A/N: Did somebody ask for some Nino Lahiffe? Well, you're getting him.

Day Twenty-One: Civilian has a day with Chat Noir. In which Nino discovers things and isn't sure why no one else is freaking out.

Fire & Rain

Twenty-One: See More

It started like an average Saturday, which meant Nino woke up past noon. After eating cereal for lunch, or brunch, well food, he decided to go visit Alya because Adrien always seemed to be busy these days. He would be angry if he didn't know how strict his father was, and how demanding he was with his schedule. Adrien had told him at the beginning of the school year that it seemed like his father was finally understanding and letting the reins loose a little, and then, one day, his schedule was right back to friends? What are those?

Besides, Alya was Alya, and he was always down to hang out with her. She was smart and funny and sometimes she gave him kisses, which was always fun. The only downside to hanging out with Alya was that if there was an akuma attack, she would run towards it, not away. And Nino would run after her because she was his girlfriend and that was the kind of thing boyfriends were supposed to do.

So, of course an akuma had to attack right when he'd convinced her to go to the movies. And of course, despite his best efforts, they'd ended up separated. And of course, Nino had ended up getting injured, and of course Chat Noir of all people had seen and approached him to help.

Which was awesome because Chat Freaking Noir seemed genuinely worried about the open wound on the back of his hand, but it was weird. Because why did Chat Noir care so much about a random civilian's injury? Sure, he could be a nice guy but it seemed really genuine.

"Why didn't the Miraculous Ladybug healing wave fix that?" the hero fretted.

Nino felt himself blush at his clumsiness, "Oh, actually, it happened afterward. I tripped and cut my hand against a dumpster."

"A dumpster? It could get infected! Come with me, I'll get you help."

"It's not that big a deal," Nino replied dazedly. "And I was with -"

The rest of his sentence was lost as Chat Noir gripped him tight and launched them both into the sky with his baton. Nino hoped Alya wouldn't be too worried. He also hoped she didn't hear the way he shrieked when he felt the earth disappear from under his feet.

Despite his wound honestly not being that bad, Nino had thought Chat Noir would take him to a hospital. Or maybe a secret lair or something. Landing on top of the Dupain-Cheng patisserie and watching Chat climb into Marinette's room like he owned the place was not what he expected.

He expected Marinette only rolling her eyes at the hero's surprise appearance even less. She crossed her arms and turned to Nino, "What did he do now?"

Chat Noir gave an exaggerated gasp, "You wound me, Princess, I was only trying to help. He was injured in the akuma attack so I brought him to you, because you're so good at healing boo-boos."

Nino was surprised to see pink dust her cheeks at the obvious flirt, although he supposed she wasn't used to such direct attentions. "It's really not that big of a deal," he assured her, raising his hand to show the injury.

It seemed to have the opposite effect. Marinette hummed worriedly and pulled out a first aid kit from her desk.

"Come here," she called softly, directing him to sit on her chaise. She was surprisingly gentle as she cleaned and bound the wound. Practiced, he guessed was the right word, like she did it often.

"I get injured outside of akuma battles all the time," Chat Noir smiled at him from where he was lounging on the bed, as if he could read his thoughts.

And you come to Marinette to be healed? Nino thought incredulously. Then, perhaps more importantly, And you're comfortable on her bed?

Nino couldn't say he was as close to Marinette as Alya was - they were like sisters, like the kind of friends that swore blood oaths in movies - but he'd known her for like ever, and he wasn't exactly comfortable about teenage boys casually lounging on her bed like it was made for them. But she didn't complain, so he kept it to himself.

Once Marinette declared his wound taken care of, the hero jumped to his feet and practically vibrated in place as he smiled at Nino, "Want to play video games?"

Of course he said yes! When Chat Freaking Noir asks you if you want to play video games, you say yes, no matter what misgivings you have about their relationship with one of your close friends. He'd get to that eventually, but right now he was actually managing to best a superhero at a fighting game and that deserved all his attention.

Marinette huffed from her spot on the opposite end of the sofa. She had been unusually quiet throughout the afternoon, not even asking for a turn at playing, and honestly this day just kept getting weirder and weirder.

