Stuck In A Bakery (With You), Chapter 8
Once the room was silent and Adrien's descending footsteps could no longer be heard, Tikki floated over to Marinette's side.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked Marinette, very quietly.
"I thought that I knew where my feelings were at," replied Marinette, just as quietly. "I thought I had it under control now."
Tikki fluttered down onto her knee, allowing her to continue.
"I watched him fall for Kagami. I watched her kiss him, I saw them sitting together all cozy with their ice cream. I know that they're together now," said Marinette. "And I'm happy for both of them. They both so need a little bit of joy in their lives. They're from the same kinds of worlds. They understand each other."
"If this is about Chloé sticking her nose up about your parents running a bakery..." suggested Tikki.
"It's not that," answered Marinette, with a hint of a sniffle in her voice. "Chloé is Chloé. Like I told him, I'm used to her being a bitch. And I know that Adrien never thinks of me that way. He's not... on safari, going to school with common folk; he's a normal person deep down. Such a good person."
"...I could just choke Alya right now," she continued. "She just stirred everything right back up."
"Why, because the class knows that Adrien is staying here?" Tikki wondered. "He was right there next to you on the couch when you set up the call. You were going to tell them yourself, right?"
"Sure. But the way Alya shoved it out there, talking about our 'love nest,' about our 'shacking up...'"
"Nobody thinks that Adrien is here for some kind of tawdry hook-up," insisted Tikki. "I think that everyone knows better than to think that."
"It just threw me right back into how I was all year long, when everyone else knew how I wanted him so badly but that I couldn't tell him that. And then the way that he defended me, those big green eyes looking down at me, those sweet things that he said... it reminded me of why I did. Why I still do," lamented Marinette.
"It put the dream back into my head. And I hate that now it's back... when I know better."
Adrien flopped down onto the guest bed in his room, looking visibly troubled.
And we're right back to our disconnect, he moped. Damn it - everything here was going SO WELL! I felt like Marinette and I had broken through all the awkwardness between us. That we were on the brink of something special, something unique between us! And now...
Arrrrgh! his brain growled. I just HAVE to figure this out. Something set Marinette off just now, and really shook her up. What was it?
It wasn't Chloé's insult in and of itself. Like she said, she's used to Chloé's attitude problem by now. We all are. I'll give Chloé a piece of my mind later, but right now just isn't the time for that.
THINK, Adrien. What was it that she said to you?
"Half our class thinks that I kidnapped you to throw myself at you, I guess."
Adrien stared up at the ceiling, processing that.
Something about... that. Something about that idea bothers her so much.
That other people think that she's got a crush on me. Or that I think that.
This is three times now that I've seen her get all shaky about that concept; once on that day at her locker, after Jagged's TV show aired and I asked her directly. Again that day in the wax museum, and I'm STILL trying to figure out some of how THAT ended up! And now, today... and it really bothered her that it came up in conversation with everyone.
Why does that bother her so much?
"Do you know better?" asked Tikki. "Has Adrien ever told you that he isn't interested in you? Or that he wouldn't like it if you liked him that way?"
"Has he ever shown me any signs that he's wanted to be more than good friends?" countered Marinette. "Has he ever asked me out, or invited me to his house, or, I don't know, not started up a relationship with someone else knowing that I was right there?"
"I could say the same, Marinette. Have you ever asked him out on a real date? Told him that you want to be more than friends? You've told him a couple of times that you didn't," Tikki argued. "It's hard for me to blame him if he's taking you at your own word."
"I know," Marinette sulked. "And you know that I have tried. In a Valentine, in a letter, in a slow dance with him, in birthday gifts, in a lot of ways."
"Just not in your own words, heart-to-heart, eye-to-eye," said Tikki. "And maybe that's what he would need to hear to understand it better."
"Not right now, he doesn't need that," Marinette replied. "He's dating someone else now. He's stuck in this house with me until God knows when; all we need is for me to blurt out something stupid and make things totally awkward between us! He'd drive himself to the airport to go stay with those relatives."
"I'm not saying 'go down right now and dive on him,' Marinette," chided Tikki. "I agree with you, it's a delicate situation on a lot of levels. And if close friends with him is what you feel you need to be right now, for your sake and for his and for Kagami's, that's never a bad thing to be."
Tikki fluttered up towards Marinette's face. "But you are communicating so much better with him now. Better than you ever have before. So, I'm just saying... maybe the two of you should try communicating sometime soon, about something very important to both of you."
"I'm just going to hurt him if I bring it up," Marinette sighed. "I should leave it alone. Now, especially, while we're stuck with each other and Kagami can't be here to defend herself."
"Defend herself from what? From Adrien caring for you and her? I'll give you a little hint; I think that she knows that already," Tikki said, flatly. "But what I'm saying is, you're trusting Adrien to make the right decision... but he doesn't have all the information he needs to do that. And that's been true all year long."
