It was getting late. So late that it was almost dark out. The summer sun was setting low and the sky was practically red. Marinette's phone beeped. The beep woke Tikki with a start, which irritated her, since the heat was pretty difficult to sleep in, and shed barely drifted off before he woke her up.
I'm craving wings. Drop what you're doing and hit the grease palace with me?
Marinette texted back, dozily, assuming this was a call for a date, I'm in the mood for pizza... a pizza you, that is!
The moment Marinette hit send she cringed. She suddenly realised that this was Nino, and Nino didn't want to be a part of the flirting and the dating, especially right now. But Nino was Nino. He was a good friend, and he liked a pun. The reply she got was a gif of a cartoon pizza slice, glaring at her, with you wanna piz-za me? written underneath. For some reason she read it in an Italian accent which made her giggle.
Meet you there.
Gimme 20 mins
"Do you wanna stay here and sleep?" Marinette asked Tikki.
"You're my master I have to stay with you at all times," Tikki yawned.
"I'll leave the bag open, hopefully it'll be cool enough for you," Marinette promised.
She ran a crocked finger across Tikki's cheek affectionately. Tikki chirped merrily, and nestled down into the bag again. Marinette was gentle with her as she hurried down to the street and ran off towards the Grease Palace.
...
Adrien sat under his bedroom window as the sun shone bars across his room, like a prison cell. He leaned his back against his wall, brought his knee up at chin level, placed his phone on his knee, and stared at it like that would make it ring. Plagg lifted his head to watch him. He rolled his eyes, and curled up again to tuck his head under his tail.
"Nino's not calling me anymore," Adrien said. He was aware that Plagg was only pretending to sleep, and he didn't expect Plagg to respond. "I think he broke up with Alya because of me. It's supposed to be friends first and he won't talk to me about it. Alya and Marinette will never forgive me."
Plagg opened one eye, and then immediacy shook his head and closed it again. This wasn't worth being awake for. He half hoped for an akuma to come and change the subject. Maybe if he saw Ladybug again he'd forget about Marinette for a while. Although he wasn't much better when he was gushing about Ladybug.
Plagg did lift his head when he heard the doorbell ring. Adrien jumped up immediately and hurried downstairs, eagerly.
"I've got it!" He called when Natalie tied to get there first.
"But Adrien-" Natalie began.
Adrien slammed into the front door. "I said I've got it!"
Natalie frowned at him, but understood and walked away. Adrien smiled to himself as he pulled the door open, expecting to see Nino standing on his doorstep. Imagine his surprise when Alya was standing there instead. She looked down at her shoes, sheepishly. All the confidence that had pushed her to his doorstep vanished when she saw him.
"Alya?" Adrien glanced around for Marinette. He couldn't see her. To his surprise he felt a surge of disappointment. His attention returned to Alya. "What are you doing here?"
"Look, I know you're mad at me, but I'm not talking to Marinette because she kissed Luka and won't talk about it, and Nino's not talking to me because I'm always either with Marinette or Ladybug, and I've realised that somewhere along the line I've lost all of my friends, so I thought I'd come here to prove to you that I'm sorry."
Alya raised her head, ready to prove herself, but Adrien had long since stopped listening. He looked like the bottom had dropped out of his stomach and his worst fears were becoming true.
"Marinette kissed Luka?"
"Yeah right before she walked out in him," Alya said.
A flicker of hope. "She walked out on him?!"
"Yeah, and straight past me without stopping, even though I know she knew I was in those bushes," she said.
Adrien wasn't listening. He whispered, "She walked out on him..."
Alya realised what she'd done. Accidentally leaving Adrien out had given him time to think about which of them he missed most, and he'd come to the conclusion it was Marinette. Now Alya was here telling him she liked someone else, that she had kissed someone else, he was forced to face a new realisation that he liked her as more than just a friend. She tried to reel things back, so it wouldn't get complicated for Marinette.
"I mean if she loves him she loves him, they met when they were little, and she's been hurt that he left for years. I'm not surprised by their love, but damn, tell me about it right?"
Adrien snapped back to reality and frowned. "So you're alone. I'm alone all the time. What's your point Alya?"
Alya ignored that comment but noted it for later use. "Wanna go to the pick your own strawberry field with me?"
There was a fruit picking place about a fifteen minute's drive from here. twenty or so on the bus. Adrien had gone once before when he was young, and Gabriel was doing fruit themed lipsticks, so the shoot was out in the fruit fields, but he hadn't been allowed to pick any. Gabriel insisted there were pests in them and he'd get sick.
Well Gabriel wasn't here right now.
