Tangled in You
My @mlsecretsanta giftee this year is @madchattery! I really hope you like your gift! ❤️💚 And a massive thank you to @faunusroman for beta reading this for me! I really appreciate your help 💙
AO3 link here and spoilers up to Transmission!
Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.
This is set in some vaguely nebulous post-Transmission time where Marinette’s acknowledged that she’s still in love with Adrien as in canon but they’re still not together because, you know…the fact that Marinette and Adrien are still Ladybug and Chat Noir in Protection and Emotion, which canonically come after the Kwami’s Choice episodes.
“Not one word,” Marinette hisses.
Alya pastes a smile on her face, the epitome of innocence, except that she’s a lying liar who lies, and Marinette knows better than to trust the former wielder of the Fox Miraculous.
(Her heart jolts in her chest at that. It’s gotten a little better over the last few weeks but she’s not sure she’ll ever be rid of the pain. Not until she’s rescued the kwamis she let down.)
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Alya sings, shifting her bag on her shoulder. Marinette narrows her eyes.
“I mean it! You know I can’t be with him! Not as I am!”
Alya sighs. Her smile fades. “I’m sorry, Marinette. I took on being Scarabella so that you and Adrien could be together, and I couldn’t even do that right.”
“Don’t apologise,” Marinette says firmly. “What you did for me – what you were willing to take on…it means the world to me, and I’ll never forget that. We’ll figure out how Monarch found out you and Kitty Noire, and we’ll kick his butt!”
“Are we having a rebellion meeting?” says a bright voice. Marinette yelps and somehow manages to jump backward and forward at the same time, resulting in sprawling over Alya in a tangle of limbs, while her best friend tries desperately to keep her somewhat vertical.
“Adrien!” she complains. “Don’t do that!” When she manages to right herself – with great help from Alya – and turns around, she’s punched in the face by Adrien’s wide sunshine smile, and it takes everything she’s got to keep herself upright.
Why is this so hard? Adrien knows she’s in love with him. He knows that she wants to be with him, even if there’s some mysterious reason she can’t that starts with M and ends in onarch. Why is she still a complete mess around him?
“Sorry,” Adrien says, not looking sorry at all, like the evil person he is.
“I swear, one of these days, I’m gonna get you a bell so you stop doing that to me,” Marinette grumbles. Adrien’s face flushes bright red in response to that, so Marinette allows herself a triumphant grin. There. See how he likes it.
“Are we done with whatever we’re doing?” Nino drawls from behind Adrien. “And no, this isn’t a rebellion meeting, dude. I’m not letting Monarch take our Christmas.”
“Perfectly said, babe,” Alya says, crossing over to peck him on the lips. Marinette’s eyes flick to Adrien’s own peach pink lips. He notices – of course he does, because the universe hates Marinette Dupain-Cheng – and those lips curve into a smile that almost brings Marinette to her knees.
“Can we just get on with it?” she whines. “The tree won’t decorate itself.”
“How did you even get it up here?” Adrien says, as the four of them head up the stairs to the apartment above the bakery.
“Dude,” Nino says. “How d’you think? Her dad’s a beast.”
“I helped,” Marinette huffs and flexes her arms. There’s an immediate clatter as Adrien trips on the second-last step. He would’ve face-planted into the front door, if not for Marinette reflexively grabbing him by the back of the shirt and yanking him back, just like she’s done to her kitty many a time with his tail.
“Th-Thanks,” Adrien stammers, rubbing the back of his neck. “You’re strong. Muscles! Strong girl!”
“Oh my god,” Alya mutters but her words barely pierce the blood rushing through Marinette’s ears. Why does this have to be so hard? Why can’t she just Lucky Charm up Monarch’s ugly face, go kick him in said ugly face, then ride off into the sunset with the boy she loves?
(“One of two boys,” says a little, nasty voice. Marinette staunchly ignores it. Chat Noir made his choice and she has to live with it.)
“Anyway!” Marinette almost shrieks and points at the tree that towers over them, dispersing the fresh scent of pine needles throughout the room. “Tree! Decorations! Put on them!”
