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Pots and pans banging on the countertops, flour flying in the air, and the spice drawer is in complete disarray.
Adrien exchanges a look with Nathalie, hoping she has some answers, but she looks just as perplexed as Adrien feels.
“Adrien!” Amelie beams. “Come, come, help us out!”
Adrien very much does not want to go help her out. He’s heard the stories about Amelie’s cooking and he just knows things won’t go any better this time around. “Even Felix is helping, you must join us,” Amelie insists.
Sure enough, Felix is glowering there beside her, but the effect is dulled somewhat, considering the flowery apron he has on along with the big poofy chef’s hat.
Adrien can’t help but snort looking at his cousin, having to bite his lip to keep from bursting out into laughter. It turns into more of a cough as he struggles to get himself under control.
Felix’s glower intensifies, the promise of death clear. Adrien ignores him, pretending to look over at Amelie, who is beckoning him closer, to discreetly pull out his phone and snap a picture.
He admits it’s late but he finally has Kagami’s Christmas present—one that should certainly have him winning major friendship points with her, he thinks privately. With that little piece of business taken care of, Adrien walks over to Amelie, who immediately wraps an arm around him.
“Adrien! It’s so good of you to join us!” She twists her head to look at Nathalie, a playful smirk on her lips. “You too, sweetie. Get over here,” she commands.
Nathalie hesitates, before shaking her head. “I’m really no use in the kitchen,” she replies smoothly. Adrien gapes at her, surely she isn’t planning on just leaving him in this chaos, is she? “It’d be best if I sit this one out,” she finishes.
Outrage sparks in his chest. Adrien has never been more betrayed in his life.
“I’d like you to stay,” he pipes up, refusing to let Nathalie slip out of there unscathed.
Nathalie stares at him for a long time, before reaching up to shift her glasses. “Like I said—” Amelie interrupts her by grabbing her hand and pulling her along, crowding her into Adrien and Felix, until they are all clustered together around the island.
“I’m no good either,” Amelie informs her cheerfully. She tilts her head to peek up at Nathalie. “Let’s be no good together, hmm?”
Nathalie blinks, mouth opening and falling closed without a single word escaping her lips. With a defeated sigh, she nods, acquiescing to Amelie’s wishes.
“What are we making?” she inquires instead. The countertop is full of ingredients: bananas, lemons, almonds, yogurt, and more. Adrien can see why she’s curious, if he didn’t already know, he’d be surprised by the strange collection of items as well.
“Cookies,” Amelie chirps.
Huh? Confusion swirls in Adrien’s chest, the word cookies jamming into his brain like a puzzle piece being forced into the wrong puzzle. It just doesn’t fit.
“Just about every kind you can imagine, really. Felix and I love baking together, and Christmas is the just occasion for us to let our sweet tooths run wild,” Amelie laughs.
And that’s fine, it isn’t that he hates cookies or anything, but what about figgy pudding?
He doesn’t realize he’s said it out loud until Felix is laughing. “Come off it, nobody likes figgy pudding. We quit making that years ago.”
“Young man, I will have you know, figgy pudding is a delight!”
“Fine, maybe some figgy pudding out there is good. But none that we’ve ever made,” Felix teases his mother who laughs and nods. Watching them makes Adrien feel uncomfortable; he trains his gaze on Nathalie instead, trying to decipher what that look in her eyes means as she stares at Amelie.
“After the last few disasters, we called it quits,” Amelie explains, turning back to Nathalie and Adrien. “It’s just too difficult for us to make. So, we stick with cookies.”
“Understandable,” Nathalie nods. There is a serenity on her face that Adrien hasn’t seen in a long time, certainly one that wasn’t there the last time they were both in this kitchen, eating the pancakes his father had made for them. “How can I help?”
His stomach twists at Nathalie’s easy acceptance of things, as if changing figgy pudding out for cookies is no big deal to her. As if a substitute will make up for what’s missing. At the very thought, an unpleasant taste settles in his mouth.
Is this really happening? No further discussion, they were just going to move past this? Is he really going to have Christmas without figgy pudding? No, he can’t accept this.
“Maybe we could try making it anyway?” Adrien pushes. “We have all the ingredients right here.”
“Except the figs,” Felix points out dryly.
Adrien’s face burns at that. He wants to tell Felix that he’d seen the oranges and almonds and had assumed they had all the ingredients for figgy pudding, but his throat has gone dry. An amused smirk appears on Felix’s face and Adrien wishes the ground would swallow him whole, so he wouldn’t have to look at it.
