Stuck In A Bakery (With You), Chapter 10


"Now can we go down and reopen the bakery?" asked Marinette, once their breakfast plates had been emptied.

"Sure," Tom agreed. "I'll be down in a few minutes. You can find something for Adrien to do down there, right?"

"I will!" Marinette grinned, as the teens flew down the stairs together.

"I'll just bet that she could," quipped Tom, once they were out of earshot. When Sabine raised an eyebrow, he added, "Oh, come on. I know a boy whose eyes are opening wide when I see one. The two of them are bonding at a record pace."

"What about the other girl? Kagami?" wondered Sabine. "There was some wiggle room when he spoke of her the other night... but from what Marinette's told me, she's not so sure, and she doesn't want to become a junior homewrecker." She paused, then added, "They're still schoolchildren after all. A homeroomwrecker."

"He could have told me 'Kagami's my girlfriend' at dinner, when I asked him about her. He didn't. He was sitting right next to our daughter and he left that door open," insisted Tom. "And these are circumstances that none of us could have predicted... but they're together, and they're spending lots of quiet time together, and he has that look about him. I had that look once."

"Oh, I remember it well," Sabine smiled. "Because you still do."


Marinette glanced back at Adrien as she flipped the door sign back to OPEN. "If you think I'm letting you pay rent to stay here with us, you're nuts," she declared. "You're our guest, Mister."

"And you know how much I appreciate that," Adrien answered. "But I am one more mouth for them to feed, and this is just a crazy situation..."

He gave her a sincere look, the earnest wanting-so-much-to-please look that never failed to make Marinette quiver just a little bit. "I need to help. Any way I can."

"How about this?" said Marinette, walking towards him with a smile. "See what you can find back in the kitchen that needs cleaning, okay? When Papa gets down here, he'll find something more creative that we can do together."

"Sure! Just throw me in the back where I can't get in any trouble," chuckled Adrien. "I get it."

"I am trying to keep you out of harm's way, like your father and Nathalie want us to," grinned Marinette, stopping a short distance away from him. "Social distancing, they're calling it on the news. A little space between you and the customers that we do get, for your own safety."

"Uh-huh. So they breathe on you instead, and then we all go upstairs and spend time together. Is that really such a big difference?" he argued. "I mean, I am happy to help back there, don't get me wrong! I just think that I'm already as safe as any of us can be, just by being in this house."

"Hmmph. It's not that you're wrong about that... but maybe I need to stay six feet away from you, if that's such a worry," grumped Marinette.

Adrien took another step forward, moving right in front of Marinette, close enough to embrace her if he'd chosen to at that moment.

"Please don't," he told her, in a softer tone. "That's a risk that I'm willing to take."

Marinette stared back, unable to speak...

Heavy footsteps on the stairs broke the mood abruptly. Adrien dashed into the kitchen, winking at Marinette as he did, while Marinette walked quickly behind one of the counters... hoping that her face wouldn't be scarlet when her father entered the room.


After supper, Marinette walked Adrien up to his room, lingering at the doorway. "That was fun today," she smiled at him. "You're a natural with a frosting gun."

"Oh, I just made some pretty designs. You, on the other hand, are an absolute artist!" beamed Adrien. "You're as talented with a piping bag as you are with your drawing pencils."

"Well, I have had a lot of practice," she replied, accepting his compliment graciously. "Papa's had me practicing that since I was a little girl. Back then, of course, they also had to keep me from eating them once I was done."

"Eaten cookies and pastries don't sell very well, I guess," he chuckled.

His face turned more thoughtful after a moment. "Listen," he said, "I hope that I wasn't rude downstairs after breakfast. I know that I need to stay out of harm's way."

"And you weren't wrong in what you said," Marinette told him. "We don't want to baby you, and I hope you don't feel like we are. I know you feel like you get enough of that at home."

"No, not at all! I'm just... I..."

He faltered, and Marinette stepped closer, kneeling down beside him as he sat on the side of his bed. "What is it?" she asked him, lightly.

"Two things," Adrien said. "One is that, well, the way that my father's kept me so confined all this time... especially since my mother disappeared... there are so many times that I've felt like I was locked away in my own house. Like Rapunzel in her tower," he joked, "except with shorter hair."

Marinette's eyes widened with concern, and Adrien followed up quickly. "And that is so not what is happening here... other than what this virus thing is forcing on all of us. None of us can help that. And if I have to be cooped up, and I do... I couldn't ask for better company, Marinette. You and your parents. I'm just... a little sensitive to feeling stir-crazy sometimes, so please pardon me if I get a little cranky. I don't mean to."

