Masked Lovers - ML Fanfic

~23~

     Adrien reached for the door and held it open for me to walk though. "Thanks." I said, giving him a small smile. His lips curved into a smile, but dropped into a slight frown. "Is everything ok? You seem sort of.. distant." He asked concerningly. I was slightly taken aback by his question. Was it that obvious? "Oh, yeah I'm fine." I replied, turning away to proceed into the bakery. However, a hand stopped me mid-step. "Marinette, you can tell me anything. You know that right?" I sighed and glanced away, refusing to look him in the eyes. "I know."

     We picked a table in the corner of the fresh, bread-scented bakery and sat down. Mama came over and asked us what we'd like. "I'll have a pastry and a glass of water." I said as calmly as possible, praying that she wouldn't say anything too embarrassing. "Alright Marinette," mama replied with a light smile. "And how about you sweetie?" Sweetie? Really mama. I about died right there. "Oh, I'll take two croissants please." Adrien said with a small chuckle. "Sure, I'll have that right out for you two." She said as she left to get the food. After she was a few feet away, I face planted onto the tabletop.

"Sweetie. She called you sweetie." I groaned. He let out a small laugh before I raised my head. "I think your mom's really nice. Both of your parents are." He grinned and placed his hand on top of mine. As mama came hustling over to our table, Adrien gave me a quick smile and removed his hand.

"Here's your pastry, Marinette." She said placing the plate in front of me. "And here's your croissants, young man." Mama gave Adrien his plate and smiled. "Thank you!" He exclaimed, almost a little too enthusiastically. "It's my pleasure." The older woman replied before smiling again. Oh boy. I cleared my throat and motioned to the water mama was holding. "Oh, right. Here," she said, handing me the glass. "Well, thanks mama! We wouldn't want to keep your busy self from all of the customers." I hummed, forcing a grin. "It's no problem, Marine- oh no! I forgot about the cookies!" She turned around and started to leave. "I'll see you kiddies later!" I couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

"So I heard you aren't going to the ball." Adrien said in a curious tone. "I wanted to, but I forgot I had to babysit Manon." I paused and took a sip of my water. "Alya told you?" He almost chocked while chewing on his croissant, clearly surprised by the question. "Well, uh actually Alya told Nino and then Nino sorta, told me." Adrien finally managed after swallowing. "I see." I replied, cracking a small grin. "Hopefully you guys will have a good time then." I said, trying to lighten the mood and hide the fact that I wished so badly to have danced with him tonight. If only Chloe hadn't 'assumed' Ladybug and Chat would show up just because she said. If only I wasn't Ladybug.

     However, this time Adrien's response surprised me. "I actually can't attend either. My dad assigned a late photo shoot I can't miss." He looked out the window as he finished speaking. "That's ok though. I didn't really want to have to deal with Chloe anyways." I'll still have to deal with her. Some things really confused me, and one of them was why Chloe, of all people, would idolize Ladybug. "Oh. I thought you of all people would be going. I'm shocked that Chloe didn't cancel the photoshoot herself." We laughed and finished up eating our baked goods.

"Lunch break is almost over." I groaned. "Yeah we should head back soon." Adrien replied. I stood up and took our dishes into the kitchen, and placed them by the sink to clean later. When I returned to the table, Adrien had some cash in his hands. "Here, how much did the food cost?" He asked. "It's on me, you don't need to pay anything." I said, waving off the money. "But Marinette, I feel bad." The blond insisted, still trying to hand me money. "Nope! Plus I owe you." I didn't expect money from him and I wasn't about to take it now. "Owe me? What did I do?" Adrien questioned, not remembering any specific things she'd owe him for. "You helped me a lot when I was hurt and you've just been a really great friend to me!" I said with a big smile. He smiled back, then took a deep breath. "Alright, fine. I appreciate that though. You're an amazing person." She's more than amazing, he thought. I decided to stay silent because at this point, I couldn't be sure what would come out of my mouth. We turned to leave and pushed the door slightly. "Bye mama!" I called out over my shoulder. "Goodbye Marinette, bye Adrien!"

     "Ok fill me in. How was it?" I asked, patiently waiting for Alya to respond. "Well it was good, for the most part." She replied, her enthusiasm declining with each word she spoke. "What do you mean, "for the most part"?" I demanded. What could have gone wrong? She looks ok and seems fine.. If Nino did something I swea- "It's just.. I feel like he doesn't like me as much as I like him." She said with a saddened tone. "What makes you think that?" I questioned. Alya looked over at her locker and sighed. "I'm not sure." I grabbed her shoulders and gave her a light shake. "Alya, I don't know how much you like him, or vice versa, but from the way he looks at you and acts around you, I think anyone could see that he cares about you. A lot." I stated, trying to reassure her as much as possible. She smiled at me and pulled me into a hug. "Thanks Marinette, for always being there for me." I hugged her back and grinned. "That's what friends are for, right?"

"Tikki, I don't think I can do this." I said, plopping down on the edge of my bed. "What do you think you can't do? The small, red creature asked. "Go to the ball tonight." I replied. "Marinette, you have to. People are expecting Paris's super duo to be there. Why are you so worried now?" She flew over to me and hovered a few feet off the ground. "It's just Chat's going to be there, and-" I was interrupted by the opening of my hatch door. "Hey girl." Alya called, waving a hand as she climbed into my room. "Ohh hi!" I responded, hoping that she didn't hear what I had just said about Chat. "I just stopped by to pick up my dress." She said, giving a small smirk. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything." I quickly grabbed Alya's dress and handed it to her. "Oh nothing at all. I mean, nothing even happens here, right? haha ha." "Right. Anyways, I should be going, but thank you again for making this amazing dress for me!!" She exclaimed. "Ok, see you tomorrow Alya! And no problem!" I said as she left my room. That was too close.

Hello friends! There's probably about one more chapter until this story is complete!! I rlly enjoyed writing this, but I'm ready for a new story/prompt :> anyways, I need to sleep but I hope u guys like this part ! <3 ily

The bottom half isn't really proofread either, so sorry if there's errors