Adrien's plan, miraculously, seemed to be working. Day by day, Marinette seemed to obsess less and less over Adrien. She stopped mentioning him so much, stopped asking how to impress him, reorganized her walls with more meaningful photos of him (though Alya couldn't say how significantly the actual quantity changed) than just from his photoshoots.

And Alya didn't know why, but she was relieved. She attributed it to Marinette acting a bit more like a sane human being and showing promising signs for future romantic endeavors if the creepier bits were being sanded down.

And of course, every time Alya and Adrien made plans to meet and talk about any next step, Nino joined them because they were apparently still not to be trusted alone. And if he was coming anyway, they my as well invite Marinette because at least that's maybe, possibly progress on the Ninette train and it's not like they ever wanted to exclude her anyway and also she was their friend so they had fun.

So, it wasn't that Alya wanted Nino and Marinette gone. She didn't. She loved their group hangouts. But she couldn't talk to Marinette about Nino and no one was doing anything and she wanted to make something happen.

Of course, that just meant she'd need to get sneaky. We'll have to fabricate something. Shouldn't be too hard. And we'll meet up on our own and talk about everything because texts just aren't cutting it anymore.

Alya and Adrien sandwiched their best friends on the sofa as they played video games together, and Alya noticed how Marinette pressed against her, about as far from accidentally touching Nino as she could get, and she tried to split her attention by simultaneously thinking about that and focusing on the game and ended up figuring out nothing and losing a life for her troubles.

Adrien exclaimed something about protecting her, so she doubled down and focused on the game. There will be time for that kind of stuff later. She thought. For now, just have fun.

And she did, for a while. But even with focus she wasn't nearly as good at the game as the others, and so she was eliminated and was letting her eyes wander the room.

It was probably because her mind was on Marinette that she thought of it, but her eyes landed on a door that had to lead to his closet. She grinned. "Hey, Adrien?"

"Mmm?" He was staring intently at the screen, sticking his tongue out in that cute way Marinette sometimes did when she was concentrating hard on something.

"I'm going to go raid your closet."

"Mmm."

While Adrien's response was just an affirmative hum, Marinette practically threw her controller in the air at the mention of Adrien's no-doubt designer wardrobe. While Adrien typically dressed relatively normally – save for expensive fabrics which he probably couldn't even help – none of them doubted that the depths of his closet would hide goodies any aspiring designer would love to get a look at.

Alya was already halfway across the room.

The game made a sound, indicating someone died, and Marinette groaned. Another death toll immediately after, and Nino exclaimed in victory.

Alya reached for the closet handle.

"Wait." Adrien said. It wasn't an order, so Alya didn't think to stop. It was more of a realization which Alya also didn't stop to consider.

She turned the doorknob.

"Wait!"

That one was imperative, but Alya had already pulled the door open far enough to look inside.

She didn't really have time to notice anything, but still when Adrien sprinted to her and grabbed her arm he yanked her into the closet with him instead of shutting the door with her outside.

"Adrien, what the hell?" She asked, hearing shuffling as he fumbled for the light switch.

"I… uh…" The light flickered on and Adrien grinned sheepishly at her. "Forgot about the Ladybug stuff." He said quietly, so Nino and Marinette wouldn't hear.

Alya snickered and turned to the little black-spotted shrine in the room. It wasn't really a shrine in so many words, but it may as well have been. There was a big poster of Ladybug on the wall, next to a vanity (thankfully not Ladybug themed in itself), and all sorts of toys – dolls, action figures, all Ladybug or Chat Noir themed – were on the vanity itself, practically hiding all his makeup.

"Dude." She said, also in a whisper for his own sake. "It's not a big deal. I've seen worse." She thought to the height of Marinette's stalker phase of her crush and shook her head. "A lot worse."

"Still." Adrien said. His voice was a little high-pitched. "Don't tell them."

Alya rolled her eyes and walked over to it. The clothes in the nearby corner, she found, were also all Ladybug themed. And those she rifled through partially out of interest (there were some pieces she'd never seen before, so she figured he had to either commission some or had different paraphernalia stops in his particular economic class) and partially to tease him. "I won't." She assured him.

