27. Chapter 27

Christmas Eve, Adrien found himself leaving the mansion bright and early and staying out as long as he could. His father was clearly intending to work for almost the entire day, and Adrien was too used to being around people now to just hang around in his room alone for the whole day until his father or Nathalie summoned him down. He popped into the bakery to help Tom and Sabine (and Marinette, of course) with getting the last of the bakery orders packed up and delivered, then wandered around doing window shopping (and some proper shopping) until it was time for him to meet up with Ivan and Mylène. It was nice catching up with the two of them again, especially since neither of them felt the need to prod and ask about Adrien's relationship with Marinette.

It was a letdown to go back home, even with the elaborately decorated hall and professionally prepared food. His father was as disinterested and cold as ever, and Adrien fidgeted his way through the dinner until he was excused and he could head over to the Dupain-Cheng bakery again. Once he was free of his house and on his way, Adrien's footsteps sped up. He wanted to spend his Christmas Eve somewhere warm and friendly, and with people whose company he could actually enjoy.

"You could just go to bed early," Plagg grumbled from his bag as Adrien knocked on the Dupain-Cheng's door. "But nooo, you gotta go see your wife instead."

"She's my girlfriend," Adrien corrected absently, the response automatic by now. He peered in the small window by the door, looking for signs of movement. He had texted Marinette when he left his house so she would know that he was on his way, but she might be too busy to check her phone. There was suddenly a sound of feet thundering down the stairs and then the door flew open to reveal Marinette standing there, pink and out of breath.

Adrien grinned when he spotted her Mew-ry Cat-mas sweater. Marinette looked adorable, and the sweater reminded him of their holiday date, maybe too much. He was going to have to remember to not kiss and cuddle her like he normally would.

"Oh, stop smirking, kitten," Marinette sighed, pulling him in by his collar and closing the door behind him. "It's warm and it's festive, okay?"

Laughing, Adrien followed her inside and up the stairs. He knew that Marinette liked the sweater. It was just so Ladybug to tease and evade and pretend that she didn't like puns.

"We've been waiting for you," Marinette told him over her shoulder. "Papa didn't want you to miss out on the bûche de Noël."

"I didn't want to miss out on it either, but my father was taking an annoying long time to eat dinner," Adrien told her. He rolled her eyes. "Because he was going over some sales reports while he was eating, of course. I don't know why it couldn't have waited twenty minutes for us to finish eating. And he still doesn't think that I'm going to stick with the physics degree. I happened to mention that classes were more intense this year and he asked if I was done messing around with that degree yet."

Marinette let out an annoyed huff and slowed so Adrien could catch up with her and she could wrap her arm around him. "Ugh. I wish he could see how much you enjoy Physics, but he would probably see you frowning at a difficult problem and immediately get worried about wrinkles or something ridiculous about that."

"Exactly."

Tom and Sabine both jumped up and came over to greet Adrien as soon as he came in, even though he had just seen them that morning.. He set his bag down so he could return their hugs, and then only just managed to pick it up again as Marinette's parents ushered him towards the table.

"You've had our Yule log cakes before, right?" Tom asked as he handed a generous slice on a plate to Adrien. "I know we always tried to get one to each of Marinette's classmates when she was younger."

"A few times, yeah," Adrien agreed. "It's fantastic. Marinette was waxing poetic about it a few days ago."

Marinette spluttered. "I was not waxing poetic, I was just saying that nowhere else makes it right!"

Adrien grinned down at her. "Like I said- waxing poetic. I bet if I asked about why the Yule log cakes here were so great I would have gotten a five- no, a ten minute speech about everything that you guys do better."

"Just shush and eat your cake," Marinette grumbled, accepting her own plate. Adrien laughed, took a bite, and immediately hummed in appreciation. He had remembered that the cake was amazing, but his memory hadn't fully remembered and appreciated just how good it was. The cake was amazing, rich and chocolatey and moist and-

Well, Adrien wasn't a baker, so he didn't think that he had the vocabulary to describe everything amazing about the cake. No wonder Marinette didn't think that the Yule log cakes from anywhere else would be as good as her parents' cakes.

