Stuck In A Bakery (With You), Chapter 22


Sabine noted to herself that she'd have to rewatch the episode that she and Tom had been watching... as Marinette's fidgeting and obvious distress took up a large chunk of her attention.

"Breathe, dear," she suggested to her daughter. "This won't be as catastrophic as you're fearing, I'm sure."

"I know, Mama," Marinette said, showing a reluctant smile. "But the longer I wait, the more nervous I get! I don't... I don't know if I'm handling this right," she worried. "Should I have been on the phone call with him? I didn't think so... this is between the two of them, isn't it? But I am involved... and I hope that Adrien's telling our story just the way that it happened..."

Tom looked on, sympathetically. "Adrien knows how important this is, right? I'm sure that he'll be honest with her."

"Maybe too honest," fretted Marinette. "She might feel like he's made his mind up already, when that's not at all what I want to happen!"

"I can't tell you whether Adrien's made a firm decision or not," said Sabine. Though it's rather obvious, she thought. "But that's up to him, isn't it? His part of what the three of you decide amongst yourselves, at least."

Marinette's phone chimed, making her jump. She saw an incoming text message:

[Kagami] Would you call me, please?

"Oh, boy," she muttered. "Kagami wants me to call her now."

"Then I wouldn't keep her waiting long," Tom counseled her. "Perhaps check with Adrien before you do, though? See what he thinks that you should expect."

"I'm on my way."

As Marinette dashed up the stairs, Sabine watched with a look of worry. "I think I'll go put the teakettle on," she told Tom. "I sense that someone might need a friendly ear to bend tonight."

"And mine will be here for you after that, if you need it," Tom replied.


Marinette held her breath as she approached the guest room door, which was open. She looked inside and saw Adrien sitting quietly, not showing a lot of emotion.

"H-hey," she panted. "Kagami just messaged me. How did it go?"

"I'm... not entirely sure," Adrien said, quietly. "We talked about a lot of things. She's... not furious with either of us, if that helps. But I'm not sure quite where I stand with her now."

"I'm sorry, Adrien..." Marinette sighed, sitting down next to him. "I'll try and do some damage control, if I can."

Adrien turned to her with sad eyes. "I didn't want to hurt her," he sniffled. "I never would. But I don't know how I could've avoided that and still told the truth."

"Listen," said Marinette. "I'm going upstairs to talk to her, okay? I'll come down afterwards and we'll compare notes. Don't stress out too much until then, all right?"

"I'll try," he replied. "I'll be waiting."

She wrapped her arms around him. "Wish me luck," she whispered, kissed the top of his head lightly, then disengaged and headed up to her room.

If anyone can make this right, it's her, Adrien thought once he was alone. He laid back on his bed, forcing himself to lose the urge to eavesdrop.

But I don't know what 'right' is for any of this, any more.


Marinette entered her room... then closed her door and locked it. She headed straight to her bed and up through her balcony hatch.

Tikki followed her, momentarily. "Why did you lock your door?" she wondered aloud.

"So that if this conversation makes me want to transform and just run away for a while... I'm less likely to get caught," Marinette mumbled. "No one will follow me and wonder how I disappeared."

"Be strong, Marinette. You'll make this work," Tikki comforted her, then floated down through the floor to give her a little privacy.

Here we go... she thought as she placed her call.


"Hello, Marinette," Kagami greeted her once the video call connected. "It's good to see you again."

"...You're sure about that?" Marinette replied.

"Of course I am. Marinette..." began Kagami. She took in the situation quickly - Marinette's nervous face, her quivering lip, the catch in her voice - and assumed a warmer tone. "Marinette, take a deep breath. I'm not here to tear into you, I promise."

"I'm sorry, Kagami. I'm so sorry! I should've just kept my mouth shut. I was so good at that for so long-"

"Marinette!" Kagami declared, jarring Marinette out of her panicked response. "Please... Look at me, Marinette. I just want to talk with you about this for a little while, friend to friend."

"...Okay," said Marinette, trying to relax herself.

"Let's start with the basics. Adrien told me his side of the story... but I would like to hear your perspective as well before I do anything rash. Can you tell me how you're feeling about this?"


Slowly... very hesitantly... Marinette described for Kagami how all of this had unfolded. The unexpected guest, their increasing comfort around each other, their talk after the group chat with their classmates, tucking each other in, sensing each other's flirtations, the advice she got from her mother... and the night up on the balcony. Kagami noted the things Adrien had mentioned to her, so that Marinette wouldn't have to repeat things unnecessarily, and asked questions along the way in what seemed to Marinette like a reasonably calm voice.

"I promise you, Kagami... I promise you that I have tried so hard not to overstep my bounds," Marinette pleaded. "I know that I waited too long. You asked him first, and he responded, and I am not trying to steal him away from you."

"I know that wasn't your intent. I promise you that I know that, Marinette," Kagami smiled, sadly. "Adrien's been telling all about his stay - and you - the whole time that he's been at your house. It's not like you kidnapped him; he just landed in your lap. And I'll be honest... I would rather see him spend this crisis with you than with his own family."

"He told you about what happened with Nathalie and his father this morning?" asked Marinette, to which Kagami nodded affirmatively.

"You're so much better for him than his father is. But then again, that's not saying much," Kagami said... then paused to gather her thoughts.

