Stuck In A Bakery (With You), Chapter 52
Yes?
YES?
The word echoed in Marinette's ears, over and over again. By themselves, she knew that they had just changed her world forever... but she also knew that the night was far from over.
"You are telling me..." she asked Adrien, quite deliberately, "that I know Chat Noir personally. Without his mask and costume. The real him."
Adrien nodded, silently.
"This isn't some kind of metaphor," insisted Marinette. "Not like 'when he visits you, he lets his true self out when you two talk.' I would know his face, I would know his voice, I've spent time with him up close. He's a friend of yours and a friend of mine! That is what you are saying."
"Mm-hmm," replied Adrien, with a nervous smile. "Truth to tell, I'm a little surprised that the voice never gave him away. But I'm not one to talk... how much time have I spent with you, and I didn't pick up on your being Ladybug until tonight? You don't disguise your voice as Ladybug."
Marinette considered that. "Huh!" she allowed. "I never really thought of doing that... and I guess that it's a little late for that now. I've been on TV, in front of crowds... they'd probably notice if I had a different voice, all of a sudden."
"Or different hair," suggested Adrien. "I'll say this much... Chat changes a little bit when he transforms. The cat eyes, his hair is a bit different... I'm not saying this to pick on you at all, Marinette!" he declared, seeing her face darken somewhat. "You're doing something right, obviously; nobody's figured it out but me, and look how crazy things had to get for me to put it together! But your Kwami can change your appearance up if you ask her to, right?"
"...Yeah, she can?" stammered Marinette. "We'd talked about that earlier, how I'd thought about some costume alterations? The pockets thing was a really good idea. But I don't know if I ever thought about changing me, too."
"It can't be that hard. Look at how much Akumas change people sometimes," Adrien continued. "My bodyguard became fifteen meters tall, the Bourgeoises were that giant floating head, Ivan was a stone golem, Kim grew wings... your father got big enough to punt Chat Noir around the block. In your defense, of course."
"He was... um... wait! We are getting completely off the subject!" Marinette cried out, clasping her head in both hands.
"Yes... you are."
Tikki floated up and over Marinette's shoulder, making her returned presence known. "Marinette, if you do want to give me some suggestions for alterations, I'm game... but you two have bigger things to talk about right now," she said.
Marinette looked back and forth between Tikki and Adrien, desperately. "Okay! You both know who Chat Noir really is," she declared. "And it's sounding like it should have been obvious to me, but it wasn't, and it still isn't! What am I missing here?"
Tikki looked at Adrien, with an unmistakable look of ...Well?
"Let's talk it through... if you want to, Marinette," he replied. "Tell me what you know about Chat Noir. About the boy underneath."
Because if you stop and think hard about it, Adrien thought to himself... if you put the clues together... everything changes tonight.
Marinette gathered her thoughts, looking questioningly at Adrien, whose face remained serene and reassuring to her.
"He's about my age," she began. "If he is a little different physically, when he's transformed... it's hard to say much more about that."
"Not very different," Adrien clarified. "He's not like, thirty-five years old and fat and a redhead. He is a boy our age, and I don't think he's ever presented himself as anything but that."
"I didn't think that he had," Marinette smiled. "He's kept his secret from me - we've both made sure of that - but he's always been honest with me. He's shared things with me that even Ladybug hadn't heard. Small wonder, I guess... if I'm the only one he socializes with as Chat."
"You always struck him as someone worthy of trust," agreed Adrien. "Of course he was drawn to you."
A series of small plap sounds around them began to increase, and Marinette looked down as a single raindrop splashed against her forearm.
"Do you want to take this inside?" Adrien asked, noticing that.
She shook her head, choosing to ignore the faint drizzle for now. "So, let me see. What else?" Marinette continued. "He's been lovesick for Ladybug, the way that I was over you... but I never told him your name," she smiled. "That's why he never told you, I suppose. Or maybe he was just polite, and wanted me to be the one to confess it to you; as much as I talked about you with him, he had to know whom I meant. Even though I tried to hide it a little bit."
"I, um..." stammered Adrien. "I don't think that Chat knew until you told him the other night, when he visited you."
