Stuck In A Bakery (With You), Chapter 49

Sitting on the floor in the Dupain-Chengs' guest bathroom, staring across the room at Plagg and Tikki perched on the edge of the sink counter, Adrien found it hard to keep an incredulous look off of his face.

In a matter of hours, I've caught Marinette setting off a burglar alarm, confessed my crush on Ladybug, had Marinette dive onto me for the most intense makeout session we've ever had... and found out that Marinette is also LADYBUG. And somehow, watching Plagg and Tikki sitting together like it's no big deal might be the most unreal thing that I've seen all day.

Tikki gave him an understanding smile. "Okay. First off... you are not in any trouble, Adrien," she began. "No one is taking away your Miraculous, or hers. Not yet, anyway."

"I'm kind of relieved to hear that," Adrien admitted. "We'd heard the rules enough times that I wasn't sure how that would fall out. Marinette would never have admitted it if she'd known who else I am."

"Probably not," Tikki agreed. "Though she didn't have a lot of choice, between what happened today and what you figured out."

"Let's back up for a second," requested Adrien. "What did happen today?"

"Pretty close to the story that Marinette told you, honestly."

Tikki related how, minus the Mouse Miraculous having remained in the box, things had gone just as Marinette had related. "That Lucky Charm wiped us both out! The summoning isn't supposed to be that specific, or that big, or that permanent. She had the best of intentions with what she did... but she was lucky that she was only out for a few hours."

"So then I went out looking for Marinette... and she fibbed about Multimouse, which I knew that she'd had once before, to cover her tracks. That makes sense," Adrien nodded. "...Wait. No, it doesn't!" he realized. "How did I see Marinette and Ladybug standing side by side on the day that Multimouse first appeared?"

"One word. Multifox," grinned Tikki. "That was an illusion. You were both trying hard to hide your identities that day... she just had better tools."

"So I'm really not hallucinating all this? This isn't one big illusion. Marinette is Ladybug, and has been the whole time I've known her," boggled Adrien.

"She received me the same day that you received Plagg," Tikki confirmed. "And it's been a real rollercoaster ride keeping those two secrets hidden."

"I'll say. Though you might've tried a little harder than I did," quipped Plagg. "I never blurted it out, or anything... but Master Fu kind of started enforcing that 'lose your secret, lose your Miraculous' rule late in the game."

"And that rule isn't in play any more?" wondered Adrien.

"Ladybug is the Guardian now, as you know," said Tikki. "Which means that she can choose whether to enforce that rule... or to bend it... or to make her own rules."

"All right. Which leads me to the big question," Adrien sighed. "Do I go up and tell her that I'm Chat Noir? Or even hint at it?"

"I'm gonna stop you there, Chief," Plagg interjected. "I'm not too shabby at giving good advice when I put my mind to it."

"I know, believe me," smiled Adrien. "You've guided me through all kinds of stuff. So, what do you think?"

"Well... like Tikki said, you figured it out all on your own. Obviously, Ladybug trusts you. You're the only one she's ever told, right?" he added, glancing at Tikki.

"Absolutely," Tikki confirmed.

"So there you go. Ladybug tried to hide her secret... but once you knew it, she was fine with your knowing it. More than fine. You sure felt that," Plagg grinned. "And you haven't talked about that yet; I don't know if she will start hinting at 'now I can't be Ladybug' or not. I think that if Tikki's not demanding it, Marinette won't push the point."

"And I know that she won't just start spreading her secret around lightly," said Tikki. "You were probably the only person that she'd considered telling."

"Not even her parents?" wondered Adrien. "It's a big secret... but those three are pretty tight. So much closer than my family has ever been, even... before."

"You know how seriously Ladybug takes her identity," Tikki countered. "Just like with you, she'd trust them if they were to find out... but she's worked very hard to keep that from happening."

"So... you have some options. You could just tell her and hope for the best. You could keep it a secret for now, and see what she says," ventured Plagg. "Or you could drop some hints, leave some bread crumbs, and see if she figures yours out like you did hers. It shouldn't take too much, I don't think. It's hard to believe it took you two this long."

At Adrien's incredulous stare, Plagg laughed heartily. "Come on! Dark pigtails, slim build, huge heart, hates liars, overdeveloped sense of justice. Hangs out with a blonde kid who's athletic, brave, and sweet on her. Every other person in your class has been Akumatized; even the teacher! You even called her your everyday Ladybug. And now you're living under one roof and getting snuggly on the regular and finding it hard to hide anything. Did we have to draw you a map?"

Adrien looked a bit subdued at that. "Oh, now that I know... now, it seems obvious!" he declared. "But Marinette is the cleverest person I've ever met... and she has no idea about me, right, Tikki?"

