#chatchevalier

Nino barely had time to shut the door behind him and lean against it to make sure no one followed him when the flash of the miraculous’s magic washed over him and left him standing in his civilian clothes. He caught an exhausted Tikki in his hands and started walking towards his locker. “Hey, little dude. Doing alright? I’ve got some cookies in my bag you can snack on during class to get your energy back up, alright?”

“I’m fine, Nino, don’t worry. Good job today, though!” Tikki smiled. “Cookies during class sounds lovely.”

Nino pulled his bookbag from the top shelf of his back, gently laid Tikki in one of the front pockets where his snacks for her were kept, and started to pack his books for his next class. But once he turned around to head for the door, he froze. Standing off to the side in front of his own locker and rooted in place was Adrien, darting his eyes incredulously between Nino’s face and his bookbag and unable to say a single word.

Nino’s heart jumped into this throat and plummeted straight into his stomach in a matter of three seconds. He could see the confusion and realization written clearly on Adrien’s face, and he knew that he was probably piecing together the puzzle pieces in his head right now and coming to what could only be the obvious conclusion. There was no way that Adrien hadn’t seen him, and suddenly every conversation Nino had ever had with Tikki on what to do if his secret identity was ever found out by another person flew straight out of his head. It was often that dealing with Adrien left him feeling like he didn’t know how to react or know what he was supposed to say.

Adrien slowly lifted his finger to point at Nino, and he opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before he managed to force his throat to make a sound. “You….you’re….”

But in a moment of panic, Nino decided that if Adrien didn’t say the words right away, it would momentarily delay the horrible conversation that Nino would have to have with Adrien when they were still in school and expected to show up to their next class in just a short few minutes. So he rushed over to Adrien, grabbed his hand, and squeezed it tightly.

“Whatever you think you saw, you can’t tell anyone,” Nino pleaded, the words rushing out quickly in the midst of his internal turmoil. “This is important, you have to promise. Okay?”

Adrien gulped audibly, looking more nervous than Nino had ever seen him since they’d been friends. But Adrien firmly nodded in response, and whispered, “Of course. Okay. I promise.”

Nino breathed out a sigh of relief, although in the back of his mind he knew that Adrien wasn’t the type to gossip about other people’s secrets. No, Nino’s main concern was this — this heavy awkwardness and silence that left the two of them feeling itchy and uncomfortable in their own skin. But the school bell signaling the next period was already ringing, and there was no time for the two of them to discuss this now. Nino realized that he was cutting off the circulation to Adrien’s hand with his crushing grip, so he dropped it, scrubbed a hand over his face, and tried to not make his nerves too obvious for when he went back to class. He awkwardly gestured in front of him and allowed Adrien to leave the locker room first before he followed behind him without a word. The halls were empty now that their classmates were back in their classes, and every footstep and shuffle from both of them sounded louder and heavier than they usually did. They made it just before the second bell rung, and they were the last ones to slip into class and arrive at their desks.

Nino was standing behind his chair and pulling his books out when Alya tapped him on the shoulder, leaned over her own desk, and muttered in his ear. “Hey, did you and Adrien get into a fight?”

“N-No,” Nino frowned, trying to keep his gaze off of Adrien. “Why would you say that?”

“I don’t know, the two of you are all quiet and acting standoffish with each other,” Alya said. “You’re usually coming into class with your arms around each other’s shoulders and talking until the teacher comes. What happened?”

“Nothing!” Nino insisted. “I — nothing happened.”

“Are you sure?”

“Don’t worry about it, Al. The, uh….that akuma fight was just a lot of excitement, that’s all.”

Alya shrugged and decided to leave the subject alone, and Nino sat down in his seat and tried his best to distract himself by paying close attention to the lesson. But it was hard to focus on taking notes when Adrien’s elbow kept bumping with his own as they both furiously scribbled in their notebooks, reminding Nino of the mess he’d accidentally gotten himself into. The worst part of all of this was that as much as Nino wanted to talk to Adrien and allow the two of them to properly talk and react about this, they couldn’t very well do it in the middle of class or excuse themselves to do it in private. Which meant that the two of them were stuck trying to appear normal while their chests grew heavy with all of the words and all of the conflicted feelings they so desperately wanted to convey. It was absolutely maddening, and the longer they waited, the more Nino grew unsure about how they were meant to proceed from here.

