39. Chapter 39

Adrien was delighted when he came home to find Marinette baking cake. The fact that the cake was apparently for her office's holiday party instead of something to eat at home did little to dampen his good mood.

After all, he would get to eat the delicious scrap cake and leftover frosting mix again, but wouldn't have to be tempted by a bunch of leftover cake for the rest of the week when he was meant to be getting slimmed down for his photoshoots over the holidays, which were coming up fast. It was a win-win solution, as far as he was concerned.

(And maybe there would be a slice or two of cake left over, a single serving rather than an entire cake. His diet-of-sorts could handle that much cake, at least.)

With the counters and the stove thoroughly claimed by the cakemaking process, Adrien and Marinette had leftovers for their dinner while the cakes cooled in the fridge. While Marinette pulled them out to trim and do a crumb coat, Adrien loaded the dishwasher up.

"Any chances for a treat for my help?" Adrien asked hopefully, leaning over Marinette's shoulder and pressing a kiss to her cheek. "That looks good."

Marinette giggled and broke off a chunk of the cake she had just cut off, passing it back over her shoulder and popping it in his mouth. "There. Some energy for you so you can study."

"Mmm. Delicious, as always." Adrien licked his lips to catch any lingering crumbs and then pressed another kiss to Marinette's cheek. "Thanks, love."

"Do I get a taste?" Tikki wanted to know immediately, popping up from around the corner. "Pretty please?"

"Oh, look at what you've started," Marinette said, trying to sound exasperated and failing. "One small piece for you, too, Tikki, because I suppose that's only fair."

Grinning, Adrien headed out of the kitchen while Tikki zipped in to get her prize. He settled down at the table, pulling out a reading that he wanted to go back over before his finals. As he read, occasionally marking something important. In the kitchen, Marinette started to hum as she worked.

Of course, he couldn't stay at the table forever. Not when he already knew the information in the paper he was re-reading and when he had extra energy just begging that he get up and move around, and when Marinette had just produced a delicious-looking bowl of frosting to go on the cake.

"Shouldn't you be studying for your exams?" Marinette asked with a laugh after his fifth none-too-subtle attempt to sneak just a little bit, Mari, honestly, tugging the bowl of frosting out of Adrien's reach. "You were just saying that you needed to brush up on some of the concepts before the first of your exams start."

"Oh, but sugar." Still, Adrien headed back to their table, though to clean up his study things rather than to stick his head back in his books. "I'm going to go out on a run tonight as Chat Noir. You interested?"

"I wish, but I have some stuff that I want to work on." There was a clatter as Marinette accidentally elbowed one of the measuring cups right off of the counter, and she yelped. Adrien hastily hid his grin at the sound. "Once I finish with this, I mean. And I have to clean my decorating things up."

"I can help you with that bit once I get back," Adrien offered. "I won't be that long, probably."

Marinette just waved him towards the balcony cheerfully. "Take all the time you need. This has to chill before I do the final coat, anyway. And I need to work on your present."

After a bit of teasing and a promise that he wouldn't spy on Marinette just to try to get a hint of what he would be getting for Christmas, Adrien transformed and headed out. The chilly air bit at his cheeks as he ran and jumped, doing his best to stay away from streets with an excessive number of streetlights and staying closer to the rooftops instead of making fantastic leaps up into the sky.

It wasn't not Paris, and it never would be, but it was good enough for now. They would be back in Paris for the holidays in no time, and then Ladybug and Chat Noir would be out and about probably for several evenings.

Chat Noir stayed out for nearly two hours, making sure not to go down the same street twice. He wanted to make sure to give Marinette plenty of time to work on his present, so that she wouldn't have to keep cramming it into her breaks at work. By the time he returned and rapped on the balcony door, waiting a minute before letting himself in, Marinette had returned to working on the cake, though Adrien could see that the sewing area had been used recently.

"Oh, your skin is freezing," Marinette complained when he ducked into the kitchen to see how the cake was coming and teasingly press his cold cheek to her own. She squirmed away from him, and Adrien let her go with a laugh. "Did you have a good run?"

"Yeah." He grinned. "And I worked off enough calories to have a bit of cake and frosting mix, once you're done."

