Nino was so done.

He sat in his usual seat waiting for his friends to come. Most of the times he would be waiting on the school steps for the others, but as an early akuma attack occurred in the morning hours, the boy couldn't be sure if any of his friends would show up in time so he had rather came inside and took his respective place in the front row. Why all of his friends had to have 'extracurricular activities'?

Slowly other students walked inside, and suddenly Adrien appeared in the door too, a little breathless. The blond collected himself and greeted him cheerfully and full of energy as always. ''Morning Nino! Why are you inside? I thought we would meet on our usual spot." The boy asked with a worried expression.

'Oh hell, he is either worried about my health or if he perhaps did something.' Nino sighed. He couldn't really stay grumpy or his sunshine boy will blame himself. So instead of sulking over his friends ditching him for akuma attacks - that they didn't know he knew except Alya – he answered him just as cheerfully.

''Don't sweat it, bro! I just felt like coming inside. You know with the akuma outside…"

''But the akuma was at least six blocks away from here." Adrien said confused.

''But every time an akuma shows up all of you are late." Nino pointed out with a tired expression, placing his head in his palm as he rested one of his arm on the table.

The blond's eyes widened for a second but he fast recovered and gave him a nervous chuckle. ''You know how is it… The traffic is horrible at akuma attacks."

Seeing as Adrien scratched the back of his neck, the nervous habit he knew all too well, he didn't know how the others didn't notice it yet. In case of the other two explanations he always received from his friends he wasn't this frustrated over the obvious lie. The 'I had to record the fight, it goes to my blog!' was the simple truth as bad as it was and the 'I am sorry, I overslept again!' and the other borderline crazy explanations Marinette came up with like 'my clothes caught on fire', 'I thought I was pregnant, but it was just a dream', 'my dog ate my shoes' were kind of accepted lies, nobody was expecting the truth from ever-late Marinette and her flawless creativity always brought some entertainment. Even if she looked nervous nobody had any suspicion.

But when it came to Adrien, he wanted to pull on his hair. Why? Why nobody saw the obvious? The boy's body language was practically screaming 'I am lying' for god's sake! And he had so many people following his every movement, like his controlling father, his bodyguard, his assistant, his countless fans! Speaking of that bodyguard he obviously knew something.

But the most frustrating of them all was Alya. She wanted to unmask the two heroes all the time, and was friends with both of them so how? Just how? How did she miss this?! She was always on the scene when it came to akuma attacks, tailed the heroes all the time, even stalked them, knew their voices, their appearances up close, and was best friends with one of them!

Nino groaned inwardly.

Then suddenly loud footsteps could be heard coming to their class room and a certain girl slammed right into the blond's back who still stood in the doorway.

''Sorry, I wasn't looking..." She started then looked up at the model ''Adrien!" She shrieked, blushed furiously and fell back to the floor.

Nino took it all back. Marinette's obliviousness was way more frustrating than Alya's. The girl had a colossal crush on his buddy, had an army of posters decorating her walls – Alya made him swore he would never ever, not on his death bed will tell anyone – had his schedule memorized and stalked him not only one occasion. And most importantly she was his partner, they knew each other better than anyone! Or supposed to. So how didn't Marinette see it? Could love really make someone blind to this extent?

''Don't worry Marinette. I should be the one apologizing, I stood in the way." Adrien said with a warm smile, reaching out a hand to help her up. She hesitantly took it and he helped her to her feet, but didn't let go. They stood there, staring at each other for a long moment, Marinette redder with every second, until Alya's hands landed on her shoulders and shook her out of her stupor.

''Come on girl, class is about to start!" The brunette dragged her best friend to their seat with a knowing smirk.

Okay, how dense Adrien was about Marinette's crush on him could definitely rival with her obliviousness. Not to mention the blond obviously had no clue about the girl who sat behind him in class being his superhero partner and 'the love of his life'.

