#roarlikethunder

03/08/23. HELLO, HELLO, HELLO, ALL, LONG LONG LONG TIME, NO SEE. ♡ Can you believe it? When I first published this story (first to tumblr, then to ao3), I had just moved to Japan! When I posted ch. 7, I was still living in Japan, and would stay there for another 7ish months... and in the 5 years and 4 months since posting the last chapter, I have moved to three different cities in the United States and started a Ph.D. program. (I am currently halfway through my PhD program!!!!!) What a wild ride. Also, we lived through the pandemic?! And I bought a house! Over the summer! The market was vicious.

So, then how did I get the inspiration/time/energy/motivation to write Ch. 8, you ask? Marvelous question. I lied down in bed last night to go to sleep "early" and ended up reading an utterly hilarious play-by-play commentary on Bad Books, Good Times of a popular fantasy novel series—and I'm not quite sure what it was about "poorly written books explained by hilariously clever book lovers" but I suddenly had a craving for fanfiction, so I opened up my Books app on my phone, and my eyes fell upon a sudden recommendation for my downloaded copy of technical difficulties. And I thought, "Am I suddenly and weirdly in the mood to jot down some notes to start Ch. 7 right now? By golly, I think I am."

4.5 hours later, I'd written the whole damn thing from scratch on my phone in my Notes app. (Messily! Half-assed! But I wrote all of it down!) I then spent another 6.5 hours today filling in the gaps and "editing." This chapter (and the one that will follow it) has been in my head for more than half a decade, but I just haven't had the space to get it out until now!!

I think one of the most beautiful parts of getting a PhD is how completely it blows your perfectionism tendencies utterly to bits, and one of the really interesting byproducts that has come up in my acdemic writing is just how quickly I can crank out decent-enough writing (skill-building!!). In my case, I think so much of it has to do with just being able to word vomit fairly well while not trying to fix anything until the whole damn thing is basically done. So, I applied that knowledge here! Behold!

This isn't to say that I'll be writing the final chapter anytime soon—I may be on spring break right now and may have had a stroke of Writing Inspiration in the Wild™ last night, but I'm still finishing my last semester of classes and learning advanced Python and working on my milestone paper for my doctoral program and preparing to present at my next conference in June and preparing my proposal for my dissertation next fall. BUT! The important thing is that I will post the last chapter of this story (and all my other stories)! Eventually!! ;)

No BETA for this chapter because I gotta THROW this out onto the internet and get back to coding, so bear with! I may do minor edits for it in the near or distant future. Also, please note that I have not watched any episodes of Miraculous Ladybug after the finale of Season 1, so this fic is very much a ~time capsule~ from the past. If there is any additional lore that might otherwise apply to the plot of this fic, please know that I don't know about it, and I am keeping myself selectively ignorant on all matters of Miraculous Ladybug season 2 and beyond until after I finish this story the way I originally intended. ♡ Woo!

“Ladybug, what's—?”

“Just don’t say my name out loud,” she whispers, like she’s begging, as her skin takes on an unnatural glow, “Just in case… okay?”

And then a few fairy-sparkles of light and magic dust and other fancy-weird shit he doesn’t get creates a halo around her crown, her face, her shoulders, down to her ankles, and Nino is left staring, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, oh my god.

She tries to offer him—him!—a comforting smile, but it’s not quite strong enough yet to pick up the corners at both ends. Nino gapes.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any snacks,” she asks quietly, barely a thread of hope, completely acknowledging without acknowledging the giant elephant in the elevator, the one that is suspiciously shaped like Marinette. “Would you?”

“Cookies would be wonderful!” chirps a voice that oh dear god, what is THAT.

“Nino… meet Tikki. Tikki, you know Nino.”

Nino is at a loss for words. Instead, he slowly, silently reaches into back pocket for the bag of potato chips he’d stored there, after breakfast, for later, which are no doubt crushed into oblivion after, well, being kidnapped by an akuma.

Tikki, or whatever she is, gasps and flies forward, dives headlong into the chip bag. Nino startles so violently he nearly drops them, but then his gaze snaps up to Marinette’s, who is giggling uncontrollably, and then laughing, and then through the laughter comes little shudders and hiccuping jerks and silent tears and oh, oh god no, Alya—Alya!—is never going to forgive him if—

“I’m sorry,” she hiccups in the same moment that he reaches forward, and before he knows it he has her forehead resting on his shoulder, and one of his arms is wrapped around hers, and there is a small creature eating potato chip crumbs in his lap.

