Stuck In A Bakery (With You), Chapter 17
On the rooftop balcony of a prominent Parisian bakery, on a cool but clear spring night... two young lovers (who weren't quite actual lovers yet) clung to one other, each holding onto their shelter from a storm of feelings and desires.
Adrien was the first to speak up, after quite some time of silent cuddling.
"Marinette?" he whispered. "Are you awake?"
"I am," she said, turning her head and smiling up at him. "You didn't think so?"
"We were both so quiet... and your breathing was steady enough... I wasn't sure," he smiled. "How are you feeling?"
"Better than I thought I might," she said, leaning back slightly for easier conversation but remaining in his embrace. "I didn't know what I'd be like... once I said it... but when I started, it all just kind of flowed out of me."
"And now that you have?" asked Adrien.
"I'm nervous about what happens next," admitted Marinette. "But I feel better knowing that you know the truth." She leaned back in, squeezing him tightly, and added, "And I don't ever want to let go of you now."
"I don't want you to," Adrien grinned. "But sooner or later, we are going to need to go back inside. I think that you're starting to shiver even with our being up close like this."
"A little, yeah," she agreed. "I wonder what time it is?"
"I'm not sure," said Adrien.
"You can't tell by the stars, Mr. Astronomy?" teased Marinette. "Just look up and go, 'Oh, there's Polaris, and it's aligned with Gemini, so it must be ten o'clock?'"
"It doesn't work like that," Adrien replied, just as lightly. "They had sundials in ancient times. They didn't have stardials. I mean... you can kind of tell time by the Big Dipper if you know how, but that would require my brain to be working... And for some strange reason, it's mush right now."
"Yeah," giggled Marinette. "Some wicked girl just blew your mind right out of your ears, huh?"
"Some girl that I love."
Marinette turned red enough to be visible even in the dim evening light. "Maybe I can meet her someday," she quipped... but her body language told him just how much she adored hearing him say it at last.
"So!" said Adrien, brightly. "I think it's my turn to ask about another secret. Marinette, if you..."
"Nooooo!" she protested, wriggling in his grasp. "I think I'm done keeping secrets from you, Adrien. Holding onto this one for so long nearly killed me."
Once their laughter subsided, Marinette turned thoughtful. "Adrien?" she asked. "What are we going to tell our friends about this? About our new where-we-are-together?"
"Do we have to tell them anything before we figure it out for ourselves?" replied Adrien. "If someone asks, I'm not hiding anything; I'm dating Kagami, at least for now... and we'll see how that goes, but we are very happy as a couple like that... and I love my Marinette. I feel closer to her than ever before."
"That's because I am closer to you than ever before," Marinette grinned, hugging him tightly. "If I was any closer, I'd be behind you."
"You know what I mean!" Adrien said, growing more serious.
"Maybe... we'll hold off on the 'love' word and snuggling in front of them for now? I mean, I'm not afraid to say it to you... well, now I'm not afraid," she smiled, sheepishly. "I love you, Adrien Agreste." She marveled at herself for a moment. "Yeah, I just said that out loud! And I'm not at all ashamed of that. But if we're throwing 'I love yous' around in front of our friends, they're all going to assume..."
"...that we're in a romantic relationship. And we're not... yet," agreed Adrien. "It's a little... different kind of love for now. A special connection. And it'll raise a million questions about Kagami and I, and I can't think straight while a beautiful girl is holding me like this."
"Too bad," grinned Marinette.
"Marinette..." Adrien added, softly, "I am so glad that I know. So glad. Because not only does it make me feel better about how hard I've been falling for you, when I didn't know if that would be at all welcome... it did bother me that you couldn't be at ease around me sometimes. That something about me could set you off, and I had no idea what I was doing wrong."
"Even though you weren't," soothed Marinette. "You totally weren't."
"But I didn't know that. And, obviously, I didn't understand the signals you were sending me the rest of the time, so..." sighed Adrien. "But now my world makes sense again. And even if we do just remain good friends... the best of friends... something more than just friends, even if we each date other people... I never want to lose this feeling that I have right now. That my life is a better thing because you're a part of it."
"If you are trying to remain unkissed for now," simmered Marinette, "you're failing rapidly."
"Then how about we go inside, warm up a bit and see what time it is?" Adrien offered. "Because I don't think I'm trying very hard to remain that."
The balcony hatch opened, and the two of them climbed down and sat cross-legged on Marinette's bed, facing each other.
Marinette checked her phone, and gasped, "It's almost midnight! We were up there for hours."
"Wow! I'm... kind of surprised that your parents didn't come up and check on us," Adrien said.
"They have a lot of trust in us. I think they've got you pegged as a perfect gentleman... and if you're slightly short of that, I won't tell them if you don't," winked Marinette. "For example... my mother knows that I snuck into your room last night."
"You told her that?" boggled Adrien.
"I didn't have to. She heard me then, and she let it happen," Marinette replied. "Which I found out when I talked to her tonight. But both because she knew that nothing would happen that she'd need to worry about... and if for some reason I had a lapse of judgment and it did, she'd have heard that, too."
"Still... that is a lot of trust," he marveled. "Not that I plan on breaking that trust, but I was half-naked when you came in then."
"Go ahead. Put images in my head," Marinette giggled. "That'll help so much."
"And when you kissed me goodnight... I did think a little bit about kissing you back," admitted Adrien. "And not letting go."
Marinette did her best not to throb from head to toe. Adrien's face looked more innocent than adventurous at that moment, but...