Before class could start Alya was constantly blabbering about her excitement over the 'Miraculous Contest' that was an event meant to rise foundation for mental health care for akumatized victims and others who were left with anxiety after the attacks. As it turned out many people couldn't simply forget the trauma that an akuma attack caused, many needed treatment. So the mayor – in fact Alya, but she chose to give up the glory to help to rise more money – had came up with the idea of this contest. People could offer things for the auction or money directly to help, and in the end the whole thing was a huge success. As bad as the mayor was sometimes, he made a huge media attention for the event, and after Chat Noir and Ladybug promised in an interview that out of all the people who made some kind of offering for the cause two would be chosen and will have an afternoon with the heroes, the donations skyrocketed.

''Can you believe it? Two lucky fellows will have the opportunity to spend an entire afternoon with our heroes!" Alya squeaked in delight. ''Can you imagine what I could do with them during that afternoon!"

Adrien and Marinette groaned in unison. Nino smirked.

''And that's why our heroes are probably happy that over a thousand people are participating in the contest. There is a low chance they will get stuck with you for one whole hell of an afternoon." Nino said in a joking manner. Marinette and Adrien laughed while Alya scoffed at her boyfriend.

''I am still a better option than Chloe. She is acting like her victory is certain for days now! She was blabbering about spending the day in a spa with the heroes or in her private weekend house." The brunette's annoyance was obvious and she glared daggers at the said blonde. Nino looked at his two other friends from the corner of his eyes and couldn't help a small smile as both of them froze in place, slowly turning their heads in the direction of Chloe. The fear was so evident in their eyes that the musician chuckled. 'Poor guys, Ladybug's luck help you all'.

''Anyway, we all have a chance for winning, right?" Alya turned back to her friends. She was right. Nino offered a new mix to the auction, Marinette made an amazing dress and Adrien put in some money. People kept saying him that he could just give some autographed photos, but he was adamant to avoid that at all cost and keep himself from the embarrassment.

In fact almost everybody from their school and all of their classmates participated with something. Chloe, of course, offered more than one luxurious item for the auction like golden bracelet and earrings, designer clothes and various vip tickets, but in the end in the spirit of fairness they only counted as one, so she had no more chance than the others. On the surface it was true, but everyone who knew the girl knew as well that she was up to something yet again.

''Do you think she rigged the contest somehow?" Alya asked on a low voice.

''I hope she didn't." Adrien mumbled under his breath while Mari narrowed her eyes at Chloe.

''I wouldn't put it past her."

''Let's hope for the best and prepare for the worst!" Said the Dj as encouragement as he knew the real reason behind their quiet desperate expressions.

''They can get one whole afternoon with me or with Chloe. Heaven and hell walk hand in hand." The brunette sighed shaking her head dramatically. Her friends looked at her with a deadpan expression. ''What?" She asked but before anyone could answer or she could continue her rambling, Mlle Bustier walked into the classroom. All eyes were on her. She prepared the projector for the great announcement. It turned out that the blonde girl persuaded her father to time the whole thing on Friday morning during class so everybody can witness as she wins the special prize. Watching their faces and show it off for everyone was the blonde's greatest pleasure.

''I think everyone knows that before class starts mayor Bourgeois will announce the winners who get the chance to spend their time with Ladybug and Chat Noir. I know everyone of you are excited, but please, keep your calm until class is over." She said calmly then the screen came to life. In front of Le Grande Paris hotel André Bourgeois stood tall and proud, surrounded by reporters and cameras, he smiled at the crowd and started his speech.

It was the usual meaningless political blabbering about how important was this event and how much the mayor cared for the cause, nobody really cared, not even Chloe, until came the exciting part. ''-and now comes the announcement that everybody have been waiting for!"

Heads shot up, eyes glued to the screen as mayor Bourgeois stepped to a giant glass bowl with all the names written on little papers inside. Almost all the papers were the same size, but one at the top stood out weirdly. Everybody glared at Chloe, but the blonde simply smirked at them.

'So this is how you play this game…' Muttered Nino to himself annoyed, but suddenly he saw movement from the corner of his eyes. The little black cat-thing peeked out from Adrien's bag again, without the model's notice. 'Why would he ever notice his cat-fairy got loose again?' The Dj deadpanned. Why couldn't his best friend keep his magical buddy under control. Or at least keep an eye on it, and notice when something was off. He sighed. Adrien was the embodiment of denseness, of course he didn't notice. Really, how the hell was his identity still a secret?

