“And...done!” Marinette exclaimed, holding the Christmasy Ladybug doll above her. “Manon will love this.” She hummed, smiling as she admired her handiwork. She yawned, noting that it was probably around midnight from how dark the sky outside her window was.

“Hey, Marinette?” Adrien began, sitting on the lounge and watching her.

“Hmmm?”

“I’ve been wondering, who’s Santa Claus?”

Marinette dropped the doll. Quickly, she picked it up and put it on her desk before turning to face Adrien. Every bit of her expression conveyed pure and utter shock. “Y-you don’t know who Santa Claus is?!” He nodded.

She got up from her chair and walked over to him. She sat on the lounge and faced him, her expression dead-serious. She sighed, wondering how she could explain Santa Claus to the naive boy in front of her.

“So Santa Claus is a person who sneaks into houses at night via a chimney to give away presents,” Marinette explained

“So...a stranger breaks into houses at night, uninvited, to give random things to random people?” Adrien questioned, his face switching from confused to suspicious.

“No!” Marinette exclaimed, horrified by what he thought about Santa Claus. “First of all,” she yawned, stopping herself.

“You should sleep, Marinette,” Adrien said as he looked at worriedly.

“But-” she once again interrupted herself with a yawn.

“Please, Marinette?”

“Okay,” she acceded. Sleepily walking to her bed, she made a mental note to try and explain Santa to Adrien again. She really didn’t want to leave him with such a bad impression

“Goodnight, Adrien,” she smiled at him, snuggled into her blankets with eyelids already closing. He smiled back.

“Goodnight, Marinette,” he replied as he kissed her forehead.

~~The next morning~~

Marinette awoke happily, stretching and feeling perfectly awake despite just waking up. Humming, she opened her trapdoor and went up to the balcony to get some fresh air.

“Good morning, M’lady.”

“Aah!” Marinette screamed, falling back onto the bed. She clutched her chest, breathing heavily. A pair of green eyes appeared over her trapdoor, staring at her worriedly.

“Marinette? Are you okay?” Adrien- Chat asked, his voice pitching higher in concern.

“What are you doing on my roof, Chat?!” Marinette demanded to know, ignoring his question.

“What am I doing?” Chat repeated incredulously, “You can’t honestly expect me to rest in peace knowing that at any moment during the night some random guy named Santa Claus could break into your house!”

She stared at him, flabbergasted. “I can’t-you seriously-” she flopped onto her bed with a groan. “Please don’t tell me you stayed up all night as Chat Noir on my balcony because of a myth.”

“A myth?”

“Yes, a myth! Santa Claus is a made up person used to bribe kids into sleeping early on Christmas eve in exchange for presents that will magically appear as they are sleeping!”

“A...myth…” Adrien repeated dumbly. He sighed. “So I stayed up all night as Chat Noir because of a myth.” He looked at Marinette, eyes full of guilt, “I’m sorry, Marinette.”

“It’s okay,” she smiled at him, gesturing for him to come down. He obliged, landing on the bed softly. “You only did it because you were worried about me,” she continued, patting him on the head.

“So you forgive me?” he asked, staring up at her with kitten eyes. She gulped.

“T-There’s nothing to forgive,” she answered gently. Chat beamed. Making a sound akin to a mew, he pushed up against her hand happily. She laughed, scratching him behind his ears.

Purr

They both froze.

“Chat?” Marinette started, a wide grin spreading across her face. He looked away

“Did you just purr?”

“N-no,” he denied, blushing. Just then, he involuntarily purred again. Marinette beamed.

“You’re adorable,” she cooed as she continued to pet him.

“No I’m -purr- not!” he glared at her, more out of embarrassment than anger. “Stop teasing me Marinette.”

She giggled. “Okay, okay,” she grinned at him. “It doesn’t change the fact that you’re adorable.”

His face turned a deeper shade of red and her smile widened. He hid his face behind his hands. After a moment, he felt them being gently moved his away. Slowly, he opened his eyes to see Marinette’s blue ones.

“I’m sorry?” she offered, smiling sheepishly. He sighed, then suddenly hugged her. “Mmph?!” the muffled sound came from his chest but he ignored it and simply hugged her tighter. A minute later, he let go.

“What was that for?” Marinette asked, tilting her head to the side curiously. He shook his head.

“You’re just adorable, that’s all.”

She looked even more confused, but he didn’t elaborate. He doubted it was possible to comfortably tell your crush that boys preferred to be called something like “cool” rather than “cute.” If he did tell her, he would probably die of embarrassment.

“I need to go before someone comes to wake up Adrien. I’ll see you at school?”

“Okay.”

Adrien smiled at her, soaking in her warm gaze and her pretty smile. After a kiss to her hand, he jumped out her trapdoor and set off to his house.