(See the end of the chapter for notes .)

Chapter Text

Marinette was on her balcony giving her plants their afternoon watering. She glanced over to the park and saw Adrien's photographer getting set up for another photo shoot.

"Tikki, I wish there was something I could do for him! The last photo shoot he did lasted over four hours! That poor boy, he had to be exhausted."

Tikki floated in front of her face and smiled. "Maybe there's something you could do to help him keep his energy up. He always seems to relax more when you're around, Marinette."

"The problem with that, Tikki, is I still turn into a bit of a disaster around him!" She smiled and waved her arms around. "C'mon, think, Marinette... what can you do?" She tapped her chin with her finger. "I've got it! I know just the thing!"

She raced downstairs to her bakery and grabbed a small white bag. "I'm going to take Adrien some cookies for him to eat on his break at the photo shoot, Mom. Do you think he'll like them?" She put three chocolate-chip cookies in the bag and folded the top shut.

"Good luck, Marinette!" Sabine smiled knowingly and winked at her daughter. "I think you'll be just fine."

Marinette took a deep breath and marched out the front door of the bakery and over to the park. Adrien was sitting on the side of the fountain scrolling through his Instagram.

Marinette walked over and held the bag out at arm's-length. "Hey, Adrien! I made you an 'I care about you' package! I mean, a care package! I hope you like them!"

"Wow, Marinette! That's really sweet of you, thanks!" He took the bag and opened in, inhaling deeply. "You know I love your cookies. Did you want to stay around and watch the photo shoot again?"

"Oh! Um, no, sorry! I have to get back to homework! I mean, back to home and work! I mean... back to the bakery, making more cookies."

Adrien smiled radiantly. "Of course. Maybe I'll stop by afterwards and see what you've made. Would you like that?"

Marinette almost melted into a puddle on the spot. "That would be fantastic!" she squeaked.

"Great, I'll see you then! Bye!" He dug into the bag for a cookie and fumbled with his phone.

"Bye!" Marinette backed away, then turned around and speed-walked back to the bakery.

Later on, Alya was over in her bedroom. "See, girl, all you have to do is be your sweet self and he'll fall head-over-heels for you!"

But Marinette didn't hear her; she was too busy looking at Adrien's latest Instagram post to notice anything, including Alya taking a picture and posting to her own Instagram.

"Girl, I swear... you have got it bad."