Nino and Alya knew they were both hiding in the bushes, even if Marinette and Adrien didn't. Because if they knew they were both being coached by their best friends, they'd bring up that time at the zoo... They all remembered how that ended.
("YOU CAN'T JUST LOCK THEM IN A CAGE!" "BUT-" "NO ALYA THERE IS A LINE AND CROSSES IT!")
Each of them were wearing ear pieces and microphones on their lapel. Marinette and Adrien kept theirs hidden, but Nino and Alya didn't even hide themselves properly. They were texting each other too so they could gang up on the others.
Nino: you sure this'll work?
Alya: sure
Nino: here comes Adrien
Alya craned her neck to peer over the bushes, trying to catch a glimpse of the model as he strolled towards the picnic table Marinette was waiting at.
"Look alive here he comes," Alya warned Marinette.
Marinette whined under her breath. Between smacking his lips and mouthfuls of cheese, Plagg voiced his own opinion.
"Don't worry, he's been in love with Ladybug since you met. How different can you be?"
"Very," Marinette sighed.
"Maybe that's a good thing," Plagg said. "Ladybug is a stickler for rules. Marinette is more of a disaster area. They're more fun!"
Plagg belched. You'd be surprised how much gas can be held in a kwami. Marinette wrinkled her nose.
"Manners," she scolded.
Plagg blinked in surprise. The only other time anyone had done that to him was the one time his charge was a girl. That was centuries ago now. His response was the same.
"Pardon me."
Marinette smiled at the little kitty kwami hiding in her pocket. He stank of cheese, he was snarky, and he was a little rude, but she liked him. She liked how level headed he was. No matter what the situation was, no matter how panicked she could get, he was always the same. Always apathetic, because he'd done it all a million times before. Marinette loved Tikki, but really she could do with a kwami like Plagg to keep her sane. Lord knows she was good at the destruction side of things.
"She's waiting by that tree over there," Nino pointed out helpfully.
Adrien chose not to point out that he couldn't see him. Instead he just thanked him for being helpful. Tikki frowned.
"You're nervous," she said.
"A little..." Adrien admitted.
"Why? She loves Chat Noir. He was the first doll she made. And can you blame her? Chat Noir is amazing and handsome and funny, as well as smart and kind and loyal. Most importantly, he's honest. Why wouldn't Mari love you?"
Adrien frowned. In that fight they had once, where he let his jealously get the better of him and caused a copycat akuma, Ladybug had called him honest. Even though he lied to Theo and caused the akuma with his lies... Maybe he wasn't as honest as he could be.
"Adrien? What's wrong?" Tikki asked, concerned.
"I'm not honest... I've lied before. I lie a lot. It comes with being a hero... right?" Adrien asked anxiously.
"Are you trying to be honest?"
"Yeah..."
"Trying to be a good person?"
"Of course."
"Then you're fine! As long as you try to be a good person, you can always get better. That's more important than being honest all the time."
Tikki's eyes gleamed with pride as she spoke. Adrien couldn't help smiling back. Tikki had been nothing but supportive and kind all day. She was genuinely concerned about his wellbeing too. Even if she didn't understand, she tried to, and tried to give the best advice she could. Like a red and black Jiminy Cricket. Most importantly Tikki cared about things Plagg didn't. As much as Adrien loved Plagg (and he was his partner and best friend so he loved him a LOT) he couldn't help thinking Tikki would have been a better fit for him. Lord knows he needed the support.
Adrien stopped in front of Marinette. She looked up at him. When their eyes met, they recognised their partners instantly. Marinette tried to imagine herself as Chat Noir for a moment, and Adrien tried to imagine himself as Ladybug. It wasn't like either of them had never dressed as the other before. They had gone as one another for the Halloween party at school. Yet somehow they couldn't imagine swapping properly. Becoming the other.
No. They knew their roles. They fit them perfectly, even if their kwamis didn't.
