Stuck In A Bakery (With You), Chapter 21


Adrien and Marinette played their online game for about another hour. While Kagami didn't happen to log on during that time, they had a very pleasant time taking turns and heckling each other's performance.

"You do realize what just happened tonight, right?" Marinette asked him, after a while.

"You just turned that group of goblins into kibble with a Cattle Mutilation spell?" admired Adrien, watching her play.

"That is not what I meant," she smiled, logging them out of the game and turning to face him. "All that about 'let's take things slowly' and 'let's not tell our friends what happened between us yet' went right out the window because someone couldn't keep his mouth closed with Nino, hmmm?"

"I know," Adrien said, his face falling. "I just... it just poured right out of me. I had to talk about it with someone, and I didn't even think that Nino might pass that on."

"Alya's powers of persuasion are legendary," sighed Marinette. "If he knew a secret that juicy, it was bound to end up in her ear before long. Look... it's not that I'm hiding how I feel about you..."

"Though you did... didn't you?" asked Adrien. "Or we might've figured this out a long time ago..."

"I know, I know," she protested. "And we haven't figured it out yet, exactly! And now Alya knows, and that's a great way for it to spread like a forest fire."

"But we told her the truth!" Adrien insisted. "That we're deliberately holding back."

"Adrien..."

Marinette leaned in a little closer. "If I were to say 'Kiss me, Adrien' right this instant... could you hold back?"

Adrien leaned in closer still. "Like you just said?" he breathed. "I could just swear that I heard those words from your mouth."

"You did, did you?" smiled Marinette. "This mouth that's right in front of you?"

"Yes. A beautiful, tender, extremely kissable mouth..."

"And THAT is why this can't wait, Adrien!" exclaimed Marinette, breaking the mood. "I'm hanging on by a thread here, every time you look at me that way. And I don't think that you have any thread left!"

"A little," admitted Adrien. "Not much. But a little."

"Adrien," Marinette insisted, "if Kagami hears that we're... well... right on the brink before she hears it from you, it's going to hurt her terribly. You weren't sure yet whether you were far enough along with her to call dating me 'cheating'... but you have to be sure. Please... don't let this wait until it's too late."

"You're right, Marinette. Of course you're right. I was planning on calling her tonight, anyway... but now, it's that much more important." Adrien reassembled what willpower he had remaining in him. "We're both going to do the right thing."

"I know you will," Marinette consoled him. "And once she's talked with you... tell her that she's more than welcome to talk with me about it, too. I need to make sure that she hears my intentions straight from me. But it should come from you first."

"It will."


Tom greeted the two of them as they came down the stairs. "Joining us tonight?" he asked Marinette.

"Yeah. What are you watching?" she asked him. She and Adrien settled down on a small loveseat, while Tom and Sabine shared a couch on the other side of the living room.

"That show with the lady stand-up comic. Mrs. Maisel," replied Tom. "But we can switch it..."

"No, that's fine. That one's supposed to be really good, isn't it?" Adrien noted.

"It is. I've seen the first season," said Marinette. "Some references are a little before my time, but I liked it anyway. Her manager is a riot."

"Are you offended by profanity, Adrien?" asked Sabine. "This show is funny, but the main characters have quite a mouth on them at times."

"I'm sure it's nothing I haven't heard before, but thank you," he smiled.

About twenty minutes into the episode, Adrien's phone chimed at him. He checked it, then turned to Marinette. "Hey," he said in a soft tone, "she just popped up on Messenger. I'm going to... you know."

"Go," said Marinette. "Be kind, and tell her what I said to say upstairs, and that I also said hello. Good luck."

Adrien gave her a quick hug... which lasted perhaps a moment or two too long to not catch her parents' attention... then plodded up the stairs.

"...What was that about?" wondered Tom. "He didn't look too enthusiastic about whatever he went to do."

"...Marinette?" Sabine asked, leaning forward. "Are you all right?"

"I am," Marinette said, sniffling slightly and trying to hide it. "He's going up to talk to Kagami about... a bunch of things. Maybe not the Talk with her..." she added, "but this could set an awful lot of things into motion."

"Like what?" Tom asked.

"Like the end of Adrien and I being this cozy, for one."


Adrien flopped down onto his bed and stared at his phone.

"Are you ready for this?" he heard Plagg ask from across the room.

"Not even remotely," Adrien replied. "But it needs to happen. I don't think that I've done anything yet that I'd have to apologize for... but Kagami deserves to hear the whole truth, and especially before I do slip."

"So... what, once you've talked to her, it'll be more okay for you to slip?" argued Plagg. "I don't think she'll see it that way."

