Chapter 6: Homework Help
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Marinette's POV...
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"Just ask Adrien to help, Marinette!" Alya whispered as she nudged me so hard I nearly fell off my chair. Wouldn't be the first time. I'm not even going to get into that.
I was staring at my blank homework sheet. Why am I so bad at science? I generally don't understand it. Adrien on the other hand gets straight A's. I generally don't understand that either.
"What if he says no?" I whispered back. Alya rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Adrien!" She yelled. My eyes widened and my face heated up.
"Alya! No!" I hissed. But Adrien was already walking over.
"Yeah?" He spoke, his voice as charming as ever.
"Marinette needs some help on the science homework. Mind getting together after school to help her out?" Alya spoke, nudging me back to reality so hard I flinched. I smiled awkwardly and giggled. Adrien smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, sure. My schedule is clear. I'll text you, Marinette."
I am so screwed.
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I spent the thirty minutes I had when I got home from school clearing my room of all 43 pictures (and counting) of Adrien Agreste and anything even remotely embarrassing. Then my phone chimed at my desk.
Should I come over now?
I eeped as I scrambled to catch my phone. It was like it just leaped from my hands. Tikki giggled at me from my desk, where she was happily eating a cookie I had snuck from Maman and Papa's bakery. I took a breath and began to type.
Should I come over now?
Yeah, sure! Anytime is
okay with me.
I nearly screamed when he replied with a simple, "okay."
The next ten minutes felt like ten hours until Maman finally called that I had company. I yelled back for her to send them up.
Adrien emerged from the trapdoor in my bedroom, his ever so charming smile on his face as always. Dammit I was already blushing. Hopefully I'm able to speak creaky enough for him to understand me. But I think we all know that's not happening.
"So..." I spoke awkwardly. God, what was I doing? Maybe I should just pretend to loose my voice and not talk at all. That'd be better then what ever comes out of my mouth moving forward. Adrien set down his bag on my desk and pulled out a folder.
"It's science you are struggling with, right?" Adrien spoke, lifting his head to look over at me. Jesus, his eyes were gorgeous.
Focus, Marinette!
I cleared my throat and nodded. "Ye-Yeah! I'm n-n-not the smart-smartest when i-it comes t-to sc-science."
That stupid stammer.
Adrien just chuckled a little and shook his head silently, making me turn even pinker.
"You're a smart girl, Marinette," Adrien spoke as he looked right into my face, making eye contact that was so strangely amazing I almost thought this was a dream. "You'll figure it out. I know you will."
DID HE JUST COMPLIMENT ME!?!?!?
I sucked in a quiet breath. I made a mental note to squeal to Ayla about that later.
"Should we get to work?" Adrien asked, breaking me out of my thoughts. I cleared my throat for a second time and nodded.
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Me and Adrien stayed studying for about 45 minutes until I got frustrated. Like, badly.
"I'm so lost," I mumbled, staring at the blank sheet of paper. "I just don't understand."
I actually had forgotten who I was with for a moment and nearly started to cry out of frustration. But this wasn't Ayla or Cat Noir. It was the love of my life (and hopefully future husband) and I couldn't cry in front of him.
Adrien pressed his lips into a line.
"Hey, how about a break?" Adrien spoke. I nearly flinched when I felt a hand on my back. No way. I lifted my head to look at him, knowing damn well that my face was redder than a tomato. He had on the softest smile. I felt light-headed. But in a good way?
"Marinette?"
Crap I wasn't responding. I was just staring at him like a weirdo!
"S-Sorry!" I eeped. Jesus, I'm such a dork. I've really got to get ahold of myself. "Yeah, a-a break wo-would be-be nice..!"
Adrien just smiled wider and nodded. I saw a hint of amusement flicker in his eyes. Was he laughing at my stutter? And was it in a good or bad way? Okay, now I've REALLY got to stop that stuttering for good.
Adrien stood and held out his hand for me to take. I did not think my face could get hotter, yet, here we are. Adrien laughed a little after I just stared at his hand for a moment, making me mentally cringe. I've got to stop daydreaming. I'll add that to my To-Do List.