A soft knock on the door make Adrien yelp. "Dude?" Nino said. "What was that about?"

Adrien frantically held a hand to his lips. Alya shook her head. "Well, what do you want to tell them, then?" She asked, bringing him close so they could whisper quietly.

"I don't know! Think of something!"

"Ugh, well, first of all, do something about that." She pointed to the vanity and all the Ladybug paraphernalia thereupon. "I'll figure something out. Quick."

"What about Nino?"

Alya tapped her foot for a second, then called out. "Hold on a moment, dude!" She grabbed a not-quite-so-expensive looking jacket off a hanger and dropped it on the floor. "Just a mess in here is all! Give us a sec to sort it out!"

Adrien's eyes went wide and he pulled his lips back in horror, as if offended at what she had done.

She just shrugged and smirked at him and pulled a t-shirt down to throw into the opposing wall.

He shook his head, snapping himself out of it, and carefully pulled down the big poster and rolled it up. Alya quickly rifled through his clothes, finding a few things she wouldn't feel bad about throwing around and stumbling across a few more interesting items along the way, though for the sake of their time limit she let them pass. For now.

Finally, the closet had been roughed up just enough to make it convincing that it had been bad, and the most egregious Ladybug stuff was hidden away, and Adrien caught her arm before she could go to the door. "They're not going to believe it." He hissed.

Another knock. "Uh, guys?" Nino's voice had an edge of worry to it. "Are you okay in there?"

She pulled Adrien to the back of the closet and reached behind some pants as she snickered and said, "If they don't, you need something embarrassing to satisfy that reaction."

Adrien's eyes followed her hand and his face turned bright red. "Oh my god."

She pulled out what she was looking for, a red plaid skirt what would no doubt be more than enough explanation for why Adrien wouldn't want someone to search his closet unguided. That wasn't the only incriminating article, but it was by far the easiest to explain, even if it was an embarrassing explanation.

"I-I can explain."

Alya giggled and held a finger to her lips. "Later. If they buy the mess you can explain in private." He flushed and nodded and Alya hid the skirt and opened the door with a smile. "Don't worry!" She laughed. "We're coming out of the closet."

Nino shook his head. "Girl, we already know you're bi."

"Sorry about the mess." She grinned, ignoring his comment. "We did what we could in the time we had. Still, Adrien's embarrassed about it." She gestured to him, and as he was still blushing and pointedly not looking at her, he pretty effectively sold the embarrassed bit.

"We can tell." Nino said. "But, why? It's just a messy closet."

"Dude, have you seen the rest of his room?" She gestured around her. "Place is spotless! Just entertain him." Adrien covered his face in his hands.

Nino shook his head again and sighed. "Well, whatever. Bro, you think Marinette could take a look?" He put his hand on her shoulder. "Might be fun, right?"

You have no idea.

Adrien looked to Alya with panicked eyes. And she thought fast to prevent anyone, especially Marinette from actually digging through his clothes and finding the paraphernalia or his embarrassing items. "How about a fashion show instead? That'd be way more fun."

"Yeah! That's a great idea, Alya!" Adrien exclaimed. "We'll go in and plan some outfits and I'll model for you guys, alright?"

Nino pursed his lips suspiciously, but Marinette looked like she was on cloud nine. At her eager squealing, Nino smiled and relented. "Alright. But we're going to make ourselves at home while you hide in there."

"Oh, please do." Adrien said with a grin. "Alya, come help me."

They retreated together into the closet and chuckled once the door was closed.

"Oh, my god." Adrien said. "I can't believe that worked."

"Okay, now care to explain while I find your first outfit?"

He immediately flushed all over again. "Look, it's not- that is… it's just a skirt! It's not weird!"

"You're the one acting like it's weird, dude."

