Stuck In A Bakery (With You), Chapter 51
...Wow!
A period of substantial bliss followed Adrien's declaration, and it was Marinette's turn to be pleasantly surprised by her partner's level of ardor.
It's not like he wasn't responding earlier, she marveled, but it's like... knowing... flipped a switch in him, in a big way!
Should I be surprised at that? Marinette giggled to herself, when she could spare the thought. He was into Ladybug before he was into me. Now he knows that he has both of us in his arms at once... and now that he's had a little time to digest that, woohoo!
A light bulb went on over her head, metaphorically speaking...
"...even if we've made 'us' official... and I kind of feel like we have tonight," he'd said. Oh, my GOSH! It HAPPENED! No WONDER he's more passionate than ever!
A warm glow cascaded through her, from head to toe, as the implications hit her fully.
I really am the luckiest girl in Paris, Marinette beamed, trying to hold happy tears back. I was sure that being found out as Ladybug would be an utter disaster... but it's brought Adrien and I closer than ever before! Even Tikki seems content with it.
There are some things we'll still need to talk about - being Ladybug, my life is never uncomplicated - and I - oh, wow, Kagami is NOT going to be happy about this - now, how much more about the Miraculous world can I show him?
Marinette quelled her racing thoughts for the moment with one other one.
Shhhh, she told herself. Worry later. Kiss now. Kiss much, much more now.
After a while, this latest wave of affection reached its shoreline, and an exhausted Marinette simply snuggled up in Adrien's arms once again. The place where I was always meant to be, she told herself, smiling lazily up at his face.
"...Hey," she whispered, pleasantly.
"Hello," Adrien smiled back. "Still comfortable?"
"Way beyond comfortable," Marinette purred. "This is not at all how I expected this evening to go... but I'm not complaining."
"What do you mean by that?" Adrien asked.
"All of it," Marinette murmured, closing her eyes. "The two of us making it official. Being discovered as Ladybug. Tikki not flipping out. You not flipping out. So much of my life just got turned upside-down in a matter of hours, and yet... I'm okay with it. I'm amazed, but I am."
"I finally have someone that I can share that side of myself with," she continued. "I mean, I kind of have to now! 'Cause you're stuck with me, and that's who I am," she giggled. "But you're someone that I love and trust. And as long as my secret stays just between us..."
Marinette felt Adrien move slightly in response, in what felt like an uncomfortable shifting of weight, and looked up at him once more. "Adrien... it is going to stay between us, isn't it?" she asked.
"Of course it is," said Adrien, some worry visible in his eyes. "But there are some other things that you need to know."
I can't just... hold everything back from her, Adrien ordered himself. Not now. I have to move us in the right direction, at least. Dangle the right bait... and see if she bites.
"I'm thinking about what you said earlier," he told Marinette. "About how knowing both your and Chat's identities was a really bad combination. The kind of thing that would get a Miraculous taken away, under previous management."
"Uh-huh," verified Marinette, looking more alert. "But at least for now, you and I only know mine. Right?"
"...Right?" she repeated.
"Marinette... I know who's behind Chat Noir's mask," Adrien stated, in a flat voice.
Marinette sat straight up, a state of panic shooting through her.
"He told you?!" she gasped, with visible disbelief.
"No, he didn't," replied Adrien. "Just like you didn't tell me, either. I just... know."
"How do you know, then?" Marinette babbled, rapidly. "Did you catch him like you caught me? Did you figure it out on your own? Did he slip up, somehow? Does anyone else know?"
"Whoa! Slow down," Adrien flailed. "No one else knows, at least that I know of. He's been pretty darned careful with it. He didn't tell me. And I can't tell you exactly how I know... not yet... or that would give away who he is."
He gave her a very meaningful and intense look. "And, to be honest... I think that you should know who he is. I know that he wants you to know. But I am not just going to blurt it out... I want to respect what you told me tonight about that. You'll have to ask me directly to tell you."