"Let me just grab something from my room and I'll be right down," he said.
Alya lit up. At least one of her friends were willing to spend time with her. (Little did she know Nino and Marinette were both at home sleeping off the indigestion that came from eating a hen house work of chicken wings last night.)
Adrien dashed up the stairs and into his bedroom. He grabbed some cash from the table and Plagg from the cushion. He cried in protest.
"Come on Plagg, we're going to the strawberry fields, literally everything there is for eating," Adrien said.
"Yet the one time I ask to go to the cheese farm you said no," Plagg grumbled.
"Dairy farms don't make free cheese Plagg that'd cost me a lot!" Adrien argued.
"And strawberries won't?" Plagg aske flatly
Adrien wrinkled his nose. He grabbed more cash off the side and stuffed it into his back pocket. Plagg nestled back down in Adrien's breast pocket, ready to leave.
"I get first dips at the cream though," he warned.
Adrien smirked, "if you must."
At least Plagg was talking to him again. That was one less thing to have to worry about. No more worrying about Plagg, he'd have to worry about Marinette instead. When he ran back downstairs Alya flipped her curls over her shoulder to look up at him.
"Is that what you're wearing?" She asked.
He slowed to a stop halfway up the stairs. "What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing, you look handsome, but we're going to get dirty," she warned.
Adrien took a step back tentatively. He could still vividly remember his father's reaction last time he came home was mud on his shirt. "Father doesn't like me getting dirty..."
But Alya wasn't going to let a little thing like the wrath of Gabriel Agreste stop her from having fun. "Then go grab a change of clothes and you can change at mine like you never got dirty."
"Will that work?" Adrien asked.
Alya shrugged breezily. "I don't see why not."
"nah, how bad can it be?" Adrien shrugged.
...
The Grease Palace was aptly named. It was a dirty looking place hidden away in a dingy alley that easily could have been where Batman's parents, if not anyone else, were killed. Dark corners were perfect to hide criminals in. If it weren't for green and red neon signs above the steps down to the little black door, it would be impossible to find.
Technically it was the back of a different restaurant which opened up onto the main street. This one was a kind of underground club that only a few dozen people knew about. Since it was open from late in the afternoon till early next morning, it was mostly people who worked nights coming for a meal, or people hungover from nightclubs down the street trying to get over the pain.
At first glance it wasn't the sort of place you'd expect children would be welcome, let alone dare to go, but Ivan once read a review online about their amazing chicken wings, and had to go. He was a big enough guy to scare off most attackers, but he wasn't violent by any stretch. He couldn't defend himself if someone did attack. Which was why Kim, Nino and Alix agreed to go too, for protection. It was kind of dark inside, only lit by yellow lights, and black stone walls and a low wooden roof gave it a kind of cave like feel which they later found out was due to the fact it was once a brothel. However, the leather seats were plump and soft, the tables were polished off with a shine, and the kitchen was spotlessly clean, despite the deep fryers, frying pans, and oil constantly bubbling away. Ivan, Alix, Kim and Nino were welcomed in and given a seat, and no one batted an eye lid. As long as they had money, no one cares how old they were. Since Fridays had an all you can eat deal for two euro fifty, it wasn't long before all the classmates were regularly visiting.
"Nino!" Marinette's voice echoed off of the alley walls.
Nino lifted his head to see her illuminated by the white lamp hanging from the wall at the end of the alley. The closer she got the more of a silhouette she became until she got to the pool of neon light from the sign above the door he stood under. She flashed him a grin in the new neon glow. He felt a surge of relief in his chest. He might have been welcome inside the restaurant, but lingering out here in the dark and dingy alley was a lot more sinister. Especially with night approaching so fast. The relief forced him forward to hug her.
"You've been waiting a while then?" She teased.
He stepped back and pulled his other headphone down. He'd had one ear free to listen out for any potential attacks, ready to scream for Chat Noir if needs must.
"I'm sure our dashing prince charming would have saved my tail," he shrugged, sheepishly.
"He'd have to risk his own to do it," she chuckled.
Nino didn't always try to hide his mild crush on Chat, "He's very gallant."
Marinette nodded, chuckling to herself, "I know."
She smiled at the thought of Chat Noir at the Grease Palace. Somehow, she could quite imagine her purrfect partner daring to face down the oil. He probably preferred his fish raw anyway. A trendy cat like that would love sushi.
"I hope you're hungry. I am," Nino smiled.
"For all you can eat, I'm starving," she grinned.
