Stuck In A Bakery (With You), Chapter 25


Adrien caught his breath, exhausted from laughing at his friends' dire warning. Along with breaking the tension in the room, it bought him some precious time to think... and they looked at least a little bit relieved that he was laughing at the idea.

"Let me assure both of you of one thing," he gasped. "Lila Rossi will not be my girlfriend. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. That's just not an option."

"Thank goodness," Marinette declared, with an exaggerated sigh of relief for Adrien's benefit that really wasn't all that exaggerated.

"I should hope not. If you end up with me, or with Marinette... we both know that you will be in good hands. If Lila gets her hooks into you, however..." said Kagami, her face clouding up, "then the gloves come off. That girl is a cancer, Adrien."

"She is... complicated," Adrien begged off. "And not in a good way. But she does seem to have her hooks into my father, for some strange reason."

"That entire 'your father's muse' affair... I still do not understand that at all," Kagami noted. "What does he see in her?"

"At least we're spared her in school, most of the time," snarked Marinette. "Because she's either off hunting lions on safari in Kenya, or climbing Mount Everest despite her fourteen rare diseases, or feeding orphans in Calcutta, right? I bet that the next time that we see her in class, she'll claim that she's a survivor of COVID-19, 20, 21, 22 and 23."

"I don't understand how she caught my father's eye... but she did, so I'm stuck with her underfoot for a while," sighed Adrien. "Especially after I..."

Adrien stopped himself mid-sentence, but it was enough to get Marinette's full attention. "After you what?" she asked with rising alarm. "Adrien, what did she try to do to you?"

"Th-that's not it," he backpedaled. "It's not what she did to me..."

Kagami stared at Adrien. "You didn't tell her?" she asked him.

"Tell me what?" Marinette panicked. "Adrien... if she's threatening you, and you need our help-"

"It's not what she did to me, Marinette. It's what she did to you," Adrien explained, reluctantly. "The day that she lied about you and tried to get you expelled?"

Marinette nodded silently.

"I... talked her into lying to get you out of that trouble, as well. The whole thing about her 'condition that makes her lie sometimes.' Like just about everything else out of her mouth, that wasn't true." Adrien gave Marinette what he hoped was a soothing look. "It was the only way I could think of to make her fix the mess she'd made, and to get you reinstated at school."


"You... you did that for me?" breathed Marinette, but then looked troubled once more. "And what did she get in return?"

"My continued, occasional company. My putting up with her presence at photoshoots. My even considering calling her a friend."

"Adrien... no!" gasped Marinette. "No! You shouldn't have to... Adrien, why would you even think about that after what we both know that she's done?"

"I tore into her about that. I told her that when it came to her hurting my friends... and especially you... she'd been warned before, and she didn't listen." Adrien stared off into space as he retold what had happened. "That it was completely unacceptable."

"But what you're telling is... then you did accept her," reasoned Marinette. "And I don't get that. Why would you let her anywhere near you, knowing what kind of person she is, Adrien?"

Kagami watched the two of them, but remained quiet, letting it play out.

"Because she had hurt you, Marinette. She'd done something terrible to you, but I couldn't prove it, and I had two choices. Either to condemn her... but then you'd still be kicked out of school, and she would win... or to help you, any way that I could."

Adrien's eyes were kind, and made something inside Marinette quiver. "Marinette... I don't trust her. I'm not spending any more time near her than Father makes me spend, believe me. But I'm never going to let you suffer when I can do something about it."

Marinette went quiet as well. "We'll... talk about this another time, okay?" she managed. "Not now."

"Good. Because I need to say some things right now... that are a lot more important to me than anything involving her," said Adrien.


Adrien took a deep breath and sat very still for a few moments. Kagami and Marinette watched him closely, trying not to appear too eager or too worried about what he might say.

"First of all..." Adrien began, "I am... overwhelmed. I don't know how else to say it. I have two beautiful, incredible, talented, loving girls in my life, right here with me now, and I am so fortunate just to know the two of you. Let alone for each of you to care about me the way that you do... I don't know that anyone deserves that kind of luck."

Kagami smiled warmly at him. "It is both something we are happy to give... and something that you've more than earned," she noted. "But... please continue."

"Kagami..." he told her, "I heard what you said about feeling like a second choice, about looking over your shoulder waiting for me to fall for someone else. And given where we are right now... I can't say that you shouldn't feel justified in feeling that. And it is terrible of me to have let that happen, and I apologize for that."

"When you asked me to be yours, when you reached up and kissed me that day, I did hesitate. I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure if I was ready to give up on... that other person... and I wasn't sure if I was ready to commit to anyone. If I was ready for... a lot of things. You made me see that the only way for me to find out was to give it a try," he smiled. "And I am very glad that I did. You were the first person who ever made me feel... desirable that way."

He watched Marinette's jaw drop, and turned to her, apologetically. "I need to phrase that carefully, Marinette," he told her. "You have been a blessing in my life from the day that I met you. You know how much I think of you, and how special you have always been to me. But... well... there was something big about you that I just didn't know."

