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Marinette knew what she was getting into by starting a relationship with Felix in the crisp fall season, but somehow still couldn’t help but laugh as her boyfriend kept staring at the stack of candles she brought home from the craft store.
“Mar, I’ll give this one back and we can light it…later.” Felix said, clutching one of the pumpkin scented candles close to his chest as if it were a bag of priceless diamonds.
“They’d smell better if we actually light them, you goof. You just want that one all to yourself!” She teased, taking out the rest of the supplies. They’d planned to do a fall themed art project together, and Marinette tried to break out of decision paralysis by looking at the candle section towards the back for inspiration…
…She ended up spending about twenty extra euros for at least three candles alongside the already twenty five euro scrapbooking set she decided on for a ‘Plan B’.
“Felix, come on. Can we just light these already?” She asked, crossing her arms in mock frustration.
“Just two more minutes, then I’ll give it back!” He replied, taking an obnoxiously long whiff of the candle still held close to his trademark Chat Noir jacket, complete with cat ears on the hood. “Ahh… delicious.”
Marinette snatched the candle as soon as he asked for another two minutes, rolling her eyes as she put it back down on the kitchen table.
New home, new harvest decorations, and she wasn’t about to let her beloved’s addiction to pumpkin spice everything get in the way of their plans…
She had a backup strategy, and pulled out a box of pumpkin cookies she had made the day before. “Want anything to drink?”
Felix drummed his fingers on the table, too focused on the assortment of photos to look up at her or notice the cookies. “Hmm…hot chocolate?”
“I’m surprised you didn’t immediately say pumpkin spice lattes. You sniff those candles like… a lot.” Marinette joked, already stirring the cocoa powder into the mugs of warm milk.
“It’s so good though! A crying shame that it’s only a seasonal treat, really…” Felix sighed in faux upset as he began cutting warm toned leaves with decorative scissors. “I’d like to have pumpkin spice every month of the year, thank you.”
“You, sir, have a problem...” Marinette came over to sit across from him, a plate of now warmed cookies in hand. “Unfortunately, I’m an enabler of your nonsense.”
His expression brightened the moment he caught their scent, and he grabbed one before she even sat the plate down.
“Hey, come on, it’s good! Don’t pretend like you don’t linger over the candle aisles to smell the harvest ones!”
“Shut up…” Marinette’s face grew tinted pink at the remark, trying to hide her grin at the banter. “ I just happen to have more control than you do.”
“Uh huh…” Felix rolled his eyes, getting up to sift through the bag and pulling out not one, not two, but three apple cinnamon scented candles. He smirked. “Suuuper controlled, Spots. Sure.”
“You—!!” Marinette laughed and pushed herself out of her chair mid bite, rushing over to wrestle the evidence of her bluff out of Felix’s hands.
Oh.
Oh.
Felix had taken advantage of the cookie still in Marinette’s mouth, biting into the free end and, without breaking eye contact, setting the candle on the counter.
Bite two… bite three… then, suddenly, there was no cookie separating Marinette’s lips from his, and she melted into Felix’s embrace as the quietly whirring heater only warmed them up further.
The warmth of their kiss was moments away from bursting into a fire before they let the other breathe again, draped in the flickers of soft lighting as the sky turned from orange to indigo.
Marinette gazed at him, her heart aglow like a sparkle of fireflies. This man had, and would continue to win her heart with all the tiny quirks and jokes he’d make… it’s no wonder she fell for him in the cat ears and thigh highs first.
“Are you two done yet?” came Plagg’s bored voice from the fridge. “Because I think you left some snacks unattended.”
Marinette froze and snapped her head back to the kitchen table, her eyes going wide as Tikki met her stare and took an awkwardly long sip from her hot chocolate mug.
“H-Hey!! Tikki!!” Marinette squeaked, scrambling out of her boyfriend’s arms to get to her cup before the drink was gone, lowering her head in defeat as Tikki flew off, the chocolate treat now reduced to whipped cream residue.
Felix chuckled to himself and placed the abandoned straw into his own mug. “Here. We can split it.”
“And here I thought we were past the indirect kisses, Chaton.” She teased, taking a quick sip on her side before drawing out a few leaves in shimmering cardstock.
“If you want more ‘direct’ ones, you know I’m always happy to oblige.”
“Maybe when you don’t taste like pumpkin spice. You’re obsessed.” She snickered, carrying the joke even further.
“Hey, you leaned into it, so I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“You can’t not have pumpkin spice sometimes, Mari. That’s the rule.”
“For what?” She laughed, lining up photos of them from a few years back with a wood patterned paper frame.
“Dating me, obviously.” He grinned, leaning back as he finished making an admittedly rough around the edges cut of a pumpkin in a pile of leaves. “I have my terms and conditions.”
“Is one of those conditions you being a massive dork?”
“Oh please, it’s a two way street. If I’m a massive dork, then you are too, Spots.”
Marinette laughed as they continued to joke, sharing pumpkin spice cookies, festive candlelight, and hot chocolate from the same mug as they continued their seasonal crafts.
Just as seasonal treats and pumpkin spice everything was Felix’s weakness, him going on and on about the things he enjoyed was her own… and Marinette knew that she would fall ever harder for him with every passing autumn.