Chapter Text
Back on her rooftop that summer, Marinette had been so unsure about the reveal of hers and her partner's secret identities. She'd been scared it would spell disaster, tear the very fabric of time and space-- it had happened before.
Now, though, she was so very grateful for all the secrets that had unraveled. Without those broken secrets laying a solid foundation of trust between herself and Adrien, she was sure she'd be in a far darker place. As things were, Christmas this year was looking to be far different than she could've ever imagined. She'd assumed she'd be the one supporting Adrien through his first Christmas without either of his parents. While she still was, Marinette hadn't expected to be in equal need of his support to get through this year.
One by one over the past few months, friends had been pulling back, dropping contact. Some treated her coldly, fixing her with glares as she passed by... Others had become intent to ignore her altogether. As a result, Ladybug had started to call on those heroes less and less. She couldn't stop outright or cause suspicion, but she couldn't trust them too closely either due to their odd behavior.
Not even Adrien had been able to reason with them. He, Alya, and Nino were the only ones who stuck by her at school. Well, and the new girl, Iris, seemed to believe in her, but Marinette wasn't sure how to feel about that. It wasn't as though Iris had done anything wrong per se, but she just felt super guarded these days with friends turning on her left and right.
As things seemed to have hit rock bottom, an eeriness began to set in. A realization that maybe Chrysalis knew who Ladybug was too and was finding a way to pull strings from the shadows. It was Alya who had suggested amid the chaos in early December that someone really ought to be a double agent-- surrender to Chrysalis and find out what they could.
While Marinette had had her misgives, things were getting worse with time, and so she'd conceded. Rena Rouge and Carapace had 'surrendered' to Chrysalis a week ago. They'd had to fight them once already, and whilst it seemed like they'd gone easy on herself and Cat Noir, they had also dropped all contact since. Perhaps it was part of their 'double-agenting', but it made Marinette feel sick with worry.
Now it was Christmas Eve, snow was swirling down into the decorated Paris streets and all Marinette wanted to do was cry. It was the time of year to be spent with friends and loved ones and she'd never felt so lonely. It wasn't just the lack of friends, but the fact that so many of them had turned on her...
Marinette shook her head to clear it as she watched a limo pull up outside of the bakery. Adrien was here. He needed her... she didn't need to be crumbling right now.
Adrien felt a certain giddiness in his gut as the Gorilla pulled up to Marinette's family's boulangerie. While it was true this was his first Christmas since losing his father, it was also his first Christmas with a girlfriend. That was reason enough for him to politely decline his aunt Amelie's invitation to spend Christmas in London with her and Felix.
Marinette--his lady-- had been having a rough first half of the school year and he knew she could use a win. She tried to act peppy, but he could see through her facade. When she was truly happy, those blue eyes lit up like the stars themselves... Lately, they only seemed to shine with unshed tears.
Adrien knew, she was trying so hard to be happy for his benefit. It broke his heart, but he knew the root of the problem was far beyond him now. There were no easy fixes.
Chrysalis's acidic words still clung to the back of his mind, sending chills down his spine.
"...What I want is for you to make Ladybug wish she could just disappear..."
And over the past few months, in some ways, he had witnessed Ladybug disappearing in snatches. She was losing confidence in herself, her allies. She'd cried into his chest more than once, just trying to understand it all. She'd lost so many friends in such a short span and nothing he said to them would sway them...
Adrien didn't know what he could do as himself, much less Cat Noir, but he was determined to bring Marinette as much holiday cheer as he could.
A loose plan in mind, he stepped out of the car and headed inside.
The bakery was already bustling with activity. The wonderful scent of fresh pastries swirled in the air and filled his nose with warmth in contrast to the biting cold outside.
"Adrien! Good morning!" Tom waved cheerily, peering around a few customers.
Adrien grinned, "Good morning. Is Marinette upstairs?"
"Last I checked. Did your delivery look okay?" Tom asked, wrapping some cookies in wax paper before offering them to a customer.
Adrien nodded, "Yep. Nathalie's got everything laid out waiting."