Then he saw the little thing mutter something like 'we will see that, you little brat' and the cat-fairy's eyes shone up. Nino looked back at the screen and watched as the mayor reached inside the glass bowl and caught the weirdly big paper, but it slipped from his fingers and got lost between thousand others. Chloe groaned. The man tried to find it again in vain, and he had to stop eventually when the reporters questioned what takes him so much time, just choose already. So he flashed an apologetic smile, then brought up two small folded papers. He smiled as he unfolded the first one, but his face visibly paled as he did so to the other. He gulped and coughed nervously.

Nino looked at the small creature again. Just what had he done?

''And the two lucky persons who can spend an afternoon with Ladybug and Chat Noir are Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

Chloe screamed.

Alya squealed.

Adrien grinned.

Marinette paled.

The cat-fairy snickered.

Then a cookie hit its head and it ducked back to the bag.

Nino waited patiently till it hit his dude too, and couldn't possible hide his snickers when the blond finally paled. 'Yeah, definitely Ladybug is the brain' he told himself and had to use both of his hands to stifle his laughter as his best friend shot up and yelled.

''I am not free on that day!"

Everybody turned in his direction confused.

''Adrien, the day is not decided yet, so what are you talking about?" Alya said raising an eyebrow at him.

''Oh, right. I was just… you know…" The model tried to find the words, awkwardly coughing as he failed. Nino amusedly shook his head. He couldn't believe this guy. His dude got paler with every second, and he was about to help the poor boy somehow when Marinette chimed in, stopping the stammering blond.

''Adrien, would it be too much to ask of me…" She said unsurely.

''What?" Adrien turned to face her, hope tingled in his eyes. Nino was curious to know what kind of idea the bluenette came up with.

''Could we meet the heroes separately?"

''No, Mari!'' Alya grabbed her arm from the side, but she ignored the brunette.

''Why?" The blond asked confused and his best friend face-palmed. 'Why can't my bro just take an escape when it's offered to him?'

''You know… I want to meet Chat Noir alone. He kind of saved me a few times now, and my parents would like to invite him for diner." She smiled, proud of her pretty believable lie.

'Yeah, she is definitely the brain out of the two' Nino smiled. Even if this situation he found himself in was quiet annoying most of the time – especially because he couldn't tell anyone – but it still felt nice to know something his friends didn't.

''No, Marinette! You can't ruin my OTP!" Alya whined again shaking the bluenette, but was still ignored.

''But don't you want to meet Ladybug as well?" Asked the blond, still confused.

'Why? Just why bro?' The Dj screamed inside in frustration.

''I already met Ladybug a few times." Marinette smiled awkwardly. Nino looked at her with sympathy.

''As well as Chat Noir." Adrien pointed out.

''Well… I am a huge Chat Noir fan?" The girl asked uncertainly.

''Really?" The blond's eyes shone with glee, his entire feature radiating from happiness.

'Like a puppy, or should I say kitty?' Smiled the Dj to himself and amusedly shook his head.

Mari was surprised, but as she saw his happy face, she gave him a bright smile and told him.''Uhm, really of course!"

''If you want to have some alone time with him, you could just say that from the start." Alya chimed in, still pouting, and her two friends turned pink on the cheeks.

''No way, Alya! We… we will be with my f-family, no alone time!" The bluenette stammered out quickly gesturing wildly with her arms. ''If Adrien wants to come, he can! Right, Adrien? Wanna come too?"

''N-No! I am fine! You meet with Chat and I meet with LB!" The blond said nervously, tripping on his words with just as much weird arm moves as Marinette a moment ago. Yes, he was anxious to get out of this situation, but his expression changed like he remembered something and added with a smile. ''You can come to meet Ladybug with me if you want though."

Nino groaned.

''No!" Mari yelled with wide eyes, but calmed herself down immediately and changed back to a friendly tone. ''You are really kind, but it won't be fair. Each one of us meet one of the heroes, it's decided!" She clasped her hands together.

Adrien seemed a little disappointed, but quickly covered it with a smile and asked. ''And when should meet them?"

''That doesn't matter, just not at the same time…" She muttered to herself.

''What did you just say?" Adrien leaned closer with curiously.

