A/N:

I know, I know, I'm late. BUT it's still December, so not too horribly late? I've been working on this for a while and the next chapter WILL go up soon. I just need to finish it... It was originally going to be a oneshot. Then it got long and I didn't have enough time and I really want to post something for all y'all.

Have some slightly Angsty fluff and some awkward teenagers to end/start your year on a good note!

Hope you enjoy!

Adrien didn't want to feel like this, really he didn't. Hell, it was Christmas morning, he'd much rather be at home with— Damn it, he hadn't come out here to mope. He'd just needed to get away from it all. Adrien didn't want to feel like this, really he didn't. Hell, it was Christmas morning, he'd much rather be at home with— Damn it, he hadn't come out here to mope. He'd just really needed to get away from it all.

"It's just not fair, Plagg," He said, entirely missing the "not thinking about it" point. "I mean, I know he's busy, but it's Christmas. Couldn't he be home just one year?" Especially now, with Mom gone…

"Cheese?" offered Plagg, out in the open in public for once. After all, it wasn't like anyone was walking around on Christmas. They were all at home with their families. Adrien tried not to growl, like Chat might. Weren't cats supposed to be solitary creatures?

He shook his head at Plagg, who shrugged and went back to munching. Really, given how much the kwami liked cheese, Adrien felt kind of touched, but it still didn't sooth the sting of his father been out of town and leaving him alone for yet another Christmas. Yes, cats were supposed to be solitary, but they still would curl up in people's laps, wanting pats, wanting red gloved hands to run through his hair and-

He shook his head, trying to derail this latest depressing train of thought. She was probably at home, with her family. She'd made it perfectly clear she didn't want anything aside from a working relationship with him, no matter how much his chest ached when they weren't together.

"I mean, he's constantly gone working, constantly making me be the perfect son. My schedule is always done to the damn minute, always scheduling things without asking me. It's always about what he wants. He never even asks me, not that he's ever here to do so..." He tried to be the perfect son, and he loved his father. A lot. But this was just too far and he needed to vent. Here, away from anyone who might hear him, it was safe to get this off his chest. It wasn't like Plagg was going to tell anyone.

"I wish..." He let out a dejected breathe, leaning over the railing and looking towards the horizon. "I wish, just once, I could have a family Christmas."

Marinette really wasn't quite sure how she'd ended up with her back pressed to the wall that Adrien was standing on top of, listening to him rant to himself about his father. Really, she hadn't meant to eavesdrop... She'd been out delivering some fresh pastries for close friends of the family. Christmas morning, Christmas dinner, that was special, that was about family, but lunch was about the family you made, not just were born with. So, she'd found herself walking down mostly deserted streets, having dropped off her delivery when she heard a familiar voice drifting down to her. She'd kept walking, part of her trying to place the place the voice that she wasn't really paying attention to-after all, mom and dad were waiting for her at home, and it was Christmas.

Then she'd realized it was Adrien's voice, and had panicked and had somehow ended up with her back glued to the wall, trying to breathe more quietly and hoping he wouldn't notice her.

As she stood there, she started listening to the words he was actually saying, and she felt something in her chest tighten. Who wanted to be abandoned on Christmas? She wanted to reach out to him, to help him. He was so kind and patient and wonderful... no one should be this unhappy.

Tikki stuck her head out of Marinette's purse and butted against her hand. Marinette looked down, and saw her little Kwami smiling up at her encouragingly.

Later, Marinette would not be able to say where she got the guts to do this. Maybe she was channeling Ladybug, maybe it was just the fact that he was someone in pain, and Marinette always felt the need to help people, maybe it was a Christmas miracle. She really wasn't sure. Somehow, though, she found herself running up the stairs to her right that would lead her to Adrien.

She was fairly certain it was only the fact that he wasn't looking at her that stopped her from turning into a gibbering mess. She reached out, grabbed his hand and he whirled around to face her, beautiful, bright, intelligent green eyes wide. She almost faltered, but persevered.

