Stuck In A Bakery (With You), Chapter 40

MARINETTE!

A tiny voice in Marinette's brain demanded her attention. It wasn't Tikki's voice; it was a piece of her own consciousness, fighting its way to the forefront.

FOCUS, Marinette! Chat Noir is looking at you like you just went crazy. You need to pull yourself together and think this through QUICKLY!

The reason that you're panicking is something that you know... but that YOU SHOULDN'T know. He sent that message to Ladybug, not to Marinette.

Your own identity is at stake here. THINK, Marinette! Cover your tracks, NOW!

"Chat Noir..."

Marinette forced a smile onto her face as she took a few deep breaths.

"You just caught me off-balance for a moment there," she replied, trying to sound nonchalant. "But if you're trying to give away your secret identity to me... at least warn me first!"

"W-wait!" gasped Chat. "I'm not trying to... what do you mean by that?"

"I mean," Marinette replied, "that it sounded like you just said that the girl you're seeing is someone that I'd know. What did you mean by that?"

"Um..."

It was Chat's turn to falter a bit.

"Well..." he ventured, "I can't really say for sure whether you do or not, you know? Just like I can't say if you know the real me or not. If I could tell someone that... I promise you, Marinette, you would be first in line. But I do take my secret seriously. I don't want word to get out that you know, and see that end up threatening you and your family."

"Understood," said Marinette. "And I'm not turning this into Twenty Questions to narrow down who it is, either. But you seemed pretty sure a minute ago, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did," admitted Chat. "I'll put it this way. If you saw a picture of her... you'd know who it was. That doesn't narrow it down too far, right?"

"Not really. So it's either someone that I know, or someone kind of famous," puzzled Marinette. "You are dating her out of costume, I assume?"

"Definitely. I..." Chat stopped himself from adding 'know her in and out of costume,' and left it as "I've never told her that I'm Chat Noir. Even Ladybug doesn't know who's under my mask; she's stopped me from telling her so many times."

"Smart girl," Marinette smiled.

She let her thoughts drift for a moment. Nice save, Chat, she smiled to herself. Okay. So Ladybug and I both know this girl, as far as Chat knows. She's someone that I would recognize in a picture. He's kind of edgy about even hinting at who it is, with either of my identities. And part of that is because of secret identity stuff, and I totally get that! But...

As Chat, he doesn't really socialize much more than I do, as far as I know. Which isn't much. As himself, I wouldn't know who he hangs out with. But as far as I knew, Chat's type was... well, Ladybug, to put it bluntly. I've seen him flirt with the other heroes a little bit. Rena, but Alya's beyond taken. Ryuko, but she's into Adrien. And even-

OH, HELL NO.

Chat watched as Marinette's nervous agitation returned, even stronger than before.

"Marinette?" he asked, worriedly. "You just thought of something bad. What is it? You didn't... um... guess who I am underneath, did you?"

"No," admitted Marinette. "But I might have figured out who it is that you're dating! And if it's her... I feel very worried for you."

She checks all the boxes, Marinette fretted. Chat knows her well. He knows that Ladybug knows her, obviously. She's someone whom I'd know immediately from a picture. Or at a glance. Or if I was simply downwind of her.

"Really?" Chat gave her a very confused look. "I mean, I usually have pretty good judgment about people, don't I?" he continued. "Look who I came to visit tonight!"

"Pfft," chuckled Marinette. "You tend to give almost everyone the benefit of the doubt, though."

And that certainly fits who I'm thinking of, thought Marinette. You've dealt with her at times when I didn't want to. You've encouraged her to be a better person. And you seem to have a thing for girls in super-suits... even if she doesn't have hers any more. You've sympathized with her about that. Maybe you feel like she's a fixer-upper, and you can help with that.

"Just whom do you think it is?" pressed Chat.

"I can't say that out loud!" Marinette grumbled. "Because if I'm right, it is someone that I know, it is someone that I know you know, and it would be impossible for me not to find out once the quarantine is over. There's no way that it wouldn't come out quickly."

"Hrrm," Chat frowned. "All I can say is that you're slandering her a little bit, in a way that I wish you wouldn't. She's a very sweet girl."

"Look," Marinette declared, leaning in towards him. "Can you promise me this much, at least? That you'll be careful, and you'll watch yourself, and you won't let your girl take advantage of you?"

"Now I know that you're wrong about whom you think it is," grinned Chat. "Because this girl would never do anything to hurt me. I couldn't be more sure of that."

"I sure hope so," she worried.

They continued with some small talk for a few minutes, each of them happy to nudge the subject away from that one.

"Hey... I don't want to take up your whole night," Chat smiled. "Especially since your boyfriend might show up at any minute, right?"

"He's not officially my... besides, he's polite enough to knock first," Marinette assured him. "And it's not like he'd find us in some kind of compromising position."

"Says the girl in a cute nightgown with a strange boy sitting on her bed," cackled Chat. "But, no, he wouldn't."

"Don't even go there, you," replied Marinette, blushing furiously. "You know what I mean. Plus, he's either talking with Kagami or with someone at his house right now... and he can take all the time he needs to do that. I don't want to rush him."

"Sounds like you don't want to rush him in a lot of ways," suggested Chat.

"You're right; I don't," Marinette agreed. "I need to be important to him. I don't need to be the only thing important to him."

"Which is why I'd bet that you're the most important thing in his life right now," Chat beamed. "You are something special, Marinette. Never doubt that."