"Well, we have taught Marinette how to make the logs," Tom told Adrien. He grinned at his daughter. "They're maybe a little messy yet, but they're still tasty."

Adrien's eyebrows shot up. "Marinette, make something messy? Never."

Marinette was pouting. "The cake always cracks when I roll it," she complained. "It's just a little too stiff, or I try rolling it too tight, or something. I can't put my finger on it. And then the log is lumpy."

"I think you have to roll it sooner once you get it out of the oven, love," Tom told her affectionately. "Or it's too thick to roll properly. And I've told you that you can just cover the cracks with a thicker layer of frosting or just stick on a branch there to cover the lump."

Marinette muttered something about too much frosting and too sweet. Adrien grinned.

Anyone else probably wouldn't notice a little extra frosting throwing off the ratio of cake to frosting, but of course Marinette had ridiculously high standards.

Once they were done with the cake, they moved to the couches to unwrap presents. Adrien didn't mind just sitting back and watching- he enjoyed seeing the little gifts that Marinette's parents got each other and besides, he and his father had exchanged their (boring) presents earlier and he and his friends would be giving each other their gifts after Christmas. Adrien was perfectly content to bask in the presence of his secret girlfriend and watch as she squealed over a new set of rotary cutters and fabric scissors and a length of a gorgeous blue silky fabric.

Also, Tom and Sabine both kept asking Adrien about his classes and the projects he had had to do, and Adrien was all too happy to tell them all about it. He was in the middle of telling Tom about one of his papers when Marinette got up and came back to the couch with a slightly lumpy package.

"I know we're exchanging gifts with Nino and Alya soon, but there was one that just couldn't wait," Marinette told him as she shoved the package into his lap. There was a grin dancing on her lips, an impish look that screamed Ladybug and trouble. Adrien took the package and answered her grin with a smirk of his own.

"What a coincidence! I actually picked up something for you earlier today," Adrien told her, delighting in Marinette's suddenly puzzled expression. He reached over and pulled a wrapped box out of his bag before depositing it in her arms. "Merry Christmas. And no, don't shake it," Adrien added when Marinette held the box up curiously. "I don't want it to break."

"I'll open it after you open yours," Marinette told him, and Adrien grinned and tugged on the wrapping paper. Marinette groaned when he opened the packaging as slowly as possible. Laughing, Adrien pulled harder and a bundle of knitted green fabric tumbled out of the packaging and into his lap. He lifted it up and it unfolded, revealing an exact copy of the sweater he had gotten Marinette, only in his size. He let out a slightly embarrassing squeal of delight.

"Mari! Oh, I love it!" Adrien yanked his plain sweater off and immediately pulled the new sweater on. It fit like a dream. "How did you find- oh! Did you make it yourself?"

Marinette nodded, and Adrien pounced on her in a hug. He had to reach out and snag the box he had given her before it tumbled off her lap and onto the floor.

"It's only been a week, though!" Adrien exclaimed as he pulled back and inspected the pattern decorating the front of the sweater. "You must have worked on it practically nonstop!"

"I had some concentrated time to work on it while I was on the train, and then evenings, and whenever I was working the counter and there was a slight break," Marinette explained. "And I had a basic sweater pattern that would fit you perfectly, so it was just a matter of making a pattern chart with the tree and the words. It didn't take long to do that bit, honestly. I've had practice copying patterns before."

Adrien was pretty certain that his cheeks were going to start hurting with how wide his grin was. Even with how fast he knew Marinette could knit, she must have spent all of her free time working on it to have it ready. His girlfriend was amazing, and he couldn't even kiss her because her parents were watching.

Why was it that they hadn't told the elder Dupain-Chengs that they were dating yet?

"And now you match," Tom commented with a laugh. "I take it you really wanted that sweater, son?"

"I loved the puns and I loved the design and I hated that there wasn't one in my size," Adrien admitted. "So I got one for Marinette, because then at least I'd be able to see it."

Sabine whispered something in Tom's ear, and Adrien did his best not to flush when he caught the words "couple outfits" being passed back and forth as they eyed him and Marinette. They weren't wrong, necessarily, but somehow it was still a little embarrassing.