"Follow me," she managed, without stumbling over it, before turning away from where his beauty would make her lose her determination. She took off running, her adrenaline giving her wings. After a few stumbling steps, she felt him start to run behind her. She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face.

After almost a year of being Ladybug in her spare time (and during school, and during other occasions where she had other other things to do than stop a madman with a grudge who wanted her jewelry (even if it was magical jewelry)) she was in very good shape. She sprinted down streets, whipping around corners and never once felt him falter behind her. All that fencing must keep him in good shape. A shape she had admired far too often, daydreaming in class as he sat in front of her.

She refused to let herself get distracted by the cute boy (who had made no move to let go of her hand!), instead, she picked up the pace, leading him closer and closer to her goal. Her smile spread as her target came in sight. She pulled an even sharper turn than she'd need to turn the corner, threw open the door and used their combined momentum to swing Adrien into the bakery ahead of her, and letting his pull her in after him, making sure to grab the door and pull in closed behind them. He stood still and swung her head of him, letting her momentum overcome his inertia and drag both of them up the stairs past the bakery up into the house proper. Why couldn't physics concepts like momentum and inertia make sense not just when she was saving thing, but also when she was doing homework? Sometimes life was so unfair.

They stopped at the top of the stairs, and Marinette couldn't help but smiling. Adrien was standing in her house, smiling, if looking kinda confused. She tried to stop herself from swooning. After all, her mission wasn't over yet. She yanked off her boots, and took off her coat as she tried to figure out what she'd say to her parents.

Before she could think of a plan of attack-where was that damn Chat Noir to provide a distraction when she really needed it?-her parents appeared in the living room. Oh well, no time to plan, time to improvise then.

"Mom, Dad," She said, speaking way too quickly. "This is Adrien. He's a classmate. His parents are out of town right now socanhestaywithusforChristmas?"

Her parents looked from their daughter, with her wide, hopeful, slightly desperate smile, to her friend, who was looking dumbfoundedly at their daughter, his jaw actually hanging slack for a moment, before he shook his head and smiled slightly sheepishly at them, and finally at each other, years of marriage making no words necessary, before they came to a conclusion.

"Of course you're welcome here, Adrien," Her mother said smiling, as both she and her husband came forward to greet the children.

"Yes!" Marinette jumped in the air, whooping, and then threw her arms around Adrien. Before he could figure out if he could hug her back in front of her parents, she gave a terrified, horrified shriek, and faster than either Adrien or her parents could follow she had disappeared upstairs.

Once in the safety of her room, she couldn't decide if she wanted to scream, jump for joy or bang her head against the wall. On the one hand, she'd actually talked to Adrien and held his hand and now he was even in her house! On the other, she'd practically kidnapped him, dragged him across the city, and now her parents were going to meet him and with the way she kept stuttering around him they'd just know and she'd never hear the end of it. Whatever way she looked at it, it was a mess. Why couldn't an akuma just show up so she could run away? Chat Noir was infinitely easier to deal with. Tikki landed on her shoulder, trying to be comforting.

Adrien turned slowly turned to where her parents stood in what seemed to be her living room. Adults. Adults he knew how to deal with. Pretty classmates kidnapping him—pleasant as that was—less so, but adults were easy. He felt his posture straighten, and a confident smile spread. He tried to pass off his faint blush as being from running across the city, not from having his wishes granted by a beautiful and kind princess, who finally managed to talk to him without stuttering. Even if she had run off. His eyes flicked to the doorway she'd vanishes through, wanting to go after her and see if she was ok. That shriek had been kinda alarming. Ha! Shriek! Alarming! Good one! But first, adults.

"Thank you for letting me stay here, Mr. Dupain, Mrs. Cheng," He said, now in full adult mode, extending his hand for a shake. .

"Oh please," Mr. Dupain said with a large smile, taking his hand and shaking it firmly. He had a good handshake. "Call me Tom."

