A/N: ! WARNING ! This is a SEQUEL! If you haven't read my story 'Behind the Mask' I suggest you read that first. There are definitely spoilers!
"Bye mom!" Marinette waved to her mother as she opened the door to the bakery, she was about to leave for school.
"You never leave this early." Mrs. Cheng chuckled. "Especially on a Monday morning." Marinette smiled and closed the door again, walking up to the counter.
"I know, but if I leave now I'll get to spend a few minutes with Adrien before class." The girl smiled at the thought of her first day of school with Adrien as her boyfriend. It was hard to believe that the weekend had started out with her being so sad that Cat Noir had figured out her secret identity. All that sadness she'd felt on Friday afternoon melted away when she found out that her crime fighting partner was in fact her long time crush and that he actually liked her back.
"You really like him a lot don't you?" Marinette's mom teased. Marinette sighed happily and leaned against the counter.
"I really do Mom." Marinette smiled. "I've liked him for such a long time it's hard to believe that we're actually together now."
"He seems like a sweet boy. He was very polite on the phone when he called to ask if you could stay over to finish your project the other day." Mrs. Cheng looked away from her daughter over to the calendar on the wall behind her. "How did your project come out by the way?"
"Umm… we didn't get it back yet." Marinette lied quickly. Of course the real reason she had needed to stay over at Adrien's house was because Ladybug had gotten hurt in the fight against Solar Flare when she fell off the roof.
"Well I'm sure you did great." Mrs. Cheng answered as she scanned the dates in front of her.
"I'm sure we did." Marinette smiled, picking her backpack up again. "I gotta get going to school though... Don't want to be late." She hopped down from the stool at the counter then and made her way back to the door.
"Oh! I almost forgot!" Mrs. Cheng pointed to the calendar on the wall and looked at Marinette. "Your father wanted me to remind you that you're in charge of the bakery tonight while we're away at the baking convention. You'll have to be home right after school because Dad and I will have to leave right away."
"I know. The bakery is in good hands Mom, I promise." The girl smiled as she adjusted her backpack on her shoulders. Her mother smiled.
"I knew we could count on you." She opened the cash register and pulled out some of the money for Marinette. "I'm going to give this to you now so you have emergency money, but you'll get the rest as soon as I go to the bank when we get home."
"I'm not worried about it Mom, I like running the bakery. It's fun!" Marinette smiled, putting the money in her purse. "You know, I was actually wondering if it'd be okay for Adrien to come and keep me company while I frost all the cupcakes and ice the cakes… Mr. Johnson has an order in for a few cakes and one hundred cupcakes that he's picking up first thing in the morning, not to mention all the everyday sweets I need to prepare."
"Well, I don't see why not. I trust you to do the right thing." Mrs. Cheng smiled and went to put two freshly baked croissants in a brown bag for Marinette. "Have a good day at school."
"Thanks Mom." Marinette smiled, waving goodbye as she ran down the street so she would get to school faster. She'd only gotten a block and a half away from her house when she heard a familiar voice calling to her.
"Hey! Do you want a ride?" Adrien called from the window while his car was stopped at a light. His whole face seemed to light up when Marinette turned to look at him.
"That would be great!" Marinette called back to him. Adrien nodded and told his driver to pull over, getting out of the car so he could open the door for Marinette as soon as they were parked.
"My Lady…" He smiled, kissing her hand with a wink, 'My Lady' was something Cat Noir always called Ladybug. Marinette blushed and slid into the car, Adrien followed right after and told his driver they were all set once he closed the door.
"My Mom gave me some croissants from the bakery for us to share…" Marinette told Adrien, holding up the brown bag to show him. "I mean… if you like them… I don't know if you do..." Adrien smiled, covering Marinette's hand with his own to stop her from rambling on nervously.
"I love croissants." He took the bag from her, noticing right away that it was still warm. "Fresh baked?" He asked as he unrolled the bag and split one roll in half.
"Yeah… my Dad gets up early to make them." Marinette explained as she took the half he held out for her. She watched as Adrien took a bite out of his croissant and grinned.
