His Special Place

Chapter 5

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Part 5!!!

Chat listened to Nino flirt with Alya as he rolled the scraps flat, making sure each discarded piece could be made into a new noodle with a smile on his face. He wanted something like they had, and if he were being honest, he was a little jealous of his friend.

But he shouldn't be greedy right? Someone like him shouldn't be able to get both a home and a relationship overnight. Surely this green feeling in his stomach came for the multiple rejections Ladybug gave him, not because his friend had something he wanted.

Yeah. Jealousy was unbecoming. He was happy for his friend.

"Is that the last of it?" Marinette asked, as Chat smashed the dough with the heel of his hand.

"Should be." Chat said, lifting it up to feed into the rolling machine.

To his surprise, Marinette began to hum to herself as she finished the last of their future meal. He smiled at first, finding it cute, before that chest-wrapping feeling from the trip to the shops seized his chest again, as though his heart were trying to send him a message.

Wait. No.

This wasn't the shop feeling. It was lighter than that. It was a flutter. His heart fluttered watching her hum to herself.

Strange.

Where did he feel this flutter before? It must have been recently, because it was oddly familiar.

"Chat!"

"Hmm?" He lifted his head to meet Marinette's gaze. "Yes?"

"Are you off in meow-meow land? Come on, the water is boiling."

"Aren't we supposed to let the noodles hand for 15 minutes?"

Marinette mocked him as she checked the invisible watch on her wrist. "Close enough!" she joked, taking the ribbons of pasta they made together and throwing them in the now-boiling pot of water. "Now count to 200."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it." She pinched his cheek and gave a playful tug before sauntering off, leaving Chat red faced for some reason.

Why was he so worked up over her today? Chat couldn't figure it out.

Oh, yeah! 200. One, Two, Three--

"Marinette?" Chat called out a few minutes later, not leaving his assigned post at the stove.

"Marinette!"

No response. Hmm. He looked over at the pot, wondering if the noodles were done, before waddling away to find her in a pretty serious match with Nino, battling away on the controller as her character lost health.

There it was again. That flutter.

Chat sucked in a breath. "200!" he yeller, scaring Nino just enough to give Marinette an advantage. She took it, pummeling his game character to the ground and using a finishing combo.

Nice.

"Thanks for the assist." Marinette said, tossing him a wink. "It's time to drain the pasta water."

He held the colander for her and watched in fascination as the noodles drained out. They were certainly different from the box noodles they'd had the night prior. "The sauce is done!" Alya called out from across the kitchen.

"Be right there!" Marinette called back. "Will you butter and salt this for me Chat? I'm going to add the lemon zest to the sauce."

She left before he could answer, and found himself, once again, unsure what to do. "How much butter?" Chat asked aloud to no-one. And how much salt?