Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug.

Kung Food

Adrien was starting to realize that he didn't know Marinette very well. Sure he knew her as his friend from school, and his partner while in battle, but he noticed that he hardly knew what her favorite color was. Therefore, he didn't really know why he had accepted Alya's invitation. Yes, he really wanted to know more about Marinette, but one on one time with her right now seemed, well, painfully awkward.

Be cool Adrien, be cool, Adrien thought to himself as he climbed up the stairs to Marinette's home. Don't freak out. If you freak out, so will she, then everything will be doubly awkward. Adrien knocked softly on the white-ish pink door and put a friendly smile on his face. He heard some crashing noises from the other side of the door, and he was about to let himself in to check if anyone had gotten hurt, when Marinette swung the door open.

"Hey Marinette!"

For a split second Adrien saw the calm Marinette that he had only seen from afar, but she quickly jumped into her normal, flustered self. Her eyes bugged out as her body froze. The only thing that wasn't frozen were her hands. Marinette's hands flew from one side of her face to the other in a nervous flurry of activity. Adrien had always mistaken her nervousness for fear, and he always wondered what he had done, but his brain never failed to whisper cute, cute, cute cute….

"ADRIEN!? What in the-uh- what are you-" Marinette continued to babble, but Adrien decided to step in.

"Alya called me. She said you needed someone who spoke Chinese? Well, here I am!" Adrien swept his arm out dramatically and bowed. "Translator at your service." Still in the bowing position, Adrien widened his eyes and he started to sweat. Shit! Why did I do the bow thing! I'm not Chat Noir right now! Adrien looked at Marinette through his eyelashes to gauge her reaction, but it seemed pretty normal…by Marinette standard.

"No! I mean, yes! Uh, where's Alya?" Marinette had started to twitch (well it's no wonder, she keeps on changing her mind every few seconds), but stopped when her phone beeped. Apparently Alya had texted her news that she would not be coming with Adrien. Marinette smiled nervously and let Adrien in.

"A-Adrien, this is my uncle, Cheng Si-Fu." Marinette nervously introduced the two. Adrien bowed politely and introduced himself in Mandarin. Adrien and Marinette's uncle continued to make polite conversation as the three of them sat on the couch together.

When there was a lapse in conversation, Adrien spoke in French to Marinette. "Hey, uh, when does your uncle need to be at the contest?" Marinette jumped in surprise, and then tried to connect her sentences.

"Uh…we go need, I mean… We need to be there by midnight, no midday."

Adrien looked at his phone and noticed it was a quarter till. "Then we should probably get going."

Marinette looked questioningly at Adrien. "No, we have at least an hour before…" Marinette trailed off as she looked at the clock on the wall. The hands had not moved all morning. Marinette bounced up. "Oh no! We're gonna be late and Cheng Si-Fu won't be allowed into the building and we'll be forced out of the country, and, and…"Adrien put his hand over hers in an attempt to calm her down, instead it just made her more nervous, so Adrien opted for putting his hands on her shoulders to steady her.

"Marinette, we're not going to be late. We have enough time-"

Marinette cut him off. "But we have to walk all the way there and..."

"Mari, my bodyguard is still here. He can drive us. Alright?" Marinette blushed with embarrassment and nodded meekly. Adrien gave her a reassuring smile while he motioned to Cheng Si-Fu for him to join them. With Adrien in the lead, everyone headed off to the competition.

000

"This isn't right, and I'm certain Chloe's got something to do with it." Marinette glared at Chloe's receding figure.

Adrien nodded in agreement. "I'd like to say you're wrong, but I know her only too well." Adrien had known Chloe since they were both still in diapers, and he had seen the spoiled little girl she became. It had not been a pleasant sight. Once upon a time, Chloe had been the nicest little girl, but that was before they both lost their mothers. Life had been simple when each of their families had been whole. It looked like grief took a different toll on each person.

Adrien followed Marinette and helped her try to console her uncle, but Cheng Si-Fu sadly just looked away, repeating "I shall never be 'World's Greatest Chef.'" Marinette was about to follow her uncle to the kitchens, but Adrien held her back.

