PROMPT N10: COOKING TOGETHER written by Malauu-Ladynoir.

CHOCOLATE, STRAWBERRY AND PISTACHIO

Adrien was lying on his bed, staring at his ceiling, his thoughts lost elsewhere. Tomorrow it would be two years since his life was completely turned upside down. Two years that he finally had the pleasure of being an 'almost' normal teenager. He could finally get out of the four walls between which he'd been held prisoner for so long. He was finally able to go to school and also had met extraordinary friends. But even more incredible, tomorrow it would also be two years since he got his Miraculous. Two years that Plagg was part of his life and offered him a second liberating breath, as well as the possibility of wearing a mask behind which he could finally be himself. And above all, he'd the chance to meet her, his wonderful partner, Ladybug.

Tomorrow would therefore be a special day, marking the beginning of what had been for him, a new life. He wanted to celebrate that, to celebrate his freedom, their partnership, their friendship. And he knew precisely how he would surprise her on their patrol the next day. All he needed was a little help to carry out his plan.

It was then that he got up from his bed, with a wide smile stretching his lips and his gaze focused on this special jewel that had changed his life. Three words, he'd just three words to say and the miraculous magic enveloped each part of his body, in a powerful vivifying sensation. The green lightning that shone all around him slowly dissipated, giving way to the silhouette of his feline alter-ego.

Chat Noir jumped on the window sill and pulled out his stick. With a precise and rapid gesture with which he'd become accustomed, he made it spin over his head, like the propellers of a helicopter, and jumped outside his room.

He landed on a roof and repeated his maneuver. He did this acrobatics several times, until finally reaching his final destination. He settled down in a place where he'd already found himself in the past: Marinette's balcony.

He smoothly knocked against the window of her room and a few seconds later he saw her pop her head under the glass and quickly open it.

"Chat Noir? What are you doing here?" she asked, surprised.

"Hello, Marinette. I'm sorry to disturb you like that, but would you have some time to devote to the most pawsome of the parisians' heroes?" he asked with a seductive smile.

"If a superhero asks me, I have to be able to fix it. How can I help you?"

"I'd like you to teach me how to bake macarons."

Marinette almost choked with her own saliva, no doubt that if she'd been drinking at that time, Chat Noir would have finished soaking from head to toe.

Her reaction wasn't discreet for the feline and he began to chuckle.

"I know that this is an unusual request and I would understand if you refused. You certainly have other fish to fry and more important things to deal with," he replied, seriously.

"Why do you want to learn how to bake macarons?" she asked, once her astonishment had dispelled.

"For Ladybug."

"You want to do this... for Ladybug?" she asked for confirmation and the surprise was back.

"Yes. It is the anniversary of our meeting and the beginning of our partnership tomorrow. So I would like to make this special," he explained sincerely.

"Okay... That's okay," she replied. "I'll teach you."

Chat Noir observed Marinette carefully preparing all the ingredients and utensils on the worktop: icing sugar, powdered sugar, eggs, powdered almonds and food coloring.

"Which flavors?" she asked him.

"What?" he answered in disbelief.

"For the macarons, which flavors do you want?"

"I don't know what she likes..." he replied, his shoulders slumping slightly.

Marinette seemed to think for a moment, she opened a cupboard, then the refrigerator and finally came out with chocolate, cocoa powder and liquid cream: for chocolate macarons immediately concluded the feline. She then placed next to that, strawberries and whipped cream: for strawberry macarons, easy to guess also.

Chat Noir's smile stretched, Marinette suggested that he make macarons in Ladybug's colors. But then, he frowned when he saw her plunge back into the fridge and pull out a pot on which it was inscribed: homemade pistachio paste.

She'd to realize the feline's incomprehension because she gave him a reassuring smile and immediately explained why she was taking the pistachio paste.

"Ladybug wouldn't be Ladybug without Chat Noir," she said, winking mischievously to him. "These are your colors, black, red and green," she said, proud of her idea.

"You're incredible," he exclaimed, without any restraint.

This compliment lightly colored Marinette's cheeks in a pink hue that the feline couldn't help but find particularly adorable.

"Wash your hands and then we can begin," she told her gently, by opening the water tap and also soaking her hands.

Chat Noir placed himself next to her to wash his gloved hands. He turned his head towards her and crossed her bluebell eyes which was already turned towards him. He gave her a little mischievous smile, then suddenly put some foam on the girl's nose.

