When a liar gets you left behind

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Sending Friends Off

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  Marinette instantly sighed in relief when the portal fully evaporated. She couldn't help but feel as if a weight had been lifted off  her shoulders' when she had successfully gotten out with no harm to her friend, fixed the computer, and had gotten out without any failure.

It had almost been bad, thankfully they were able to get out before the situation turned serious.

They transformed and fell into comfortable silence, all of them thinking over a specific part of their day.

"I thought you said they wouldn't be in there unless there was a villain breakout," Adrien said, though it wasn't meant to come out accusing, instead meaning to only ask curiously.

Marinette looked at him, her calculating eyes thinking over something in her mind, finally, she shrugged. "I'm not part of them, I can only make educated guesses and assumptions about them."

Marinette looked over at the clock on her wall and sighed.

"I should send you off, it's late in Paris," Marinette said in a sad tone.

She missed not being able to see her friends everyday, in person. Texting and calling just wasn't the same as seeing them in person.

Chloe and Adrien looked at the clock and sighed too.

"Yes, we do need to head back," Chloe looked down at her shoes, which were, of course, nothing less than amazing.

Marinette nodded again and got all of the Miraculous back in order, making sure the Bee went with Chloe.

Marinette looked up at Adrien, watching him quietly. He hadn't shown any sign of discomfort in or out of suit.

She would have to pay better attention to the small things he did so nothing like this would happen again. She didn't want Adrien or Chloe to have to go through any unnecessary pain or discomfort, they didn't deserve that.

Adrien met her eyes and gave her his usual, small, kind smile. Marientte offered a small one in return, as she wasn't sure she could manage a bigger one.

Chloe's eyes swirled in concern for her friend. Marinette wished she could see inside her thoughts sometimes. That would be easier, then she could realize what she had down to make her concerned, so she could reassure her.

"I'm fine, guys," Adrien said into the silence, not bothering to glance at either of them as they stared at him

Both of the girls looked down guiltily, both ashamed of having been caught.

Marinette transformed with the Horse Miraculous, and created a portal near Adrien's home, in a small park that was normally empty.

Chloe lunged at Marinette and pulled her into a tight hug. Marinette squeezed her just as tight, knowing that comforting touches weren't normally Chloe's things.

Chloe was someone who could feel you more with a simple squeeze of your arm than with words. Sometimes, the best things you can do to say something, is to do so by showing it.

Adrien forced her into a bear-hug, laughing at her feeble attempts at escaping.

"Mother!" She screamed as she laughed, calling to Chloe with her new name.

Chloe raised an unamused eyebrow at her, before rolling her eyes and coming to help.

"Now, now, children. No need for funny business," She jokingly reprimanded, teasing pointing her index finger at them.

"Hey! It's rude to point at people!" Adrien said with a whine.

Chloe rolled her eyes before putting her hand down. "Come on."

Adrien nodded at her, telling her he was listening, then quickly let go of Marinette.

"See you soon!" They both screamed as they went through, having transformed a while ago.

Marinette watched as the distance between all of them grew, the portal slowly shrinking as they went, until they finally were just a blob in the distance and the portal and shrink to the size of orange.

Marientte spun on her heel and got rid of her transformation simultaneously, her mind thinking about the empty kitchen that was begging for her to come make something .

She walked to the kitchen, her shoulders relaxed as she got into the baking mood. Without giving much thought to it, she gathered ingredients for a maple cookie. She methodically grabbed each item and container that she would need. After doing so, she washed her hands and calmly measured out each item as she poured it in, deciding that it didn't need to be exact and she could just eyeball-it. She hummed along time a catchy she had heard her Uncle Jagged humming along to a few days ago, though, she was just doing it absentmindedly.

When she had finished the batter and made the dough, she quickly got a cookie-cutter and put them on a pan she had sprayed earlier. She wasn't patient enough to refrigerate the dough today, she just wanted to bake.

Twenty-five minutes later, the timer beeped, Marinette excitedly walked up to the oven and opened it.

A sugary smell with warm cookie-dough undertones, and small hints of vanilla hit Marinette's tongue, making her mouth water.

She plucked each one off the pan and on a plate, waiting for the warm delicacies to cool.

While she did, she headed back up the stairs to her room. She needed some answers from Tikki.

She found Tikki on her bed, nuzzled into a tiny pillow Marinette had made for her. It was, of course, a ladybug red.

She was smiling in her sleep, and Marinette couldn't help but smile fondly at the sight.

Marinette supposed she could ask Tikki about it later. She hadn't been getting a lot of sleep lately, which was unusual, as the little Kwami usually took naps during the day. Marinette didn't know if it was because she was worrying about something or if Tikki just couldn't sleep. She would have to ask her.

With the thought still in her mind, Marinette kissed her kwami's forehead lovingly, before running back down for her cookies.

She hoped no one had found them and had beaten her to them, she could remember multiple times where that happened.

She smiled at all the memories. They had all been really funny. She had loved catching them red-handed whenever they had a dessert in their mouth.

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