"And I'm Sabine," said Mrs. Che-Sabine. "I'm sorry Marinette ran off before making proper introductions. Here, let me take your coat."

"It's fine ma'am. I'm sorry to intrude on Christmas," He said, moving slowly to remove his coat, to ensure Plagg would have enough time to hide.

"Intrude? Nonsense!" Tom said, smiling widely. "We're more than happy to have you."

"And we have more than enough food," Sabine reassured him, taking his coat.

"And whose fault might that be?" Tom said, giving his wife a look. .

"I don't know, Tom, we're usually only feeding three people. More than twice that many types of bread on the table as there are people certainly isn't my fault. And that doesn't even touch the matter of desserts," She snapped back right back.

"Yes, and what about the Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, not to mention the general zhao chicken, and the other Chinese foods you make," Tom returned, before seeming to notice Adrien again. Adrien forced his smile to stay on his face, and unhunched his shoulders. He was pretty sure they'd been teasing each other. Probably. God, the last thing he wanted was to get caught up in a family fight right now. He watched as the adults exchanged a look, and suppressed the urge to hide or transform. Tom had been nice when they'd come to the parent day, maybe he was just misreading the situation.

"Which reminds me," Sabine said, conspicuously looking over her shoulder towards where Adrien assumed the kitchen was. "I should probably go check on the food. Is the Buche almost ready, love?" She asked her husband.

"Almost," he replied, smiling softly back. Suddenly, Adrien wasn't quite sure how he'd imagined these two had been being hostile towards each other. "Adrien, would you mind going upstairs and telling Marinette that they Buche will be ready for delivery in," for some reason, he looked over at his wife. Wasn't he the baker? "oh about 45 minutes? I need to do the icing."

"Of course, Sir," Adrien replied, happy to help, and and get into more familiar territory.

"Thanks," Tom said, walking towards the stairs downstairs and ruffling Adrien's hair as he passed. "And what's your favorite pastry?"

"Chocolatine," fell out of Adrien's mouth before he even think, so moved was he by the warmth in the simple gesture.

"Alright," Tom replied as he headed down the stairs.

"Please take your boots off before heading upstairs" Sabine added as she went into the kitchen, leaving Adrien standing frozen at the top of the stairs.

It would be quite a few minutes, and a not-so-gentle poke from Plagg, before he managed to gather himself enough to bend down and get his shoes off.

Marinette hadn't come close to calming down properly when there was a knock at the trapdoor that led to the rest of the house.

"Marinette?" His voice called, sounding kind of uncertain and oh so beautiful. "Can I come in?"

"YES!" She blurted out at the thought of having Adrien actually in her room, before clamping her hands over her mouth and turning bright red. Adrien. Actually. In. Room. GAH!

"Hi," He said, pushing it open. "Your dad wanted me to ask you to—" His head cocked to the side as he cut himself off. "Are those pictures of me?"

Marinette turned in horror to see the pictures she hadn't even thought of taking down, she'd been so overwhelmed.

"I... er... They...I mean they..." It was even worse than usual. She couldn't even figure out what she'd want to say if she wanted to speak. How the hell was she supposed to explain the ridiculous number of pictures of him she had pinned up around her room. At least her computer was still dark. The ones on her wall were bad enough. She wished she could just faint. But then she'd have to explain why she'd fainted to Adrien and her parents... Never in her life, not even during the physics exam last week where nothing had made any sense, had she wanted an akuma to attack more. ANYTHING to get her out of this mess.

"Fall Jacket, last year. Winter pants." He said, looking at each picture in turn. He glanced around her room and she prayed her schedule would stay up. Or possibly fall and hit one of them on the head so they could forget all about this. Either would work.

"Marinette, I was impressed by your hat, but I had no idea you were this into fashion. Do you use other designers to inspire your work, or are you just a really huge fan of my father's work?"

Marinette looked at him with her mouth hanging open. She stayed like that until he finally turned around to actually look at her. "Marinette, are you alright?" He frowned.

"I... uh... I..."