"You… that's it?" He sounded incredulous. "No judgement, or…"

"For what? It's a skirt." Alya closed one eye and framed Adrien with her fingers. "And a good one, too. It'd look great with…" She turned to the rest of his clothes and started flicking through them. "I know I saw it… Ah! This!" She leaned down to scoop the pink t-shirt off the ground. "Don't you think? Oh, and throw this on top!" She grabbed a grey cardigan off a hanger.

Adrien opened his mouth for a moment, then thought better of it and shut it. After another moment he said, "That's kind of Marinette's color scheme, isn't it? Pink and grey. The red is a good accent, though. She should probably wear more red."

"Adrien."

"Yeah?"

"There's no judgement, but I am curious."

"Ah, right." He chuckled. "Well, I'm a model. Even if it's not usually my style, I do jump that androgynous boundary sometimes. Wore a skirt once, well, sort of a skirt. It was all fashion forward or whatever, but point is it was really fun. Sometimes I put one on and just…" He rotated his hips playfully. "Whoosh."

"Dude, you need a fringe skirt."

"Oh, my god, that would be amazing."

They shared a laugh and Alya examined him closely. "So, why the embarrassment?"

"W-well." He rubbed his neck awkwardly. "I know most people generally kind of conform to their gender thing and I guess I was worried that people who aren't really in the industry wouldn't understand why I even first tried? And even less why I have some just in my closet. I never wear them in public because of that, but… well… I've never had a friend who I could just play dress-up with, except Chloé, and she's seen me in more feminine stuff than that so…"

Alya just laughed. "Dude, I love you."

Adrien flushed. "I- you- what?" He squeaked.

"We're definitely dressing you up in the most ridiculous things you're comfortable with, you know that, right?"

Adrien let a tentative grin find its way to his lips, and he started shining again, like the curve of those lips was the moon that provided all the light in the dark of night. "Hit me with your best shot." He said.

"Oh, that's a challenge, bro." She grinned devilishly and threw the shirt and cardigan at him. "Feeling brave?"

He looked down at the clothes in his hands, then grinned and nodded. "Who's going to stop us?"

That's practically our motto. "Oh, one thing." She said before he could start stripping.

"Yeah?"

"There was one other thing I saw that I wanted to ask about."

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh?"

"Yeah. It was right…" She turned and dug through a drawer until she found the article in question. "Here!" She held it up proudly and looked at Adrien's red face through the neon green fishnet of the shirt.

He put the other clothes aside and took it from her. "Oh, haha, that." He grinned. "Mostly a joke. Also never actually worn in public. Kind of love it, though."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'd wear it for y'all if it fits into your master outfit planning."

"Who's going to stop us?" She asked with a grin. Then she shook her head. "But not for the show. Have some mercy on Marinette's poor soul."

"Oh. Right. Well." He tossed her the shirt and pulled the hem of his currently worn shirt up over his head, swiftly removing it.

Then, it was Alya's turn to blush. She quickly raised a hand to cover her eyes. "Lord." She muttered.

Silence, then a laugh. "What?" Adrien asked. "You can look, Alya. I'm a model, remember? I change in front of people all the time. And it's not like that shirt's going to hide anything, anyway."

She felt him take the shirt from her hand before she dared peek through her fingers. And he was right. It hid nothing. He may as well have been standing in front of her shirtless, except that probably would have been better because the bright fishnet just seemed a little… lascivious.

And then he smirked. And then he winked. And Alya was feeling just a little hot under the collar. Is this what Marinette feels like?

And Adrien laughed that loud, uninhibited, from-the-belly laugh that Alya loved and she snickered and laughed right along with him. At his ensemble, at her own embarrassment. Through his giggles, he said, "Are you sure I shouldn't wear this for them?" His question was teasing, not sincere. Alya wondered if he even wanted to.

Because Alya wanted to say yes. She wanted to send him out there for everyone to see because it was such a strange look on him and it was funny, but also, somewhere in her chest, she wanted to say no. It was too revealing, too much, and then it wouldn't be their…

She shook her head roughly. No. That's it. It's too revealing. In answer, she settled on, "I would totally encourage it if you want to. But remember you're the one trying to get Marinette to stop crushing on you. Fair warning, that's not going to help."