Tom smiled, "Good to hear. You kids have fun."
"We will." Adrien said, heading up the stairs towards Marinette's room.
She met him half-way, already bundled up wearing a pink winter coat tied together with a cream-colored scarf, hat, and gloves.
Adrien regarded her, smiling gently, "Ready to go?"
Marinette mustered smile of her own, offering him her hand, "Of course! We're going to have so much fun."
He took her hand eagerly, guiding her out to the car.
"So, get ready, my Christmas bucket list has a lot of options." Adrien said good naturedly as they settled into the backseat. He might have let her believe all this was for him today, in hopes she would drop her guard and end up enjoying herself too.
"Then let's get cracking." Marinette replied easily, "What's first on the list?"
"Well," Adrien tried not to smile too mischievously, "The first thing I kind of cut corners with, but I really need professional help from a baker's daughter..."
"Huh?" Marinette blinked, "What did you do? Should I be concerned?" she parried lightly.
"I don't think so." Adrien laughed, "Let's just say I saved us some of the leg work so we can cram more fun in today."
"Okay?"
He smiled a little wider at her confusion, "You'll see."
It wasn't long before they pulled up in front of the Agreste manor. Snow was still drifting down lazily around them, decorating the recently shoveled walkway.
Adrien thanked his driver and guided Marinette inside eagerly. A big pine tree stood sparsely decorated in the foyer.
Marinette had suspected trimming the tree would be part of his list, though clearly it wasn't first based on what he'd said so far... Unless, of course, he wanted input on edible tree trimmings to avoid stale or moldy decor.
He promptly steered her towards the kitchen, though, making that idea seem unlikely.
Nathalie was standing by the kitchen island and smiled at them as they approached, "Good morning, Marinette." she greeted.
A few silicon mats had been spread over the island's surface, framing quite a spread of ingredients.
There were large cookies shaped like pentagons and rectangles arranged in neat stacks. Beside them, small glass bowls with various colorful candies, gumdrops, and chocolates all sorted by their kinds. Off to the side sat a mixing bowl, a bag of powdered sugar, some cream of tartar, a measuring cup full of water, and a small bowl of eggs.
Marinette took a moment to process, "Gingerbread houses?" she realized after a moment.
"Yes, Adrien specifically requested we make some this year." Nathalie voiced, "I hope it's no trouble." she tacked on.
"No... not at all." Marinette assured, glancing between the pair. "Thanks again for letting me intrude on some of Adrien's time this Christmas Eve."
"Don't be silly, Marinette, we're glad to have you." Nathalie assured.
Adrien smiled.
"Right." Marinette said, doing her best to clear her thoughts.
She shed her jacket, hat, scarf, and gloves and went to wash her hands.
"Okay, so, what did you need a 'professional baker's daughter' to help with again?" she asked Adrien lightly.
"All of it, but mainly the icing." Adrien mused, "Nathalie and I tried to prep it ahead of time with your dad's recipe but it came out too runny." he tacked on sheepishly.
"Ah, okay, no worries." Marinette said, "You probably just added too much water. Actually, I'm kind of surprised your gingerbread looks so good." she observed.
"That might have something to do with the fact we ordered all the gingerbread from your parents." Adrien laughed lightly.
Marinette blinked, "You... Oh, so that's what you meant by saving us leg work." she shook her head, "You're so silly, that much gingerbread couldn't have been that cheap." she mused. "We could've just taken an extra day to make it."
Adrien shrugged, "This way I support my favorite bakery and don't accidentally set the kitchen on fire. A win for everybody if you ask me." he said lightly.
Marinette laughed in spite of herself, "Alright, alright."
She stepped over, carefully narrating as she separated out some egg whites for the recipe. Her papa always narrated when she was learning to bake, it helped things stick.
Adrien leaned in with interest, hanging off her every word. Nathalie was carefully taking notes on her tablet to help them in the future.
In what seemed like no time at all, Marinette had a thick icing she was portioning into piping bags.