But he was going to own it, darn it.

"Now it's your turn," Adrien said before either of Marinette's parents could say anything else. He tapped the box sitting in Marinette's lap. "I think you'll like it."

Marinette tore into the packaging eagerly. She looked slightly confused when she spotted the box, from a well-known sweets shop in Paris, and glanced over at Adrien.

"Open it," Adrien urged. His cheeks were starting to hurt from holding back his smile. He was looking forward to seeing Marinette's reaction to his gift, and he was going to explode with anticipation if she didn't get it fully opened soon.

Shaking her head at his excitement, Marinette peeled off the sticker holding the box closed and opened it, moving the tissue paper aside. When she saw the chocolate dove sitting inside, she threw back her head and let out a long groan. Adrien exploded with laughter.

"Oh, I didn't mean to give you ideas," Marinette complained, but she was completely failing to hold back her laughter. "Adrien!"

"But it was a fantastic idea," Adrien proclaimed through his laughter. "I couldn't just ignore it."

"What did he get you, Marinette?" Sabine asked. She leaned forward, trying to peer into the box. "It sounds amusing."

Still giggling, Marinette reached into the box and pulled out the chocolate dove. "It's cute. "

"It is," Adrien confirmed as Tom and Sabine exchanged a puzzled look. He was willing to bet that they were trying to understand why Marinette had found the gift so funny. "And I'm not allergic to this kind of bird. Always a plus when picking out presents."

"It must be some sort of inside joke," Tom told Sabine. He sent a look towards Adrien and Marinette. "I don't suppose you could explain?"

Adrien and Marinette exchanged a look. They didn't exactly want to tell Marinette's parents about them being Ladybug and Chat Noir, especially not when they had just confirmed that Ladybug and Chat Noir were dating the previous night (their kiss under the mistletoe had gotten a little too involved to deny it, and now the internet was blowing up about it). Eventually Marinette just shrugged at her parents. "It wouldn't be half as funny out of context."

Thankfully, neither Tom nor Sabine seemed bothered. Sabine just laughed.

"Oh, that's understandable. There's some things that have happened in the bakery that if we tried to tell anyone about it later, they would think that we were crazy."

"Is this going to become a theme?" Marinette asked warily, replacing the little bird in its box. "Just because I was being funny yesterday?"

Adrien grinned. He hadn't been planning on continuing the bird gift theme, really, but now...

Well. He wasn't going to repeat the chocolate bird thing right away, but he was pretty certain that he could find some bird-shaped soap or a rat gummy or something. He'd have to do some shopping around at Easter and Halloween since that was when they would be most likely to have interestingly themed small gifts, but Adrien was sure that he would be able to remember.

Marinette let out a groan. "You hadn't even thought of that before, had you?" she demanded. When she only got a grin as a response, her head dropped into her hands. "Great. Great. I just keep giving you ridiculous ideas, don't I?"

Predictably, all Alya could talk about when they got together after Christmas was the Ladynoir kiss. Some people who had been there when the superheroes kissed had submitted photos to the Ladyblog, but there were maybe three photos.

Alya wanted more.

"I can't believe that they're finally dating after all these years" Alya exclaimed. "And I can't believe that they basically waited until no one was there to witness it before confirming it. Like, there were no crowds up at that part of the Eiffel Tower at that time of the night! I was lucky to get the pictures I did. And no one there thought to ask them any questions beyond just confirming if they were dating!"

"What else was there to ask?" Adrien asked curiously. Alya looked at him like she couldn't believe that he would ask that question.

"All sorts of things! How long they've been dating, what made them realize that they were perfect for each other, how long they've each like each other, where they've been for the past year and a half..." Alya threw up her hands. "So many things! But at least we've got a confirmation that they're together. Paris has been waiting for this for years. I've heard that Madam Chamack is going to be out every night looking for the superheroes so she can get the first exclusive interview."

Adrien was 99% positive that Marinette would want the first exclusive interview to go to Alya. Besides the fact that Alya was her best friend, he was also pretty sure that Marinette hadn't completely forgiven Madam Chamack for the disastrous interview back when they were in collège. The Ladyblog had never been that invasive, probably because Alya already got enough views without harassing superheroes.