When their last period finished, Nino saw Marinette poke Adrien on the head five times before smacking him on the shoulder and making him turn around to face her.

“You’re looking a little spacey all of a sudden. Is everything alright?”

“Y-Yeah,” Adrien stuttered. “Why would anything be wrong?”

“You totally missed the bell ringing,” Marinette frowned. “School’s over. We’ve gotta pack up.”

Adrien blinked, looked up at the clock hanging over the chalkboard, and quickly stuffed his books in his bag. “Oh. I must have been daydreaming or something.”

Marinette rested her hand on his forehead. “You promise you’re okay?”

Adrien shook his head a little and put on a fake smile. “Yeah, of course.”

Marinette sent a wary glance to Alya, and Alya was already leaning over her desk to try and talk to Nino. But Nino wasn’t in the mood in speaking to anyone right now, his thoughts whirling too violently around in his head to deal with his friends at the moment. Instead, he quickly ducked out of the classroom, and headed straight home.

  The moment Nino was safe in his room, he unzipped the pocket of his bookbag to let Tikki out, and promptly collapsed onto his bed with his head face down in the pillows. Tikki flew over and perched on top of Nino’s shoulder, patting his head. “Oh, cheer up, Nino,” she said. “It’s not as bad as you think?”

“What do I do?” he wailed into his pillow. “No one’s supposed to know, that’s like superhero rule number one. And Adrien of all people?” He let out a long groan and rolled over onto his back, hugging his pillow to his stomach. “He’s my best friend. You’re supposed to tell your best friends everything. Now he’s going to be upset or treat me different because I’ve been keeping something like this from him the entire time. I don’t want him angry with me, Tikki, I don’t think I can handle that.”

Tikki gently rubbed the apple of Nino’s cheek. “If I’m wrong, you can say so. But do you think you’re just a little bit more upset about this because you like him more than he realizes?”

Nino bit the inside of his cheek and avoided Tikki’s gaze. He let out a shaky breath and nodded. “I’m not keeping my hopes up or anything like that,” he said. “But if there is that really tiny glimmer of hope that he could feel the same way, I don’t want to give him any reason to think that I don’t deserve his feelings, you know? I don’t want him to think I don’t trust him or that I don’t believe in him.”

“And he’s not going to,” Tikki soothed. “I’m sure Adrien knows how important it is for someone like Ladybug to keep their identity safe at all costs. That boy doesn’t like the type to be angry at you for doing something that was meant to keep you safe. I’m sure he’s just surprised and not sure how to react. You trust him enough to know that his feelings for you haven’t changed because of this, right?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Nino replied. He lifted the corner of his mouth into a weak, crooked smile. “Is it dumb to still hope that he didn’t actually see anything?”

“We won’t know unless he tells you,” Tikki explained. “Although, judging from his behavior in class, I’m guessing he saw something .”

“Ugh, great,” Nino grumbled. “Okay. I just….won’t confront him about this yet. I’m just going to wait this out a little bit and maybe by the time that happens he’ll — ”

A knock on his door cut off his sentence, and Nino heard his mother calling him through the door. “Nino? Are you awake? Your friend Adrien’s here!”

Nino bolted up from his bed. “What?” he hissed quietly to himself.

His mother sighed on the other side of the door. “Hm. I’m sure he’s probably napping. Nino didn’t tell me you were coming today, dear.”

Nino heard Adrien speaking from down the hall. “He didn’t know. I sort of just came here myself. I wanted to talk to him for a minute. I’m sorry. It won’t take long.”

“What is he doing here?” Nino whispered to Tikki.

“I have no idea. But you should probably answer the door and get it over with. It doesn’t make sense to hide from this forever.”