"Correct," Tikki smiled. "Whatever you two have been doing... it's been working. But now, I have to ask... do you want her to know that you're Chat Noir?"

Adrien stared back at her. "Of course I do," he replied, as if it was the most natural thing ever. "I've offered to tell Ladybug on several occasions, though I've respected her wishes when she said 'no.' And while I've never told Marinette... I've thought about it, to have someone I could trust."

He stood up, knowing that he shouldn't keep a worried Marinette waiting too long. "I think what matters most is whether she'd want to know," he decided. "If I just blurt it out, and she freaks out... that could cause real problems. She's told me to my face that she couldn't ever know it... though that was under very different circumstances."

Thinking of that made Adrien shake his head in disbelief. "So, that night up on her balcony... I'd asked Ladybug out, and she didn't show, but then I caught Marinette standing out by her railing looking heartsick..."

"...because you didn't show when she'd hoped you'd be at Andre's Ice Cream that night," Tikki continued.

Plagg cackled, "So then you met with her to talk about your love-life failures, because she wasn't thinking of you that way and you weren't noticing her that way. Except you were crazy about her, but she shot you down politely, and she was dreaming of you every night, but you didn't know it 'cause she couldn't say it out loud."

Adrien went wide-eyed. "And we went in circles for months like that?" he marveled.

"You two have been meant for each other for a very long time. Even Master Fu thought so," smiled Tikki. "But how you handle it now is up to you."

"I think that handling it now is what I need to do most. Before she wonders if I'm running for the hills," Adrien noted. "She's up there alone right now, and she can't be very happy how I reacted."

"You do that," Plagg agreed. "I'll be close enough to snoop on you, in case she finds out and I can come out of hiding."

"Shall we?" Adrien gestured to Tikki. "And doesn't that feel strange for me to say?"

"A little bit," giggled Tikki. "Just check the hallway first. I'm not ready to meet Mr. Dupain and Mrs. Cheng just yet!"

The balcony hatch opened, and Marinette watched Adrien climb up to rejoin her... with Tikki floating next to him.

"That's going to take a little getting used to," smiled Marinette. "Adrien, are you all right?"

"I caught him trying to climb out the bathroom window," Tikki replied.

"What?" gasped Marinette. After a moment's thought, her eyes narrowed. "Wait a second," she continued, "...that bathroom doesn't have a window."

"That's why it was taking so long to get through it," deadpanned Adrien, before bursting out in laughter. "She's teasing you. Yes, I'm fine. I just needed a minute to... well... make my world make sense again."

"I'm working on that myself right now. Can we talk?" asked Marinette, patting the chair cushion next to her. "I had nightmares in my head that you were texting what you found out to Nino, asking 'What should I do about this?'"

"No, no, no!" insisted Adrien as he joined her. Tikki floated over next to them and landed, watching the two of them. "I know how important this is. No one gets told. Absolutely nobody."

"Good," exhaled Marinette, showing relief. "I mean... I know you better than to think that, obviously..."

She looked over at Tikki. "...but I know there still might be consequences to this. Tikki... what has to happen now?"

"Well," Tikki replied, "...you two talking this out, I hope? And then probably a lot of kissing and hugging, if I had to put money on it."

Tikki got a chuckle out of Marinette's confused expression, seeing that Tikki appeared unruffled. "I told you a few minutes ago, Marinette. I have no reason to be angry at you, or to punish either one of you," she continued. "The genie's out of the bottle. It was going to escape someday no matter how hard we tried. It's not as if your secret is public knowledge; one other person knows it now, and it's someone that you love and trust. So I would rather work on the best way forward than get upset about it."

"And, besides," Tikki added, "I may be your Kwami... but you're the Guardian now. Master Fu had reasons for the rules that he set, but you are not Master Fu, and you have many other things to consider now. This situation is different than, say, the hosts that were exposed to Hawkmoth. This is between you and Adrien."

"Tikki calmed me down. She didn't have to do all that much, either," Adrien assured her. "Was I startled? Sure, I was," he admitted. "But if, let's say, you were up here with Chat Noir and all of a sudden you figured out his secret identity. What would you be like then?"

Marinette shuddered. "I wouldn't know what to do!" she gasped. "But... that's a little different, isn't it?"

"Is it?"

Adrien's sudden smile confused her, but he stopped there, allowing her to continue.

"...If Chat Noir were to find out my identity... or vice versa... then I really would have to stop being Ladybug," Marinette explained. "It would be far too dangerous to continue like that. I've told Chat that several times, and I like to think that he understands, but... well... sometimes I wonder if it really sank in for him."

Marinette caught herself, adding, "Okay... you wouldn't know about any of this, Adrien... but now that you're in the loop, you'll need to. Let me explain."

