Stuck In A Bakery (With You), Chapter 47
Oh... my goodness.
Slowly, Adrien recovered what breath and awareness that Marinette allowed him to regain, one small drop at a time.
It's not that I have any complaints... at ALL... he thought with some awe. This last half-hour has been... has been...
...wow!
Vocalizing his approval in actual words was not yet an option, as his lips remained occupied and spoken for, and that did not appear to be changing any time soon.
I... I was not expecting this to be this INTENSE! Adrien managed to ponder. Marinette and I have been slowly moving these kinds of things forward, keeping them light and playful... but tonight, it was like a light switch flipped in Marinette and a TIGER was unleashed!
A very affectionate, very cuddly, very beautiful tiger. Though perhaps partway through the process of eating my face off, one nibble at a time.
What brought THIS on so suddenly?
He struggled to rewind his memories to the moments before their makeout session began. It was anything but an easy process, given the circumstances.
Gradually, the intensity returned to more of a simmer. Adrien lay flat on his back, wide-eyed, breathing hard. Sensing that he needed a momentary breather, Marinette curled up against him with her head resting on his shoulder... though her eyes remained bright and alert, and he sensed that if he was ready for the next round, she was eager to continue.
"Marinette?" Adrien asked, very quietly.
"Mmm-hmmm?" she answered.
"We were on the lounge chair when this started, weren't we?"
Marinette raised her head and looked around, with a small laugh once she realized that the two of them were a good three meters away from the chairs, over by the railing at the balcony's edge.
"Did we, um... roll over here?" she asked, with mild disbelief.
"I'm not sure. You might have carried me," Adrien joked. "I don't even remember leaving the chair. I hope that we're not bruised tomorrow from falling off!"
"Oh!" Marinette gasped. "Yeah, that could be a little hard to explain to my parents."
"They were young once," said Adrien. "I think that they'd understand... though I hope that they don't think that we went farther than we have."
Marinette looked Adrien over... then herself... and breathed a tiny sigh of relief that both were still fully dressed. I didn't THINK that we'd crossed those lines, she thought, but as overwhelmed as I was... as much as I needed him at that moment...
...after he finally told me that he'd been in love with...
...um...
...oh, dear.
"Can I ask you something, Marinette?" Adrien continued, quietly.
"Of course you can," said Marinette. I would really prefer if it's not the question that I know that you're about to ask, though...
"You and I were up here talking about a bunch of things... and I thought that our talk was going well. Nothing too unusual. I wanted to make sure that you were comfortable, after the crazy day that you had," Adrien began.
"Do I look comfortable?" Marinette asked, cuddling up close again. She sneaked in another handful of kisses, which Adrien returned happily, but they didn't have the full distraction effect that she'd hoped they would.
"Very comfortable," declared Adrien. "And I am, too. A little startled, maybe... but very happy."
"Adrien... I'm sorry," sighed Marinette, her face falling. "I didn't... I didn't stop and think before I acted."
"I don't know about that," Adrien countered. "I mean... I know that we didn't come up here with all of that in mind. Maybe... some of it in mind..."
"Oh, yeah," smiled Marinette. "But I knew that you wanted to talk first."
"And we did. And everything seemed normal, right? But then we got to talking about crushes, and I finally told you that mine had been on Ladybug... I wasn't sure how you were going to react to that," admitted Adrien. "I really didn't want to say it, but you talked me into it."
"Why were you so nervous?" asked Marinette. "I mean... I already knew that you knew Ladybug, and that you two got along well..."
"Oh, we do, we do!" Adrien babbled. "But, you know... I don't know her that well. Who she is, what she's like in her private life, what she likes to do as herself, whom the boy in her life is..."
Marinette sat up slightly. "Adrien... how do you know that Ladybug has a boyfriend?" she wondered.
"I... don't for sure?" replied Adrien, guardedly. "Chat Noir had told me that there was a boy in her life that wasn't him, a big reason why the boy in her life wasn't him, so I kind of assumed... how could someone like her not?"
"But you never told Ladybug how you felt," Marinette noted... then added, "...right?" to make it more of a question than a statement of fact.
"Nnnnn... no," stammered Adrien. "Not in so many words. Like I said, we don't... spend a lot of private time together like that... so when I told you, I was afraid that you'd think I was being silly, crushing on her from afar."
"Adrien... I had a huge crush on someone that I didn't know that well yet, someone that I couldn't spend a lot of time with... since seeing you in school doesn't really count for that," Marinette reassured him. "And I was terrified to tell you how I felt... or to show you, until very recently. I know just how that feels."
