Chapter Text
Ladybug walked along the rooftop at a leisurely pace, her partner only a couple steps ahead of her. She watched as he hopped along happily, effortlessly vaulting over chimneys and jumping the gaps between roofs. Sometimes when there was an open area, free of obstacles, he would take his baton and plant it in front of him like a poll vaulter and pull himself up to sit on top of it, only to lean forward until he was falling and rolling back to his feet at the last second, all in one continuous motion.
She smiled softly at him. He looked like something in between an acrobat and a playful kitten. In a way she supposed he was both. The whole thing struck her as endearing. She wouldn't have thought that two years ago when they met, but she had really warmed up to him since then.
Lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize she wasn't paying attention to where her feet were taking her until she was stepping off the end the of the roof. Before she even had a chance to shriek, she felt a strong hand grip her wrist.
"Be careful where you walk, My Lady." Chat Noir smirked at her as he hauled her back up from the edge.
"I wouldn't want to have to carry you home."
Ladybug fought the blush that imidiately rose to her cheeks. She had absolutely no reason to be blushing right now.
"I'm fine, Kitty. Just keeping you on your toes." She tapped at his nose playfully.
"And I'm sure you would just love to carry me home since then you'd know where my home is."
He just gave her a cheeky smile that only served to confirm that thought.
Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Come on. I bet I can make it back to the tower first!" She quickly raced off, pointedly ignoring the familiar fluttery feeling in her stomach.
Chat grinned as he chased after her.
:•~•:
Marinette packed her things into her school bag and stood to leave the classroom. The school day was finally over and she could go home to work on her project.
"Hey! Marinette!" Alya bounded up to her giving her a pleading look as she walked with her.
"Can I please come hang with you at your house? I don't know how much more of my aunt cooing over how much I've grown I can take. This happens every time she visits!"
"Sure, Alya." Marinette said, giggling at her friends' frustration.
"I'll save you from your torment!" She added dramatically.
Alya gave a sigh of relief. "You're a lifesaver, M."
"Mind if we tag along?" A voice behind them said as they walked down the stairs into the courtyard. Marinette turned to see Nino and Adrien walking behind them.
"I don't see why not." She answered Nino. "I'm going to be trying out this new cookie recepie my mom and I were working on. You guys could keep me company."
Adrien's eyes lit up. "That sounds like fun! I've never baked before, but I could still help! I could, um, I don't know, hold things for you?"
Marinette smiled at his enthusiasm. "Yeah, you could defiantly hold me- hold things! For me! You can help me." She mentally cursed herself. She thought she would be better at talking to him after two years, but he just looked so cute right now, bright with childlike excitement.
Adrien didn't seem to mind her fumbling words. He just smiled brighter as he practically hopped down the front steps of the school.
Well this was going to be fun.
:•~•:
This was going to be so much fun!
Adrien was going to spend time with his friends and learn to bake something!
It was hard to convince his father to let him just hang out with his friends outside of school. Today he'd finally been allowed to spend the afternoon with Nino. And now they were going over to Marinette's house just because they wanted to. Without planning far in advance. It was great!
Adrien was still smiling gleefully when they walked into the Dupain-Cheng's apartment, all setting their school bags down by the couch. Nino and Alya went to sit at the table and Nino started showing her something on his phone. Marinette when straight to the kitchen.
Adrien really did want to help so he followed her, only a little hesitant.
"So, um, what are you planning to make?"
Marinette glanced at him. "Oh, it's- um- They're cinnamon roll cookies. They're cookies but they're- they're like little cinnamon rolls..." her voice kind of trailed off at the end, sounding a bit embarrassed by the clumsy description.
"That sounds really cool!" He said, eager to ease her.
She smiled sweetly at him. She was really sweet. "Well, if you're going to help you should wear this."
She tossed him an apron, then donned one herself.
"Hey, you guys." Alya said. "There's this arts fair happening in the park in a few weeks. We should totally go!"
"Like what kind of art?" Nino asked.
Alya shrugged. "I don't know. People will be setting up booths and stuff to sell their work so I guess it's just whatever they make. But I know there's going to be music." She smiled at the aspiring D.J.
He nodded, smiling. "I'm in."
Alya turned to her best friend. "What about you, Marinette?"
"That sounds like a lot of fun. I'd love to go."
"Great! It goes two days but we'll have to go Sunday. My mom's making me go out to dinner with my aunt on Saturday. I expect you to come along too, model boy."
Adrien smiled. Her tone was teasing, but she knew how little time he got with his friends. She was making him tag along for his own good. Not that he wouldn't enjoy the fair anyway.
Marinette turned back to Adrien.
"So, uh, we need bowls and measuring cups."
Marinette started instructing him, telling him where to find various tools and ingredients. She set the cookbook on the counter where they could read the handwritten notes.
She seemed a bit torn. She was clearly at ease in the kitchen as she measured and mixed some things in a bowl. baking was something she grew up around her whole life, after all. And yet every time he asked her what to do next, she seemed to be struggling to not sound flustered.
Adrien thought she had stopped being so nervous around him, now that they were closer friends. He worried that he was frightening her somehow.
"Okay, that's all- uh- all mixed together. So, um, what's next?... her eyes skimmed over the recipe, as she tapped her fingers restlessly on the counter.
Adrien frowned, considering. A few times he noticed she seemed more at ease when he let his goofier joking side that his father so often urged him to hide, show through. It was worth a shot.
He picked up an egg from the carton- the next ingredient the recipe called for- and presented it to her with a flourish. "I have egg-xactly what you need."
Marinette imidiatly rolled her eyes like it was second nature, but she also smiled and visibly relaxed.
She excepted the egg and cracked it into the bowl. "So, Alya, do you know what you want to do for your birthday?"