"Hi," Marinette forced a smile.
Adrien scratched the back of his neck, nervously. "Um, hi."
Neither of them moved for a minute or two. It was awkward and uncomfortable, and they didn't like it. Fortunately they had puppeteers pushing them on.
"Sit down then," Nino said.
"Um, can I sit?" Adrien asked.
"Yeah, sure," Marinette nodded.
Hesitantly Adrien took a seat beside Marinette. Under the table Marinette held Plagg in her palm. He was holding onto her finger, waiting for the best time to swap back.
"Have you got my err..." Adrien frowned.
How could they talk about miraculous when they had people listening in? Marinette tilted her head and waited for him to talk.
"What, cat got your tongue?" Alya asked sarcastically. Marinette felt her stomach drop. For a moment she thought Alya was teasing her. That she knew... Then Alya added, "Don't just wait for him to talk, you talk. You've got a voice, use it! Open your mouth, something with come out!"
"Um, so, err, I, err, I, um, yeah..." Marinette blushed hard.
Alya faced palmed. She already sounded defeated. "Nothing came out."
Nino: what do people talk about?
Alya: how useless their friends are usually.
Nino: what do I tell him to say?
"So I saw this movie the other day," Marinette echoed Alya obediently.
Adrien frowned at her. What was she doing? They had important things to talk about. Not movies.
"It was about two people trapped together by fate, and they don't get along until one of them stops being stubborn and starts listening to the other. Once they start taking they fall in love," Marinette finished.
Adrien frowned. That all sounded familiar, but it wasn't really something he wanted to talk about. Nino's words were echoed in his head. Talk everything out and then give each other some space… maybe that's what they had to do. but now all he could think about was this movie.
"What movie was this?" he asked.
"Beauty and the - Beauty and the beast?!" Marinette sounded shocked too.
As Adrien gave her a funny look, Alya was chuckling in Marinette's ear. Under her breath she sang to herself. "Just a little change... small to say the least... both a little scared, neither one prepared, beauty and the beast!"
"What is she talking about?" Nino muttered to himself.
Adrien was thinking something very similar. Marinette sighed. She picked up her phone. Adrien winced. This "date" was already so terrible she was avoiding eye contact.
"What are you doing girl? Get off your phone!" Alya hissed.
Nino: what's going on?
Alya: I don't know.
Adrien opened his mouth to talk when his text alert interrupted him. He glanced down. It was her. She smirked at him, pleased with this new avoidance tactic.
Marinette: Plagg is under the table. I'm wearing a wire. Alya is listening
Adrien laughed as he read it. The first real laugh all day.
Adrien: so is Nino!
Marinette snorted. Of course. They couldn't do anything alone. It was a little easier knowing they weren't alone, even though it complicated what they couldn't talk about. Alya and Nino shared an odd look.
Alya: what's that all about?
Nino: I don't know but things look like they're going well now
"Talk to her! Tell her how nice she looks! You're friends remember? Friends talk!" Nino said.
Adrien cleared his throat nervously. He had a strange kind of deja vu. "This reminds me of a date I witnessed once. I was hiding in the bushes advising Nino on how best to get a date."
"Yeah, I was the date. with Nino," Marinette smirked.
"I remember. How things change, right?" Adrien smirked.
The conversation lulled again, and they weren't sure what to say. Even with Alya and Nino coaxing them on, they couldn't think of anything but the bombshell they found yesterday. It made things distracting.
"Have you seen the video?" Marinette asked.
"Chloe's video?" Adrien asked.
She nodded. "Yeah."
"I don't think there's many people that haven't seen it. My father is one I hope," Adrien sighed.
"He still hasn't phoned?" Marinette frowned.
"I expect he assumes I'll call first when I run out of money or clean clothes," he shrugged.
"I can't believe he's not worried about you being akumatized," she complained.
Adrien smirked. "That'd be weird. Me, akumatized."