If he had to choose a way to describe her, he would say she seemed like a put upon housewife whose long awaited date night had been interrupted by her husband suddenly declaring it a boy's night. What? Soap operas were his guilty pleasure, and he'd seen this scene often enough to recognize it.

A little before five, she got up from the sofa and announced her parents were too busy to make dinner so she would have to take care of it. When Nino asked if she was ordering in, she glared at him, "I can cook, thanks."

"Can we have Mapo Tofu?" Chat Noir asked without looking over his shoulder. Which meant he missed the venomous look she threw at the back of his head.

"We're having roast beef," she hissed.

The hero didn't seem to notice her tone, instead smiling brightly, "Sounds great!"

Nino couldn't actually hear what Marinette was grumbling under her breath, but given how angry she sounded, he hoped it wasn't directed at him.

Chat Noir elbowed him gently in the side, "Marinette's great at all these homey things. It's like her superpower."

"My superpower is putting up with you!"

Yep, definitely a put upon housewife.

By the time dinner rolled around, Nino was only half-surprised to find out the Dupain-Chengs not only knew all about their daughter's friendship with the masked man, but that they enabled it. Hosting superheroes was no big deal and, apparently, neither were the random kids they picked up off the street. Although he supposed it helped that they already knew Nino.

Evidently, not as well as they knew Chat Noir, though.

Nino almost choked when Chat Noir called Sabine 'maman', and he was pretty sure he heard Marinette snicker at the sight. Wow, he had no idea she could be so mean just because he interrupted her whatever it is she has going on with the hero. He didn't even want to imagine what she would do to anybody that interrupted her with Adrien. He wondered if she even cared about his best buddy in that way anymore.

Alya had told him, repeatedly, that there was something going on with her best friend and Chat Noir, and Nino had humored her because it was best to just go along with the blogger's ideas until she burned herself out. But he hadn't actually believed her. Everybody knew Marinette loved Adrien, just like everybody knew Chat Noir loved Ladybug. There couldn't be anything there because they were already obsessed with other people, who certainly deserved all their adoration. Adrien was like the nicest person ever, and Ladybug was a freaking superhero!

So, he didn't give Alya's theories much attention. Until now, that was.

Marinette was comfortable around this blond in a way she could never really be with their classmate. She joked, and teased, and actually flirted. And maybe even more surprising, was that when she did so Chat Noir gave her such a besotted look that Nino had to fight the urge to look away.

It was glaringly obvious that they were into each other. And her parents didn't even seem to care.

When he asked them about it while the non-couple was busy washing dishes, Tom had shrugged, "Yeah, we figured it out months ago, we're just waiting for them to figure it out."

By the time Chat Noir finally remembered that he had to take Nino home - Nino argued that he wasn't a child and was perfectly capable of walking home alone even if 'it's really dark' - the brunet's head was spinning.

The events of the day kept replaying in his head as he lay in bed, waiting for the sweet embrace of unconsciousness. Honestly, the revelation that Marinette had managed to bag herself an actual superhero wasn't as surprising as the fact that neither of them knew it! Just how could they not know? It was ridiculous! He couldn't even appreciate the fact that he'd spent most of his day hanging out with Chat Noir because he couldn't get past their blindness.

God, Alya was turning him into a shipper, wasn't she?

His phone rang and he was only mildly surprised to see it was Alya. He had sent her a vague text about getting hurt and going someplace to get it taken care of, but hadn't said where he had gone. But Alya was Marinette's best friend, and if there's anything soap operas had taught him, it was that put upon housewives called their best friends to complain about their plans being ruined.

Especially when those plans were ruined by said best friend's significant other.

With a sigh, he answered the phone but didn't put up to his ear. He could hear her just fine anyway.

"Why didn't you tell me you were hanging out with Chat Noir?"

A/N: This was somehow even longer! I don't love myself. But it was fun to write, I adore Nino and I imagine he would be weirded out by the situation but just go with it.

Triple post as promised! Tomorrow we should be back on schedule!

As always, please review and let me know what you liked, didn't like, and what could use improvement!

~ Destiny's Sweet Melody