Marinette's lips twitched. "Subtle, very subtle. And I already brought your present over to Abbey's apartment for storage, so you can stop looking around for it," she added when Adrien wandered back into their main room. "She says hi, by the way. And she offered to help me get the cake to work, since she has a car now."

"Oh, good." Walking for any distance with a cake as big as the one as Marinette was making wouldn't be fun, especially on icy sidewalks. "Do we want to invite her and Sarah over to dinner after the last of my finals are over and before I leave? Thursday evening, maybe? I'll cook. It would be fun to hang out with them again."

"I'll ask!"

Adrien settled on the couch while Marinette smoothed out the outer layer of frosting on the cake. Plagg went back to his half-eaten cheese slice on the table, loudly smacking his lips as he did. Adrien rolled his eyes at his kwami and then picked up a book from next to the couch, flipping through to try to find his spot.

He would have to pick up another book over Christmas, while he was in Paris. While he was sure that the books he could find in London would be all well and good, he preferred spending his downtime reading in his own language.

"Adrien, I need more cheese," Plagg whined, twenty minutes later. "I didn't get enough for the amount of time you forced me to keep you transformed."

Groaning, Adrien pushed himself off of the couch. "You're a floating stomach, I hope you know that. Always asking for cheese"

"Can I have a pot of fondue for Christmas?" Plagg wanted to know as he followed Adrien into the kitchen, clearly ignoring Adrien's comment. "Ooh! Or a never-ending fondue fountain? Then I would never have to bug you for cheese again."

"Right, and how do you think that fountain would refill itself, exactly?" Adrien pulled out a wedge of Camembert, handing it to Plagg.

He didn't expect a thanks. He didn't get one.

"How's the cake coming?" Adrien asked, turning to look at it. He blinked, startled. "Wow, Marinette."

Two tiers, vanilla cake with cranberry filling, with vanilla buttercream had never looked so good before. More of the frosting, colored holiday-red, was piped in little arches along the tops of each tier and in professional little dollops along the bottom. Little gold sugar beads were pressed into the red frosting, and sugar-paste holly leaves were arranged in artful bundles.

Still, Marinette wasn't looking entirely satisfied. She tilted her head to the side, surveying the cake. "I don't know. It just needs something more, you know?"

Adrien grinned as he headed to the cupboard above the fridge, rolling up onto his toes so he could pull out the small bag inside. "Well, we do still have a couple gummy rats left over from Halloween..."

"Wrong holiday, Adrien!" Marinette scolded, but the effect was ruined by her laugh. "Get rid of those if you aren't going to eat them, seriously. They're gross."

"They taste just fine!" Adrien protested, but he was laughing, too. Marinette had made her feelings about the gummy rats quite clear back when he presented them to her the day after Halloween, when they went on sale, and he was honestly surprised that she hadn't thrown them away already. "Just close your eyes and bite-"

"Ew, ew, ew."

Grinning, Adrien pulled out one of the gummy rats and unwrapped it, biting off the head just to get a reaction. Marinette shuddered, turning back to her cake. She picked up her bag of frosting and piped on another line on the lower tier, filled with fancy flicks and turns.

Adrien would never cease to be amazed by the things Marinette created. She always made things look easy- and Adrien knew from experience that the large majority- a very large majority- of those things took a fair amount of practice, and a delicate touch.

Adrien didn't have that touch. Mr. Dupain had tried to teach him how to do cookie and cake decorations on a few occasions, and Marinette had done the same several more times, and he just made a mess.

Twenty minutes later, the cake was completed and in a box on their side table in their counter. Adrien hung over the divider as he watched Marinette break up the scrap cake that had been shaved off of the tops and sides of the layers, combining it with the leftover frosting. Tikki popped up at his side, quivering with excitement as she waited for some of the treat.

"You would think that I had two sugar-powered kwamis instead of one," Marinette said with a laugh when she turned around to see them. "Okay, okay. I'll scoop some scrap cake up for both of you. Stop giving me those kitten eyes already!"

Adrien and Tikki exchanged a high-five.

