Author's Note: A Christmas present for the Lovely Tsubaki, who is still to blame for my obsession for this fandom. Have a Merry Christmas!

Twas the night before Christmas

All was calm, and there wasn't an Akuma in sight.

Which would be great if Chat Noir was anywhere else other than the rooftops of Paris freezing his arse off as he waited longingly for Ladybug to show up for a Night Patrol. Not a casual meet up between friends to exchange presents, not a romantic date under the clear skies to stargaze as they huddled up for warmth, a Night Patrol. If it wasn't for the fact this was better than sitting alone at home with Plagg whining for more cheese, Chat Noir would be a great deal more put out than he actually was.

There was a soft thump behind him and Chat whirled round excitedly to greet Ladybug. His eyes widened in delight as he took in not only the addition of a Santa hat perched on Ladybug's head but a large, brown, sack that she had dropped by her feet.

"Well, well, well," Chat Noir purred out, "I don't recall Father Christmas being so good-looking before. Can I sit on your lap? I don't believe I had a chance to tell you what I want for Christmas yet, Santa."

Ladybug rolled her eyes. "And a Merry Christmas to you too, Chat," she said in her best nonsensical voice.

"Speaking of Christmas," Chat Noir said sweetly, "are you it? Because I want to Merry you."

"Ugh!" Ladybug groaned. "I think you've final hit rock bottom."

"Not yet but I do believe I am a snowflake," Ladybug raised a quizzical eyebrow at that, "because I'm falling for you."

"Oh God…"

"Shouldn't you be on top of a tree," Chat asked innocently. "Angel?"

"Blah!" Ladybug pulled a face, "do me a favour. Never call me that again."

"But my Lady," Chat Noir protested with a smirk, "I would like to be on your naughty list."

Ladybug flushed bright red at that one. "You're incorrigible!" she snapped. "You know what. You can forget Night Patrol if you're going to keep making Christmas chat-up lines. I've got something else to do anyway." At this she hefted the brown sack back up onto her shoulder.

"Okay, okay!" Chat Noir cried out as he waved his hands up in an 'I surrender' gesture. "I'll stop. No more. I paw-mise." Ladybug groaned again but she didn't leave so Chat Noir was pretty confident that she wasn't going to leave anytime soon. "So what is in the sack?" he asked curiously. "Are those my Christmas presents? You shouldn't have."

"I didn't," Ladybug said curtly, "only one of them is for you." His heart did a little flutter at that. She got him a Christmas present! He was thrilled beyond belief. The only people who got him presents for Christmas before had been Nathalie ordering on behalf of his father and Chloe who obviously had someone order it on her behalf. No one had ever given it serious, deep, thought and painstakingly taken the time to deliver it to him before. "The rest is for all my classmates," she explained, "I was sick and missed the last few days of school. So I never got the opportunity to hand them out."

Chat Noir nodded sympathetically as he was briefly reminded of poor Marinette who was struck down with the flu for the last few days and hadn't been able to go to school. He had tried to visit her as his civilian self but his schedule had kept him horribly busy.

He hoped she was better now. It would suck to be sick on Christmas Day.

"I hope you're feeling better now," he said softly, "if you're still not feeling well I can deliver those for you while you go back to bed."

"That's sweet of you, Kitty," Ladybug smiled warmly, "but I'm fine now and could really use the fresh air. If you want to tag along and help me."

"I would be happy to. But first…" Chat grinned as he held his baton up over his and Ladybug's heads. He had tied a little sprig of mistletoe on it earlier before he left his room. "Mistletoe."

Ladybug rolled her eyes at that.

But instead of pushing him away or running off like she usually would have done, Ladybug slipped onto her tiptoes and pressed a chaste kiss on his cheek. His skin tingled as he blushed with delight at the sensation….he was never going to wash that cheek again.

"Come on then, Kitty," Ladybug said as she flung her yoyo across the street, "let's play Santa."

It didn't surprise Chat when they ended up at Ivan Bruel's house.

After all Ladybug seemed to know Ivan really well when he had been Akumanised and had a very good idea as to why he had been Akumanised which suggested a good friendship. So Chat always thought that Ladybug and Ivan knew each other somehow.

They slipped into Ivan's bedroom window unnoticed as Ivan snored loudly from his bed. The bulky boy had his headphones in and Chat could hear the heavy metal music from the other side of the room which meant every movement he or Ladybug made was drowned out.

Ladybug hurriedly rummage through her sack until she found the right present and carefully placed it on Ivan's beside table while Chat admired the collage of Mylene photos that made up most of Ivan's wall by his bed.