“Dude,” Nino whispers, voice stressfully hard to locate. (This… this makes sense? he thinks.) (Alya will not forgive me too easy for keeping this secret, he thinks.) And Adrien won’t admit that he’ll be bothered by what’s happened today, but… 

Nino doesn’t say any of this.

Instead he sighs, confused and a little sad, and whispers, “No wonder you’re so tired all the time.”

Marinette’s bright spark of surprised laughter, half a sob, shoots straight down his spine. It sounds delirious and relieved and miserable, but at the same time, to his ultimate surprise—so, so grateful. Nino’s whole being responds to it, to the way he feels needed and appreciated and useful, like he can be the kind of friend he’s always wanted to be, and tried so hard to be, always.

And Nino would like to hope that, maybe, for once, things could work out without some supernatural magic pushing it along.

//

The second the elevator doors open, there is a mob.

Everyone wants to speak with Ladybug, standing tall and powerful in her red dotted suit, her smile even more impossibly brilliant than ever, and the young civilian man that had the privilege to be trapped in the broken elevator with her, for an hour—

“Whoah!” Nino squawks, as he is forcefully escorted outside by the Gorilla, while journalists and reporters try to converge around the space where Ladybug has just exited, where he is already bidding adieu, and meanwhile Adrien watches it all on the television monitor in his limo, breathing deeply and slowly and calmly—

Because Ladybug had been down to her last spot when she and Chat stupidly parted ways at the penthouse, and he should never have left her, but he was moments away from losing his mask, and he trusted that Ladybug would be able to get Nino to safety and out of there in time. And Nino was already regaining consciousness, anyway, so it should have been a piece of cake—that’s what they said!—but by the time word of the broken elevator reached him, he was already outside and Adrien; the hotel entrance was even more blocked off than during the time of the attack; any move on his part or Chat’s part would only mean heightened risk of exposure for her, for him—which left Adrien calling Nathalie’s cell phone in a fit of urgency, and all the while Nino was up there, trapped in a box with the girl under the Miraculous mask, because Ladybug had been down to her last spot—

Adrien’s hands are shaking, he notices. He grips the leather seat beneath him, breathing deeply, calmly—

The door is wrenched open, and a ruffled Nino is heaped onto the seat beside Adrien. It slams shut behind him, and a moment later the Gorilla slips behind the driver’s seat, next to Nathalie, and drives off.

It unanimously and wordlessly agreed that his father will never learn of how the Gorrilla had agreed to leave him unprotected, even for a moment.

“Dude,” Nino looks up at him, glasses askew, and Adrien can’t help but grin, despite everything. “Dude, are you rescuing me?”

Adrien’s smile slips, but only a little. Light, but a poor attempt at humor: ”Pretty sure Ladybug already did that, Nino.“

Nino huffs, but averts his gaze, crawls his way up to a seated position. Adrien watches. Nino rights his glasses and scoffs, ”I think I might risk another akuma rather than deal with those vultures. Is that what you put up with all the time, man? Damn.”

“Are you okay?”

“Okay?” Nino echoes, pausing as he cleans his glasses. His hand reaches up to swipe along the rim of his hat. “I mean, yeah. Abducted by akuma is marginally better than being akumatized, right? And then getting escorted by Ladybug back to safety was pretty—I mean. Yeah. Uh. Sorry, man.”

Adrien’s head tilts. “Why?”

“I just—I totally know you dig her.”

Oh, jeez. Adrien casts a panicked glance to the distant front seats, where Nathalie and the Gorilla are silently staring straight ahead on the other side of the divider, impervious as ever. Who is more uncomfortable: Nino or Adrien? Is it possible to measure? Adrien’s cheeks are warm, and Nino, somehow, is still talking. “—like, granted: being trapped in an elevator isn’t awesome, but—ya know. Ladybug is pretty cool.”

Adrien stares at him. “Yeah,” Nino winces. “Sorry, man. I don’t mean to rub it in.”

Adrien clears his throat. He glances at the Gorilla, who he can see quite clearly, because they never put up the privacy barrier. Adrien considers it briefly, but perishes the thought. He wouldn’t do that.

“What are you apologizing for?” Adrien says, and means it. “You were kidnapped! I’m just glad you’re all right.”