Tikki had a point. Adrien was already here. Besides, it would look strange if Nino decided to ignore him and refuse to see him. He smacked his cheeks a couple of times, rushed over, and opened his door.

“Yes Maman?” he asked.

“Adrien’s here to see you,” she repeated, ushering Adrien over from the end of the hall so that he could duck underneath her arm and enter Nino’s room. She leaned in close to Nino’s ear and whispered, “I’m closing the door, but if you need anything I’ll be right in the kitchen if you boys get hungry. Try not to be too loud.”

“We won’t,” Nino promised, smiling at his mom as she shut the door and left the two of them alone. Nino turned to Adrien to find him standing uncomfortably in the middle of the room, staring down at the loose laces of his trainers.

Nino cleared his throat, trying to think of something casual to say. “Hey, man! Uh….how about that fight earlier, huh?” he chuckled, wincing at how forced the conversation starter sounded. Crap. Not what he wanted to open up with. The last thing he wanted to talk about was the akuma fight, but it was as if all the building nerves and insecurities inside of him were literally pouring out of him and making words come out of his mouth without his permission. “Poor Marc, right? He’s a cool dude. Good that he didn’t remember what happened afterward and that Chat Noir and Ladybug got there so soon. Weird that they showed up at the same time, right? Usually doesn’t happen like that. Pretty sure Alya was talking my head off the other day about how they tend to — ”

“Nino,” Adrien said softly. “You don’t have to….I mean….I know. So….”

Nino bit down on his lip. “Know what?”

“I know that you’re Ladybug,” he clarified. “I can imagine why you wanted to keep it a secret, and I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I’m sure you didn’t want anyone to find out.”

Nino deflated and let his shoulders drop. “Bro, please. You can’t tell anyone. Not Marinette, especially not Alya. I mean the chick means well, but….” He pulled his hat off his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m not mad or anything. I know it was a mistake and that it wasn’t your fault. But you have to keep quiet about this. Please.”

Adrien walked over to Nino, grabbed him by both of his wrists, and led him over to Nino’s bed so that they were both sitting on the edge. “You have my word, I won’t say anything,” he assured him. “But, uh….that’s not all I came here to talk about. I need to tell you something, too. You’re not the only one with secrets, and seeing how that seems to be the theme today, I figured it’s only fair that I tell you this.”

Nino frowned. There was something that Adrien had been keeping from him too? It had to have been pretty important if even Nino didn’t know about it, and now he was wondering what the secret could possibly be and why he would only want to reveal after he found out Nino’s biggest secret. But he just glanced at Adrien, keenly aware of his hands still curled around Nino’s wrists, and said, “What is it?”

“Well,” Adrien hesitated, suddenly looking more nervous than Nino felt. “It’s a couple of things actually….”

“Hey, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Nino said. “Just because you found out my secret doesn’t mean you have to make us even and share one of your own. I wouldn’t want to make you do that.”

“No, I want to. And in a way, I need to. I just….well.” He sighed. “Sorry, I don’t really know how to….okay. You know I’ve always really liked Ladybug, right? And you’re by absolute best friend, Nino. You’re ridiculously important to me. And I-I mean. I’m….I just wanted — ugh, maybe I can just show you and make it easier?”

Nino shrugged. “Y-Yeah, okay. Whatever’s easier for you.”

Adrien nodded harder than he needed to. “Okay. Yeah. Cool cool. Just, uh….if I do something that makes you uncomfortable, just stop me or tell me, okay?”

“Dude, what are you talking about?”

“Just promise, okay?”

“Yeah,” Nino said. “Sure, I promise. But what the heck are you trying to show me?”

Adrien gulped. “I’m Ch — ugh.” It looked like he was struggling to say something and couldn’t get the words out. He looked up at Adrien, his eyes shining with hesitation and just a small hint of fear, and Nino was suddenly feeling himself grow concerned over what could possibly be stressing Adrien out so much that he was struggling to tell Nino of all people. But Adrien looked like he had given up on trying to stammer through his secret and instead moved to cup his hands over Nino’s cheeks. Nino only had time to inhale sharply before Adrien squinted his eyes shut and leaned forward for a kiss.