"It's horrible to lose, especially as the face of China. We need to give him time. We'll wait for him downstairs." With only a little pull of her arm did Adrien get Marinette to follow him downstairs. It was a quiet trip down, and sort of awkward in Adrien's opinion. Hmmm, maybe I should try to get her mind off of her uncle. Today was supposed to be fun. Mari and Adrien settled themselves near a large bouquet of roses in the front lobby, and they shared a bench in front of it. Even though Marinette was a little distracted, Adrien could tell that she was still nervous around him. Adrien bounced his knee up and down, contemplating what he should say, then it came to him.

"What's your favorite color?" Adrien asked hurriedly. Marinette broke out of her trance-like state and turned her head towards him.

"What did you say?" Up and down went Adrien's knee. She didn't hear me.

"Uhh, I was just wondering what your favorite color was."

"Why?" Marinette tried to keep her composure as she was talking to him so she wouldn't blow up in excitement… and Adrien could tell. Let's just say it was his cat instincts that told him.

"Well, I was thinking earlier today about how I hardly knew you, and well it's pretty ridiculous isn't it? You're one of my best friends, and I don't even know your favorite color. Purr-ty funny isn't it?" Adrien held a hopefully nice smile. He hoped Marinette wouldn't cave in like she did while she was in the suit. He really did want to know more about her.

"Yeah, it is kind of funny," Marinette said in a small, shy voice.

"So what is it? What's your favorite color?"

"Pink… no green."

"Ahh!" Adrien faked a scream. Marinette looked at him oddly. Adrien grinned apologetically. "Sorry. What you said reminded me of a Monty Python and the Holy Grail quote."

"I know the quote," Marinette said, offended. "It's one of my favorite movies. I'm actually surprised that you know it."

Adrien laughed. "Please. I've watched that movie so many times, along with the musical Spamalot, that I could quote the whole movie in my sleep, or while dancing the tango."

"Even the subtitles?" Marinette asked,

"Even the subtitles," replied Adrien. "Would you like me to recite them for my lad- I mean Princ- Marinette?" Shit. Thankfully (and miraculously) Marinette didn't notice Adrien's slip up, and begged him to recite a few.

Adrien coughed a little and was about to tell Marinette about some moose and llamas when a camera man was running towards them yelling "Get OUT! Hurry! Get out while you still CAN!"

"It looks like we'll have to get back to our conversation later. We got to find a way out." Adrien made sure Marinette was safe before hurrying away to get dressed in his cat suit. It was time for the main course.

000

Later that night, Adrien's bodyguard drove the three companions back to Marinette's home after a very long and filling day. As Adrien said good night to Marinette she surprisingly brought up Monty Python's Holy Grail again.

"That was really cool to find another person who liked the same kind of jokes that I do. Maybe we could, um… get together sometime to, uh, watch it together… maybe?" Marinette had lost her nerves around Adrien momentarily, and smiled up at him. Adrien's face lit up at the suggestion.

"That would be really cool. I'd really like that. Oh, here's my phone number if you'd like to set up a time for us to do it… uh I mean watch the movie." Sometimes being Chat Noir, or just being around Plagg all the time was giving Adrien a dirty mind.

At taking the phone number form Adrien, Marinette was brought back to her nervous reality and she fumbled around with the slip of paper as she said goodnight. Adrien was just about to leave, but Marinette opened her door again.

"Uh, Adrien, I never got around to asking you, but what is your favorite color?"

Adrien turned his head and smiled over his shoulder. "My favorite color is bluebell…like your eyes." Marinette's face erupted into a red, and burning balloon.

So cute! Adrien thought to himself. She is so adorable when she is blushing.

Hey Readers! Hope you guys liked another long chapter. As always, it was really fun to write lovesick Adrien and Marinette. I think this will be my last chapter for a while because I'm losing some creativity for this story. So I'm going to take a four-ish day break to get my creativity back, but don't worry I'll finish this story, I'm not done with it yet. Happy Bastille Day to those people celebrating it in France, but I hope you are staying safe. RIP to those dead in the tragedy. My next chapter will be about The Gamer episode. And until I see you again, TTFN!