On her first day back in Paris for the winter holidays, Marinette arrived back home after a day of wedding dress shopping with Mylène tired and somewhat exasperated.

"Mylène had a couple university friends and aunts and cousins that decided to tag along," she explained to her parents as she helped set the table for dinner. "And they all had ideas for silhouettes for the dress that they wanted to see, even though those shapes just did nothing for Mylène and I could have told them that from the start. Or the lady in the store could have, if they had listened. So we wasted half of our time with that before they got to the shape that I suggested, and then of course they had all these ideas about the neckline."

Her mom groaned. "Oh, gosh. The neckline. Don't even remind me."

"That was Sabine's least favorite part, from what I've heard," Tom said with a laugh when Marinette shot her mom a puzzled look. "All of the friends and relatives that she brought along with her had opinions about it. I didn't realize that there were options."

"Oh, papa." Marinette laughed and rolled her eyes. "But anyway, we did finally get around to the neckline that I suggested and Mylène liked that, but we haven't found the dress. So we're going again after the holiday and only looking at dresses with that shape and that neckline." She groaned. "And then we'll have to debate sparkles versus lace versus plain, and I'm sure everyone will have opinions on those."

Sabine laughed. "It sounds like you and Mylène would have found the perfect dress for her today if you two had gone alone."

"Maybe not the perfect one, but we would have gotten further without Mylène's cousin insisting that she needed to see Mylène in a mermaid gown, never mind that Mylène is the wrong body type to pull that off. But everyone was in town for the holiday, so they all had to tag along. And for those who couldn't fit in the store in person, they got other family members to Facetime them in."

"So it should be better after the holidays is what you're saying," Tom finished. "Mylène is lucky that you'll be around again, when you come back for Alya's return. And then I'm sure that you'll be helping Alya find her dress after that. Has she or Nino said anything about when they're planning on having the wedding?"

"Not yet. She's still focused on finishing her trip and getting the most out of her time left, I think."

Her father shot her a mischievous grin. "And then how long do you think it'll be after that before you're the one looking for a wedding dress? Or do you think you'll sew your own?"

Marinette promptly turned red. "Papa!"

He just feigned innocence. "What, dear?"

"Tom, stop teasing her." Sabine regarded her husband with an amused expression as she set a pot of dumplings down on the table. "It won't make her and Adrien realize their feelings for each other any sooner."

"Maman!" Marinette protested, though it was mostly for show. Her cheeks were still warm from her dad's comment, and she found that she couldn't just forget about it.

She had wondered what it would be like to get engaged or married to Adrien, of course, but they had only been dating for a year and a half and it was best not to rush too much. And though she had sketched out elaborate wedding dresses when she was younger, Marinette had since discarded them as obnoxious and not very practical. She hadn't really planned anything since, even though she and Adrien were now actually dating.

Hmm. Well, maybe she could keep an eye on the trends when she and Mylène (or she and Alya) were out shopping-

"And besides, I thought we had already decided before that Marinette was going to use the dress that she wore in that photoshoot," Sabine said, giggling at the look on her daughter's face. "You truly did look like a bride, Marinette. So gorgeous."

Well, Marinette couldn't disagree. She had loved the dress, and it would look even more spectacular if it were properly fitted to her instead of the hasty fitting that Madam Rosalie had done. It had still looked good- even rushed, the alterations team did a good job and of course the photographers knew how to work their angles so that the imperfections in the fitting wouldn't show or could be easily Photoshopped - but it could look even better with the excess fabric cut out instead of stitched flat.

"Will Adrien be joining us on Christmas?" Tom asked as they sat down for dinner. "It's been ages, even if you guys did manage to make a trip over here over his break."

Marinette nodded, narrowing her eyes at her father's triumphant grin. "Yes, because his father is an awful human being who doesn't know the meaning of celebration and Adrien deserves a good holiday."

"And we're always happy to see him," Sabine said. "And I believe that I heard that he was on a bit of a diet recently for his photoshoot, so we'll make sure to have a box of sweet things to send back home with him afterwards."