It was a very short kiss. It only lasted about two seconds, and Adrien’s lips were puckered closed so that it couldn’t be considered anything more than a peck. Nino didn’t even have time to react to it before Adrien broke away from him and quickly scrambled backwards on the bed, staring at him as if he were afraid that Nino was going to explode at him for what he’d done. There was an adorable blush staining his cheeks, and Nino could tell that his own face was growing warm after the kiss. Suddenly, all his nerves started to unravel in favor of making room for the sheer amount of pure joy that was suddenly filling his body with courage. He crawled closer to Adrien on the bed, grabbed his wrists, and ran his thumbs over the backs of his hands. Nino stared at Adrien’s lips for a couple of seconds before slowly leaning in closer. Adrien’s eyes lidded for a moment, and he’d met Nino halfway for another kiss.

Nino had imagined doing this more times than he was comfortably willing to admit, and he had resigned himself to the fact that it would never happen because that’s what Nino tended to do with all the boys he liked that only ever liked him back as a friend. So there were a few short moments where Nino’s lips weren’t moving simply because he was trying to convince his mind that this was really happening to him and that he was allowed to enjoy it. But then Adrien’s mouth slowly opened against his lips, and Nino couldn’t help but sigh out and lock his lips with Adrien’s while his hand reached up to rest on Adrien’s jaw.

Adrien smiled into the kiss and pulled Nino closer by his elbow, and for a while the only noises that could be heard around them was the sound of their lips gently disconnecting and reconnecting and the short little sighs and exhales that they couldn’t help but let out every time they paused. Nino slowed their kiss down and left a few quick, short kisses on Adrien’s kiss before he pulled back, laughing when Adrien’s followed him and stole one more. Adrien’s shoulders shook with delight as he licked his bottom lip and held it between his teeth. “So, uh….I really like you,” Adrien muttered.

“I kinda got that from all the kissing,” Nino smirked. “I was kind of nervous I was the only one.”

“Wait,” Adrien blinked. “You mean, you….”

“Of course, you dummy,” Nino teased, yanking Adrien on the ear. “I wasn’t kissing you back as a joke.”

“Sorry,” Adrien grinned. “Just checking. I didn’t think I’d get this far.”

Nino kept his hand on Adrien’s jaw and moved his fingers into Adrien’s hair. “So, you mentioned there were a couple of things you wanted to tell me?”

Adrien laughed. “Right, okay.” He wrapped his arms around Nino’s neck and gently played with the hair on the back of his head. “Close your eyes.”

Nino did as he asked, squinting his eyes tight to make sure that he couldn’t see a thing. Adrien pressed a soft kiss on the tip of Nino’s nose, both of his cheeks, and finally a last one on her mouth before Nino chuckled and wrapped an arm around Adrien’s waist to pull him closer and kiss him harder. Adrien paused for a moment, breathed in between their lips, and whispered, “Claws out.”

The flash of green light shining in front of his eyelids startled him, and Nino’s eyes fluttered open to see Chat Noir sitting in front of him with his arms around his neck while Nino’s hand was splayed out against the hard leather suit stretched across his lower back. Nino could feel himself leaning back against Adrien’s — Chat Noir’s? — arms, and the sharp, cocky smile that he was so used to seeing underneath that black mask was replaced with a small smile hopeful smile laced with a touch of uncertainty.

“No way,” Nino muttered. “No way, no way, you’re Chat? Adrien!? You’re Chat?”

Adrien shrugged. “And you’re Ladybug. Surprise! I guess….” He winced and dropped his head, suddenly looking self-conscious. “Look, I know you didn’t want to know and that you didn’t want me telling you. But you looked so freaked out in the locker room, I figured it was only fair that we at least be on even footing. I didn’t mean to upset you. And if I did….I’m sorry.”

