Chapter 4

For months, Ladybug and Cat Noir had been going through the motions. See an akuma, transform, beat the akuma, detransform. It was that simple. And with the two having certain limits to their powers, most of their interactions were 'strickly professional'.

With the exception of a few mishaps here and there, everything between the two heroes had been the same. Until now that is. Ladybug didn't know what is was, but there was something off, something different about Cat Noir that day. It wasn't bad, but the heroine couldn't decide if it was good either. Their fight with The Businessaster had started out normally, but as it went on, Ladybug couldn't help but notice that something was missing. It wasn't long before she figured out that it was Cat's bad luck. To any other bystander, it would be next to impossible to see the signs of Cat's improving luck, but all Ladybug needed to see was his smile. Not his usual cocky grin, but a genuine, happy smile. Little did the heroine know that she was the reason for that smile. But to be fair, Cat didn't know it either. That's not to say it wasn't a strange, no, a new sight to see for the young heroine. Sadly, Ladybug was quickly snapped out of her thoughts as she dodged a barrage of office supplies heading her way.

Ladybug briskly ducked behind an abandoned car to collect her thoughts while Cat distracted the akuma. From what she had gathered, Ladybug could tell that The Businessaster was indeed a business disaster. Well, it was to him anyway. She assumed that the man had applied for a desk job but was turned down for some unknown reason, and was now seeking revenge on his would be boss. She took a quick peek at the akumized man and the first thing to catch her eye was the tie. It was tucked into the man's pitch black suit and emitted a sort of purple, evil aura.

"Cat! The akuma's in his tie!" Her partner looked back and smiled at his lady, only just having time to dodge a giant pencil that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Though he wasn't fast enough to block the giant textbook that slammed into him from behind. Ladybug sprang from her hiding place and threw her yoyo in the air with a shout of, "Lucky Charm!" The akumized man turned her way as a spotted water bottle fell into her open arms.

"What?" Both the hero and villain said simultaneously. Not only were some of Hawk Moth's victims getting ridiculous, but so were the 'lucky charms'.

However, it wasn't long before Ladybug had formulated a plan and was only seconds from executing it. Cat had just stood up when Ladybug yoyed his way and landed right on top of him, knocking the hero head over heels.

"Ah my lady has finally fallen for me, this is purrfect" The heroine ignored her partner's obnoxious puns and grabbed his hand. A look of pure surprise spread across the hero's face, but then he noticed that he was being used as a bottle opener and frowned at the girl. She only smirked back as Cat's claw poked a hole in plastic bottle. She then proceeded to stand up and hold out a hand to pull Cat up as well. Only to spray him in the face with that same water bottle.

"MErroowww!" Cat jumped and batted his 'paws' at his face, unknowingly running straight into The Businessaster. The man shoved the cat away and Ladybug took her chance. She ran for the man and blasted him in the face with what was left in the water bottle. As he rubbed the water out of his eyes, Ladybug ducked down and took the tie with her. The wet tie ripped in half and the heroine quickly purified the akuma before it could escape.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" After everything was returned to normal, Ladybug was left with a now dry Cat and a confused businessman. She gave a quick explanation to the akuma victim and made sure he would be alright as he headed home. The second she turned toward Cat, she heard a small beep from her miraculous and knew it was time for her to head home. And not only because of the miraculous. Marinette also needed to finish her math homework and bake another cake before she could go to sleep.

"Sorry Cat, but I gotta run. See you around." Her partner gave an extravagant bow and smiled sweetly at Ladybug before answering.

"See you around my lady, it was lovely seeing you again after such a great day." The girl wondered what could have made his day so great, but seeing him happy was all she needed to bring a smile to her face as well.

"See ya kitty." At that the two heroes left, and both were looking forward to another great day tomorrow.

"Marinette wait!" The girl heard her best friend call, but she couldn't stop, the cookies were at stake.

"Sorry Alya I gotta go! The cookies need me! Ttyl!" The blogger was fuming inside but decided to let her friend go. She didn't know what was going on, but something was making Marinette happy, and Alya certainly wouldn't be the one to ruin it. It had been two days since Mari had run out of class, and despite her dozens, no hundreds of texts, the girl had given no hint to her sudden enlightenment. Well, that wasn't entirely true. Marinette had sent a few texts, but they mostly consisted of Adrien, flour, cookies, and of course, Adrien. It wasn't much help to Alya, seeing as that was all the girl talked about anyway. It hadn't even occurred to her that Adrien could be helping Mari at the bakery. It was next to impossible in the young blogger's mind.

Just as Alya was about to head out the school doors, someone pushed past her with a "Sorry Alya!" as they booked it around the corner. It took the girl a few seconds to realize that it was Adrien. Before she had time to question the model's antics, a panting Nino appeared at her side and placed a tired hand on her shoulder.

"Nino, what's up with Adrien?"

"I-I don't know. He won't tell me anything. He just said something about cookies and ran off."

