Nino answered the door, chewing on a mouthful of sandwich. He was surprised to see Marinette and Adrien standing on his doorstep. Each one looked flustered, but Adrien was looking particularly anxious. His hair was doing that thing it did where it stuck up at the edges, because he ran his hand through his hair and messed it up. He only did that when he was bored or stressed. It made the girls gush. So did that killer smile he had. Not the one he was giving now. Now it was tinged with hope and desperation. Usually it was cool and collected, and heart breaking.

"Heya Nino, can we borrow your bike?" Adrien asked hopefully.

Nino frowned and swallowed his food. "My bike?"

Marinette gestured to the bike leaning against the wall behind him. It was covered in junk mail and bills that his family didn't want to deal with right now. it had been for a year at last.

"Oh that! I haven't used it for over a year, of course you can have it," Nino shrugged.

"We just want to borrow it," Marinette pointed out.

"That's cool too. You can just leave it here when you're done with it," he gestured to the wall by his doorstep.

Adrien beamed with delight, like Nino had agreed to be his prom date or something ridiculous. He turned to share a grin with Marinette. She crossed her chest above heart with her fingers.

"I promise," she nodded.

Nino just laughed. These two were made for each other. So much so they were both too blind to see it! He set his sandwich down for a moment, and cleaned off the bike. The basket that sat on the front broke off, so he dropped it on the stairs to deal with later. Nino wheeled it out from his hallway for them. Marinette hugged him gratefully, and wheeled it over to Adrien.

Adrien beamed back at him and waved. Nino waved back, wished him a good night, and picked up the sandwich as he shut the door. He wandered back into the kitchen as Alya was pushing the pizza in. She shut the oven door, dusted off her hands, and flipped her knotted, messy hair as she straightened up.

"Who was that?" She asked breezily.

"Adrien and Marinette. They wanted to borrow my bike," Nino explained.

He took a casual bite from his, almost finished, sandwich, as Alya stared at him. The atmosphere turned on a dime. That homely, playful calm was replaced with a tense fear. As if a chill ran through the kitchen and froze her. Whatever it was, it caused a growing tension in her chest, and she bit back a scream.

"What?" She asked, pretending to be calm.

"They wanted my bike for some reason," Nino repeated.

The tension edged into her voice as she hissed, "AND YOU DIDN'T PRETEND TO BE SICK?!"

Nino frowned. "I'm not sick."

Alya stared at him, pointedly waiting for the clogs to whirl in that big brain of his, and catch up with the situation he had just put them in.

"Oh. OH! OH CRAP!"

His eyes bulged as he realised his mistake. The urgency caught up with him. Now they had to hope that Adrien was dumb or distracted enough not to notice. Alya immediately began pacing, frantically grappling in her pocket for her phone.

"It's fine, it's fine, I'll text Marinette - no wait, then she might think I'm checking up on her," Alya groaned.

"You are checking up on her," Nino pointed out.

"Yeah but I don't want her to think she can't get him without my help!"

"He can't!"

"She doesn't know that!"

Alya groaned loudly and dramatically, only when she did it, it wasn't fake. Unless something completely insane happened to distract him, there was no way Adrien wasn't suspicious right now. Marinette was going to have to think fast to come up with a lie, and then tell Alya that lie, and Alya and Nino would have to go along with that lie, no matter how insane it ended up being. Marinette wasn't a good liar. She panicked. She came up with something ridiculous and obviously a lie. Then they would have to go along with the ridiculous lie.

"If she tells him you're actually a zombie right now, I expect you to turn up as a zombie on Monday, so he doesn't get suspicious," Alya warned seriously.

If Marinette told Adrien Nino had died in the night Alya would plan the funeral herself. she made a mental note to buy face paints, just in case they were going with zombies. Nino would make a good zombie, even if she had to make him a real one. They were way too far into this to let Adrien get away now.

"Where are you going?" Nino called as Alya wandered out of the kitchen, phone in hand.