He held out his arm for her to link hers through, and they descended the few steps to the restaurant door. It was cooler here, being underground, which was a relief given how hot it was getting as they reached summer. The dark cave like atmosphere made them feel cooler too, even if it was just psychological. The cavernous space was dwarfed by a bar that took up the entire length of one wall, wrapping around the corner to go deeper into the room. Booths took up most of rest of the space, each nook in the wall held another table to hide couples in. One in the corner was boxed in by walls, and light within it was limited. It was mildly cooler inside, so they chose to sit there.
Marinette sank into the plump black leather booth seat, while Nino wandered over to the bar to order their food and drinks. She slid down and laid her bag in the corner of the booth, in the darkest section she could get it in. It was insulted and quiet there. Tikki was tired. She deserved a rest. Marinette tried to give her the best conditions possible to sleep in.
"You ok Tikki?" Marinette whispered.
"I'm fine Marinette," Tikki yawned, "goodnight."
"Sleep tight," Marinette whispered back.
Nino flashed her a grin as he placed a glass of lemonade in front of her. She covered her bag with a hand to obscure Tikki, and smiled back as he took his seat. He placed a drink of his own in front of him.
"It's been ages since I've been here," Nino said.
"I haven't been here all year at least. Not since Kim won the marathon and went on a feeding frenzy!" Marinette agreed.
Nino laughed as he suddenly remembered that event. "Oh man he threw up so much after he left. I don't think he's been back since."
"No he has, he took Max here when he lost that space competition," Marinette said.
"Max lost a space competition? I don't believe that," Nino said, baffled.
"We couldn't either, that's why he wanted comfort foods," Marinette agreed.
"Makes sense."
Marinette linked her fingers together under her chin. This was enough small talk. She was ready to get serious. "So. How are you doing?"
Nino chuckled to himself. "Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing."
She blinked in surprise. "Me?"
"Yeah. You. How do you actually feel about these dates. You don't need to pretend," he promised.
Marinette gave a hazy laugh and leaned back in her seat. She hadn't put much thought into it. Now that she did, she realised how much she'd enjoyed the dates with Chat Noir.
"Honestly, I was sceptical at first, but actually yeah. It's pretty fun. I've been out with you and Alya and Chat Noir and... and it's been interesting," she said.
Nino raised an eyebrow curiously. "Interesting?"
"Yeah, interesting. Alya's idea of a date is a lot different to Chat's. Chats is a lot more intimate, Alya's are a lot more fun, but yours are more thoughtful. Like, who else was going to take me to our school for a date, dressed up so much I almost broke a heel running away?" Marinette chuckles gently.
Nino smiled at her. "It was fun though, wasn't it?"
"Hell yeah it was! Alya is a lucky girl," she said.
Nino smiled even if he didn't want to. Alya had him wrapped securely around her little finger, and he usually didn't mind. It just meant that it was difficult to stay mad at her, even when he wanted to. Even when she deserved it. He didn't want that for Marinette.
"You know you don't have to agree with all of her ideas, right?" He said.
Marinette gave him a look. "You know what it's like to argue with her. Besides she's the only one who stood up for me against Chloe, and helped me with Adrien. I owe her a lot."
Nino nodded slightly, "We all do."
...
Long lines of deep green leave stretched down into the distance, so far that it was difficult to see the end of the field without having to climb on top of a pile of hay bales people were posing for photos with. Stripes of brown separated the lines of green. Brown dirt and dead grass trampled down by hordes of visitors coming to reap the field of its fruit. Adrien and Alya included.
"So we just pick any strawberries we want?" Adrien asked, uncertainly.
He looked around at all the people surrounding them, filling woven fruit baskets with piles of rich red berries. Children and parents in bright summer clothes were ready to eat the fruits of their labour. Some of the youngest ones looked like vampires with scarlet juices drippling down their jaws.
"Pick as many as you want, but there's a weighing scale at the end and you have to pay a certain amount for each pound," Alya explained.
"What if we go over how much money we have?" He asked anxiously. He didn't want to waste food.
"Then they take back enough that we can afford it. It's cheap labour and they make snacks and soap and things with the strawberries that they can sell on, which means they make more money. It's a smart enterprise," Alya said.
Adrien shuffled down the lie after her, closer towards the end of this plastic orange fencing, to get into the field.
"Is it?" He muttered.
"You should know, your dad owns a business," she pointed out.
"It's not like he's teaching me to run it though, I'm not even allowed to help make the clothes anymore," He said.