“Have you ever decorated a Christmas tree, Adrien?” Alya says loudly, steering Marinette away from the haphazardly stacked boxes of decorations. Marinette wants to be offended but…no, it’s probably for the best. Balance is a challenge at the best of times, without her current state of near hysteria.
“No,” Adrien says. The melancholy in his voice immediately snaps Marinette out of Stupid Mode and into Cheer Adrien Up Mode. “My father always hired people to decorate the tree. He said it was too big, and he didn’t want me or my mother to get hurt.”
“Or he could just stop overcompensating and buy a normal tree like normal people,” Nino scoffs. Marinette bites down on her bottom lip to keep her laughter at bay, while Alya lets out a strange cough. “Oh. Sorry, dude. Forgot he’s trying and all now, and I can’t talk smack about him anymore.”
“No, it’s okay,” Adrien says with a small smile. “I never said how much I appreciated all the times you stood up to my father for me, before he started trying. You’re a really good friend, Nino.”
“Aw, shucks, dude.” Nino’s whole face flushes. “Just what friends do, y’know?”
“Right!” Alya claps her hands. “If we’re done with the sappy Hallmark moments, I have just what we need for decorating the tree!”
“The decorations?” Marinette says dryly, pointing at the boxes. Alya rolls her eyes.
“Nope,” she says as she unslings her bag and rummages around inside. As soon as she emerges with a handful of eye-watering fabric, Marinette immediately starts looking around for the nearest window from which to defenestrate herself.
“No,” Nino says immediately because he’s the only other person in the world who currently has a brain cell. Marinette would kiss him for that if a) Adrien wasn’t here and b) Alya wouldn’t be Extremely Unhappy at her for it. “No way, babe. Nuh uh.”
“We promised to show Adrien the joys of a normal Christmas!” Alya insists, shoving an absolutely hideous orange sweater at him. “And that involves wearing ugly Christmas sweaters!”
“I might have sunk to some lows, but I’m not going that far,” Marinette says.
“Thank you,” Nino says.
“But Alya says it’s a Christmas tradition!” Adrien proves that he’s even eviller than Monarch by turning on the puppy dog eyes and pouting with the careful precision of the model he used to be. Alya beams and tosses him a scarlet sweater.
“And we want to honour the hard work of the superheroes in the room, don’t we?” Alya grins, gesturing to herself and Nino. She dumps a black and green sweater on Marinette’s head and, while Marinette splutters and bats the offending garment away, shrugs into the emerald sweater that she’s left with. “After all, I appreciate Carapace very much.”
“And Ladybug does so much to keep us safe,” Adrien agrees, now in his ugly spotted sweater and with messy hair so eerily reminiscent of Chat Noir that Marinette’s heart almost vacates her chest through her mouth. “It’s really the least we can do.”
“And it’d make Adrien happy,” Alya sing-songs. Marinette looks between her evil best friend and evil crush and lets out the most pained groan of her life.
“Fine,” she grumbles, pulling the Chat Noir sweater over her head. “I hate you both.”
“Seriously?” Nino complains. “Marinette, we were s’posed to stand together! Now they’re gonna bully me into it!”
“Pleeeeease?” Alya adopts the same puppy eyes and pout as Adrien, as they conspire to psychically destroy Nino’s will. Nino groans even louder than Marinette had.
“Okay, okay, fine!” He awkwardly slips into his Rena Rouge sweater, knocking off his hat and glasses in the process. “Not like I could be the only one not doing it. Thanks, Marinette.”
“Hey, blame Adrien!” Marinette huffs. “He insisted on it and he did those stupid eyes and everything!”
“It’s not my fault!” Adrien says. “I just wanted to have a normal Christmas!”
“Speaking of, let’s decorate the tree!” Alya grabs the first battered box and pulls a clump of lights. She gives the clump a shake and grimaces. “Seriously, Marinette?”
“I didn’t put them away!” Marinette protests. “It happens every year!”
