Chapter 12: Pictures and Pastries
"I'm never eating a pastry from anywhere else ever again. These are too good." The two woke up way earlier than usual and surprisingly, Marinette was the one to make Adrien get out of bed. He barely had time to transform as the tiny girl practically dragged him down the stairs to the bakery; where they now sat eating pastries straight out of the oven.
With a mouth full of chocolate croissant, Marinette nodded her head before swallowing, "Yup, this is the only reason I would ever be out of bed in the morning."
"Understandable. We're going back to bed after this aren't we?"
She boops his nose, "You know me too well."
Sabine walks up to the counter, "Okay kids, we're about to open up the shop." Marinette jumps up and starts filling a plate with rejects before turning to walk back up the stairs, "Wait Marinette, can I talk to you for a second?"
She turns and hands Chat Noir the plate, "Go on upstairs, I don't want to risk anyone seeing you."
She scratches his head and he smiles at her, "I'll try not to eat them all before you get back."
Marinette rolls her eyes playfully at him as he walks away, "What did you want to talk to me about?"
"We are going out of town this weekend." Sabine glances at Tom who takes that as his cue to walk over and open the doors, to give them a bit of privacy.
"What? We can't go anywhere. What about Ad- Chat?" Marinette mentally slaps herself for the slip up but no one seems to notice.
Sabine places a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Me and your father. You will be staying home with him so I need to talk to you about some rules."
"I already know the rules, Maman."
"Yes, but you've never had a boy staying in your room while your parents are out of town before. We need to talk about some new rules."
"You don't need to worry about anything like that! We're just friends. And no one can know he's here, so we won't be inviting anyone else over, either."
Sabine goes to reply, but is interrupted by the sound of the bakery door opening. She and her daughter turn towards the sound. Both are shocked to see Gabriel Agreste standing in their establishment.
He looks at the family with narrowed eyes. "Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Dupain, Adrien's classmate, what was it? Marionette?"
"Marinette." She answers stiffly, trying and failing to hide the tension in her chest.
He nods once, "Marinette. Just the people I was looking for!"
During the 20 years that the bakery had been opened, Gabriel Agreste had never set a single foot in the door. Sabine looks up at him with furrowed brows, "Did you want to place a catering order with us?"
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a phone, "Actually, I was hoping you could help me find someone." He turns the screen to show the family a picture taken from outside the windows at the front of the shop. It shows Chat Noir and Tom, both with about 5 or 6 macarons balanced on the tops of their heads, "This is the only place Chat Noir has been spotted in the past week, even though there have been two akuma attacks. It's rather unfortunate because I've been trying to get in contact with him. I'm hoping he can make an appearance at our next event for the Agreste brand; my most recent plans have all been inspired by him."
Marinette plasters on the fakest smile she can muster and nods, "I know what you mean, I take inspiration from Paris's superheroes in my designs, too. But, why don't you ask Ladybug?"
His lips turn downward at the mention of the spotted heroine, "I've been trying, but she fled the scene after Reviser and she didn't show up to face Idler either."
"Well," She claps her hands together, "I hope you find him. I'm sure he'd love to come to your event. Sorry we couldn't be more help."
"Are you sure you can't?" The anger and frustration seeps into his voice, "Do you recall him saying anything that might be of use when he was here?"
"Sorry, Mr. Agreste, all I remember is that he said something about meeting up with Ladybug, but I know that's not really helpful." She shrugs.
Sabine's smile is just as forced as Marinette's when she steps forward to place a hand on her shoulder, "We'll let you know if he shows up again."
"What a shame. I'll be on my way then."
"Mr. Agreste?" Marinette's voice comes out a bit shaky and she mentally curses herself.
Gabriel stops with his hand on the doorknob and turns back to her, "Yes?"
