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Adrien tilts his head and stares at his classmates, who are all crowded around the teacher’s desk. Alix and Kim trash talk each other loudly as Nathanael stands on a chair and scribbles on the chalkboard. Chloé raises an eyebrow when she sees Adrien by the door before Nathanael taps on her head. She scowls and swats him away. Sabrina hands him another color of chalk. Max is saying something about odds and Ivan is nodding along like he understand as Nino listens with a glazed eyes.
Alya joins Adrien in the doorway. She purses her lips. “Hm…”
He frowns. “Do you…?”
She shakes her head. “Not a clue.”
“Uh, guys? Can I get through?”
They turn to see Marinette standing behind them. She gives them a half smile, arms wrapped around a large box from the bakery.
“Do you need any help?” Adrien offers.
She shakes her head, her bangs falling into her eyes. She makes a face and blows them away before saying. “I don’t haul flour bags around all day for nothing.” She tightens her grip on the box and holds it with one arm, showing off her muscles by flexing her free arm.
“Those extra hours in the bakery are worth it,” Alya says appreciatively.
Adrien nods in agreement.
“I could definitely hold this all day, but I’d also love to put it down…” Marinette stares at them expectantly.
Adrien and Alya exchange a glance and step further into the classroom, stepping away from each other to let Marinette through.
“She’s here!” Rose squeals.
Alix slams her hands on the table. “LET’S GO!”
Marinette laughs and puts the box down on the desk. “Give me a second, I need to unpack.”
Nino squeezes through their classmates and moves over to Adrien and Alya. “Dudes, you look confused.”
“I am,” Adrien admits. He shifts to try and see through the group.
“Relatable,” Alya agrees.
Marinette lifts off the top of the box. Kim reaches into the box and pulls something out of it. He holds a large thermos above his head.
Alya squints at it. “What is going on ?”
“It’s an annual thing,” Nino explains. “Back when we were little we’d all compete, but now the competition’s fucking intense . Last year got freaky.”
Adrien furrows his eyebrows. “Okay…but what is this?”
“Oh right. The Hot Chocolate Chug.”
Alya’s eyebrows shoot up. “That sounds…”
“Ridiculous?” Adrien offers.
“Dangerous.”
“Hazardous.”
“ Awesome .”
“I love it,” they say at the same time.
“How does something like this even start?” Adrien asks in amazement.
Nino shrugs. “Mari’s parents brought hot chocolate in for the class one year and it got super out of hand super fast.”
“I can imagine,” Alya murmurs.
“Okay, next question. Why would you do this?” Adrien asks.
“Why?” Alix asks. She jumps up on the desk. Marinette yanks the box of thermoses off of it before Alix can hit it. “Bad life choices!” Alix shouts.
Kim leaps up on top of the desk, playfully shoulder Alix. “Honor!” He pumps his fist in the air.
“And no one else does it because they don’t want to die,” Nathanael says flatly. “Correction, I’m not doing it because I don’t want to die.”
Juleka hands a large thermos up to Kim.
He takes it and raises it in a dramatic toast. “If we die, we die like men!”
Alix grabs her thermos from Mylène. “We die like the like the dumbass teenagers we are!”
Nathanael dusts off his hands and jumps down from the chair he’d been standing on to draw Kim and Alix’s faces on the board.
“Would anyone like to challenge Alix and Kim?” Max asks.
Everyone quickly takes a step away from the desk.
Rose holds out a thermos to Alya and Adrien. “We extend the invitation to the newcomers as well.”
Adrien looks to Alix and Kim. The dark smiles on their faces are downright terrifying. He holds up his hands in surrender. “I’m all set.”
“I don’t really want to throw up today,” Alya muses. “I’ll pass.”
“Smart,” Marinette says. She puts the extra thermoses back in the box. “Nino challenged them last year and almost choked to death.”
Nino groans and pulls his hat down over his eyes. “Don’t remind me .”
“Thank god,” Nathanael mutters. “I wasn’t drawing someone else.”