Marinette grinned. Adrien would love that, she knew. He had been grumbling about having to restrict his diet to get back into shape for the photoshoots. He had never had that problem before, but with the need for him to sit and study so much, combined with the inability to go out on energy-burning runs as Chat Noir on a regular basis, Adrien had actually had to work to get back into shape.

He hadn't gained a ton of weight or gotten horribly out of shape or anything, but he had been on the edge of model-shape and there was no point in ignoring that and then having to deal with his father loudly pointing that out for the entire break.

(Yes, Gabriel Agreste was a horrible, horrible parent, and it stunk that they had to work around him so much. But soon Adrien would be done with school and they could be open with their relationship and he could quit modeling altogether, and only interact with his father when he wanted to.)

Thankfully, after that the conversation steered away from weddings and Adrien. Marinette relaxed as her mother recounted a story about a foreign customer who didn't know much French and was looking for one particular pastry, but wasn't very good at describing what it was. There had been a bit of interpretive dance, and some not-even-close words used, and it hadn't been until the woman drew out the pastry in question that Sabine had been able to help her.

"I don't know why she didn't just look on the shelves in the first place," Sabine said with a laugh. "She was just one of those people who needs to be pointed at everything, but I don't know why she would travel abroad if she can't even speak the local language. Maybe she was just passing through France on her way somewhere else, but..."

Marinette couldn't help but giggle. "You think she might be just as lost in other countries?"

"She wouldn't be if she would just look around instead of relying on shopkeepers for everything." Sabine let out a long sigh. "I'm glad that most of our normal customers only come ask us questions when they truly can't find something and actually made an effort first. Dealing with customers like that, when there were so many people that needed to be rung up or who wanted to pick up orders- it's just exasperating."

"It makes me glad to be working in back when I hear stories like that," Tom said with a laugh. "Sure, I have to deal with the doughs not behaving properly and creams splitting sometimes, but they're easier to deal with than a customer that thinks they're right all of the time. And I can beat it into submission."

Sabine and Marinette both laughed at that.

"You've had some frustrating customers of your own, haven't you?" Sabine asked Marinette. "I know you said that you were getting some emails that were less than polite."

"Oh, they didn't even get to the customer stage," Marinette scoffed. "I informed them that I had plenty of customers who were more than willing to pay my prices, and then I blocked them. I don't have the time to waste arguing with them, and I'm hardly in dire need of commissions."

"But you're not overworking yourself again, I hope," Tom checked. "You have a full-time job, remember that."

Marinette nodded, wincing at the reminder of that awful, awful time. Looking back, there were some designs that she had done that she really wanted to revisit and improve because she hadn't brought her absolute best game. They weren't bad, and she wasn't at all ashamed of her work, which was a relief, but they could have been even better. "I've only been taking one commission at a time, and I only work on it for a maximum of two hours every night."

Her parents nodded, looking pleased.

"So what have you been working on recently?" Sabine asked. "I know we've gotten some details over the phone, and I've seen all of the photos you posted, of course. But I haven't heard anything about those for a couple weeks."

Marinette swallowed the bite she had taken and grinned. "Well, that's because I've put stuff aside to do Christmas presents. I've got several things lined up to do after the holidays- one at a time, of course," she added hastily when her dad opened his mouth to say something. "It's just that I've emailed with the groups and gotten the general number of pieces and theme hammered out, and they've agreed to pay my prices and are confirmed on the waiting list."

Tom looked satisfied. "Good."

"So tell us more about ones you did earlier this fall, then," Sabine urged. "There was one right after Fashion Week that I think you said you really enjoyed?"

Marinette lit up, remembering that particular set of outfits. "Yeah! The group has a steampunk theme for their next album, and so I got to go really outside of what I normally do. It was really great. I had to do more sketches than usual to really get what they wanted, but I was thrilled with how it all turned out. It was just so creative! And I got to use lots of complicated techniques for these really cool effects."

"And what kinds of pieces did you make?"

As Marinette dove into a more detailed description of all of the pieces she had sewn, pulling out her phone to show off her photos, she couldn't help but feel fully at home, here with her parents in Paris.

She couldn't wait to move back.