Marinette grinned. "It's not like you haven't been influenced by akumas before. Like when Dark Cupid took over your mind, and the puppeteer, and Despair Bear, and -"
"Why are you listing all the times Adrien has been mind controlled? How is that a fun topic? Girl we have to work on your game," Alya tutted.
But Adrien was laughing. He didn't remember any of that, but he remembered the news and the interviews that followed that.
"Dark Cupid made Chat Noir attack Ladybug. Do you remember how she saved him?" Adrien grinning, knowingly.
Marinette realised she was trapped, and she couldn't help grinning. "She kissed him."
"But how would that save him?" Adrien purred, leaning forward pointedly.
Marinette leaned back towards him, pointedly. "Because, like Rose says, true loves kiss can cure anything. Ladybug and Chat Noir have a true friendship with enough love to cure anyone."
"Just like Marinette and Adrien, right?" Adrien smirked.
Marinette's smile withered slightly. "I do love you Adrien."
Adrien's smile vanished. "It's not this side of me I want you to love…"
"And you think I wanted you to fall in love with that side of me? I'm not that person, not enough of the time for it to be the real me," she pointed out.
"But it's different for me. You get to be you, and comfortable with that because everyone loves you as Marinette. this me is on billboards and adverts and magazines and on TV. Thousands of girls have a crush on that perfect model, but he's not real... When I'm – him, I'm me."
Adrien lowered his head, and Marinette looked at him as if she were seeing him for the first time. The reason Adrien was perfect was because Chat Noir wasn't. she felt her heart squeeze for them both. He didn't realise she loved Chat Noir too…
Nino: is it just me or they about to break into song?
"Kiss him," Alya declared.
"Alya!" Marinette hissed.
"Kiss him! Kiss him now! Show him you're not just another nameless girl with a crush, you're Marinette and you love him!" Alya insisted.
"Tell her about the reporters. She has to be prepared!" Nino urged.
Adrien agreed. "Any girl I end up with, no matter how much I love her, has to be ready to be ambushed."
"Well I think-"
Marinette was ready to joke about being Ladybug meant she was prepared. But Adrien wasn't joking. He cut her off by placing his hand on hers and talking ion a deadly serious tone.
"The paparazzi will be everywhere. At all times. They'll want to interview you, and even linger outside the bakery if they must. How do you think you'll be able to handle that?"
"I can deal with paparazzi."
"Even if they follow you into an alley, and there's an akuma, and you can't escape?"
"Woah dude don't go that deep, you'll scare her!" Nino gasped.
Marinette didn't look afraid. She looked sad. "Does that happen to you?"
Chat Noir was late to a few akumas, sometimes really late, but she always put it down to him flirting or messing around, or saving people she couldn't see on the other side of the city. She never imagined he could be hounded like that. Adrien gave a weak smile.
"Nah. This kitty has claws."
Nino and Alya face palmed but Marinette smiled at the pun. He was full of them. Thinking back he filled her day with bad puns like that. Often like Chat Noir did. Often the same puns! It had taken her a long time to realise how blind she had been.
"The bodyguard helps," Plagg declared.
He had grown bored of waiting for the swap to happen under the table, and had climbed back up into her jacket. Now he was sitting in her pocket leaning on the hem like someone might lean at a bar. Adrien glanced down at her jacket.
"Plagg! You'll get us caught again!" Tikki huffed.
"It wasn't my fault, you didn't wake up, you're always first to wake up!" Plagg argued.
"No good will come of us blaming each other. Let's just try not to be caught out again."
"sorry Tikki."
Adrien and Marinette burst into laughter at the same time. Real, hard laughter. Because they loved their kwamis and yet they felt like their parents sometimes, and now they were bickering like children, and it just felt so... comfortable.
Alya edged around the edge of the bushes over to where Nino was sitting on a tree stump. He waved. She sat down next to him.
"Is he ignoring you too?" Alya asked.
"Pretty much," Nino nodded.
