14. Chapter 14

The day before Christmas Eve, Adrien finally got enough of a break to be able to hang out with his friends- well, with Alya and Nino, at least. Marinette was still helping her parents weather the last of the holiday rush.

"Photoshoots all done, then?" Nino asked as they settled into a booth at a cafe. "Are you actually going to be free for the rest of your break?"

Adrien's nose wrinkled. "No such luck," he admitted. "The worst of it's done, since the rush photoshoots for the tight deadlines had to be all packed together and they figured that they might as well get most of the fittings done at the same time, but my father still wants some late winter-spring shoots done and there was no point in doing a rush job for them, so they'll be after the holidays are over."

"Dude."

"It'll only be a couple days, really," Adrien said quickly. "Because they will try to get as much done as possible, but for shoots with a completely different theme, it would be hard to get the make-up completely off everyone and redo it from scratch. It just takes forever, and it's easier to just have people in another day. That way, Father doesn't have to always have major set-changers on standby for the entire shoot and he doesn't have to pay the photographer for the time where he's just waiting around during make-up changes and set switches. He only does that when he needs shoots all done really fast."

"Like when you only come back home for a couple weeks," Alya filled in.

"Or when Hawkmoth was active, he just wanted to get things over with so a last-minute akuma attack wouldn't keep things from getting to press," Adrien added. He frowned over that for a second. "...actually, I think that was something Nathalie insisted on. She got tired of having to reschedule shoots in a really cramped time frame- y'know, because models are busy, and so are the good photographers and staff, so she couldn't just say 'Hey, show up tomorrow at two-fifteen' and expect people to actually be able to make it."

"I think a lot of people ended up shifting how they did things while Hawkmoth was active," Alya pointed out. "I've heard a lot of stories when I was poking around. And speaking of supervillains and superheroes- did you hear? Ladybug and Chat Noir were spotted last night!"

"Here in Paris?" Adrien asked, playing dumb. He had checked the Ladyblog this morning, of course, and had seen Alya's excited post and the links to some of the videos and pictures that people had taken of him and his superhero partner. But he had supposedly been busy in his father's presence the night before and he had had photoshoots that morning, which in theory meant that he shouldn't have a clue. It also meant that he had an alibi. "Really? That's great!"

"Yes! Here in the city! You guys were right, they did come back for the holidays. I need to see if I can flag them down before they take off again and see if they have any hints for my research." She looked determined, and Adrien suddenly guessed that she would probably be out trawling the city until she found and waved down the two superheroes.

Hopefully Ladybug would be able to go out that night so Alya wouldn't be trying to go out on Christmas itself. He could definitely sneak out- he would be expected home for a late dinner with his father, but then didn't have anything scheduled for after that. He could have a few minutes to sit down and interrogate Plagg more properly about some past users and where (and when) they had been active. His kwami hadn't been as forthcoming as he had expected during his first somewhat absentminded questioning, which was something Adrien had to figure out before he headed out to (hopefully) catch Alya.

Nino looked somewhat exasperated at the change in topic, which made Adrien guess that he probably was worried about Alya skipping out on their planned holiday activities to try to find the superhero duo. It was a problem the two of them had had when Hawkmoth was active and Alya sometimes was late to (or altogether missed) dates with Nino because of akuma attacks that she wanted to cover, and Nino had been thrilled when Hawkmoth had finally been taken down because it meant that Alya wouldn't be missing as many dates as before (and, of course, because she wouldn't be putting herself in danger on a daily basis. That was also a bonus).

Somehow Adrien suspected that Alya hadn't told her boyfriend about the potential six-month trip around the world to research past Miraculous holders yet. He wouldn't try to stop her, not at all- Nino wouldn't stand in Alya's way, and he was nothing if not a supportive boyfriend- but he would probably look a bit more apprehensive about the topic. Everyone in their group knew that if Alya was determined to do something- which, in this case, she definitely was- she would get to do it.

"I wonder if they'll still be doing their old patrol routes," Alya continued, apparently oblivious to the slightly wary expressions on both boys' faces. "I could find them super-easily then, but based on the photos I could track down from last night- I can't believe that Ladybug and Chat Noir were out for over an hour and I didn't catch it-they were just all over the place, but then they did spend a bunch of time at the Eiffel Tower. So maybe I could just, like, hang out there-"

"Babe, don't you think that Ladybug and Chat Noir might spend most of their time hanging out with their family on Christmas?" Nino pointed out. "I know they've shown up on Christmas in the past, but that was when Hawkmoth was still active and there was an akuma that they had to fight."

Alya pondered over that for several moments before letting out a long sigh as her shoulders slumped. "Okay, okay. If I don't find them tonight, then I'll wait until after Christmas is over to go out again. I just really want to catch them before they go back to wherever they've been again."

Adrien really hoped that Ladybug was planning on going out that night, because he didn't know how long she was going to stick around in Paris. Considering that she had a job that she, like Marinette, would have to return to, she might be heading back right away after Christmas, or maybe she would be sticking around until New Years, like Marinette was. If she headed back right away, Alya might not have the chance to talk to his partner.

...darn it, they definitely needed to get better at communicating.

