Marinette flew around her room, a flurry of excitement and worry.

"Marinette, what are you doing?" Tikki asked, watching her.

"Cleaning."

"But, why? Adrien's going to be here soon!"

"That's exactly why I'm cleaning, Tikki! I can't have my room be a mess when he comes over!" Marinette said.

"But, you replaced the schedule with your own and took down all the photos?"

"Well yeah, I should've done that ages ago regardless if he was coming over or not. But I don't want him to think my room is a pigsty!"

"Do you really think Adrien will judge you for not having a perfectly cleaned room?"

"He might! And then he'll get disgusted and then he'll hate me and never talk to me again and then he'll tell his father all sorts of bad things about me and I'll never be successful in fashion and my life will be over!" Marinette cried, flopping down on her chaise.

"Why would your life be over?" A voice asked.

"Oh, she's just being her over-dramatic self again." Tikki told the new-comer.

"Mari..." Adrien shook his head and went to go sit by the girl whose face was still in the chaise.

"A-Adrien?" She took her face out of the pillow and fell back. "W-what are you doing here?"

"Um, decorating?" He asked.

"You're early. By like ten minutes."

"Actually, we're late by two."

"What? Tikki! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I tried Marinette." Her kwami shrugged and Marinette only glared.

"Obviously not hard enough if he's here."

"So, do you want to tell me what you were flipping out about, or...?" He trailed off.

"Nope, I'm good." Marinette gave him an awkward smile and finger guns. Then proceeded to want to kick herself.

"Okay then." He gave her finger guns back.

Good thing Adrien was just as dorky as her.

"Marinette! Adrien refused to give me any camembert until we got here because it was apparently slowing us down. This is animal cruelty!" Plagg flew out of Adrien's pocket and into her hands.

Marinette petted the top of his head.

"Aw, I'm sorry Plagg. I'll be sure to get you something when we go downstairs, okay?"

"See Adrien, she's nice to me."

"That's because she doesn't live with you."

'Yet.' Marinette thought. It was an old habit of hers, imagining what life would be like as Adrien as her husband.

One that had been broken when she started to imagine Chat Noir in Adrien's place, but in lieu of recent circumstances it turned out the face behind the mask was Adrien's.

They weren't anything, of course. Marinette could still remember that night when she was planning on confessing to Chat Noir, only to have her heart broken as he started to rave about a girl in his civilian life.

Marinette guessed that it was someone that he had started to model with. It couldn't be Kagami, they had broken up, and it couldn't be her for obvious reasons. Chloe and Lila were both terrible people and Marinette could trust him not to date them and every other girl in their class was taken or, in Alix's case, was aromantic.

"So, Marinette, do you want to explain to Adrien what the plan is for decorating?" Tikki prompted her, obviously knowing what she was thinking about.

"Oh yeah! So we've got lights, ornaments, stockings, Santa hats," Marinette said, ticking the different items of her fingers.

"Any mistletoe?" Plagg teased.

"Plagg!" Adrien chided.

"My parents already took care of it." Marinette said through the blush on her cheeks.

"Oh bummer. I want to kiss from my sweet sugar cube." Plagg batted his eyes innocently, but Marinette knew better.

"Maybe once you stop smelling like rotten cheese." Tikki teased.

"Aw, but Teeks!" Plagg protested.

"But nothing, stinky sock." 

"Boo." Plagg crossed his arms. Tikki giggled.

"What else, Marinette?"

"We've got figurines, snow globes, Christmas books,"

"Sounds amazing."

"Wreaths, stuffed animals, and finally inflatables that will go in the bakery."

"Like the Ladybug and Chat Noir cut-outs that were here last year?" Marinette nodded.

"Yep! They decided to switch it over to an inflatable version of us decked out in holiday wear."

"Little do they know that the real Ladybug lives right above their heads." He said.

"And I would like to keep it that way until Hawkmoth is locked away in a jail cell, kitty." She softly glared at him.

"I know, it's bad enough that we know." His face fell and he started to twist his ring, a nervous habit of his.

"Hey, look, Master Fu knew our identities and we knew his. If Hawkmoth akumatizes one of us, then yeah we'll be in danger, but we would've been in danger anyway. Plus this is just safer in case I lose my memories pre-maturely." Marinette tried her hardest to not think about that scenario, but it happened sometimes.

"Hey, that won't happen." Adrien placed his hand on her shoulders. "I won't let him."

Marinette knew it would do no good arguing with him, so she only nodded and let it be.

"Okay. What do you want to start with?"

"For what?"

"For decorating...? I'll let you choose the order."