He snickered. "You're probably right. Alright, back to the skirt." He shook his head and pulled the fishnet off of him and gave it back to her and Alya was relieved because even though Adrien was still really attractive he at least wasn't wearing anything to call attention to it.

But he gave up really easily. After all, no one was going to stop them from sending him out scantily clad and loving life. And he would – he would pull it off and he would laugh and laugh and laugh at Nino's face (though he would apologize to Marinette). But he didn't. He handed it back to her and turned to throw on the pink t-shirt and pull his pants down and, Oh, shit.

Alya spun on her heel, now blushing furiously. She knew he wouldn't strip entirely but she still was not prepared for that. To disguise her sudden movement, she went to put the fishnet back and continue rifling through the clothes in front of her.

But… it wasn't like the skirt wasn't a little on the flirty side. And yet, when that came up it was "who's going to stop us." It wasn't like the proposal wasn't flirty and they still did that. Why does that bother me, of all things?

She shook her head and found another cardigan and examined it for a moment before turning back to Adrien. "Hey, dude? You said that was Marinette's color scheme, yeah?"

"Well, yeah." He said, gesturing to his outfit. "Look at it."

"And you're still on the Ninette train."

"Of course."

"So… how about Marinette pink and some bold best boy blue?" She held up the cardigan with a smile.

Adrien's face morphed into a crooked, ecstatic grin. "Bold best boy blue! Oh, my god! Yes! It's perfect!"

He switched outerwear and spun in place for Alya, giggling all the while and muttering "bold best boy blue" to himself.

Alya examined him closely, trying not to stare at his legs (she didn't think she'd ever seen his legs exposed before. He always wore long pants, as far as she could recall) and nodded her approval of the outfit. Not exactly designer in how it's put together but… who's going to stop us? "You're ready dude. Now come out of the closet already."

Adrien laughed again, the joyous, unrestrained one. "Alya!" Together they stood at the door, giggling to themselves, and Alya turned the handle and they walked out and Nino caught sight of them and his jaw dropped and Marinette saw them and she flushed and froze like a deer in headlights.

Adrien stepped forward, sportive smirk on his lips and swishing skirt on his hips, and he winked at Nino at the end of his impromptu catwalk before spinning and sashaying back to Alya at the closet door.

They stood side by side, watching their best friends, for a while. And for a while neither of the two on the sofa seemed capable of saying anything. And then Nino sighed and said, "I really should have expected this."

"And this is just my first look." Alya said with a wink of her own. "Wait 'til you see the rest of my collection."

"I'm actually kind of frightened now."

And then Marinette started giggling uncontrollably. "Pfft. Let them have their fun, Nino. I, for one, am excited to see the rest of this collection."

He shrugged. "Well, alright then."

The longer this goes on, the more I think Adrien's right about his crush. He's… kind of whipped, not going to lie. Adrien met her eyes and smirked and she knew he was thinking something along the same lines.

With less conversation between outfits, and the coordination of the two of them in choosing them, they knocked out the next few looks much faster than the first one. Even Alya dressed up in a few things when they found clothes that would work with her (She was nearly the same height as him, but her curves disagreed with clothes designed for slim men like Adrien).

After the first few outfits, though, they stopped trying to actually coordinate and instead tried to find the most discordant pieces they could. Anything and everything that would make Adrien's father's eyes bleed – and indeed even though Marinette laughed at them every time, even she couldn't help the shocked and disgusted look that appeared when they dared try those combinations.

They laughed, they played, they sang, and when they were winding down, preparing to leave, Adrien pulled Alya back into the closet one last time as he changed back into his normal clothes. "So," he said, "how do you think that train is going?"

Alya tutted. "Well, I'm believing Nino likes her more and more every minute, but unfortunately he's not the problem here."

"Oh, well, good. It would be really bad if she asked him out because of what we did and he turned her down."

Alya slapped his arm. "You're just now thinking of that?"

"Well… you said he likes her, too! It's not just me!"