"So, do you think that Marinette will get free soon?" Alya asked, glancing at her watch and then at Adrien. "I know the bakery is closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but she's mostly been helping with baking and decorating. They finish up with that part of the work by early afternoon, right?"

Adrien checked his phone, but he didn't have any new messages from Marinette. "She might be helping with clean-up once the baking and decorating gets finished. And if there's a lot of customers, she might be helping her mother at the front counter. When I went past earlier, there was a line out the door."

"And didn't Marinette say something about an order for the mayor's holiday party? They might still be doing the work for that after they finish up with the normal baking for the day," Nino pointed out. "It would be hard to keep all of that separate during a normal day's operations. You've seen the inside of the bakery kitchen during the day before, right? The place is chaos. Organized chaos, but chaos."

"They probably have a couple orders," Alya admitted. "And yeah, I can see where they would want to get stuff from the daily work cleaned up first. Pretty much every flat space in that kitchen is spoken for during the day." She made a face, presumably at the thought of her best friend having to do so much work during what was supposed to be her vacation. "At least their workload will go back to normal after the holidays, right?"

"Not if they have New Years' parties to cater for," Nino pointed out. "Adrien, did Marinette say anything about that?"

Adrien could only shrug. He didn't know any better than they did what Marinette might be doing, right now or in several days. For all he knew, she could be buried under a mountain of pastries right now.

"But why can't we know more about past holders?" Marinette asked Tikki in confusion as she worked to decorate the veritable mountain of cookies and other pastries she was practically buried under. It was growing steadily smaller as she worked, but she still had a couple hours of work left to do before she finished up all of the orders for the holidays. "Should Chat Noir and I not be helping Alya?"

"It's not that I don't want you knowing about past holders, Marinette," Tikki assured her, even as she eyed the tempting pile of cookies in front of her. "But in the past, the Miraculous generally worked secretly, out of the public eye- and for good reason. We didn't want potential supervillains to find out about the powers we have at our disposal. Obviously staying completely secret isn't possible anymore. I'm just trying to determine how much I can tell you to pass on without giving too much away. I think I can give you locations and general times, but then it's up to Alya to research the rest. Then I'm not risking exposing more knowledge than the world already knows."

Marinette frowned, setting her icing piping tip aside for the moment. "But how is telling me just location and time any different than telling me who the users were?"

"Because sometimes the users were really good at blending in, and the only evidence that Alya would have would be your word. If she can find the users when she knows when and where to look, then that's one thing. I'm kind of curious myself to see what people noticed and remembered, or how much might link them with the Miraculous in hindsight. But too much guidance can sometimes be a bad thing." Tikki landed on Marinette's hand and blinked up at her. "I know you want to help Alya as much as possible, Marinette. But sometimes it's better if Miraculous users stay secret, or at least as unconfirmed users."

Marinette was still a little puzzled, but she shrugged and acquiesced. If Tikki said that she had reasons for not being specific about users, then she shouldn't push. Maybe she didn't understand fully, but she didn't know the situations that Tikki was thinking of. Maybe there were powers that the Ladybug and Chat Noir Miraculous had that past users had had but she didn't, and Tikki wanted those powers to stay secret. Maybe there would be some users that fought in a war and the Miraculous didn't want to seem like they were taking sides.

Maybe past holders fought some sort of Great Evil that Tikki didn't want Alya finding out about and spreading around, in case it caused some sort of panic in the general population.

Several hours later, Ladybug jumped off of her balcony and headed for the center of the city, list of time periods and locations clutched in her hand. Tikki had finally decided to scratch a couple off the list because of unrevealed reasons, but most of the past holders had stayed on. They were all Ladybug holders, because she and Tikki had decided that unless Alya discovered that there were other Miraculous out there, they weren't going to say anything else.

Tikki was guessing (and Marinette agreed) that Alya would probably figure it out, if not right away then eventually. The fact that Hawkmoth existed and was obviously another Miraculous user was a pretty good hint that she and Chat Noir weren't the only users out there, and apparently some of the historical Ladybug and Chat Noir duos had worked with other Miraculous users. Still, they weren't going to give Alya too much right away.

"I think Alya will feel a larger sense of accomplishment if she figures that out by herself anyway," Tikki had concluded when they discussed it earlier. "If you give her too much, there's not much for her to figure out. No big discoveries, you know. After all, most past users worked from the shadows."

"Will you tell me more about the users after I give Alya the list?" Marinette had asked hopefully. Now that Alya had brought the subject up and Marinette had had time to think about it, she was intensely curious. Were there any historical figures that she had heard of before that were Ladybugs or other Miraculous users? Had they changed history in big ways? She was curious, darn it.

Tikki had giggled and promised to fill Marinette in on more details as Alya figured out past users. Still, there were things that even Marinette wouldn't be able know unless a... situation arose.

Marinette hadn't asked, and Tikki hadn't elaborated.

It didn't take long for her to find Chat Noir once she got close to the Eiffel Tower. Her partner had apparently been waiting for her, since he popped out of the shadows he had been lurking in the second she got close. He bounded up to meet her and, without any greeting, announced, "The Ladyblogger is headed for the Eiffel Tower, I just spotted her three minutes ago."