"O-oh. Well since we're already here, let's do your balcony light first, if that's okay with you?"

"Yeah, that sounds great!" Marinette grabbed a bundle of golden lights and her outdoor speaker.

They put on Christmas music and started to unravel the lights. Plagg and Tikki may or may not have attempted to get them tangled up in each other multiple times. An effort that was not appreciated by either heroes.

After the lights were finally unraveled, Marinette plugged the cord in and it lit up.

"So, how do you want to hang these?"

"Well, I have these hooks that we can use, and then hang them down the side of my balcony." Adrien nodded.

"You're always the one with the plan after all, m'lady." He winked.

"Well, I think we've proven that you have your moments of smarts."

"I prefer the clown costume."

"Oh don't I know it. Although spots don't look bad on you, bugaboy."

"Oh I'm very purrleased that you think that, bugaboo."

Even if the identity reveal had been a month ago, hearing one of Chat's nicknames come out of Adrien's mouth, well it was a lot.

"Heh. Yep." She gulped. "Lights!" She said, a bit too loud.

"Lights." He agreed.

Once the lights were all situated, they moved on to decorating Marinette's room with the figurines. Luckily, the red and pink didn't clash too terribly and it made the entire space seem a lot more festive.

"Where'd you get this figure from?" Adrien asked, holding out a porcelain angel.

"Oh my grandmother got it for me at the Germany Christmas markets. It's one of my favorites." Marinette took the angel from him and held it gently to her chest.

"And what about this one?" It was a poorly stitched together Santa Claus, but Adrien thought that it was adorable.

"Ah well, I made that when I was five." She said sheepishly.

"Really?" Adrien asked, his eyes wide. For a five year old's creation, it was incredibly well made. "Wow, I guess your talent started early then." He remarked.

"Uh, yank to, I mean! Thank you." She gave him a nervous smile.

She had gotten better with the stuttering, but he had to admit that it was a bit nostalgic whenever she did.

"Course Mari. You know I might have to commission you a pair of LadyNoir dolls for Christmas."

"Then you could match mine!" She said, climbing up to her bed and tossing down two dolls to him.

He caught them with ease and realized with joy that they were a Ladybug and Chat Noir pair, with small Santa hats on them.

"Aww! These are adorable, Princess!" Adrien cooed.

"You really think so?" She asked.

"Of course! I'm definitely going to have to commission a set."

"I'll make them for free, you know. It's the least I can do." Marinette said, sliding down the banister.

"O-oh? You will?" Adrien said.

"Yep. And don't you dare try to pay me, kitty." She bopped him on the nose and he tried to stop the blush on his cheeks.

No matter how many times he told himself that she didn't feel the same way about him as he did her, his heart never listened. He just loved her that much. As both Ladybug and Marinette he loved her.

"Oh alright, on one condition: if you don't want me to pay you then you have to make it a gift. Christmas, birthday, or anniversary only. Not a 'because you're a purrfect partner' gift."

"You just had to put in a pun, didn't you?" Marinette rubbed her temples.

"You know you love it, little bug."

"Has someone ever told you that you have too many nicknames for me?"

"There's no thing as 'too many nicknames.'" He said, bopping her nose for once. "Now shall we head downstairs and decorate down there?" Marinette nodded.

"Yeah, that's where the majority of our decorating will be."

"What's going to be down there?"

"Everything but the wreaths and the inflatables that we haven't decorated yet."

"So books, stockings, ornaments, stuffed animals, Santa hats, and the snow globes?" Marinette nodded.

"Well, we've certainly got our work cut out for us, m'lady!" Adrien said.

"Yeah, I think we can start with the stockings and then the ornaments, then books, then split the stuffies and the snow globes, and finish up with the Santa hats?" Marinette suggested.

"Sounds like a plan!"

They went downstairs and started to pick out the stockings. Marinette's was her signature pale pink with the white polka-dots, Sabine's was red with white flowers and Tom's was the light blue with two whisks making an x on it.

"Wow, did you make these?" Adrien asked, recognizing the signature as he ran his fingers along Sabine's.

"Uh, yep! I did!" 

"That's so cool!"

"I could maybe make one for you and Plagg?" Marinette offered with a pink flush on her face.

Probably from the cold, but it was still totally adorable.

"Uh yeah, if you have time."

"Of course! It'd be so much fun if I could make one for you! And Plagg!"

"And maybe one for Tikki as well? Then if I have the time I can come over on Christmas and we can do a gift exchange!"

"That sounds like a plan! But will your father let you?"

