The next night when Chat Noir showed up on Marinette's balcony, he was carrying a bag with the logo of Tom and Sabine's on it. Her trapdoor was open and he took that as an invitation to come in, knowing she was probably distracted by working on the blazer. She barely noticed him come inside until she heard something 'thump' on her desk.

She looked up and saw the bag now sitting less than a meter in front of her. "Your parents don't think you've eaten in a few days," he began, "your stomach is going to start getting painful if you don't have something soon, princess."

"Thank you, Chat," she responded absentmindedly, "I'll get around to eating soon, but I can't risk getting grease stains on this piece so close to the deadline."

"No grease," he assured, "only bread. I need you to eat some now, though. I'm even willing to feed you some when you're bready for it, but your parents are worried about you and asked me to make sure you're taking care of yourself." She rolled her eyes at the concept of him feeding her.

"If you open it, I'm sure I can manage eating it on my own," she responded with a playful tease in her voice. He opened the bag and took out the baguette that was on top. Just like he had said, there was no extra butter or anything that could stain the dress, just the bread itself.

"I figured this was the best thing I could bagette you, given the circumstances," he told her, holding out a small part of the loaf to her. He knew that the heel of the loaf was her favorite part, but he also knew that was the most likely part to leave crumbs she'd have to clean off of her design later.

She took the piece from his hand and bit off part of it before she put it off to the side where she could easily reach it when she finished the bite she had already taken. "Thank you," she responded through her chews. He was happy that she seemed to be eating now.

He knew that this was just her method of dealing with stress, but he wasn't a fan of her overworking herself, especially when he knew that he was to blame for talking her into applying for the internship. "I also ciabatta you some water bottles," he added, offering a bottle out to her. "I have a feeling you have naan been staying properly hydrated for the last few days either."

He put the water bottle in front of her face, straight into her eye line. She took the bottle from his hand and sat up straighter. "Thank you, minou," she said quietly. She placed the bottle onto her desk, still closed so that it couldn't spill onto anything she'd been working on.

She stood up for a minute, deciding that she deserved to take a short break while he was there. "You're the best," she informed him with a bright smile on her face. He was standing near her, admiring the blazer on the mannequin and she walked over to him to place a thankful kiss on his cheek. "Seriously, I mean it."

"I'm always happy to help out my favorite civilian," he assured her with a smile on his face. He could see that she was practically exhausted from how much she had done over the last few days, but they were approaching the deadline and she would be able to get some normal sleep again once her application was submitted.

"How's the design coming along?" he asked. He knew that he had been looking at it, but there was plenty that he didn't know about designing clothing. The garment practically looked finished on the mannequin, but if knowing Marinette for years had taught him anything, it was the fact that there was a lot of work that went on behind the scenes in creating clothing.

"Great," she said excitedly, "I haven't been this inspired to make a piece in such a long time. Thank you for talking me into applying for this internship. I've been wanting to make a jacket like this for years, but I don't think I would have if it weren't for this internship." He felt a blush creeping up his cheeks under her appreciation.

She started pointing out all of the smaller design elements that she was particularly proud of and was happy to announce that she would hopefully be done before he came around the following evening. She also mentioned that she was planning something for the two of them, to celebrate finishing the application.

He was happy about the idea of a surprise, just like he always was when she mentioned doing something for him. She liked how happy he got, but she always felt a little bit because it sometimes felt like she (or in his eyes, Marinette and Ladybug) was the only one who ever did things just to make him happy.

Marinette stretched out her back after almost the entire day of sitting and took another piece of the baguette to eat while she got back to work. She was noticeably more relaxed after the small break than she had been when he first arrived and that put him more at ease than he was when he originally got there.

"Does your family have any cheese?" he asked once she got back to work. "I feel like your baguette would go pretty well with some brieoche." Marinette pursed her lips to keep from giggling at the silly joke he had set up for himself. She wanted to pretend she hated it, but she was a sucker for his jokes, especially the ones that he had to put extra effort into.

"Rye are you like this?" she asked with a fond tone to her voice. She bit her bottom lip, but he could see the corners of her lips turning up into a smile despite the fact that she had been trying to repress it.

"Good. I'm glad I could finally focacciaure your attention," he responded with a wink. "You caught on in only five bread puns tonight." Marinette rolled her eyes at Chat Noir and tossed one of her little hero dolls at him in response to his teasing.

"Do you just have puns for every situation?" she asked with a bright smile on her face. He felt his heart skip a beat at the smile on her face. It didn't impact him as much as her punning from yesterday, but he was really feeling like there was more to his friendship with Marinette than he had originally thought.


Words used as puns in order: painful (pain is the French word for bread), ready, get, bought, not, brie/brioche, why, focaccia/capture