“Ivan almost won once,” Sabrina reminds everyone. “Three years ago?”
Ivan shrugs. “I did my best.”
“What about that time Chloé won ?” Rose asks.
Adrien and Alya look to Chloé in surprise.
Chloé smirks and studies her nails. “It was nothing. There’s no need to reestablish the fact that I’m the best. Everyone knows it already.”
“You just know you’ll loose ,” Alix taunts.
Chloé raises an eyebrow and looks up to Alix. “I’m confident in my abilities. I don’t need to be immature and reckless to know that I could easily beat you all.”
Kim rolls his eyes. “Can we get this started?”
“Are you doing it up there?” Juleka asks.
Alix and Kim look at each other and nod simultaneously.
“Alright.” Max holds up his hands.
Nino grabs Alya and Adrien by the arms and drags them back behind the first row of desks. The rest of the class follows him. Nino pulls them onto the bench and sits them down. Marinette squeezes onto the edge of the bench.
“Who’d you bet on?” Nino asks Marinette.
“Oh Alix, for sure.” Marinette shrugs. “She’s won the past two years, why would she lose now?”
“Kim has been practicing,” he points out.
“ So ?” Marinette scoffs. “Get ready to hand over your money. Alix has this in the bag.”
“Did you place a bet?” Adrien asks Alya.
“Oh hell yeah! I didn’t know what I was betting on but I bet on Alix.” Alya shrugs. “Worth it.”
“ Babe ,” Nino says. “I can’t believe this.”
“Ready?” Max asks.
Kim and Alix glare at each other. Alix bends her knees and Kim wiggles his fingers.
“Uncap your thermoses.”
The thermos caps hit the floor with a clatter.
“On your marks…get set…CHUG!” Max scrambles backwards as Alix and Kim throw back their thermoses.
Adrien watches with amazement and mild disgust as they down the hot chocolate. Around him and Alya, the rest of the class chants “CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG!” at the top of their lungs.
“This is the weirdest holiday tradition I’ve ever seen,” Alya murmurs.
Marinette laughs. “Really? You’re in for a ride this year, Al.”
Alix drops the thermos to the ground and throws her arms up. “Fuck!” she shouts gasping.
Kim chokes on his hot chocolate, spilling it all over himself. “ Fuck ,” he hisses.
“I win!” Alix screams. She kicks Kim, who is coughing violently, in the legs. “Get off my throne!”
“Max?” Rose asks.
Max nods seriously. “Alix wins.”
The entire class screams as Kim falls to his knees.
Marinette points at Nino. “I told you!”
He groans and puts his head down on the desk. “I can’t believe this .”
“I love this,” Alya whispers to Adrien.
Alix hops off the desk and Max checks to make sure Kim is still screaming. Marinette puts the boxes of thermoses on Adrien and Nino’s desk as Juleka and Ivan start cleaning up the mess Alix and Kim made.
“Want some help?” Nino asks, standing up.
“Mhm!” Marinette pulls out a stack of cups from inside the box and hands them to him.
Adrien takes a cup from Nino. “What are we doing now?”
“What, you didn’t think the rest of us miss out on Dupain-Cheng hot chocolate, did you?” Nino asks.
Marinette pours Adrien a cup of hot chocolate. “For once, I’m not in charge of cookies,” she says with a bright smile.
“That’d be me,” Chloé says. She pulls out a tupperware full of gingerbread cookies. Sabrina hands her another one filled with snickerdoodles. “And I don’t disappoint.”
Marinette rolls her eyes as she exchanges a cup of hot chocolate for a snickerdoodle.
Adrien takes a long, slow sip of his drink. He meets Alya’s eyes and raises his eyebrows.
“Good?” she asks.
“ Heavenly .”
Her eyes light up as she takes a sip. “The Dupain-Chengs have done it again,” she says as she lowers her cup.
Nino passes them gingerbread cookies as the tupperwares get passed around the room.
“I like these traditions,” Adrien says, wrapping his hands around his cup.
Alya smiles. “Me too.”