''Nothing!" Mari raised her arms defensively and he straightened back with a frown. ''I meet Chat on Sunday and you can hook up with Ladybug on Saturday, how is that?" She asked and tried to be as cheerful as she could be and not make Adrien sad again.

''Ho-ho-hook up?" The blond almost fell out of his seat.

''Noooo! I didn't me-mean to say that! Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" At this point both of them were red like a tomato and both Nino and Alya laughed clutching their stomachs.

''Don't be sorry, I am okay with that!" Blurted out Adrien that caused Nino to finally fall out of the bench, and Alya was hitting the table with her fist.

''What?!" Mari's eyes widened and the blond's face morphed into horror.

''No! I didn't mean like that! I will just enjoy Ladybug's companion, just like I would yours!" He shouted realizing too late what his words implied. His eyes widened and there was no way that more blood could flow into either of their faces.''In a friendly way! I meant in a friendly way!"

''Stop Agreste! You will kill Mari!" Alya hit him in the arm silencing him before he could say another word and humiliate himself even more. He buried his face into his hands, giving out an inhuman noise. Marinette was still shell-shocked, eyes wide, mouth agape, a furious blush covering her face.

'Poor Mari, I think Adrien broke her' chucked to himself Nino as he gave a sympathetic pat on the shoulder to his best bud.

''Heads up, bro! We know exactly what you meant!"

''Thanks Nino-''

''Just use protection, alright?" He flashed him an evil smirk.

''Nino!"

Oh, it was so sweet to tease them. It almost made up for all the bullshit he had to endure, seeing the two of them dance around each other. If he only knew…

His smirk left his face as soon as he saw Alya glaring daggers at him. He gulped and turned to the front where he saw a very annoyed Mlle Bustier glaring at them with equal force.

''If the four of you finished your conversation I would continue with class."

''Sorry Mlle Bustier…" They murmured steadying themselves except Marinette who was still too shocked to do anything.

The class went on forcing everyone to keep quiet, saving the awkward conversations for later, but they weren't half way through the lesson, when the tell-tale screams could be heard.

'And the countdown begins for lame excuses…3…2…1…'

''I have to save my cat from the akuma!" cried out Mari.

''I have to use the toilet asap!" shouted Adrien.

''I have to record the attack for my blog!" yelled Alya.

Nino chuckled at his girlfriend's straightforwardness, and had to give credit to the blond for a lame but actually believable excuse. On the other hand what was Marinette even thinking at times like this? Saving her cat for the akuma? But…if he thought about the deeper meaning of this, it was kind of hilarious. 'Please, let me save that idiotic cat-boy before he gets himself killed!' He had to stifle his laughter again as so many times during this day. 'Poor Chat, he isn't really appreciated, but at least Ladybug cares for him.'

They got an arched eyebrow from Mlle Bustier, but she eventually had to dismiss class, when the akuma broke inside the school. The four of them ran out of class at the same time and Nino saw as his two friends started to run in the same direction. Should he help or should he just let it happen as it was destined to happen someday? In the end he caught Adrien's arm and dragged him and Alya in the opposite direction, then when they were far enough he let go of his best friend, tossing him into an empty classroom, ignoring his started yelp.

The Dj ran off, dragging a protesting Alya with him and was thinking about why he had to play identity guardian with his friends when he had enough on his plate with his girlfriend already. As it turned out said girlfriend had enough of him too, as she bit into his arm successfully releasing herself from his grip, and vanished with her phone in her hand recording a moment later.

He groaned. Why was all of this happening to him?

The next half an hour was spent on searching for Alya and dragging and pushing her out of the akuma's way. In the end, he lost her again and was in the locker room when he heard 'Miraculous Ladybug' and saw the pink energy flowing through the city fixing everything. He let out a sigh of relief. At least all of his friends were out of trouble for now. But before he could leave the locker room and go back to class he heard a loud crash. He turned in its direction to see two superheroes on the floor, entangled with each other.

''Sorry my Lady, I am about to transform back and I was looking for-'' Chat Noir spluttered out red-faced, but was cut off my Ladybug.