A sigh leaves Nino in a huge rush, and he sags down the seat. “Yeah, man. Thanks. It was… it was something.”

Adrien clears his throat. Again. Knows he is probably being too obvious. “So… how… Nino, what happened?”

Nino turns his head, glances briefly at the Gorilla. Back to Adrien. “In the elevator, you mean?”

Where else?

“Yeah,” Adrien’s mouth is dry. Offering up phony excuses for why he was late to class? Piece of cake. Outright lying to his best friend? Adrien can taste cotton. “It’s just… we gotta come up with some stuff to say so that when the reporters eventually get to you, you don’t have to worry about coming up with stuff on the spot, you know. That’s always the hardest.“

Nino grins. “Guess I forget sometimes how often you actually have to deal with this.”

Adrien shrugs, only slightly worried about how easy this fib actually turned out to be. “It helps to be prepared.”

But Nino just chuckles, and rubs his fingers together, like there is something between them. “I’ll say,” he says quietly, though mostly to himself.

Adrien hesitates, watchful. “So… do you know how you want to respond? Did—did Ladybug say anything?” His heartbeat quickens. “Any tips?”

“We actually talked about it too, believe it or not,” Nino reveals, and his smiles seems like he’s laughing about it, like it’s an amusing memory, and Adrien’s stomach floods hot. “All things considered, she’s even more prepared than you are.”

“Unsurprising,” he deadpans.

“What?”

“So what did you talk about, then?”

Nino considers. “Well, as far as the media preparation went, I am just going to stick to the simple truths. Ladybug and I couldn’t fix the elevator ourselves, so we had to wait. We passed the time by talking, like, about random stuff, and mostly about our akuma experiences. I felt creeped out by the security camera, so Ladybug to use my hat to cover it up, and she did. I shared my chips with her. The elevator started working again. That’s pretty much it.”

Adrien stares at Nino, astounded. He swallows hard. “Okay, that’s… good. They aren’t going to be satisfied, but they never are, I guess. Still it will give them enough to feed off of, for now.”

Security camera, Adrien thinks. It was covered. Of course she did.

“That’s what she said too,” and Nino’s voice turns extremely thoughtful. “She’s also worried how this might affect me as a possible target… if Hawkmoth thinks that I might have any information about the Miraculous just because Ladybug and I talked about random crap for an hour. Messed up, right?”

Adrien’s voice is rather faint. “Right.”

“She doesn’t think we’ll have to worry too much though. She’ll keep an eye out, and I’ll be careful, but… I mean, I’ve already been akumatized once and I’ve been a pretty positive guy since then. Probably won’t happen again, right?”

Adrien blinks. He hadn’t even considered that.

“Well, even if I were, it’s not like Hawkmoth would be any closer to what he wanted, ya know? He’s already tried me once, and I don’t have anything more helpful than I did a few months ago. Unless, like, Hawkmoth wants to know what Ladybug’s favorite color is.”

Nino looks at Adrien. Adrien does not allow himself to ask what Ladybug’s favorite color is. He does not allow himself to ask anything more. Nino shakes his head, and it might be Adrien’s imagination, but he thinks Nino might be smirking.

“You’re totally about to burst open, man,” Nino sighs, which turns into a laugh. “Go ahead. Ask me stuff.”

Adrien’s eyes widen. Adrien. No. You can’t.

“I know you’re dying to,” Nino laughs. “Just do it.”

“Okay…” Adrien hesitates. What’s she like? What does she want to talk about when there aren’t any akuma to purify? What kinds of jokes does she like? What music does she listen to? What is her favorite color? When her spots ran out—did she let you see her face?

“Did anything surprise you?” Adrien asks, innocently enough, watching Nino like a hawk, looking for the slightest twitch or… anything.

“It surprised me how easy she was to talk to,” Nino answers, after a beat. He hesitates, tilting his head, like he is playing back his words and testing how they sound. “Yeah, that was unexpected. Once you start, it’s really easy to keep going. Guess the elevator also didn’t leave us much choice, ha. Next?”

Adrien stares, astounded. Nino is so calm, so unaffected. Everything is just as normal.

Adrien’s had not expected Nino to be…  this good at keeping secrets. Nino is loyal, but Nino is loud. Adrien swallows; he is as proud and relieved and grateful as he is annoyed.

“So, then… did she talk about anyone we know?“

Nino blinks. “Like Chat?” he supplies.