"I think it's really cool that you're so passionate about this," He said, giving her an encouraging smile, but the rest of his expression looked worried and confused. God, why was he so nice? He was trying to make her comfortable and all she was was a giant blushing mess and she might explode. Where was Alya to give her moral support when she needed it. She buried her face in her hands and whimpered. She couldn't run away, it was her damn room. She heard him sigh. She'd wanted to give him a nice Christmas and she couldn't even managed that.

The memory of how sad he'd sounded at the top of the stairs put steel in her spine. She was Ladybug even without the mask and he needed her help. She could do this.

"That's a nice dress," He said, sounding more and more unsure. It hurt her heart to hear him like that. She forced her hands back to her sides and looked to where he was gesturing at the dress she'd made herself for Christmas. It was simple, but nice. Red, princess seams for the the shape, long sleeves and a fullish skirt, which ended at her knees. She'd embroidered it with white and green, starting from a narrow section just under her bust line. The spread as it moved down, until it covered nearly

"So... These... Darts?" He said, hopefully, pointing at the seams. "Are nice with the..." He trailed off, and looked rather helplessly between her and the dress.

"Those are called princess seams. They're to help give the dress its shape, since the fabric is a weave, not a knit."

"Why does that matter?" Adrien asked tentatively.

"Well, weaves and knits... Wait, let me get some scraps." She darted over to her scrap fabric box and started rummaging through it for what she needed.

"Well, you see, a knit is much easier to drape. See how it falls over my hand?"

Over the next hour Marinette had explained every detail of her Christmas dress, from the cut to the different embroidery stitches she'd used. They had moved to sit next to each other on her chaise, looking at some of her ideas for future projects. Marinette was too excited and confident to do anything aside from blush slightly at her proximity of her crush. Design, fashion, sewing, those where the only places she had anything close to the confidence Ladybug had as naturally as breathing. And Adrien seemed impressed and interested. The tiny part of her not totally absorbed in talking about design wishes this moment would never end.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when her mom knocked on the trapdoor.

"Marinette," she called up. "The Bûche is ready to be delivered."

"C-coming!" She called back, trying to get her heartbeat to slow down as Adrien looked at her in concern. "S-sorry Adrien. I have to go deliver this. It's not far away. I shouldn't be very long. You can chill in the living room. We have bo—"

"Could," he said, interrupting her, before blushing and then forging on. "Could I come with you?"

"I... I don't want to drag you out in the cold." She offered, really not sure how to deal with him actually wanting to be around her. She was a lot more confident after the conversation about design, but it was still Adrien, the most attractive boy ever who apparently really likes her designs.

"No, I'd like to keep you company." He smiled brightly at her and she nearly swooned.

Adrien couldn't help but smirk as Marinette glared a little at him as he carefully carried the bag with the box with the Bûche in it carefully along the streets of Paris. He'd won the very tiny argument about who got to carry the bag. Well, he'd told Tom he'd be happy to carry the bag, his little part to help. Marinette had started to argue that it was her job, but then Tom had said, "If he's staying with us for Christmas, he's family and he can do this." And so here Adrien was, walking next to his quietly fuming classmate, with a giant grin, carrying the Bûche, being part of the family. In the space of not even hours, she'd dragged him in, given him a home and a family, at least for the night. He didn't think he could stop smiling if he tried. He felt like he belonged. He felt like people cared about him, like they actually wanted him around. It felt like being Chat. He could feel the cat sneaking out in his smirk and his walk. Hell, this felt better than being Chat, because Marinette, her parents, they didn't like him because he was saving Paris. He didn't really know why they liked him, but they really seemed to do so. Especially Marinette. Beautiful, confident, passionate Marinette (at least, she was when he wasn't around) had managed to overcome her usual shyness and almost literally drag him home. Yep, this smile wasn't going anywhere.

He glanced down at her, where she was glaring at the ground, blushing slightly. He wanted her to open up again. He wanted to see the fire in her eyes that reminded him so much of- No. She was at home, with her family, not with him. He was not going to waste his time with this girl who'd decided to bring him into her family for Christmas pining over a girl who didn't even want to know his real name.