"That isn't what I meant," countered Adrien. "More like this... Marinette and I are kind of operating without ground rules right now, because Kagami doesn't know what's happened and I don't know how she's going to respond to that. I mean, I doubt she's just going to say 'Oh well, enjoy being with Marinette now, bye!' and write me off as a boyfriend. She's liable to write me off as a friend, too, and I really don't want that! But if I tell her that Marinette and I are much closer now and she has a problem with that... while I don't want her to... I couldn't blame her one bit."

"I love Marinette. I know that I do," he fretted. "But... Marinette is right. We can have those feelings for each other without blowing up everything else in our lives. We may need to. And we have yet to figure out just what is possible."

He stared at his phone for a few more seconds... then pressed the DIAL icon.


"I know that Adrien wants to talk with her in person," said Sabine. "And that that is very difficult right now."

"Definitely," Marinette agreed. "I'm not sure if Kagami's mother is considered elevated-risk or not... but she is very controlling when it comes to Kagami. If she says 'you're not leaving,' Kagami's not leaving. And I'd rather have her stay safe, in any case."

"But he is going to tell her the truth," she continued, "that I finally confessed to him that I love him. She may not care for my timing very much."

"Does Kagami know that you have feelings for Adrien?" asked Tom. "So that she's not completely blindsided by this?"

"Oh, yes. She knew before Adrien did," Marinette confirmed. "Adrien told me that she'd told him that she was sure of that... her way of saying 'be sure about that before we start dating'... but he couldn't believe that I did. He thought she was being a little paranoid, because I'd told him that... um... I didn't feel that way."

Tom looked puzzled. "You'd told him that you didn't? Why would you have..." he ventured.

Sabine shushed him, abruptly. "Tom... some words aren't easy to say aloud," she suggested. "Especially when emotions are running high."

"All right, I'll agree with that," said Tom. "Does she know that he has feelings for you?"

"That... isn't for me to say," said Marinette. "I think she knew that he had a soft spot for me. Maybe not just how soft." Her eyes went big as she added, "I'm still not sure that I'm not floating in a dream right now."

"But that's what they're talking about," she added, pointing upwards towards the guest room. "And that's why I'm kind of a mess inside right now."

"Marinette... I know just how far you've gone in all this to cushion Kagami's feelings and keep her as a friend. To make sure that Adrien handles this the right way..." Sabine declared, "even if that means setting aside what you want."

"Uh-huh," moped Marinette. "But is she really going to believe that?"


"Hello!" beamed Kagami, a wide smile on her face once the video call connected. "I just got in a few minutes ago. A quick run for a few things that my mother needed. How are you?"

"Doing all right," said Adrien. "Happier now, of course. And you?"

"Fine, I suppose. Glad to be home. I'll probably run through the shower in a few minutes and change my clothes... it's probably as much superstition as anything else, but I can almost feel viruses in the air when I leave the house these days. Rinsing myself off and laundering my outfit helps clear my head of worries."

He watched as Kagami reached down, and heard two thumps that were likely her shoes being kicked off; the view then shifted as she sat down in her desk chair. "And how is your own home-away-from-home today?" she asked, pleasantly. "Is Nathalie still driving you steadily insane over the phone?"

"Actually... that took on a whole new level since I last talked with you," smiled Adrien. Briefly, he described Nathalie's phone call in attack mode, then the unexpected appearance at the bakery that morning.

"Your father was there as well? And he apologized?" Kagami marveled. "Will wonders never cease?"

"I couldn't believe it, either... but I had to defend the Dupain-Chengs, no matter what Father thought of me for it. They've been nothing but kind to me," Adrien declared. "Astoundingly so."

"I can only imagine so," smiled Kagami. "Marinette is a most remarkable person. I do not know her parents well... but it doesn't surprise me that they're like that, too. You've seemed so much happier while you've been staying there, that I almost wish that you could simply move in for good!"

Kagami watched as Adrien's demeanor changed abruptly. "...What is it, Adrien?" she asked.

"Kagami... listen. There's something that you and I need to talk about, okay?" said Adrien, hesitantly. "And I want to say up front... I don't want this to worry you. Nothing has-"

"Adrien?" Kagami stopped him. "You're worrying me already just by saying that. What's wrong?"

"Well... um... you know how you had told me how sure you were that Marinette had romantic feelings for me?" he ventured. "And how I wasn't nearly so sure?"

Kagami sighed... but smiled. "You mean the longing that she's had for you from the day that I met her?" she teased. "'I told you so' is such an ugly phrase that I'll try not to say it to you. May I presume that you're noticing it more now that you're spending so much time together?"

"You may... but that's the part that you knew already. Not the part that you don't yet," murmured Adrien.

"...What happened, Adrien?" she asked.

"She told me."

Kagami was silent for a moment.

"...So she finally found her courage," Kagami considered. "Good for her. That's been something that's needed to happen for quite a long time."

"She did find her courage..." Adrien said, his stomach knotting up as he spoke the words. "...And I found some of mine."