"I know," Marinette replied. "And you know how sorry I am that I lied about having those feelings for you."

"Kagami," said Adrien, turning back to her, "I didn't decide to be with you because Marinette said 'no.' I decided to be with you because you are also special in my eyes... and you were the first girl who ever looked into my eyes and told me, 'I want to be yours.' The first one to break my shell and awaken that part of me. To make me want that... and to be willing to share it with me."

"You weren't a consolation prize," he insisted. "You were something entirely new, and exciting, and wonderful. And you still are. And you always will be."

"That is a very good thing for me to know," Kagami replied, visibly emotional.


"And Marinette..." said Adrien, turning her way once more, "...how do I even begin?" He laughed nervously, trying to find some way of summarizing the rollercoaster of a year they had shared. "You have always been an incredible friend to me this year. Someone that I admire, someone I adore, someone who shows me just whom I should want to be."

"Even just as that... as good friends... you have been so important in my life. That whole thing with Lila that we were talking about?" he asked. "Part of that was for your sake... and part of it was because if you were kicked out, if you weren't part of our school any more... I wasn't sure if I'd still want to go there, either."

"We are so going to talk about that later," Marinette murmured, visibly startled.

"But then this whole quarantine thing happened... and I finally got to spend much more time with you, to watch you open up to me, to get to know you much better. To see you very comfortable around me... even if I still wondered why you hadn't been before! And then, up on your balcony... you told me how you truly felt, and you saw the look on my face, and how I reacted to that." Adrien's voice cracked slightly as he continued. "You rocked my whole world, Marinette... and I hate how hard on Kagami it had to be for her to say, but she was right just now. Knowing what I know now... that really is a game-changer."

"So, here I am," he smiled, helplessly. "With an absolutely impossible choice to make. And as much as you both swear that choosing one of you won't hurt the other..." he added, "I can't believe that that's true."

"All I can say, and I think Marinette will agree with this... is that we both need to keep our place in your life. We don't want one of us to replace the other in your heart. Which of us gets your romantic side... that is up to you. But all three of us must remain close."

"Exactly," smiled Marinette.

"Now... you said an interesting word just then. Both," smiled Adrien, his hand going behind his head nervously. "Just how... would... could that work?"


"Um... we hadn't talked much about that," admitted Marinette. "And, like I said earlier... a lot depends on what you would want that to be. If that's something that you couldn't handle... or if we think that we couldn't handle that... it's not something that you have to consider."

"I'm going to put it this way," Kagami interjected. "If I'm watching you kiss Marinette... it will feel a little funny to me at first, and I'd have to make myself not feel a little jealous. If Marinette's watching you kiss me... I'm sure that she'd feel the same. But would it feel differently for each of us if we got to kiss you, too?"

"Not at the same time, right?" wondered Adrien.

"Why not?" giggled Marinette. "You have two cheeks."

She watched him process that notion and stopped him, mercifully. "Look at it like this, okay?" she prompted him. "Right now... you have two girls who are each in love with you. You have strong feelings for both of us. That isn't a contradiction, is it?"

"No, it isn't..." Adrien said.

"And we want you to keep spending time with each of us. And we'd each like you to spend a certain kind of time with us," Marinette grinned. "But now that we're all starting fresh... maybe you'll feel more romantic with one than the other. Maybe you'll want to go slowly and not rush either of us into being more than very close friends."

"And maybe you'd need to... try dating each of us before you can be sure," ventured Kagami.

"You would both be okay with that?" boggled Adrien.

"We're... not sure yet," admitted Marinette. "As long as we were all honest with each other... it could work? Maybe? But you're not the only one nervous about the idea."


Adrien closed his eyes.

"I'm more than nervous. I'm... wow. That is something that I don't think I'd ever considered... and I'd have to think about how I feel about that," he said. "In fact... I need some time to think, period."

He continued, "Both of you are irreplaceable. You each know that, right? And both of you mean so much to me that... well... I don't want to make a hasty decision as to what to do. If I rush this, and I hurt either of you... I would hate myself."

"Well... we are throwing an awful lot at you at once," sympathized Kagami. "And we have thinking of our own to do."

"Yeah," Marinette agreed. "But are we all on the same page now? Kagami, you'll be able to sleep tonight?"

"I will. And Adrien... I'm telling you that I will if you will," she replied. "The fact that you two came to me with this, instead of just letting things happen and hiding it... it means quite a lot to me."

"If you're absolutely sure," said Adrien.

"For now... yes, I am. I do need to go help my mother with something," said Kagami. "I'll talk to both of you soon, I'm sure?"

"Absolutely," grinned Marinette. "Good night!"


The Skype call disconnected, leaving Marinette and Adrien alone in her room. He looked at her and she looked at him, each a bit nervously, each knowing that a whole new world of possibilities had just opened up right in front of them.

Grins sprouted on both faces... with barely-suppressed light laughter behind them.

"So..." Marinette ventured.

"...So," echoed Adrien.

"So..." said Marinette, "Well, Adrien... what would you like to do next?"