Day 5: Copy Cat Marinette is seriously steamed, and Chat helps to calm her down.

Yes, yes I know I was supposed to do batons. But I needed to switch things up a bit, so humor me, please? Your regularly scheduled Batons will appear at the end of the month. ;)

This one is for seasonofthegeek! You're a creative power house, and your frequent updates are making what is already a pretty shitty month a whole hell of a lot better.

Thwack! The lump of dough slammed back into the floured countertop, only to be lifted and turned and slammed down once again. Flour dusted everything within a meter radius of where she stood. Chat raised a brow at his irate friend, but he rather thought that in her ranting, she'd forgotten that he was sitting there.

"Unprincipiled," she muttered angrily.

Thwack!

"…ethically-challenged..."

Thwack!

"…uninspired…"

Thwack!

"…amoral..."

Thwack!

"…smarmy…"

Thwack!

"…obnoxious..."

Thwack!

...thieving copy-cat!"

"Leave the cats out of it, Princess!"

"I just—aargh!"

THWACK!

"Th-that oily sack of flour had the nerve to come in to our store and insult my Papa!" Marinette pounded her fist into the innocent dough furiously. "And this was after that swine stole our recipes! Our secret family recipes! "

Chat leaned forward on the counter, propping his chin in one gloved hand. "Ok, I get the insult thing, and that's bad enough. But how do you know he stole your recipes?"

"He's offering the exact same menu that we do." She threw her hands up in the air wildly, adding more flour to the cloud around her. "What kind of slime ball opens an identical shop just a few blocks away from the first, and offers the exact same menu, but cheaper?"

"That doesn't mean he stole them, though."

"Well, he still copied our menu." She went back to working the dough with another emphatic thwack. "And he still insulted Papa." Thwack.

"What can you do about it?"

"Nothing." Thwack. "Except wait for people to realize that his technique is abysmal—thwack—and his ingredients are inferior—thwack—and to come back here where they belong." Thwack.

"Hmm. I suppose that's something, at least." Chat eyed the dough thoughtfully. "Didn't you tell me once that you're not supposed to over-work the dough?"

"Better I overwork this dough than his stupid—thwack—doughy—thwack—face!" She slammed the dough down one last time, and then buried her face in her hands, sobbing.

"Princess?" Chat was unprepared for the abrupt shift from fury to tears. He stood from his bar stool and rounded the counter to wrap his arms around her shaking body, pressing her face (hands and all) into his chest. "Marinette? Dieu, don't cry."

"B-but what if his stupid bakery puts our bakery out of business? What if people confuse the two bakeries and think that we're the ones who suck? What if—" She broke off abruptly and looked up at his face in consternation. "Chat Noir, are you laughing?"

"No." He snickered. "Maybe. You're just so creative in the things that you worry about."

"Creative?" She leaned away from him, narrowing her eyes dangerously. "Creative? If we lose this bakery my family—"

"You're not going to lose the bakery, Mari." She opened her mouth to argue and he shook his head, speaking over her. "You won't. This is one of the most popular bakeries in Paris, and your loyal customers are not going to suddenly forget where you are. I don't blame you for being upset, but I really don't think you have anything to worry about."

She blew out a breath and dropped her head forward onto his chest. "I suppose you're right. And it's not like worrying would do any good anyway."

"Nope." He pulled her close again, and dropped a kiss on her forehead.

"Thank you Chat." She wrapped her arms around his waist, and squeezed gently. "Thanks for listening to my ranting, and…for being here."

He squeezed back. "That's what knights are for, Princess."

They stood in companionable silence for a moment, still holding one another. Marinette sighed happily, and nuzzled a little closer to Chat.

"Besides, I want to be the only one getting a rise out of you."

"Aaannnd you ruined it." She pushed away from him with a groan. "Don't make me throw you out, after you were so sweet."

He grinned unrepentantly. "Don't go indulging any half-baked ideas, Princess."

"Out!"

"You know you loaf me."

"Unh, Chat! You're ridiculous!"

"Yes, but now you're smiling."

Thanks for reading guys! As always, comments and feedback are greatly appreciated. :)