"Could you tell Adrien to answer his phone?" Her face screws up in discomfort due to the unfortunate fact that simply being in the same room with him makes her skin feel as if it's coated in grime, but she quickly schools her face into one of feigned concern, "Everyone's used to him missing school, but he hasn't reached out to anyone in days. Normally he'd reply within hours. We're worried about him."
"He's grounded at the moment. You can tell your classmates that he's lost his phone privileges as well." The door is swinging closed behind him before anyone has a chance to respond.
Sabine pulls her daughter's shoulder so she can see her face, "Marinette, are you okay?"
Marinette nods slowly as she sighs, "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. I just hate that man with every fiber of my being. I need to go talk to Chat now."
"I can't believe I just let him walk out of here alive… I should've killed him. Is it too late to kill him?" Marinette enters her bedroom, grumbling to herself.
Chat tilts his head as he looks at her. "What are you talking about, Marinette?"
She looks up and bites her lip. "Someone posted a picture of you at the bakery. Garbagriel showed up looking for you."
"You mean, he's here?" His hands find their way into his hair and he tugs on it.
She closes the distance between them and wraps her arms around his waist. "Hey, it's okay. He left. We told him you were going to meet Ladybug."
He returns the hug with shaky hands. "What if he comes back? What if he akumatizes your parents? What if he akumatizes you?!"
She begins gently scratching his back. "Breathe, kitty. He doesn't suspect a thing. Everything will be fine."
"It's all my fault."
She leans back to look into his eyes, "How were you supposed to know someone would take a picture through the window and post it? It's okay."
"But if I hadn't come here-" He turns his head away from her.
"Look at me," She puts her hands on either side of his face and pulls him down to rest his forehead on hers, "If you hadn't come here, you would've died. And I would have never forgiven you."
He seems to accept that answer, taking a moment to breathe deeply instead of arguing. He's not sure how much time passes before he finally speaks. "I'm not ready to see him." The tears come as soon as the words meet air.
Marinette shakes her head and gently wipes his cheeks, "You don't have to see him. He's not looking for you here."
His face crumples and she pulls him back into a tight hug, "I'm sorry."
"Shh, you have nothing to apologize for." She says into his ear.
They stay like that for some time before Adrien lifts his head to meet her gaze, tears still streaming down his face. "I should've been wearing your lucky charm."
"Wh-what?"
"The lucky charm you gave me. Nothing really bad ever happens when I have it. I should've been wearing it that day. I wish I still had it." With that, he buries his face in her chest again and her heart aches.
She tilts her head, "I didn't realize it was so important to you."
"You're important to me." He brushes the hair out of her face, "If he comes after you…"
Marinette raises her eyebrow and snorts, "He can try; it wouldn't be the first time I've managed to avoid an akuma."
"Wait," he sniffles, "really?"
She nods and reaches a hand up to run her fingers through his hair. "Don't worry about me, Chat. Everything will be okay. Now, I don't know about you, but I could really use a cat nap."
"Plagg, claws in." After a flash of green, Plagg flies over to his cheese stash and Adrien wipes his tears before smiling at Marinette. "That sounds fur-tastic."
Marinette climbs under the covers and yawns, "I'll comment on the pun later, I'm too tired to think anymore right now."
"Of course," he chuckles.
"Shhhhh," She waves at the air with her eyes closed, "Sleeeeeep."
By some stroke of luck, Marinette wakes up before Adrien. She glances down at his peaceful face and smiles before gently unwrapping his arms from around her. She crawls towards the ladder and climbs down without waking him up. Tikki and Plagg fly over to her.
"What are you doing, Marinette?" The red kwami asks as Marinette begins rummaging through drawers on her desk and pulling out supplies. She pauses when she spots an old sketchbook; one she hasn't opened in years. She thinks about the photo album that Chloe was looking at last night and decides to open it. Sure enough, there's a picture of her and Chloe laughing taped to the first page. I remember the day she got me this. She smiles sadly at the photo before closing the book and burying it under some yarn.