She picked up two of the woven baskets from a pile on a table on the way in and flashed the woman on the desk a smile as she stamped her hand with ink. Adrien held out his arm and let her press the purple ink onto the back of his hand. The picture was a upside down, and a little smudged. It was a strawberry with big eyes, a smile, and one tooth, and the words You're Berry Welcome in bubble writing above and below the image. He was still looking as it and wondering why they had had to stamp him, and why they chose to use purple ink, when Alya tugged him onwards.
"You used to make clothes?" She asked.
They wandered through a line of white tented market stalls all selling something extra. Adrien glanced over at a table covered in beeswax that held a dozen jars of honey glinting gold in the sun. For some reason made him think of Chloe.
"Up until a couple years ago, yeah," he said.
"Huh." Alya shoved a basket against his chest. He grunted. Alya ignored that. "Marinette makes clothes, you know."
Adrien dropped the basket to his side, "I know, I saw Jagged Stone too."
"Yeah, she's a real famous one now," Alya smiled.
"She shares it though. With Chat Noir," Adrien pointed out.
"She's honest. It's one of her best qualities."
If Marinette had been there she would have felt guilty. She wasn't always honest. She couldn't be. Ladybug stopped her. But since she wasn't there, Alya had to make Adrien unwittingly guilty.
She did so by added, "just like you!"
Adrien was taken aback, so he stopped walking for a moment. Alya didn't so much as pause, so he had to jog past a stall full of lavender products to catch up with her.
"Me?"
"Yeah. You."
"How'd you know I'm honest?"
"Because you are. Always have been. Right from the moment Chloe put gum on Mari's chair, you were honest about it."
Adrien's eyes widened. It'd been so long he'd practically forgotten what had happened the first day he and they met. "That was a long time ago."
Alya gazed out across the strawberry fields dramatically, "There are some things people don't forget."
At first Adrien thought she was just being dramatic, but she suddenly raised an arm and pointed out past the mass of families and friends picking the plants clean at the front of the field.
"There. No body's over there. That means there's probably still big, juicy, delicious strawberries over there. Ones no one has seen yet so they're there for the picking."
Adrien laughed at the pun that Alya hadn't noticed. She gave him a funny look but his laugh was bright enough to make her giggle anyway. Yeah, she could understand why Marinette liked him now. He was like sunshine. It took her seeing him laughing in the sunshine surrounded by strawberries to see that.
"Come on, we haven't got all day," she complained.
Adrien didn't bother to point out that she was supposed to be apologising to him, not bossing him about, and he decided it would be safer not to point out that the way she bossed him around reminded him of Chloe. Instead he kept his mouth shut and followed her. They wriggled through the hordes of people to get to the depths of the fields, where no one was there to steal their fruit.
Alya lifted a leaf to reveal a dozen plump ruby coloured strawberries. She beamed at Adrien. "Jackpot!"
Adrien fell to his knees beside her and placed the basket on the ground beside him. He picked one strawberry from the plant and held it up. Plagg snuck forward and took a deep bite from it.
"Hey!" Adrien whined.
"Delicious!" Plagg beamed.
Alya glanced over at him and grabbed the strawberry from his bad to take another bite. Adrien widened his eyes and blinked in surprise. She wiped the juice off with her hand, smudging the ink more.
"Delicious," she agreed.
Adrien snorted with laughter. "Why?!"
"Why what?" Alya grinned back.
"Why everything! Why did you eat my strawberry, why did you want me to come here, why... Why did you come to me?" His laughter died away to seriousness too fast and Alya's smile fell with it. "Marinette is your best friend. You wouldn't throw that away just because she kissed Luka. Why did you bring me here? What's going on Alya? You can trust me."
Alya opened her mouth to lie to him and make him think everything was ok, but to be honest, she wasn't feeling it. She hung her head. "I know... It's just that everything gone wrong y'know?"
"Wrong?" Adrien repeated, softly.
"I've put so much effort into one relationship I forgot about the others," she muttered. She wouldn't look at him as she went back to picking strawberries, "I know you feel left out Adrien, I understand why. We were the new kids, you and me. Everyone else has a past together and we're not part of it. I should have stuck by you."
Adrien watched her picking the fruits without checking which ones were best developed, and made a mental note to throw out the bad ones when she was done collecting them.
"Marinette came first. You were friends with her, we had a misunderstanding, and you stuck with who you knew was safe. That's fair. That's smart. That's Marinette. So why are you here with me now? Why aren't you with her?" He asked gently.
Alya didn't have a way to tell him the truth without spilling the beans on everything Marinette was trying so hard to keep hidden, no matter how useless she was at it. She didn't try.
"You know Nino as well as I do. How do I tell him I'm sorry?" She asked.
