Cold Days, Warm Hearts

Chapter 1 - Snow

Marinette pulled her blanket tighter around her shoulders as the cold night air stung her nose and cheeks. The weather bureau was predicting a particularly cold Christmas this year. Overhead, the Christmas fairy lights she had strung across her balcony twinkled against the gloomy grey skies. It had been an emotional rollercoaster for the last few weeks. Gabriel Agreste, a man she had once admired and looked up to, turned out to be the villain Shadow Moth. That shock was only compounded when she then discovered that Adrien, the boy she had secretly had a crush on for years, was also her partner Chat Noir.

She looked up at the clouded sky and let out a sigh. Adrien had been keeping to himself for the most part since the fallout, trying to deal with the effects of his father's exposure. Nathalie, who they found out had been Mayura years ago, had also been arrested as an accomplice to his father's crimes and Adrien had sent his bodyguard away on a long deserved holiday break, meaning there was no one else in the mansion.

Marinette was concerned about Adrien being all alone, especially for the holidays. She had left him a few messages to check on him and invite him out with their friends, but his responses had been vague and evasive, so she thought maybe it was best to let him have some space. Now she wasn't sure that had been the right thing to do. It wasn't like Adrien at all to be closed off. Even Nino hadn't heard from him in over a fortnight, not since his mother's funeral, and with him getting the last few weeks of the term off, he hadn't been to school either and she was getting worried.

"Maybe I should just go over and check on Adrien." Marinette said to her Kwami who was huddled in the blanket with her. "I know in his last text he said he was fine, but I'm not sure I believe that."

"You know Adrien was always one to put on a brave face for everyone." Tikki said, and Marinette knew it to be true, but she felt that there might have been more to it than that.

Marinette shrugged and shook her head. "Maybe it's me he's avoiding. I'm not sure he was all that happy to find out I was Ladybug."

It certainly hadn't been the way she had wanted to reveal their identities, in the thick of battle against Shadow Moth. It had been a shock for both of them, and they hadn't had much of a chance to process it.

Tikki left the warmth of the blanket so she could look her chosen in the eyes. "Now Marinette, you know that's not true. Adrien was dealing with a lot of information all at once, most of it not good. I think the fact that Ladybug was already someone he felt close to was a great comfort to him. Speaking of Adrien..."

Tikki pointed out to the horizon where Chat Noir was leaping across the rooftops, his hair in a low ponytail flying behind him wild in the wind. Marinette watched as he disappeared into the distance. She had a pretty good idea where he was going.

"You should go after him." Tikki said, echoing Marinette's own thoughts.

"Maybe he just wants to be alone." Marinette replied, but Tikki shook her head.

"He needs you, Marinette." Tikki insisted.

Marinette looked back out to the horizon. No one should be alone for Christmas, and what kind of a partner would she be if she left the person she cared most about in the world be alone at this time of the year.
~~~~~

Chat sat with his arm resting on his knee, his tail curled around himself high up on the rooftop opposite the Eiffel Tower. He didn't care that it was cold, it was still better than being in that empty mansion with all its ghosts and memories. Here he was happy, in one of their favourite places where they always came to. Thoughts of his Lady warm in her house, the smell of cookies and cinnamon all around her gave him comfort. Now she didn't have to spend her nights out in the cold looking for a shadow.