The bell of the Dupain-Cheng's bakery rang, and Marinette quickly shifted her gaze up to the glass door, shooing Tikki under the glass of the counters.

The sun shone from the windows and cast shadows on who other but Adrien Agreste's expression as he walked through with Nino following close behind.

"Adrien!" Marinette yelped with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Adrien scratched the back of his neck. "Just hoping to get something to eat away from home."

Nino shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Translation; his dad is going crazy and we want some cookies."

Mari's eyes widened as she nodded with a smile. "Of course, we have plenty. What kind, mm?"

Nino stepped up to the counter. "One of each. Please. I'm hungry."

Marinette shifted before disappearing into the back kitchen to grab the cookies.

Adrien sat down at a table and stared at the glass counters filled with breads of all shapes and kinds. His dad was freaking out again, something had gone wrong in business and Adrien, well, Chat Noir, had come home at midnight through the front window.

He stared at the bread until he he saw a small face peek out from behind the bread.

Tiny and pink with black spots.

Was that a kwami?

It was squashed between two slices of rye, almost like a kwami sandwich.

Plagg peeked out from his shirt. "That's Tikki!"

Adrien pushed him back into the breast pocket on his jacket and looked at Nino, still pouring down at the pies.

"Tikki?" He whispered. "That's- ladybugs kwami, right?!"

Plagg nodded, and Adrien pushed him back into his pocket, looking back at the counter. Tikki was gone.

Could Marinette be Ladybug? There's no way- but yet it made sense in some ways.

Marinette soon arrived with two plates of cookies, pushing backwards through the door, and laid them on the table. Adrien handed her his debit card and she stepped back behind the counter to ring them up.

"So Marinette, you don't work down here very often," Nino started with a mouthful of cookie. "Why is today any different?"

"Ah- mom and dad are on a delivery. I'm just watching the store for a few hours." She replied, picking up a cloth to wipe down the counter.

Adrien picked up a cookie. "Tell your parents they are amazing. These treats are always so wonderful."

Marinette gave a warm smile and nodded.

"Come join us," he offered, pulling out another chair at the table.

Marinette felt a blush growing up her cheeks but she slipped into the chair beside them, picking up another cookie and taking a nibble.

They talked for a long while until her parents came back and all that was left was crumbs on the plate, and Marinette waved a goodbye as they disappeared out the door.

When she finally climbed up to her room, the first worried words that were out of her mouth was "Tikki! Did anyone see you?!"

Tikki shook her head. "Don't worry about it! I hid just in time. It's going to be alright!"

Despite the near found Tikki, Marinette plopped onto her bed with a sigh.

"That was nice. How long did I talk to Adrien this time? An hour and a half was it?"

"And you only stuttered five times!" Tikki added cheerfully.

"He's so sweet. Sometimes I don't think he ever deserves to be the son of Mr. Agreste. He seems to be so unkind, unlike his son."

"I'm sure Adrien is fine. His father may not be the best, but soon, he will be free and on his own. Don't worry about him too much."

Marinette gave a sigh and flicked off the light, snuggling into bed and burying her nose in the pillow.

"Goodnight, Tikki."

"Goodnight, Mari!"

A/N: Sorry it's so short for the first chapter- feeling very tired tonight, but yeah, this is basically going to be a fic where Adrien finds out who ladybug is but Mari dosent know until later on. Hope you enjoy, thanks for reading and any feedback would be appreciated! 3