Ladybug could have guessed that. Alya had texted her several hours earlier, informing her that until further notice, she wouldn't be available evenings except on Christmas. "Because I need to talk to Ladybug and Chat Noir before they go back to wherever they've been," Alya had texted. "So guess who's staking out at the Eiffel Tower until they show up?"

At least it was nice of Alya to make herself very easy to find.

"What did your kwami tell you to tell her?" Ladybug asked as they set off for the Eiffel Tower at a more sedate pace. She was curious about whether or not Chat Noir's kwami, who she had heard was a bit less cautious than Tikki, would have had the same concerns as her kwami. "Mine just gave me general time periods and locations."

Chat Noir looked surprised. "Really? Mine, too! He said that he didn't want to make it too easy for Alya, and then he snickered for a while. I told him to stop being a snarky ass, but he refused to give me any more. But I thought that you said that your kwami was more cooperative!"

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Chat Noir's kwami had probably had the same concerns as Tikki, but had decided to just give the same more information in a more flippant manner. "She is. She has some reservations about certain holders being found out, though, and she said that there really isn't much information out there about past holders- or at least there shouldn't be- so if I give Alya too much information, then there won't be anything for her to discover. Besides, Tikki said it was a good test to see how good Miraculous users were at blending in."

Chat Noir frowned. "Is she okay with giving Alya any information at all, then? Because if Alya finds something, she'll publish it. There's no take-backs then."

"She pulled a couple dates for users that she didn't want Alya digging around. The rest she said would be fine."

"We should double-check our lists against each other, then," Chat Noir decided, opening a pocket and digging out a sheet of paper. "I mean, I bet that was what Plagg was thinking, too, but he has a reputation as a uncooperative ass to keep."

Ladybug couldn't help the splutter of laughter that left her. "Chat Noir! That's no way to talk about your kwami!"

He laughed too, loud and deep. "Plagg deserves it, though! He's a little cheese-eating monster. He could have just told me that some users had to be kept secret and, y'know, the other stuff that your kwami told you, and he would have gotten out of a solid hour of interrogation. But noooo, he just had to make it difficult for both of us. You have no idea. I never told you about how he was trying to make things weird for my friend and I, did I?" One look at the puzzled look on her face told him that no, he hadn't ever said anything. "Right. We had to kiss each other once for this, ah, thing, and anyway, there were photos. And Plagg just had to go and blow them up and print a bunch out and hide them all over my apartment. They were under pillows, in the kitchen cabinets, in the freezer- it's been months, and I'm not even sure that I've found everything!"

Ladybug's shoulders shook as she tried to hold in her laughter and then she positively exploded cackling. She ended up sitting on the rooftop, snickering away as Chat Noir shook his head in exasperated acceptance next to her.

Of course Ladybug would find Plagg's antics funny. If the two of them ever met...

Well, if they ever met, they would either be best buddies or drive each other insane. She probably wouldn't find the kwami's stubborn attitude so charming if she was the one trying to reason with Plagg.

Ladybug took several minutes to calm down, and Chat Noir took the time to carefully tug the list she was clutching in her hand free and compare it to the one Plagg had given to him. All of the dates and places were the same, which made Chat Noir wonder if his kwami and Ladybug's perhaps had some way to communicate wordlessly when they were apart, or if whatever users they had excluded were somehow so very obvious for some unspoken reason.

"It looks like our Miraculous have always been active at the same time," he commented over the sound of a still-snickering Ladybug. "And it looks like my kwami excluded the same users that yours did. I wonder what made them so different?"

"From what I could tell, it sounded like we would only be told that on a need-to-know basis," Ladybug finally said, pushing herself to her feet even as a stray giggle escaped her. "Maybe it would be dangerous to know somehow, or maybe it would make us unnecessarily worried about an evil that's not even active right now."

Chat Noir grinned and extended a hand to help pull her all the way up. "Well, you know what they say about cats and curiosity..."

"That they need their inquisitive little noses squirted with water?" Ladybug asked teasingly, poking his nose lightly with a wide grin. He automatically wrinkled his nose and nipped at her finger. "Should we go find that Ladyblogger now?"

It really didn't take long. Even with the crowds out enjoying the holiday cheer, Alya was easy enough to pick out. Instead of admiring the holiday decorations, she was scanning the rooflines of the buildings around her. The superhero duo barely paused before bounding right through her line of sight and then heading for a quieter road. They knew full well that Alya would have spotted them, and then they could have their discussion in a little more privacy.

Sure enough, it only took a minute for Alya to come charging around the end of the block. She slipped a little on the ice but regained her balance almost immediately. True to character, she didn't let it slow her down at all.

"Did you know that I was looking for you guys?" Alya demanded as she skidded to a stop in front of them. They nodded, and she looked flabbergasted. "How?"

"Well, you posted something about wanting to do research on past Miraculous holders on the Ladyblog," Ladybug pointed out right away. "And we figured that we might be one of the first places you looked for information. So we did some poking around, and we came up with locations and general dates of activity. We just compared notes, and it looks like our Miraculous were always active at about the same time."

"But not always in exactly the same place," Chat Noir added, and Ladybug shot him a startled look. She hadn't really done more than glance at the sheet he carried so she hadn't noticed any differences, but if Chat Noir said that there were, then she trusted him.