"What he doesn't know won't kill him and sneaking out is very easy if you know what I mean." Marinette giggled.

"I'll be sure to leave the trapdoor open then."

They moved from the stockings to the ornaments, hanging them each on the tree carefully. Luckily, there weren't all that many left, so it didn't take them a huge amount of time. 

Wow, where was this?" Adrien asked, picking up a small photo ornament.

Marinette was obviously very little in the photo, but the background was unfamiliar to him.

"That was when my family went to China. I was very, very little so I don't remember a lot about the trip."

"Oh. Do you remember what it was for?" Marinette shook her head.

"No. I think the trip went sour because my parents don't like talking about it very much."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I don't really remember it a whole lot, but I think we were in a town square when this was taken."

"Well, I see it as proof that you were always adorable."

Her mouth fell into a "o" that only proved his point.

"S-so it's time for the books!" Marinette said.

"Alright, how would you like me to organize them?" Adrien asked, taking out the classic picture books from their box.

"Normally we spread them around the tree, if that's okay with you?"

"You're the boss here, Mari."

"See what I mean? Yet another nickname!" She said, shaking her head.

"You know you love it when I call you a nickname."

"Maybe, maybe not." She grabbed the books out of his hands and bent down to spread them around the tree.

"Denial? Oh it's definitely a yes then." Adrien winked.

"You believe what you want, kitty."

"I mean, you never told me that you didn't like the nicknames, so..." He started to fidget with his hands.

"Oh Adrien, I'm just teasing you. I love the nicknames. All of them, okay?" Did he dare ask her?

"Even my lady?"

"My lady is my favorite." She said softly. It made his heart skip a beat.

"Even with the romantic undertones?" He asked before he could stop himself.

"Let's just move on to the stuffed animals and snow globes, okay?" She said.

That wasn't a no! He would take what he could get.

"Okay!" Adrien chriped happily. "I'll handle the snow globes. I wouldn't want any of them to break, after all." He teased.

"Oh you just be quiet, but I don't mind setting up the stuffed animals." Marinette took out a snowman that she had found.

"Where do you even get all of these?"He asked.

"Oh just around. Christmas markets, souvenirs, my grandmother gave me the one that you're holding right now. It's from Egypt."

"Your grandmother is so cool!"

"It's always a blast to receive things from her."

"I would love to travel like that one day. I get to go places for modeling, but the schedule is so strict I never get to sightsee."

"Maybe we can go somewhere for graduation? With Alya and Nino of course!" Marinette said, flushing. She really hoped that wasn't too forward.

Adrien looked at her with stars in his eyes.

"Really?" He asked.

"Of course! We can go wherever we want! You'll be an adult too, so your father won't be able to tell you no."

"That sounds amazing Marinette, thank you." Adrien said, sounded so sincere it took a loop of him friendzoning her to keep her from kissing him.

"O-of course! It's no problem."

They continued to chat as they put snow globes and holiday themed stuffed animals around the living room and kitchen.

If only her fourteen-year-old self could see her now. Bantering with Adrien no problem, only becoming flustered when he said something incredibly sweet (which was very often), and calling him the same nicknames she called her partner. If her fourteen-year-old self found out Adrien was Chat Noir... she would've flipped.

It was a good thing that her fifteen-year-old self had handled the reveal a lot better. After plenty of screaming of course.

"So Santa hat time?"

"Absolutely." She picked a hat out of the box and placed one on her head and one on Adrien as well.

He looked incredibly adorable like that.

They placed a Santa hat on several photos before calling it good and heading outside to hang the wreath and blow up the inflatable.

The wreath was new. Something that they had gotten a few weeks ago. It was a lush green and had red and gold ornaments on it. Something that was a little bit more classic in the midst of superhero

themed Christmas things.

"Very pretty." Adrien nodded his head,

"I'm glad that you approve. We only got it a few weeks ago."

"I like it. Especially the red." He said, winking.

Marinette shook her head in disbelief, although she couldn't deny the flush on her cheeks.

Whenever he said things like that it made her believe that maybe she still had a chance with him. Maybe the girl he was talking about was Marinette her, but that sounded like something out of a fantasy. Something that only her dreams could concoct.

"Alright, all we have left are the inflatables and then we can go and play some video games?" She offered.

"Oh, definitely!" 

They blew up the inflatable quickly. Paris was cold after all, and video games were very promising.

After the decorating was said and done they turned to each other with matching grins on their faces.

They shared their signature fist bump before heading inside.

"UMS 3?" Marinette asked. Adrien nodded, eyes sparkling.

"Oh, you're on!"