For once, the four-person dog pile on the classroom steps wasn't Marinette's fault.
Winded from their sprint through the winter afternoon, Nino had been the first of the group to burst through the door to their classroom, tugging Alya along behind him. Adrien and Marinette bolted through soon after, still clutching hands as they followed close behind their friends. They'd made it into the room mere seconds before the bell and were practically home free; their teacher wasn't even in the classroom yet.
The trouble started when they rounded the corner to take the stairs. Moving too quickly to make the turn next to his seat, Nino flew around the far edge of his and Adrien's desk, his momentum carrying him close to the left side of the steps where Chloé's bag lay. It all happened in the blink of an eye. His foot struck the purse, his ankle twisted, and he let out a most unmanly yelp as he came crashing down, Alya being brought down next to him due to their still linked hands. Marinette squealed as she and Adrien, unable to stop in time, crashed down on top of their fallen friends.
Gasps sounded around the room as their classmates witnessed the disaster, the bell ringing in the background. Rose was the first to react, rushing forward with hands fluttering in distress as she cried, "Oh my gosh, are you guys okay?"
Several groans sounded from the pile of bodies on the floor, echoing over the beginning of Chloe's shrieks about her designer bag and hardly sounding very reassuring. Rose flitted around them in a mild panic until her dark-haired counterpart slipped over and rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"They'll be fine," Juleka promised in her quiet way.
Adrien groaned once more as he shifted himself off of Alya's lower body. "Yeah, don't worry, Rose."
"We're all pretty used to this kind of thing, right Mari?" Nino joked as he helped Marinette roll off of him, and she punched his shoulder weakly at the implication. Alya snorted as she accepted a hand from Adrien to haul herself up with, turning to offer Marinette the same assistance. Rose smiled in relief as Nino grabbed the edge of Chloé's desk and stood, ignoring the squawked complaints of his invasion of her personal space, before waving his limbs around to show the small blonde he was in one piece.
With a satisfied sigh, Rose allowed Juleka to guide her back to her seat, and the four teens remaining in the aisle rushed to their seats before their teacher could enter and find them lingering. As Adrien settled into his normal spot, he slid his phone out of his pocket and pulled up the message thread for his Mandarin tutor, quickly typing out a text in Chinese requesting the afternoon free for an important engagement. Thankfully, his tutor was both a kind and expeditious man, and he received a positive response almost instantly.
With a grin, he tucked his phone back out of sight, just as the teacher entered the room and called for attention. Pulling out his tablet, he did his best to concentrate on taking notes instead of counting down the minutes until the end of the school day.
What seemed like seven years later, the bell rang and signaled the end of their last class. Adrien packed up his tablet faster than usual, practically bouncing at the nearness of his first baking expedition.
Marinette, by contrast, was taking her time to put her materials away, chattering with Alya about some TV show season finale that was happening later that week. Adrien tapped his fingers on his desk in a sharp staccato, trying his best to be patient.
That lasted all of about three seconds.
"Marinette," he called, letting a playful whine creep into his voice as he perched his chin on the edge of her desk, looking up at her with wide eyes. "Hurry up, we have to go help your parents."
Marinette raised an eyebrow in amusement, then smirked as she turned back to her conversation with Alya without responding. Adrien watched as she slowed her movements, now taking twice as long to put her things away.
"Marinette!"
She turned slowly to face him with an innocent look. "Is there something I can help you with, Adrien?"
Her mask of innocence almost broke when his lip pooched out in an adorable pout, but she bit the inside of her cheek to stay strong. She kept up the facade as his emerald eyes widened further, eyebrows turning down in a powerful display of puppy-dog eyes.
She cursed under her breath, finally unable to take it anymore. "Not the puppy-dog eyes," she moaned. "That's cheating!"
Adrien held back his smirk and continued to pout, reaching out to hand her the remainder of the items strewn across her half of the desk. With a defeated frown, she dutifully placed them in her school bag and Adrien smiled, delighted.
"Bastard," Alya observed from her position at the other end of the desk, and Adrien stuck his tongue out at her as he stood to follow Marinette towards the door. Nino chuckled, waving as his friends exited the classroom.
"I give them a week."
Nino raised an eyebrow. "I believe in my boy. He'll be asking her out in the next forty eight hours."
"You're on!"