"I'm calling Marinette, I can't stand still right now!" Alya called back.

She couldn't stand still when she was nervous. She used to be able to. Before she met Marinette. Now though, it was as if she had taken some of Marinette's anxiousness away from her, giving her courage in its place. Now Alya couldn't stand still when she was nervous, and Marinette could laugh along with her classmates when she fell over. Alya could take that anxiety if it made her friend more confident. Although right now it wasn't helping her.

"You said you couldn't call Marinette because you might interrupt something," Nino reminded her.

"but if I was she should be texting me!" Alya complained.

"maybe it's still happening, and she's gonna text in a minute," Nino insisted.

"But what if she doesn't?!"

"You don't want to call her, I know you don't!"

Alya groaned loudly, "Ugh Nino! I hate you when you're right!"

She was wearing a hole in Nino's floor as she walked back and forth nervously, tapping on her phone. She was growing impatient for Marinette to text her the lie, just in case she had to learn lines or act or memorize a timeline or something equally ridiculous to protect her friends honour. It was getting frustrating. Nino decided that Alya needed a distraction. She also needed that hair fixed. It was a bird's nest. Seriously it was ridiculous. Nino decided that it was time for it to be sorted out, and if she wasn't going to do this, he was.
Nino took her hand gently and guided her into the living room. She allowed him to, not really paying attention to what he was doing. Nino picked up a hair brush, and sat her down on the floor. She folded her knees below her. Nino laid the brush on the arm of the sofa and drew her closer. Alya pulled back.

"What are you doing?" She complained.

"I'm fixing your hair, it's ridiculous," Nino said.

"Oh," Alya muttered.

Alya knew he wasn't going to give up if she protested, because he was obviously trying to calm her down. Instead, she leaned back so he could reach her hair easier and made herself more comfortable.

"I'm going to have to take out the... plastic... thingies first," Nino said, uncertainly.

"Don't lose them, they're not mine," Alya muttered again.

"I didn't think they were," Nino chuckled.

Nino carefully untangled the knots in her hair, to loosen the dig the clips had. He had to ease out the rainbow coloured hairbands gently, which made her groan, as he pulled her hair too. He muttered an apology. Softer, he tried to ease out her plaits. Nino ran his hand through Alya's hair, shushing her gently as he untwisted the braids that knotted het hair up. She barely felt it as his fingers expertly eased open the knots.
Alya growled in frustration and refreshed her phone yet again to see no new notifications. She gripped her phone tighter, and growled again.

"She was supposed to phone by now! Why hasn't she phoned?!" Alya complained.

Nino shrugged. He kept his voice level to ease her, "She's probably just caught up in the concert, it'll be loud in there, it's not easy to phone someone from a concert."

Alya sighed deeply and leaned back against his knees. "You're probably right..."

Now her hair was loose, he eased out the little plastic, multicoloured ladybug clips. Each one bit into him as harshly as they had bit into her hair. For little plastic clips they had some strong jaws.

"Ow!" He hissed.

"What happened?" She asked.

He held up a finger. It was red, but not bleeding. Like it had been caught in something. Something blunt. Something like the jaws of a butterfly clip.

"Do you want me to kiss it better?" She teased.

Immediately Nino turned pink again. She chuckled to herself. He eased her nerves easily. Nino scooped up a handful of her hair, and picked up the brush with the other.

"This might hurt," he warned.

She braced herself. As he brushed down her hair, smoothing it with his other hand, he had to tug the knots a few times to break them free. He clutched the end of her hair, near the roots, to stop it from hurting her when he yanked too hard. Her hair came out when he did. Little strands tore from his hand, as he tried to pull his brush free. She could feel his clutch tighten and loosen as his grip followed. It tore out the knots below, and he smoothed the roots with his hand. Now her hair was eased, he brushed through easily. His brush moved through her thick curls smoothly now. Her chest eased. There was no need to worry about the pain now.
Alya lifted her phone to check how it was coming along. For a second the screen went black and the room was plunged into darkness. Usually now someone would turn on a light, Alya for example, since she now couldn't see herself in the front facing camera, but neither of them moved. Here, in the low light of her phone screen, felt more intimate than it should. It took away the rest of the tension in her chest, and she could breathe again.