"I bring holiday greetings and a castaway!" Adrien called up the stairs late Christmas Eve, and Marinette had to stop herself from rushing down the stairs to greet him like an overly excited kid. Instead she contented herself with trotting out of their living room to the top railing of their stairs, peering down to see Adrien headed upstairs, closely followed by Nino.

Grinning, Marinette waved. "Hey, Nino! Fancy seeing you here!"

"Hey!" Nino waved back. "I just got the news earlier tonight that I'll be hanging with my cousin Chris and going on an out-of-town adventure with him tomorrow, so I thought I might pop by to see you guys tonight for a little bit. And your super-cool parents, too, of course" Nino added when Marinette's parents ventured out to see who she was talking to. "I wanted to get your presents to you, too."

"Oh, but you have to hang out for a bit, Nino," Tom assured him. "And Adrien, did you remember to lock the door behind you when you came in?"

In answer to Mr. Dupain's question, Adrien sighed, handed the bag he was carrying to Nino, and turned to trot right back down the stairs to the door.

Marinette muffled a giggle at the kicked-puppy slump to his shoulders. She knew it was all just for show, because Adrien was a big dramatic dork.

"Merry Christmas, Marinette," Nino told her as he rounded the last set of stairs and trotted up to give her a hug. "And Merry Christmas to you, too, Mr. Dupain and Mrs. Cheng. Sorry I didn't ask before coming."

"Oh, that's fine," Marinette's mom assured him. "We have plenty of cake. We were waiting to have it until Adrien arrived," she added when Nino perked up. "He loves it so much, and he never gets to eat enough sweets."

Adrien laughed as he caught the tail end of their conversation, having raced back up the stairs after locking the door. "Normally I do. Marinette keeps me in stock with treats and when she doesn't, there's a bakery nearby that's quite good. I've just been lacking recently, because I wasn't getting enough exercise to eat everything I wanted and be in shape for modeling."

"Ah, yes, I can imagine that your final year of classes must be quite busy. You're doing a lot of studying, yes?" Tom herded them into the living room and then set out pulling a fifth chair to the table. "And in Physics, too! I imagine that's got to be intense."

"It is, but I'm enjoying it. And I've been getting tutored by a grad student this year, so I don't fall behind if I mishear something in class. Or if I get sick," Adrien added, grinning at Marinette. She rolled her eyes at him. "And then get forced into staying home."

Nino laughed and wriggled his eyebrows at that. "And how did Marinette know that you were sick, hmm?"

"Yes, do tell," Sabine piped up, coming back from the kitchen with a stack of plates. She grinned at the two of them. "How did you know that Adrien was sick, dear daughter?"

Marinette huffed and sent her mom a flat look. "We live across the hall from each other. I popped in to snitch some leftovers for my lunch and found him looking like a swamp monster."

Adrien barked out a startled laugh at that. "Thanks so much, Marinette."

Nino was grinning. "Did you get pictures?"

"Nino! Dude!"

"Alya's been trying to get a bad picture of you for ages, dude," Nino explained, grinning at Adrien's betrayed look. "She'd be thrilled to see you looking like a swamp monster."

"I was a good-looking swamp monster, though, right Mari?" Adrien implored, turning wide kitten eyes on her. He grinned when he saw her lips twitch in amusement. "Right?"

"If it helps you sleep at night," Marinette teased, putting the pout right back on his face.

"Betrayed by my own partner," Adrien muttered in Marinette's ear as her parents and Nino laughed. "Rude."

Marinette just ruffled his hair. "Hey, at least I didn't take any pictures."

"Ruder."

It didn't take long for Marinette's parents to get everyone settled at the table and served a generous portion of the Yule Log cake. They had only just dug in when Sabine focused in on Nino.

"So I hear you got engaged recently," Sabine said, grinning at Nino. "Congratulations to you and Alya! I saw your photos online. Truly stunning location you chose there."

"Marinette and Adrien helped me plan," Nino admitted, grinning. "I was struggling to choose between two different rings and they helped with that, and then they came up with the location. I couldn't have done it without them. And they managed to not tell Alya or make her suspicious by texting me right before I was going to ask."

Marinette laughed. "We had to sit on our hands pretty much, because we were so anxious to hear how it went. Adrien probably would have exploded if you hadn't given us that update about getting to the hot pools."