"Okay, I get that," agreed Marinette. "You have every reason to feel stressed. We all do! I don't want you to feel like we're stashing you away, keeping you all to ourselves."

Not that I would mind that in a lot of ways, she thought, suppressing a blush. But you're too special not to share with all the world.

"And the other thing is... um... I need to phrase this just right," Adrien continued. "I meant what I said upstairs today; I don't know if I've ever felt more welcomed than I have here. Even though it's just been a couple of days, even though we all know that it's just temporary. Like... there's a sense of peace here, the kind that my house just doesn't have. Like this is a place where I could belong."

"Wow," marveled Marinette. "That's no small compliment."

"No, it isn't," Adrien smiled, "but I mean it just the same. And your parents are amazing... but you are on another level, Marinette. When we've been spending time together here, when we're talking things out like this, I don't even know how to describe it. It's like you're..."

He paused, and Marinette prepared herself. If you say 'the sister I never had' I'm going to smile and then cry and then throw something. Don't you dare. Don't you DARE...

"...someone that I've been looking for for a very long time. The kind of person that I always hoped I'd get to meet someday," he told her.

Oh!

"Don't you make me cry, Adrien," breathed Marinette, feeling overwhelmed. "Don't you even."

"I'm not trying to," said Adrien. "But I just had to say it."

"I'm very, very glad that you think so," she replied, slowly, pretty sure that she was visibly glowing with joy. "I love seeing you happy like this. I really hope that once the quarantine is over, and we're back in school and in our normal lives again... we don't lose this kind of closeness."

"Me, too."


The words JUST KISS ALREADY! swooped through the Dupain-Cheng house once more, diving at both Marinette and Adrien with increased intensity. Once again, their mutual trance kept those words from registering fully... so the words landed in a corner, defeated, but determined to try again when the time was right.

"Hey! I have a surprise for you tonight," declared Marinette, her original train of thought reasserting itself. "Come on up with me?"

"S-sure," gulped Adrien, looking a little surprised.

She led him upstairs to her bedroom, then to the computer. Adrien settled down next to her on the chaise lounge as she clicked an icon, calling up the Scepter Quest game again.

"Aha! Another gaming night?" he smiled.

"Kind of," hinted Marinette. "Okay, I'm logging you in... you're going to go first this time," she added, scooting the keyboard and mouse over to his side of the desk. "Pick your character... yeah, like that. Now send a message to 'ScarletBlade8,' and say hello."

He typed:

[TheRadiantOne] /msg ScarletBlade8 Hello!

A few moments later, a teleport portal appeared by his side and a lady samurai character, dressed in red feudal armor and carrying a wicked-looking katana stepped through it.

In local chat, he saw her speak to him:

[ScarletBlade8] Hello, handsome. I'm so glad to see you!

Adrien stared at that... then at Marinette, who was grinning... then back at the screen. "...Wait," he said, slowly making the connection. "Is that..."

"That's Kagami!" said Marinette, looking pleased. "I messaged her earlier, and she said she'd be interested in trying this out. That way, once you're back home, all three of us can play together sometimes. I don't know if her mother gives her a lot of free time for playing... kind of like your father... but we'll figure it out then."

"Oh, wow!" Adrien marveled. He fiddled with the commands, and made his character face Kagami's and wave and do a happy dance. "But the three of us can't play together if we're sharing one computer here, right?" he added, turning to Marinette once more.

"This is your turn," Marinette assured him. "You've got lots of time with me this week, but I know that Kagami's been missing you, and you've missed her. Go ahead and play and talk with her, okay? I'll be right over here, and I'll take a turn with her at some point, too."

Adrien gave Marinette a look of complete adoration. "You amaze me, you know that?" he managed, as he reached over and took her hand in his for a moment. "Thank you so much for setting this up."

"My pleasure. Now, don't keep her waiting or she might whack you with that sword," smiled Marinette.

She walked a short distance to her computer chair, which was close enough to feel near him but far enough not to seem like she was eavesdropping. With her phone in her hand, she browsed the Internet idly, watching Adrien focus intently on his ongoing conversation.

Something is happening in this house, she thought to herself. I can feel it. And I'm not all the way sure where it's going. But if it's got any chance of going where I wish that it could...

...it's going to happen the right way.

It has to.