Stuck In A Bakery (With You), Chapter 11
Late that night... a young woman felt restless and thoroughly incapable of sleep.
I know that arranging that meeting for them tonight... that was the right thing to do, thought Marinette. It was important for me to do that.
Kagami is my friend. Adrien is her boyfriend. Close enough to that, at least. This wasn't about just helping them talk to each other tonight; they were already doing that, she reasoned. He has his phone. They're talking and messaging and probably blowing kisses at each other every night. And they should be!
This was about showing them both that I understand that they're very close... and that I approve of that. Of them. That I can be their good friend and not get in the way of their relationship.
As happy as Adrien looked when he realized what I'd done... that was SO the right thing. I'm sure of it.
Now I just need to convince myself that it was the right thing for _me_.
Marinette laid back on her pillow, the conversation in Adrien's room echoing in her mind.
What he said to me today... about my being the person that he'd been waiting to meet for so long...
This time, some gentle tears refused to be suppressed.
I've never heard anything so beautiful in all my life, whimpered Marinette. I thought that I was in love with Adrien before... when I was just chasing after him blindly, a schoolgirl with a hopeless crush. When I'd had just a little taste of what he's truly like inside.
But now?
It was a drop of water all that time. Now I think it's an ocean.
I have to keep it under control. I have to be the very best friend he will ever have. That's what he clearly wants to be for me, and as many thousands of times that I've imagined our perfect first kiss... he needs my support right now, not my crush.
His father is at risk again. Nathalie is at risk. His entire family business is at risk; everything they've built and stand for. He's locked down with us, he's upset about being stranded ANYWHERE, and as if he needed even more heartache, just as he finally found his first girlfriend... she's stranded across town and they can't be together.
I hope that what I did helped... and that it didn't feel like me throwing "I'm here and she's THERE" in his face. It didn't seem like it... he looked very happy... but I need to be sure.
This isn't even a choice for me. Adrien needs me to be here for him... as his best friend, as the person he can lean on... and I can't let him down.
She came to a decision, and slipped down from her bed to her bedroom floor. Across the room, Tikki stirred, as Marinette's quiet movement broke what had been complete silence.
"Marinette?" she asked. "Where are you going?"
"I have to check on him," Marinette replied. "I'm being silly... but I can't sleep until I know that he's all right tonight."
Tikki weighed the possibilities in her tiny head. "Then do it... but be quiet, and be careful," she advised. "If your mom or dad catches you sneaking into his room at night, it could raise questions..."
"Right now... I don't care if it does. I know that I'm not going there for that reason... and if it comes to it, I'll tell them that myself."
"Good luck," Tikki smiled.
Bare feet crept down the stairs from Marinette's room very slowly. I don't WANT to have to explain this if I don't have to... she smiled, navigating the known creaky points on the stairs efficiently.
And it's not like I'm coming down in a lacy nightgown, or something like that... these are just my pajamas. He's seen me in them many times now. Even at the movies that one time!
He's not going to see them, anyway, if he's sleeping. I hope that he is.
Adrien's door was closed. Taking a deep breath, Marinette turned the doorknob and slid the door open just a crack... then a tiny bit wider.
Ohhhh...
Adrien was flat on his back, a light bedsheet pulled up over most of his bare chest... eyes closed, with his breathing slow and regular.
Oh, my gosh, Marinette thought, melting inside. I've never seen him sleep before... other than that time on the train, and I was mostly asleep myself when I saw him then. He is absolutely adorable right now.
A warm smile crossed her face. So he managed to relax after all... Good. With everything going on in his life right now, he needs some rest, and he's getting some. I'll just step back and close the-
A quiet voice was heard, unexpectedly.
"You couldn't sleep, either?"
"Eeeeeemmmmmmpph!" Marinette nearly screamed, clapping both hands over her mouth to muffle herself, stumbling slightly.
"Oh, no! Marinette!" whispered Adrien, nearly too loudly as he watched her distress. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you like-"
"It's... it's okay... I'm sorry... I didn't want to..." babbled Marinette.
"Marinette... come in! Please! Come in and close the door," Adrien directed her. "Before anyone else wakes up!"
She did as she'd been asked, catching her breath and shaking visibly.
"Come here, please? Sit by me," said Adrien, sitting up himself and pulling his bedsheet up around his waist. He indicated a spot on the other side of the twin bed, where Marinette sat down, facing him.
"Adrien... oh, boy. I wasn't... sneaking in here to-"
"Of course you weren't," Adrien assured her. "Take a deep breath. Another. Okay. Can you tell me why you did come here, but only when you're ready?"