"Marinette?" The kwami prods when she doesn't get a response.
"I want to make him something." She doesn't look at her, too focussed on her search.
Plagg scoffs, "You're kidding, right?"
"What?" She pauses her rummaging to look up at him.
He crosses his tiny dino arms, "He doesn't need you to make him another gift. If you're not gonna tell him who you are, you should at least have Ladybug come see him again."
"You're right." Marinette nods, "I need to get the miraculous back from Chloe, anyway."
"Wait, really? You're actually listening to me?" Plagg flies into her face.
She raises her brow, "Is that really so surprising?"
"Yes." He nods.
She rolls her eyes. "Tikki, spots on."
Adrien wakes up to someone gently shaking him. His vision is too blurry to make out their face. "Not yet, Mari." He wines.
"Clean the sand out of your eyes and look at me, sleepyhead." She laughs.
He does as he's told and shoots up when he sees a familiar red and black pattern. "Ladybug?"
"Hey, Kitty cat." She smiles.
"What are you doing here?"
She softens her voice, "Marinette texted me about your sperm donor and I thought I should come check on you. Are you okay?"
He doesn't answer. Her words send him spiraling back down the same panic rabbit hole he had found himself in earlier. Tears spill from his eyes and he does his best to turn away from her, though it's difficult to do that without moving his entire body and the blanket that still rests on top of him.
She climbs onto the bed and wraps her arms around his waist, pressing her cheek against his back. "You're alright, Chaton."
"I didn't want you to see me cry." He manages between sniffles.
"There's nothing wrong with crying, Adrien." She whispers. He stiffens. It's the first time Ladybug has called him by his real name since learning his identity. He wipes the tears from his eyes before turning to face her.
"Adrien?" His voice comes out in a whisper.
She blinks. "...What?"
"Sorry, it's just… weird to hear you call me by my real name."
She abruptly drops her arms to her sides and leans back. "Oh! Right… Sorry. I can not, if you prefer."
"No i-its fine." He suddenly feels very exposed, "I've always wanted you to know who I am, I just wish it didn't happen like this."
She gives him a sad smile. "I know kitty, I wish it went down differently too."
"You didn't even want to know though," He sniffs, "So any way it happened would've been a bad way for you."
"That's not true. I always wanted to know who you were, I just didn't let you tell me because I wanted to protect you." She kisses his cheek, "That part didn't really go as planned though."
He stares at her for a painfully long amount of time, unable to form words. He gently rests his fingertips over the spot where her lips had just been. She chuckles softly at him and the sound snaps him out of his daze. "You mean that? You wanted to know?"
"Bug's honor." She places a hand over her heart.
They sit there for a while with wide smiles plastered on their faces as they look at each other. Suddenly, Adrien's face lights up even more and he grabs her shoulders, "Oh my god! Ladybug, I'm so glad you're here! I have to show you these amazing onesie designs that Marinette sketched!"
She giggles before climbing down from the bed and waiting for him to follow. When he reaches the bottom, he grabs her hand and rushes her over to the desk where the sketchpad is sitting. He flips through the pages, admiring Marinette's work despite the fact that he's already seen all of it before, and finally hands her the drawings when he reaches the page with onesies on it.
"These are really cute." She nods.
"I know! Marinette is so talented. I bet she'd make them for you,too. She told me I could have them all for free! I mean, I'd obviously find some way to pay her back, but can you believe that? I'm so lucky to be her friend." If she didn't know any better, Ladybug would have mistaken the dreamy tone in his voice for a not-so-friendly form of admiration, but she did know better. This is her Chat Noir and he only has feelings for the perfect shell of herself that she becomes with the mask on; feelings that will inevitably shrivel up and die when he learns the truth.
"Actually, Adrien... I've been trying to find the right time to tell you- and I'm sorry I waited so long. It's so stupid because I want you to know, but I've just been so scared and now I'm just…" She trails off and looks up at him, he smiles reassuringly and nods his head, willing her to continue. She takes a deep breath and squeezes her eyes shut, afraid to see his reaction, "I am Mar-" They're interrupted by the sound of the trapdoor bursting open.