"She means that she kept me from texting you beforehand," Adrien admitted. "With the time differences, we weren't sure when we should be expecting news."

Nino let out an exaggerated sigh. "And thank goodness for Marinette, then! Alya took several seconds to really figure out what was going on, since she wasn't expecting it at all. And that was great, to know that I hadn't, like, blown the secret by getting too nervous."

Once the cake was finished, they all moved to the couches to open presents. The elder Dupain-Chengs decided to open a single present each and then head off to bed.

"I'm afraid that we're just not used to staying up so late anymore," Tom said with a laugh as he bid them good-night. "Nino, Adrien- make sure the downstairs door gets locked after you. You remember how that works, right?"

"I'll make sure it's locked behind them, Papa," Marinette assured him. Tom nodded.

"Good. And Adrien, remember to grab your bag of goodies before you leave," Tom reminded him "Now, we really must go. Good night and merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas!" Nino and Adrien chorused, waving. Tom and Sabine vanished down the stairs, and then the young adults were left alone.

"Your presents, from Alya and I," Nino intoned, tossing one package to Adrien and another to Marinette. "Mostly from Alya, honestly, since she's the one traveling to all of these interesting places. We have Christmas gifts for the next five or six years sorted out at this point."

Marinette eagerly tore into her gift and let out a squeal at the colorful beaded bag that tumbled out. "Oh, it's so pretty!"

"It's from Russia," Nino explained. "Alya thought you would like it."

"I love it. It's gorgeous." Marinette turned the bag over, running her fingers over the glittering beading. "Thank you guys so much! Let me text Alya really quickly and thank her- it's daytime over there, right?"

Nino shrugged. "I think so? Actually- yeah, it is," he corrected himself. "We literally just Skyped earlier and it was mid-morning there. So she'll be up, but she might be busy."

"Oh, this is cool!" Adrien exclaimed, pulling out the figurine he had gotten. "I like this!"

"We figured that you could use little knick-knacks for decorating your own place once you get back," Nino explained. "Since you mostly just have, like, trophies and stuff in your bedroom and I don't even remember what all you have in your apartment in London besides that marriage certificate."

"That's coming back with me," Adrien told him with a grin. "I might have to bring it back early so that it doesn't get left behind, but it is coming back."

Nino groaned and thumped his head against the couch arm. "You guys give me a headache, honestly."

Nino opened Adrien's present to him next and grinned at the music poster- signed, of course- and pile of CDs. He flipped through them with an intrigued look. "Oh, I don't recognize these groups. Are they ones Marinette designed for?"

"Yup! I got to know their music a bit while Marinette was designing stuff for them, and I thought you might be interested in listening to them," Adrien explained. "They're kind of along the lines of Jagged Stone, but they're not as well-known."

"Cool." Nino flipped through them. "Oh, they're signed! And Marinette's signed them, too! Nice touch."

"And I already told you about your and Alya's gift from me," Marinette told Nino, grinning. Nino laughed.

"Yeah, you told me that it had to wait until Alya got back. Very mysterious." Nino grinned, though. "But yeah, it makes sense to wait if it's a joint gift. I'll wait patiently. Now hurry up and open your gifts from each other, I'm about to fall asleep."

"Oh, cool!" Adrien exclaimed a minute later as he pulled a coat out of wrapping paper. Nino let out a low whistle as Adrien pulled it fully out and turned it around. "Oh, wow. I can see where you worked in a little steampunk influence, too, with these buttons and the lapels. I love it!"

Marinette grinned. Nino slid over to look at the coat as well as Adrien laid the coat out on his lap to get a better look at it. "Dude, that's awesome."

"It really is. Thank you so much, Marinette!" Adrien told her. "I like this so much better than the jacket my father was trying to force on me. I'm going to wear it for the rest of the winter."

"You've got to be the most fashionable Physics student there is," Nino joked. "Between your father and Marinette, you're kept on the edge of fashion."

Marinette and Adrien both burst into laughter, making Nino jump.