Alya sighs and lowers herself to the ground. “Okay. Adrien, you’re about to learn the sacred Christmas tradition of spending ten hours untangling the damn lights.”
“If it’s tradition,” Adrien says with a cheeky smile. Marinette resists the urge to punch him for being so damn beautiful.
“Hey, if Ladybug and Chat Noir can take down an akuma with, like, a piece of paper, we can untangle the lights,” Nino says, dropping down to sit next to Alya cross-legged.
“Our lives depend on it, with the way Alya’s going,” Marinette says under her breath as she kneels and hunts for the end of the string. Adrien joins her, and when his hand brushes hers as they navigate the clump of lights, Marinette’s soul is almost evicted from her body.
“You know,” Alya says, “after everything I’ve done for you, you’d think I’d get more respect around here.”
“Just because you know my deepest secrets doesn’t mean you’re not a tyrant,” Marinette retorts.
“Don’t make me throw a bauble at you,” Alya says.
“Please. I’d tie you up with the tinsel before you could even blink.”
It’s not Marinette’s fault. It’s really not. How is it on her that the lights are this bad? She hadn’t put them away! After ten minutes of cursing and putting on a better show than a professional ballet performance, the lights are still matted together and Nino’s throwing a mini tantrum and cursing the name of Marinette Dupain-Cheng, which is totally uncool of him after everything they’d been through with their ugly sweaters.
“I’m done!” Nino throws down the length of lights that had been half-tying his hands together. “I signed up to show my bro a sweet Christmas, not get strangled by a bunch of lights!”
“Careful, you’ll give Monarch ideas,” Alya drawls, kicking her way out of her multicoloured prison. “I’d kill for a croissant right now.”
“You know where everything is downstairs, make yourself at home,” Marinette says absently, trying not to look too hard at Adrien, and how he’s somehow managed to get his head tangled in a makeshift light cocoon, like the beautiful dork he is.
Dork. Marinette from just a year ago would’ve pitched a fit at the mere thought that Adrien Agreste could be anything less than perfection. But after that game he’d played to help her confess her feelings? And the stupid jokes he tells that she can now listen to, since she can actually hold a conversation and not run away in lovestruck terror? Adrien Agreste is a certified dork, and Marinette’s no longer afraid to face the truth.
“Nino, come help me get us some pastries,” Alya says loudly, piercing through Marinette’s trance. Marinette jumps and somehow gets herself even more entangled in the lights from this one action.
“How do you need help to get pastries?” she splutters. “You already know where –”
“Nino’s tall,” Alya says with a smile so innocent that it’s completely devoid of innocence. “What if I need him to grab me something from a cupboard?”
“But the pastries aren’t –”
“Couple bonding activity!” Alya yanks Nino to his feet. “Besides, do you really want him here when he’s ready to set those lights on fire?”
“I’ll do it,” Nino says immediately. “Don’t tempt me.”
“Thank you, babe,” Alya says, patting him on the arm. “Besides, the more of us there are doing the lights, the more we’re just tangling them up even worse. You and Adrien have this!”
“Alyaaaaa,” Marinette whines.
“Marineeeette,” Alya whines back.
You know I can’t! Marinette pushes at her best friend psychically. Thankfully, because Alya is the best friend ever, she’s tuned in to Marinette Air and immediately picks up on the waves coming her way. She whips out her phone, types furiously while Nino raises his eyebrows and Adrien looks adorably confused, then nods and tucks her phone away.
“C’mon,” she says, grabbing Nino’s hand as Marinette’s phone buzzes twice. “Pastries! You and me!” She disappears with Nino before Marinette can so much as blink.
“…Marinette?” Adrien says carefully when Marinette remains frozen where she is in the wake of Alya’s departure. “Aren’t you gonna –”
“Yes! Right! Message!” Marinette fumbles for her phone and somehow manages to get herself even more ensnared in the evil fairy lights from the simple action of reaching into her pocket. She hugs her knees to her chest, takes a deep breath, then swipes open her phone and clicks on Alya’s message.
