Cold Days, Warm Hearts

Chapter 11 - Celebrate

Marinette woke up on Christmas morning to find Adrien already in the bakery kitchen with her father rolling out gingerbread dough that had been pre made the day before and refrigerated. He was dressed in a green jumper under his Christmas apron and was wearing the Santa Hat she had made for him.

"Merry Christmas Princess. I was about to come and wake you." Adrien said cheerily, looking far too fresh for the late night they had. Marinette rubbed her eyes and came over to give him a chaste morning kiss. Her hair was a mess, and she was still in her pajamas, but Adrien thought she looked absolutely adorable.

"What have you been up to?" She asked, looking at all the gingerbread dough.

"Your dad's been showing me how to make gingerbread." Adrien said, kneading the dough on the countertop.

"That's usually my job." Marinette quipped.

"That's what you get for sleeping in Sweetheart." Tom teased her. "You might find yourself replaced."

"I guess we just stayed up a little too long talking after we came home." She blushed slightly remembering how she accidentally told him about her dreams of them being together with the three kids and a hamster. Rather than being put off by it though, Adrien just leaned in and kissed her which in turn turned into a lot of kissing. Not that her parents needed to know about that.

"There she is." Sabine said as she joined everyone else in the kitchen. "Why don't you go and get changed and then you can make your boyfriend some breakfast since he's been working so hard."

Marinette looked over to Adrien who gave her a proud smile and a wink. She still had to pinch herself that Adrien was really her boyfriend...that she was dating Chat Noir. No wonder the sneaky cat was looking so pleased with himself, not that she could blame him. Grabbing some food for the kwamis on her way, Marinette changed into a red turtle neck jumper with long black pants and a festive holly clip in her hair.

She also found on her phone a text from Alya with a link to a news article. True to her word, Felicia kept her promise and waited until morning to post the exclusive news story of Adrien and Marinette's romance. The photos from the markets truly captured how happy they are and she was touched to see so many Parisians had commented messages of support for them.

Returning back down stairs, Marinette watched as her father guided Adrien in rolling out the gingerbread to just the right thickness. "You need to make them just right. Too thick, and they will be too chewy, but too thin and biscuits will be dry and it will break too easily when it's baked."

Adrien nodded his head and Marinette smiled to herself as he poked out his tongue as he concentrated, getting the dough to the right thickness. Tom checked his work and patted him on the back. "That's how it's done, son."

Tom passed Adrien a cookie cutter and Adrien started carefully cutting out the shapes and placing them on a baking tray. He saw Marinette watching him and gave her a smile, losing concentration and one of the legs on a gingerbread man with it.

"Oops." Tom said. "I guess he was feeling a bit crummy." Marinette came into the kitchen and rolled her eyes as Adrien chuckled.

~~~~~

After they shared a Christmas breakfast and iced the gingerbreads ready for later, Adrien and Marinette raced ahead of Tom and Sabine to the Christmas tree, claiming their spots together on the couch. Adrien gave his gifts to Tom and Sabine first that he had bought at the markets. For Sabine he had bought a decorative festive tin with loose leaf Chinese tea and for Tom he had bought handmade embossed wooden rolling pins. Marinette's present he wanted to keep for last.