"So now I have to keep my ear to the ground to try to find out when the superheroes are out and about so I can get to them first," Alya said, expression determined. "This is the biggest superhero news since Hawkmoth's defeat, and I'm not coming in second."

"There seems to be a theme of Alya desperately needing to track down the superheroes around the holidays," Nino said. He looked slightly exasperated. "Of course, I doubt that would be the case if they still lived in the city. She could track them down literally whenever then."

"Not this time it couldn't wait!" Alya objected. "The news is fresh, and I gotta get to it before any of the big news outlets do. But I suppose that last year it could have waited. Or I could have tracked them down before Christmas if they were still in the city." She checked her phone. "But no one has seen them out since that night, so I haven't been able to try to track them down."

"Do you think that they've gone back to wherever they've been?" Adrien asked, pasting a look of interest on his face. Alya looked horrified at the idea.

"Oh, that wouldn't be fair," Alya complained. "They can't just drop news like that and then leave."

Nino was trying not to laugh. "Well, it's probably not huge news to them. They might have decided to do just that."

Alya groaned even louder.

After several more minutes of grumbling, Nino finally managed to steer the conversation back to the holidays. Apparently he and Alya had spent Christmas Eve with her family being terrorized by the twins, and then spent a relatively relaxed Christmas Day with his family.

"You would think that the twins would have grown out of causing trouble, but no such luck," Alya grumbled. She glanced at her phone again and then set it aside. "My parents get letters home every week about pranks that they've pulled at school, and they love staying up late and giggling over stuff on the Internet. They stay up so late and then they're sleepwalking the next day."

Marinette snickered. "Funny, I remember someone staying up crazy late sometimes so she could work on her blog. Maybe they're trying to imitate their big sister."

Alya spluttered indignantly. "I- what? I was being productive when I stayed up late. They're just screwing around and giggling over boys in their class!"

"Uh-huh. And did your parents care exactly what you were up to when you ended up staying up practically the entire night?"

Alya didn't answer, choosing to scowl and mutter instead.

"Okay, so, presents!" Nino interrupted before Alya could try to argue about the educational and career benefits of staying up all night to work on the Ladyblog. "Are we gonna open them or what?"

"Of course, of course," Alya said, properly distracted. "Come on, let's sit down. I've got some treats from my mom to share, too."

Adrien perked up. "Ooh, treats!"

"I like the matching sweaters, by the way," Alya said as they settled into their chairs so they could pass around the presents. "Did you buy those at the same time, or do you both just have the same awful sense of humor?"

"Neither," Adrien told her with a sniff. "My sense of humor is fabulous, thank you very much. And I saw the sweater and really wanted one, but they didn't make them in my size so I bought one for Marinette. And then she made one in my size."

Alya rolled her eyes at them in utter exasperation. "Of course she would."

Nino and Alya had already exchanged presents at their family gatherings, of course, but they each had gotten presents for Adrien and Marinette. They passed things around, then eagerly tore into the packages.

Like always, Marinette had picked out or made the perfect gifts for everyone. Alya got a lovely winter dress, something that would be warm but still fun and professional all at once. Nino's gift was an early, signed copy of Jagged Stone's newest album that he exclaimed over. Adrien got a Physics pun sweater.

"I love it!" Adrien exclaimed, examining the sweater. "Why can't you trust an atom?" was written on the top half, and "Because they make up everything" ran along the bottom, under a knitted picture of an atom. "I'm gonna wear it every day."

"I'm starting to think that your wardrobe is becoming half puns," Nino said with a laugh. "Like, we get it, dude. You think you're funny."

"I am punny," Adrien corrected, grinning when Nino and Alya both groaned. Marinette, more used to his puns, just rolled her eyes. "And it's, like, a requirement for physics nerds to have at least a couple physics jokes shirts. Same with the math people."

"Did you come up with that design?" Nino wanted to know. "Or did you get some sort of color chart or something?"

Marinette was grinning. "I came up with the design, back near the start of the semester. I found a website where I could put in my color chart and it would, like, convert it to look more like a knitted pattern. Then I could tell which parts were too chunky or too thin. It was really nice, because then I didn't have to tear stuff out partway through knitting because it doesn't look right."

