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“You have a ‘4x + 12yx’, right?” Adrien asks.
Marinette hums in response.
“Ok so I pulled out a ‘4x’—”
“Disgusting,” Alya mutters.
Adrien rolls his eyes. “Just factor out the ‘4x’.”
“Factor out the ‘4x’,” Marinette murmurs. “Okay. Sure. This looks worse than before.”
“I promise it’ll look less gross in about ten seconds.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Alya says.
Adrien scoffs. “I’m just trying to teach math.”
“Math is a sin,” she deadpans.
He raises his eyebrows and is very glad that they’re just in a voice call, because Marinette would find a way to punch him through the screen if she saw the expression on his face right now.
“Wait there’s a ‘z’,” Marinette says suddenly. “I thought that I might’ve figured out what’s going on but then I looked at the other side of the equation and there’s a ‘ z ’. What am I supposed to do with a ‘z’?”
Adrien glances down to his paper. Yes, there is a ‘z’. He’s not exactly sure how to make math any clearer. “Okay, you factored out the ‘4x’, right? Have you divided by—”
He jerks backwards and nearly falls out of his chair as an electric guitar blasts in his ears.
Alya swears loudly and he hears something crash.
“The hell ?!” Alya snaps.
Nino laughs. “Merry Christmas!”
Adrien groans and checks the time and date. Exactly midnight on the first of December.
“Imagine that I’m throwing tinsel and ornaments at you,” Nino adds.
“How long have you been planning that?” Alya asks.
“Almost an hour,” he admits. He turns down Carol of the Bells. “Worth it.”
“Mari?” Adrien asks.
“I’m fine,” Marinette says weakly. “Just…on the floor.”
“Rip,” Alya says immediately.
“Blown away by the Christmas spirit,” Nino jokes. “But seriously, you okay, bro?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” Marinette says.“Surprised. Might’ve hit my elbow but nothing too serious. No blood.”
“Sounds like a darker version of A Christmas Carol,” Alya muses.
Adrien frowns. “Have you read or seen A Christmas Carol? The Ghost of Christmas Future is kind of terrifying.”
“Yeah but there’s no blood .”
“Kris Kringle Killings,” Nino suggests.
“That probably already exists,” Marinette points out.
“Unfortunate.”
“I thought the holidays were supposed to be a fun time filled with joy and happiness,” Adrien says. “Isn’t the whole point of Christmas life ?”
“Technicalities,” Alya says.
“Have you ever heard the song Christmas Shoes?” Nino asks. “Because that song is not happy and it is not about life.”
“Don’t listen to it,” Marinette says quickly. “Just don’t.”
“What next?” Nino asks as Carol of the Bells ends. “I’ve got a Christmas playlist that’s like twenty six hours long but I’m willing to take requests.”
Adrien can feel Alya’s eyeroll.
“How did you manage to find twenty six hours of Christmas music?” Marinette asks in amazement.
“It’s not all Christmas,” Nino corrects. “It’s more of a holiday mix. And you’ll be surprised by how many covers there are. There are a lot of versions of All I Want For Christmas Is You. Not everyone can be Mariah Carey though.”
Alya takes a deep breath. “Iii—”
“If you start singing I will never speak to you again,” Marinette interrupts.
“Aww do you not like my singing, Mar?” Alya pouts.
“Your singing is lovely, Al,” Marinette promises, “but what the hell do I do with this ‘z’.”
“ Gross .”
“I forgot we were math-ing,” Nino murmurs. “Maybe we do need to listen to Christmas Shoes. Something to match the depressing mood.”
“ No ,” Marinette says harshly. “If you play that I cry . Adrien, ‘ z ’.”
“ Fine .” Douce Nuit starts playing softly over the call. “Math away.”
Adrien chews on the end of his pencil. “Two seconds.” He flips the page and redoes the problem quickly, scribbling down notes and instructions as he does so. He hopes Marinette can follow it, it’d be easier if they were actually sitting next to her right now. He snaps a picture of his page on his phone and sends it in the chat. “Did you get that?”
“My eyes are burning,” Alya says flatly.
“You already did this,” Marinette grumbles. “I’m doing the download image thing now.”
“I died eight times while doing this homework.”