"Chat! You're really a clown," she chuckled, wiping the soap on the tip of her nose.

He laughs heartily at the young girl's falsely annoyed expression: the afternoon promised to be fun and entertaining.

Marinette had her back turned from him, dropping with her pastry bag what would become their macarons on a large cooking plate.

Previously, Chat Noir, following the instructions of the girl, had perfectly executed the macaron-shell paste, which they had then divided into three different containers in order to dye them.

He was putting away the ingredients they no longer needed, when his prancker mind boiled over. He plunged his hand into the bag of icing sugar and pulled out a small handful which he kept into his hand.

"Marinette?" he called her, while slowly coming up behind her back.

She turned around and didn't have time to ask what the feline wanted, that a cloud of sweet powder tickled her face and painted it all white.

"Sneaky cat!" she protested.

She hurried around the boy to grab the sugar packet, but the feline was faster and stood between her and the object she wanted.

"What do you think you're doing, Purrincess?" he asked quietly, while the girl was crashing against him.

He lowered his head towards her and his victorious expression turned into something more confusing. It was not usual that he found himself so close to Marinette physically and for some reason, the beats of his heart suddenly accelerated.

For a moment, which seemed to them an eternity, they stood still, their eyes connected to each other. Until Marinette sneezes and breaks the intensity of the moment.

"Excuse me, I'm... I need to go face my clean... uh... I mean... I need to go clean my face."

Marinette stepped away from the feline's arms and rushed to the bathroom to clean up the mess which Chat Noir had made.

During her absence, the hero hastened to prepare the chocolate ganache by scrupulously following the recipe she'd previously given him. When she returned a few long minutes later, with her face cleaned and her clothes changed, he'd finished preparing the chocolate ganache.

She then finished placing the macaron-shell paste on the plate and asked the feline to come and see how she made it. She made a first set of shells, then gave him the pastry bag so that he could also try to make small piles of regular dough.

Chat Noir applied himself to the task, but he soon realized that it was not so easy. And it was even less so with the disconcerting proximity of Marinette, which kept his heart pounding really fast in his chest.

Without too much difficulty, he finally finished putting all the shells on the cooking plate, ten for each of the chosen flavors, enough to make a total of fifteen macarons.

They might not be perfectly round, but at least they were made with the heart and especially with joy and good mood, sharing a very pleasant moment with a person who was special to him.

During this time, Marinette had prepared the whipped cream, the pistachio paste and the chocolate ganache that he had made on the worktop. All they'd to do was wait for their shells to be cooked to begin dressing their macarons.

From the corner of his eye, Chat Noir saw the girl take a spoon out of a drawer and dip it slowly into the dish filled with chocolate ganache, then bring it to her mouth.

She let out a slight moan of contentment while closing her eyes, which caused the feline to shiver and turn slowly towards her.

"Did that cat do that well?"

"Delicious!" she exclaimed. "Didn't you taste it?" she asked, surprised.

"No," he replied, shyly.

"Where is the pleasure of making pastries if you do not taste your preparations?" she asked with a smile and a gentle laugh.

He then saw Marinette move towards him, her spoon covered with chocolate still in her hand, and her eyes sparkling with malice. "Want to taste?" she asked, waving the spoon under his nose.

Chat Noir swallowed hard, his eyes falling in spite of him on Marinette's lips covered here and there with some chocolate rather than on the spoon that she proposed to him. He tried to move his gaze, he wanted to taste it for sure. The chocolate that was there, so tempting, on her pink and plump lips, lips that, he was sure, would be a real treat in themselves. Lips that seemed so soft, so warm, so delectable...

He bit his lower lip and with difficulty he managed to detach his eyes from Marinette's mouth, finally crossing her gaze. He was surprised to see that she, too, had her eyes on the lip that he always pinched between his teeth. He could have sworn that his increased feline hearing had just heard the girl swallow as painfully as he did.

When their eyes finally crossed, he saw envy and desire mirrored what he was feeling too reflecting in her big blue eyes. This didn't help him at all to drive away the incongruous thoughts he had in mind.

Chat Noir had to call on an almost supernatural self-control to finally grab the spoon between his trembling fingers and bring it to his mouth to taste the chocolate preparation. And geez', if Marinette continued to stare at him with those eyes, he would probably lose control soon.

"It's delicious," he replied, with a hoarse voice.

Marinette was blushing to the roots of her hair, then she moved her gaze away from him.