Alya's eyes positively lit up and she reached for the sheets that Chat Noir was holding out to her. "Really? Oh, wow, this is- this is more than I hoped for! I wasn't even positive that you guys would know about past users, or if you did that you'd be willing to share since, y'know, you once claimed that you were 2000 years old." She gave Ladybug a look. "Which I believed for, like, two years, but then I got smarter."

"How did you figure that out, buy the way?" Chat Noir asked curiously. "We thought we were pretty convincing."

Alya gave them such a clear I-can't-believe-you're-this-dumb look so clear that even strangers couldn't have misinterpreted it. "Uh, you obviously got older. And you got older at a normal rate. I compared photos of you when you first started to ones that I had just taken then, and by comparing your heights to the grown-ups around you- you know, the mayor and the police officers- I could tell that you had gotten taller. Someone who had been alive since Ancient Egypt wouldn't be growing now."

"Betrayed by the meter stick," Chat Noir said with a exaggerated sigh. "Bugger. That probably means that everyone in Paris noticed too."

"Probably," Alya admitted. "...and I don't know how much it helps, but I did hide that video with the, y'know, the history book. Anyone who remembers it would probably be able to remember that the video was from your first year of crime fighting, but hopefully they wouldn't remember which history book it was or from what year in school it was from. And I looked for plagiarized versions of it too," she added hastily. "Just to make sure that it wasn't floating around. But that wasn't one of my best recordings of a fight ever, so no one really bothered ripping it off." She shrugged. "I just figured, if you guys ever have to face a supervillain that's, uh, more competent than Hawkmoth was, that maybe I shouldn't just leave a trail of crumbs online that would help them find you guys."

"Good thought," Chat Noir praised after a moment's pause, when Ladybug didn't seem like she was going to reply. He guessed that she was just as startled as he was- Alya, removing something from the Ladyblog? This wasn't something small like a troll's comment in the forum section, it was actual fight footage. She was all about reporting integrity and getting the truth out, and for her to think of how an old video could affect the superheroes in the long run was, well, new.

New and a very good sign. That meant that she might be more likely to edit out anything she discovered about past heroes that could be dangerous for the public to know.

"This is a really long list," Alya said a moment later, surprise evident in her voice. "Like...wow. Okay. Okay, I definitely have a lot of work to do."

"There might be quite a few of them that don't have anything recorded about them," Ladybug warned her. "Most Miraculous holders weren't as visible as Chat Noir and I are. Some might not have used their powers in obvious ways. Some weren't active for very long at all. So don't be surprised if there's nothing there to find."

"If there's something to find, I'll find it," Alya promised, the gleam of a challenge evident in her eyes. "Thank you guys so much, I would have had so much material to dig through otherwise. And I still have a bunch to dig through, but not, like, as much. And I can spend more time where I need to, so that's great." She gave the papers another gleeful look and then carefully tucked the papers away in her purse, latching it shut and double-checking that it was properly closed. Then she glanced up. "...I don't suppose you'd give me any clues about where you guys have been the past few months?"

The only reply she got was a dual snort.

By the next day, Alya was still running high on the excitement of having the superheroes giving her such good leads. She was practically vibrating still when Marinette arrived at the apartment Alya and Nino shared, and it took her nearly a minute to realize that her best friend had shown up. It looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep at all- which, Marinette soon learned, was not far off.

"Ladybug and Chat Noir gave her a list of when past holders had been active and she decided that she had to start research right away," Nino said, a hint of fond exasperation in his tone. "So she got maybe two hours of sleep last night, and she only got that much because she was so tired that she couldn't read the words on the page anymore. That, and the holders she decided to research first were British and so, y'know, all of the sources were in English, and it's harder to translate while tired and- why am I telling you that, you know that already. Because you've been living in London. Obviously."

Marinette smothered a laugh. It sounded like Alya wasn't the only one to not get a whole lot of sleep.

"That's great that they did that for her!" Marinette exclaimed, pretending that it was news to her. She mentally ran through the list that she had given Alya and wondered which of the British holders Alya had investigated first. There were a couple that she remembered, and there easily could have been a few more. "Did she find anything?"

Unsurprisingly, Nino shook his head. "Nothing concrete. I think she said that there were a few possible leads in the last thing she read, but she was so exhausted that she just decided to recheck them later, when she could actually understand what they were saying." He glanced over at his girlfriend, who was talking to a somewhat concerned-looking Adrien over by their kitchen. "...I think she might need a lot more sleep before she tackles it again, though."

"Weren't there any French users she could have started with?" Marinette asked, knowing full well that yes, there had been. There weren't many- holders tended to pop up when needed, not just willy-nilly- but there had been a couple other pairs that had been active in surrounding countries as well that could have easily gone through France at some point.

"Not super recently. Alya wanted to start with more recent users, since it would in theory be easier to find information on them." Nino glanced over at Alya again. "So far, not much luck. But maybe she's looking for the wrong signs. Like, with our Ladybug and Chat Noir- it's impossible to miss that they're superheroes, right? You can't just say that they're, say, normal people who are just super good at what they do. But I kind of wonder if most of the past users that just passed as just that- normal people who just happened to be super-good at doing something."