"So, Marinette," he said, causing her to look up and blush a deeper shade of red. Well, at least she wasn't running away. "Who's your favorite designer? Aside from my father, that is." He felt a bitter ember flare in his stomach at the thought of his father, only to be suddenly doused with cold fear. What if Marinette was only interested in him, trying to get close to him, because of his father. What if-

"Oh, Agreste is a good designer," Marinette said after a moment's thought. "But is hardly call him my favorite. He's one of the pillars of the fashion world, but he's a little too reserved and conservative for my taste. Really, I prefer the work of..." She trailed off and gave him a truly horrified look, confusing the hell out of him and still not telling him the name of her favorite designer. "Not that your dad's work isn't good! I mean, he has a really good sense of line and..." Her whole body seemed to slump at once as she trudged on. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult your dad's work." She made it several more steps before she turned back to see where Adrien had frozen in his steps. "Adrien... Are you alright?"

It was the look of such genuine concern that broke through to him. He started to laugh. He laughed and laughed and laughed until he was clutching his sides and bending over. She wasn't interested in him because of his father. She was so worried about offending him with such a simple comment.

"Adrien?" She squeaked, the concern obvious. He looked up at her, trying to catch his breath to reassure her, but her eyes gone huge with worry just made him laugh all the harder. He wasn't sure why he was laughing so hard, but it felt good. All the anger and stress and disappointment flowed out of him as he laughed and laughed and laughed.

"I didn't think it was that funny..." She said and he could hear the pout in her voice. He tried to control his laughter then. He didn't want to offend her.

"Sorry, Princess," He said, straightening up and offering a placating hand. "I'm not offended that my father isn't your favorite designer."

One of her eyebrows went up. "Princess?" She asked, suddenly nothing like the blushing girl she'd been most of the night and entirely the sassy young woman he'd had the pleasure of protecting.

Adrien felt his face turn red. Apparently Chat Noir had decided to make an appearance without consulting him. Oops.

"So, um, are we almost at your friend's house?" Adrien asked, gesturing with the hand that held the miraculously undamaged bag. Really, with his luck it should be an unrecognizable mess by now.

"They live at the end of the street," she replies and he can hear both the eye roll and the warmth in her voice as she turned to continue leading them in the right direction. Adrien followed quietly, still blushing.

Still, that was the most relaxed and comfortable he'd seen her since she grabbed his hand earlier that day. Maybe Chat should be making his presence a little more known. A smirk spreading across his still blushing face, he picked up his pace, determined to catch up with his princess.

Marinette hurried down the street away from the far too knowing looks of her family's friends, dragging Adrien behind them. A girl could only take so many knowing looks and suggestive comments before she needed to flee. And that was ignoring how incredibly bright red she'd turn and how damn huge his smirk had grown when Manon had asked if this time he was her boyfriend. His stupid, gorgeous smirk was not helpful, even if it was adorable...

"So," Adrien asked, his smirk turning slightly apologetic, as she forcibly dragged him down the street. "who is your favorite designer?"

"You..." Marinette started, before mustering up her courage to speak properly. He was so kind it broke her heart. "You don't have to listen to me talk about fashion." It was nice of him to listen to her talk but, "Your dad is Gabriel Agreste, you probably know all this stuff." after all, it wasn't like she knew nothing about baking. He'd probably been bored out of his mind all afternoon.

"Actually," Adrien said, reaching up to scratch the back of his head in a strangely familiar way, "I know more about hair and makeup that I do about Fashion. I mean, I know about the cuts and styles, but mostly I just put on whatever they give me.

"What, really?" Marinette asked, turning to face him, her incredulity spreading across her face.

"Well… yeah," He offered, looking a little nervous. "I mean, my father never really talks to me, so it's not like he explains his designs. I've seen enough to know you're really talented though!" Was… Was Adrien rambling? He was looking kind of flustered. Either way, Marinette needed to change the topic fast. 'My dad never really talks to me'? She knew she'd made the right choice dragging him home.