She scoffed. "That's true. What do you think about the state of the train?"

Adrien hummed. "Well, I think Nino finally got it through his head that you're not captaining that steamship anymore." Alya nodded along. "And, actually, he gave us a few looks that are starting to make me think he thinks we're both on an airplane."

Alya arched her brow. "What airplane?"

"The Alyadrien." He blushed and rubbed his neck.

Alya didn't know what to say to that. Eventually, she just settled for, "Dude."

Adrien tilted his head. "What?"

"Marinette's my best friend."

"Yeah, and?"

"And she has a crush on you, dummy! Unless that steamship sinks and Marinette is cool with it, that airplane ain't even being built. You realize how messed up that would be."

"Haha." He ran his hand through his hair and looked away to the floor. "Yeah. Right? I have no idea where his head is. You'd never do something like that."

Alya shook her head in disbelief. "Like, it's as impossible as Ladybug. No matter what we actually think."

Adrien didn't respond, so Alya furrowed her brow and thought about her words. Uh, wait, that might have been a little… "Ha, yeah." Adrien said, just a little dully. Alya didn't know what to think about that. Then he faced her and smiled like nothing happened. "So long as the steamship is afloat it's ridiculous to even think about it."

Alya fought the urge to grimace. Something about his behavior was a little too stiff, a little too formal, and Alya didn't like it. Not one bit. Because he was her friend and she knew how sensitive he was and even though they didn't do feelings jams quite like either of them did with their respective best friends they still learned a lot about each other and Alya knew when something didn't sit right with him and she worried that maybe… maybe she'd implied too much, or maybe he did like her that way and realized it wouldn't work, or maybe he didn't but was sad because the clear rejection of their particular mode of transportation implied more to him than just a rejection of romance.

She furrowed her brow. "Adrien."

And Adrien was normal, but Alya knew he was an excellent actor. "Right." He said. "The train. I can't say with any certainty, but I think Marinette is warming up to it. They were sitting pretty close towards the end of our fashion show. You notice that?"

Alya frowned, but for once just wasn't brave enough to say anything. She didn't know exactly what caused Adrien's reaction, and if she handled it wrong she'd only make it worse, and… well, her position in it was obvious. It wasn't like she had a choice in the matter. She hadn't even thought of it, though she understood how they could be seen that way. They did just spend a couple hours ransacking his closet together – while forbidding anyone else from entering, at that.

And Alya felt guilty, because if that was what Nino thought, what did Marinette think? She hadn't done anything wrong, but she realized she was getting very close to him, when her goal from the start was supposed to be to get Marinette close to him, and that felt a little like a betrayal.

"Yeah." She said honestly. "I did notice that."

They left the room and rejoined Marinette and Nino and Nino announced he needed to go and so Adrien walked him to the door while Alya and Marinette relaxed in Adrien's room. "We should leave, soon, too." Alya said. "I'm going to need to look after the girls tonight."

Marinette hummed noncommittally. Alya turned to look directly at her. "What's up?"

Marinette wriggled uncomfortably. "You looked like you had a lot of fun today."

"So did you." She smiled. "So?"

"I'm just… a little jealous you got to go in the closet, I guess!"

Alya laughed. "Don't worry about it. I only got in because I already saw what he has in there."

Marinette cast a glance towards the door and leaned in close. "Like what?"

"Skirts, for one." Alya said teasingly. "Believe it or not, he was super embarrassed when I first saw that."

"No, way! He was so confident wearing them!"

"Yeah but that was after I talked to him. He was terrified of what we'd think."

"Is that why you took so long?"

Alya thought back to the green fishnet shirt and snickered. "Yeah. Mostly."

"Oh. Well, I'm glad he felt comfortable enough with us to show us."

"You and me both, girl." Alya nudged her playfully.

"And… um…" Marinette said. "Do you… do you think Nino…"

Alya raised her brow. "Do I think he what?"

Marinette shook her head roughly and covered her face. "Do you think he might maybe have a crush on me?"

Oh.

