At Your Service Princess (UNDER EDITING)

Chapter 4

Marinette hoped that stupid cat would not come. It was the morning her parents left for the competition, and she already had to worry about customers and running the shop, so she did not want to have to deal with a certain pesky alley cat lurking around.

At 5 am sharp the little door bell jingled, informing Marinette, who was in the back baking bread, of the presence of a customer in the shop.

"Bonjour! And welcome to the Dupain-Cheng Boulangerie Patisserie! Can I get you anything?" Marinette asked as she strolled (more like hobbled) out of the back room with a smile on her face. Quickly, that smile faded when she arrived at the counter to see no one there.

"That's odd, I could have sworn someone was here..." Mumbled Marinette as she retied her apron strings.

"Who knew these strings got tangled so easily, Princess." A voice behind her stated coolly, causing Marinette to freeze. Spinning around on her good heel, Marinette spotted Chat Noir sitting atop the counter, trying to tie on of her Papa's giant aprons around his rather small torso. Marinette groaned.

"Why me?" She asked herself in a whisper.

"Maybe because your knight in shinning pleather knew you'd need help with all the customers today." Chat shot her one of his famous smiles when Marinette realized he had heard her. "Cat ears, my dear. Very sensitive."

"Right." Marinette muttered. "I'm assuming you won't leave even if I ask?"

"Correct. I'm staying put, unless there's an Akuma attack." Chat nodded, grinning. "So, whachu need me to do? Bake bread? Clean counters? Kiss your booboo?"

"No, yes, and definitely not." Marinette rolled her eyes as she scooted Chat off of the countertop. "Also, keep an eye out for customers, I'm gonna be in the back baking today's treats."

"Shouldn't be a problem, Princess."

For the next two hours, Marinette baked, and Chat Noir handled the customers. Everyone was surprised to see the masked feline selling treats, most of them asking for an autograph or picture before they left. After a while, he got tired of the fans, so he asked Marinette if he could borrow a baggy shirt and baseball cap. After Marinette gave him what he asked for, he slipped into the oversized blue shirt, threw the apron overtop, and placed the baseball cap carefully on his head, arranging his hair in a way that covered a good portion of his mask.

(Le time skip, brought to you by Hawkmoth >uo)

It was 8pm, and the summer sun was in the middle of setting. Marinette closed up the shop, and was truly surprised at how well things went that day. There had been no major accidents, and Chat Noir has actually been helpful and good company.

"Hey, Chat...?" Marinette started as she strolled outside in front of the shop.

"Mhm?" Chat mumbled as he watched the sun set.

"I just wanted to say... Thanks. I know I said I didn't want you here earlier, but there's no way I would have made it through the day without your help, sooooo.... Yeah. If there's anything I can do for you, let me know." Chat chuckled.

"I can think of one thing, Princess." He said with a sweet smile.

"And that'd be?" Marinette asked, holding her breath and hoping he would not ask her to kiss him.

"Can I sleep on your couch? It'll be a lot easier to get to work here tomorrow, plus my Dad's out of town with his workers." He asked as Marinette sighed in relief.

"Yeah, sure, that's fine." She said, but, internally she was screaming. "What if he sees Tikki!? I'll just make sure he stays downstairs... Yeah, that'll never work."

"Thanks, Princess! I'll be back in a half an hour. I need to get a few things!" Chat called as he leapt onto the rooftops. "See you soon!"

AN/ I'm sooo sorry I didn't update sooner! The Wattpad support made it look like they were going to get my lost chapter back, but ended up not being able to. Thanks for your patience!

~Sophie