"I don't bite. I just want to show you something." Adrien spoke. His voice was soft and smooth. Like honey. It also had a hint of flirting.
Wait.
FLIRTING? LIKE AS IN FLIRTING!?!?!
Crap I need to say something. But since I couldn't I just nodded my head and placed my shaking hand over his open palm. He laced his fingers through my mine. His hand was warm while mine was cool.
A strange but fitting combination.
He pulled me towards my trapdoor and pulled in open. He nodded his head, gesturing for me to go down first. Holy crap, he's a gentleman. A very, very, very charming and handsome and gorgeous gentleman.
I went down the steps carefully. I think everyone knows by now that of course I'm naturally clumsy, but it gets 10x worse when I'm around Adrien.
I waited at the bottom of the steps for Adrien. I didn't think he'd take my hand again, but he did! And he didn't let go until we reached my kitchen! I really hope Tikki was catching all of this cause I don't think I'd be able to tell the story without doing a backflip out of happiness or something.
"S-So... what a-are we doing?" I asked. Woah, I barely stuttered! Baby steps.
Adrien's smile showed he had just held back a laugh. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WAS HE LAUGHING AT ME IN A GOOD OR BAD WAY!?!?!?
Okay, Marinette, you are officially losing it.
"I thought we could bake something?" Adrien spoke. "You, and your parents, are always the ones baking things for others. So I thought I could bake you something. And your parents, if that's okay?"
Oh, my God he was so sweet and thoughtful and considerate and kind and- ..I'm spiraling.
I nodded. "Yeah. Th-that'd be nice, actually. I-I didn't know you knew how to bake."
Adrien smile and began to pull things out of the cabinets. Of course, I had to inform him where things were. Soon enough, all the ingredients we needed were set out on the counter in front of us.
"I mean, I definitely don't know how to bake as well as you or your parents. But this is one of the few things I know." Adrien spoke as he set a bowl and a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners in them out in front of him. He moved over to the own and preheated it to 350F.
He then rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and handed me an apron, also taking one for himself. I didn't think we need aprons to make cupcakes. I raised an eyebrow. He laughed.
"I think we all know how clumsy Marinette Dupain-Cheng is. Just making sure your pretty outfit doesn't get covered in a mess." He said as he slipped on his apron. I felt the heat rush to my cheek. Pretty!?!? No way!!
I giggled a little at his comment as I slipped the apron over my head, reaching for the strings to tie it around my back. But before I could grab ahold of them, another pair of hands already had.
I've got to be dreaming at this point.
Adrien tied the apron around my back before stepping out from behind me. He smiled before moving over to the counter. I took a quiet deep breath (or maybe perchance six of them) before stepping up next to his side to join him.
"So, what's first?" I asked, placing my hands on the counter top. Adrien dumped 1 1/2 of flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt into the medium-sized bowl before whisking it all together. He set that aside.
"Could you get me a large bowl, please?" Adrien spoke as he wiped up some spilled flour. I nodded and went on my tiptoes, opening a cabinet and pulling out a white large plastic bowl and handing it off to him.
Adrien dumped 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1/2 cup of unsalted softened butter before putting the bowl under an electric mixer and used that to beat it until it was light and fluffy.
"Do you want me to help at all?" I asked, slightly hesitant. I didn't want to mess anything up, but I also didn't want to just hover behind him like a little creep.
Adrien smiled. "Sure, if you'd like. Go ahead and add the two eggs into this." He said as he handed me the large bowl out of under the electric mixer. "Do each egg one at a time, and beat well after each addition. Can you do it?"
I smiled. "Piece of cake."
I did exactly as he said, being more careful than I usually am when baking. I definitely did NOT want to mess up Adrien's cupcakes. Then he'd hate me and we'd never have three kids and a hamster and- ..okay I better stop now and focus on the baking.
"What's that?" I asked as Adrien poured something into the large bowl I had just added two eggs into. I didn't remember all of the ingredients we had put out for the cupcakes.
"Almond extract." Adrien spoke as he stirred. "It's the special ingredient. It brings out the flavor."