Marinette tried not to react to that too much. Nino had hit it right on the head, which maybe shouldn't have been as surprising as it was. Nino could be startlingly perceptive at times, probably because he tended to be able to get some distance from situations with his laid-back personality. Of course he would be able to pick out the reasoning behind why Miraculous users like Ladybug and Chat Noir had been active before but (aside from the Egyptian exhibit) never heard of. It was one of the (many) reasons why Alya and Nino worked well together- Alya had a tendency to charge into things, while Nino held back and got a better idea of what was going on first. He tended to join in wholeheartedly once he had gotten a better idea of what was going on, of course, but that pause had helped them on more than a few occasions.

And, it appeared, it would probably serve as a great help to Alya's research.

"So, have you guys run into any of your other friends yet?" Nino asked as Adrien joined them in the living room. "I mean, you haven't seen them since you pulled that wedding prank."

"I ran into Rose, actually," Marinette volunteered. The two of them had talked with each other for a while, actually- though perhaps saying that they talked with each other was a bit of an exaggeration. Rose had talked at Marinette for a while, cooing over the wedding prank and how cute Adrien and Marinette had been together. She had wanted to know if the two of them were dating, then why they weren't dating, then had tried grilling Marinette over whether or not she still like-liked Adrien before rattling off a whole list of reasons why Marinette and Adrien should be dating. Marinette wasn't exactly going to volunteer all of that, though.

Adrien grinned. "Let me guess, she just wanted to talk about how the wedding looked and she didn't even care that it was all a prank."

Marinette couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Rose is the best. You saw the comment she left on the initial post, right?" Adrien shook his head, smiling slightly to himself. "She totally believed us."

"Heh heh, yeah." Marinette's smile turned slightly strained. Had she seen Rose's comment? She definitely had, and she definitely remembered it. Rose had gushed about 'all of the signs!', and she had definitely referenced Marinette having liked Adrien when they were younger.

(Thankfully Adrien was apparently still somewhat socially clueless when it came to girls, because he had somehow completely missed that.)

"Well, you guys were very convincing," Nino commented as Alya came up to join them. "I mean, there was no other reasonable explanation for you doing a wedding that elaborate."

"Are you guys talking about the fake wedding again?" Alya asked as she finally set her laptop aside and joined them. "Nino had to keep me from flying over there and killing you guys for that stunt."

"So you've told us before," Marinette said somewhat dryly. "By text, and in messages on our phones, and when you visited before break. But I think you secretly found it funny."

Nino snickered. Alya tried to look disapproving, but even she couldn't help but smile and shake her head at the memory of the prank.

"But that's old news," Adrien said, thankfully cutting off further discussion of their fake wedding. "So...you guys said you had some holiday movies for us to binge-watch?"

"Yeah, if Alya can step away from her research for a bit," Nino joked. Behind him, Alya stuck her tongue out and rolled her eyes before going over to shut her computer down as Nino stepped over to his own computer, hooked up to the TV so they could all watch. "So I've pulled up a few that I think we'll all enjoy, and then a cat-themed one for Adrien. I figured you might want to do something fun over your break, since you couldn't come to dinner with Alya and I's families."

"I wanted to, but I can't exactly skip out on my dad," Adrien said, sounding a bit regretful. Marinette glanced over at him in confusion- that was the first time she had heard about Nino and Alya's offer, and she had to wonder what Adrien had said to make Nino decide to invite Adrien over for Christmas dinner. "It really did sound great, but..."

"No worries, man," Nino assured him with a shrug. "I get it. Family dinner is family dinner. And I wouldn't want to upset your father, either."

"It's tradition," Adrien said with a sigh. "It's not that fun most years, but at least he hasn't invited business partners this year." He paused. "...actually, on second thought, that might make it more enjoyable. Then he wouldn't be able to grill me about how things are going in London."

Alya looked surprised. "He hasn't already done that?"

"I've been busy, he's been busy," Adrien explained simply. "...and I've been avoiding him a bit, just so he can't try to persuade me to drop things there and come back, but I can't exactly do that forever. And if I missed Christmas dinner, then he would be eating it alone and that's just...kind of sad."

"What about Nathalie and the Gorilla? Couldn't they eat with you guys?" Nino wanted to know.

Adrien shook his head. "Most of the household staff have Christmas off these days, so they both have gone back to join their families. Gorilla's sister has a family just outside of Paris that he joins, and Nathalie has some friends from school that invited her for dinner. I heard her saying that she was going to bring some side dishes, and then a day later she was complaining about everything burning. She apparently did a test run and it hadn't gone so well."

Marinette couldn't help but laugh. "So what is she doing instead?"

"She probably bought something from a store, just like she's done every other year that she's joined them."

They all laughed.

"She seems so put-together normally, so it's hilarious to think that she can't cook," Alya chuckled as they settled in on the couch in front of the TV. "How does she manage normally?"

"She normally eats at the mansion," Adrien admitted. "She might as well, she spends all of her time there anyway."

"All right all of you, pipe down now," Nino announced as the TV screen lit up and music started playing. "Let's have some Christmas fun!"