It surprised Chat even less when they ended up at Mylene's house ten minutes later. Ladybug had, after all, shipped Ivan and Mylene with a passion that rivalled an anime fangirl.

Ladybug pulled out a brightly coloured wrapped present and happily placed into Mylene's arms as the little girl snuffled adorably in her sleep.

It surprised Chat Noir a little when they ended up in Alya's bedroom next. Alya might run the Ladyblog but that didn't necessarily mean that she and Ladybug were close. In fact, Chat would have thought the opposite. Wouldn't Alya have noticed if one of her closest friends kept sneaking off to fight Akumas?

But apparently Chat Noir was wrong because when they climbed through Alya's bedroom window they found the blogger slumped over her desk, her cheek resting on her keyboard, as a jumble of letters sped out across the word document on the screen.

"Oh Alya," Ladybug sighed softly. "Help me get her into bed?" she asked Chat Noir beseechingly.

She didn't even need to ask especially with those big, pleading, beautiful eyes…

They managed to manoeuvre Alya into her bed without disturbing her and Ladybug tucked Alya and pressed her lips against Alya's forehead tenderly. "Merry Christmas," Ladybug whispered.

Chat twiddled his thumbs awkwardly as Ladybug then rummaged through her sack to find Alya's present. The sparkly parcel was carefully placed on beside Alya's head on the pillow.

"Where to next?" he asked.

"Rose's is the nearest," Ladybug replied.

Rose?!

Chat Noir coughed to cover his surprise splutter. Now he was pretty certain that Ladybug and Rose had nothing to do with one another. That there was no reason for Ladybug to know Rose.

Perhaps she meant another Rose. Rose is a common name after all, so maybe she had her own Rose and didn't mean his Rose.

But she did mean his Rose.

She knew the short blonde haired girl with the big blue eyes and the love of all things pink and apparently she knew her well enough.

Enough to know where Rose lived, which room was Rose's, and to place the present very pointedly on the brown desk because otherwise the pink wrapping paper would have merged with all the pink-ness of Rose's room.

It got more surprising from there on.

Ladybug was apparently also friends with Juleka, Kim, Max, Nathaniel, Alix, Nino, and Sabrina. Chat Noir followed her into each bedroom with wide eyes that only grew wider and wider.

She knew Juleka well enough to make her way through the pitch black bedroom and not to make a comment on the fluffy, cutesy, white soft toy Juleka was cuddling. She knew Max well enough to know he would still be awake gaming and so left his present downstairs. She knew Alix well enough to know that the small, pink-haired, girl was a light sleeper that lashed out in her sleep. They had to spend ten minutes hiding under Alix's bed after Chat accidentally trod on a creaky floorboard and Alix shot up punching the air.

He had waggled his eyebrows suggestively when Ladybug had to spoon close to him in order to stay hidden but either Ladybug didn't see it or she decided ignoring it was the best way to go.

As the night dragged on and they made their stops it quickly became apparent that she knew his friends.

Ladybug was friends with his friends.

Did that mean that they were friends too?!

He managed to shake off his surprise and internal questioning when they ended up on the balcony of a very familiar hotel. "I thought you didn't like Chloe," he grinned slyly, "so why are you giving her a present?"

"I don't like Chloe," Ladybug agreed pleasantly, "but my parents taught me that it's rude to leave someone out. No matter how tempting it is or how deserving she is of it, and so I made her some cookies."

"You bake?" Chat Noir pounced on the little morsel of knowledge. "You really are a woman after my own heart."

"I don't feed strays, Kitty," Ladybug said, "they'll keep coming back if I do."

"What makes you think I would ever lea-?"

"Shh!" Ladybug whispered as she held a finger to her lips. She gestured to Chloe who laid flat out on her back in order to keep her green face mask perfectly intact. "Quietly!"

They crept past Chloe's bed and carefully, in order to avoid knocking over Chloe's many perfume bottles and jewellery boxes and god knows what else, Ladybug placed the small little package on Chloe's vanity table propped up against a crystal bottle of some sort.

They both exhaled in relief when they finally got out of Chloe's room without the blonde waking up and making all sorts of accusations.

"Where to next, My Lady?"

"Adrien Agreste is our last stop," Ladybug replied absentmindedly. Chat Noir immediately choked at that. Ladybug knew him?! Ladybug was friends with him in their civilian lives?! How the hell did he miss that one?! "Do you remember the way?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah," Chat said casually as possible as he nervously scratched the back of his neck, "pretty hard to miss."

They ended up in Adrien's bedroom rather quickly. It was dark, cold, and empty seeing as Adrien had abandoned it as soon as he could in favour of being Chat Noir and it felt incredibly awkward to be back with Ladybug to leave a present for himself.