Adrien blinks back. Damn, he hadn’t even—he’d been so focused on—of course you should ask him what she thought of Chat Noir!

Play it cool, Agreste!

“Her partner?” he confirms, as if he weren’t sure, as if he didn’t know, and he really hates the way his voice raises so high at the end but come on, “I mean… I was actually wondering about people from school and the city, but I guess that would be one of the first things to come up, wouldn’t it?” he concludes, as casually as possible. His heart pounds. “How did they meet? Did she say? What is it like to be on a team with him?”

“She said that she likes working with him,” says Nino. “And that she hopes they’ll find Hawkmoth sooner rather than later.”

Adrien deadpans. “Nino…” he scolds, miffed. “You just totally fed me one of your vulture-lines.”

“Dude, I’m sorry!” Nino looks genuinely abashed all of a sudden. “I just—dude, I know you like her, so what good is it gonna help if I sit here and say that I’m not supposed to say anything about what she said about anyone!”

Adrien’s leans forward, barely breathing—with Nathalie and the Gorilla only four feet away, oh, who cares?

“So she did say something about him!” he breathes, and the grin that curls into his mouth feels like Chat, feels clever and confident and wry. “What did she say!”

Nino eyes him. “Dude… I thought you had a crush on her,” he says, oddly intent, but before Adrien can ponder such a gaze Nino says, “Why would you be stoked about her talking about how much she digs-digs her partner?”

Adrien can’t believe what he’s hearing. His heart is soaring. His head is airy. “Can’t I support a positive partnership?” Adrien demands, but his heart isn’t in it, because it’s too busy flying over the moon. “I might have a soft spot for Ladybug—”

“Soft, eh?”

“—but there’s little chance a superhero is gonna be able to pick up a civilian—a civil—a civilian anything, let alone a… a civilian boyfriend, all right?” It sounds much dumber out loud, but he’s on a roll, he can’t stop now. “I shouldn’t be getting my hopes up, but Chat—you see? Everyone else supports the superhero duo so why can’t I? I’ll just, you know. Support from… afar?“

"You sure are moony,” Nino muses, with fondness. “But I wouldn’t be so sure about that, ‘afar’ part, man,” he smirks, crossing his arms. “There aren’t many in Paris who don’t know who you are… and she’s met you before. I was there, remember?”

Adrien gawks at him. “Nino… are you telling me that you… talked to Ladybug about me?”

Nino can’t contain his laughter. “Dude! Are we or aren’t we best bros! Give me some credit!”

What did you say! he wants to demand.

But the Gorilla pulls up to Nino’s family’s flat, and Nino practically flees all the way into his apartment complex before Adrien can even whip out his cell phone fast enough to badger him over text. Even after Adrien pulls away and heads back to the mansion, his insides are eternally screaming.

Nino is annoyingly… steadfast.

//

The next day at school goes just about how Adrien thought it would.

As nice as it is to have all the attention diverted from him, for once, it’s unfortunate to see Nino bear the brunt of it. Adrien arrives to the school entrance and steps from the limo with a gasp, because Nino is surrounded. He seems to be fending them off pretty well, especially for his first time, but Adrien still marches up the steps anyway, ready to accomplish rescue mission number two.

“Nino! Come on, we’ve got a project to do!” calls a voice from the top of the steps. Adrien falters as he looks up, and sees Marinette hurrying down with a determined slant to her brow, at once both impatient and commanding, every inch the class president. Alya follows closely behind, smirking.

The reporters fumble as she grips Nino’s unsuspecting arm, and she quips, “You all can finish your questioning after school, but for the next seven hours he is a student, and a contributor for a group English project, and his assistance is required inside. Come on, Nino!”

Alya lingers behind to give a formal, quick statement on behalf of the study body, its class president, and the celebrity student of the hour in question, then turns on her heel and marches off to where Marinette and Nino are about to disappear within the school building. Adrien blinks.

When he wanders up the staircase, the reporters don’t even notice him. He should be extremely relieved.

Adrien frowns, and goes to school.

//

The mob inside the classroom looks much different than the one outside the hotel or school, but Adrien recognizes the curious crowd of classmates for what they are: vultures, indeed.

Nino has only barely sat down by the time he starts to look truly overwhelmed by the onslaught of questioning. Throwing aside whatever strange feelings had crept up on him outside, Adrien grips the strap of his bag and climbs up to his usual seat, which is currently occupied by Kim, and says what he should have said to the camera-people as soon as he’d pulled up in the limo.