The short walk to Marinette's house was uneventful, with what Adrien felt was an unfortunate lack of hand-holding. Since lunch, the sun had come out and melted a good portion of the ice on the sidewalk, and the model couldn't quite muster the courage to reach out and take the pink gloved hand swinging next to him without that excuse at the ready.
The bell above the door jingled as they entered, and Tom looked up from the register to greet them. "Welcome back, kids! How was school?"
"Good, Papa," Marinette replied, giving him a kiss on the cheek as she slipped her scarf and gloves off.
Tom smiled, clapping Adrien on the shoulder. "Good, good. Well, Marinette, the two of you should go join your mother in the prep room."
"On it." Marinette gave him a mock-salute, and Adrien imitated the gesture with a grin before trailing after her as she led the way to where her mother was hard at work at a large table, measuring and mixing like a madwoman.
"Maman, we're here to help." Marinette crept up behind the petite woman to give her a quick peck on the cheek, simultaneously dipping her finger in the frosting she was working on.
"Marinette!" Her mother swatted at her, shooing her away.
The girl giggled as she popped her finger in her mouth, spinning away and heading towards the hanging apron rack in the corner with Adrien trailing close behind her. He followed her lead as she snagged an apron off the hook and hung her school bag and winter-wear in its place. With expert precision, Marinette slipped the apron over her head and tied a perfect bow behind her back. Adrien, determined to impress, tossed his own apron on and tried to blindly mimic her actions, his fingers fumbling with the strings.
Marinette grinned as his determined scowl grew more and more frustrated. He's so cute.
"Here, let me help you," she offered, sliding behind him and quickly bestowing him with a perfect bow as well.
"Thanks." Adrien rubbed the back of his neck as they stepped up to the table together. "I totally could've gotten that with a few more tries."
She smiled knowingly as she led him over to the sink to wash their hands. "Of course." Adrien stuck his tongue out at her and she returned the gesture.
Sabine chuckled, setting her bowl of frosting down on the table. "Now that you two are all suited up, I'll have you start helping me by making three batches of chocolate cupcakes and three batches of vanilla." She stepped to a nearby counter, rifling through a box momentarily before returning with two pieces of laminated card stock. Handing one to each of them, she added, "Here are the recipes. Marinette, help Adrien if he needs it."
"Sure thing, Maman." She skipped over to the cupboard, tossing the doors open to reveal several large mixing bowls stacked on the shelves. Standing on her tip-toes, she stretched her arm as high as it could reach, barely missing her target.
"Mari, do you need h-"
"I've got this," she cut the boy off, determined to reach her goal. I forgot how tall these stupid shelves are. Where's my stool when I need it?
Adrien and Sabine smiled in amusement as they watched her hop repeatedly, still failing to grasp the bowls.
"Marine-"
Ignoring her mother-who really should've been more sympathetic to her plight given her similarly petite stature-Marinette slung one leg up onto the counter.
"Marinette." Her mother's tone held significantly more warning now.
"But Maman, I can do it!"
"Be that as it may, it's unhygienic and we must keep our customers in mind."
Grumbling reluctantly, Marinette removed her leg from the counter. Adrien chuckled, then grinned as an idea popped into his head. Before the girl could move away from the counter, he slipped up behind her and placed his hands on either side of her waist.
"Upsy-daisy!" he cried, lifting her into the air as though she hardly weighed anything. Thank goodness for those Chat Noir muscles.
Marinette squealed at her sudden ascension. "Adrien!" She broke into giggles as she grabbed the bowls they needed off of the shelf and was set gently back onto the floor.
"Did it," she said smugly as she showed off her prize, as though Adrien had had no part in helping her achieve her goal.
"All by yourself, huh?" he played along, chuckling when she nodded with an impish grin.
Sabine laughed quietly behind them. "All right, you two, get to work."
Marinette put on a serious expression. "These cupcakes aren't going to bake themselves, after all."
"Really?" Adrien asked. "I've always thought the cupcakes from this bakery were pretty magical." Marinette groaned at the joke and he smiled innocently. "What? I'm just saying, I could see it."
The girl didn't dignify that with a response as she set their bowls on the table. She dragged over a bag of flour that was sitting next to her mother, setting it between herself and Adrien.
