Pens and Sticky Notes: A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction

Chapter 7: Lunch At The Bakery

They were around half way to Marinette's bakery when they realized they were holding hands. They both didn't know how it had happened, Marinette had originally been dragging him by the arm but both of them had been so deep in their conversation they hadn't realised that it had changed. But when Adrien glanced down he saw that their fingers were intertwined, he looked up quickly and smiled sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck making Marinette instantly turn into a tomato. Neither of them let go of the other's hand, though and by the time they got to the bakery their fingers were still intertwined.

When they got to the front door Adrien suddenly felt a wave of nervousness go through him. He had met Marinette's parents once before when they were practicing for a video game competition. They seemed like nice people, they even offered him food! But now he knew they were the parents of the girl he was in love with and the only thing he could remember in that moment was how big her dad was. He gulped. 

Marinette on the other hand was just nervous that her parents would be embarrassing. Last time they had tried spying on them and Marinette just hoped something like that didn't happen again. She loved her parents but sometimes they were just too nosy.  

"Be a good kitty," Marinette told him and that did not help settle his nerves at all. He tried not to  let her see how nervous he was so he just smirked at her. This made her giggle a little against her will. She reached out her free hand, grabbing hold of the knob and pulling so that a little chime was heard. Tom looked up from what he was doing behind the counter and when he saw his daughter he smiled at her. Then he saw her with a boy. Holding hands. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Hi Dad!" She said and let go of Adrien's hand for a minute to run over and give him a hug and kiss on the cheek. Adrien frowned slightly when she let go of his hand, missing her warmth but when he saw her dad he turned from sad to nervous again. He gulped for the second time. Was he bigger than he remembered? His nerves only got worse when he realized that he and Marinette had been holding hands when they had walked in. He gulped for a third time. "I brought a friend home for lunch today is that ok?" Marknette asked her dad.

"Of course." He said and smiled at Adrien and he was relieved that he didn't want to kill him for holding his daughter's hand. Although he still looked a little suspicious. "Adrien right?" Tom asked. Adrien nodded looking surprised that he had been remembered. "Marinette talks a lot about you, you know."

"Dad!" She said, panicking slightly. Although he knew she had a crush on him she still didn't want her dad to tell Adrien just how big of a crush it was. That would just inflate his big ego. But her dad only laughed at her anger which just made Marinette more annoyed.

"Your mom is up in the house, she can get you and Adrien some lunch." Tom said.

"Thanks Papa," Marinette said and started walking to the stairs that led up to their apartment beckoning to Adrien to follow. He did and nervously. He couldn't help but look up at Mari's dad as he passed with a little bit of fear. Tom just gave the boy a reassuring smile and he had something that looked like approval in his eyes. Adrien felt a small smile tug at his lips at the gesture before following Marinette up the stairs.

Wonderful smells of cooking food filled Adrien's nostrils as he reached the top and stepped out into the Dupain-Cheng apartment. It was fairly small but cozy with a living room that lead into the kitchen where Mrs. Dupain-Cheng was happily cooking lunch. She looked up when she heard footsteps expecting to only see her daughter but did a double take when she saw Adrien was standing there as well. The confused look quickly turned into a smile.

"Hi honey, I see you brought a friend home today?" Sabine questioned.

"Yeah, Maman. You remember Adrien right? He came over awhile ago to practice for the video game competition."