Her best friend looked up from her phone. "Hmm. I'm not sure." She said as Marinette measured out other things to add to the bowl.
"I kind of wanted to have a big outdoor game day. You know, like beanbag toss, and horse shoes, and we make it all a big competition. But it's getting to cold for that. I know you'd probably freeze to death if we were out so long, M. So I guess I'll save that idea for summer."
Alya thought for a minute more, trying to think of something else. Adrien was excited for the party, whatever she came up with.
"Here," Marinette addressed Adrien. "We need to wisk this together." She handed him the wisk, gesturing to the bowl of ingredients. She stepped away from the counter, walking over to the sink to wash off the measuring cups.
Adrien glanced at the wisk in his hand, feeling very unsure. This couldn't be too hard right? Well, he never tried before so how would he know? But he wanted to be helpful so he began mixing the slushy contents of the mixing bowl slowly.
When Marinette came back over she giggled at how much he seemed to be struggling with the simple task. "You don't just stir it slowly. Here, look."
She took the bowl from him and started whipping up the stuff, twirling the wisk quickly at an angle, like it was as light as air.
"Here. Try again." She handed the bowl back to him. He tried to mimic what she had done as best as he could. It was a lot harder than she'd made it look. How did she spin it so fast?
Adrien was still working on it when Alya chimed in again. "Oh, I've got it! So, I heard of this party game, it's usually done at Christmas parties but who wants to fallow the rules? It's called tricky thieves," She explained.
Marinette mercifully took over whisking again while Alya spoke.
"Each person brings a gift of around the same monetary value. Not like a birthday present for me, one for the game. Anyway, we all sit in a circle with all the gifts in the middle. One person goes first and chooses a present from the pile and opens it."
Marinette gestured for Adrien to pass her the bowl of dry ingredients and started mixing them into the wet, still paying attention to what Alya was saying.
"The next person can choose to either pick a present or steal the first person's present," she grinned mischieviously. "So you go around the circle, either getting a gift from the middle or stealing the ones others have chosen. But you can't steal back what was just stolen from you. Everyone leaves with a gift in the end."
Nino considered this idea. "Shouldn't you be the one to get presents since it's your birthday?"
Alya shrugged. "They can still give me presents aside from the game if they want. But it's fun when everyone gets something. And this is way cooler than lame party favors."
Marinette smiled as she took the bowl of mixed ingredients and put it in the fridge. "That sounds like a lot of fun, Alya."
Adrien tilted his head in confusion. "Why did you put the dough in the refrigerator?"
"To chill it." Marinette answered, setting the oven to pre heat. "It's uh- it's easier to work with that way."
"So with the gifts," Nino said. "What do we get? I mean, we don't know who's going to get it, and I don't want to get something totally lame."
Alya shrugged. "Just get something you think is cool."
Nino nodded sagely. "Ok. Hey, could you listen to this tape I put together?"
While Alya listened to her boyfriend's newest musical creation, Adrien turned back to Marinette.
"So, what next?"
She jumped a little and he felt bad for startling her. "Oh! Um... let me look." She went back to examining the cookbook.
Great, now he'd made her nervous again. He had to do something to get her to relax.
He watched as Marinette gathered the remaining ingredients, quietly listing them off as she went. "Lets see... cane sugar and cinnamon... powdered sugar and almond milk... oh!" She went back to the cupboard to get one more thing.
"The recepie doesn't actually call for these but I want to put them on top." She set a bag of sliced almonds on the counter.
Adrien smiled as an idea came to him. He picked up the bag and poured some almond slices into his palm. "Marinette! Look at this!"
He tossed one piece in the air and caught it in his mouth, giving a bow afterwards.
Marinette giggled and took a piece of almond from his hand, imitating what Adrien had done. To his surprise, she caught her's too, looking very pleased with herself.
Adrien grinned. He tossed another almond but this time it just bounced off his cheek and fell to the floor.
Marinette laughed good naturedly at his fail. You can't win all of them.
But his idea was working! For whatever reason, the more he relaxed and acted less formal, the more she relaxed. Well, if that's what it took to make her comfortable around him, Adrien had no problem with that. After all, the only reason he acted so over-the-top as Chat Noir was because his father insisted he be the opposite of that. Being Chat Noir was the only time he could let that side of him show without consequence, so as Chat, he did it as much as he could. Like a rubber band being pulled tight that was finally released.
But now he was being given the perfect excuse to let loose, at least around close friends. And that was what he wanted Marinette be.
Adrien smirked at her as her laughter slowly quieted. "I bet you can't catch two pieces." He said in a challenging tone.
Marinette put her hands on her hips and returned his smirk with her own that looked surprisingly natural and firce on her.
"Oh yeah?"
She took some more almond slices from the bag and threw two in the air, one after the other. They flew a bit apart from each other but she let neither thouch the floor.
Her smile was triumphant and smug and honestly she looked really cute.
He wondered what it would be like if he didn't have to keep his identity secret with his friends. Would they be able to act like this more? Teasing and smirking and being a little competitive? All the things that came naturally to Chat Noir?
"Ok. Your turn." Marinette said. "Can you walk as well as you talk?"
Adrien suddenly felt a lot more pressure to succeed. Feeling a bit nervous, he tossed the slices as she had. The first he caught squarely and the second landed on the enged of his mouth and he just bearly managed to tilt his head enough for it to go in.
"Yes!" He pumped his fist in triumph.
"That hardly counts!" Marinette protested.
"Yes it does! I got both pieces!"
You are supposed to catch them. Not..."
"What? Catch them beside my mouth? That's still catching them!"
"Oh whatever. Cheater." But she was smiling at him and that was all that mattered.