>> Look I get it girl. I get you’ve got this massive thing on your shoulders & I’m so sorry I can’t do more to help. But you deserve to be happy and you shouldn’t have to commit to being sad just bc of everything you do for all of us. You didn’t mess up bc of love you messed up bc of a jerk who took advantage of you and it wasn’t even the first time he did it to you.
>> You help us all bc you love us. You’re strong bc of it not weak. Pls let yourself be happy Mari I hate seeing you like this bc of big bad douchebag and hey I think Adrien gets the secret thing more than most ppl and you know I wouldn’t be pushing if I thought it’d turn out like Luka. Ily ❤️
Marinette blinks. Why do her eyes hurt so much? It’s not until something splatters on her phone screen that she realises she’s crying, and she lets out an ugly sob and hugs her phone to her chest.
“Marinette?” Adrien’s by her side in a heartbeat, throwing an arm around her without a care for how this wraps a thread of lights around her neck. “What’s wrong? What did Alya say?”
“N-Nothing,” Marinette sniffles. She lowers her phone with trembling hands and reads the message again, which sends a fresh wave of some massive, unnameable thing crashing over her, forcing her back under and filling her lungs. She gasps, accidentally dropping her phone in her attempt to bury her face in her hands.
“Marinette. Hey. It’s okay.” Something warm meets her face; warm and soft and smelling of pure radiance, and she instinctively takes it in as she gulps in oxygen. When she cracks an eye open, the few brain cells still functioning inform her that Adrien’s pulled her into a hug, and her face is half-buried in his ugly sweater, before they cease to work, and all she can do is sob into the scarlet fabric and lose any awareness of time as she drowns. Adrien just rocks her and squeezes her and grounds her in the hurricane, and she clutches to him like a life raft, praying that he doesn’t let go.
“S-Sorry,” she finally manages to say, her voice thick, cringing at how pathetic she sounds. “Messed up your sweater.”
“Marinette, I don’t care about the sweater,” Adrien says. “I care about you. What’s wrong? I know Alya wouldn’t make you cry to be mean or something.”
“She’s not – she didn’t –” Marinette wipes her streaming eyes and snotty nose with her sleeve. “She just –” After another few moments of trying in vain to explain, she gives up and shakily fishes for her phone to offer to Adrien. He doesn’t take it.
“Are you sure?” he says. “Whatever’s between you and Alya’s none of my business.”
“Just take it. Before I change my mind.”
Adrien hesitates for another moment before the phone is finally gently prised from Marinette’s fingers. She reburies her face in his sweater, tensing, praying that she hasn’t just absolutely messed everything up, even though Adrien clearly likes her, and she clearly likes him, and the only thing stopping them at this point is her and her messed-up brain.
“What happened?” Adrien eventually says. His voice is low and sharp, and Marinette pities anyone who ever ends up on the other side of this voice, because it’s a side of Adrien she’s never seen before. “Who took advantage of you? How? Do I need to punch someone?”
“I don’t think your father would appreciate having to bail you out,” Marinette says with a weak hiccup of laughter.
“I’d do it for you,” Adrien says. Blood rushes to Marinette’s face and pools in her cheeks until she could probably melt the polar icecaps with just her skin.
“Just…some guy,” she says vaguely. “Lied to me and made me think he was someone else. So…I trusted him. And I messed up big time. Big, big time.”
“I’ll kill him,” Adrien says straight away, his arms tightening around her. “No one gets to take advantage of Marinette Dupain-Cheng. No one. Not when you’re so sweet and kind and smart and brave and – and loving – Alya was right, you know, you love so easily and so much and it’s why I…you know…fell for you.”
“Stooooop,” Marinette whines. “Shush.”
“Nope. Look…you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but what exactly happened?”
“I –” For a long moment, Marinette wavers. But she steels herself. She can’t give in. She has to stay strong. “I can’t tell you. Not without giving away my big…big secret.”
“The one that got between you and Luka?”
Marinette nods jerkily. Adrien sighs and squeezes her.
