Adrien Agreste was in her kitchen. Adrien Agreste was in her kitchen.
They had been standing there in silence excluding a couple of questions on baking from Adrien. Simply breathing the same air as Adrien made Marinette so nervous that she had decided to just communicate by nodding, so that she wouldn't stumble with her words and embarrass herself.
Marinette was panicking inside as her blond classmate was just about to pour too much sugar into the bowl. She would have to say something or the gingerbread dough would be ruined. She didn't want to say anything. But she also didn't want disappoint everyone.
"Stop!" Marinette rushed to take the sugar off his hands. Oh crap. That was too aggressive. Blood rushed to Marinette's face as she looked above to see Adrien's face.
Their teacher had paired them up to make gingerbreads for the class's Christmas party on Thursday. Marinette had hoped to be baking with Alya, but knew it would be petty to whine about not being paired up with her best friend. Well, with anyone but Adrien. Or Chloe.
"Sorry, uh, was I putting too much sugar? I'm really sorry," Adrien forced a nervous laugh. You could see in his face that he felt really awkward.
"It's fine, really," Marinette quickly turned away from Adrien.
Adrien frowned. "I'm sorry I suck at this. It's just... The last time I made gingerbreads was when I was 6."
Marinette looked at him again. Did he think she was angry at him? Marinette didn't mind Adrien messing things up, she knew he probably didn't bake a lot because he had people do that for him.
Then it hit her. What an idiot had she been?
"N-no I understand, y-you probably don't get to bake a lot..." Marinette felt disappointed at herself. "I should be the one who's sorry. I should have helped you, but I just let my nervousness get to me. I'm sorry Ad - "
Oh no. Did she just admit she was nervous? She had no reason to be nervous about baking with him! Would he think she was weird? Would he see through her?
Adrien looked surprised. "You're nervous?"
Marinette's blush grew redder.
"Oh my God, is it something I did? I knew you were uncomfortable around me," Adrien started to panic. "If it's about that gum thing - "
"No, no! You didn't do anything. You're great. I'm the one who's awkward," Marinette said as she intensely stared at the dough.
Now it was Adrien's turn to blush. "Great... I mean! Great that you're not mad at me!"
Silence filled the room again. This time it was more awkward, but still fairly light-hearted.
Adrien ended up being a lot of help for Marinette and she worked hard to make herself teach Adrien how to mix the dough by her placing his hands correctly.
"I think it turned out pretty nicely!" Marinette smiled.
"Yeah! Go team!" Adrien raised his hand for a high five. Marinette laughed and went for it.
"So now we just put it in the fridge to cool down and you can come by again tomorrow," Marinette said. "Unless you're busy. If you are, I totally get it, and - "
"I wouldn't miss this," Adrien said and placed his hand on Marinette's shoulder. Marinette felt like her heart was about to burst.
"You're not going anywhere yet, though. We still need to clean up," Marinette laughed and looked at the mess they'd made.
Adrien flashed a smile and reached for a cleaning rag.
