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First was Kris Kring-kill, a mall Santa that was fired on the first weekend of the holiday shopping season.
“You have to be kidding me,” Alya grumbled, crossing her arms as the police quartered off the street leading to the mall. In the distance, she could see Chat Noir catapulting himself in the Akuma’s direction, and Ladybug swinging from holly covered lamp posts as she dodged the creature’s attacks. Normally, Alya would have been elated for a chance to get footage of Ladybug and Chat Noir in action, but with the recent swell in akuma activity, it wasn’t as though the Ladyblog was hurting for yuletide super villain smack down content.
By the time a wave of lucky ladybugs had returned the mall to its pristine condition, the line for the electronic stretched nearly around the block, and Alya was forced to go home, muttering muffled curses in Hawkmoth’s direction under her breath.
If she hadn’t already been akumitized, Alya might have been the next unfortunate victim of Hawkmoth.
“I stood in line for THREE DAYS!” iRage howled, shooting currents of electricity down long, ergonomically designed wires towards Ladybug and Chat Noir. “DON’T TELL ME THAT YOU’RE OUT!”
In any other situation, Alya might have sympathized with the poor woman’s plight. As it stood, the akuma stood between her and a still open electronics store, a box of headphones perched tauntingly in the windowsill.
“I am so winning girlfriend of the year for this,” Alya muttered, waiting until there was a gap in the akuma’s attack pattern. Once Chat Noir caught iRage’s attention, she bolted, staying low as she charged for the electronic store entrance.
“THIEF!” The akuma cried, noticing Alya booking it towards the store. She heard the hiss of the cord, smelled the acidic smoke as the akuma’s weapons streaked towards her head-
“Hold on!”
Alya grunted as she felt something slam into her, lift her off her feet, and send her streaking towards the building opposite the electronic store. Wincing, she waited for the electric surge that never came, eye cracking open as she found herself sailing over the rooftops, landing with a small stutter-step as Ladybug released her waist.
“What are you doing?!” Ladybug cried, brushing Alya’s shirt off with a concerned glare. “There’s a madwoman running around in search of tech trends! It’s not safe!”
“Christmas shopping never is,” Alya chuckled, craning her neck across the street and whimpering as she saw a few people duck inside. “You couldn’t…swing me across to the other side, could you?”
Ladybug blinked, squinting at Alya incredulously as she latched onto a nearby lamppost. “Just…stay safe, okay?”
“I’d be safer if I had my gifts already,” Alya muttered, gingerly climbing down the icy fire escape. “But noooooo; Hawkmoth has it out for Alya, doesn’t he?”
“What do you mean you’re sold out?!”
“Sorry, miss; the guy who was holding the headphones for you was turned into an akuma and the guy who picked up his shift sold them to a-”
Alya tossed her phone into a chair as she buried her face in her quilt and screamed bloody murder.
“What’s so special about these headphones anyway?” Marinette asked, glancing up from her phone at Alya.
“Noise cancelling, 115 db sensitivity, low frequency of 20Hz, high frequency of 20kHz, closed system, used by at least twelve professional grade DJ’s,” Alya rattled off, scanning online stores for any sign of her quarry.
“You say that like you’ve memorized the specs,” Marinette laughed, paling as Alya fixed her with a deadpan glance over the rim of her computer. “You…totally memorized the specs, haven’t you?”
“I’ve been looking for them for weeks,” Alya said, a manic edge creeping into her voice. “I would have had them last week if it wasn’t for that giant burning goat akuma-”
“I don’t know why you’re going through all this trouble,” Marinette said, picking at a loose strand on the pillow she laid on. “I mean…Nino would be happy no matter what you got him, right?”
Alya was quiet for a long moment. “…what did Nino get me for Christmas last year?”
Marinette frowned, trying to remember. “A first edition Spiderman comic?”
“And my birthday?”
“Tickets to the revival of Les Mis?”
“And our anniversary?”
“Dinner…dancing…I see where you’re going with this,” Marinette said, sitting up and crossing her legs.
“Just once…just once I want to kill it with gift-giving,” Alya muttered, chewing on her thumbnail. “Knock lover-boy’s socks off, you know?”
“You sure you don’t want to just show up in a Christmas themed bikini with a sprig of mistletoe?” Marinette snickered.
“Nah…save it for Boxing Day,” Alya said as Marinette fell off the bed in surprise.
It wasn’t until December 24th that Alya got her hands on her prize.
It hadn’t been easy; not by a long shot. She had done some things she wasn’t proud of; elbowed some people she wasn’t proud of. But by eleven-fifty, ten minutes before the stores closed, Alya had them; a brand new black and green set of headphones that would blow her boyfriend’s mind/eardrums.
All she needed to do was get them home.
Clutching the package close to her chest, Alya hissed at anyone who got too close, darting through crowds of last minute shoppers as she cut across the Pont Marie. A few more minutes and she would be home; home and warm and well on her way to being Girlfriend of the-
“Oomph!”
Someone collided into Alya’s back. She fell forward, watching in slow motion as her parcel slipped from her fingers, sailing over the edge of the bridge and careening down towards the Seine. She hit the icy ground with a hard thud that was only half as painful as the sound of the headphones she had worked so hard to find sinking beneath the water with a low plop.
Alya was dimly aware of other footsteps landing behind her as she slowly stood up, turning around to see a frosty looking queenly akuma staring at Alya with trepidation. Behind her, Ladybug and Chat Noir balked, taking a few steps back and leaving the akuma at the mercy of Alya.