"Awww," grinned Marinette. "I'd hug you for that, but... you know... social distancing, two meters."

"I'll take a rain check," said Chat. "Stay well, and I'll see you again soon?"

"Any time."

Marinette watched as Chat waved goodbye on his way up and out to her balcony, and waved back with a warm smile. That lasted until the hatch door closed, at which point she faceplanted onto a pillow.

"Tikki..." she mumbled into a mouthful of memory foam.

"No."

"Tikki, reassure me," Marinette repeated.

"No, Chat Noir is not dating Chloe Bourgeois," emphasized Tikki. "And I would know. And you should, too."

"I am trying to imagine who else it could be. Tikki, I don't know all that many people our age... let alone ones that have met Ladybug as well, and whom Chat might know!" wailed Marinette. "It can't be Kagami; she's been involved with Adrien. Pretty much all of my school friends are either taken already or uninterested in romance. My only other guess is Sabrina, and, well... I don't know, does she seem like Chat's type to you? She doesn't to me."

"You're overthinking this, Marinette," lectured Tikki. "For one thing, it's Chat's business whom he wants to date, especially out of costume. I would be horrified if he'd picked Chloe, too, but I know that it's not her."

"How do you know that?" wondered Marinette, wanting to believe.

"For one thing, don't you think that Kwamis keep tabs on each other? Plagg knows who it is, obviously. If Chat was dating Chloe, you would hear Plagg screaming in agony from across town, even without your communicator," smiled Tikki. "For another, if she had that kind of secret to tell, don't you think that Chloe would've shown him off on that class conference call? Kind of like how Adrien made an appearance with you."

"Now, that's not fair. Adrien wasn't being... shown off then. He and I weren't a thing yet," argued Marinette.

"And," continued Tikki, undaunted. "You don't know who's under Chat's mask. You're thinking as if he's someone in your school, or in your class, or from your neighborhood, but you don't know that, do you? There are thousands of young women in Paris whom it could be, and lots of different contexts in which you might know whoever it is. So don't assume that this mystery girl has to be someone that's a close friend of yours; all he said was that he thinks that you know her."

"...And don't assume that it isn't someone close, either!" laughed Tikki, watching Marinette taking in every word attentively. "Because I'm not going to tell you who it is or who it isn't, besides that it's not Chloe."

"I know you won't. And most of me doesn't want to ask you to say," grumped Marinette. "Look, tell me this much at least. Is Chat's girlfriend someone who will treat him well, who'll respect him, who'll give him all the love that he needs?"

"Marinette... absolutely, yes," beamed Tikki. "She will be very, very good to him. I promise you that."

"Then that's all that I need to know. At least for now," sighed Marinette, looking relieved. "And if I ask for more than that, you can yell at me then."

I still have questions, she thought. Actually... a lot of nagging questions. But the last thing I'd want to do is to chase down clues and play Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Girl Detective and stumble onto his secret identity.

...It is the last thing, right?

Quickly, Marinette scooted down the ladder to her bedroom floor and rummaged in her closet, emerging with a fresh set of bedsheets. To Tikki's questioning look, she noted, "Sure, Chat had a facemask on, but I don't know who else he's been around, right? Better safe than sorry. And this'll just take a couple of minutes."

Just as she finished that, there was a gentle knock at the door, followed by the sound of the doorknob trying to turn. "Just one second!" called Marinette, hurrying over.

"Oh! Are you changing?" called Adrien. "I don't mean to-"

"No, it's fine," Marinette cooed, unlocking the door and opening it. "I'm dressed."

Not by much! marveled Adrien as he entered. Yum! And now that I'm Adrien and not Chat, I can appreciate that properly...

"Marinette... you are absolutely beautiful right now. Beyond gorgeous," he told her. "Not that you have to dress up to be beautiful... but I'm not complaining at all!"

"I'm very glad that you like it," smiled Marinette. "It still feels a little funny, and I'm trying not to go too far with it or feel like I'm teasing you..."

"Tease me, tease me!" laughed Adrien. "By all means! I wish I had a good way of returning the favor. All I have with me are some basic pajamas. That is," he grinned, "if you'd want to see me dressed down."

"I... refuse to answer that question out loud," Marinette giggled. "But you already know that answer. All done with your phone calls?"

"Uh-huh. I, um... checked in with Nathalie. Everything's all right there," he fibbed. "So if you would like a tuck-in, I'm ready. How were you keeping busy?"

Marinette looked thoughtful. "Full disclosure?" she admitted. "I had a visitor."

Adrien listened patiently as Marinette described Chat Noir's visit, his face betraying nothing.

"That was nice of him to check on you like that," replied Adrien. "And it's good to have friends in high places."

"With the emphasis on friend," insisted Marinette. "I know that, he knows that, I'm pretty sure that you know that... but I'll say it again, anyway. Chat is a dear friend of mine, but he didn't come over for kissing or for romance. That's not why my door was locked."

"No, no, I get it. If your mother or father walked in on him, it could get complicated fast," agreed Adrien. "And, no, I'm not jealous."

"Good. I don't want you to be," Marinette cooed, stepping in close. "Because we're not exclusive yet... but I can promise you that my heart belongs to one person."

"Which makes me a very lucky guy," breathed Adrien, as she slipped into his arms.

"Do you need a little reminder of that?" Marinette whispered into his ear.

"Please."

There was no other word that he could say.