(Whoops, sorry! I forgot to post this here! Hope you're all staying safe and happy!)

Oh My God, They Were Quarantined

Alya picked up the phone on the second ring.

"Hello, this is Al—"

"Alya, help…." Marinette's pleading tone was music to her ears. Alya chuckled and adjusted the phone so she could continue painting her toenails while talking.

"No can do, M. Six feet away is where I'll stay," she sang, enjoying her bestie's groan of despair. "As mandated by both federal and local guidelines."

"Alya, please. Let me come stay with you—we can say we have the virus—"

"I am not faking the plague so you can get away from your crush, Marinette," Alya laughed. "I'm quite enjoying having my boyfriend all to myself while we both 'work from home,' if you know what I mean." She winked at her own reflection in the bedroom mirror and continued painting.

Marinette groaned. "Alya, I didn't need to hear that…."

"Then you definitely don't wanna third-wheel over here. I promise you, we're not quiet."

"Please tell me you're using protection."

"Of course, I'm not stupid," she said, rolling her eyes and starting on her other foot. "Besides, if I remember correctly, you were the one who insisted you could be roommates with the love of your life—"

"Because I thought our schedules would never let us be here at the same time!"

"—and who has insisted for years that she can be just a friend—"

"Alya, I am begging you!" Marinette pleaded. "I can't take it anymore! He keeps trying to help me!"

Alya burst out laughing. "That's what has you freaking out?"

"You don't understand," Marinette hissed. "He tried to make me breakfast this morning!"

Alya gave a low whistle. "Nice." Go, Agreste! Maybe there was hope for him after all.

"No! Not nice. I was in my warm-weather pjs!"

A laugh escaped her. "You can call it a negligee, M. I won't judge," Alya said, unable to hide her grin at the thought of Adrien walking into her bestie's room with a breakfast tray and coming face-to-face with Marinette in nothing but skimpy silk.

Oh Lord. These two were her favorite sitcom.

"Lemme guess, he dropped the tray."

"More like flung it across the room and ran away screaming that he didn't see anything!"

Alya facepalmed, shaking in silent laughter. That boy. He had everything going for him: looks, money, charm… but his innocence was gonna make it so Adrien Agreste died a virgin.

"And what did you do?" she couldn't help asking.

"What do you think?! I hid in my room until he tried to get the vacuum, and then I had to intervene! He broke it last time!"

Alya snorted in laughter. "And you forgot to get dressed first, didn't you."

On the other end of the phone, she could hear Marinette groan in despair. "You know me too well."

Alya said a silent prayer for one Sunshine Prince, who had to witness a vision like Marinette vacuuming up his mess in a negligee. She wondered how he'd survived. If he'd survived.

"How'd loverboy react?" she had to ask.

"He ran into the shower. Said he'd gotten some of it on him."

Uh huh. Sure, he did. That had probably been the coldest shower in all of Paris.

"Well, at least he didn't come out in nothing but a towel," Alya joked, examining her hands and deciding against another coat of nail polish. Her attention sharpened when Marinette made a sound between a squeak and a dying whale. She sat up straight.

"He didn't!"

"He forgot his clothes!"

Yeah, suuuure he did! Now Alya offered up a prayer for one Sweet Princess. Adrien Agreste in a towel and—no doubt—still blushing at his roommate? "Girl…."

"And he apologized again when he saw me out there and then fled to his bedroom," Marinette finished, sounding exhausted.

Yup, that sounded pretty much on point for these two oblivious idiots. Two pining barely-adults in a two-bedroom apartment, seething with sexual tension.

She loved them so much.

"Now, he's out on the balcony, singing Frozen songs!"

"I'm sorry, what?" The complete 180 from the previous conversation was blowing Alya's mind.

"Remember how I told you he wants to help me? He read a blog about how plants grow better if you talk to them," Marinette explained. "In fact, as soon as we were both dressed, he wouldn't shut up about it. How he's determined to help around the apartment while we're both home. So, now he's out there, singing 'Let It Grow,' to my flowers and herbs."

Alya snickered.

"I swear, M. You're the only girl I know who wants to marry a legit Disney princess."

"Will you please help me?" Marinette begged.

"Sure. Here's what you do," Alya said, finally putting away her nail polish, "tonight, after he's gone to bed, I want you to march right up to his bedroom—"

"Alya, no!"

"—bust the door in—"

"ALYA!"

"—and tell him you want to ride him like a champion racehorse and you're a jockey with something to prove."

"I'm hanging up on you," Marinette grumbled.

"It's either that or Candyland and Yahtzee all night, M," Alya sang. Surely, one of them had to make a move soon, right? They couldn't stay this way forever! They would die! She would die!

"That's not a bad idea…."

"WHAT? Oh, come on!" Alya moaned. "At least make it strip-Yahtzee—M?" Alya pulled the phone away from her cheek to pout at it. Marinette had actually hung up on her. And if she knew those two innocents, they really would be playing board games instead of trying to relieve some of the tension that had been brewing between them for years.

Darn it.

"Lahiffe!" she yelled into the living room. "Are you the one who suggested that Sunshine Boy go out into their living room in nothing but a towel?!"

"Yes!" her boyfriend called back. "Did he actually do it? He hasn't called me back yet."

"That's because he's too busy singing at flowers."

Nino appeared in the doorway to their bedroom, pouting just as much as Alya was. "He was serious about that? I swear, that kid is such a hopeless romantic."

"Does he really believe that Mari is gonna suddenly fall for him in the middle of a love song?"

Nino shrugged. "Knowing Mari, you gotta admit there's a chance, Alya."

"Ugh!" Alya flopped down on their bed. "It's the middle of the day and my girl could be busy getting ravished by the love of her life!" She flung a hand to her forehead dramatically and then peeked out one eye. "That was a hint, by the way."

"Yes, ma-am!"