"These are amazing!" He took another bite. "Best in all of Paris!"
"I'm glad you like them." Marinette chuckled, taking a bite of her half then. "If you want, I can show you how to make them. I'm watching the bakery today while my parents are away at a baking convention, they said it'd be okay for you to come over and keep me company… if you want too." She blushed a bit as she waited for his answer.
"I would love nothing more My Lady." Adrien grinned, opening the door once the driver pulled over at the school. "I'll go home during lunch to get a few things, that way I can walk home with you after school." He told her, offering her his hand after she got out of the car.
"Sounds perfect!" She smiled, lacing her fingers comfortably between his as they walked up the stairs. Marinette was too busy thinking about how much fun she and Adrien would be having baking together to notice the stares from their classmates. Nobody besides Marinette's parents knew that Adrien and Marinette were a couple now.
"What is this!?" Alya squealed when the two finally stopped in front of Marinette's locker still hand in hand. Adrien smiled, realizing that this reaction was probably because Alya knew all about Marinette's crush on him.
"I'm just walking my girlfriend to her locker." Adrien told her casually, though the words made his smile grow. Marinette's smile was just as big as Alya took in the sight of them.
"Girlfriend?" Alya giggled, practically bouncing with excitement for her friend. "When did this happen!?"
"On Friday." Marinette answered easily, thinking back to the magical first kiss she and Adrien had shared in her bedroom that day after she'd spilled her second biggest secret to Cat Noir.
"And you didn't think to call your best friend?!" Alya teased. "How did this happen?"
"How did it happen?" Marinette fumbled, she hadn't really thought of what to tell people. She obviously couldn't tell them the truth.
"Marinette told me she liked me when she explained that she was the one who made me my scarf for my birthday." Adrien held up the end of the scarf as if to remind Alya what he was talking about. Marinette breathed a sigh of relief and her smile returned.
"It turns out that Adrien liked me back all this time." She giggled as he pulled her close and kissed the side of her head.
"Aww!" Alya bounced up and down, clapping her hands. "I'm so happy for you two! You're so perfect together!"
"What's all the commotion over here?" Nino asked, coming up to stand beside Alya. He hadn't seen Adrien and Marinette walk in together because he was turning in a late assignment to his teacher.
"Oh nothing." Alya smiled, flipping her hair casually as she tried to contain her excitement. "Adrien and Marinette are a couple now, that's all!"
"Dude!" Nino smiled and punched Adrien's arm playfully, he wasn't as blind to Marinette's crush on Adrien as Adrien himself had been. "That's awesome!"
"I know." Adrien laughed. He was just about to tell Nino all about what happened when the bell rang and the mass rush of students trying to run to their classrooms on time started.
"Aww man." Nino frowned. "I gotta go before I get detention." He sighed. "I'm already in trouble for not passing in a paper on time. Tell me all about this later okay?"
"Yeah." Adrien nodded in agreement as his friend ran off.
"I gotta go too. I have my computer class first and I want to edit some epic pics for the Lady Blog" Alya told them. "You coming Marinette?" She asked, knowing that her friend's classroom was right next door to hers.
"Umm, I'll catch up with you after. I'm going to wait for Adrien to get his things from his locker." She told Alya, who just smiled and nodded before running off down the hall.
"Well that went well." Adrien smiled at Marinette after their friends left. "They seemed to be happy for us." He pointed out as he wrapped his arms around his girlfriend's waist. Marinette smiled and leaned her head against his chest in the now empty hallway.
"I know, but they're not as happy as I am." She smiled.
"I know exactly what you mean." Adrien grinned and tilted her chin up so he could kiss her gently. They were both perfectly content there in each other's arms. They would have stayed there for hours if they hadn't been interrupted.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Chloe yelled, dropping her books all over the floor as she caught sight of Adrien and Marinette. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!" She growled.
A/N: So this was chapter one! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
New chapters will be up as soon as I can get to them with all the school work I have now. Just so you guys know in advance, I do plan on writing a lot more to this story than I did for 'Behind the Mask'. I hope you like the story. Leave me a review if you'd like, it really makes my day!