Adrien listened patiently as Marinette went over the importance of the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous, what they are capable of when combined, and why they are Hawkmoth's primary goal. "This makes secrecy of the utmost importance," Marinette insisted. "Let's say that Hawkmoth conjures up a mind-reader Akuma, or one that shoots truth-serum beams, or, I don't know... he comes up with some pretty nasty ideas sometimes. If he reads my mind and finds out Chat Noir's identity... then both of our Miraculous are in danger. And so is the entire world!"

"And I can't argue with that. That's something that I was worried about, myself," agreed Adrien, shooting a meaningful glance Tikki's way. "I... I mean... the fact that I know it now," he added, seeing Marinette's curious expression.

"Well... you aren't someone who would be one of Hawkmoth's primary targets, Adrien," argued Marinette. "He would have no reason to think that you would know."

"So I guess that rules out a public Ladybug - Adrien Agreste romance splashed across all the gossip pages," Adrien smiled. He saw Marinette begin to protest and cut it off with a gesture. "Which I had kind of ruled out already," he grinned. "I would much rather have our privacy, like how we can just sit and talk right now with nobody hassling us. And, besides... I fell for the girl... not the mask."

"Very good to know," beamed Marinette.

"And, truth to tell... I don't know what my father would do with that," admitted Adrien. "If he would forbid me to see you... 'That girl attracts supervillains like crazy! She's far too dangerous for you to be around!'" he intoned, imitating his father's cadence. "Or if he'd want to rope you into promotional deals and things like that. He's already had me on stage once dressed as Chat Noir, as you recall."

"Right across from me," said Marinette. "Oh, I remember. I thought that the instant I put the mask on, my secret would be gone! You would see right through me."

"That's right..." gasped Adrien, putting two and two together. "So we were... er... so I was standing next to the real Ladybug that day, and didn't know it!"

"I think we'll have tons of moments like that that'll come to us," Marinette smiled. "But, anyway, that's one reason why I'm so paranoid about Chat knowing. The other is that Master Fu... my mentor... and that's another long story. He was the Guardian of the Miraculous. He gave me the Ladybug when I had no idea who he was... he gave Chat his Miraculous, too... and he kept all but two of the others hidden away, to be given out only when needed."

"...Hawkmoth's and Mayura's," ventured Adrien, carefully.

"Right. And when he was defeated by them, he passed the Guardian role to me... and the Miracle Box full of those other Miraculous," she explained. "Only I know where they are, but I have over a dozen other Miraculous to keep safe. Which means that if you ever want to try the Snake again, or some other one," Marinette smiled, "I can arrange that. I trusted you completely the day that I gave you Sass. And, obviously, I trust you even more now."

"M-maybe?" stammered Adrien, stealing a nervous glance at Tikki. "We can talk about that some other time."

"...But that's all the more reason why I'm paranoid about my identity," Marinette noted. "There is so much at stake now." She glanced over at Tikki and added, "You're being awfully quiet, Tikki. What do you think about this?"

Tikki pondered her answer for a moment. "About you and Adrien... or about you and Chat Noir?" she asked.

"...Both, please," Adrien offered.

"Adrien, you and Marinette... obviously, I have no objections to that. And I may give you some of that privacy you mentioned in a minute," Tikki smiled, "as it's been at least ten minutes since the two of you kissed, and we can't have that!"

"As for you and Chat..." she continued, turning more towards Marinette, "you do make some good points, and I am proud of how seriously you take both of your roles, Marinette. I always have been. All of those reasons for secrecy that you mentioned are still valid. But..."

Tikki watched Adrien's face carefully as she continued, making sure that she had his full attention, which she did.

"...One of the reasons for secrecy above all else was related to maturity," Tikki stated. "Not that both you and Chat Noir were not wise beyond your years when you first received your Miraculous," she noted, "but you were both young and dealing with many other things. You two were both completely new to this world of powers and secrets and risks. And I have been very happy watching both of you grow so much this year."

"We have had Ladybugs and Chats who remained secret to the end," continued Tikki. "We have had many who have known. Some who became lovers. Two sets who married. It is all about the individuals involved. Marinette," she said, "I will not tell you that Chat should know your identity, or you his... or that you shouldn't, either. I will tell you that I trust both of you to be mature, to think things out, to communicate with each other, and to choose wisely. Just like you and Adrien have."

"Th-thank you, Tikki. That means so much to me," breathed Marinette.

"M-me too," said Adrien.

"And with that... I'll leave you to whatever young people do these days," winked Tikki.

On the way through the balcony door, Tikki grabbed Plagg, who was hovering just out of sight and listening to the conversation. "C'mon, you," she told him. "We have some talking of our own to do."