Work Text:
“You know you make this sound a lot easier than it looks.”
“You know you just jumped a foot into the air at the sound of the oven going off.”
“It surprised me! Is that a paw-blom?”
“Only when you start bugging me with your puns!”
“But bugaboo, you are purr-”
“Finish that pun and I will purr-sonally kick you out of this bakery.”
“Milady you punned!”
“NO!” A loud groan echoed through the nearly empty bakery, Marinette sat the bowl she was mixing on the table and covered her face. She did not mean to pun, she never means to pun. Clearly her partner was rubbing off on her more than she realized, or would like to admit. The sounds of snickering replaced her quiet groans of defeat. Marinette scanned the bakery searching for where snickering was coming from. Her offended gaze landed upon the only other person in the bakery, Adrien Agreste. A scowl crept onto the smaller girl’s face as she glared at the model. “You are so lucky you are cute.” She grumbled at him before picking the bowl up again and resuming working on the batter.
“Well, I do not see a problem here.” Adrien teased Marinette, a slight blush creeping onto his face after Marinette called him cute. His own batter was completely forgotten as he found himself staring at the girl. This explained why she was so strong despite her slim build, being a baker’s daughter must be physically taxing. While the Miraculous gave them super strength among other benefits, some of the aspects comes from their normal selves. He was allowing his true self shine in the privacy of the bakery, after the accidental reveal things got interesting. They realized just how little they really understood about each other and decided to take things slow and remain just friends for now. Something he was a bit disappointed about, however being able to spend time with his lady outside of an Akuma attack made it all worth it.
“The only problem I see is a lazy stray not helping out.” Marinette teased back, glancing back at Adrien before rolling her eyes at him. As a result of the reveal, Marinette found herself totally relaxed while she was with Adrien. She knew that under that perfect body of his was a bigger dork than she thought possible. She also allowed some of her playful banter slip into her voice while she was alone with him, and more than once she’s caught glimpses of him turning away in embarrassment. She chuckled at the thought as she put the bowl back on the table and left to get some more flour. It was a bit of a tradition for her to make cookies for her entire class right before Christmas. Normally she did all the baking and decorating by herself, however as a result of all of the recent Akuma attacks that was not possible.
“You wound me!” Adrien cried out, faking distress as he watched Marinette’s reaction. He heard a chuckle come from her, a sound that was music to his ears. A smile seen only on Chat Noir himself came onto the model’s face as he watched what Marinette was doing. This was his first time making anything; at home he had chefs to do all of his cooking for him. “So you finish mixing and add more flour?” He asked a genuine question this time, instead of throwing another pun. His eyes watched her delicate hands work with the stubborn dough, and he could see where some of her physical strength came from. Adrien thought that being a model was difficult, but compared to being a baker’s daughter he had it easy. Emerald eyes started to wander up her arm and soon found a new focus upon her flour-dusted face. He caught glimpse of a small part of her tongue stick out through her shut lips. A soft chuckle left the model’s lips as he realized just how adorable Marinette looked while she was concentrated on a task.
“Right, you want to do it slowly or else it isn’t going to turn out right.” Marinette nodded, confirming Adrien’s question as she slid the measuring cup over to him. Chocolate chip cookies were still one of her weakest points when it comes to baking, simply due to how infrequently she made them. She was only trying to make a batch with Adrien now since it seemed easier to do than what she usually did this time of year. She had the recipe mostly memorized, but uncertainty started to take over as she got further along in the process. At this point Marinette just groaned and for the third time in the last twenty minutes put her bowl down. “We don’t make these enough.” She muttered as she walked to the corner of the bakery where the recipe books were kept. She found the one she was looking for and started to flip through the pages, walking back to where the main counter was.
While Marinette was dealing with the recipe, Adrien took the measuring cup given to him and walked to where Marinette went and measured out the same amount she did. Except he took it back to the main area to ask her how fast he should be putting the flour in. His attention was focused on trying to remember what he’s done so far just in case a situation comes up in the future that he needs to be able to make cookies on the spot. An unlikely situation, but still… it never hurt to be prepared.
As a result of both teenagers being distracted in a small space the two ran right into each other. Flour and cookie dough… well cookie liquid went all over the duo. It was sheer luck that none of the mess hit the cookbook. Stumbling back, a bit dazed from the sudden collision the two stared at each other before bursting into a fit of laughter. Adrien was covered in flour, eggs, sugar, and butter while Marinette was just covered in flour. The rest of Adrien’s batter was splatted all over the floor.