“That’s okay. You don’t have to tell me.”
“R-Really?”
“Of course. Alya was right, you know. I get the secrets thing. And…I’ve got a big one of my own. One that I can’t tell anyone. So I’d be a real hypocrite if I tried to make you tell me yours.”
“What a pair,” Marinette mumbles, sagging against Adrien as the energy drains out of her and leaves her loose and limp and jelly limbed. Adrien laughs.
“I don’t know what happened,” he says, “but Alya’s right. Whatever happened, it didn’t go wrong because of love. It went wrong because this guy took advantage of your trust and kindness and love.”
“But I messed up!” Marinette jerks away but can’t go far, thanks to the lights that have somehow managed to glue them together like limpets. “Big, big time! My mistake could get people killed! It’s caused so much pain already!”
“So you’ll fix it,” Adrien says. His smile is so kind, so warm, and Marinette can hardly stand to look at it, but she also can’t stand to tear her eyes away from its radiance. “You always have the solution to any problem, Marinette. You’ll fix it.” His face falls and he looks away. “I messed up, too. I hurt someone really bad. Two people, actually. The second one almost died if she wasn’t a – look, I didn’t get to fix my mistake but I know you’ll fix yours, because that’s the person you are, Marinette.”
“But it’s because I love you!” Marinette blurts out. “It’s because I love you that I messed up! I should’ve known, I should’ve known it wasn’t you, but he looked just like you and I was an idiot and let my heart rule me and I trusted him – I trusted him – and he took everything from me!” She squeezes her eyes shut and hides back in Adrien’s sweater.
“M-Marinette…?” Adrien whispers.
“I just make mistake after mistake because of how much I love you,” Marinette sniffles. “And then I fell for Chat Noir and I almost got akumatised. I even got my father akumatised the first time! And I got Luka akumatised because I couldn’t be honest with him and I don’t want that to happen to you and I just keep messing up again and again every time I try to love someone and –”
“Shh. Breathe,” Adrien says soothingly as a fresh wave of sobs racks Marinette’s body.
“I c-can’t love Chat Noir or th-the world will end,” Marinette bawls. “I c-can’t love you or M-Monarch wins. I c-can’t love anyone.”
“It’s okay,” is all Adrien says. “It’s okay, Marinette, I swear, just let it out. I’ve got you.”
“I’m pathetic,” Marinette blubbers. “Weak and pathetic.” Her insides chill as her words from just before flood her senses and she groans and shakes her head. “And of course I only managed to say it now when I’m having a breakdown. Not when I actually want to say it to you. I really am pathetic.”
“No.” Adrien’s arms tighten around her. “You were wrong back then, and you’re wrong now. You’re not weak, Marinette. You’re not pathetic. You’re brilliant – strong – you’re so clever, so giving and loving, and I’m just sorry it took me this long to see what was right in front of me.”
“I d-didn’t exactly m-make it easy.”
“And I’m sorry that Félix took advantage of you. It’s my fault, I should’ve known he was up to no good when he offered to pretend to be me.”
“W-What?” Marinette’s brain record scratches, then shuts down. Slowly, barely able to breathe, she draws back and stares up at Adrien as her brain feebly struggles to comprehend the fact that two and two equal four; that Adrien knows, he knows who was having a mental breakdown on his bathroom floor. “F-Félix – but I didn’t –”
“You didn’t have to say it,” Adrien says with a small, wry smile. “I couldn’t think of anyone else who’d taken advantage of you by making you think it was me. Apart from Volpina, of course, but that was just an illusion.”
“I – but – Vol – what –” The trembling in Marinette’s limbs intensifies as the implications of Adrien’s words truly sink in. Adrien hadn’t been there. Volpina had been holding an illusion. The only other person who’d been there, who knows what happened on the Eiffel Tower… “You didn’t – you weren’t – it wasn’t –”
“I don’t know how loving me ended the world,” Adrien says while Marinette’s brain undergoes a total system reboot. “And I don’t know how our love could let Monarch win. But I swear that won’t happen, milady. I can’t let it happen. I won’t. Not now that I know you’ve loved me all this time. And not now I know that the two most amazing girls I know are the same person.”
