He was thankful that there was nothing visibly distinct about his hands as he got ready to help Marinette with whatever she planned to ask of him. He looped the gloves around his belt so that they'd have somewhere to sit instead of taking up space on the counter while they did whatever work they needed to.

He washed his hands thoroughly before joining Marinette back out in the kitchen. He assumed that the bowls of macaron fillings were in the fridge because they weren't on the counter when he arrived. Instead, there was a huge mound of dough sitting out on the counter and Marinette was cutting off a smaller piece of it.

"Okay, kittycat," she began, somehow able to tell that he was coming up behind him this time. "I knead your help with this. You're a cat, this should be your specialty." Marinette was kneading a mound of dough on the countertop in front of her and he chuckled before stepping over to help her.

He sidled up to her and reached out for the mound of dough in front of her. "That's dough problem for me, princess," he responded, taking over the kneading from her. She was smiling at him and he couldn't help the smile he had in response. "I'm always happy to help." Marinette noticed that the outline of his ring was making an extra little indent in the dough.

Technically, they're not allowed to wear jewelry on their hands or arms when they're working with dough and batter, but she had to make an exception for Chat Noir because he couldn't remove the ring without revealing his identity. "You're doughing a great job," Marinette assured him and he chuckled.

Marinette was working on another mound of dough after he took her original piece from her. The two of them worked side-by-side, bumping their arms into each other playfully as they kneaded the mounds of dough. They each kneaded the dough for about 10 minutes, talking and making silly jokes with each other until Marinette told him they were done with those loaves.

She cut off another section of dough and handed it to him so that he could start on it while she worked on shaping the mounds of dough that they already finished kneading. "You're on a roll," Marinette said with a smile on her face and he felt like he was falling behind with the puns, but he really didn't mind.

"And you're adoughrable," he responded. Marinette paused from the work she was doing and a blush came over her face. He had never said something like that about her with such sincerity and she was caught off guard by it. She deliberately looked away from him as the blush deepened over her cheeks.

She was happy to hear that from him, and she didn't necessarily know why she was blushing so much. She didn't say anything in response to his flirt, which was more surprising to him than either reaction he was expecting. Usually, she would either shut down the flirt or she would respond with a flirt of her own.

Silence wasn't something he'd expected from her and he took it as a bad sign. "I'm soury," he said after a few seconds, "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I just wanted to give you a compliment, but if that was too far, please just let me know and I won't dough it again." He immediately winced at the sourdough puns he managed to make without even trying.

"I doughn't mind," she admitted, blush still covering her cheeks. "I just wasn't expecting it. If you ever do or say anything that bothers me, I swear I'll tell you, croissant my heart." Marinette made a small 'x' motion across the spot where her heart sat in her chest. She bit her lip and tried to think of something else to say.

"Your comfort batters to me," he said. The tone of his voice conveyed sincerity that countered the fact that he'd still been speaking in puns. He looked over to her and they met eyes. "If I ever do or say something that makes you uncomfortable, please let me know, Marinette." The caring lull of his voice made her heart speed in her chest. She wondered how she had never thought about how sweet Chat Noir is before that day.

"Thank you, minou," she responded quietly. "If that ever happens, I will, but I really doubt you'll make me uncomfortable. I thought it was sweet." Marinette nudged the sugar canister a little bit closer to the superhero and it made him smile. "Maybe you shouldn't be so pastry with giving out compliments willy-nilly, though."

He paused, surprised by the fact that Marinette seemed to not think his compliment was sincere. Did she not think she was cute, downright adorable, even? She had seen herself as Multimouse, right? She was the cutest superhero he'd ever seen and he was considering whether she was bullying herself again.

"I'm not just giving out compliments," he told her with a blush spreading across his cheeks. "And I'm certainly not just doing it to get a rise out of you, Marinette." He wished that his hands weren't covered in the dough so that he would be able to reach out to her and place a hand onto her arm while he spoke.

He stopped touching the dough and faced her. "Something tells me that you're wrapped up in your own brain. I don't know what it's trying to tell you if it won't let you accept the compliment, but you know me, princess. I try not to say things just for the sake of saying things, especially when it comes to talking to you."

Marinette was still not prepared for his sincerity, evident in the fact that she looked at the dough sitting on the counter instead of looking at the superhero less than a meter away from her. "If you pan talk about what's going on with you right now, I'm happy to be here if you knead someone to listen. If you can't, though, I'm naan trying to pressure you."

She leaned up on her toes to give Chat a quick, thankful, kiss on his cheek. He felt his heart rate speed up a little bit and turned away from her to get back to working the dough on the counter.

"Thank you, minou," she practically whispered, "you always know just what to spray." Marinette picked up the non-stick spray and started spraying the baking sheet that they would be using to cook the bread Chat was kneading.


Words used as puns in order: need, no, doing, roll, adorable, sorry, do, don't, cross, matters, sweet, hasty, rise, can, need, not, say