“You guys, give Nino some space. He’s clearly already been interrogated by the crew outside, and he already had a bad enough day yesterday with getting kidnapped, so how is bothering him inside the classroom gonna do anyone any good? Just leave him alone and please leave my seat.”

Kim stands, but not quietly:

“Oh please, Adrien—just because Nino probably already blabbed everything to you the second he got out of the elevator doesn’t mean that you need to spoil it for the rest of us! The dude was locked with Ladybug in an elevator! For an hour! Don’t think we haven’t guessed who provided the chatty getaway car, man.”

Nino and Marinette and Alya gasp with stricken looks on their faces, then Nino grows angry.

"Dude, will you cut it out?” he snaps, and there’s an edge to it that Adrien thinks he recognizes, but hasn’t heard so clearly before. It reminds him of purple glows and darkened eyes, but Nino is only flushed in the cheeks. “There’s nothing to tell! You are all blowing this way out of proportion! Stop being so greedy and taking out your own bored A.F. lame B.S. on people who are trying to stick by me when the rest of Paris is going nuts over nothing! It’s not cool, man!”

The teacher walks in, effectively bringing the climax of the argument to a screeching halt, and class returns to class. When it’s safe to do so, Adrien and Nino fist-bump under the desk, and the day moves on. Things go back to normal.

Mostly.

(Because Adrien had known from the beginning that he could trust Nino, but… to see Nino stick to Ladybug’s protection… with such…

Resolve?)

Adrien glances at Nino from the corner of his eye, as Nino stares determinedly straight ahead. It makes Adrien wonder if maybe he’d accidentally underestimated Nino without realizing it. (‘If’ becomes ‘how much’?) It makes him wonder what other knowledge Nino could be… trusted with.

Nino stiffens suddenly, slightly, and rubs a hand over the back of his neck. Very cautiously, Nino turns back to glance behind him. Adrien catches Nino throwing a quick grin at the seats behind him. Ah, Adrien thinks, and laughs to himself. Are he and Alya dating yet? They’re taking forever. She probably doesn’t like that Nino got so much quality time with the major star of her blog, Adrien thinks, dropping his chin into his hand with an amused grin. The voice inside his head always sounds much more like Chat, but especially so now: I think I know the feeling, he acknowledges, and forces the hold on his grin.

It’s halfway through the lesson that Adrien realizes the glance hadn’t been directed at Alya, but to directly behind him.

To Marinette.

//

“Do you still have a crush on Marinette?”

Nino stumbles so badly on their walk down the empty hallway that he trips and slams into a locker.

“Whoah, man, I’m sorry!” Adrien quickly apologizes. “It’s just—for the last month or two I was so sure you liked Alya, and that you only liked Marinette as a friend, but then I saw the way you looked at her today, and I just wondered—”

“Looked at her?” Nino righted himself, aghast. “Like how?”

“I—I don’t know,” Adrien feels silly now. “Like you appreciate her.”

“I do appreciate her! I totally appreciate her! We should all appreciate her! Marinette is GREAT.”

“Um. Yes… right.” Adrien starts walking again, slowly, so Nino can follow suit, because he still looks dazed and confused. “Marinette is great, sure. Sorry if I misread anything… I just. I don’t know. Got this feeling.”

Nino perks. “A feeling? Towards Marinette?”

“No, no, I meant—never mind,” Adrien chuckles. “Anyway. Where do you wanna work on the project today after school? Nathalie texted three approved locations, but one of them is the school library, and I know how you feel about that.”

Nino runs a hand over the rim of his hat, and it occurs to Adrien that he’s done that twice today already. Has he always done that, and he’s just never noticed before? “How does Papa Agreste feel about bakeries?”

“Probably finds them a lot less distasteful than being called Papa Agreste,” Adrien dryly replies.

“Well, what Papa Agreste doesn’t know won’t hurt him, right?”

Adrien thinks of asking the Gorilla to sneak into a hotel lobby and retrieve his best friend, leaving Adrien in the car with Nathalie and no professional bodyguard. Hates that he actually feels guilty about that.

“I can totally lay off the nickname if it bothers you, too?”

Adrien starts. “What? Oh, no, Nino, it’s fine. Just lost track for a minute. Sorry, you were saying something about bakeries?”