''Me too Chat, but move! We will reveal our identity this way!" Ladybug said as she tried to free herself from her partner, and was that a blush on her cheeks? No way, Nino had to imagine things. Anyway the two heroes finally got up and ran off in the opposite directions. The Dj sighed. 'Those two…'

But his bad luck hadn't run out just yet, because not even half a minute after the duo left and Nino thought he finally had the chance to leave, the black cat-fairy flew into the locker room, zipping straight to Adrien's locker. Before the little thing could reach it another little fairy – but this one was red – stopped it midair and the cat-thing whined.

''My Camembert!"

''Stop it Plagg, I have to talk to you!" The bug-creature – probably Ladybug's fairy – hit an annoyed tone.

''Can't it wait? I have to eat, I'll starve to death!" The black cat whined again.

''Oh, please! Chat didn't even use cataclysm this time!" The red bug rolled its eyes.

''Still starving." The cat-thing tried to free itself but the bug-thing caught it by its tail and pulled it back.

''Why did you do that?" The red creature narrowed its eyes.

''What?" The other looked up innocently.

''Don't play the innocent! Your little trick risked their identities!"

''Oh that? They will find out eventually someday. I am kind of surprised they didn't up to now. It's not like they are good at hiding things or anything." The black cat-thing gave a tired expression to its companion. Nino had to agree. It was a mystery to him how those two still didn't accidentally revealed their identities to the world, let alone their partners. Maybe this was the real miracle from the miraculous?

''But you did it for fun!"

''I did it to help and entertain myself."

''You didn't want to help them!"

''I wanted to help myself to some entertainment."

The bug-fairy groaned and was seemingly about to unleash its wrath when the two of them finally caught sight of Nino. Three pairs of wide eyes were staring at each other, an awkward silence hung in the air until the boy spoke up.

''You know… you are not really good at hiding yourself either." He said and walked away.

As he walked out of the locker room he could hear the two of them exchange words.

''Should we tell Adrien and Marinette about this?"

''Nah, what they don't know won't hurt them. And the dude is chill."

The other groaned, but didn't say anything more.

It was lunch break when Alya dragged him with her still pouting and sulking because of the events of that morning. She wanted to interrogate Marinette and Adrien but both of them knew better and fled when they still had the chance, so she was stuck with Nino. Or Nino was stuck with her as she used him as a source of consolation and constantly complained about the other two.

''I can't believe them, Nino! This was the perfect chance and they ruined everything!''

''Alya, is not that bad."

''Not that bad?! My OTP was granted to spend an entire afternoon with each other without an akuma to fight and then it got even better and my other OTP was forced to be in each other's presence as well!"

''Doesn't OTP mean 'one true pairing'? How can you have two of them?"

''I can if I want!" She narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend who threw up his arms in defense. ''My main point is that both LadyNoir and Adrinette could go cannon, and now they won't even meet!" She cried out in frustration. ''They could spend a whole afternoon together, have fun, bond and give me amazing pics with all the four of them on the photos!

'If you only knew…' Nino thought, but he could understand that from her point of view the entire situation was ruined. If he didn't do something she was going to be like this for at least two weeks. Two weeks with a sulking Alya? He felt a chill running down his spine. He had to do something to keep everybody sane. He wanted to help her, but bringing the 'four' of them together was simply impossible, because there were only two persons in this goddamn love square.

Suddenly he had an idea.

''Why don't you ship them like this?"

''Huh?"

''Why don't you ship Marinette with Chat Noir and Adrien with Ladybug too?"

''I can't ship Adrien with Ladybug! I would betray my best friend that way!"

'No, you won't.' He wanted to say but he came up with this instead. ''Okay, but you can still ship Marinette and Chat Noir. It's not like my bro showed any interest in Mari up to now, and Chat Noir is a hero, worthy of Marinette, right?"

''Hm, you definitely have a point. But Chat Noir is in love with Ladybug."

''But it's kind of the same for Chat as Marinette. Both in an unrequited love. They could be happy with each other. And even if LadyNoir and Adrinette don't go cannon, you still have a ship to sail."

''A new ship…" Alya's eyes shone up and determination set on her face. ''MariChat! I ship Marichat! This will be the best ship ever! The princess and the knight! Thanks Nino!" She gave him a kiss that left him speechless as his girlfriend ran off who knows where.

He stood still for a few second and contemplated on how the hell he became a third wheel in a love square.