Chapter 6

Shopping was an entirely different experience when Marinette did it with someone who found the whole process fascinating and new. Adrien wandered from aisle to aisle, his beanie pulled down low to cover his hair. His glasses were much too big for his face, but she supposed they complimented his wide eyes. Duusu peeked out from her bag, apparently able to sense Adrien's complete wonder and joy.

"There's so much here!" he whispered excitedly to Marinette as they checked out. Marinette had her own hair wrapped up in a scarf and had taken on a transformation into someone with an entirely different face structure due to an hour-long do-it-yourself video and plenty of makeup.

"It's just a store," she laughed in response, paying for her groceries before grabbing the bags. Adrien automatically picked up a few as well, causing Marinette to hesitate. She had to remind herself that she hadn't asked him to, and asking him not to would still be giving him directions. She shuddered to think of commanding anything or anyone as close to human as her Sentimonster-Adrien was.

"It's so social," Adrien responded. "I like social places."

Great, Marinette thought to herself. Social is one thing that we can't be for at least a while.

She didn't say as much to Adrien, not wanting to dampen his spirits. Instead, she carried the groceries to the nearest bus stop and waited with the rest of the Parisians waiting to be picked up. Adrien didn't talk to those around them, and Marinette let out a sigh of relief. Before leaving her apartment she had given him a few tips, but she hadn't reminded him since she didn't want to sound controlling. She had given him his amok-charm, but she was still worried that he would look to her for direction on everything.

"Are we heading back to your apartment?" Adrien asked, his voice low.

"I thought we could head there and make some dinner," Marinette said, looking over at him sheepishly. "Is there somewhere else you want to go?"

"I want to go everywhere," Adrien admitted, smiling. "But if you're hungry we can go home."

"Aren't you hungry?" Marinette asked, trying to justify it in her mind. If they were both hungry, then she would feel better about forcing him back to her apartment.

"I don't get hungry," Adrien admitted. "At least, I don't think so. I don't sleep either."

Marinette almost dropped her grocery bags. "What did you do last night, then?" she asked.

"I sat on your couch like you asked me to."

Marinette felt sick at the prospect of Adrien sitting staring at a wall for hours while she slept just because she had asked him to do so. She had thought for sure that her suggestion that he could use the couch that night hadn't been a command.

"You don't have to do what I ask," Marinette said, watching the bus pull up to their stop. "You know that right?"

"I know," Adrien assured. "You made sure I knew that when I first woke up in your apartment. I just wanted to listen. You've given me a lot of good guidance already."

That didn't do much to ease Marinette's guilt, but she didn't have much time to say anything more on the matter because Adrien had already gotten onto the bus.

ooo

"What is this?"

Marinette was winded. Apparently, sentimonsters didn't eat, sleep, and they didn't get tired. After practically racing up the stairs, since Adrien wanted to experience more than just the lift, Adrien beat her to the door. He was carrying all of the groceries after realizing that Marinette was being affected by carrying them when he wasn't. Now he was staring down at a plate that had been left at her door.

"Ugh," Marinette said, picking up the plate of cookies. She wasn't sure how people were managing to find her, but she supposed news of her being Ladybug had made its way all the way to America as well. there wasn't much she could do about it now.

"Are they something bad?"

"No," Marinette said, unlocking the apartment door. "They're a dessert. They're just...annoying."

"Why?"

That was a question Marinette had answered countless times to herself, but she couldn't find a way to answer it to Adrien.

"I just...don't want them," she said, walking inside the apartment and putting them down on the table.

"Can I try one?"

Marinette turned to Adrien in surprise. She had sworn that he had told her that he couldn't eat just a few moments ago at the bus stop. Adrien seemed to sense her confusion because he smiled and picked up a cookie.

"I can eat," he said. "I think. I just don't need to."

"Oh. Well, you can try one if you want," Marinette said, trying to wrap her mind around the rules of a sentimonster. She hadn't ever encountered a sentimonster on a day-to-day basis since she and Chat Noir used to try to destroy them as quickly as possible. None of those she had Chat had faced were as complex as hers was now, except for maybe Bugette. They hadn't ever given her a real name though, so even the sentimonster modeled after Marinette's alter-ego didn't seem as real as the one standing before her, shoving a cookie into his mouth.