“No!” Marinette throws herself away from him, toppling backwards. But since she’s currently tied to Adrien with the devil’s lights, he follows her right down and sprawls over her with an oof. “I didn’t – you can’t know, you can’t be him, I can’t –”
“We won’t destroy the world.”
“It happened twice! Because we knew! And now I’ve messed up again and I don’t have the Snake to fix it and Bunnyx is gonna show up and –”
“We don’t know what happened, Marinette. Milady. Please.” His green eyes are soft, crinkled, filled with love that Marinette doesn’t deserve. “Don’t shut me out. Not when you need help. I’ll be super extra careful, I swear, I won’t call you milady or do anything Chat-like in public, so long as you get to lean on me.”
“Nooo!” Marinette covers her face. “I’m so tired. I’m so sick of being miserable and not being allowed to be happy or even really be sad in case I get akumatised! And no one else can do it or they’ll be in danger! Monarch managed to figure out Scarabella!”
“Well, that’s what your dashing partner’s here for,” Chat Noir says. No, Adrien, it’s Adrien above her, except that it’s also Chat and Marinette’s about to have a mental breakdown. “You can always count on me, Marinette. And Alya – I’m guessing she knows?”
“Who do you think was Scarabella?” Marinette mumbles into her hands.
“Oh. Oh. So much makes sense now.”
“I don’t even care anymore.” Marinette lets her hands fall away from her face numbly. “I don’t care that you know. I don’t care that Monarch’s gonna win. I’m tired. I’m so tired, Adrien. I should get to worry about school and boys and fashion without having all this weight on my shoulders!”
“Exactly,” Adrien says firmly. He brushes strands of hair out of Marinette’s eyes, making her battered heart leap into her throat. “You shouldn’t have to deal with all of this. But you’ve got Alya now, and you’ve got me – you’ve always had me, ever since Stoneheart. We’re gonna win, Marinette. We’ll beat Monarch and rescue the kwamis, and you’ll finally get to be happy. And what Félix did to you doesn’t make you weak. Okay?”
“If you say so,” Marinette says. Adrien rolls his eyes.
“I do say so. And I’m your charming, dashing partner, so I’m right, and you have to listen to me.”
A weak giggle wrenches its way out of Marinette. Once the dam’s been cracked, there’s no containing everything that pours out of her in hysterical laughter as her brain meshes Adrien and Chat Noir together – the two boys she loves, the two people aside from Alya who’ve been there for her through everything – and she tries to process everything that happened in the last few minutes. Or hours. Or days. Really, what even is time?
“Why am I laughing?” she hiccups, wiping her streaming eyes while Adrien smiles like the cat who got the cream. Or rather, in this case, the ladybug. “Why? You’re not even that funny.”
“Au contraire, milady,” Adrien says, still grinning. How had she never connected the dots before? He’s so…so…Chat. It’s so obvious. “You confessed to finding me absolutely amewsing when you had to tell the truth, remember?”
“I hate you,” Marinette mutters. But Adrien’s smirk widens, because she’s just as much of a lying liar as Alya, and there’s no way on earth she could hate her kitty, no matter how obnoxious his puns are.
“Liar,” Adrien sings. Then he frowns. “Does it usually take that long to get pastries? Alya and Nino have been gone for ages.”
“They’re just making us talk about this, silly kitty. Alya’s a meanie and abandoned me in my hour of need.”
“Well, I never will.” Adrien exaggeratedly puffs out his chest and Marinette can’t help but laugh. “We should – ah, no –” He tries to sit up but only succeeds in pulling Marinette up against his chest, thanks to the lights that have somehow further entwined them. “How did this happen? How? We barely even moved!”
“The magic of Christmas,” Marinette giggles. It’s still there, deep in her chest, looming and threatening to suffocate her again…but maybe Adrien’s right. Maybe she can do this with him. And maybe whatever happened the last two times won’t happen now, and Monarch won’t be able to take advantage of their love.