"Alright, first we'll each need one and a half cups of flour." Marinette handed him a measuring cup, raising an eyebrow as he accepted it. "You ready for this?"
"Sure." He shrugged with a grin. "How hard can it be?"
How quickly he had forgotten his pancake-making disaster.
It took approximately thirty seconds for Adrien to spill half of his cup of flour over the edge of his bowl and all over the front of his apron. He stared down at the white patch in shock.
Marinette stifled her giggles with the back of her wrist. "How did that even happen?"
"I'm honestly not sure." Adrien eyed the measuring cup suspiciously before setting it down with a sigh. "I guess baking isn't for me."
"Are you kidding? Making a mess is the best part," Marinette informed him, dipping a finger in the pile of flour in front of him before swiping it down the bridge of his nose. As he squawked in surprise she chirped, "See? Fun!"
"Yes, Marinette would know all about making messes," Sabine interjected mischievously, ignoring the glare her daughter was sending her. "A tidy seamstress she may be, but a neat baker she is not."
"You don't have to tell him all that," Marinette grumbled as she crossed the room to grab a new bag of sugar. Ignoring the chuckling from those still at the table, she stomped back over with the bag in hand, chin held high in defiance. She was nearly back to the the table when she found her missing stool.
Of course, she managed to find it with her right foot, her ankle twisting under her as she began to fall with a gasp. She heard Adrien yelp her name from in front of her, leaping forward to assist, but he was at the far end of the table and she knew he'd never make it.
Thankfully, he didn't have to. Her years of training kicked in-for once-and her Ladybug reflexes helped her clutch the bag of sugar to her chest as she planted one hand on the floor. Using her momentum to her advantage, Marinette pushed with the leg still touching the ground, launching herself into a graceful one-handed walkover. She stuck the landing, bringing her upper body back up with ease, and continued walking as though nothing had happened.
Setting the bag of sugar on the table, she looked up to find her Adrien staring at her with his mouth agape as her mother smiled slightly in amusement. With a giggle, she placed the tip of her index finger under the boy's chin, gently pushing upward until his mouth was shut once more. "Cat got your tongue?"
"S-Something like that," he managed to mutter in his dazed state. While he'd seen Marinette trip and fall dozens of times, he'd never seen her catch herself, especially not in such a beautiful way. He'd never realized she was so flexible.
Before Lust could even pipe up from his dark cell in Adrien's brain, the thought brought an unwitting blush to his face, and the boy cleared his throat in an attempt to also clear his mind and steer himself away from the dangerous path he'd been about to take.
You are learning well, my young padawan.
Shut up, Lust!
"Adrien, are you listening to me?" Marinette's voice snapped him from his thoughts and he looked over to see her standing with her arms crossed, one hip cocked as she looked at him with a smirk. The familiar aura tickled something inside of him, and suddenly he found his verbal footing.
"No."
Well, not the witty response he'd hoped for, but at least he could speak without stuttering again.
Marinette frowned for a second, before bursting out in laughter. "You're not even going to pretend you were?"
"Well I know how you feel about liars. I have to keep my good standing and all."
"You're so odd," she replied with a grin and a shake of her head.
"You have to be odd to be number one."
Marinette rolled her eyes as she walked back to the sink to rewash her hands, exchanging glances with her mother, who wore a telling smile of approval. A timer dinged behind them and Sabine moved to take her cupcakes out of the oven, commenting quietly in slow Mandarin as she passed, "He is a very funny and kind boy, a good match for you."
"Maman!" Marinette hissed quietly, cheeks flushing. "He also knows Chinese!"
"Oh," Sabine said, eyes widening in surprise. She smiled pleasantly, sending her daughter a conspiratorial wink. "All the more reason to keep him."
"Maman!"
Adrien's face heated up, cheeks presumably changing to match his classmate's, but even through his embarrassment a little flutter of pleasure went through him. Her mom approves of me, score! According to Nino, parental approval was often the hardest part of a relationship.
Not that he was thinking of having a relationship with Mari, he recanted. Not a lot, anyways. Definitely not more than once a day.
"Anyways," Marinette said hurriedly, nudging him in the ribs with a sharp elbow, "let's get back to work."
They worked in silence, Adrien watching and mirroring his classmate's movements to the best of his ability. He was pleasantly surprised when, after thoroughly mixing the more-or-less carefully measured ingredients, his cupcake batter actually came out looking like cupcake batter. He happily presented Marinette with the bowl, and she giggled, giving him an approving thumbs up.