"Not everything Marinette gives me is tip-top fashion," Adrien told him, still laughing. "I got science pun shirts for my birthday. They're my favorite ones to wear."

Nino just groaned. "Of course they are. You're such a giant nerd."

"Hey! Puns are cool!"

After Marinette opened her gift (a gorgeous necklace, and another bird-shaped soap bar that made her groan), Nino bid them good-night.

"I'm gonna be sleepwalking tomorrow if I don't go to bed, like, ten minutes ago," Nino explained, gathering up his things. "Thanks for having me over. Adrien, are you leaving now as well?"

"I'll help Marinette clean stuff up," Adrien told him, waving Nino out. "Just lock the door after you, will you? I don't know how long it'll take for us to finish getting things cleaned up. "

Nino just yawned, nodded, and waved at them before heading out.

It didn't take them long to clean up- the mess looked worse than it was, honestly- and then Marinette had a chance to check her phone again. Alya had responded to Marinette's text message, and wished her a merry Christmas. Still, the message seemed distinctly less enthusiastic than Alya usually was.

"I can tell that Alya is really down about being apart from Nino and the rest of her family for Christmas," Marinette said after the last of the wrapping paper was bundled away and the counters had been wiped down. She pushed her phone over for Adrien to read. "So I was wondering- want to go out as Ladybug and Chat Noir and give her a Christmas gift?"

Adrien grinned, pulling Marinette to his side. "Superhero holiday kisses out on the town?"

She grinned back at him. "You read my mind."

Once they were sure that Nino had, in fact, remembered to lock the door downstairs, they headed out to Marinette's balcony to transform. Soon Ladybug and Chat Noir were tearing across Paris, waving to a few people who were still out and about.

"Where do you want to take the photos?" Chat Noir asked. "The Eiffel Tower? The Arc de Triomphe and Champs-Elysees? The big Christmas tree in the square?"

"Well, we were seen on the Eiffel Tower last year," Ladybug decided. "And the Champs-Elysees is probably still busy, so- the square?" She grinned and pulled two Santa hats out from behind her back. "And then we can wear these when we take the picture."

Chat Noir spluttered and glanced behind her. Smooth suit ran all the way down Ladybug's back, leaving no place for anything to be hidden. "Where were you keeping those?"

Ladybug only smiled.

It didn't take long for them to reach the square. Only a few people lingered, the rest gone to celebrate with their families or simply gone to bed for the night. The superheroes waved to them as they landed, then quickly arranged their Santa hats on their heads and arranged themselves for a superhero selfie with the brightly decorated tree clearly visible in the background. They took one of just the two of them beaming at the camera, and then another of them kissing in front of the holiday scene.

"Oh, Alya will like that one," Chat Noir said appreciatively as they looked over the photos. "I like that one. Thank goodness she'll be posting this online so I don't have to make up some excuse about why I have a never-seen-before superhero photo in my room."

"No, you'll just have to explain why you decided that it was so important to print out and keep a physical copy of two superheroes kissing," Ladybug teased as she pulled the Ladyblog up on her yo-yo. "And before you say that you'd just keep the photo in our bedroom so that not as many people would see it, remember that Nino and Alya do sometimes follow us back to our rooms. You'd have to explain to an actual reporter why you're keeping a picture of kissing superheroes on the bedside table."

Chat Noir lifted a finger, ready to rebut Ladybug's argument- and then lowered it with a grumble, realizing that she was right. "Fine. It'll be my laptop wallpaper, then. At least until I can have a picture of the two of us as civilians on there without people thinking anything of it."

"Oh, I suppose that might work." With a few clicks, Ladybug submitted the photos from her yo-yo using the burner account that she had made years ago. The Ladyblog let out a merry ding as the page confirmed that the photos had been received. "There! Want to take bets about how much time it'll take before Alya sees and gets it posted?"

"Not long, probably," Chat Noir said with a laugh. "Though we might have to wait until she's not quite so busy for her to see the notice. At least that should make Alya's Christmas just a bit brighter."

"It should," Ladybug agreed. She leaned over to give Chat Noir a kiss on the cheek. "Merry Christmas, Kitty-Cat."

"And Merry Christmas to you as well, my love."