“W-watch where you’re going!” The akuma made the mistake of saying. “Interrupt Queen Borealis again and I shall have to-”
What Queen Borealis would have done, no one could guess, because Alya grabbed the akuma by her lapels and head-butt her so hard that her crown snapped like a cheap candy cane.
“Is she okay?” Chat Noir muttered, glancing at Alya’s back as she stared vacantly into the river beneath her. “Should I ask?”
“Alya?” Ladybug asked, tentatively stepping forward as the Elsa cosplayer stumbled home, rubbing her forehead. “Alya are you okay?”
“Yeah…yeah I’m fine,” Alya said in a distant voice, staring into the black water.
“Are you sure?” Ladybug asked.
“Yyyyyyyep,” Alya said, nodding a little too much. “I’m fine…I’m ooooooooookay.”
“Oh…okay then,” Ladybug said, glancing at Chat Noir. “See, she’s fi-”
“She’s definitely trying to jump in after it,” Chat Noir said, nodding at Alya who had one leg over the railing.
“Oh nonono,” Ladybug said, picking the squirming girl up and pulling her back onto the bridge.
“Just lower me down!” Alya cried, grabbing for the railing. “Lower me down! Use the yo-yo, Ladybug! Use the damn yo-yo! JUST LOWER ME INTO THE WATER, LADYBUG!”
In the distance, Notre Dame heralded the arrival of Christmas as Chat Noir and Ladybug tried to stop Alya from diving into the river after her present.
Christmas morning dawned cold, snowy, and sad for Alya as the sound of something pelting her window dragged her from her uneasy sleep.
With a heavy sigh, she dragged herself out of bed, slipped into her Christmas themed pajamas and padded over to the windowsill where she saw Nino waving up at her from the street below.
“I hate Hawkmoth,” Alya sighed, picking up her Christmas card with a disappointing I.O.U. taped to the inside. She had to answer Nino’s traditionally amazing Christmas gifts with a promise of something she didn’t even know she could keep. It had taken most of her pocket money to save up for the set that was currently sleeping at the bottom of the Seine; she didn’t know how long it was going to take her to save up for the second set if ever. All she had wanted was to make her first Christmas with Nino special…and win the imaginary Best Girlfriend Ever contest she was having with herself.
She would have to settle for simply Prettiest Girlfriend Ever until next year.
Taking a deep breath, she tugged on her winter coat, clutching the Christmas card she had cobbled together at the last minute behind her back as she stepped out into the blinding white morning light.
“Merry Christm-ooph!” Alya’s apologetic greeting was quickly smothered by a hug as she was tugged off her feet, spun around and planted in the snow behind Nino who couldn’t seem to stop planting kisses on her cheek.
“You,” Smooch. “Are.” Smooch. “The.” Smooch. “Best!” Nino squealed, peppering Alya’s face with warm, sticky kisses.
“I wouldn’t speak so soon,” Alya said, leaning back with a slightly crestfallen look. “I…about your present-”
Alya trailed off as her eyes fell on a pair of green and black headphones tucked into the furry collar of Nino’s jacket; the exact same kind Alya had been hunting all month. “Where…who…where did you get those?!”
“You want me to say it?” Nino snorted, tugging the headphones over his neck and holding them up like a proud parent. “From my amazing, wonderful, talented, thoughtful, beautiful-”
“Waitwaitwait…okay we can come back to that later but,” Alya poked the headphones to make sure they were real. “When did you-”
“Oh, and I gotta give you style points for sneaking it into my house all Santa-like,” Nino said, tugging Alya closer as she shivered slightly in the snow. “Mom said she had no idea how the present got there but I think we both know you had a little help.”
“I…” Alya blinked, glancing up as a pair of colorful splotches stood out on the rooftop across the street. Her heart skipped a beat as Ladybug and Chat Noir, decked out in Santa hats, gave a small wave and a shh gesture before disappearing over the rooftops and out of sight.
“I…had a little help,” Alya admitted with a slightly dumbstruck smile.
“You know, for all the akuma we’ve stopped and people we saved, I think this is the coolest thing we’ve ever done,” Chat Noir said, pouring a small cup of cocoa from a thermos and passing it to Ladybug.
“Got to admit, it’s nice adding a little good to the world, instead of just erasing the evil,” Ladybug said, watching Alya unwrap a signed copy of her favorite novel and tackle-hug Nino into a snow drift.
“And we gotta do something for our biggest fan, right?” Chat Noir asked, clinking his mug of cocoa against Ladybug’s as he watched the scene below them.
“She’s certainly earned it,” Ladybug sighed, shooting Chat a curious smile. “Though I have to ask…how did you manage to get those headphones in time?”
Gabriel Agreste loathed flying commercial airlines.
Were it not for the sudden opportunity that arose in New York, he wouldn’t have been flying at all. He almost turned it down, but Adrien could manage one Christmas without his father and expanding Gabriel took an inconvenient work schedule.
Somewhere nearby, a baby started crying. With a small scowl, Gabriel opened his bag, rooting around for the box containing the noise cancelling headphones Adrien supposedly got him for Christmas if Nathalie was to be believed. He saw Adrien rifling around his bags the night before and he assumed his son had slipped it into his bags when he wasn’t looking. But as he rifled around, he couldn’t seem to find anything resembling the box the headphones were supposed to come in.
Finally, his hand landed on a slim, wrapped gift package. Frowning, he tugged it out of his bag, unwrapping a slim wooden box with a gold clasp. Gabriel opened it, sighing through his nose as a fountain pen fell onto his lap, followed by a tag that read:
Merry Christmas Father :)
<3 Adrien <3
Three rows behind him, the baby’s crying increased in volume.
“I have my ways,” Chat Noir said, taking a furtive sip from his drink.