Even in the dim evening light, Adrien could see his beloved turn a remarkable shade of pale.
"How am I supposed to even respond to that?" boggled Marinette. "That's... that's..."
"Take a breath," Adrien encouraged her. "Just like when I figured your secret out. Let's take this one little bite at a time, before we panic."
"Right! Right," she breathed, forcing herself to remain relatively calm. "How long have you known?"
"A long time," Adrien smiled. "About as long as he's been Chat Noir, actually. And just like how I'll keep your secret... I've kept his. I haven't told a soul."
"That's good," Marinette panted. "I think. And it's good to hear that he's been conscientious about his secret... I mean, he and I are close, and he's never told me, but I don't always know how he is around other people."
"He's thought about it," admitted Adrien. "Telling you, that is; I know that much. And I mean as you... not as Ladybug! But he's always held back, because that's an awful lot to lay on someone, you know?"
He read a flash of fear in her eyes and replied quickly, "And, no, I'll repeat, I'm not going to tell Chat Noir that you are Ladybug." Because I don't have to; he already knows, as of an hour ago, he grinned to himself. "So you can relax about anyone, beyond the two of us, finding out either identity from me. The only reason I'm telling you now that I know... is that you're Ladybug, so you need to know that I know."
"I get that. I know that I can trust you, Adrien," managed Marinette. "I just... whoa! This is big. It's, like... I have so many questions now, and I do and I don't want to ask them!"
"Whatever you want to know, I will tell you, if I can," Adrien said, calmly. "I know that he would want it this way; I'm not, like, betraying him with this. So... any thoughts?"
Marinette sat motionless, her brainwaves clamped down in a mental chokehold.
"Oh... kay," she began. "My first concern is actually what I need to do about you."
"I beg your pardon?" Adrien blurted out.
"Well... you heard my ramble a little while about the danger of people knowing too much. We talked about that, and you made some good points, and now I think I get why you were so interested in that! My boyfriend is now the biggest security risk in Paris."
"Say that again..." said Adrien.
"What? ...The danger of people knowing-"
"The 'my boyfriend' part."
"That does sound really good out loud, doesn't it?" grinned Marinette, momentarily. "But I'm serious. There's... not a whole lot that I can do about it, I guess... I don't exactly have a mindwipe gadget, and I wouldn't use it on you if I did!"
"Whew! That was one of my worries," joked Adrien.
"Stop, you," Marinette poked him, good-naturedly. "I am glad that you told me, Adrien. I'm hoping that it'll never come up... but if I'm ever in a situation where identities are in danger, that's good information to have."
"If Chat Noir knew your identity... would you want him to tell you that?" asked Adrien, turning serious. "For the same reason?"
"There's no way that he could," shrugged Marinette. "Otherwise he'd have been at my balcony with six dozen roses, about ten minutes after he figured it out."
"Would that have been so terrible?" wondered Adrien, gently.
"...Why?" Marinette wondered. "Adrien... what do you know?"
"Nothing!" Adrien insisted. "I'm not... I'm not saying that he would or he wouldn't! But you've said it yourself; you and Chat are very close, just like Ladybug and Chat are very close in a different way. Marinette's seen sides of him that Ladybug hasn't. A lot less of the posturing and punning and trying to find some way, any way to win Ladybug's heart... more of the real him."
"That's true," conceded Marinette. "And I... I do really like that other Chat. I mean... don't get me wrong! As Ladybug, Chat Noir is my dear partner and my good friend and occasionally he's a giant pain in my neck, but I would never want to be without him. He's as natural a fit for the Cat Miraculous as I am for the Ladybug. And as myself, well..."
"...Well?" prompted Adrien.
"...I can't say that I've never thought about him that way," Marinette mumbled. "Not seriously. It couldn't happen because of the whole Ladybug thing even if I wanted it to. But that Chat... sensitive, sweet, everyday Chat, the kind of boy that I imagine he is without the costume... that wouldn't have been so terrible, to answer your question," she replied, blushing hard. "But you have nothing to worry about there. He has a girlfriend now... and I have a boyfriend."