"Either way, I'm very happy that he's found someone," grinned Marinette. "He's the sweetest boy... next to you, anyway! He deserves to be happy and loved as much as anyone, and as much as he wanted that to be with me... well... you know. I do love him... and I hope he knows that... just not that way."
An Are you sure? tried to leap out of Adrien, but through force of will alone, he held it back. "Go on," he said, instead.
"He's got something of a troubled home life. Kind of like you do," Marinette said, "from what little he's told me about it. He's in a single-parent household, too; I'm not sure what happened to his mother, but she's not around. Things are strained between him and his father much of the time; his dad's very... inattentive..."
Marinette's voice trailed off as she studied Adrien's face, and her own became clouded.
Tikki held her breath. Is she adding it all up, at last? she wondered.
"I'm sorry," Marinette declared, faintly, adjusting the subject. "I feel silly. I'm sitting up here with my boyfriend and I'm talking about another guy."
"Because I asked you to," Adrien reassured her. "Please, keep going! As a person, what's he like with you?"
"He's far more sensitive of a person that I would've thought at first," Marinette continued. "I mean... as Ladybug, I don't know that I took him completely seriously at first. Not as a partner, I mean; from the very beginning, he was always just what I needed that way. But it took me a while to figure out that he wasn't just flirting with me; he had real feelings for Ladybug. He came here one night and talked with me about it, and my eyes went WOW!" she laughed, miming them popping out like a cartoon character's.
"I can imagine. That must've been a tough night for you," Adrien ventured.
"Yeah... but he's been stopping by at intervals ever since, and we've helped each other deal with our crushes and a lot of other things. I felt so much better that I could give him emotional support as Marinette that I couldn't the other way."
Adrien blinked, twice. "You are... absolutely right about that," he replied, slowly. "I know how much he values the time that he spends with you."
"I'm glad. Now if I only knew how much other time I'm spending with him, that I don't know about!" grumped a frustrated Marinette.
"Well... look at it this way. You don't have any boys that things feel... weird around, right? So whoever he is, you've been doing everything right with him," Adrien noted.
"I guess not. The only boy I've ever felt tension with was you, Adrien... but now we know why, and we know how that all turned out," smiled Marinette, shyly. "And that wasn't bad tension, you know? More like that I was crazy about you and I couldn't get the words out."
"I think it all turned out just the way I want it," beamed Adrien. "And I couldn't be much happier."
Raindrops began pattering around the two of them a bit more frequently, but neither seemed to notice, or at least mind.
"But now that I know this..." mumbled Marinette. "My brain is in overdrive right now! I should not have asked that question. I so shouldn't have."
She looked up at Tikki, then at Adrien, helplessly. "I know a lot of people, Adrien. You know a lot of people. But we don't have a lot of crossover!" she insisted. "You were dying to make friends your own age when we first met. You were so sweet to me that day on the steps because you thought you might miss your chance at one."
"I did what I did that day because I'd wronged you. Or at least had made you think that I had," Adrien answered. "And because I could tell right away that you were worth the effort, that I needed to make things right. And... yeah, because I really wanted friends... and I really wanted you to be one of them."
"But that's just it," Marinette replied. "If you've known Chat Noir... the boy beneath Chat Noir... as long as you say you have, it almost has to be someone from our school, doesn't it? Maybe even from our class! That's where all the people that we'd both know well are. But nobody fits! Every boy in that class has been Akumatized at least once, and Chat Noir was right there helping me free them, so it couldn't be any of them! Every one of them except for-"
A distant thunderclap was heard, as the rain continued to fall gently.
"Except for..."
Marinette's jaw dropped, and her thoughts raced like lightning, joining that distant thunder.
A perfect boy sitting right in front of me all year in school, with blonde hair and big green eyes and the biggest heart. Whom I've TOLD that he reminds me of Chat Noir!
Adrien watched her intently, on the edge of his seat with anticipation.
A sensitive soul, a huge protective instinct, with a gigantic crush on Ladybug. A tough home life, a missing mother, and a demanding father.
How did I manage to be so BLIND?
A drop of water ran down her cheek. Adrien wasn't sure if it was a raindrop or a tear. The drizzle around them was intensifying slowly.
"...f-for..."
Adrien was turned to gold by Style Queen... and Plagg came to find me. Because his host wasn't available and he needed my help.
More drops joined the first... and they weren't raindrops.
