Finals were a bitch. The year was coming to an end, each kid dealing with the stress of upcoming testing in their own way. Nino and Alya dealt with it by convincing their parents they could be trusted enough to have all nighter sleepovers to study. Every weekend, the couple would sit up till day break in Alya's living room, surrounded by books and papers and index cards. They were up till almost 2am when they decided they needed a quick break from studying or they'd drop dead right then. After only 3 hours the night before and now being up ridiculously late again, they were far from their right minds.
"Nino. Nino. I've got a secret to tell youu"
Both had been drawing out their words like they had been drinking since midnight. Nino laughed and asked what it was
"Our best friends are Ladybug and Chat Noir!"
His whole face dropped in shock and disbelief
"Really?"
She snorted, taking in a breath of air before deadpanning
"No. But I had you going for a second, didn't I?"
Her boyfriend slumped over, disappointed but nodding a little and muttering asshole
"I'd believe you if you said it with more gumption honestly"
She tried to ignore the use of the word gumption and instead asked what he meant by that
"Like I could see them as Chat and LB if I tried"
She burrowed her brows suspiciously and said
"Please, do tell."
"No. Wait. We should make this a drinking game!"
He looked like his whole mind was just blown like never before. It seemed to bring Alya back to her head a little but she didn't answer, letting him explain his insane idea before responding.
"Okay, hear me out, babe. Every time I find a way they could be the heroes, you take a shot. Every time you find one, I'll take a shot."
"I can find about 80 problems with that. We're 15 and can't do shots. There's nothing to take shots with even if we were of age. And we still need to study."
He fought for a decent comeback when another 'great' idea hit him
"I got this, hold on. We can do shots of something non-alcoholic. Like something disgusting but won't get us drunk. And we can do it while we're studying too."
She sighed deeply, throwing up her hands in defeat
"Fuck it, sure. Why not?"
They raided her kitchen for anything gross they could do shots of. Eventually, Nino stumbled over a glass bottle of a light brownish red liquid. He read it out loud for the girl to his right with her head in the fridge
"Apple cider vinegar? With The Mother? What the hell does that mean- Oh God!"
As he was talking he twisted the cap and took a whiff then regretting it immediately. Alya laughed, head thrown back and hands over her stomach
"Oh, I forgot about that! Dad used to use it to try to lose weight for a while. Yeah, it's perfect for this!"
He coughed a little at the lingering stench but managed to choke out
"I could see that helping. Fuck dude. One swig of this and you won't have an appetite for hours"
She cackled, keeping her distance to not end up in the same fit as Nino. They took the foul drink into their circle of books along with 2 small cups because they couldn't find any shot glass.
"Okay, I already gave you the rules. The game starts now."
He poured two shots and set the cups in front of each of them. They glanced over their books for half a second before the game truly commenced.
"Marinette and Ladybug are both the only ones with the nuts to stand up to Chloe!"
Nino almost shouted at Alya so he wouldn't be the first to take a shot. The unfortunate girl groaned softly and swigged, trying to keep the disgusted faces to a minimum. She shivered and slammed the cup back down before glaring Nino in the face evilly
"Puns."
One word was all he needed to know exactly what she meant and that he now needed to take a shot. He was much less subdued about his pain, earning a shhhh from Alya, smacking his arm and pointing in the direction of the rooms containing sleeping family members. The both giggled and smacked their lips, the taste still intruding. They agreed quickly to pause the game and run back into the kitchen to get drinks to chase the shots. As soon as the two sat back down Alya struck again
"Blue pigtails!"
Before he took the shot in his hand begrudgingly, he looked her dead in the eye and said
"Blond spiky mop"
She growled a little, picking her own up
"That totally shouldn't count. You just stole mine and switched it for Chat"
"Nah there's no rule against for that"
Alya grunted but added tick lines to both sides of the chart she made on her phone to keep scores. After the double shot, they tried to focus on the notes once again. They asked each other practice test questions, making two piles of the cards.
"What do you call the taming of wild animals for human use?"
Alya read off the card absentmindedly, thinking harder about the next shot Nino was gonna have to down
"What does that have to do with world history? Uh- domestication?"
She nodded, tossing the card into the pile of questions they had answered correctly.
"I don't know. If it weren't for domestication we wouldn't have cats though so don't hate on it too much. ALLERGIC TO FEATHERS!"
It hit her as she spoke, Nino almost not even noticing till she ticked a score for herself and readied the glass bottle to refill the next shot. He motioned a cheer with the cup and drank, his reaction not faltering much from the one before. As the rest of the night faded into morning, more shots were taken than notes were studied. Even though Alya had taken half the amount of shots, she adapted infinitely quicker to the foul taste. Nino had downed 8 so far and every reaction became increasingly violent. After his girlfriend forced him to drink his 9th regret, he turned his head to avoid coughing directly on her. His stomach had been aching for the past hour but he refused to give up. Determined some God was watching his back and would help him pull off a redemption, he didn't tell Alya his stomach hurt. Until it was too late. His coughing turned into gagging with turned into running for the bathroom.
"Babe? Oh fuck are you okay?"
She rushed after him, hearing her father stir in his room. She cussed to herself as he wandered out into the hallway, trying to locate the ruckus. He leaned against the door frame, seeing his kid and her boyfriend leaning over the toilet, the latter puking into it. He was a mixture of confused, sleepy and mostly disgusted.
"Alya? Why's he so- vomity?"
She looked up at her father and motioned half heartedly at the apple cider vinegar and went back to patting Nino's back. He looked at the couple and back at the jar now in his hands.
"Okay, so he drank this? And now he's sick?"
She nodded and added
"9 shots. It was a game and I guess it didn't sit well."
His dad shook his head in almost shame.
"I'm not surprised he's sick then. You're supposed to mix in like an ounce into an entire cup of water and then sip it. Ugh- just don't forget to clean up your mess before you go to sleep."
He slowly moved back to his room, still tired. Alya patted Nino's back while he sat sadly in front of the now flushed toilet. He mumbled
"Well, I guess it's safe to say you won?"
She screeched in excitement
"And safer to say our best friends are super secret superheroes!"
Her hands balled up into fists and she looked upwards, filled with hope. The sudden realization hit that she now had to keep this secret between herself and Nino. She would've shocked herself had she kept it a whole two days so the three it took to burst really made her proud of herself.
((A/N: I'm sure you can guess how the next chapter will play ouy based on how this one ended oops))