"No, I mean," Think fast girl! "You're into hair and makeup?"

"Oh!" Suddenly he was bright red. "I, um… yes? Please don't tell Nino. I'd never hear the end of it."

"Don't worry," She reassured him quickly. "Your secret's safe with me."

The Adrien she was used to was calm and collected and kind and sweet and confident. This new side of him… just made him all the more attractive, she realized. She was falling for this new side of him as hard as she'd fallen for the rest of him. The more time she spent with him the more she realized how complex he was, how much she didn't know, how much she wanted to. It really just wasn't fair.

"Thanks, Princess," He smiled at her. Argh. Again with the Princess. The last person she wanted to be thinking about was Chat. Well, not really, he was her partner, and she did hope his Christmas was going well. He said he was having a family dinner and had seemed really excited about it. No doubt she'd hear all about on the next patrol. And she'd be happy to listen to her happy Chat. He was kinda cute when he got excited like that… Wait! What was she doing thinking about Chat when there was a perfectly good Adrien to be paying attention to.

"So, hair and make up?" She asked, one more time, hoping to get him to open up. She knew about fencing, chinese, but she'd never seen any hint of this interest.

"What, you think my hair looks this good naturally?" He smirked, preening slightly. Marinette rolled her eyes. Blushing slightly. "Really," he continued, smirk growing at her, "You should see me when I wake up…" He trailed off, eyes going wide. "I mean—Before I've had a chance to go at my hair with a comb. Which I do. In the mornings. Not that you should be there when I wake up. Not that you shouldn't be there when I wake up, either!" And suddenly Marinette realized where his mind had gone and suddenly they were both bright red.

"I… um… er…" Marinette stuttered, mind completely overloaded with the idea of Adrien with bed head. "And makeup?" She finally managed to squeak.

"Well, I don't wear any, but I do watch tutorials. And after being a model for so long, and getting lots of tips from the hair and makeup people when I was younger, I know my way around it." He smiled a little shyly at her and Marinette just had to stop herself from combusting. He was too damn cute.

"They gave you pointers? Is that normal?" Marinette asked. She really liked design, but knew next to nothing about what actually happened backstage during a fashion show.

"Well, my father would have to run the show, so he'd often leave me in the care of the hair and makeup people. They'd teach me all sorts of things, give me pointers, let me play with their hair or make up. I really enjoyed being able to do that. They seemed to have a lot of fun too. They always said that being able to help a girl with this kind of stuff would make me a real catch…" And suddenly he was blushing again. "Are you into hair and makeup at all? You're hair always looks really nice." And now she was blushing too and it was a giant, wonderful blushfest with lots of internal screaming and she hoped it would never end.

Unfortunately, they came to her house before she could really answer.

While Adrien had enjoyed the walk (minus his embarrassing conversational misteps. Seriously, he really needed to channel Chat slightly differently because this flirting was not going well. Wait, had he just thought of his interactions with Marinette as flirting? But what about his Lady? Damn it, he'd told himself he wasn't going to think about her tonight), it was nice to be back in the warmth of the Dupain-Cheng home. He found himself smiling again as he took off his winter wear.

"Hi mom, where's dad?" Marinette asked as she pulled off her own coat.

"Oh, he's down in the bakery, finishing something up," Sabine replied, strange twinkle in her eyes. "Oh, Adrien, I just noticed your scarf! It's absolutely lovely. The blue really compliments your complexion."

"Yeah, his dad got for his birthday!" Marinette said a little too quickly, with a weird emphasis.

"But Marinette," Her mother continued, switching to Chinese for some reason. "Isn't that the scarf you made him for his birthday? I remember you picking out the yarn and you spent so much time knitting it…"

Adrien felt the world shift under him.

A/N:Yes, I am aware I'm evil. Don't worry, you'll get your second part soon!