Ladybug's eyes flickered to his bed and he could have sworn there was a glimmer if disappointment in her eyes. "He's not here," she murmured softly, "I suppose he won't get this in time," she nervously rubbed a thumb against the wrapping paper of her gift.

"He could be at an evening function," Chat offered quickly, "he'll be back later and find your present in time for Christmas morning."

Ladybug smiled weakly at that. "I hope so," she said wistfully.

"He will have it in time for Christmas," Chat said firmly.

They left the present on Adrien's bed and clambered out of the window. Chat Noir couldn't help but grin as they leaped from building to building, the cold air brushed against his cheeks and swept through his air, the flying sensation made him giddy, and there was a lovely sight in red and black ahead of him. Eventually they landed on one of their favourite rooftops and halted to a stop. Ladybug dropped her near empty sack on the floor and stretched.

"So," Chat said hesitatingly, "…One more stop?"

"Nope," Ladybug shook her head, her smile more radiant now, "this was the last stop."

That didn't seem right to Char Noir at all.

Surely there was one more person.

Surely there was a stop needed to be made at a certain bakery to a certain Princess.

Surely Ladybug, who got Chloe a present because her parents said not to leave people out, wouldn't leave out Marinette.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "You aren't forgetting one more person?"

"Oh Kitty," Ladybug grinned as she fished out another parcel from her sack, "as if I would ever forget you."

Chat Noir accepted the present dumbly as he stared down at it. "Thank you," he said numbly, "but….are you sure you're not forgetting one other person?" he pressed.

"Chat, these are my classmates," Ladybug said irritably, "I think I know how many people there are. I didn't leave anyone out."

Her classmates.

They were her classmates.

Her classmates were his classmates and she said she didn't leave anyone out….

And she hadn't.

Not unless someone else joined the class secretly and had been hiding in a cupboard or something. Because they had been to ever single classmate's house apart from one and they couldn't go to her's because...

Chat Noir's heart raced and he suddenly found it hard to breathe. It couldn't be…..could it? "You're right!" he choked out. "I don't know the size of your class, how would I know the size of your class? I'm not in your class obviously. So erm…you were right."

Ladybug frowned at him worriedly. "Are you okay, Chat?" she asked.

"I'm fine!" Chat squeaked. "Fine, fine, fine," he repeated as she tried to deepen his voice, "just...I was hoping we could go down the chimney!" he blurted out quickly. Because he had a feeling I may have just discovered your identity would not go down very well with Ladybug right now. "I'm disappointed we didn't do it properly."

"Chat," Ladybug rolled her eyes, "none of my friends have a chimney."

"I'm pretty sure that Agreste kid had like five, My Lady."

"Yeah," Ladybug snorted in agreement, "and they probably all led far, far, away from his bedroom."

"But Bugaboo!" Chat Noir whined. "I wanted to do the role justice. I've never gotten to play Santa Claws before."

"No!" Ladybug said aghast. "You did not just make that pun!" Chat Noir smiled innocently in reply and Ladybug groaned in disgust. "That's worse than before. I take back what I said earlier. Now you have hit rock bottom."

"Merry Christmas, My Lady," Chat said as he pulled out the small parcel he had tucked into his belt, "and have a Happy New Year."

"Oh!" Ladybug's eyes widened in delighted surprise. "You shouldn't have!"

"I should," Chat corrected her sternly, "I could never forget you either."

"Well," Ladybug smiled softly as her cheeks turned a rosy pink, "thank you!"

"You're welcome."

Ladybug quickly flung her arms round his neck and squeezed him tight. He caught a whiff of, what he was now certain it was, baked good and a familiar floral shampoo before she pulled away. "I'll see you next year," she winked.

"Till next year," he replied.

Ladybug then flung her yoyo across the street and swung away. He stood back and watched until she was nothing but a red dot in the distance….

And then he ran home.

He ran and ran and ran as he quickly dodged inconvenient chimneys and jumped off rooftops hastily throwing his baton about to keep himself up in the air until finally (finally!) he was home back into his bedroom. He dropped his present for Chat Noir on the floor and stumbled to his knees, all feeling suddenly lost in his legs, as he scrambled for the present Ladybug left for Adrien.

Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, oh dear God! Please let him be right!

He fingers fumbled at the gift tag as he struggled to stop the nervous shaking of his hands. After what felt like a century he was finally about to pry the tag open.

To Adrien, a familiar, adorable, curly handwriting read, Merry Christmas! Love Marinette.

Chat Noir slumped to the floor in relief as she clutched the present to his chest tightly.

He found her.

He finally found her.

This was the best Christmas ever.