"Yeah," she breathed. "I'm okay, I am. That was just quite a shock. Okay... I... I was worried about you, with the day you had, hearing about your father and the longer quarantine and what we talked about earlier. I just... I just wanted to peek in and make sure you weren't lying there awake, all worried or upset. And, well... I just found out the hard way that you were still awake."
"Just like how you were lying awake up there, worrying about me?" asked Adrien, grasping her intentions and their implications.
"Something like that," admitted Marinette.
Adrien was silent for a few seconds.
"Now I'm the one saying 'don't make me cry,' Marinette," he managed.
"Really?" she asked him, visibly startled, wondering what he meant by that.
"I'll say it again... you amaze me, Marinette. In the very best way," he told her, sounding emotional. "I have never met anyone in my life with a heart as big as yours. Not even Ladybug."
She blinked at that, looking rather surprised... and Adrien realized quickly that those last three words probably shouldn't have slipped out.
"Not that I know Ladybug all that well... like, I don't have her number, or anything..." he backpedaled, frantically. Not that I'm Chat Noir. Nope. Not at all.
"I'll still take that as a massive compliment," she stammered, still a bit nervous.
"And no one, except maybe my mother... has ever cared for me the way that you do." Adrien swallowed hard. "In fact... I... wonder if..."
...as deep as your feelings seem to run...
...if you might be falling for me...
...like I think I might be for...
NO! Think, Adrien! he ordered himself. Remember what Plagg told you! You just startled the life out of her and she's all emotional now. When she was like that before and you asked about her feelings... she panicked, she got nervous, she turned evasive. Plagg was so right about that.
Don't do this now.
Pull it back! NOW!
"...no, I don't wonder. I know how lucky I am," he revised his thought, "just to know you. There's no one that I'd rather be here with."
"I wouldn't go that far," smiled Marinette, continuing to calm herself down. "Which is why I did that tonight. I'm really glad that you and Kagami had some fun together! You both needed that so much."
"You're right; we did," conceded Adrien. "We are both lucky to know you. So lucky! I... I kind of want to hug you right now... but, um... I'm not wearing very much under this sheet."
"In that case, I'm fine staying over here," she replied, with a slight giggle. "That's all we need, right? You're in your underwear, I'm in your room at night, the door opens, and oh, hi, Papa!"
"I think that your father likes me... but he could also pound me into the ground like a tent stake," Adrien laughed. "I'd rather not test his patience that way."
"He does like you. He really, really does," Marinette assured him. "My mom, too. And you know... you know..."
It was Adrien's turn to watch Marinette pause, gathering her thoughts carefully before finishing her sentence.
"...You know that you're special to me, Adrien," she settled on. "Don't ever doubt that."
"I don't think that I ever could."
Adrien's emotions burned inside him. I can't just let it sit COMPLETELY unspoken... he told himself.
"You know how you told me yesterday that one of these nights, we should go upstairs and talk about things?" he ventured, cautiously. "I was wondering... could we make a kind of a date of that tomorrow?"
"A date?" wondered Marinette.
"A kind of a date. Not a date date. I'm messing this up..." fretted Adrien. "What I mean is, tomorrow's supposed to be nice weather. Going up on your balcony and watching the stars at night... I think that would be a wonderful way for both of us to relax, and remind ourselves that there still is an outside! And anything you'd want to talk about... or not talk about... is fine. Would you still like that?"
"Adrien... it's a date. Whatever kind of one you'd like," Marinette grinned. "Tomorrow night would be great for that." She took another deep breath, then asked, "So... you're good for tonight?"
"I am. Are you?" Adrien asked in return. "I'm the one who startled the heck out of you."
"How about this?" she said. "I'll sneak back upstairs, and we'll both try to get some sleep, okay? I guess that we can both manage that now."
"I'm sure that I can. We both have a lot on our minds right now... but we have each other for support, and that makes so much difference," Adrien smiled, very warmly. "Marinette... thank you for checking on me. It means more to me than you know."
"Good. Now, lay back," giggled Marinette.
"Hmmm?" Adrien wondered, startled, but laid his head back on his pillow once more.
Marinette got up from her spot on the bed, walked towards Adrien's end of it, and pulled the bedsheet up to his shoulders with a nervous grin. "Just making sure that you're tucked in properly," she whispered, "like a good host should."
"I'm tingling," murmured Adrien.
"Then stop tingling, and go to sleep," Marinette ordered him, playfully. "Good night, Adrien."
In the moment, she couldn't resist leaning down and planting a tiny kiss on his forehead. Adrien looked up at her, wide-eyed, and came very close to reaching his arms out and pulling her back down towards him...
"Good night, Marinette," he simply said, instead. "See you tomorrow."
"You sure will," she smiled, and then she was gone, as quietly as she had arrived.