“Well then-”
“Don’t you dare.”
“Things have turned out to be-”
“Adrien Agreste I swear if you finish that.”
“ A bit un-fur-tunate. At least the cat-lateral damage is small.”
“ADRIEN!” Marinette cried out, as she narrowed her eyes at the stupid pun loving cat. She glanced around the bakery looking for something specific, her stance shifted to one that matched Ladybug’s. A cocky smirk danced onto her features as a plan came to mind, she did not need a Lucky Charm to get her way. Before he could utter another word she dashed backwards away from the mess. Her goal was one of the open containers of flour, and she knew that she had the upper hand. She grew up in the bakery, so she knew exactly where everything was. “That was one pun too far chaton!” She called out to him, seeing her goal in sight, all she had to do was slip by Adrien.
Adrien who was slower to react to Marinette’s response mirrored her cocky grin. He quickly picked the nearly empty bowl of batter and put it on a clean counter. His hearing might not be as sensitive as when he was transformed, but it was enough to hear Marinette running in the small bakery. He saw what she was gunning for and realized in a split second that he was not going to get over there in time to protect the flour from her. Which meant he had to do the next best thing, fight fire with fire. Working with Ladybug taught him a few skills, the primary one was to always scan his surroundings. He never knew what might be useful in defeating an Akuma or part of Ladybug’s master plan. As a result he knew that there was another container of flour near him, while it was smaller than the one that Marinette was at he was not in any place to complain. “Well bugaboo you aren’t the only one who knows how to be resourceful!” He called out grabbing two fistfulls of flour and glanced around to try and locate where his partner was. He could not see her, much to his confusion. There was only so many places she could hide in the few seconds he had his back turned to a larger part of the bakery.
“Well then maybe someone should pay a bit more attention!” Marinette called out as her bluebell eyes peaked over the edge of the counter her hands filled with as much flour as she could hold. When she had his attention, she jumped from her hiding spot and threw one of the handfuls towards his direction before running for cover once again. She was giggling the entire time, as she thought of what to do next sitting on the ground and leaning against the cabinets. She wanted to keep out of the store part of the bakery for obvious reasons, but the back part was all fair game. She still had a handful of flour left as she peered around the edge. She knew that Adrien would be able to find her location with no effort at all. She pushed herself up and took a crouched position, the chances of her plan working were slim to none. Her primary goal was really just to get as much flour on Adrien as possible.
“You know you don’t have anywhere else to hide bugaboo. I know where you went so why not you put the flour down and we can talk about this.” He called out to the mostly empty bakery, his senses were on high alert considering he had a dangerous bug on the loose. A few chuckles escaped his lip as he stopped before the corner that he saw Marinette duck behind. Unless the bakery had an escape system put in place he had Marinette right where he wanted her. “Gotya!” He cried out jumping out into the open as he quickly scanned the area for his prey.
“Think again kitty!” With that Marinette threw the remaining flour she had in her hand into the air, before making a dash for some open space. This distraction tactic she came up with was pitiful at best, but given her current situation the best she could think of. Just like she assumed, Adrien did not fall for her distraction and he stepped to the side, blocking her escape path and unleashed his white fury. She covered her mouth to avoid breathing in any unnecessary flour, she looked at Adrien and a fiery determination burned in the pit of her stomach to wipe that smart grin from his face. “You haven’t won-”
Marinette did not get the chance to finish before she heard the ovens go off again. A signal that the cookies that were in the oven were done. She managed to get two batches cooking before Adrien came over. She glanced to the single oven that was on, as she stood up completely straight. Her gaze slowly worked back to Adrien as she stared right into his emerald green eyes. “Temporary truce?”
“Temporary truce.” He agreed, stepping aside to let Marinette back into the main section of the bakery and watched her pull the cookie sheets out of the oven. They smelled delicious, and made the model’s stomach grumble. He wondered how he never noticed the delicious smell earlier, and blamed that on his determination to triumph over Marinette. “How can I be of help?” He watched from the corner of the bakery and put his elbows on the counter.
“You can help by getting the spatulas out of the top drawer over there.”
“Anything for you p-”
“I swear to god if you say one more cat pun before these cookies are done I am going to hurt you.”
“Okay… purr-incess.”
“ADRIEN!”