Alya huffed. "That girl needs more help than anyone and she's ignoring me!"
Nino chuckled to himself. how could anyone ignore Alya? she was bright orange and loud. That was hard to miss, and harder to ignore. Nino put an arm around her and pulled her in.
"I won't ignore you," he promised.
She groaned at him, but chuckled. He was a sap when he wanted to be, but she loved it. she loved him. and she loved her idiot friends, even if they ignored her. Nino gave her his ear piece, so she could hear Marinette and Adrien. This was more important to her. and she wanted the details. but just as things were beginning to look like they'd be ok, fate intervened. Or, more accurately, Hawk Moth did.
"AKUMA!" someone screamed.
Alya sat bolt upright. Her attention, as was everyone else's, was snatched up by the screaming. Alya leapt to her feet and yanked out the headphone to hear Marinette. Nino latched onto her hand. He didn't want her to go running off without him.
"what about Adrien and Marinette?!" Nino insisted.
Alya glanced back at the table where they were waiting. Adrien and Marinette were staring at each other in a weird kind of way that she couldn't put her finger on. In a small voice so quiet that Alya almost missed it, she heard Adrien say something to Marinette. Something that made Marinette's mouth drop open, and her shoulders reel back in surprise. Then, she gave a small, hesitant nod. Adrien gave a small, nervous smile. She took his hand and led him away as quickly as possible.
"What happened? Where are they going?" Nino asked.
"He asked her something, I don't know, here, hold my ear piece, I have to go find that akuma before Ladybug gets there," Alya yanked out the other ear piece and pressed them into Nino's hand.
Nino threw his arms around her desperately. In his ear, he begged, "Be careful!"
She threw her arms back around him, as if this could be the last time they saw each other. She said in his ear, "I will!"
She loved that he didn't try to stop her. if he had, she would have had to disappoint him. there was no way she was going to stay out of an akuma. The blog needed her. Nino let her go, reluctantly, and she started running in the opposite direction to where Marinette and Adrien had gone.
"Wait!" Nino yelled.
She stopped and looked back, "What?!"
"What did he ask her?" Nino asked.
Alya frowned, eager to go, "Oh it was something dumb err... oh - Can I see?"
"Can I see? See what?" Nino asked.
"I don't know, I have to go, go hide with them and don't get hurt and don't die or I'll never forgive you!" she warned.
"Same to you Alya!" he agreed.
Moments later Ladybug and Chat Noir flew overhead, on their way over to the akuma Alya was following. Silently Nino willed them to speed up. not for Paris, but for Alya. he couldn't bear to lose her.
Alya so close to Nino she might as well have been sitting on his lap as she showed him the video that she had taken last night, during the akuma. They had their headphones in, one set as always. It wasn't an unfamiliar sight to see Nino and Alya sharing one set of headphones, pushed up against each other. Sometimes it was music, sometimes it was videos, sometimes it was the news, sometimes it was an announcement, but they always shared it together.
"But what-" Nino began.
"Wait for it!" Alya grinned.
Nino stared down at the phone in his hands again. Alya was practically vibrating with excitement when Chat Noir and Ladybug came into shot. They were standing on a roof, high above Alya. she had to zoom in to get the shot. Ladybug seemed upset. Chat Noir seemed guilty. Then, like usual, he took her hand in his and knelt to kiss it. then he turned to walk away, and she held onto his hand. He glanced back at her. she ran forward, grabbed his head, and pulled him into a deep and passionate kiss. in the background Alya screamed excitedly, and beside him, and was bouncing in the seat as Nino gasped.
"I KNOW! I KNOW! I KNOW! IT'S AMAZING I HAVE PROOF LADYBUG AND CHAT NOIR ARE DATING!" she squealed.
He couldn't bring himself to look away from how Chat Noir's hand lingered on Ladybug's waist, before he pulled her closer. His arms ended up wrapped around her back as hers were wrapped around his neck and they held one another there, closer as possible and passionately in love. Like they never wanted to come apart.