Adrien shrugged. "Just be honest with him. He knows where he stands with you. That's good. I have no idea where I stand with Marinette. She can't talk around me and now she's telling you two things she won't let me know, and I have no idea what to do about it..." he bowed his head and gulped before he added, softly, "I miss my friends."
Alya looked up, visibly worried about him. He wouldn't meet her eye. She looked back down slowly. "I get that... I'll help."
He gave her a puzzled look. "Help?"
Alya nodded firmly. "I'll apologise to Nino, and smooth things over with Mari, and we can all go out bowling or something. Together. All of us."
Adrien felt his mouth smile before the rest of him wanted to. Everything had been so serious recently, he wanted to go back to teasing.
"Alya, when have your plans ever gone correctly?"
Marinette smiled gently, but she wasn't done being serious yet. "Tell me what to tell Nino. I can fix everything else. Just tell me what to tell Nino."
Adrien sighed. "I already did. Tell him the truth."
"Right. The truth. I don't know how to make that sound good.."
Alya groaned and threw a fingertip sized strawberry over her shoulder. It bounced off Adrien's breast pocket, hitting Plagg. Plagg hissed. He grabbed a strawberry from a close bush and threw it back at Alya. Alya yelped as it hit her in the back of the head. Adrien scowled and pushed Plagg back into his pocket. Alya glared at him. She picked up a tiny strawberry from her basket she threw it back at him. She giggled. He grinned. They descended rapidly into an all-out strawberry fight that, had anyone seen, would have cost them dearly.
...
Marinette and Nino had no issue talking about serious things at the start of their date so they could get through this and start having fun again.
Marinette was keenly aware of how much she owed to Alya. Beyond the simple fact she was her best friend, beyond standing up to Chloe for her, she gave her the courage to become Ladybug. Even if it was just for Alya at first, now she was strong enough to stand up for the who city now, thanks to her. Marinette wanted her to be happy. Happy with Nino.
Marinette tried to sound casual, but the concern for her friends crept into her voice. For both of them. "Are you two gonna be ok?"
Nino picked up his drink and sipped it, before sighing and leaning back against the wood of the seat that separated the leather and the wall.
"Yeah we're gonna be ok. I'm probably gonna phone her tomorrow."
"Why not tonight? I know she's sorry. Let her prove it," Marinette insisted.
"I thought I'd take the time to spend one on one time with you again," Nino shrugged, sipping his drink again, carefully.
Marinette tilted her head in confusion. "Me? With me? Why not Adrien?"
Nino flicked his gaze back into hers, over the glass rim and through his glasses. "Honestly?"
He placed his glass down and folded his arms on the table top beside it. Marinette wriggled, mildly uncomfortable with how serious this had suddenly become.
"Because I'm a little worried about you."
"Worried? About me?"
Marinette reeled back in surprise. She'd been spending the last two days worried about him and Alya not getting back together, and how sad they were going to make each other. She didn't want to see either of them hurt. All that time she spend worrying about him, he was worrying about her too? That was enough to make her feel loved. Nino nodded solemnly.
"You've not been talking about Adrien so much lately, I wondered if you maybe wanted to talk about it?" Nino leaned forward.
Marinette blinked slowly, still taken aback by the fact he was worried about her. "Talk..."
There was a long silence between them, and Nino thought that it might be because her mind was on Alya instead of whatever was actually bothering her. He leaned forward a little closer.
"Obviously whatever this is, you can't talk to Alya about it or you already would have, right?" He asked. She didn't answer. "Look, I won't pretend I know what I'm talking about, or that I can be of help. It's not like I'm Alya, but, like, I'm willing to listen."
Nino leaned forward again, pointedly, to prove his promise was genuine. He was right. Something was wrong with her. Even Marinette wasn't sure what. But right now she felt a lot warmer and a lot more comfortable in herself. Luka missed her too, but there was no way of them fitting together anymore. That was enough to make her feel better.
"I... I dunno. I guess I've been so caught up everything's that I forgot to pay attention to why I've been doing this," Marinette said.
"Why have you being doing this though? For Adrien, or for Alya?"
Nino saw a flicker in her eyes that made him realise she had never bothered to think about it. Now she did, it took her a while to come up with an answer. Suddenly that faded and in its place was a look of determined clarity. She raised her head and said, calmly:
"For myself."
Nino tilted his head. "You're sure?"
She nodded firmly. "Alya's right. I don't have any practice being wooed and romanced so I don't know how to romance people myself. I've got some practice now. Practice I haven't had since Lukey left."