Adrien whispers his transformation words as, "I brought snacks," is shouted from the stairs.
Tom looks up at the hero's, "Hi Ladybug, where's Marinette?"
Ladybug jumps over the railing, "Hi, M. Dupain," She takes the tray and ushers him out of the room before he has a chance to question her mumbled excuse about a delivery to Chloe. "Thanks for the food!" She closes the door and sighs in relief before she notices Chat fixing her in a confused stare.
"Are you okay?" He climbs down from the bed to join her as quickly as he can. The concern in his voice causes her to flinch.
"Yeah," she gives a thumbs up, " I just realized that I need to retrieve the miraculous from Chloe and I wanted to be able to say goodbye properly."
"Why don't you just ask Marinette to?" He asks slowly.
She pauses a bit too long to think of an answer. "Don't they hate each other? I don't think Chloe would actually give them to her."
"Yeah, you're right. I just don't want you to leave." He sighs.
"Oh kitty, I don't want to leave either." She pulls him into a hug, "I'll come back to see you soon. I promise."
Knock knock
Chloe laughs when she turns towards the noise to see Ladybug hanging upside down by her yo-yo. She pushes open the window carefully, "I thought that was Spider-Man's move."
"Nah, it was always my move, he must've stolen it from me." She smirks.
Chloe reaches out her hand to help her inside with a giggle, "How rude of him."
Once inside, she doesn't let go of her hand. Ladybug's cheeks burn red and when she feels her arms start shaking, she jerks out of Chloe's grasp. "I-I came to g-get the rimacu- m-miraculous."
Chloe pulls them out of her desk drawer and hands them to her. Her hand lingers over Ladybug's for a second, but with her previous reaction in mind, the blonde rests it back at her side. "What happened last night, Bug?"
She lets out a long sigh. "Just my stupid brain worrying about Adrien, as usual."
Chloe seems to flinch when she says his name and the heroine instinctively places a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, do you mind if I take a look at that old photo album you had out?"
"You want to see it?"
She smiles. "Yeah, it's been a long time."
Chloe gets it off of her bookshelf and hands it to Ladybug who flips through a few pages before she grabs the blonde's hand and pulls them both to sit on her bed. Over the span of the next half-hour, the girls look through still frames of their favorite childhood memories; the two building pillow forts at Marinette's house, playing hide and seek in vacant rooms at Le Grand Paris, giving each other makeovers, cuddling up together while they watch movies, and more. Marinette is engrossed in the pictures and Chloe is looking over her shoulder.
"I remember I was so excited to give you that bear! I found it about two months before your birthday and it was so hard not to tell you about it." She points to a picture of the blonde hugging a brown stuffed animal for dear life.
"That was probably the best present anyone has ever gotten me." Chloe shifts her eyes from the picture to Ladybug, "I still have it."
"Really?" She turns to the blonde to ask to see it, but the words die on her tongue when she realizes that their faces are now inches apart.
"Yeah," She breathes, "I still sleep with it every night."
The distance between them shrinks slowly. Marinette's eyes flutter closed when she feels Chloe's breath on her lips, but the soft contact she expects to feel never comes. After a few seconds, the warmth in front of her disappears and she opens her eyes to see the other girl is now looking towards her closet and chewing on her bottom lip.
"Can I see it?" She looks at her with an expression the blonde can't quite place.
Chloe grabs the raggedy bear and hands it to her.
She laughs, "Man, he's seen better days."
"Well, he's been loved a lot."
"Thank you for taking care of her, Mr. Cuddly." She pats the bear's head and Chloe's cheeks heat up.
She swallows. "I'm surprised you remember his name."
She looks Chloe up and down before replying, "I remember everything, Chlo-bear."