Marinette entered the classroom quietly despite no one else being in the room. In her arms, she carried light blue cylinder box with a blue ribbon. The box contained a black fedora hat decorated with a wing-like pattern and a small bundle of feathers tipped with gold sewn into the side. She had picked up numerous pigeon feathers and carefully dipped the top edge into gold paint, trimmed them, and glued them on top of each other to recreate a small wing like a turtle dove’s. She had decided to give Adrien 12 gifts leading up to Christmas with the 12 Days of Christmas as inspiration. If everything went to plan, she would confess on the 25th. If everything went to plan, or if she could gather up her courage to at least say 3 words intelligibly.

She smiled as she placed the box on Adrien’s desk. She had woken up extra early to make sure no one saw her bring it to school and had taken measures to ensure that no one saw her place it on Adrien’s desk during lunch.. Sure she was tired, but it was worth it. Especially considering Adrien’s reaction yesterday.

He was having a bad day, she could tell. His face looked a bit more tired than usual and he was a lot quieter. However, when he saw the present addressed to him and saw the jacket inside, which had a dark brown to black ombre and was decorating with white stripes akin to a partridge's, his face lit up. It was amazing and beautiful. Her heart had swelled with happiness knowing that she could and had made his day better. Tiredness would be of no consequence if she could see him like that everyday.

“Marinette,” A voice that sounded suspiciously like Adrien’s interrupted her thoughts, “what are you doing?” She jumped. She hadn’t realized so much time had passed while she was reminiscing. A small crowd started gathering behind him, watching curiously.

“O-Oh! I-um-,” she looked around nervously, trying to think of a believable excuse, “I saw this on your desk and what in it I was wondering! I mean! I was wondering what was in it!” she smiled widely, hoping that they believe.

“Okay?” Adrien looked at her, confused, but shrugged it off. He took a step forward and opened the box.

“Oooh,” the classmates that had gathered around him said in awe. He mirrored their expressions.

“This is amazin-ah-ah-achoo!” Adrien sneezed, then looked at the hat again. “Oh no, this has feathers, doesn’t it? I’m allergic to feathers.”

Marinette eyes widened in horror. “He was?!,” she thought frantically, “I-I didn’t know that! Oh no, how bad is his allergy? W-will he die?” She could picture the headlines know: “Famous Teenage Model and Son of Gabriel Agreste Murdered by Hat. The suspect is a 15 year old girl with blue hair in pigtails and blue eyes. If seen, please call 112 immediately.” And then she would be arrested and would rot in jail still pining over the very boy she had unintentionally killed.

“Alright class, settle down. Go back to your seats.” The teacher called as she entered the room. Marinette numbly followed the instructions, her face a deathly pale.

~~Later that day in Marinette’s room~~

Marinette flopped onto her bed with a loud sob. She picked up her phone, went into her contacts, tapped the first A that she saw, and dialed the number. The moment it was picked up, she launched into a rant.

“Oh Alya, what should I do? I didn’t know that he was allergic to feathers! I should’ve checked and asked someone. Oh god, I can’t tell him that I made the presents now! He’ll hate me or something! Well, no, he’s too nice to do that but I couldn’t bear with the guilt,” she sighed miserably, “I just wanted to make him happy but now it’s come to this . I wish I could bury myself in a hole.”

“...Marinette?” Adrien’s voice filtered through her phone. She shot up.

“A-A-A-Adrien?!” she screeched. She suddenly remembered that she had gotten his number a week ago for a project. “I’m so sorry!! I-I meant to call Alya!” she exclaimed, hurriedly rushing to apologize and explain.

He chuckled. “It’s okay,” he answered. There was a short pause, “So, you were the one that made the hat and jacket?”

“Huh? Oh, y-yes…,” she replied softly.

“Thank you!” his voice was filled with happiness, “I love them! Don’t feel bad about the feathers, you could’ve have known.”

“How could I not feel bad? How could I know exactly the time, day and location of your photoshoot this week but not your allergies?” she thought to herself guiltily. “I-if you say so,” she murmured.

“Seriously, don’t feel bad about it!” he insisted. Marinette giggled lightly, a sound that made him smile.

“Okay.”

“Good,” he smiled, satisfied. “So why have you been giving me presents?”

“Oh, um,” she couldn’t exactly say that it was because he was a perfect being that deserved everything good in this world and that she had a crush on him, “b-because you’ve seemed down l-lately and I wanted to cheer you up,” she said instead.

“Oh, I..I didn’t think anyone had noticed. Thanks, Marinette,” he repeated.

“No problem! I’m glad you liked them,” she responded cheerfully.

“Wasn’t it a lot of trouble to make them?”

“No, I had them lying around and just had to tailor them,” she lied.

“If you say so,” he said doubtfully. “I have to get ready for my lesson. Bye, Marinette.”

“Bye Adrien, it was nice talking to you.”

“Also, Marinette?”

“Yes?”

“I could never hate you.”

Click. Beep, beep, beep

Thud

The phone bounced and fell over on the bed, unnoticed by the speechless Marinette