Chapter Text
Marinette's hands were absolutely covered in croissant dough. She had been spending the past few hours working at the family bakery. Although she enjoyed helping her parents, her mind was distracted by the frequent notifications coming from her phone.
Her phone played her text sound again, indicating she had received yet another message. Marinette's hand shot out of the flour, grabbing her phone without even bothering to clean up first.
"Marinette," her mother said, not even looking up from the macarons she was working on, "the croissants aren't going to make themselves."
"Sorry, just one second!" Marinette swiped her thumb across the screen, leaving a little flour fingerprint on it. She typed something quickly, a small smile tugging at her mouth.
Tom looked over from the oven. "That's the fourth time in ten minutes."
"I know, I know. I'm putting it away." She set the phone face-down on the counter, and picked the dough back up.
Two minutes later, there was another message. Marinette instantly grabbed the phone again.
Sabine finally turned around, arms crossed, but smiling in a way that showed she was not actually upset. "Alright, who is texting you so much? Is this an Alya emergency? Something to do with the Ladyblog?"
"No, it's just my girlfriend." Marinette didn't even think about what she was saying. The words just fell out of her mouth automatically.
After a few seconds had passed, the realization hit her. Marinette's hand flew up and clapped over her own mouth, eyes going wide as dinner plates.
Tom set down the rolling pin he had started to use, nearly dropping it on the floor out of surprise. "Your girlfriend?"
"Um, well you see…" Marinette floundered, her flour-covered hands touching everything from her panicked motions. "I mean, that is technically the word that I said."
Sabine became giddy, expression delighted. "Marinette, sweetheart, you have a girlfriend?"
"...Yes?"
"Since when?"
Marinette winced, already bracing for their reaction. "It's been a month."
"A month?" Tom's eyebrows raised at that. "It's been that long and we're only finding out because you accidentally let it slip?"
"I'm sorry. I was going to tell you eventually." Marinette dragged a floury hand down her face, the silliness making it hard for them to be upset with her. "I wasn't sure how you were going to react to this, so I've just been staying quiet for the past month."
Sabine's face fell upon hearing her daughter say that. "Oh, Marinette. Did you think we'd have a problem with you dating a girl?"
"What? No! That's not the reason!" Marinette shook her head. "That's really not the thing I'm worried about." She muttered the last part to herself, quiet enough that even though the kitchen was small, neither of her parents heard her.
It's that my girlfriend is Chloé Bourgeois and I'm pretty sure you'll completely lose your minds when you find out.
"Well, the reason isn't important. Sabine, our little girl is growing up." Tom wiped a lone tear streaming down his face.
"She is indeed," Sabine nodded with pride, patting his arm. "What's this girl like, Marinette?"
"That's right! What kind of things does she like to do? Any hobbies or part-time job she's working at?" He thought for a moment, giving Marinette a questioning look. "Does she go to your school? Have we met her before?"
Marinette internally screamed at the question. "Um, sort of, in passing. Well, a few times over the years. Many times, actually, now that I think about it."
"Marinette." Sabine's voice interrupted her rambling, taking on a more serious tone. "You have to bring her over for dinner this week."
Marinette's soul briefly left her body. She was pretty sure that if she looked up she'd see it floating above her, wanting to ascend to heaven. "Oh, you don't have to do that. I mean, she's really busy. She's got a very full schedule with lots of, um, commitments."
"Surely she has one free evening." Sabine raised an eyebrow, giving her a look that suggested not arguing further.
"You'd be surprised by just how busy a person she is!"
"One evening, Marinette."
Marinette opened her mouth to protest again, trying to think of any possible way out of this. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of anything that would dissuade her parents. "...Fine," she sighed. "I'll ask her about it."
"Wonderful!" Tom cheered, patting Marinette. "I'll make my special chicken stew! Oh, this is exciting, a big milestone for the family."
"Yeah… milestone," Marinette said defeatedly.
She turned back to the croissants, putting all of her focus on it to distract her thoughts from the impending doom. Her phone started beeping again, but she didn't look at it. She didn't know how she'd be able to respond to the casual texts she and Chloé had been sending each other without accidentally spilling what's going on.
No, this needed to be a conversation face-to-face. One thing for certain, Chloé was going to absolutely freak out.