She has to believe that. She just has to. What other option does she have, besides losing her mind and throwing her earrings at Monarch for a chance to have five minutes to breathe? And if this was going to lead to the end of the world, surely Bunnyx would’ve shown up by now, right? Right?
“I thought this just happened in the movies!” Adrien says. “Okay, uh – you try moving this way, I’ll put my arm here –”
“You’re making it worse!” Marinette says when Adrien’s move just plasters her face against his neck.
“Do we need to call in the cavalry?”
“No! Alya will never let me live it down!”
“No, I won’t,” says the voice of someone eviller than Monarch. Marinette groans and lets herself fall into hiding against Adrien’s throat so that she doesn’t have to see the look that’s going to be on Alya’s face.
“Alya!” Adrien says. “Our saviour! The second most amazing girl in the world!”
“Second?” Alya splutters.
“She’d better be second to you, bro!” Nino says.
“Great, they’re both here,” Marinette groans. “What do we owe you, Alya?”
“Hmm,” Alya says, clearly relishing the situation before her. “Let’s just say a favour for now. This is way too good for me to think of something on the spot.”
“Fine,” Marinette says pathetically. “Just get us out of this mess.”
“Alright, alright. Nino, try and figure out where the hell the end is.”
It takes an entire half hour. Half an hour of cursing and sweating and playing festive Twister before Alya and Nino can finally detangle the lights enough for Marinette to slip out and off Adrien. She’s craving a nice hot chocolate to drown herself in by now, so she grumbles and staggers into the kitchen to make drinks for everyone because really, there’s nothing better than a hot chocolate and a good croissant when you’ve just had a meltdown and want to feel warm inside. Once the hot chocolates are made, Adrien’s also free from his merry prison, and Alya’s untangling the lights with a deft ease that makes Marinette very, very suspicious of why Alya had escaped downstairs. And the entire half hour she and Nino had taken to untangle them.
“You could’ve done this all along!” Marinette accuses. Alya snickers.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she says sweetly. Marinette narrows her eyes. “Okay, time to put them up before someone lights them on fire!”
As the two tallest people, Adrien and Nino take on the task of stringing the lights around the tree while Alya directs them, because apparently “journalistic instincts” translate into knowing the best way to decorate a Christmas tree.
Once again, Marinette thanks the universe for bringing Alya Césaire into her life. Where she’d be without her best friend on either side of the mask, she has no clue, even if said best friend deviously engineers for her to be tied to her crush with Christmas spirit and actually have a conversation about her feelings, instead of being able to escape.
“Adrien, you can have the honours,” Alya declares once the lights are strung up. Adrien beams and bends down to plug them in, and the childlike wonder on his face as the tree lights up in reds and yellows and greens and blues is enough to make every organ in Marinette’s abdominal cavity quiver and flutter. At this rate, her body’s well on the way to shutting down, and she can’t even be upset about it.
“Okay,” she whispers to Alya. “I take it back. You know what you’re doing.”
“Don’t I always?” Alya grins and tosses her hair. But then her smirk shifts into a softer smile. “I’ve never seen him so happy. Not even last Christmas.”
“He’s never decorated a tree!” Marinette waves her hands around. “How wrong is that?”
“What’s next?” Adrien says, popping up in front of Marinette out of nowhere. Marinette yelps but manages to keep her footing this time.
“Tinsel!” she blurts out. “Shiny!”
Adrien laughs and bends down to fish out the golden tinsel from one of the boxes. “It’s okay, princess, you don’t have to be scared of me. I don’t bite.”
“What the hell,” Nino says while Marinette lets out a squeal so high that every dog in Paris has probably been summoned to the bakery. “I hate it here.”
“You’re even more disgusting with Alya,” Adrien says.
“Yeah, you stayed behind when I was a zombie,” Alya teases. Nino shrugs.
“Fair. You do stupid things for love.”
“Yeah,” Adrien says, looking directly at Marinette, who flushes and looks down. “You do.”