“Or breadcrumbs,” Amelie adds in, looking apologetic. “Perhaps next time, honey.” She rubs his shoulders, making Adrien feel that much worse. It isn’t her fault they didn’t have all the items needed for figgy pudding.
And how he’s making her comfort him over something that doesn’t even matter. He wishes he’d never opened his mouth to ask about the stupid dessert.
“Of course,” he chokes out. He feels suffocated, the air no longer reaching his lungs. Worst of all, he can feel his eyes beginning to sting. Adrie needs to get out of here. Clearing his throat, he says, “I, um, forgot my phone! I’ll just go get it!”
Without waiting for a reply, he’s running out of the kitchen, ignoring the way Amelie calls his name or the gaze Felix has pinned on his back.
“Who wants cookies when you can have cheese?” Plagg says dreamily.
“I don’t want cookies,” Adrien replies, watching the Paris skyline from his window. “I wanted figgy pudding.”
He’s feeling the familiar urge to transform into Chat Noir and leave everything he’s feeling behind in this room.
To be free in the night.
He would do it too, but unlike before, people come looking for him at the most unexpected of times. And the last thing he needs is a repeat of last year with everyone looking for him throughout the city.
He doesn’t want to ruin his aunt and cousin’s holiday too.
“Want some Camembert?” Plagg holds out the slice to him, concern shining in his eyes.
Adrien shakes his head, eyes softening as he looks at his kwami. “No, I’m okay. Thank you, Plagg.”
Plagg hesitates before pressing himself against Adrien’s cheek. The comforting gesture makes his heart twinge, a bittersweet sensation enveloping him for reasons he can’t explain.
They stand there for who knows how long, as Adrien tries to get himself under control.
Suddenly, there’s a knock on the door. Plagg darts into the pocket of his shirt, as Adrien turns to see who it is.
Felix.
He’s standing at the entrance to Adrien’s room looking painfully awkward, in a way Adrien hasn’t seen him look in a long time.
“Can I come in?” Felix forces a smile. Adrien silently gestures for him to enter, watching him silently as he does. For a moment, they’re both silent, unable to do anything other than stare at each other.
“I’m sorry,” Felix finally bursts out.
Adrien blinks in surprise. “Sorry? For what?”
Felix scowls at that, giving Adrien the most judgmental look he has ever seen. Adrien frowns, unable to comprehend Felix’s action. This is so odd he doesn’t— “No! Not like that…I just meant…why are you sorry? I’m the one who overreacted.”
“Shut up. No, you didn’t,” Felix says.
“I literally ran out of the kitchen because I couldn’t handle myself,” Adrien replies sardonically.
“You don’t need to apologize for having emotions, Adrien,” Felix says matter of factly.
The statement makes Adrien pause, inhaling sharply. He isn’t…he didn’t mean…
“If the figgy pudding is important to you, it’s important to you. I shouldn’t have been making fun of you for that.”
“You weren’t,” Adrien protests weakly, shutting up when Felix raises an eyebrow at him.
“Don’t make excuses for me, either.”
His shoulders slump. “I used to make figgy pudding with my mom. Even father would indulge in the sweet on Christmas,” he volunteers the information without meaning to, getting lost in the memories once he’s spoken them aloud.
Felix closes his eyes, a frustrated expression settling onto his face. “I am so sorry, Adrien.”
Adrien swallows, forcing his lips into a smile. He’s so sure it comes out just as bitter and twisted as he feels. “It’s okay,” he says softly. “Really,” he adds when Felix gives him another sharp look.
“It just is what it is,” he breathes out, gaze turning back towards the window.
He expects Felix to leave now that he’s said his piece but instead a determined voice cuts through the fog in Adrien’s mind.
“Then let’s change that.” Felix is looking at him with a self-assured confidence. “Come on, I have a surprise for you,” he insists, grabbing Adrien’s arm and pulling him out of the room.
“Felix, I’m…” Adrien sighs. “I’m not really in the mood for anything right now, I’m sorry. I just want to be alone.”
“Just come down for a minute. And then if you still want to, I’ll let you be,” Felix promises.
Adrien stares at Felix, who looks painfully sincere for once. Reluctantly, he bites his tongue and nods, allowing himself to be dragged down the stairs. They’re nearly in the foyer when he sees it, stopping dead, Felix’s broad grin in his peripheral vision.
It’s figgy pudding on a platter.
Even better, Marinette is holding the platter.
“What?” he gasps out, practically floating the rest of the way down. “What are you doing here?” he demands. The last time they’d spoken, Marinette had told him that her grandparents were in town, so she couldn’t see him over the holiday.