"Marinette... I know that you've been honest with me. Your and Adrien's stories certainly match... not that I expected that either one of you might lie," she noted. "I... I need to say a few things now. Is that all right?"

"Please do," Marinette replied. "I need to hear what you're thinking."

She took a deep breath and braced herself...


"Marinette..." Kagami began, "it's not as if I am terribly surprised by you and Adrien becoming so much closer. I knew that you had fallen for him before he did. I knew that he had fallen for you before either of you did."

"You did?" asked Marinette.

"From the moment I met the two of you, I saw a real connection. You have been in his thoughts, in his words, in his life more than you've known, perhaps. And it mystified me for a very long time why I even stood a chance with him," she replied. "I will be candid; from very early on, I had just as much of an overwhelming crush on him as you did. We share good taste in that respect."

"I had some advantages that you did not; a similar upbringing, giving us many things in common. Our parents did their best to push Adrien and I together at every opportunity once we'd met, which we both couldn't help but notice. Sort of like how Adrien spent years putting up with that horrible blonde girl," sighed Kagami. "Adrien and I could have very easily grown to resent each other, being forced into company like that... but we found that we understood each other from the start, and instead things went very well between us. But you had advantages that I did not, too; a longer history together, being together in school almost every day, and a depth of emotion that I must admit that... I envy."

"Yes, I had the courage to ask for what I wanted from Adrien, when you did not. But I waited quite some time before I did that," Kagami continued. "Because I had to push Adrien to choose me, and push repeatedly. He didn't just fall into my arms; I had to pressure him to want to even try dating me. I lunged in to kiss him, not the other way around. And I did that because I wanted that so badly... not because I felt like I was ever Adrien's first choice. Or that I am now."

"That puzzled me, by the way," she noted. "Because I thought that you were always his first choice... but he never made a move in that direction, or asked you out, or acted as if you were a romantic option. It almost made me feel as if there was some third girl out there, someone next to whom we both couldn't compete."

"If there was... I don't know who she was," Marinette replied. "He did tell me that he'd had a crush on someone else besides us, but that it didn't work out like he'd hoped."

"Maybe we can both try to solve that particular mystery," smiled Kagami. "But what I am saying is... I pushed him to make his mind up about you before I made my move. Because whether I can compete with you for Adrien's heart is not the question; it is whether I would want to. And I do not. Marinette... I value you too much as a friend to risk losing that."

"I feel the same way," Marinette agreed. "Which is why I have pushed him to keep in contact with you, to play Scepter Quest together, to... come clean with you tonight," she gulped, nervously. "You knew how I felt about him. You didn't know that he knew that now. And you needed to."

"And I thank you for that," Kagami said. "Which leaves us with quite a puzzle... and I do not know what to do next."


Kagami's calm demeanor crumbled somewhat, and she let her troubled emotions show more openly.

"I do not want to give up on Adrien," she declared. "We are very close. He is... well, we both declared him as 'having been made for me,' did we not? At least one of us, I hope, was right about that." She allowed herself a small smile at that. "I would have called him my boyfriend without hesitation. But... he still had some slight hesitation. We had planned on getting together and talking that out once again, but then all of this craziness broke."

"I think that you're the only girl he's ever kissed. I mean, really kissed," argued Marinette. "That has to reassure you a bit."

At Kagami's questioning look, Marinette added, "I have kissed him goodnight on the forehead. And on the cheek once. That is all," nervously. "We've stopped at hugs... and I've stopped both of us from going further."

"That can't have been easy for you," sympathized Kagami.

"...It wasn't," admitted Marinette. Or for HIM. "But it was important to me. You're not in a position where you and Adrien can be alone and really talk things out... and that needs to happen before I would let him look elsewhere."

"That's just it, Marinette. We are both trying very hard not to hurt each other, are we not? But where Adrien decides to look, neither of us can control."

Kagami's face fell somewhat. "I may be the only girl he's kissed... but you're the only girl to whom he's said 'I love you.'"

That sank in for Marinette... and she fell silent.


"I can't be that angry with him," Kagami allowed. "Confined together the way that you two are... comforting each other, withstanding all of this worry and restriction, feeling the way that the two of you have about each other... if you weren't feeling drawn together, I would be more startled. And I can't be angry with you, Marinette... because you've clearly gone out of your way to try to keep Adrien and I close."

"I really have," said Marinette, timidly. "But I won't lie to you. The affection that he's shown me so far... it's addictive. I can't get enough. And I'm afraid that I'm going to cross lines that I shouldn't, if I grow weak."

She took a deep breath. "But if I know for sure that I shouldn't grow weak, that Adrien is taken and that's that, it'll be easier for me. I told Adrien that I love him... and I meant it. I think it took three years off my life when I made myself say it, but I said it. But I can love him in my own way without being in love, without being the one that he's romancing, that he's kissing."

"I just need my place in his life. And like you said... part of that's up to Adrien, what he wants that place to be," Marinette declared. "And I'm not willing to pressure him to choose me... to give me that place... if it'll hurt you and him if he does."

"And I am very grateful for that... but I don't want to see you or Adrien hurt, either," worried Kagami. "But if I lose what I have with him..."

She stared at Marinette with uncharacteristic helplessness in her eyes. "I don't know what to do," she repeated. "I just don't."

"That makes two of us," replied Marinette. "And likely three."