Adrien straightened his collar in the mirror and considered the tie sitting on the bathroom counter in front of him. He wanted to put his best foot forward, of course, but he didn't want to look too formal, even if it was Christmas dinner with his father.

Tie on...or no tie on?

"Do you have any holiday ties?" Nino asked, his voice coming over the speakerphone a bit scratchy. Adrien had called him for a second opinion since Plagg was useless, but he was fast finding that Nino wasn't particularly helpful when it came to fashion. He was much better at hosting holiday movie-watching parties, even if he had forgotten about the prepared refreshments until halfway through their movie-watching spree. "Maybe that would be the perfect middle ground."

Adrien snorted. "Holiday ties bring down the formality. Father considers them garish. I don't think I even own any."

Nino huffed. "Okay, fine. Don't listen to me, then. How-"

"Who're you talking to?" Alya's voice came through, a bit faint. "We need to leave for dinner with our families soon."

Nino's voice faded as he pulled back the phone to talk to his girlfriend. "Adrien. He wants to know if he should wear a tie to dinner with his dad."

There was a sudden shuffling, and then Alya's voice came clearly over the phone. "Are you going out to a restaurant?"

"No."

"Is it usually a formal meal?"

"Pretty formal, yeah." There were years when they hadn't even had the dinner- they had bypassed the tradition for three years following Adrien's mother's disappearance- but all of the other years, they had had a rather formal dinner.

"And what are you wearing right now?"

Adrien clamped down the snarky response that question immediately brought to mind. "Uh. Black slacks, green long-sleeved button-up. Black dress shoes."

"Maybe have a suitcoat but no tie," Alya suggested. "How does that look?"

"I don't know yet, I can't make suitcoats appear out of thin air," Adrien said dryly, picking up his phone as he headed back into his room to dig in his closet for one of his suitcoats. "But it should look good. Thanks, Alya. I don't know why I didn't think of that."

"No problem," Alya responded cheerfully. She paused for a moment, then added, "But I don't know why you didn't just call Marinette. Like, I love Nino and all, but even I know that my boy isn't the best person to come to for fashion questions."

There was a muted "HEY!" from the other end of the line. Alya ignored it.

"Or even better, you could have asked her to come over and dress you," Alya continued. "That way you could be sure to get it right."

"I can dress myself, thanks," Adrien said, letting his voice go dryer yet. His friends were just as bad as the tabloid reporters when it came to hinting that he and Marinette were more involved than just friends. Worse, even, because Adrien couldn't avoid them. "Been doing it since I was a kid."

Alya just snickered.

Ten minutes later, the suitcoat was properly buttoned up and Adrien headed down to the dining room. It really was ridiculous to dress up like this for a family meal- a meal with just his father, actually- but it was tradition. A tradition that had become more and more frustrating as he learned about how his friends and classmates spent their Christmas dinners. Most did dress up a bit more than usual, of course, just to get into the festive spirit, but none reached the level of formality that the Agrestes did even if they had rarely-seen family members over.

If Adrien wasn't still worried about his father changing his mind about helping him with tuition, Adrien would have been very, very tempted to dress up at Santa and stroll into dinner that way, just to lighten things up a bit. His father wouldn't be at all amused, though.

Gabriel Agreste was already seated at the table when Adrien arrived. The cook was setting out dishes on the table. While there was definitely enough for both Gabriel and Adrien, there wasn't a huge abundance. The cook knew from experience that while the Agrestes would eat leftovers once or twice, they didn't want to have leftovers every meal for a week. The cook would make just enough for two people to have two meals and that meant that, well...

The dishes weren't exactly heaping and they weren't really screaming Christmas feast. It looked tasty, of course- their cook was absolutely fabulous- but not that festive.

"Adrien," Gabriel greeted him. "Just on time. Sit, sit."

Adrien sat.

They both fell silent as they dished up their food. Adrien made sure to not pile his plate too much, since experience told him that it would just lead to stomachache and feeling ill, no matter how delicious the food was. Once he had what he wanted, Adrien dug in. It was tasty, but it was a bit awkward to eat in silence. He had gotten used to eating with Marinette, joking and swapping stories about their days. It could take them forever to eat with all of the talking they did, but it was fun. Comfortable. Relaxing.

Dinner with his father was none of those things.

"How are your studies going?" Gabriel asked after a few minutes of silent chewing. "Have you decided to continue for all three years, or will you be returning home at the end of the year?"

Adrien raised an incredulous eyebrow. Surely his father wasn't serious? "I'll be continuing, just as planned."

Gabriel took a small sip of wine. Adrien noticed, with no small amount of exasperation, that he had not gotten wine like his father; instead, he had water in his second glass. "Surely your business degree will be more helpful in the long run. There's more opportunities, and business has more potential for financial success."

"But I enjoy physics more," Adrien pointed out, doing his best not to snap back. "And doing something that I'm interested in and enjoy is more important to me than making a boatload of money. Money doesn't buy happiness."

"But money does prevent financial instability, which causes unhappiness," Gabriel retorted.

Adrien couldn't hold back the snort. While it was true, that was also a ridiculous argument. "You're acting as though positions in physics barely pay anything. That's hardly true."

