Chat Got Your Tongue? | Adrien Agreste Fanfiction

Kung Food

You had gathered in the dining hall of La Grande Paris. There was a camera crew eagerly filming the judge's panel as they were preparing to taste Chef Cheng's soup.

Alec, the host of the show stood in front of one of the camera's speaking into his microphone. "As usual, our panel of gourmets is made up of André Bourgeois, the mayor of Paris and owner of this luxury hotel," the camera panned to Mayor Bourgeois, "his daughter Chloé, representing the younger generation," Chloe blew a kiss to the camera and offered a flirty wink, "hot rockstar Jagged Stone and his killer crocodile, and finally, there's the divine head chef of this very hotel, Marlena Césaire," the camera focused on a woman in a chef's coat who waved at the camera, "and yours truly -- Alec!" 

You leaned over into Adrien's ear, "is that Alya's mom?" He nodded and you grinned. You had eaten her food many times when you lived in the hotel. She was very talented.

Some of the hotel staff brought out bowls of purple soup sit in front of the judges. The broth swirled lavishly, with a purple flower adorning its center. 

"It's time to determine the fate of Cheng Shifu's famous Celestial Soup. Let's get tasting!" The judges all picked up their spoons and swirled their soup around, looking down hungrily as the smell wafted towards their noses. Everyone except Chloe lifted the soup into their mouth.

Chef Cheng watched nervously.

 Without swallowing, Alec spit the soup out onto the table, he wiped his mouth in horror. "What is this!?" 

You put your hands up to your face and gasped in surprise. You had never tasted any of Chef Cheng's cooking, but surely there was a reason he was as esteemed as he was.

"Uh, I don't think this soup would fare well with our guests," Mayor Bourgeois said, trying to be inoffensive. He wiped his face with a napkin. "I'll give it a 3/10." He held up a plate with three black stars on it.

Chloe sneered, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Seeing as it's seem pretty unappetizing, maybe I'll pass on the tasting, but I'll still give it a zero!" She looked directly at Marinette as she lifted her empty plate and smirked, letting her know she had gotten her payback.

"Ech!"  Jagged Stone gagged. "It's like kissing to singer from the Zombeats! Negative zero." He held up an empty plate.

"I'm sorry," Marlena said sympathetically, "but it's inedible. I give it 1/10." She held her plate up, clearly upset at having to give Chef Cheng such a low score.

Chef Cheng stuttered nervously, not sure what to say. He trudged over to where Chloe's untouched soup was sitting. You gave Adrien a nervous look as Chef Cheng approached the panel. He took in a spoonful of the soup and immediately spit it out. "Uch! I don't understand, I never put these ingredients in. It's a mistake. Someone sabotaged soup!"

Your eyes immediately shot over to Chloe, she was still wearing her smug smile. "Something's wrong," you muttered to Adrien and Marinette.

"I'm certain Chloé's got something to do with it," Marinette added.

Adrien frowned, looking at Marinette with knitted eyebrows. "I'd like to say you're wrong, but I know her only too well." He shook his head with disappointment. 

Without saying anything else, Marinette left to talk to her uncle. You stood next to Adrien and watched as Marinette tried to explain everything to her uncle. But he wouldn't hear any of it. He stormed off back into the kitchen. Marinette turned around to look at the two of you, her head low.

"It's horrible to lose face in China," Adrien explained. "We'll wait for him downstairs."

You shook your head. "Something has to be done about this. I'll go see if I can talk to Andre-- I mean Mayor Bourgeois." You squeezed Marinette's shoulder comfortingly. You gave Adrien a quick glance and nodded, signaling for him to watch over Marinette.