Nino grins. “I was specifically asking about the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Marinette told me this morning I could swing by and grab a complimentary pastry for my near-death experience from yesterday.”

“Nino,” his voice is flat. “You were hardly near death.”

“Well, I have been bestowed a gift and I don’t wanna turn it down. So whaddaya say?”

“But where would we work on the project?”

“In Marinette’s kitchen, duh. Alya and Marinette are working on theirs today too!”

Adrien blinks. “Couldn’t that be cheating?”

“No way! They have a totally different topic than we do. We aren’t even studying together—just snacking together!”

Adrien cocks a brow. “Why did you bother to ask if you all already had this planned out?”

“Uh…”

Adrien slants his brow. “Is it Alya? Is she trying to find more time to spend together?”

“Well, I am not joking about the free pastry, you know—”

Adrien laughs, interrupting him. “Nino, its fine. I have been to the Dupain-Chengs residence before, so it should be approved, no problem.”

Nino perks up again. “You have?”

Adrien looks at him funny. “Yeah. For the video game contest, remember?”

“Oh, right,” Nino ponders.

Adrien considers the thoughtful look on Nino’s face. He’s about to mention it when the tell-tale feel of little paws patting at his hip let him know that Plagg is losing his obnoxiously minimal patience and that Adrien is going to have to sneak away to stuff a piece clandestinely into his bag. Ugh.

“Okay, so—that sounds good, we can just walk over after school. I’ll text the Gorilla. Would you mind telling Marinette? Even if she already knows, I guess. I don’t want to intrude.”

“Oh, dude, you have no idea—”

“Ahh,” Adrien points, for the poking has gained claws, “gotta run!”

Adrien stares balefully down at the little rascal eating his stinky Camembert in the boys’ locker room. In between licks to his claws, Plagg doles out unsolicited advice.

“You can’t ask him about Ladybug.” Lick. “If Hawkmoth suspects that the hat-wearing kid knows who Ladybug is, he will be kidnapped again, at the very least, and held hostage, perhaps by being akumatized a second time.”

Adrien blinks down at him. “You can do that?”

Lick. “It has been done before, in years past. Just perhaps not for such awful reasons.”

Adrien doesn’t like what he’s hearing. “But what if what he does know is dangerous? Shouldn’t I know too—as Chat—so I can help protect him too? As Chat?”

Lick, lick. “That depends.”

Adrien sighs, long-suffering. “On what?”

“On whether you truly trust Ladybug to protect him, as Ladybug.” Lick, lick, lick. “And as whoever else she is, under the mask.”

Adrien frowns. “Of course I do. It’s just—we’re a team! We should be figuring out this mess together!”

Plagg stares up at Adrien blankly. “You are also Nino’s best friend. You are also enamored with Ladybug. Your reasons for wanting to pursue Ladybug’s secret identity despite her wishes are your own.”

“But now a civilian knows, too!” Adrien hisses, barley a whisper. He glances around, making absolutely sure they are still alone. “What if she’s changed her mind? What if this has changed her mind?”

“This places Adrien in a fine pickle: if Adrien is suspected of knowing too much, what will happen to Chat?”

Adrien pales. “You’re telling me to mind my own business.”

Plagg sighs, put out. “I am telling Adrien to remember that his business influences the business of Chat Noir, and vice versa. And that he shouldn’t confuse one for the other, just because he is foolishly enamored.”

“Foolishly?”

“If it were dignified, would they really call it ‘puppy love’? I think not.”

//

For the record, they never make it to the bakery.

“Shit!” Nino’s hands fly to his temples, almost toppling his hat. “Of course Hawkface attacks now! Why this afternoon?! Now what are we gonna do!”

“Nino,” she hisses gently, glaring back at him from over her shoulder, one of her hands still clutched gently at the corner of stone wall that obscures them from the school’s entrance steps. “Half the school just flooded with weird akumatized cleaning bubbles and you’re upset that your scheme is delayed? You realize you were actually going to have to genuinely study in my kitchen, right?”

“It’s a legit scheme!” Nino insists, ignoring her lamentable truth, as loud cackling echoes out through the streets. The bank is next—the windows explode with suds. “Don’t deny it.”

“Be that as it may,” Marinette is hardly listening to him, which is totally fine, which is completely and wildly fine, holy moly, because she’s watching the akuma off in the distance like she’s gonna go fight it, because holy cannoli— “Unfortunately, it’s going to have to wait.”