"Really? So did Marinette. You don't think they're up to something do you?" Nino gave the girl a knowing look and Alya knew what was coming next. "We're gonna go spy on them aren't we?"

"Of course." Nino smirked, and as if by magic, his energy was regained as the two made their way outside to search for their friends.

"I won!"

"What are you talking about Mari? I couldn't possibly lose when there are cookies at stake."

"Come on Adrien, I touched the bakery first. And if you accept that, I'll share my cookies with you."

"Ha, okay deal. You won this time." Marinette smiled gladly at her newfound friend and was quick to open the shop to let the two inside. They were greeted by the smell of freshly baked cookies that had both of them yearning for the precious chocolatey goodness they had stuck in the oven during lunch.

Marinette swiftly pulled the cookies out with a loud, "Mmmm.." and set them on the counter to cool while Adrien took their backpacks upstairs. After waiting a few minutes for them to cool, Marinette took half and put them on display in the bakery, placing the rest on a plate for her and Adrien to share. For the past couple of days, the two friends had made bets on who could get to the bakery first. But of course they hadn't been betting with money, cookies were a much better form of currency. With that thought in her head, Marinette couldn't help but give herself a goofy grin. It just made the girl so happy to know that Adrien and her were friends now. She had even overcome her stutter in the few short days they had spent together. The girl wanted to squeal with delight, but she made do with a small 'Yay' that only just escaped her lips.

"Yay what?" Mari froze. It was true that her stutter had left, but her blush was still there, bright as day.

"Ohh I'm just really happy that you're here to help Adrien." The model couldn't help but smile at that.

"I'm more than happy to help Mari!" Adrien was squealing with joy inside. He hadn't been this happy in years. He had thought that the first time he had come over would be great, but coming over everyday was so much better. Though he hadn't said it, the boy had given Marinette the title of best friend. She was just that great.

"So, what are we doing today Mmmmmmari?"

"Well Aaaaaaadrien, I need you to make a batch of rolls for me, think you can do it without making a mess?"

"I told you that we were never to speak of that again. But yes, I can." As he spoke, Adrien's hand drifted to the cookie plate and he stuck one in his mouth once he had finished speaking.

"Okay, Flourboy. We only have an hour so hurry up."

"Alrighty, Sugargirl." Marinette's heart soared at the nickname and she had to turn around and grab a cookie to hide her smiling face. Though she didn't forget to slip a couple into her bag for her ever faithful kwami. Next, she spun around to start baking, and once her and Adrien had gathered the needed ingredients, they continued their conversations from the past couple of days.

"So Mari, have you had any time to work on that design of yours?"

"Not really, though I do work on them in class, and I have been able to get a lot more sleep."

"Heh, well that's always great. By the way, what happened to that volunteer job of yours?"

"What volunteer job?"

"The one you told me about a few days ago. You said something about the people there really needing you."

"Oh yes, that job. Well, I still go when they need me, but I mostly work umm, night shifts."

"What? Mari I thought you said you were getting more sleep!"

"I am, I just can't afford to not 's kinda hard to explain…"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'd rather not, but thanks anyway. Could we maybe change the subject?"

"Of course, sorry if I made you uncomfortable. Umm, did you have any other hobbies, other than designing and baking?" Hmm, Marinette had to think about that one. It didn't take long to remember her other hobby, but she wasn't about to tell Adrien, seeing as the hobby involved much obsessing over him.

"Not really. I've done a bit of gaming with my dad, but you already know that. What about you? You still haven't told me any of your hobbies." Even if I already know most of them, she thought.

"Well, you know that I model, though it's not a exactly a fun hobby. I fence too, it can get pretty fun at times, but I really prefer just hanging out with my friends. Like now for example." Marinette couldn't help but blush a bit at that.

"That's great, and, ummm. I think you're really great at fencing by the way. It looks really fun and you do it really well."

"Would you maybe like to try it sometime? You've already taught me so much about baking, so, maybe I could return the favor by teaching you how to fence!"

"R-really?! I'd love to, if you're okay with teaching me. I don't know if i could pick it up very quickly."

"That's totally fine Mari. No one picks it up just like that, But in my opinion, I think you'd be a natural."

"T-thank you Adrien. Maybe we can figure everything out once my parents come home."

"Yeah, that would be great!"

The two teens ended up chatting like that for the next hour or so. And by the time they opened the shop, several more inside jokes and bad bread puns had arisen. For the most part, they had assumed that they were alone, but oh were they wrong. Ever since they had first stepped into the bakery that day, two snooping teens had been watching, and possibly documenting, their every move. Alya and Nino stared in awe at the sight of Marinette flawlessly speaking with Adrien while the two baked together, side by side. Alya and Nino couldn't help but let out a few squeals of triumph as they marveled at the success of this pairing. Sadly, they were forced to leave once Marinette came outside to open the shop. But that didn't stop them from fangirling over their friends and making plans to ensure the pairing worked out.

