Rating changed to T since I want to be sure and for possible sexual innuendos ! Sorry if it bothers you!

Previous chapter:

After he had finished he cleaned up his workplace again, for what felt the hundredth time, but he didn´t mind. He had had fun. He watched Mari finish her work. They looked at the clock seeing if was already near to nine o´clock. She asked if he wanted to stay for dinner. He accepted before he had thought it through. They ate the rest of the quiche in front of an old French movie on TV. Laughter filled the small and warm living room. The movie ended and Adrien how late it already was. He gathered his hiding equipment. She came up to him and kissed his cheek, thanking him for helping her out through the whole day. He hugged her.

"Don´t worry Mari. I should be thanking you, you managed to clear my mind."

"Feel free to pass by any other time." She smiled fondly and he left shortly after, making his way back to Nino and Alya´s place. He thought about coming back soon and help her out again, he hadn´t had this much fun in a long time.

He arrived around midnight and saw that they were still up. He hoped they didn´t wait for him.

"Coming home late blondie." He sat down on the couch next to Nino. They had been watching TV.

"Sooo, what did you do? Burnt Mari´s place down?" Adrien glared at his best-friend.

"No, Nino. In fact Mari said I was quite talented." He said proudly. "I made a cake on my own and helped Mari with some other stuff. It was fun!"

"Other stuff?" Nina and Alya where looking at one another smug, while raising their eyebrows. Adrien groaned loudly as he understood their reaction and rubbed his face with his palms completely exasperated by their immature behaviour at this hour.

"Guys stop it! I managed to get out of the apartment for a whole day! You should be happy I took your advice! And I did something useful for once!" Adrien´s expression brightened.

Nino and Alya had a knowing look on their face, which Adrien was oblivious to as he narrated everything he had done today and what Mari taught him in order to prove them he could cook and not burn a house down.

"Don´t you two have to work tomorrow?" He asked as he looked at the clock. It was past midnight. Alya yawned in response and got up, followed by Nino.

The next morning Adrien found himself waking up early again. Looking at his phone, he closed his eyes rapidly as the strong light blinded him. He squinted his eyes to see it was 5:40. Knowing his body wouldn´t let him fall asleep again, he decided to get dressed already, since he had been only wearing boxers do to the scorching heat in the living room. The August heat had appeared abruptly.

Paris was beginning to be emptier each day, since nearly every Parisian took their vacations in August. Adrien got to help Marinette again, since he knew she had much to do with the wedding cake orders… and he simply had nothing else to do and it helped him forget his other worries as well. So it was a win-win situation and he got to hang out with her, which was also a huge bonus to him.

The Parisians were slowly awakening as he made his way to the bakery on foot. He had to knock hard on the door a few times in order for Mari to hear him. She looked clearly surprised but happy nonetheless to see him standing in front of the bakery. One day in the past, Alya had volunteered to help Mari since she was baking all by herself and had many orders to fulfil. Needless to say, Alya came 5 hours later and only because Mari had called her. She was surprised Adrien had come, since he must have gotten home late and not slept much, but she was happy to have some company nonetheless, she often felt a little lonely.

She gave Adrien a few tasks to complete while she started kneading the doughs. She taught him how to form a baguette out of a simple ball of dough. After a few tries, he got the hang of it and both started forming baguettes and different types and forms of breads. The radio was playing in the background, slowly waking them up and filling their comfortable silence. At 7:30 am, Adrien helped Marinette put all the warm bread and the fresh pastries at their usual place and open up the shop. Of course he stayed behind in the bakery´s kitchen once the bakery was open for customers, he was still hiding.

The day went by slowly; it had not been a very busy day. They closed the bakery on time, no customer rush right before the closing.

After closing the blinds of the shop, Mari and Adrien cleaned up the bakery. It was already 7:30 pm, when they started washing up all the bowls and spoons they had used. Marinette was washing everything, while Adrien dried everything up. They stayed in a comfortable silence for some time, before Adrien broke it. He had had time the whole day to think clearly and desperately needed someone´s opinion.

"Mari?" She hummed in response, not drifting her eyes away from her hands holding the bowl under the clear stream of hot water.

"Can I ask you something?" He asked unsure. He saw her smile and nod.

"Of course you can." He stayed silence for a minute, not really knowing how to ask her.

"I-I feel like I´m in an impasse… I have no idea what to do. I´m starting to think that I will have to stay the rest of my life hidden at Nino´s and…"

He bowed his head, overwhelmed by his current situation. He heard Marinette close the tap, before drying her hands with a towel. He felt her hands reach for his shoulders and guide him to a nearby stool, where she forced him to sit down.

"Adrien." Her voice soothed him immediately; he leaned forward, where she was standing in front of him.

"I know I can´t know the full extent of how guilty you feel, but… you have to keep faith that things will brighten up soon, even if you feel like… like everything is still falling apart, and that you are falling with it." He kept his head bowed, but Marinette made him look up at her by slightly shaking his shoulder. Green met blue, he couldn´t look away from her beautiful eyes anymore.

"Maybe… maybe you should try to get things into order in your head by… apologizing to Chloé… it could help you move on a bit..." It was her honest opinion, though she was scared to tell him that, since she didn´t want to upset her new friend. She wouldn´t have told him if she didn´t think it could honestly help him. His eyes closed for a moment before looking at her again. All he could see was her concern for him, his heart fluttered at the thought. He knew. He knew she was right. Maybe even Nino and Alya were thinking the same thing, but didn´t want to upset him. He deeply appreciated Marinette telling him that.

"Thank you." He murmured. She smiled fondly.

"Before you burst out of here, maybe you should take some time to think about what you are going to tell her." He nodded, closing his eyes, his face now facing the cream-colored ceiling of the kitchen.

He suddenly felt small arms encircle his waist and he melted against her, his arms moving around her waist to hold her close. She smelled exactly the cinnamon rolls, they had made a few hours ago for an order. His heart rate picked up immediately. He sighed and tightened their embrace, before releasing her. He couldn´t complicate his life right now, with his growing feelings, he knew they were inevitable, but he preferred to ignore them before things had cleared up a bit in his life. After smiling at him, she made her way to the large sink again to continue to work. He stayed alone with his thoughts for a few more seconds and proceeded to join her back to cleaning everything up.

It took them less than an hour to finish everything up. They headed upstairs to prepare a small dinner.

"What would you like to eat today?" She said looking at him with a bright smile. All his worries always faded when he saw her smile like that, he couldn´t think of anything else than a plan to keep this smile on her face forever.

"Well, the only thing I can think of right now is crêpes."

"Crêpes it is!" She whipped around to take all the ingredients.

After having cooked a whole sack they sat down at the table and started spreading strawberry marmelade and chocolate on their crêpes. They watched the news and afterwards a small comedy show. The living room soon filled with laughter.

Around 9:30 pm, Adrien stood up and Marinette accompanied him to the door. He surprised her by hugging her.

"Thank you, Mari."

"You´re welcome." Adrien took a step backwards smiled at her and turned around, walking down the stairs, whereas Marinette had already closed the door. She leaned against the door for a minute, before entering the bathroom to brush her teeth. She went straight to bed, only able to think about a certain person with a blond mop of hair she desperately wanted to run her hands in.

Hi!

So, I know this update took some time (it´s difficult to post something when you´ve got nothing at all (^^") )

How was it? A bit of Adrienette for you again!

I have no idea when the next chapter will be posted (I hope I don´t upset you too much with my unpredictable shedule, but well... you and I can´t do much about it (^^") )

Thanks your lovely reviews ! (^/^)

Eat chocolate!