"I don't know, Tikki, I... I'm scared," admitted Marinette. "And I don't know the right thing to do."
"You saw his face just now. Any time that you're troubled, he's troubled. He thinks the world of you, Marinette," counseled Tikki. "So, one way or another, as just a friend or as maybe something more... you need to reach out."
"Plagg?" whispered Adrien. "Can I ask you something?"
The Kwami floated up to Adrien's side. "Sure, go ahead," he offered. "I'm a little weak from hunger, but I'm listening."
Adrien gave Plagg a perturbed look. "Look, we're in quarantine right now," Adrien argued. "I can't just run down to the nearest cheese shop and fill the Dupain-Chengs' fridge with Camembert."
"What's stopping you? Sneaking out is something you're good at," Plagg grumbled. "But, fine... I'll limp through another day or two of cookies before I fall over."
"Enough, okay?" said Adrien. "I need your advice. Why would it bother Marinette so much that people thought that she had a crush on me?"
Plagg froze in place. "That's what you want to know now?" he marveled. "Finally?"
"Yeah," mused Adrien. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with me, right? I like to think that I'm a nice person, that I'm a good friend, that I'm not terribly hard on the eyes... that I would at least be someone interesting to spend time with. And she does seem to enjoy my company almost all of the time that I'm near her."
"Nah, it's not anything like that, I'm sure. You can see it in her eyes every time she talks to you. She really likes you, Adrien," hinted Plagg, with the subtlety of a thrown brick. "I mean, really likes you."
"And I really like her. A little more every single day since I met her," Adrien smiled. "But we just keep hitting this bump in the road and lurching backwards, and I don't understand why."
He pondered the puzzle for a moment. "You don't think it's that she... isn't into boys in general, do you?" ventured Adrien, tentatively.
Plagg let out a huge laugh. "No... I don't think that's it," he cackled. "Not that it would be bad if she was, but... just, no. It's not that."
"And she doesn't have a boyfriend already. I'm pretty sure that she would've mentioned it if she'd had one all along; Alya certainly would've," continued Adrien. "Or Nino. Or all the classmates who seem to think Marinette and I would be a perfect match. Everyone seems to think that except for Marinette... and me, I guess."
"You guess?" wondered Plagg. "You're not sure?" You're so close, Adrien, he thought. Keep going!
Adrien stared back at Plagg. "I hadn't... well... ever really thought that hard about it," he conceded. "Not while I'm in love with Ladybug. And Ladybug gets so upset when I don't take 'no' for a final answer from her... so I do want to take Marinette's 'no' seriously. Especially now that she's said it twice."
"Ah, well..." muttered Plagg. "Look at it this way. She's said that twice... right after she had a big, public, embarrassing shock. They showed your pictures on her wall live on TV, and you were right there in her face, asking her about them. The whole thing with the statue; you saw how shaken up she was when you startled her then. Have you ever asked her about it when she's not all emotionally charged up?"
"Which means that I shouldn't ask her now," Adrien considered. "I saw her face up there. She wasn't looking happy at all."
"You don't have to rush it. You're going to be here a while, I'll bet," Plagg replied, "and even if you aren't, you'll see her every day at school once you go back. You can come and visit her here, like you have been. The right time to ask will jump out at you, eventually."
"If I should ask at all," pondered Adrien. "Or I could just shelve the subject and not risk upsetting her again."
"You do what you think you need to do," Plagg said. "But what I think is - oop!"
Approaching footsteps stopped him in mid-sentence, and he dove straight through the bed and out of sight.
Marinette stepped forward and knocked gently on the open door. "Hey," she greeted him.
"Hi," Adrien replied. "Please, come in," he asked, sitting up and patting a space next to him on the guest bed.
She stepped into the room and sat down beside him. Adrien was glad to see that her mood had improved somewhat, but still felt as if he was walking on eggshells.
"Are you all right?" he asked, lightly. "I don't mean to push or pry... you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
"No, it's fine, Adrien," Marinette smiled. "I just... I just needed to work through a couple of things in my brain. Things up there can get complicated."
"I want you to know that if you ever do want to talk something out... whatever it is... I'm always listening," soothed Adrien. "And I'll always be interested."
"I know," she breathed... and by instinct, she leaned over against him, her head resting on his shoulder. "You are a wonderful person, Adrien. I'm so glad that I know you."
As if of its own doing, Adrien's arm stretched across her back, supporting her gently.
"...Maybe we can talk one of these nights. Go up on my balcony on a nice night, perhaps," she ventured, "and look at the stars together."
"I would like that very much," answered Adrien. "But for tonight, you'd mentioned a movie downstairs?"
Marinette sat up and gave him a bigger smile. "Yeah," she agreed, "that'd be just right. Shall we?"
The teens headed for the staircase to the main floor of the house, both still feeling a little, indefinable spark in the air.