Gabriel only shrugged, which made Adrien guess that he perhaps hadn't actually bothered to look up how much physicists normally made on average. He shouldn't have been surprised, really, since his father apparently was still under the impression that he would drop the Physics program, but it was still frustrating, to say the least.

A few more minutes passed in silence. Adrien tried not to fidget as he continued eating. The silence was growing increasingly uncomfortable, but his father didn't seem terribly concerned. Gabriel was probably used to uncomfortable silences, since he caused so many of them on a regular basis.

"I heard that you've gotten plenty of attention from the British tabloids," Mr. Agreste commented after another minute. "It seems like there's something new every other week."

"They're very persistent," Adrien agreed. It was frustrating to no end; it seemed that every time he and Marinette were seen out together was fuel for the fire, and then he had to give another interview saying that no, he and Marinette weren't dating, and yes, the constant questions about it were very annoying. The only upside was that in recent weeks, the hounding seemed to be dipping, just a bit. After all, there was only so many times that tabloids could try to use their supposed relationship as a headline (and subsequently have it refuted, again) before it stopped selling. "But I think they'll drop it after another month or so. They're trying to sell it as some big scoop and I think it's really falling flat."

"Very well." Gabriel reached across the table and served himself up more ham. "But this is why I've banned dating while you're abroad. The tabloids would sink their teeth into that, and if you were actually dating someone, there would be endless fodder for them."

Adrien hmmmmed in way of response, still dubious of his father's explanation. He was just a model, son to the founder of Gabriel or no, and most people didn't know him and didn't care about him enough to read articles about him and his boring, normal relationship week after week. Most of the tabloids had been more focused on the supposed "scandal" of a fashion designer's son "dating" an aspiring fashion designer, and if Adrien dated just an average woman off the street, there wouldn't be that so-called scandalous aspect to it. They might do an article or two about it, but then they would leave him alone. Of course, if he dated someone from London now they might eke out a few more articles claiming that Adrien had cheated on Marinette or spinning sob stories about Marinette being "tossed aside" for a new love, even despite all of their earlier interviews, but Adrien really doubted that news coverage was what had driven his father to banning dating.

"Nathalie reported that you said your apartment was working out well," Gabriel commented after another few minutes of eating. He didn't look particularly pleased, even though 'the apartment was working well' meant that Adrien could actually be a functioning adult. It was probably because Adrien might be able to live on his own once he got back to Paris. "I am... pleasantly surprised."

Yeah, you really sound like it's a pleasant surprise, all right, Adrien thought a bit sarcastically. He managed to swallow that particular thought back. "Yeah, it's going pretty well. Marinette helped teach me everything that I hadn't already known about living on my own. It's been really nice to have her nearby if I have any questions."

Gabriel's expression twitched; to anyone who didn't know him as well as Adrien did, it would have looked like a neutral expression. But Adrien knew that his father wasn't pleased. If Gabriel had his way, he would probably move Adrien to a different building away from Marinette so that Adrien might be more likely to move back to Paris. Thankfully, the apartment lease was in Adrien's name and while his father (well, Nathalie) was still paying the rent, only Adrien could re-sign or break the lease.

"And taking the bus to school?"

Adrien worked to school his expression. Surely his father wasn't going to try to revisit the possibility of trying to get a chauffeur? That would be absolutely ridiculous. "I enjoy it. I've had some very nice conversations with other regulars on the bus."

"It's not as convenient as having a chauffeur, especially if it or you are running behind schedule," Gabriel commented. "Are you sure-"

"It makes me more responsible if I have to keep an eye on the time," Adrien said firmly before his father could make his mind up to order Nathalie to look into private drivers in London again. "And I rarely take the bus late in the day, and if I do, Marinette is with me."

Gabriel snorted at that. "Yes, because that's definitely much safer, having a tiny girl that comes up to your shoulder with you."

Adrien frowned at his dismissive tone. "Marinette isn't that short. And she's fierce. Someone tried to steal her purse a few weeks ago, and they ended up unconscious on the sidewalk and missing a few teeth to boot. Marinette wasn't even ruffled."

Even Gabriel couldn't hide all of his amusement at that. His lips twitched, and he promptly sipped from his glass of wine to try to hide his smile. "Really."

"Yeah. I had turned around for a minute, and then next thing I know Marinette was kicking this guy, yanking her purse back from him, and then very thoroughly beating him up. Apparently she took some self-defense classes when she was in university." Adrien grinned at the memory. He had barely taken a step forward towards Marinette, ready to help, when the man fell to the sidewalk unconscious. Marinette had dusted off her shirt, scowled down at the unconscious form, and then turned to stalk off. She hadn't gotten far, though, before a policewoman trotted over, wanting to know what was going on. Adrien and Marinette had had to answer a few questions before they left, and the would-be thief was hauled away to the police station.

It had been quite the exciting evening out.

"And I've heard that you've been exploring the area with Marinette," Gabriel said after another few minutes. "How is that impacting your studies? I'm sure it's a bit of a distraction."

Adrien couldn't keep from frowning at that. If his father was seriously concerned about distractions from school, then he was hypocrisy central. "It's no different than having time taken up by photoshoots or other activities during the school year. I have all the time in the world to study during the week, and if I'm going to need more time to study for finals or something, then we don't do anything that weekend. It's good to have a break every once in a while, and if I'm gonna be over there, then it makes sense to explore."