Nino couldn't hide his sudden smile. Three months ago she couldn't say his name because it hurt too much, his nickname wouldn't even cross her mind. Now she said it with so much ease he knew his plan had worked.
Nino kept his composure. "How's Luka? I heard you saw him earlier."
"He's good. He's got an online comic series and he's happy without me," Marinette smiled softly.
Nino noted the smile. He felt his gut drop. When had he become so much like Alya? He shook that from his mind and continued with his last train of thought.
"Are you happy without him?" he asked.
Marinette reached up and twirled a stand of her hair nervously. "You know what? I am. We were talking and I figured it out. You can't have more than one "the one who got away". He's always going to be mine. No one else can hurt me like that again, so I shouldn't be afraid."
"So you're going to ask Adrien out?" he asked hopefully.
"Actually... yeah. Yeah, I was thinking about it," she couldn't help smiling, and he couldn't hide his pride. "Turns out all I needed was closure with Luka. I'll ask him out next week."
Nino shook his head, "no, no, Adrien's going to Milan for a worm holiday next week."
"He is? How didn't I know that?" Marinette muttered to herself. She had clearly missed a lot more about Adrien than she thought. "I guess it'll have to wait until after."
"Wait until the last day of term," Nino advised.
"what? Why?" Marinette frowned.
"Adrien's gonna be super busy over the summer holidays, so if you ask him out on the last day and he says yes, then you know he really likes you. He wouldn't even say yes to me with any certainty," Nino explained.
Marinette hummed anxiously. "That sounds nerve wracking."
"It's not like you can't flirt with him beforehand. I hear you're good at that," Nino smirked.
Marinette chortled. "Yeah, I am."
"I'm glad the dating paid off for you at least," he said.
"Hey, thanks for that by the way. For giving up your time to date me even though it made you uncomfortable, and for making the dates fun even though you didn't want to go on them-"
"I enjoy spending time with you Mari. I wish it wasn't because Alya sent us on dates, but I enjoyed it anyway. You're more than my girlfriend's friend. You're my friend."
While they were talking a waitress brought over two of the biggest bowls of fried chicken wings you've ever seen in your life, and laid them either side of the table, so each of them had a bowl each. Nino was incredibly polite to the server, which made Marinette grin. When she walked away with a wink, Nino blushed and tugged his hat down to hide.
"Please don't tell Alya about that," he muttered.
"I won't," she promised.
He sighed with relief. "Thank you."
"thank you for calling Luka," she said.
Nino's eyes widened, and his stomach tightened. He picked up a wing to try and stay casual. "That was Alya's idea."
"No it wasn't, she hates Luka!" Marinette laughed. "Anyway, I asked Juleka why he was back and she said you asked him to come."
Nino bowed to hide behind his hat again. "Alya gave me the idea. Please don't tell her it was me, she hates him, she'll punch me."
"I know." She winked at him. "I'll keep your secret."
He smiled back at her, with a new rush of affection for his friend. "You're the greatest."
She shook her head and lifted a chicken wing. "No these are!"
...
"It'll be fine, just close your jacket up like this and no one will see the juice," Alya said.
She pulled Adrien's jacket, so it hid the bursts of red that she had covered him in. He looked as if he had been pelted by paintballs. She didn't look much better, but she was wearing pink, and he was wearing white. The jacket hid enough that it looked like a perfectly normal amount of juice had spilt on him while getting close to the strawberries to reach a specific one.
"There." She dusted off his shoulder with satisfaction. "No one will know."
"I'll know," he said.
She put a hand on her hip. "Well it doesn't matter if you know as long as they don't know."
Plagg was covered in enough juice to make it look like he'd been shot to the heart anyway. The jacket was the best defence he was going to get.
"But what'll you do?" Adrien asked.
"They can take my strawberries, what'd I need em for?" Alya shrugged.
Adrien frowned. "What did you want them for?"
"I was thinking of making strawberry cake to show Nino I care. Doesn't matter, I can buy it from Marinette's bakery. It'll probably taste better anyway," she said.
Adrien suddenly became very serious again. "try. For the sake of your relationship, try. Nino'll appreciate."
"Nino'll understand."
Nino would understand, yes. Adrien didn't doubt that. But Nino also wouldn't fight for what he deserved. Adrien wanted him to be happy, and he deserved to be happy with Alya. They would be too, if he hadn't opened his mouth.
"I'm sorry that I caused you two to argue. I want to see you happy. I said a lot of thing, and I meant them, but... I didn't mean for it to end up here," Adrien sighed.
Alya frowned in confusion, and laid a hand on his arm, "Adrien, this wasn't your fault."