"Is your phone dead?" Nino asked, hopefully.

"No, why, wanna take a selfie?" Alya grinned.

Nino hadn't meant that. He was hoping her phone would die so he wouldn't have to try and steal her attention away from her phone. But he wouldn't miss a chance to be that close to Alya. "Yeah!"

Nino pinned himself against her cheek as she held the phone above her head. He fell onto the floor behind her, accidentally, and she scooted forward so he could fit in. They were stuck so close together his glasses knocked against hers. She grinned. It was hard to keep her eye open when her glasses were knocked into it, but she tried. Nino's eyes were as wide as his grin. Alya took that picture, laughing. The flash of light glinted off their glasses, and made their eyes shine. Their faces filled the screen and their laughing smiles filled their faces.

"That's a keeper," Nino grinned.

Alya laughed. He said that about every single photo that had both of them in it, even if he was hideous in it. Every single time he did, she felt a little more affectionate about it, so she took more pictures. If they ever ended up moving in together, their house would be full of framed photos of the two of them. lord help their friends if they ever had a child. They'd have to have an entirely new account just to hold the photos!

"If you turn the light on, the photo would be better," Nino suggested.

"Yeah," Alya agreed, but didn't move.

Neither of them moved. Nino's legs stretched around her. her knee was cocked up on top of his, bent a little, and she was lounging back against his chest. She was slumped slightly, and her hair was running around her head like a halo, against his chest, so it tickled his chin. Nino's heart beat faster as he wrapped his arms around her stomach.

"One of us should put the TV on," Nino suggested, quietly.

"probably," Alya agreed.

Still neither of them moved. They were comfortable here, on the floor, tangled together. it was warm here. together. they might have been a pile of bones together, but it was so comfortable! Her hair covered his face, so he could smell the perfume in it. it smelt vaguely of rose water. beautiful, just like her. Alya felt him sniffing her hair. Her heart beat faster and she tried not to giggle. The sound was close to her ear, so louder than he thought it was. Nino had lain the little ladybugs on the ground beside them. Alya picked one up, playfully. She clipped it on her finger, hissed in pain, and took it off. Nino chuckled, quietly.

"that hurt," she mumbled.

"Are you ok?" he asked, with amused concern.

She nodded. Her head moved against his ribs as she did. He smiled. He loved having her this close. Alya looked up at him, without moving her head from his chest, and smirked. he turned pink again, but in the cloak of darkness, she couldn't see. Alya reached up, and gently clipped the ladybug into place on his fringe. Nino followed the path of her hand with his eyes, but didn't move. He felt the tacky plastic scratch against his scalp. He winced. Why did children like these things? Then he heard her soft chuckle in the darkness, and felt the way it rumbled against his chest, and his heart stopped.

"Beautiful," she smiled.

He felt her turn and reach up, so her hand cupped his cheek, and drew his face forward. He allowed her to pull his face closer to hers, but his heart was beating like a big brass drum. So fast, he couldn't catch his breath. He could feel her getting closer… he could feel her breath hot on his cheek… he could feel her nose brush against his. His eyes widened.
He never imagined their first kiss like this.
Just in his house.
In the dark.
Together.
Alone.

And yet somehow, it seemed so utterly perfect that any and every time he had imagined their first kiss, got wiped from his mind. All of them were replaced with this, single, perfect moment…

"Wait…"

Her voice was soft, but this close to his ear, it was loud as the concert they were missing. Nino's heart was going so fast it seemed to be still. Alya drew back. He felt a scream born in his throat die on his lips. She pulled back, and sniffed.

"what?" he asked, curiously.

"Something's burning," she said slowly.

Nino sniffed the air. something was burning. They gasped at the same time with a shared realisation.

"THE PIZZA!"