"Why didn't you tell us you were coming by, baobei?" the woman behind the register asked Marinette when they came in. "And who's your friend?" Adrien was stuck on the word the woman used as a pet name for Marinette. 'Treasure or baby' he recalled from his years taking Mandarin lessons.

"This is Adrien, maman," Marinette told her parents, "we met through Alya and Nino a few weeks ago. He was trying to tell me that his favorite patisserie was across town and I couldn't just let him think there were better pastries than yours."

"You're biased!" Adrien accused, "of course you'd say your parents' pastries are the best." Marinette specifically let go of his hand before they walked inside, so he assumed she hadn't told her parents about their 'relationship.' He made a point not to mention it or anything flirty in front of them so that he wouldn't make anything awkward.

"Ladybug isn't," Marinette said. It was a lie, Ladybug was just as biased as Marinette, but Marinette shouldn't know that, so she kept the information to herself. She pointed to the wall of the bakery behind the display where there was a photo of Ladybug standing between Tom and Sabine in front of a macaron version of her own head for Heroes Day a few years back.

Adrien walked over to the picture to see if Marinette was right or if the signature was just as generic as the rest of the pictures he'd seen Ladybug sign in the past. 'To Tom and Sabine, the best bakers in the world. I could only dream of making pains aux amandes that are as good as yours one day! Ladybug'

Adrien raised his hands in a jokingly defensive position. "Okay, okay, you're right," he said with a fond chuckle, "so, what do you recommend? Besides the pain aux amandes, of course." He smiled brightly at the three members of the Dupain-Cheng family and Marinette moved around to the other side of the counter.

"What do you like?" Marinette asked him. If they were in public or in front of their friends, he would have smirked and said 'You,' but it was just the two of them and her parents.

"I usually get pain au chocolat," he said, "I also usually like fruity pastries. I'm happy to try whatever you recommend, though. I really just tried a pain au chocolat when I was like 10 and it's been my regular order pretty much ever since." He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"We'll find something perfect for you," Sabine assured with a kind, motherly smile on her face. Adrien smiled brightly and couldn't keep his eyes off of the box of pastries that Marinette was packing up for the two of them.

He was shocked by how much Marinette was filling up the box. She looked like she was grabbing at least one of everything that they had available. "What would you like to drink," Marinette asked Adrien with a bright smile on her face. She sounded almost like she just went into retail mode and Adrien had to hold in his laugh at the change.

"Just some water would be lovely," he told her. Marinette closed the box that was now filled almost to the brim with pastries.

"How would you feel about a picnic?" Marinette suggested to Adrien, "there's a park across the street that's usually not too busy in the afternoons. "

"I don't think I've had a proper picnic in ages," he admitted with a shy laugh, "that sounds wonderful." He found himself wanting to add the word 'princess' to the end of his sentence even though he knew they weren't pretending to be in a relationship in front of her parents.

"I'm going to grab one of the blankets we have upstairs," Marinette told him, "I'll be right back." He nodded in understanding and turned back toward Sabine at the cash register.

"How much do I owe you for the pastries," he asked the woman, pulling out his wallet to pay whatever amount she told him. He knew that they were taking a decent amount of their stock and he felt a little bad about the fact that a lot of it would probably end up going stale before he or Marinette would have a chance to eat it all.

Sabine low-balled a price to him and that made him feel even worse about how much food the two of them were getting. He gave her his card to pay the amount that she told him, but he also put a euro note to hopefully make up the difference into the tip jar on the side of the counter. He knew he was a friend of Marinette's, but he was a firm believer in paying people what they're owed.

Adrien spent a while talking to Tom and Sabine who were happy to tell him about the history of their bakery and how they got their picture taken with Ladybug. Tom offhandedly mentioned that he would want to get a matching picture with Chat Noir and Adrien was certain that whether the pastries were good or not, he would try to make that hope come true for Tom.

While Gorille was a mountain of a man with an attitude to match, Adrien was shocked to find that Tom was a gentle giant. He moved so delicately around their patisserie and Adrien was enchanted by watching the husband and wife move around each other while they worked.

It felt like a half hour passed when Marinette returned back downstairs and, looking at her, Adrien understood why. She said she was going to just grab a blanket so Adrien was surprised when she came back downstairs with an entire picnic basket, blanket, and a big bottle of water for the two of them to share.

Marinette picked up the box of pastries from the counter and gave each of her parents a kiss on their cheeks. She put the box of pastries into the picnic basket. "Merci, maman. Merci, papa," she said to each of them before she went around to Adrien's side of the counter. "I'll bring the blanket and basket back later."

"Are you ready to go?" Adrien asked her with a smile on his face. Marinette nodded and Adrien opened the front door for her. "It was very nice meeting the two of you," he said to her parents.

"We love you," her parents called out to the two of them and Adrien couldn't help but have his heart feel a little bit warmer even though he didn't think the comment was directed at him.

"Love you too," Marinette called back to them. She led Adrien across the street toward the park and found a comfortable spot in the sun for the two of them. In the September air, it would have been too windy to sit in the shade, but sitting in the sun kept the two of them at a nice, steady temperature.