"Looks great, Adrien. That wasn't so hard was it?"
Adrien grinned sheepishly as he brushed a little more flour off of his apron. "Not at all."
"Now it's time to bake them." Marinette crossed the kitchen to the cabinet they'd gotten the bowls from earlier and quickly pulled down a cupcake tin with the help of her recovered stool. As she headed back to the big center table, her mother handed her the one she'd just finished removing cupcakes from.
Grabbing two stacks of brightly colored cupcake liners, she began her explanation of the procedure. "So you're going to take these-" she handed him the green baking cups "-and put one in each of the spaces." Adrien quickly did as instructed as she bedecked her own pan with pink liners. Once they had both finished she passed him a batter scoop. "Now you're going to use this to scoop the same amount of batter into each cup. You want it about halfway full." She paused to demonstrate. "Try not to get it on the pan or the outside of the cupcake liners."
"Got it." Adrien hesitantly scooped up some batter and carefully transferred it to the pan, sighing in relief when he managed to fill the cup without spilling a drop. Marinette gave him a proud smile, and the two set to work emptying their bowls into the pans.
Once the trays had been popped into the oven, Sabine kept them busy with one task after the next, the room becoming a flurry of activity as the teens bent to her every whim. Though surprisingly taxing, Adrien found the work fascinating and was sad when the last cupcake had finally been cooled, decorated, and boxed for delivery. Marinette clearly shared the sentiment, fingers lingering on the box's bow, making minute adjustments idly in an excuse to drag the evening on.
Sabine smiled, easily reading their faces. Dusting her hands on her apron, she stepped away from the table. "I think I'll go check on your father, Marinette. Would you and Adrien finish cleaning up, please?"
The girl flashed her mother a grateful, if embarrassed smile. "Of course, Maman." Her mother returned the smile, slipping out of her apron and gently tossing it over a hook as she padded out of the room.
There was a slight pause in the moment after she exited, the teens adjusting to being left to their own devices. Adrien picked up a discarded spatula and fiddled with it, and Marinette pulled at the hem of her apron, both wondering how it could suddenly feel so awkward to be alone together.
Thankfully, Adrien knew the perfect way to break the tension.
"Why was the baker in a panic?"
Marinette raised an eyebrow. "Is this another terrible joke?"
"A terribly good one," he replied with a wink.
The girl scoffed and rolled her eyes, but humored him and took a moment to think of an answer. "Was it because…he forgot to get flours for his anniversary and was afraid his girlfriend's anger would rise?"
Adrien chuckled. "No, but that's not a bad try." He paused for effect. "It's because he was in a loaf or death situation."
Marinette blocked her giggle with a groan. "I think your jokes get worse by the day." She scooped up a bowl and stepped over to the sink, beginning to run the water to clean the dishes.
"Maybe you've just got a rye sense of humor."
She huffed as she picked up the sponge. "Don't quit your day job, Adrien."
"As if Father would let me," he mumbled, grabbing the rest of the dirty dishes and moving to stand beside her. He swished his hands in the warm, soapy water, each popping bubble seeming to represent the seconds ticking by until he'd have to return home to his gilded cage of a life.
Though Marinette hadn't heard the comment fully, she caught on to his suddenly sour mood quickly. Forehead crinkling, she splashed a little water at his hands, prompting a small smile from the boy. He splashed back gently, and she giggled, quickly retaliating.
That was a mistake.
Adrien's eyes widened, before narrowing in challenge. His gaze zeroed in on her, and his hand moved swiftly and accurately, like a cat pouncing on its prey, the resulting wave soaking most of her left forearm and some of her apron.
She gasped, scandalized, and splashed back with force, leaving a large wet spot in the middle of his apron.
From there it was an all-out war. Ammo was limited to the soapy, somewhat batter-filled water filling the sink, until Adrien discovered the hose.
In her excitement, Marinette had forgotten about the little extension that sat next to the faucet, until suddenly Adrien whipped it out and pulled the handle, blasting her right in the face with a jet of water. She sputtered under the deluge, hands leaving the sink to wipe at her eyes as she coughed.
Adrien stopped quickly, rushing to make sure she was okay, and in that moment where he dropped his guard she swooped in to steal the weapon and turn it on him.
