An incessant buzzing sound woke Marinette, and it took her a moment to come to her senses.

Yes, she was on the couch, they had finished kneading the bread until it did not want to be stretched, and Adrien had come around to the idea of staying for longer. They had put the doughs into tins, cut their first initial into the top, put water into a tray on the base of the oven, and Adrien had had the honour of putting his first bread into the oven.

If all went to plan, he would be able to pull his first loaf out of the oven as well some forty five minutes later.

Which was what the timer was for.

Right.

Marinette looked about herself blearily, as the timer shut itself off automatically.

Her next move was to have a silent heart attack.

Tikki appeared over the back of the couch, and a knowing look came over her face.

'Looks like he's nice and cozy.' Tikki whispered gleefully.

Indeed, Adrien had tipped in his sleep until he was leaning against her, his face against the length of her shoulder.

'I didn't mean to fall asleep!' She hissed back. 'He's so close!'

'He must feel like he's comfortable around you.' Tikki fought back a laugh.

Marinette waved the kwami away, before pausing. 'Tikki, could you turn the oven off? I don't want the bread to burn, but,' she gestured down to Adrien.

'Sure,' Tikki grinned. 'Aren't you going to wake him up though?'

'We talked about this this morning!' Marinette shot back. 'But,' she looked down at him. 'He was really upset before, maybe,'

'Maybe what?' Tikki questioned, zooming over to turn off the heat of the oven.

Marinette let out a breath, before looking over at her. 'I think him being here is the best thing for him. If he wants to go over to Nino's he can, but Nino only has that one room place, and Alya practically lives there anyway.' She looked down at the mess of blonde hair. 'But I think he needs to spend some time away from home, however he can.'

'We always knew his father wasn't the greatest to him,' Tikki started politely. 'But to think he said those kinds of things to him. Can you even imagine?'

Marinette shook her head slightly, careful not to jostle the boy. 'I just, I really feel for him. It's a wonder he hasn't been akumatised. He's got to be the only person I know who's not.'

Tikki nodded grimly. 'He's extremely lucky.'

'I just,' she looked down at the boy after a moment. 'I can't understand why his father acts like this towards his own son. I can't.'

Tikki took a deep breath, before letting it out slowly. 'He's also lucky that he's got friends like you, Nino and Alya.'

Marinette still felt the corners of her mouth turn down. 'I'm Ladybug. I'll protect him no matter what.'

Tikki smiled back at her. 'I'm proud of you, Marinette.'

Adrien shifted, murmuring something in his sleep.

Tikki pulled back, out of his immediate line of sight, with a knowing grin. 'Who knew the boy talked in his sleep?'

'I don't think I've ever seen him sleeping, he's never been allowed to stay the night for the gang's sleepovers.' Marinette looked up at the cieling. 'That bodyguard of his always picked him up around midnight, whenever he was allowed to come in the first place. I should have said something then.'

'I doubt there was anything you could have said, Marinette.' Tikki landed on her opposing shoulder, and touched her law affectionately.

Marientte smiled for a moment, before turning her gaze back towards the mess of blond hair. 'Adrien,' she nudged him.

His face scrunched up. '...no, I don't want the cheese,' he mumbled. 'Our hamster...'

'Come on Adrien, the bread is ready,' Marinette tried again, touching his shoulder with her free hand.

After a long moment he hunched slightly. 'Hm? Bread? I-' he froze, before sitting bolt upright, looking back at her and flushing. 'Marinette!'

The girl in question nearly jumped out of her skin. 'Yes!? Sorry!'

'I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, what time is it?' He looked around blearily. 'Is the bread ok?'

'Yes, the bread's ok. Don't worry.' She smiled at him, relaxing. 'Do you know you talk in your sleep?'

His eyes widened, and his mouth fell open. 'I had no idea, I'm so sorry. What did you hear?'

She shrugged, peeling herself off the couch. 'Something about a hampster?'

Her movement made her miss him turning six shades of red. 'O-oh. Sorry.'

'This morning you were talking about taking Ladybug to the school dance.' She smiled back at him, and was surprised to see him darken further. 'Did we even have a school dance?'