"Wandering around the city for entire days at a time is hardly the same thing as an occasional photoshoot."

Adrien had to do his best to keep a lid on his temper, but his father really wasn't making it easy. "I am fully capable of managing my own time wisely. I got great marks last semester, all solid As. The professors used my work as examples several times throughout the semester." He had been rather proud of that, actually, and he had texted Marinette in glee every time it happened. She had made cookies to celebrate every time.

(Marinette was the actual best, and no one could deny that.)

"Just don't get too carried away," Gabriel warned, and Adrien only just refrained from rolling his eyes. If anyone was guilty of getting too carried away, it was his father. Adrien had had to get ask Nathalie to back off on the activities and photoshoots when he was in lycée so he could stay on top of his assignments, and he had had to do the same thing during his first degree when there were too many photoshoots right before finals. His father had questioned it both times, probably because he hadn't been pleased about having to reschedule photoshoots.

The rest of the dinner passed in a combination of awkward silences, the sound of forks and spoons scraping across plates, and the occasional attempt at conversation. Following dessert, they quickly exchanged a few presents before each retiring to their own rooms. Adrien slumped against his door and sighed as soon as it closed behind him.

"Long dinner?" Plagg asked from over on Adrien's desk. The kwami was flat on his back among the remains of a giant wheel of Brie and he didn't make any attempt to move. "You were gone for forever."

"Father was being ridiculous. He wants me to come back to Paris, so he complained about everything from me taking the bus to me daring to spend some time on weekends exploring." Adrien let out a frustrated huff. "...and I got a set of fancy pens as a Christmas gift. Yay."

"...didn't you get him a tie?"

Adrien pushed himself off the door and headed over to the desk to join Plagg. There was no reason to have to yell their conversation across the room, after all. "Yeah, but I didn't know what else to get him."

"Maybe he didn't know what else to get you," Plagg suggested.

"Maybe," Adrien agreed. "But he got me that scarf before, and that was the best gift he's given me in a while. I'd love another scarf, or maybe a coat or something. Anything but more pens." He huffed, tossing the package of pens onto his desk. "...I'm never gonna need to buy a pen in my life. I'm gonna have to start donating them soon."

There was a pause, and then Plagg spoke up. "Wanna go out and crash one of your friends' Christmas dinners?"

"Not as Chat Noir," Adrien objected immediately, frowning. "I don't want to have to interact with people as a superhero tonight."

"So just be Chat Noir to get out of your room and to their house, then." Plagg pushed himself off of the desk and lazily floated over to Adrien. "I'm sure they'd be happy to have you."

Still, Adrien hesitated. "But it would be rude to just show up. It's late, for one. And I don't think anyone really wants to answer their door when they're spending time with their family."

"So text someone and ask first, then," Plagg suggested, just as Adrien's phone dinged. "Maybe whoever just texted you."

"It might just be an email," Adrien pointed out, but he pulled his phone out anyway to check. As it turned out, Plagg was right. He did have a text. "Oh. Marinette wants to know how dinner with my dad went."

"Tell her it was awful. She'll probably invite you over and then you can join then and I can look for cheese bread while you play Mega Strike with them," Plagg suggested. He floated over to perch on Adrien's shoulder and watch as Adrien typed out a response. "I don't think you even need to ask if you can come over. I think your wife will just invite you on her own."

"She probably would," Adrien agreed, sending the text- an then he froze and turned his head to scowl at Plagg. "And she is not my wife. How many times do we need to go over this?"

Plagg just snickered.

Ten minutes later, Adrien found himself drowning in an oversized holiday sweater on the Dupain-Cheng's living room couch. as Tom offered his a plate of cookies. Marinette had invited him right over, just as both Plagg and Adrien had guessed she might, and her family was just as welcoming. Marinette even had a couple presents for Adrien that she had been planning to give to him when their group of friends got together the next day.

"You might as well open them now," Marinette had told him when Adrien protested. "There's no point in waiting if you're here and I have them- and no, I don't care that you don't have anything for me with you, Adrien! Just open the darn present already!"

Laughing, Adrien had opened his presents. Marinette had made a quilt for him and knit a lovely warm hat. He exclaimed over both, feeling warm and loved as he pulled the hat on and wrapped himself up in the quilt.

(Ten minutes later, he had to set both aside as he was feeling a little too warm. Marinette, who had warned him about such an outcome, snickered at him when he admitted defeat. He had pretended to complain about her being mean to him, but Marinette had only laughed at him more. Adrien couldn't do anything but smile at her amusement.)

As the night came to an end, Adrien headed home with full arms, a light heart, and a spring in his step, whistling Christmas carols all the way. It was a pity that he couldn't spend the entire break with Marinette and his other friends, but the time he did spend with them was great. He still had the next day's get-together to look forward to, where he and his friends would exchange gifts properly and he could give Marinette the present he had ordered just for her, and probably several other get-togethers before Nino and Alya had to go back to work and he and Marinette had to head back to London.

Maybe his holiday wasn't what other people would consider perfect, but for Adrien, it was enough.