Chat Noir finally got a girlfriend... at the exact same time I got a boyfriend.
She felt tiny hands on her shoulder, as if Tikki was making a symbolic attempt to hold her upright.
It can't be...
It can ONLY be...
Marinette appreciated Tikki's gesture... because it was all that was keeping her steady.
"Ex... except... for..." Marinette gasped. "For the boy I was in love with all along. Who's been by my side all along. Who's p-protected me, who's taken beatings for me, who's loved me." Her voice grew shakier as she continued, "Who was right there for me and who loved me and I turned him away, more than once, oh, God, Adrien, I don't, I don't, I can't, I wouldn't have-"
"You couldn't have known. And neither did I," Adrien reassured her. "I had no idea until tonight."
"Ad-Adrien..." she shuddered. "It's you. It's YOU!"
"It always has been," he smiled, nervously. He raised his hand, showing off the ring on his finger, to which she quivered visibly.
"I couldn't just... blurt it out," continued Adrien, emotion in his own voice. "Not knowing your secret. How you've felt about both our secrets. I had to know that you'd want to know... and let you piece it together."
"I..."
Marinette bit her bottom lip, lightly, and was silent.
"I am so in love with you, Marinette. This doesn't change that. Not one bit," Adrien gulped. "I didn't... I had to hide this from you, and you know why. Just like you hid Ladybug from me. But once I knew... I didn't know what to do next."
"...And that's why you needed a minute when I transformed," nodded Marinette.
"Exactly. Tikki cooled me down and assured me that everything could be worked out. Now..." he managed, "what comes next... that's up to you."
Marinette stood motionless, processing her new reality, then came to a decision.
"There's something that I need to do, Kitty," she whispered. "I'll be right back."
Before Adrien could stop her, Marinette was running over to the balcony hatch and climbing down to her room.
Adrien stood very still, dumbfounded by Marinette's sudden departure. He looked over at Tikki, who shrugged.
In a hushed voice, Adrien asked, "Did I just blow it? DID I?"
"I think you did everything just right, Adrien," Tikki told him, gently. "Remember how you reacted about an hour ago to knowing? Give her a minute. If she doesn't show, I'll..."
The hatch reopened, and Marinette climbed back up, carrying something. She stepped forward slowly, one foot at a time, until she was face-to-face with Adrien.
"Marinette?" Adrien asked. "Are you all right?"
"I'm... I'm wonderful," Marinette breathed. "I'm finally... who and what and where I'm meant to be."
She reached down to the umbrella in her hands, opening it. He saw a small "A" monogram on its handle and recognized it instantly.
With a shaking hand, Marinette extended the umbrella towards him...
"Th-this is how you and I started. Our very beginning," she said, with a hint of a smile. "I couldn't th-think of a better way to start the rest of my life."
Adrien quivered, overwhelmed... then dashed forward and swept Marinette up into his arms, spinning her around gently as she clung to him, her arms wrapped more tightly than ever before. A set of sobs erupted from her, but Adrien understood that they weren't sadness, or fear, or heartbreak... they were simply release.
The umbrella fell to the balcony floor, rolling slightly aside from them... but despite the growing rain, neither of them felt it at all. The rest of their world, outside of the two of them, simply did not exist.
Marinette opened her eyes, seeing her world clearly perhaps for the first time.
Feeling her head turn, Adrien turned his own to face her, not letting go. "Are you-" he gasped.
A long kiss answered his unasked question.
"Ahem!" a tiny voice coughed, a short distance away.
The two of them turned and saw Plagg and Tikki perched on the arm of a lounge chair, side-by-side. Plagg shot Marinette a cheeky wave, which she acknowledged with a nervous giggle.
"Finally," Plagg declared. "I was wondering if you two were ever going to figure this out! When you started living together, Tikki and I bet on how long this would take."
"Who won?" asked Adrien.
"I did," grinned Plagg, toothily. "I had one week. She said 'he'll go home before they slip.' Since it happened, I'm closer."
"Now... I am very happy that this all worked out as well as it has," Tikki smiled. "But might I suggest that we take the party inside? Where it's a little less rainy?"
As Marinette and Adrien climbed down, Plagg added, "And by the way, while I'm thinking of it... do you think you can get a little more cheese in your fridge now?"