"That really does sound good out loud," Adrien grinned, letting loose a silent shriek of triumph in his head. "And I didn't mean that to sound like I was worried about it. If you're fine with me socializing with Kagami, going forward... I'm more than fine with you spending time with Chat Noir. I know we'll trust each other."
"That works," noted Marinette. "Now... about Kagami..."
"Not now," Adrien declared. "Please. I really do want to talk about her, and us, and what this new us means for what we'd told her previously! But when the three of us talked then, you and I were missing some critical information, and it's information that we can't share with her! So that's going to be really complicated, and when we talk it out - which will be before we talk with her about this - I want us both to give it our whole attention. And I don't know how we can do that right this instant! Too much has happened tonight."
"...You're right. About all of that," Marinette replied, somberly. "It's all three steps past crazy."
"So, then... let me circle back," Adrien said. "If Chat Noir knew your identity... even if he was keeping that a secret, to respect your wishes... would you want him to tell you that? Would you want to know his, as well?"
"I... I think that I would want to know that he knew, if he knew it for sure. And you could verify that for him, if it came to that," Marinette answered, after a very long pause. "But I don't know if that means that I'd have to know his. Though, like you said earlier... I might need to know his! My brain is still hammering that part out."
"You would be comfortable knowing that he knew, though," Adrien repeated. "That's what you're saying."
"Comfortable might be stretching it," she smiled, sheepishly. "But like I said to you... it could be vital knowledge for me to have in certain situations. And I do trust him. I've trusted him with my life on many occasions! So if it came to that..."
She took a moment to think about how to phrase it.
"...maybe it would be time for me to put the noodles in the boiling water, after all," finished Marinette, wistfully.
"...Noodles?" wondered Adrien, visibly puzzled.
"A metaphor. Something that a wise man told me once," she smiled.
Marinette stared at Adrien, still smiling, but visibly on edge.
"You're just about shaking, Marinette," noted Adrien.
"I... I still can't get over that you know who he is. And now I have, like, all these questions that are trying to burn their way out of my mouth!" she declared. "That I shouldn't ask! But I won't sleep a minute tonight if I don't ask some of them."
Ah... she IS curious, grinned Adrien. "Go ahead. I'm not pushing you. Stop when you need to," he told her, "or stop me if you need to, if my answers go too far."
"Fine. I am not going to let myself Twenty Questions you into just giving it away," Marinette insisted. "All right. Question one... is he our age? Older, younger, about the same?"
"About the same," Adrien confirmed. "So he could be in our grade level, or first year of lycee."
"All right. I'm not going to ask if he goes to our school; that would narrow it down way too much," mused Marinette. "I assume that he lives in our side of Paris? An arrondissement near ours, at least? Whenever there's an emergency, we seem to arrive at around the same time, most of the time."
"Correct, he does," said Adrien. "I won't specify which."
"Did you know who he was before you came to our school?" wondered Marinette. "Like, is he someone you knew through your family connections, or through modeling, or fencing, maybe?"
"How I know him would give it away. Want to rephrase that question?" Adrien asked, with an innocent smile.
"I will, thank you," Marinette replied. "All right... I don't... I shouldn't ask this one."
Adrien waited for her to gather her nerve.
"I... I find it hard to believe that this would be a 'yes,'" Marinette mumbled. "Because as well as I feel like I know him, the amount of time I've spent with him... in both his identities... how could I not realize..."
"...Adrien," she continued, looking him in the eye. "If I saw Chat Noir detransformed... his everyday, normal self... would I know him? On sight, or by name, or as an acquaintance?"
"Yes," Adrien declared, his voice steady.
"Which one? On sight, by name, or personally?" asked Marinette, before she could stop herself.
"Yes," repeated Adrien, without hesitation.
The balcony fell silent.