After that he gradually added those ingredients from the large bowl into the medium-sized one he set to the side earlier, alternating with the milk. He began and ended with the dry ingredients from the medium-sized bowl. He mixed until they just combined. After he dived the batter evenly amount the cupcake liners, filling them each about 2/3's full. Then he slid it into the oven.
"Okay. Now we wait about 20 minutes for those to bake. Then we can add frosting." Adrien spoke, dusting off his hands.
"You know how to make frosting?" I asked. How did I not know that the boy I was utterly obsessed with knew as much as I did about baking?
Adrien smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Actually... I was hoping you knew how. I'm not entirely sure how."
I smiled a little. He was adorable like this.
Not the time Marinette!!
"Of course I know how. What flavor would you like?" I asked as I stepped in front of him.
"Chocolate?" Adrien asked. I smiled and nodded. And in just around 5-10 minutes I had finished making the frosting. Chocolate, just like Adrien had asked for.
"Woah," Adrien spoke. "You really are amazing, Marinette." He squeezed some frosting onto his pointer finger before putting it into his mouth. "This is delicious. It will go perfect with the cupcakes."
I smiled. HE COMPLIMENTED ME!!! "Thanks. I'm excited to see how the cupcakes taste with that almond extract. I've never heard of that before."
"Yeah. It's my mom's recipe. She taught me when I was little." Adrien spoke, folding his arms across his chest and leaning his back against the counter.
I smiled at the thought of a smaller version of Adrien making cupcakes with his mom. I still had yet to meet his mom. I've only seen photos before she went into that coma. I hope her and Adrien are close now. And from what I've heard from Nino, they are.
"That's sweet. I baked with my Maman and papa all the time when I was little. What's your mom like?" I asked, generally curious. Usually I just ask questions to not make it awkward, but now I was actually curious.
"She's very sweet. She'd really like you, Marinette. I think you should definitely meet her sometime. Maybe next time we study at my place. Even if I do love your parent's macaroons." Adrien spoke, a found look on his face. No way, no way, no way! Did he just basically ask to hangout again?!
I giggled. "Yeah, papa's macaroons are pretty great. But I would love to meet your mom. She seems great, Adrien."
The oven dinged. Had it really been 20 minutes already? Adrien opened the oven and pulled out the cupcakes, placing the hot tray on the counter.
"Careful," Adrien warned as he took off the oven mitts. "Tray's hot."
I nodded and picked up the frosting. I swirled the dark chocolatey brown frosting on top of the vanilla cupcake tops. I felt Adrien's gaze on me, but I did my best to ignore it and focus on the job at hand. If my brain registered that Adrien was looking at me, it'd short-circuit.
Wouldn't be the first time, if I'm being honest.
"Okay, on the count of three, we both take a bite. Got it?" I spoke, already smiling. I don't think I've stopped since he stepped through the door. Adrien smiled and nodded.
"Three... two... one!"
We both sunk our mouths into the cupcakes. I hummed at the flavor. It was amazing. Adrien laughed at my expression.
"Amazing, right?" He asked. I nodded.
"It's better than that! Your mom is a genius for that almond extract." I said. Adrien smiled and brought his hand up to my mouth, wiping something frosting off the corner of my mouth.
We both froze for a moment, our faces slowly turning red. Then we quickly took a step back and laughed nervously.
"Sorry!" We both yelled at the same time, which just made us laugh. After that we just kept laughing. And I actually was able to function (mostly) normally around him!
After he left, I texted Alya everything:
Me: You won't believe what just
happened!! The study session
turned into a baking thing.
We ended up baking cupcakes
from his mom's recipe!! And he
wiped frosting away from my mouth
for me!! Text me back quick!!
Voice message: 5:08 minutes
Alya: Girl!!! That is definitely way
more than how a "friend" would
act!! I think we've got a crush on
our hands. I'm already texting Nino
my plan. Mission Adrienette is in
motion. (P.S.: "Friends" don't
constantly compliment you!!)
I may or may not be totally screwed right now.
But friends compliment each other all the time. Right?
But... do they do it constantly?