"Why did you lick that?" Marinette asked, exasperation colouring her voice as she whisked the wooden spoon out of Adrien's hand and moved towards the sink.

"Why not?" Adrien looked at his now empty palm. "It tastes amazing. And I thought you were meant to try the food before you serve it."

Marinette turned on the tap, hastily scrubbing the remnants of cake mixture off the spoon with a soapy cloth and rinsing off the residue. "Well, yes," she agreed, "but not before the food is cooked, and definitely not when the spoon in question is still in use. I know you and Nino are close, but having your saliva as the secret ingredient in his birthday cake might be taking your friendship to the next level."

"I thought we had finished baking?" Adrien turned his back on the now-empty bowls which had previously held the ingredients, leaning against the countertop whilst rubbing his hand, now sticky with a dollop of mixture that had dripped off the spoon onto the side of his thumb, on his apron. "And no need to be jealous, Princess – if I ever leave you for Nino, I promise I'll be honest about it. No sneaky cake ingredients, just the truth." Marinette looked over her shoulder, grinning as she rolled her eyes.

"How kind of you. The chocolate chips still need to be added, chaton."

Adrien spun round, scanning the countertop to see one small bowl still full. "Oh."

"Pour them in while I grab a new spoon; this one will need to dry off."

Adrien carefully took the bowl of the chocolate chips, which had started to melt in the warmth of the kitchen combined with the summer heat, and tipped them into the cake mixture. He heard the drawer slide open and shut again as Marinette grabbed a replacement spoon, and outstretched a hand behind his back as though in a relay race. Marinette pressed the spoon into his waiting hand, and placed a spatula on the counter, before moving to Adrien's side and wrapping her arms around his waist. Instinctively, Adrien responded in kind, pulling her into a one-armed hug as he valiantly attempted to mix in the chocolate chips with a single hand at the same time. The bowl spun slowly as Adrien stirred, causing Marinette to remove an arm from the embrace and hold it steady.

When Adrien had finished mixing, Marinette leaned up to press a kiss against his cheek; the flour dusting her apron clung to the side of Adrien's clothes as she did so, leaving speckles of white on his black t-shirt. "Good job. Now we just need to pour it into the tins and bake it!"

"Excellent. But does that mean I have to stop hugging you?"

"For now, yes."

Adrien let out a sigh, placing his free hand on his heart and taking a step back. "You say it so easily. No wonder I'm leaving you for Nino."

The laugh Marinette let out was music. "Well, at least Alya and I will be able to wallow about the situation together."

"See? There's always a silver lining."

Marinette shook her head with a smile, taking hold of the bowl and moving to where two lined cake tins sat by the oven. "In the meantime, I'll pour the mixture into the tins if you want to get the ingredients for the icing measured out."

Adrien saluted. "Your wish is my command, Princess. But what's the spatula for?"

"That's so you can lick the bowl once I've poured out the mixture, now that we've actually finished baking," Marinette said with a wink. Adrien's face lit up as he snatched up the spatula and held it to his chest with both hands. Both of Marinette's eyebrows shot up, but she couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm.

"Heaven help us when we start making the icing," was her only reply.