"About that," Adrien continued, undaunted.
"...Go ahead," sighed Marinette.
"I said something just now... and you responded to it," he stated. "I finally admitted that I'd had a big crush on Ladybug... and all of a sudden, you were in my arms, you were begging to hear it again, you were on fire like I'd never seen you before! And, um... that was absolutely wonderful..."
"Good," Marinette smiled, blushing a bit. "It was for me, too."
"...but I was surprised. So I have to ask you, Marinette... why did knowing that make you react so strongly?" wondered Adrien.
Marinette looked into his eyes, full of innocence and need, and wavered...
"I... I'm not sure what to say," ventured Marinette, cautiously. "Maybe it was... because I felt like I'd had competition for your heart all along... but I really didn't, because she was someone that you didn't know that well! That just... broke the tension, I guess..."
"But... I kind of just told you that," replied Adrien. "Afterwards. You jumped on me before I explained that part."
"Yeah, but... does anybody really know Ladybug all that well?"
Adrien stared at Marinette. "I... wouldn't know?" he asked. "I'd have to know her better to know who does or doesn't know her better. I'm confused."
"Well... Adrien, that was so brave of you, though. I know what it's like to confess a crush to somebody," Marinette continued, trying out her next suggestion. "It's not easy on you to say it, at all! And when you told me what you did, I just felt so..."
"Now, wait a minute," Adrien protested, sitting up. "Which was it that made you react? That the other girl was Ladybug, or that I confessed that she was?"
"M-maybe a little of each?" said Marinette, meekly. I'm losing control of this, fast! she panicked. "Does it really matter?"
"You tell me," argued Adrien. "I feel like I'm more worried now."
"Why is that?" she countered.
"Well, for one thing... you've been so insistent that we should go slowly, that we shouldn't just dive on each other until this lockdown's over and I can talk with Kagami in person. Until we can all make fairer decisions," he began. "It kind of feels like you changed your mind about that tonight."
"I... I need to think about that," Marinette replied. "Because I do still think that that's important, even if I got, um... carried away in the moment. "
"And I'm asking why that happened... and I feel like you're dodging it," Adrien insisted. "Right after you were telling me that when we're honest with each other, good things can happen. Well, I was honest... and something incredible happened..." he smiled, "but now the most honest person I know keeps giving me different reasons as to why she felt overwhelmed."
"I don't feel like you're lying to me, Marinette... I don't." he reassured her. "But I'm feeling like I did when you told us your story earlier, about what happened at the hospital. That there's something that you're holding back from us... from me. Something important. And both of my reasons for feeling like that seem to have something to do with Ladybug."
"...Are you holding back, Marinette?"
I could try to make a joke of this, Marinette thought. But I don't think that that would work any more than kissing him again did. He's serious right now, and not easily distracted. He truly needs to know.
And he's not wrong. I AM hiding something very big.
Something that I kind of need to keep hiding.
But CAN I? I think that I BLEW IT just now, big time!
She looked at Adrien once more and weighed her options. Smothering him in kisses was part of how she'd gotten into this mess in the first place, and it would only delay the inevitable. Shouting "Look at that interesting thing over THERE!", throwing a smoke bomb and running for it wasn't plausible.
I can't just blurt out the whole truth. But I really, really don't want to lie to him again, for so many reasons... and if I did, he'd probably see right through it. So what else can I do?
She closed her eyes and sent out a silent thought-propelled message into the universe... not that she expected it to be heard, of course.
Hawkmoth, I don't usually ask you for anything, and this probably isn't the most ethical request... she pleaded, but is there any chance that someone out there could get possessed by an Akuma and require Ladybug's intervention RIGHT NOW?
...No?
...Pretty please?
...FINE. See what happens when YOU ask ME for a favor.
"Adrien... I need you to listen to me now, and to hear me out, okay?" suggested Marinette, to which Adrien nodded. She clearly had his undivided attention.
"We told each other about our first time with a Miraculous a few days ago. The time that I had the Mouse, and when you had the Snake," Marinette began. "But we didn't tell each other that lightly. Not until we trusted each other completely, we'd gotten to know each other very well, and we were on the brink of sharing some even bigger secrets... and afterwards, we kept our secrets between ourselves. Ladybug and Chat Noir would want it that way."
"Uh-huh," Adrien agreed. "What happens in costume, stays in costume. And the Miraculous are too powerful to play around with; their users need to remain safe and secret."