But Nino couldn’t even bring himself to care about superhero rules, safety protocol, or secrets that were supposed to stay secret. He yanked Adrien closer to him into a crushing hug, laughing when Adrien’s arms tightened around his neck and his cheek rested on Nino’s shoulder. Nino rested his hand on the back of Adrien’s head and muttered into the crown of his head. “Don’t be sorry,” Nino beamed. “I’ll admit. This is a lot. Sort of freaked out. Definitely gotta give me like a few days to get used to this. But….hey! At least we’re even.”

Adrien laughed in relief against Nino’s shoulder and turned his head so that his lips were ghosting against the skin on Nino’s neck. “God, you have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that.”

Their moment was interrupted when Nino’s mother’s voice came from the other side of the door. “Nino?”

Their eyes both widened and they jumped apart while Adrien hurriedly dropped his transformation and hid Plagg in the pocket of his shirt. Nino stumbled off of his bed and opened the door to his bedroom a crack, staring at him expectantly with a cooking spoon in her hands. “Is Adrien going to be staying for dinner?” she asked. “I want to know how many servings I should make.”

“Oh, thanks for the offer but I wouldn’t want to impose after I came here out of nowhere,” Adrien insisted. “I should be heading home soon anyway.”

“If you’re sure,” Nino’s mother smiled. “I’ll try and pack up some food for you before you leave.”

“Thanks so much, Mme. Lahiffe,” Adrien grinned, waiting until Nino’s mother shut the door before he turned back to Nino.

“So,” Nino began, leaning against the door. “What does….I mean, what do we do now?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, where do we go from here,” Nino clarified. “Things are a little different now, aren’t they?”

“For Chat Noir and Ladybug? Nothing,” Adrien said assuredly. “We’re still partners. Right?”

“Always,” Nino nodded.

“For Nino and Adrien….” he hesitated. “I’m not sure. This is all uncharted territory for me. I’ve never liked a friend like this before.” He stood from his spot on the bed and moved to stand on front of Nino, lacing their hands together and swinging them back and forth. “I was hoping we could just figure it out together? Take our time and see where we go from there? I don’t know how satisfying of an answer that is.”

“Don’t even worry, Adrien,” Nino assured. “I don’t think this is the kind of thing we should rush anyway. It’s new for me too. And if I’m figuring it out with you, then it won’t be so complicated.”

“Good,” Adrien smiled, allowing himself one more kiss before sighing in disappointment. “I should probably get going. The Gorilla’s been waiting outside the house for a while now. I guess….I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Nino held Adrien in place. “Hey. One more thing. Tomorrow’s Friday. You don’t have anything after school on Friday’s if I remember right.”

“Nope. Totally free.”

“You wanna, uh….do something tomorrow?” Nino asked. “I mean, I know we always do something but I was wondering if you wanted to do something. Like….”

Adrien stared at Nino hopefully. “Like a date?”

“Well, you know, just to test the waters out a little bit,” Nino explained. “See how it feels to be this now. Help us get used to it. Plus, I mean, more of an excuse to keep kissing, right?”

Adrien pouted his lips thoughtfully. “Compelling argument. I did enjoy all the kissing.” He brought Nino’s hands up and pressed a kiss to the knuckles, a familiar Chat Noir smirk on his lips. “I may just say yes because of that.”

“You nerd,” Nino said with a fond eye roll. “Your flirting is only going to get worse, isn’t it?”

“You can’t escape it anymore,” Adrien said. “Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Good morning texts and goodnight voicemails. You will forever be doted on, so prepare yourself.”

It was so silly and ridiculous, but Nino couldn’t even bring himself to care. He was the Chat Noir that flirted too hard and loved to make fun of him at every opportunity, but he was also the Adrien who was sweet, sincere, and the absolute best friend that Nino could’ve ever asked for. There had always been an ache in Nino’s chest when he realized that his most trusted partner would always have half of himself obscured, that there would always be a part of him that he’d never have access to. That same ache always persisted whenever he laughed with Adrien and slept in his bed and realized there was a looming secret, an integral part of him, that he could never tell Adrien. But his chest felt so light he felt like he could fly because he’d found his partner in real life and it happened to be the only person in his life that he could ever be completely honest and open with.