By now, the shop had been open for a couple of hours. Mari and Adrien had had time to chat and bake, and now they were completing orders and catering to customers. Though neither of the two knew this, nearly everyone who came into the cozy shop started shipping the two co-workers as they worked flawlessly together. Nevertheless, they received several compliments of how they well they were doing with the shop when the two teens were only in high school.

The bakery was full of customers at the moment, but Marinette wasn't worried. She had Adrien there, doing everything he could to help (and this time he wasn't covered in flour). He was mostly working at the counter, but once and awhile, the boy would run quick errands for Marinette while she worked on some of their more complex orders.

"Hey Adrien, can you grab that flower shaped frosting tip for me? It's in the bottom drawer on your left."

"Sure thing! Er, just a moment sir." Adrien quickly found the tip and skipped over to Marinette's side as he presented the tip to her as if it was a ring. "Here you go your ryeness."

"Oh thank you Sir Flourpower." As she took the tip, half of their customers groaned at the awful puns, while the other half silently cheered at the sweet scene. The small noise was enough to get the two teens back to work though. Little did they know that they wouldn't be working for long.

Just as Marinette was about to start frosting with the new tip, a slight tremor shook the bakery and chaos ensued. Everyone know what the tremor had meant, and all but Marinette and Adrien were panicking. The heroine in disguise dropped the piping bag on a nearby counter and rushed over to calm the customers.

"Please calm down! The bakery isn't safe! I need all of you to leave and find somewhere safe to stay until the attack is over!" Adrien was slightly confused as to why the bakery wasn't safe, but he wasn't complaining. The boy needed to transform, and quick.

A couple of minutes later, the customers had all left and Adrien and Marinette were trying to come up with a way to transform without letting the other know.

"Adrien, can you stay down here and make sure all the doors and windows are locked? I'm gonna go upstairs and do the same. And, uhh, I may not come down right away, there's a couple of other 'things' I need to do. So…. just stay down here okay?"

"Alright, be safe!" Well that was lucky. What a coincidence.

Ladybug swung onto her balcony and collapsed on her bed after practically falling through the hatch. She was exhausted, but the second she detransformed, Marinette placed Tikki on the bed and threw a few stray cookies toward the kwami as she booked it downstairs. Adrien was probably worried sick. Was he even alright? But as she flew down the stairs, Marinette was greeted with a smiling Adrien. But for some reason, he looked as if he had just run across town and back.

"Ahh! I'm sorry I took so long, are you alright Adrien?!"

"Yeah yeah, you?"

"Yup, I'm fine. Okay, good. Phew…" Though Marinette had said she was fine, Adrien didn't fully believe her. He had started to notice that she could be stubborn sometimes, and she never wanted anyone to worry about her. But the girl was tired, he could plainly see that.

"Hey Mari you look a bit flustered, are you sure you're alright?"

"Yup yep, doing great. I'm just a bit tired." As she spoke, Marinette's eyes strayed toward the clock and she gasped. "Oh no, it's so late! I need to finish that cake!"

Marinette ran around Adrien to grab the piping bag, but the second her hand made contact with the bag, another hand landed on top of her own. She looked up at Adrien's face, and Marinette was surprised to see it full of concern and worry.

"Marinette, you're exhausted. You need to rest. Let me take care of the cake. And I promise I won't mess this one up."

The girl stood there stunned for a second. Adrien was still 'holding' her hand. She wanted to tell him that she was fine, but she really wasn't. Adrien was right. She needed to rest, she needed sleep. But they were just so close. And now he really was holding her hand. His eyes still held that concerned look, but there was something more behind that first layer of emotion. Though she didn't believe it, Marinette thought it might have been love.

"You're right Adrien, I'll get some rest, f-for you." The boy smiled fondly at her and quietly chuckled a bit. Marinette couldn't deny it anymore. Adrien cared for her. He really, truly cared. That look in his gorgeous eyes confirmed it all. And of course Marinette cared about him too. It was strange to think that they had only really known each other for a few days. To Marinette, it felt like Adrien and her had been friends for years.

She didn't know when she had grabbed his other hand, but Marinette could feel the warmth emanating from their entwined fingers. With the last specks of light filtering through the window, Adrien's face shone like the moon. Somehow, he looked even more handsome than any of the pictures spread throughout the designer's room. His eyes were sparkling and his smile was endearing. It felt almost magical. Would she chance it? Try, maybe, a kiss? Marinette slowly rose to the tip of her toes and leaned her face forward. Her eyes closed as she felt the air between the two shrink. Would she finally get her dream?

BANG.

"Marinette, we're home!"

No. No she would not.

[Thank you all so much for reading this far! I do plan on writing more but the next chapter may be a bit late since I'm taking the ACT in a few days and i need time to study. I hope you've enjoyed this and thank you for the fantastic reviews!]