Chapter Text
Marinette groans as she answers her ringing phone. It is too early for this . “Wha’?” she mumbles, rubbing her eyes.
“ MARI !” Nino shouts.
She scowls and drops her arm over her eyes. “Nino, what the hell ? I’m sleeping .”
“ Look up! ”
“It’s too bright!” she complains.
“ Mari look up or I’m going to break into your house. ”
Marinette scrunches her nose. “No you won’t.”
“ Do you not remember when we were eight? ”
Unfortunately, she does.
Marinette sighs. “Fiiiine, if it’ll make you happy.” She moves her arm and squints up at the trapdoor that leads to her balcony. She frowns. Where’d the sky go? “Nino, what—”
“ MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG IT IS SNOWING OUTSIDE. ”
She sits up with a jerk. “What?! Nino you butt !” She unlocks her trapdoor and shoves it open as Nino laughs at her. Her breath fogs up as she pokes her head up out of her room. She soaks in the bitter cold air and the view of a snow covered Paris. The smell of freshly fallen snow brings her back to her childhood and she has the strong urge to drag Nino to the park to build snowmen. “First snow,” she breathes. “And it stuck!” She suddenly remembers she’s on the phone. “Why didn’t you tell me?!”
Nino snorts. “ What did you think I was trying to do? ”
Marinette rolls her eyes and ducks back inside, closing the trapdoor and shaking the snow out of her hair. “What time is it even?”
“ Probably too early for you to be up ,” Nino admits. “ If you leave now you’ll definitely be on time for class, that’s for sure .”
Marinette climbs down from her bed, nudging Tikki awake as she scoots passes her. “You’re the worst.”
“ Hey, just keeping up the tradition. ”
“Mhm.” She switches her phone to speaker as she searches for an outfit to wear. “You’re already on your way, aren’t you?”
“ Well… ” he drawls.
Marinette looks up from her drawers and frowns at her phone. “What is it?”
“ I was just wondering… Should we invite Adrien and Alya? ”
Marinette pauses with a knit sweater in hand.
“ I mean, I know this is our thing so I figured I’d ask. I wasn’t sure… What’dya think? ”
She studies the sweater she’s holding. It’s incredibly soft and pink with snowflakes in neat rows because Adrien had insisted that she needed some sort of winter-y sweater. Marinette had outright refused to wear an ugly sweater, so Alya and Adrien had scoured the internet for something they deemed suitable.
Tikki lands on Marinette’s shoulder and nuzzles her neck.
Marinette squeezes the fabric between her fingers.
“ Mar? ” Nino asks.
Marinette shakes her head. “Sorry, I zoned out.”
“ Typical ,” he says fondly. She can hear the smile in her voice.
“Hey! That’s what you get for waking me up so early!”
Tikki giggles softly.
Marinette tosses the sweater onto her chaise and searches for pants. “Do it.”
“ Invite them? ”
“Yeah.”
“ You sure? If you want to keep this an us thing I’m sure they won’t mind. ”
“I’m sure,” Marinette promises. “I want to experience the first snow of the year with all my partners. …if that’s okay with you?”
“ Dude, two steps ahead of you. I’ll invite them now. ”
She sighs. “Thank you so much. I’ll have hot coco ready for when you get here.”
“ Sweet. Al will be meeting us at yours and then we’ll pick up Adrien. Sound cool? ”
“Sounds great. See you in a bit?”
“ Yup. Love you, dude. ”
“Love you too.” Marinette hangs up and changes quickly. She does her hair and digs around her room to make sure she has all the winter clothing she needs.
“What are we doing?” Tikki asks through a yawn. “Up before sunrise? That’s not like you, Marinette.”
Marinette smiles and hands Tikki a cookie. “It’s tradition. Nino and I always walk to school together after the first snow. Even if we don’t have school. We usually detour at the park for a bit.”
“That’s sweet,” Tikki murmurs, eyelids heavy. “But we got hardly any sleep last night.”
Marinette hums in agreement. She can feel the exhaustion heavy on her bones, but the snow has lightened her enough to get her through at least this morning. If she naps on Alya during lunch, so be it. “We’ll get extra sleep tonight,” she promises Tikki.
Tikki mumbles in agreement as she floats into Marinette’s purse.
Marinette hurries downstairs to see her maman in the kitchen. She presses a quick kiss to her maman’s cheek and digs through the cabinets looking for something to eat for breakfast.
“You’re up early,” her maman teases.
“Snow!” Marinette throws her arms out, nearly knocking over a carton of milk. “Whoops.”
Her maman smiles and gestures to the pot on the stove. “I figured. Already started the hot chocolate and everything.”
Marinette bites her lip and gives her a sheepish smile. “Any chance we can double that?”