It was unusually bad luck for her that her mother happened to reenter the room as she was giggling maniacally, Adrien shielding his face and protesting through his laughter as she sprayed him mercilessly, water puddling on the floor.
"Marinette!"
The sharpness of Sabine's voice, only slightly softened by an edge of astonished amusement, stopped the girl in her tracks, the hose falling from her hand as she gasped and turned to face her mother. She hung her head in shame, soggy pigtails sitting limp on her shoulders as she scuffed her soaked shoes against the equally wet floor. Adrien assumed a similar position next to her.
"I thought I asked you two to clean up," she commented as she surveyed the room, which had only become more of a disaster since she'd left.
"Sorry, Maman. We got…carried away." Adrien nodded in bashful agreement with Marinette's statement, daring a peek up through his bangs at his hostess.
Sabine smiled gently at him, sighing as she placed her hands on her hips. "Well, get this mess cleaned up—and I mean actually cleaned up this time—and then come upstairs for dinner." She turned to the boy, inquiring, "You'll be joining us, right, Adrien?"
He glanced at the clock on the wall, heart twisting with longing, before letting out a reluctant sigh. "I don't think I can, but thank you so much for your hospitality, as always." From the corner of his eye, he could see Marinette sag at his response, and his heart sunk a little lower.
"Of course, Adrien, you're welcome anytime." Sabine smiled at him, then instructed them once more to return the room to its rightful state before heading back to the storefront.
Marinette tapped her toes against the floor, splashing in the puddle at her feet. She nibbled on her lower lip for a moment and Adrien's heart skipped a beat as her bluebell eyes peered up at him. "I guess your dad will miss you, huh?"
He cleared his throat. "Unfortunately, yes. I wish I could stay, beyond just cleaning this up."
She nodded in understanding, looking down again with a sigh before straightening her shoulders and lifting her chin. "Well, we'd better get on with it then. I don't want you to get in trouble."
"Right." Adrien forced his body into sluggish movements alongside hers, helping to finish the dishes and wipe all of the water off the floor. It seemed like mere seconds had passed when suddenly there was nothing else to clean, and the two stilled into awkward silence again.
Adrien cleared his throat once more, reluctantly moving towards the hooks that held their winter things. "I supposed I'd better get going."
"I suppose so," she agreed, removing her apron and hanging it to dry next to his. She gathered her things to take upstairs as he slowly put on his coat and scarf, slipping his fingers into his gloves with more care than necessary.
When he was ready, she walked him to the side door. They paused for a moment, and he asked that she thank her parents again for the afternoon, and she replied that she would before they fell into silence for the umpteenth time.
"I'd better go," Adrien said awkwardly, heart twisting again as his hand twisted the door handle, as if there were a physical connection between the two.
"Goodbye, Adrien," Marinette replied softly
Her sweet voice stirred up something unexpected in him, causing him to blurt out, "Will you go out with me on Friday?"
She gaped at him for a moment, cheeks turning a delicious cherry-red that he felt surely matched the shade of his. "I—go—like a date?" Her voice went up cutely into a squeak at the end.
"Like—like a date," he stammered in confirmation, heart aflutter. "It doesn't have to be anything spectacular, but I've been enjoying hanging out with you so much I thought, maybe, we could go to the park or get hot chocolate or something." His cheeks turned impossibly redder. "I just want to be around you more."
Marinette was grinning so hard she thought her cheeks would break. "Of course!" Hugging her things to her chest, she suppressed a squeal. "Text me later?"
Adrien sighed in relief at her answer. "Definitely." With another shy smile and a quick goodbye, he hurried out into the cold air, barely able to make it around the corner before whooping in laughter.
"I can't believe I just did that!" he whispered to the sky, fists raised in happy success. He practically skipped down the sideway, making it several yards before reality kicked in and he paused with a groan. "I can't believe I just did that without asking my father."
He allowed himself a moment to wallow, before straightening his shoulders and quickening his pace. He'd just have to confront his father when he arrived home and ask him for permission to go out Friday evening.
That was sure to go over well. He resolved to leave Plagg in his room when the time came, to limit his bad luck as much as possible.
Resolved, he spent the rest of the all too short walk home planning out exactly what he'd say to his father upon his arrival.