'I-it must have been all the movies.' Adrien managed. 'Sorry if I was a bother,'

'Don't worry about it. It's not like you've got any dastardly secrets to hide.'

He somehow managed a grin, and stood up. 'Who knows? Maybe I'm secretly Hawkmoth.'

She gave him a look, before heading towards her oven. 'I doubt you're actually Hawkmoth.'

'How would you know? Have you ever seen us together in the same room?' His grin was catching, and struck her of Chat.

'Adrien, nobody's been seen in the same room as Hawkmoth. Alya said that even Ladybug and Chat Noir have only seen him once, not including the butterfly thing when he first showed up.'

'So you're not denying it.' He waggled his eyebrows at her. 'It could happen.'

She span to face him. 'Well, how do you know I'm not the one who's Hawkmoth?'

He leant forward, crossing his arms with a teasing expression. 'Oh that's easy. You're Ladybug, hands down.'

She couldn't help it; she froze, her hand on the oven, feeling like the next easy step had turned out to be a cliff.

Any rebuttal was lost, it felt like someone had unplugged the muscles in her jaw.

He threw his head back and laughed, and she could only stare. 'Yeah, there's no way you're Hawkmoth, you're way too good to be anything like him.'

'H-how did you know?' She managed.

'Oh, what? How did I know you're a good person? Am I not standing in your kitchen right now, after making an absolute embarrassment of myself?' He spread his hands wide, gesturing to the tiny kitchenette.

'Um, sure,' she tried to pull herself together, but she was struggling to get back on beat.

He was looking about himself, but then paused, and tilted his head, his eyes frozen on the oven. 'You're not Ladybug,' he paused, 'are you?'

'N-no!' She squeaked unconvincingly. 'No way!'

'I'd never really thought about it, but I did see her at that park you recommended when I was getting ice cream.' Slowly, slowly, his eyes turned back to her, taking her in fully. 'And she does always smell like fresh bread.'

She frowned. 'How would you know that?'

He looked at her for a moment longer, before tapping his nose. 'A cat has his secrets.'

She stared at him.

And stared at him longer.

She took in a deep, deep breath, and let it out.

'Well no wonder your tongue is red, you moron. Don't you think that's a bit risky? What if I had have been Hawkmoth?'

'Hawkmoth wouldn't have taken the bait, nor would he have seen anything innocuous.' He grinned at her, leaning closer. 'I was joking when I said it, you know. You're terrible at keeping secrets.'

'I-I am not!' She shot back, putting her hands on her hips. 'I haven't admitted to anything!'

His eyes turned soft, softer than anything she'd ever seen. 'My lady, I've always been the one who could read you best. Even you've said that.'

She ducked her head, flushing brightly, before seizing the collar of his shirt with two hands and pulling his face down to her eye level. 'I thought I told you that we shouldn't reveal anything.'

'I s-suppose the cat's out of the bag now,' in his surprise he was flushing redder than she was.

'I thought you said you lived with roommates?' She accused.

'I only ever said it was a messy household.' He replied. 'I just let you think "roommates", because you were always the one talking about anominity?'

She pulled a face at him, then relaxed her grip on his shirt slightly, looking defeated.

'Hey,' he said after a moment, realizing the tiny distance between their faces, 'can I kiss you?'

She flushed, to the roots of her hair, but frowned. 'Is it because-, I still haven't admitted to anything, you know.'

He shook his head. 'It's not because you're a superhero, or an awful liar.' She pulled a face at him. 'I just, I really, really like Marinette. You're so amazing, with or without the spots.'

Her eyes widened, and she released his collar in favour of cupping his smiling face. She smiled back, before looking down at her shoes, smile fading.

'I really, really like you too, Adrien. But I think you have other things you should deal with first, before you think about, this.'

He looked at her for a long moment, before letting out a breath of cherries and vanilla. 'I understand.'

Carefully, he took one hand from his cheek, and pressed a kiss into her knuckles. 'Let's get into that bread, before we burn the building down.'

She smiled back at him, her heart full. 'Ok.'