"Oh, that's super-cool!" Adrien exclaimed. "I know that can be difficult to envision- well, I've heard," he corrected with Marinette shot his a slightly dubious look. He grinned, remembering the last time he had gotten into her knitting basket. Between him and Plagg, they had managed to tangle up a skein of yarn and had spent over an hour trying to untangle it so Marinette could get it rewound.

Unsurprisingly, Marinette had not been impressed.

Nino and Alya had gone in together to get presents for Adrien and Marinette. Nino had made music mixes for them, and then they had gotten a book of Physics and math-related jokes for Adrien and a case of fancy sewing threads for Marinette.

Adrien grinned as he passed out his presents for his friends. More than anything, he wanted to see the look on Marinette's face when she opened her gift. She would probably protest, knowing her, but it wasn't as though Adrien had bought something he couldn't afford.

Besides, she had made two sweaters for him. Adrien knew full well how expensive the yarn could get, and then the countless hours spent coming up with the design and then actually knitting. The time and supplies were why homemade sweaters cost so much, so with that in mind technically he hadn't spent more on his gift to her than she had on her gift for him.

"Sweet! Dude, I was hoping to get one of these!" Nino exclaimed after he had ripped open his present. He held up the headphones. "My last pair has been on the fritz lately. These are gonna be great!"

Alya was grinning as she pulled her box out of its wrapping. "How do you learn exactly what we need every time? I think I mentioned that this camera lens broke once, like, three months ago."

"I write stuff down. It's not that hard. And then I have to hope that no one else got around to replacing it first." Adrien wasn't looking forward to the day when Alya and Nino would be able to just buy whatever they needed straight up, because then he would actually have to come up with his own ideas for presents.

Not that he didn't want Alya and Nino to be earning enough money to buy what they wanted. But it would make present-giving more difficult. Maybe he could brainstorm with Marinette.

"Adrien!" Marinette squealed, and Adrien grinned as he turned to look at her. She looked thrilled as she inspected the box for her new drawing tablet, even as she protested. "This is too much, really-"

"It's not," Adrien assured her. He let his fingers brush over the back of her hand, not lingering long enough to make either Alya or Nino suspicious. "I haven't gotten you a present like this in ages." He didn't count the stay-dates as presents, and they didn't cost that much anyway. "Besides, you made me two sweaters this year, both ones that you designed. I know how long it takes to knit those. This is hardly too much."

"Is that a new tablet?" Alya wanted to know. She craned her neck. "Nice one, Agreste."

"Marinette is getting so many commissions these days, I thought she might want to have her own tablet to work on," Adrien explained. "She's been borrowing Madam Rosalie's tablet for both fabric designing and commissions."

"It'll be nice to have my own for non-work stuff," Marinette said. She was grinning as she pounced on Adrien in a hug. "Thank you!"

"You're very welcome," Adrien told her. He gave her a light squeeze, enjoying the way she snuggled into his side. "And, uh, I did find a site with tablet cases, to protect them a bit more when you're carrying them around. There's a post-it with the site on it stuck to the side of the box there. Just tell me what one you like best, and I'll order it."

Marinette gave him a are-you-kidding-me look. Clearly she still thought that the tablet was too big of a present, but the tablet covers didn't cost that much, even if they were good-quality ones. He had gotten the tablet itself on sale, too, so it hadn't been that expensive.

"Didn't Marinette already have a tablet?" Nino wanted to know. "I thought that was what she used back in collège and lycée for Jagged's album covers."

"It's ancient, though, that's the problem!" Adrien exclaimed. "If electronics could need a cane, hers would need two. It was time for an upgrade."

"Oh."

It only took a few minutes for them to clean up all of the wrapping paper and get their new things safely stowed away in their bags (or, in Nino and Alya's case, in their bedroom). Then Alya came out of their back room with a large flat box in her arms and a grin on her face.

"So, I know that if we play video games together, Adrien and Marinette will completely flatten the rest of us," she announced. "So, does anyone want to play Monopoly instead?"