He looked up, surprised. "It... it wasn't?"
"No, of course not. You're allowed to tell me when I'm wrong Adrien. And I was wrong. But then I let that linger and I was grumpy with Nino when I had no reason to be. Nino was right to point out that I was wrong to treat him like I did. I never know what to say... I love him, and I couldn't manage to keep him in my top three priorities. That's not good enough."
There was a pause as she sighed, and he moved his basket from one hand to the other, to lay that on her shoulder.
"I think you're going to be ok. I don't know anyone who loves each other more than you and Nino."
She smiled, but she wanted to stop being serious this time. "What about Ladybug and chat noir?"
He gulped. It was going to be awkward to argue superhero relationships with Alya when he knew things she didn't. But he couldn't just brush it aside. Something in him wouldn't let him.
"Mmm I dunno. He loves her but I dunno if Ladybug loves Chat back."
"I think she does. I think it's obvious."
"Really?"
"Let me explain."
Plagg was forced to endure an entire long-winded explanation about how it was obvious Ladybug and Chat Noir were destined to be together, with only brief pauses when Adrien brought a small bunch of lavender, and when they got their strawberries weighed, paid, and left. They weren't charged for the food fight, because the staff didn't notice the staining. Now though they had an inconveniently large bag of strawberries each.
"Shall we have a picnic? Get rid of a bunch of them by eating them?" Adrien asked.
"Sure, I know just the place!" Alya beamed.
The Fontaine des Innocents wasn't exactly the perfect place for a picnic in Adrien's opinion, but a large bag full of juicy strawberries with no cream or sugar for extra flavour wasn't exactly a decent picnic so they suited each other.
"Good fruit this year," Alya smiled at the taste.
Adrien held up one he wasn't sure how they could afford. It was about the size of Plagg's head, redder than a ruby, and it gleamed in the sunlight. Adrien felt the seeds rub against his lips before taking a bite. A line of pink juice shot out across his face and shirt. He groaned. Alya glanced over and smirked at the new stain on his jacket.
"It's supposed to go in your mouth Adrien," she teased.
"Dads gonna be so mad at how dirty I am," he groaned
Alya leaned over and took hold of his jacket to examine the new stain thoughtfully. "Don't worry, I can fix this."
"Really?" He asked, uncertainly.
"Do you trust me?" She asked.
"Of course," he said, instantly.
Alya swiped his phone from his pocket and smirked, "More fool you then!"
Before Adrien could question her, she shoved him backwards. He yelled as he lost hold of the wall they were sitting on, and a great splash of pure, clean water burst into the air while Alya howled with laughter. Adrien sat up, spluttering.
"I'm soaked! My phone! My money! Plagg!" He cried.
Plagg was shivering in disgust at the water seeping into the pocket, but other than that, he was perfectly fine. Alya gave him an amused look.
"You're clean now aren't you? No more dirt for your father to get mad at," she teased.
He scowled at her and held out his dripping wet hand. Alya felt a need to take a photo for Marinette. She picked up her phone, but dropped it into the strawberry bag.
"Shoot," she muttered.
"Help me out!" Adrien huffed.
"I'm sly as a fox Adrien," Alya laughed snidely, "I'm not falling for that."
"Come on, you pushed me in, help me out!" Adrien whined, "You're supposed to be sorry!"
Alya felt a stab of guilt. "You're right, you're right, I'll help you out."
She put her bag, and his phone, on the floor, and reached over the edge of the fountain. His hand was cold and wet. The sun burned her back to make the comparison blatant. She grabbed hold of his arm tightly.
SPLASH!
He yanked her forward, knocking her off her feet and sending her crashing into the freezing water beside him. She cried out in alarm as Adrien howled in return.
"fell for that one though didn't you?!" He laughed.
"ADRIEN!" She yelled. "My glasses! I can't see!"
Her glasses were sitting on the bottom of the fountain alongside dozens of different coloured coins that were scattered along the floor of the fountain anyway.
"Crap! Sorry! Here!"
Adrien felt a rush of guilt. He reached for her glasses and held them out to her. She took them in one hand, and frowned at him grumpily. Both of their hands lingered on the glasses for a moment.
"Thanks," she muttered.
His hand slipped away from them, and she dried them on the direst part of her sleeve before putting them back on. Now she could see, she grinned at him. He grinned back. His mistake. Alya shoved a wave of water at him, drenching him.
"Hey!" He laughed, and splashed her back.
Plagg didn't like the water fight. He escaped to the strawberries, sitting on Adrien's phone and grumbling as they ran around in the fountain, kicking water at each other and filling the square with laughter.