"Fees are fo good," Adrien said, his eyes growing wide behind his glasses again. He swallowed before attempting to speak some more. "Why do they annoy you?"

Marinette smiled as she watched Adrien shove the rest of the cookie in her mouth, much like she had watched the real Adrien do for years when she brought macarons to class or when he stopped by the bakery. He went to grab another, but his hand froze before he grabbed one.

"There's a note with it," he said, looking down at it.

"Oh," Marinette said, reaching over to grab the note. She wasn't sure if he could actually read it since Adrien's other skills hadn't transferred to the sentimonster form of him, but she also didn't want to explain what it meant to him either. "It's probably just saying who it was from."

Adrien looked at her for a moment before shrugging and eating his other cookie. "You should really try one," he said. "They're so good."

At first, Marinette almost refused. She didn't want to eat the plate of cookies; she wanted to throw them away. She had thrown all the other cookies and casseroles away because they were too painful for her. However, the look in Adrien's eyes stopped her from saying anything. Sighing, she decided that eating the cookies was easier than explaining why she wouldn't.

She took the cookie that Adrien was offering her and took a bite. The chocolate was still slightly melted and the cookie itself was kind of warm. She felt her unease melt away as she smiled over at Adrien. He was right. It was good.

ooo

"Marinette," Adrien said, sounding guilty. Marinette felt her heart drop and she was quick to drop her project and turn toward Adrien. He was holding an empty plate with a sheepish smile. "The cookies are gone."

Marinette's heart stopped pounding and she allowed herself to relax. "Oh. That's fine."

"You're not mad?"

"No," Marinette laughed. "Why would I be mad?"

"I dunno," Adrien muttered putting the plate back on the table. Duusu flitted around the room, humming, and Marinette eyed the kwami warily. "It's just that these were your last cookies. Now we'll have to wait for someone to bring more."

That made Marinette laugh again and she stood from her spot. "We can make more," she said. "I grew up in a bakery."

At that, Adrien's eyes lit up, and he came toward her. "You know how to make them?"

"They're pretty easy," Marinette laughed, walking toward the kitchen. "Do you want to get that big bowl over there and bring it to the counter?"

Back at the bakery, there were plenty of fancy mixers Marinette could use to make cookies, but here at her own little apartment, she had only bothered to bring the essentials. That meant she'd have to stick with a bowl and wood spoon to make the cookies, but there was also something fun about doing it that way rather than letting a machine do all the work. She gathered the ingredients while Adrien bounced excitedly by the counter, the bowl all ready to start.

Marinette let Adrien help measure, but she had always been a pretty bossy baker. She tried not to boss Adrien around, but she also limited what she allowed him to do so the cookies would come out right. Even so, flour, sugar, and even egg was splattered across her kitchen by the time the dough was reaching it's sticky form. She found herself laughing along with Adrien with his mistakes, including the egg that had somehow missed the bowl completely and had glued several strands of her hair together.

By the time the cookies were in the oven Marinette's sides hurt and Adrien's clothes were covered in sticky cookie dough.

"We're a mess," she said with a sigh, looking at the other tray of cookies dough balls that hadn't fit in her oven.

"But the best kind of mess," Adrien countered. "One with sugar in it."

Marinette couldn't disagree with that. She had grown up around sugary treats, and just like her kwami, she had developed quite the sweet tooth. Her good mood faded a little as she thought about Tikki, but it had been her own fault for locking the earrings away. She couldn't be sad about it.

"We're going to have cookies for days," she joked. "I hope you like them that much."

"We could deliver them to your neighbors," Adrien said, looking like a little kid on Christmas. "Just like the people who dropped them off on your doorstep."

Marinette considered it for a moment. Her neighbors didn't know her, which was intentional. She made sure to leave at times when they wouldn't see her and she always tried to hide behind a newspaper or book when she couldn't avoid it. However, dropping cookies off without notes probably wouldn't make her any more known. Still, she wanted to say no just to keep it from possibly happening. However, she felt like telling Adrien no would be like kicking a puppy.

"All right," she said with a sigh, though she wasn't actually that upset. "I guess we could give them away."

"Unless you want to eat them all ourselves," Adrien said, eyeing the cookie dough.

"Well for someone who didn't want the cookies in the first place, and someone who doesn't actually usually eat, I think your first idea was probably better."

Adrien smiled slyly at her. "I was hoping you'd say that."