The hazards of being a bakers daughter# adrianette & ladynoir

Might get caught one if these days

Maybe this was a bad idea...

Adrien looked around the crowded bakery in shock. It was pandemonium, packed near to the brim and overrun with so much chatter that he could hardly think straight.

Marinette had said that things got crazy around the holiday. He just had never expected that it would get quite this out of hand.

Adrien took one last look around the bakery. He could see Mrs. Cheng behind the counter, helping customers out. There was someone else with her who must have been a seasonal employee. Marinette was nowhere in sight. With a sigh, he turned around to head back out.

"Oh! Adrien?"

Surprised, he whirled around to see Marinette hurrying toward him through the crowd. She was wearing an adorable pink apron and was liberally covered in flour. His heart leapt into his throat, and he did his best to force himself to keep breathing. "Hey Marinette!"

"Sorry, things are really busy today," she told him, shifting the large box in her hands.

"That's alright," he replied. He gestured to the box. "Do you need some help?"

"Oh, this?" She laughed, shaking her head. "I'm fine. Let me go hand this off and I'll be right back over."

Adrien watched as she hurried toward another customer, all thoughts of leaving vanishing from his mind. He waited patiently as she handed the box of goodies off to a man waiting near the back and then headed back his way.

"Did you grab a number yet?" she asked, and he couldn't help notice that her cheeks were a rosy red. She must have been running around all day. No wonder she had been so exhausted the other night.

"Not yet," he said slowly, wondering if he should just tell her he was on his way out.

"Here, let's get one for you!" she said happily, taking his hand and dragging him toward the door. His throat constricted and his entire arm went numb as she brought him over to the ticket dispenser. When she let go of him to grab a number for him, his hand felt cold in her absence.

"Sorry I can't just jump you to the front of the line, but I think it'd cause an actual fight," she told him, laughing a bit as she shot him an apologetic smile.

"It's no problem," he replied, rubbing the back of his head and accepting the ticket from her. He looked down and saw a bold 338 in his hand.

"Did you come for anything in particular?" Marinette asked. "I can't let you skip ahead, but maybe I could get it ready for you."

"I'm just window shopping for a last minute Christmas present," Adrien told her quickly. "But thank you. I really appreciate it!"

"Alright," Marinette replied. She really needed to quit smiling so sweetly, because Adrien was afraid his heart was going to give out on him any second. "Well, if you need anything, just—"

"Marinette!" a loud voice called from somewhere back behind the counter. "Can you come grab these?"

"Coming, Dad!" Marinette called back. With a wince she turned back to Adrien. "Sorry, I better get back to the kitchen."

"Of course!" Adrien replied quickly. "Don't worry about me. Thanks for all the help."

"Any time!" she told him. "Well, have a nice Christmas!"

He watched as her pigtails bobbed through the crowd back toward the counter, the pink apron ribbon tied around her waist fluttering behind her like a tail. When she finally disappeared back into the kitchen, he loosed a sigh and looked down at his bag. He jumped when he saw Plagg looking back up at him.

He ignored the pointed look Plagg was giving him as he quickly shoved him back into his bag. Seriously, what if someone saw him one of these days?

Adrien glanced around the busy store, trying to decide if he should just head out or not. Obviously today was not a good day to talk with Marinette. He tried to convince himself that he wasn't relieved by this turn of events. Still, he was already here and had a number. And a not so small part of him reasoned that even if Marinette was busy, if he hung around he might have another chance to get to see her...

Mind made up, Adrien did his best to scoot toward the front of the shop where the display cases showed off a variety of baked goods and goodies. A bunch of kids were crowded up against the glass, pointing excitedly to the various types of Christmas cookies, and Adrien couldn't help but smile. Mr. Dupain's idea to sell Christmas cookies was obviously a success.

Just to be safe, Adrien glanced down at his bag again. Luckily Plagg hadn't poked his head out again, although Adrien could see his green eyes glaring accusingly at him from the bottom of his bag. With a sigh, he shrugged, looking back at the display case.

It wasn't his fault that the bakery was so busy. From the look of things, Adrien wouldn't have been surprised if Marinette was busy right up to when they were supposed to meet for patrol.

You could just talk to her then, a small voice whispered in the back of his head. Adrien tried to ignore it. True, they would be alone and not have to worry about being overheard.

But how could he bring himself to tell her, on Christmas Eve no less? She had been so adamant—doing it now just felt like it would come across as a slap to the face.

Ooooo thanks for the comments guys I'm progressing. Hope if you are enjoying my story you can give me a shout out in your stories. I know I sound desperate but I love to share my writing with other people even though it's based in miraculous ladybug ( lol)
Bye for now