...
Marinette leaned as hard against Nino as he leaned against her. It was hard to stay upright when you were filled to the brim with chicken wings. They had to lean on each other and waddle rather than walk. Something about the summer night air, the way the cool breeze counters the warmth hovering in the air perhaps, or maybe the blanket of darkness makes it hard to see so perhaps we think out secrets can stay hidden, but the vulnerability always comes out. You have to be careful who you're with when it does.
"Nino?" She grunted as her stomach began to ache.
"Yeah?" He huffed back, the extra effort taking up more energy than expected.
Marinette licked the last of the sauce from her lips thoughtfully. "Why did you come to me?"
There was a small pause as Nino have her a bewildered look.
"Surely if you needed someone to talk to, Adrien is first on the list. Why me?"
Nino looked baffled and mildly surprised to find out she didn't know why he had chosen to take her out for dinner. Why he had needed to take her out to dinner, and only her.
"I wanted to know how it went with Luka."
That brought up new questions. "How did you even know I was still in love with him?"
He scoffed. "Dude, everyone did. Hell, even Juleka did, but she wouldn't tell you because he likes you."
"That doesn't make sense. If we like each other, why keep us apart?"
Nino frowned. "You really don't see?"
She shook her head, "See what?"
The two of them leaned against a wall instead of standing naturally at the bus stop. They were too full to stand. Nino heaved a sigh.
"You're one of my oldest friends Mari. I love you like a sister. But I love Adrien like a brother. This thing, the dates I mean... its pulling my family apart."
Marinette frowned. "How do you mean?"
"You and I both know that if you tell Alya something it'll be a secret forever, even if... someone else... needs to know. That's why I came to you instead of Adrien. I needed to know what you really thought so we could end this."
Marinette suddenly realised what he meant about Adrien. She could remember why they had to go skating together. They were forgetting him again.
"Adrien still feels left out?" She asked.
"I understand why you don't want to tell him what we've been up to, and I don't wanna pressure you to tell him if you don't wanna, but the dudes right. We've been practically ignoring him and going into splinter groups instead."
Splinter groups of two didn't much seem like splinter groups to Marinette, but she was in most of them, so she wouldn't have known what it was like to have none. Or one, rarely.
Softly she asked, "What's that got to do with Luka?"
"Answer me this. You knew Luka still liked you, but you walked away from him. Why?"
"Because... because he's the one that got away. I... I had to let him get away..."
"Because you don't love him anymore."
"I do," she argued.
"Part of you does. Part of you always will, because he's the safe option. But you don't want safe. You want love," he said, calmly.
"Everyone wants love," she muttered.
"Even Adrien?"
Marinette felt him tug her heartstrings on his behalf. She couldn't let Adrien hurt. He know it as well as she did. Adrien met too much.
"You're right. He needs us together. He deserves to know why we've been pushing him away. I'll tell him as soon as I can, I promise. Then we'll hang out. All four of us. Together."
"Like I said, I know I can trust you."
After a long lag in conversation, Nino asked if she wanted to hear his new mix. She agreed with a shrug. The bus came around the corner as Nino pulled out a set of headphones for the two of them to share on the journey home.
...
Two soggy sets of footprints made their way down the pavement, fading into a dribbled trail as they got closer to Adrien's mansion. Alya and Adrien were drying off in the heat as they had to walk back to his house, given that no bus would stop to let the so on. Still giggling, they stopped outside the gate and Adrien's heart dropped.
"Oh no..." he whispered.
Alya frowned. "What?"
"I have catwalk practice starting- twenty minutes ago! It would have been fine if we'd gotten the bus..."
Alya gulped and said, quietly, "I didn't mean to get you in trouble."
"You didn't. If I thought it'd cause trouble I wouldn't have agreed to come. I guess it's not just you who's gonna have to make a strawberry apology cake," Adrien smiled.
"Save me some, let's see who can make them better," she said.
"You're on. If he doesn't kill me that is," he forced a laugh.
Alya wrapped her arms around him, making him even soggier. "I'll write a eulogy just in case."
Adrien rolled his eyes but smiled. He headed towards his front door and she waved. He waved back. She headed off, leaving another trail of damp behind her.
"Don't worry about me," Plagg declared, "if you die, I'll return to my miraculous until someone summons me again. Probably Hawkmoth."
"Shut up Plagg," Adrien muttered.
The front door was thrown open and Adrien yelped as Plagg dove deeper into the bag, hiding down with the strawberries.
"Nice of you to turn up!" His father snarled.
Adrien's shoulders sagged. And he'd been having such a nice day...