"That... I... don't know what I would have done," she breathed. "Maybe we won't test that right now."
"Probably a smart plan," smiled Adrien.
The two of them grinned at each other. "Neither of us is going to make this easy on the other, are we?" Marinette asked, lightly.
"I don't think so. That's why it'll be so much fun," Adrien answered. "We'll know each other's weak spots... but also know not to go too far over the line."
"And if we do... we'll be honest enough with each other to patch that up, before we hurt anyone else, or each other," she beamed.
After a moment, Adrien said, "Well... I would like to tuck you in and return the favor from last night... but I doubt that you're sleeping in your regular clothes tonight."
"No, I hadn't planned to," confirmed Marinette. "How about this... you go down and get yourself ready, and come up and knock in a few minutes?"
"It's a date," smiled Adrien.
Once Adrien closed her door, Tikki flew straight to Marinette's side, suspecting that she might just have to try and keep Marinette from falling to the floor.
"I heard all of that tonight," said Tikki, "from a respectful distance. Wow, Marinette. Are you okay?"
"I think I am," replied Marinette. "As good as I'm going to be. It feels good to know that he finally knows... and that he has feelings for me, too! If he'd just shot me down instead, I don't know how I would've reacted."
"I never had a doubt," Tikki smiled. "I've been watching that boy for months now; every time he's talked with you, every moment he's spent with you. He adores you, Marinette."
"I know. I'm just... Adrien loves me! Even if it's not kissy-love yet, even if we're staying friends and figuring things out super-slowly," Marinette said, looking excited. "I got what I've always wanted... a place in his heart."
"You've been there for a long time, Marinette, in one way or another. But you'd better get your pajamas on before he comes back..." advised Tikki.
"Oh, I'm getting ready, I'm getting ready. I'm just deciding..." she announced, moving to her dresser and rummaging through some things. "I don't want to go way too much with this, but..."
"With... this?" wondered Tikki.
"Tikki... I have never had a boy tell me that he loves me before. I'm not about to dress like I'm throwing myself at him... and I don't really own anything slinky like that anyway..." she grinned, "but I'm not going to make this easy on him, either."
A gentle knock at the door came a few minutes later. "Enter," called Marinette, in a somewhat musical manner.
The door opened, a pajama-ed Adrien entered... and his jaw dropped.
Instead of her familiar pink-and-white pajamas, Marinette stood by her desk in a white cotton nightgown with a subtle floral print and hints of lace where lace ought to have been. Its lines, length, opacity and coverage were suitably modest from all angles; it was clearly designed for a woman of Marinette's young age, and for comfort, rather than seduction...
...but Marinette in it was still one of the most beautiful sights that Adrien had ever seen.
"You are... gorgeous right now, Marinette," he managed when he could speak. "Wow! I... I am..."
"Oh, this old thing?" drawled Marinette, stepping away from her computer desk and performing a tiny twirl... then breaking out into nervous laughter. "I can't believe I'm actually doing this," she grinned, "but I'm happy that you like it."
"It's like nothing I've ever seen you wear before," Adrien admitted. "But tonight does seem to be a night of firsts for us."
"It's the first time I've ever had a kind-of-sort-of-not-really-you're-not-my-boyfriend," explained Marinette. "Tonight meant so much to me, Adrien. So maybe I'm being silly... but I thought that if a wonderful boy was going to tuck me in for the night for the first time, I'd dress up just a little, and see if you liked what you saw."
"Let there be no doubt about that," breathed Adrien. "You're an absolute vision, Marinette. You didn't have to..."
"...But I wanted to, Adrien," Marinette said, her hands folded demurely in front of her, her cheeks burning. "I've dreamed for a long time that you'd look at me like a girl, not just a classmate or a friend. A desirable girl. And tonight... I know that you did. No one's ever made me want to... I don't know... show off a little bit, and believe that they'd enjoy that. Except you."
"I've been looking at you like that for longer than you know, Marinette," he told her. "Much longer."
Pink cheeks turned crimson. "So... before I get myself any further over my head..." she murmured, and climbed the steps up to her loft-bed quickly. She flew under the covers and looked down at him, giggling.
Adrien climbed the stairs to Marinette's bed very slowly, his emotions still boiling inside of him... and remaining acutely aware of his circumstances, among which was the still-open bedroom door behind him.
A happily nervous Marinette watched him approach, the bedcovers pulled up nearly to her shoulders. She scooted slightly sideways so that he would have room to move closer.
"If your father were to catch me here like this," he whispered, "I'm a dead man. Like, thrown-off-the-roof dead. Baked-into-tomorrow's-quiche dead."
"Then we'll do this quickly... and keep it simple," she whispered back. "And innocent."
"I plan to," smiled Adrien. "Though that smile on your face right now might make it worth the risk."
He reached down and arranged the bedsheets very deliberately, his hands staying well clear of anywhere potentially compromising, the situation still clearly electrifying for both of them.
"...I'm tingling," Marinette told him, barely breathing.
"...Then stop tingling, and get some sleep," echoed Adrien, recalling what she'd told him the night before. Slowly, he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek; gently, innocently, yet still lingering just long enough.
"Good night, sweet Marinette," he whispered.
"I kissed you on the forehead," argued Marinette, wide-eyed.
"We're a little closer now than we were last night. Don't you think so?" smiled Adrien... and then he was gone.
Marinette lay very still as she listened to Adrien's retreating footsteps... then watched the light go out and heard her bedroom door close.
Not going to be easy for either one of us, she thought with what stable mind she had remaining. Nope. Not one bit.