"What are you going to do with it?" Nino asked.
"I don't know. I want to put it on my blog but you heard that interview. They insisted they're not dating," Alya said.
"Who's not dating?" Adrien asked.
He and Marinette wandered over to them, holding hands and grinning. Alya eyed Marinette suspiciously. Adrien found it difficult to look away from Marinette, but he had lip gloss stains across his face. lip gloss that happened to be wiped off of Marinette's lips.
"Alya filmed Chat Noir and Ladybug kissing," Nino explained.
Marinette's eyes widened. "you did? For real?"
"yeah girl! Your little crush on that cat was never going to work, you knew that," Alya teased.
Adrien lit up with delight. "You had a crush on Chat Noir?"
Marinette turned pink and shoved him playfully. Adrien's grin widened. He pulled her closer so she may as well have been sitting in his lap. Alya and Nino shared a look.
"I see you two had the chance to talk," Nino said.
"Yeah. Thanks for the advice Nino," Adrien smiled.
Nino winked at him. "any time dude."
Alya grinned at Marinette. Marinette blushed harder but couldn't stop grinning herself. she had the love of her life by her side, who happened to be the perfect partner, she had a new friend in Plagg, a new thing to tease Tikki about, and her best friends who had forced them to talk it out. Nino glanced at Alya. he wondered if she thought of him like that. he knew she liked him, but did she love him? like he loved her? because he loved her.
"Can I see the video?" Marinette asked.
"Sure. but try not to delete this one," Alya winked.
She handed over her phone. Adrien and Marinette took a headphone each and clicked play. Adrien's eyes filled with affection as they watched, and he glanced up at Marinette repeatedly, instead of paying full attention to the video. When it was over Marinette beamed.
"Awesome," Adrien grinned.
"What are you going to do with it?" Marinette asked curiously.
Alya sighed. "They told everyone they weren't dating. Clearly they don't want people to know. I shouldn't post it until they tell everyone, otherwise it might annoy them. I don't want to make the most powerful people in Paris angry."
"It's well known Ladybug has a temper. Especially when it comes to liars. And Chat Noir had a jealous streak. They could easily be upset with you before they get upset at one another," Nino agreed.
Marinette frowned. She didn't have a temper. She had a terrible jealous streak, just like Chat Noir. And Chat Noir was a huge flirt, so could you blame her for being jealous sometimes? Adrien was too busy biting back the laughter to defend himself. When Marinette was annoyed she looked like an angry marshmallow! It was hard to be afraid of that. without thinking, he leaned in and kissed her cheek. She giggled. Alya and Nino looked shocked.
"The talk went very well then," Alya teased.
Adrien blushed too. "Pretty well."
"And you're not worried about the pap?" Nino asked.
"Well father still hasn't phoned so I don't think the pap will be after me for a while. In fact I may be out of a job," Adrien explained.
He didn't really care. He never much liked modelling, and now he could spend more time with his friend. he was upset that his father was being so stubborn about this though. Marinette leaned up and kissed his cheek. Adrien grinned. she could change his mood so easily.
"This isn't fair. Chat Noir gets a kiss, Adrien gets a kiss, but who kisses Nino?! Who loves Nino?!" Nino complained.
Alya rolled her eyes. she turned around, grabbed his collar, and pulled him forward so she could kiss him like Ladybug kissed Chat Noir. Adrien and Marinette's eyes widened. Nino turned bright pink. When Alya broke away, she flipped her hair, and turned back to Marinette and Adrien.
"So what happened, which of you kissed the other, tell me everything!" she beamed, like nothing had happened.
Nino was still just sitting, frozen in the same position, shocked into a statue. Adrien burst into laughter that he couldn't get back under control for a while. Marinette and Alya glanced between the boys, and shared a look, before laughing too. It had been a strange weekend, but it was worth it. all four of them had never been happier.