"Secret. Yeah," said Marinette, nervously. "Well! Um... There are things that I... know... that I can't tell you about, Adrien. Times when I need to do certain things, or I need to disappear for a little while, or I need to keep my mouth shut when I'm just dying to share things with the people I love. Because if I don't lock those things away like that... I don't know what might happen."
"Huh," noted Adrien. "It almost sounds like you've either had a Miraculous more than twice... or that you think that you're going to. Are you going to be a more frequent partner of theirs?"
"Oh, I don't know about that," Marinette evaded. "I mean, I only get one when Ladybug thinks that I'm needed, right? And that happens whenever it happens."
"And you can't say whether or not Ladybug's hinted at that," Adrien said. "I bet that if Chat Noir gets a vote, you'd have one all the time."
"Yeah, well... I don't know if he does or not," smiled Marinette. "But I appreciate his support." Though that's one reason why he won't any time soon. Sorry, Chat!
"All right. So that's part of your reason for being hesitant... there's something going on with you and Ladybug that you can't share, even with me. Have I inferred that correctly?" asked Adrien. "I mean... something big. Beyond just getting a temporary Miraculous once in a while, because you told your parents and I about that! But whatever this is, it's bigger."
"I... can't really say yes or no, Adrien. But you are a smart guy..." Marinette stammered, "and you probably shouldn't spend a lot of time trying to figure out-"
"But that only answers part of my question," exclaimed Adrien, in an eager tone. "There's still the other thing that I'm wondering. Marinette, we were being all flirty and cuddly, and I told you that I'd had a crush on Ladybug... and then you know what happened next. It was almost as if... like that was something you'd been waiting to hear?" he puzzled out. "Or that what I said meant so much to you that you fell a little harder, right in that moment."
Marinette watched, silently, with a sinking feeling in her stomach as Adrien continued rambling. "You and Ladybug are closer than I knew. I was in love with Ladybug... and knowing that made you love me more," he declared. "But why would that..."
"...that..."
"...th-hat..."
The look on Adrien's face was remarkable; life had crept up behind him and smacked him upside the head, and might have jarred something loose in his mind that had been stuck for quite some time.
Marinette watched as he looked at her with startled eyes, and forced a small smile onto her face. If he figures it out... I won't lie to him, she thought. If I'm caught... I'm caught. I know that I can trust him. I know that I love him. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
He muttered a few things under his breath as he processed it mentally. "It can't be. I've seen them in the same place..." she heard. "But I did the same thing once... and..."
The same thing once? wondered Marinette... but the gale of emotions running through her brain blew that aside very quickly.
One way or another, she gulped, my life is about to change.
Adrien considered the beautiful girl sitting next to him, with her bluebell eyes and her twin pigtails and her compassion and her passion and her gigantic heart. All things about her that reminded him so much of his partner.
The girl who had disappeared in a time of need... and not just this one time, he realized, now that I think about it... and been found by him near where Ladybug had been present.
Granted, she did have a cover story... a lot of cover stories for each of the many times that this had happened. Just like he had for his own disappearances and reappearances...
There was some evidence against it. Multimouse's help against Kwami Buster, for instance... which was a lot like how Chat Noir appeared near Adrien thanks to Wayhem's impersonation, right?
Come on, this is ludicrous, Adrien told himself. This incredible, sweet, beautiful girl that I've fallen in love with just couldn't be...
...the other incredible, sweet, beautiful girl that I'd fallen in love with.
He held his hands out in front of him, aimed at Marinette, his fingers curling into a makeshift mask... and it was all he could do to remain upright.
Marinette held her breath. The look on Adrien's face told her what he'd realized... and once she was sure that he had, an odd feeling of relief flowed through her.
"It can't be," Adrien gasped, just above a whisper.
"You know?" asked Marinette, just as quietly.
"I think I do," he replied. "I don't know how it can be true... but it is. It has to be the answer."
"Then tell me what you know," Marinette said. "Please."
"That I'm still in love with Ladybug," breathed Adrien. "But now... far more than ever."
Marinette glowed... then added, simply, "Close your eyes, Adrien."
He did as he was told. "Why?" he asked her.
"Because one of your dreams is about to come true."
Her voice was husky, and he could feel her leaning in very close, so close that he could kiss her if he moved the slightest bit forward. Burning with anticipation, he waited...
"Spots on," she whispered.
Her kiss melted onto his lips... and as they touched, the white flash of her transformation was only part of the electricity in the air.