Nino sighs, a touch exaggerated. “Goodbye, free danish. Ez. Goodbye, free danishes.”

“Don’t worry, Nino!” comes a tiny voice from deep inside Marinette’s satchel pocket, and Nino still jumps even though he should really know better by now. “Marinette’s dad always saves us a few chocolate ones for the end of the day, no matter what!”

He hadn’t actually cared about not getting his pro-bono pastry, but this is great news. “You guys,” Marinette hisses. “Focus! I have to get out of here. Everyone is running every which way—how do I get somewhere safe without running into anyone?”

Nino snaps, with flourish. “Let me walk you! If we run into anyone, I can stall them while you pretend to make a run for home.”

Marinette is clearly unused to having a Buddy for Operation(s): Run and Lie and Hide and Magical Shit; Nino could totally get into this.

She, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be a 100% fan of sharing ‘The Burden’ just yet, but that’s okay, because Nino is pretty good at persuading people for stuff, and he’s got a feeling that she could really get used to this, too, and with the rate of Hawkmoth’s shenanigans, they are going to have plenty of time to practice their roadshow and maybe I should create some set scripts? He wouldn’t be able to store them in writing, of course, but like she said yesterday, in the elevator, it helps to know the story beforehand—

“Fine,” Marinette hisses, gaze scattering, and then she grabs his arm to drag him forward, because she’d started off and he hadn’t been quick enough to follow on his own. “Let’s go!”

For the record, they don’t make it very far.

//

When Chat Noir bursts out of the remaining doors at the school’s entrance, he does not expect to see Nino, who told him ten minutes ago that he was going to get a soda.

He definitely does not expect to see Marinette either, whom Alya had told him had gone home to the bakery right away, to help set up their studying camp, and no, don’t worry, just head over with Nino whenever he comes back, I’ll meet you guys there, don’t eat all the croissants without—

“Princess,” Chat says, because he’d stopped running when he’d spotted them, foolishly, and he’s been staring long enough to merit a word. His gaze drops again to where her hand is clutching at Nino’s long sleeve. “Nino,” he tilts his gaze up, grinning. Marinette’s eyes light up with understanding of his understanding, but before she can let out a sound of protest, Chat salutes, and grins, and “Do carry on,” and takes off.

“Chat!” Marinette calls after him, and the annoyed fluster he hears in her shout as the rooftops carry him only splits his grin wider. “It’s not funny!”

But oh, oh, oh, how it is.

“You sly dog,” Chat laughs beneath his breath, swinging with the support of his staff. The akuma is nearly in sight, which means that Ladybug should be dropping in any minute. He takes a final few seconds to appreciate the intricacy of what Nino has done: not only had Nino allegedly chatted with Ladybug about Chat… but it looks like managed to get some romantic advice of his own, too.

An eruption of bubbles bursts out from the swimming pool atop Chloe’s father’s hotel, and Chat feels himself gearing up for an enjoyable, hair-raising, claw-tearing kind of fight. A little too much excitement today, he admits, though it seems like the Lying Bug has stuck, even in his own head: Don’t kid yourself, Agreste—you know what you’re excited about.

Does it make Adrien a bad friend, to feel so relieved that his suspicions about Nino’s feelings for Marinette are being proved true?

No. But the relief that Nino’s feelings aren’t for Ladybug—well. That might.

But for right now, that’s okay. Right now, he is Chat, and Ladybug is on her way, and a fresh akuma is terrorizing the streets, and then—and then—

Chat will find out more of what happened in that elevator yesterday, from Ladybug, even if Adrien never figures out what to do with it. Even if he never figures out who.

And then, after that and that and that: Nino.

Chat Noir chuckles into the wind as he reaches the hotel’s rooftop. Nino had invited him to ask questions, hadn’t he?

Oh, he had, indeed.

Granted, when he’d made that offer to Adrien in the limo, Nino probably hadn’t meant that he should ask about Marinette, but at this point an invitation is an invitation is an invitation.

“Oh, shit,” says Chat Noir, when he remembers where Adrien is supposed to be headed at the moment, and at whose house he’s supposed to be eating delicious pastries, and in whose company—and who exactly he left behind on the steps at school, interestingly enough—at least Nino is enjoying some extra time with Marinette—and not Ladybug—

And then the world erupts in a clash of bubbles, and elevators are (mostly) the furthest thing from his mind.

//

part [ 1/7 ]