“Grandpa and Papa got into a baking contest, so now Nonna and Mama are making them clean up. Thanks to that, they said I could have a few hours to myself…so I came to see you,” she beams at him.
“And…?” Adrien looks down at the figgy pudding she’s holding onto.
The look on Marinette’s face softens further. She lifts her chin to nod at Felix. “Someone sent me a text, letting me know it wouldn’t be Christmas without figgy pudding.”
Adrien stays silent, staring at the figgy pudding. Is it that he didn’t have a hand in making it? Is that what’s missing?
No, that didn’t make sense. There were plenty of times when his father would have him play the piano all night long, leaving him no time to help his mother out in the baking. It would only be at the end of the night, when they would all gather together, cutting into the dessert, enjoying it together—
Oh.
So, that’s what was missing. Adrien is such a fool.
There’s a lump in his throat as he continues to stare at the dessert, Marinette had clearly gone to such lengths to make for him. Felix puts a hand on Adrien’s shoulder, making Adrien glance back at him. The concern is plain to see on his face.
It’s not the same at all. Everything should be wrong. Adrien has never felt more loved. He wraps an arm around both Marinette and Felix. “I love you both, so much,” he confessed, unable to keep his emotions inside of him.
“Same here, cousin,” Felix smiles at him, pulling away almost immediately, instead giving him a friendly bump on his shoulder. Adrien understands; Felix’s care is unconventional but Adrien wouldn’t change a thing about him.
Adrien turns away from him to look down at Marinette, who is looking up at him, eyes glowing with affection. “Love you too,” she promises. Adrien could have looked at her forever in that moment, but they’re interrupted when they hear someone clearing their throat.
Adrien looks behind Marinette to see Kagami giving him a deeply unimpressed look. “Nice of you to notice my existence, Adrien,” she remarks.
A flush crawls over his ears and he chuckles to dispel the awkwardness. “Ahaha, nice to see you too, Kagami.”
She gives him a cool glance before exasperatedly rolling her eyes. “Let’s just get inside.”
Felix shrugs at him, moving over to Marinette to show her where she could put the figgy pudding down and put her coat.
Something sparks at his memory right then, and he glances back at Kagami who still looks mildly annoyed. “I have something that’ll make you forgive me,” he offers.
“I’m listening.”
His mouth twitches as he pulls out his phone.
It’s much later, when they’re sated from the feast Nathalie and Amelie had organized—half home cooked, half takeout— sitting around the table, sipping mugs of hot cocoa that they see the fruits of Adrien’s labour.
“What’s that?” Felix asks sharply, pointing at Kagami’s phone.
The girl in question looks down at her phone and smiles innocently. “My phone,” she answers simply.
“No, no, I mean what’s that on your phone,” Felix clarifies, one eye twitching.
“Oh, that!” Kagami smiles beatifically. “You mean my new screensaver?” She flashes the phone at all of them.
It’s the picture Adrien had taken for her, only it turned out even better than he’d thought, with the chef’s hat falling lopsided on Felix’s head, flour billowing around him.
Marinette bursts into hysterical laughter the second she sees it and Adrien can’t help but crack a grin, carefully watching Felix’s face turn bright red.
“H-h-how did…where did…” he sputters, arm reaching out to grab her phone. Kagami masterfully uses her quick reflexes to pull it out of the way, just in time. Felix clenches his fists looking increasingly frazzled, before realization dawns. He whirls around to point a finger at Adrien.
“You,” he snarls. He steps forwards to presumably rage at Adrien but Marinette barrels over him, demanding that Kagami send her the picture as well.
“No!” Felix protests.
“Our entire class would pay good money to see this,” Marinette pleads. “As their former class rep I have a duty to serve!”
“No one ever needs to see this!” Felix shoots back.
There’s a chime. Marinette glances at her phone, her face lighting up. “Adrien, I love you!” she exclaims, already frantically typing on her phone, no doubt sending it off to all of their friends.
Felix’s mouth falls open. “Betraying me once wasn’t good enough for you?!” he screeches.
Adrien only laughs, clear and loud. “Tis the season! Get in that Christmas spirit!”
Felix sits down miserably, “I hate you. Merry Christmas,” he grumbles. Kagami chooses that moment to hug him, a smitten look overtaking his face immediately.
Adrien smiles, feeling content. It wasn’t the same, no, but seeing the people he loves around him is enough, more than.
“Merry Christmas,” Marinette says softly in his ear, pressing a kiss to his cheek.
He feels like he’s glowing when he looks at her, heart swelling with pure affection. “Merry Christmas.”