"...Actually in a pinch," she was saying, "You can just use a plastic sandwich bag and cut a corner off. The piping won't be as pretty, but if you don't have any piping bags or tips handy, it works."
"Huh, I didn't know that." Adrien replied, filing that tidbit away.
"Anyway, that icing looks great. Can I taste?" he asked lightly.
"Help yourself." Marinette said, gesturing to the remnants clinging still to the mixing bowl.
Adrien swiped a finger through the thick, sugary mixture and smirked as he put it to his lips, "Mmm. So sweet!"
"It's sugar. What'd you expect?" Marinette laughed.
"Well, you're not made of sugar, but your super sweet, so I don't know." Adrien said smoothly.
Marinette blushed slightly.
Nathalie cleared her throat, "In any case, it seems we have everything we need to get started, right?"
"Right." Marinette agreed, "So, how do you want to do this? Are we each making our own house or...?"
"Each our own for now." Adrien voiced, "Then we can put them together like a little village."
She smiled slightly, "I like that."
The three settled in front of silicon mats to begin their constructions. Adrien found himself initially spending more time watching Marinette than working on his own. He couldn't help it. It must've been the artist in her, but she just looked so focused. Her tongue poked out the side of her mouth and her brow creased in concentration as piece by piece she assembled and began to decorate her house. She was adorable. Her hands moved so gracefully and meticulously as she gave life to her vision, so enraptured in what she was doing. He would've been content to watch her all day.
A brief glance at Nathalie's progress, though, was enough to light a fire under his rear as Adrien realized the girls would be waiting on him if he didn't get started.
"And... done." Marinette informed.
Adrien glanced over and let loose a whistle, "Whoah. Marinette, that looks incredible!"
"You think so?" she asked, sounding pleased.
"It looks like something straight out of a fairytale." Adrien praised, "Right Nathalie?"
The woman glanced over and nodded, "Beautiful." she agreed, "Much more picturesque than mine, at any rate." she tacked on easily.
Marinette peeked over at Nathalie's gingerbread house curiously. It was standard, as far as gingerbread houses went, but it was neat and tidy without any stray globs of icing or crooked walls.
"Aw, don't say that. Your house is pretty, too. I really like your gumdrop walkway."
"Yeah, they're perfectly patterned. Awesome." Adrien put in with a smile.
"How's yours coming?" Marinette asked him in turn.
"Uh, well..." Adrien shielded his work from view, "It's coming."
Nathalie eyed him curiously whilst Marinette stood to get closer.
"Do you need any help with it?" the girl asked.
"No.. I don't think... it's just... uh... maybe I got a little too ambitious?" Adrien said sheepishly.
"What happened?" Marinette asked, trying to peek.
"Promise not to laugh?" Adrien requested, but unveiled it regardless.
Marinette blinked.
It was... something. The roof was lopsided, and it looked like it was partially cracked. There were smears and stains everywhere as well as colorful blobs of candy throughout.
"It was supposed to be Ladybug and Cat Noir on the Eiffel tower, but the tower kept leaning so I changed it to a house instead." Adrien was explaining, "I guess my hands were too warm handling the chocolate because Cat Noir's ears melted a little and now it looks like a pile of reindeer droppings... Don't ask how I ruined Ladybug." he tacked on.
Marinette bit her lip, "It's... It's not that bad." she was smiling in spite of herself.
He had requested her not to laugh and she was trying, darn it.
Adrien snorted, "Yeah, if I was Manon's age, maybe." he mused lightly, "Eh, it's fine. I'll fix it... somehow."
Marinette shook her head and reached over gently, taking his piping bag from where it lay beside the small disaster, "Here, we'll add extra icing to make it look like snow and it'll give you a cleaner area to work with. Then you can just simplify your design a little to adapt."
Adrien watched her pipe and spread the icing. Soon, all the stains and smears were gone. His crude figures covered over to vaguely resemble snowmen.
"There. Good as new." Marinette declared, setting down the icing.
He smiled as she stepped back, "Thanks, Marinette. I've got it from here."
She nodded, "I can't wait to see." she encouraged.