“Nine,” Nino counters. “Beat that.”
“Oh,” Marinette says softly. “ Oh .”
Adrien laughs. “Got it?”
“I made this…so hard for myself. Jesus .”
“Jesus?” Alya asks. “Yes, happy early birthday, Jesus.”
“Can we be done with math for tonight,” Marinette begs. “I can’t stand any more of this.”
Nino snorts. “You love us, Marinette.”
“With each Christmas song I doubt that more and more.”
“Quick, put on a Hanukkah song,” Alya says.
“I have some in here somewhere…” Nino hums to himself. “Here’s a classic.”
Adrien snorts as I Have A Little Dreidel starts playing.
“Have I won your love back?” Nino asks.
“Nope.” Marinette pops the ‘p’. “Good luck getting it back. I have reading to do.”
“Wow,” Alya deadpans. “You literally never do homework at a normal hour.”
“Be quiet and listen to the Hanukkah music.”
Adrien flips through his own assigned reading and lets the music mostly fade to background noise. He doesn’t need to mention to his friends that he’s hopelessly behind on homework too. The only reason he had the math done was because it was easy and didn’t involve too much brainpower. He has so much to read. That’s what he gets for staying out longer than usual on patrol with Ladybug, but more time with Ladybug is worth late nights filled with homework.
Marinette inhales sharply as the next song starts.
Adrien frowns. He doesn’t recognize this song and it’s gentle piano music. “What?” he asks as the vocals begin.
“ It was almost Christmas time —”
“Turn it off,” she says.
“ —there I stood in another line. Tryin’ to buy— ”
“Nino turn it off.”
“ —that last— ”
“NINO!”
“I’M GOING!” Nino shouts back. The song suddenly changes to Feliz Navidad. “ Shuffle , Marinette. It was on shuffle .”
“Um, what was that?” Adrien asks. Mostly to Alya, seeing that she’s probably the only one he’s going to get a coherent answer out of for at least the next few minutes.
“That, M. Agreste, is the dreaded Christmas Shoes song. Marinette’s arch nemesis.”
“I’m sorry that I don’t want to listen a song about a little kid buying shoes for his dying mother ,” Marinette snaps.
Adrien leans back in surprise. “Whoa.”
“Yeaaaaaah,” Alya drawls. “Having that song suddenly come on is like getting emotional whiplash. It’s rough.”
“Feliz Navidad, Prospero Año y Felicidad?” Nino sings along weakly.
“You’re dead to me,” Marinette says flatly.
“So i—” Alya cuts herself off. “You know what, no. Not going to say that. I like being alive.”
Marinette groans.
Adrien hums with the music as Nino continues to sing awkwardly.
Everyone holds their breath as they wait for the next song to start as Feliz Navidad fades out.
Alya gasps loudly as the familiar bells start playing.
“ Iiiiiiaaaaiii —”
“Mari?” she begs.
Marinette sighs. “Go for it.”
“Don’t want a lot foooorrrrr Christmaaaas,” Alya sings dramatically. “There is just one thinnnggg Iiiiii neeeeeed. I don’t care about the presents, underneath the Christmas tree. I just want you for my ownnnn, more than you could ever knoow. Make my wish come truuuuuuuuuuuuuue. Aaaaaaallllllll I want for Christmaaaaaaaass iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisss…youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu yeah.” She takes a deep breath and Adrien braces himself.
He starts laughing as Marinette and Nino loudly join in.
“I DON’T WANT A LOT FOR CHRISTMAS, THERE IS JUST ONE THING I NEED—”
Adrien shrugs and decides to jump in. If Nathalie kills him, at least he had fun before he died. “And Iiiii—”
“DON’T CARE ABOUT THE PRESENTS UNDERNEATH THE CHRISTMAS TREE! I DON’T NEED TO HANG MY STOCKING THERE UPON THE FIREPLACE, SANTA CLAUS WON’T MAKE ME HAPPY WITH A TOY ON CHRISTMAS DAY.”
The four pause to breathe at the same time, Marinette giggling. Alya launches herself back into the song at full force, not waiting for the others.
“I JUST WANT YOU FOR MY OWN, MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER KNOW. MAKE MY WISH COME TRUUUE. ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU! YOUUUUU BABY!”