him.
“Don’t ask me. I’m just following instructions.”
“Thank you for your cooperation…” his eyes darted to the girl’s tag. “...Brigitte.”
“Happy treasure hunt, Adrien.” She said with amused smile and walked back to the counter, but half way, she turned around, eyeing him boldly. “My cousin was right… You are a cutie pie.”
Adrien’s face became really hot for some reason and he felt mighty need to go back outside into the chilly winter night.
He opened the box mid run, it was getting late and he couldn’t let Marinette froze somewhere out there.
“Oh that’s easy” Adrien said to Plagg who popped out of his coat pocket. “Croissant, that means the bakery!”
“Any chance for some cheese pastries?”
“Eat this so you won’t starve.” Huffed Adrien, offering kwami half of croissant. Plagg tried to act offended but as he took first bite, his eyes lit up and delightful grin spread on his face. “This is great! Oh I got good feeling about this girl!”
When Adrien bursted into Dupain - Cheng’s bakery, Sabine wasn’t even surprised.
“I guess, Marinette’s not home, right?” he breathed, prompting himself on the counter.
“Oh I’m afraid no… but she left message for you. Tom! Adrien’s here!”
Marinette’s dad emerged from the back of the bakery, holding something wrapped in the spotted red napkin.
“Here you go, son. Mari made me do it as realistic as possible but I have feeling that you’ll figure out where to go now.”
Adrien unfolded red material and made a small laugh. That little devil. It was a cookie shaped like Notre Dame. He didn’t had to be Nobel Prize winner to figure out that one. Adrien was just about to leave when something come up to his mind. He turned around and marched back to Sabine and Tom.
“This might be little too late, given I’m sorta in the middle of something with Marinette, but… well… Will you let me date your daughter?”
They both looked at each other and then beamed to the boy in front of them.
“I think that, if you were willing to go through all this treasure hunt, you’re worthy the actual treasure, Adrien.” Sabine said, patting him on the shoulder.
To make the journey shorter, Adrien ran to Notre Dame at full speed. When he saw church’s characteristic towers on the horizon, his heart started beating crazy fast. He couldn’t believed it but he was scared and excited at the same time.
Every year at the foot of Notre Dame there was organized big marché de noël with many stands, multicolored decorations and thousands of thousands christmas lights. This evening the place was full of parisians and tourists. Adrien with difficulty was making his way through the crowd, worrying that he won’t be able to find Marinette here. After all she was so tiny.
“Hey! Adrien!”
Nino And Alya, both holding steaming cups of hot chocolate, were standing by the biggest candy stand, waving at him frantically.
“Dude, follow the red trail!” called Nino, pointing red ribbon tied to the nearest ice angel.
“She’s waiting for you!” added Alya, grinning like she just got the best present in her entire life.
As instructed, Adrien followed ribbons which led him to opposite side of the fair.
And there she was, dressed in red from head to toe, standing under the biggest christmas tree.
He had to pause for the second, before coming closer, because he simply wasn’t sure if his heart could last this stress. But when Marinette turned around, nothing else matter anymore. Her smile was more radiant than any christmas decoration he could think of.
Oh how he wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her until they both had enough and then maybe some more and… And the best part of this was, that he could.
“Adrien?”
With few big steps of his long legs boy closed the distance between them.
“Hi…” she whispered, looking up at him. The red on her cheeks could be because of the winter cold but Adrien was sure that there was another reason.
“My Lady…” he purred, reaching out and catching her petite hands into his. It was so awesome feeling, being able to finally say this to the girl without the mask. “That was some nerve wrecking treasure hunt.”
“I’m glad that you liked it…And now for your present…”
“Aren’t you my present?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows. She made a small laugh and rolled her beautiful eyes.
“Well in a way… But haven’t you got something on the way here, we could use right now?”
Confused Adrien looked at dictaphone and cookie he was still holding.
Plagg zipped out of his pocket, groaning.
“The mistletoe, you goofus! She wants you to kiss her!”
“Oh”
With one swift move Adrien’s hand ripped out the mistletoe bouquet out of his second pocket and raised it above girl’s head.
“Like this?”
“Um… little higher… perfect.”
“A-and now what?”
“And now…” giggled Marinette, going on her tiptoes. “We kiss.”