She was amazing. Funny, intelligent, charming. She was spreading her charm completely involuntarily, which only intensified her influence on his poor, down heart.

Adrien sat in the corner of the school yard and stared at Marinette talking to Alya. In his eyes there wasn't much hope that she would see anything more than just a friend in him.

"Will you do something with it, man?" Nino asked him, squatting next to his friend.

"With what?" Adrien sighed apathetically.

"With your crush on Marinette."

"I don't have a crush on Marinette." Adrien denied it, but the blush betrayed him.

"Sure. You only stare at her for days."

"So what?"

"Do something with it, I'm telling you."

"Like what?"

"Invite her somewhere. If I was spiteful, and luckily for you I'm not, I would remind you what you advised me when I was… uhm… interested in her."

"Not enough seriously, I'd say. You changed subject of your crush quite quickly."

"It was just at the beginning of the school year." Nino explained. "I'd known Marinette for years. It was a rather safe choice. I didn't know then that Alya is so cool. And if Ladybug didn't lock us in that cage, I probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to get to know her better."

"Are you suggesting that I should ask Ladybug to lock me in a cage with Marinette?" Adrien smiled.

"I don't know if it works every time. Anyway, your bad luck is that you've already known each other quite well. You won't reinvent the wheel."

"Exactly…" Adrien sighed.

If Marinette hadn't found yet anything interesting enough to fall in love with him, then there was no chance that any cage would help him. He got stuck in the friendzone forever.

"Remind yourself what you told me that day. Just be yourself." Nino added.

"It's easy for you to say that." Adrien just shook his head. "Being myself won't help me."

"I advise you to hurry up, because someone will steal her right in front of you. Alya's mentioned, that Marinette seems to be interested in someone already."

Adrien raised his head and looked at his friend carefully. They knew each other almost as brothers. Nino would never hurt him. If he told him such things, that had to be true. So, the case was hopeless…

He lowered his head. This didn't make sense. Who cared that half of the city was in love with him, if the one, he really cared about, would prefer someone else? He didn't notice that the girls had finished their conversation and headed towards them. He didn't have the opportunity to prepare for their company.

"Hi boys." He heard Alya's voice just next to him. He jerked his head up, just to catch Alya's careful gaze. "Nino, what are you doing to Adrien?"

"I'm not doing anything to him." Nino denied in a defensive tone and, to distract his girlfriend, he embraced her and kissed her.

"Then why is the poor boy sitting here completely broken?" Alya continued. Nino's distraction methods didn't work on her. In the end, she was a professional journalist.

"I'm not broken." Adrien replied. "Why do you think I am?"

"You sit here dejected." Alya summarised. "Something must have happened. Don't even tell me that your terrible father won't let you go to the cinema with us again."

Unwillingly, she gave him an excellent excuse. Except – this time he had managed to get permission to go out with friends. In addition, he didn't want to lie.

"My dad isn't so bad…" Adrien tried to justify his father.

"You sound a bit like a victim of domestic violence." Alya noticed. "Somehow I don't believe you. Never mind. Tell me right now, will you go with us this time or not?"

"This time I'm with you." Adrien said.

"That's great!" Marinette was pleased and smiled warmly at him, giving him a little hope that hypothetically he couldn't have.

"Then what did Nino tell you that made you upset?" Alya returned to the previous topic that both Nino and Adrien wanted to avoid at all costs.

"We were talking about the day when Ladybug locked us in the cage." Nino answered quickly, and Adrien only blushed. In fact, it wasn't a lie – they also talked about it.

"Really? Do you want to lock up with someone new?" Alya asked suspiciously her boyfriend. "Or maybe Adrien wants to lock up with someone?"

Adrien knew that Alya was just joking and guessing at random. Unfortunately, even at random she hit exactly the point. He hoped to control the blush, but he felt the warmth on his cheek. But before he wanted to die from embarrassment, Marinette gave him a helping hand:

"Leave him alone, Alya."

"We'd better think about what we're going to the cinema for." Nino added.

"Don't think I'm going to buy it." Alya commented, reluctantly letting Nino embrace her. "I'll get it out of you, Nino. And I'll do it the easy way or the hard way."

"Mhmm…" he muttered in her ear. "Will it hurt?"

"It doesn't work on me."

"Yeah, right…"

"You're annoying!"

"I love you too." Nino grinned in response, and Alya finally resigned from the investigation.

Marinette just rolled her eyes and smiled meaningfully at Adrien.

"Maybe you two should look for a cage to lock up again?" She murmured, and Adrien chuckled. "We'll choose a movie for you. Although in the current situation I don't know if I want to go to the cinema with you."

"So, go without us." Nino muttered, carelessly, busy kissing Alya.

"I also prefer not to look at their snuggling." Adrien whispered to Marinette. "They seem not to care whether they are in the cinema or in the middle of the school yard. So, they can go with us as well. At least it's dark in the cinema…"

Marinette gave him a careful look but said nothing. She wasn't sure why Adrien didn't want to go to the cinema with her alone.

"What are we going to watch?" she asked instead.

"I have no idea. I'd love to see 'Deadpool 2'. I liked the first movie very much, and the second part looks just as good."

"A movie about superheroes?" she asked with a half-smile.

"Why not?" he shrugged. "Deadpool is not a typical superhero. The first part made me laugh."

"I was crying on the scene on the bridge." Marinette admitted.

"Yeah! This is my favourite scene in this movie!" Adrien laughed, finally completely relaxed.

"So, it's decided." Marinette concluded. "Did you hear Lovebirds?" she asked Alya and Nino, but she didn't even expect an answer from them. She exchanged an amused look with Adrien. The most important thing was that between them everything went back to normal.