The cooking of their macarons's shells had just finished and if the oven was finally switched off, Chat Noir couldn't say the same about the electricity that hovered in the air. The atmosphere had been rather tense since their last physical contact, and a complete silence had settled between them, until the oven timer rang in the kitchen.

The feline hero took the cooking plate out of his furnace, turned around and slowly laid it on the worktop. Then they filled the three pastry bags, which Marinette had prepared beforehand, with the different toppings for their macarons.

The girl then showed her friend how much to garnish the two cookies as the two parts could perfectly hold together. Then they quickly finished dressing their macarons.

A triumphant smile stretched the cat-boy's lips as he proudly admired their realization. Instinctively, Chat Noir reached out his fist to his pastry partner.

"Pound it," he exclaimed, while looking at her with eyes full of joy and satisfaction.

He saw her wince and hesitate for a moment, before seeing a soft smile blossom on her face then her fist came to hit his.

"Pound it," she repeated, with a strong and insinuating voice.

Under the watchful eye of Chat Noir, Marinette slid twelve macarons into a transparent case that gave a glimpse of the delights, then with a mix of red, black and green ribbons, she made a neat and elegant knot to dress the little package.

She then turned to the feline and presented to him a strawberry's macaron. With a smirk, the hero leaned towards Marinette and grabbed the little softness between his lips, then he stood up, while addressing her a cheerful and mischievous look. He saw her rolling her eyes before hearing her chuckled.

"Do you think she'll like these?" he asked, while finishing to eat the strawberry macaron that she'd so delicately presented to him.

Marinette took a pistachio macaron and carried it to her lips to take a bite of it.

"She likes these," replied Marinette, shyly, holding the feline's gaze with her own gaze sparkling with emotions.

"I'm glad you think she's gonna... Wait ! Can you repeat what you just said, Purrincess?"

"I said: she likes these. She likes these a lot, mon Chaton.

Chat Noir was breathless for a moment. He suddenly felt dizzy, as if everything around him had become completely blurred and insignificant. The earth could have started to turn upside down and gravity disappeared, that he wouldn't even have noticed it. He was only focused on the girl in front of him. That masked girl with whom he had been in love at first sight a year and three hundred sixty-four days ago. This same girl, without the mask, who had found a way in his heart in such a special and important way during this same period of time and with whom he was certain, had fallen in love with in spite of himself.

A gigantic smile stretched on the feline's lips and he threw himself into Marinette's arms. He hugged her tight, burying his face into her shoulder and pressing her chest against his.

'It's you... I'm so happy it's you!' he exclaimed without letting her go.

"Yes, it's me, Minou," she replied, firmly giving him back his embrace, and then shoving her head into her partner's shoulder too.

"I couldn't have dreamed better..." replied Chat Noir, in an emotional and sincere tone.

He stepped back slightly so that he could see her face and she did the same.

'I couldn't dream better as a partner. Thank you for everything, Chaton. Thank you for being here and thank you for being you," she breathed with emotion.

The feline felt his body melting on the spot and before he could open his mouth to thank her for having literally fallen on him almost two years earlier, he was silenced in the sweetest and most intoxicating way. The lips he'd wanted to taste all afternoon were finally against his. And this kiss had an absolutely divine and dizzying taste. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he cupped her face to kiss her more intensely. She sighed of ecstasy and the feline took this opportunity to deepen the kiss. The sweetness and softless of the strawberry, as well as the roundness and the greediness of the pistachio blended in their mouths, giving to this kiss a unique and addictive taste.

When they'd run out of breath, they parted, resting forehead to forehead, their eyes closed, their quick and irregular breaths intertwining.

"All that was missing was the chocolate," whispered Chat Noir, laughing softly.

"It can easily be fixed, mon Chaton gourmand."

He felt Marinette move and detach her forehead from his, not moving away from his arms, she grabbed a chocolate macaron that remained on the cooking plate and gently pinched it between her lips. Indecently inviting him to share it with her. And he couldn't turn down such a tempting invitation. Slowly he leaned towards her face and delicately caught the chocolate delight between his teeth and eated it, so that he could quickly place his mouth on the girl's and kiss her again.

This time, chocolate, strawberry and pistachio were mixed in their mouths, it was delectable, it was delicate, it was sweet, it was all at once. It was a perfect mix of them both. It was THEM. Always and forever…

End

Next prompt : Take a break, by Etoile-Lead-Sama.

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