Oh, damn. I didn't expect her to ask me about it.

The door clicked open, and Alya turned to see Adrien reenter. "What are we talking about?" He asked.

Alya didn't mean to answer. It just came out. Since she'd talked about it so much with Adrien, and she wasn't really thinking, she kind of forgot that he wasn't supposed to be involved. "Marinette's wondering if Nino has a crush on her."

"Alya!" Marinette squealed.

"Oh, ffff- sorry, Marinette."

Adrien laughed. "Marinette, he thinks you're awesome."

Alya caught his eye and mirrored his grin. Perfect. "Yeah. Definitely." She winked overtly at Adrien, not even trying to hide it from Marinette as she started singing. "He said, there's nothing like your smile sort of subtle and perfect and real."

Marinette smiled, and Alya had to appreciate how accurate their choice of song was. Adrien grinned and plopped down on the couch next to them, singing to Marinette like Alya did. "He said, you never knew how wonderful that smile could make someone feel."

"I get it." Marinette said. "But guys, I'm serious."

"Well," Adrien said, forgoing their musical interlude. "If he does, what would you do?"

Marinette worried her lip. "I don't know." She looked to Adrien. "He must have said something to you."

Adrien grinned. "And if he did, I would have been sworn to secrecy. But I can say this: Alya and I, we saw the same things you did that made you think he had a crush."

"So, you think he does, too?"

Alya sighed. "Which brings us back to what you're going to do." She said.

Marinette groaned and covered her face. "Well, I can't just say no!"

"Sure, you can!" Adrien said casually. He grabbed Alya's hand and pulled her to her feet. "It's as simple as this!" He cleared his throat for effect. "In such cases as this, it is, I belie-"

Marinette cut him off with a high-pitched squeal. "No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

Adrien laughed. "I'm sorry, Marinette. I just mean that how you feel matters too. Don't just go along with it or string him along because he's your friend."

"But," Alya said, "if you do feel inclined to return his feelings…"

Adrien smiled. "Definitely an avenue worth exploring, don't you think?"

Marinette frowned. "You think so?"

"Definitely! You're both such creative people, I've already seen how you inspire each other!"

"Not to mention," Alya added, "Marinette pink goes well with red and bold best boy blue."

Adrien and Marinette both giggled, and Adrien said, "And you're already close friends! You know how to talk to each other, and you know what the other likes and dislikes and tolerates."

"You have inside jokes." Alya said.

"Like how done you are with our inside jokes."

"And your parents love him."

"And he loves your parent's cooking!" Adrien laughed. "Oh, and your parents, too."

Marinette tapped her chin for a moment. "You really believe all that?"

"Girl!" Alya said. "All that's just fact. If you want our opinions, we've got those, too. Right, Adrien?"

She grinned, and he grinned, and he started telling her just what their opinions were. He and Alya tag-teamed the entire conversation, and though they weren't necessarily trying to (overtly) encourage Marinette to date Nino, they were quite clear that she should consider the possibility, and through all their flowery adjectives Alya thought that message got through to Marinette.

And Marinette became very contemplative, and Alya realized that for this conversation, she was listening and talking to Adrien like he was any other person in the world, and she looked to Adrien and saw that he realized that, too, and there was a spark in his eye that betrayed his eagerness. More than a few times, she had to interrupt Adrien because he was getting dangerously close to just telling her to date Nino already (something neither of them had business saying in so many words) or revealing something of their shenanigans that should be on a strictly need-to-know basis.

And though they could give their opinions on how great Nino and Marinette were and how well they'd fit together literally all day, it was already about time to leave when they started, so their tirade was unfortunately cut short, and Marinette smiled and thanked them and Alya walked with Marinette out of Adrien's home and together they headed over to Alya's place.

Once the twins were in bed, Marinette said something that Alya didn't expect. It caught her off guard and left her confused and scared and speechless and guilty and guilty. Alya had just returned from her little sisters' room and just before her butt hit the sofa, Marinette said, "I don't think Nino's the only one of the boys with a crush."