"Is that really all that you have?," Nino wonders, casting a wary look at the two suitcases in the middle of the hotel room.
Standing in front of him, Adrien lets out a small laugh.
"I travel light," he replies, passing his hand absently through his hair.
"But still", retorts Nino. "You had been gone for what, almost three years? I expected you to come back a little loaded than that."
"Well, if I were you, I would have brought back tons of stuff", says Chloé from the other side of the room. "And I can't believe you've been on a trip to New York and bought me absolutely nothing!"
The young woman walks away with a indignant sniff. She joins one of the hotel employees who has accompanied them to the suite, talks briefly with him and then dismisses him with a brief wave of the hand.
"Well, it's all good," she continues, turning to her friends.
She approaches Adrien briskly and hands him a set of keys.
"Now, you're at home", she says with a triumphant smile. "Welcome to Paris!"
While Adrien closes his fingers around the metal object that his friend has just given him, Nino comes forward in turn.
"Welcome to Paris," he adds, giving him an affectionate pat on the shoulder.
Since Adrien has returned to their hometown, Nino is breathing better.
Of course, he worries less about his friend than he did just a few months ago. But it is still a huge relief for him to know that if there is a problem, he will only need a few minutes to reach Adrien.
Now, Nino and Chloé's main concern is that their friend will be living in the same town as his father.
Because although in the hands of justice, Gabriel Agreste is still in Paris. Nino and Chloé wholeheartedly hope that this proximity will not be enough to make Adrien fall back into the depression that he had so much trouble fighting. They surround their friend, talk to him, watch him with constant attention.
Insofar as Adrien is reluctant to discuss his father, Nino and Chloé do not know if has got in touch with him. They are eager to know it, but over time, they have learned not to force the issue when their friend refuses to broach a sensitive subject. To speak of Gabriel Agreste on a day when Adrien is not in the mood to confide in, or even to say the name of Ladybug, is to risk that their friend will sink for hours into a stubborn silence.
So, rather than pressing Adrien with questions, Chloé and Nino patiently let him know that they will always be there to listen to him if he needs it. They wait for him to spontaneously open up to them, while hoping with all their hearts that his condition will not worsen.
Fortunately, Adrien quickly thwarts their most pessimistic forecasts.
The young man slowly acclimates to his new Parisian life, taking the time to rediscover his hometown without forcing things. Surrounded by the support of Nino and Chloé, he quietly finds his feet and enjoys every moment he spent in the company of his friends.
Nino is absolutely delighted.
Of course, Adrien's morale will probably never cease to worry him.
Of course, he and Chloé have spent hours thinking, organizing, planning every detail in order to ensure that the young man's return to France went smoothly.
But for him, these worries are very little compared to the sincere joy he feels at having finally his best friend back. Nino is not a particularly antisocial boy, but Adrien holds a special place in his life and he sorely missed him during his exile in the United States.
Now the two young people catching up.
As soon as their respective schedules allow it, they meet at one or the other. They take advantage of Adrien's luxurious television to organize video game tournaments, discuss films or music for hours, embark on real comparative studies of restaurants who deliver their meals at home.
Sometimes things seem so normal that, from time to time, Nino almost feels like the last few years have been just a bad dream. Then, the next moment, a melancholic look or a slightly too pronounced sigh from Adrien brings him brutally back to reality.
Nothing will be quite as before for the one who is now known as the son of Hawkmoth, it is a certainty.
But Adrien is fighting to get better. He moves on against all odds, determined to overcome this terrible ordeal that almost engulfed him alive.
Adrien struggles and undeniably progresses.
And now that he's finally back in Paris, Nino allows himself to relish the simple fact of having finally his best friend back.
One day, Alya calls Nino to suggest a dinner at the restaurant.
This offer is nothing unusual. During Adrien's long absence, Nino and Chloé made a habit of meeting regularly with her and Marinette.
It had originally been Nino's idea. The young man has always been close to Alya and Marinette and by dint of seeing Chloé, he naturally proposed to his new friend to join them during their outings.
First of all, Chloé was reluctant to join their small group.
The hesitation of the mayor's daughter was understandable. She and Marinette have never been friends, and who tries to bother Marinette inevitably attracts Alya's wrath. But after first lunches spent in tense silence and a few evenings whose electric atmosphere quickly turned to stormy voices, things gradually softened.
Slowly, painfully, their little band finally found a new dynamic.
Under Nino's leadership, Chloé swallowed her harshest remarks, Marinette agreed to bypass the animosity she felt for her lifelong rival and Alya decided to give the mayor's daughter a chance to prove to them that she could be something other than that haughty girl they had always known.
And now they all form a strange but tight-knit group that meets regularly around a drink or a good meal.
"... and there is this new restaurant which opened five minutes away from my place," continues Alya in a happy voice. "I thought we could try it one of these days. "
As his girlfriend's voice echoes through the phone, an idea suddenly shows up in Nino's mind.
Until then, Adrien has never expressed the desire to see anyone other than Chloé or him.
His friend wants to take his time. To slowly get back on his feet in his new life, step by step, without forcing things. He prefers long solitary walks to crowds, quiet moments with his closest friends to crazy Parisian evenings.
Adrien rebuilds himself, slowly, carefully.
But for now, with the notable exception of Nino and Chloé, this healing is happening alone.
And while he is chatting with Alya, the memory of Marinette suddenly imposes itself on Nino. More specifically, the memory of Marinette on her return from London.
Nino remembers precisely how his friend was only a shadow of herself when she returned from England. How much she seemed emptied of all this almost solar energy which usually makes her radiate and how she seemed to hold only by the sole strength of her nerves.
Instead of the young girl sparkling with joie de vivre he knows so well, he only found a shadow ready to dissolve into nothingness.
With an unpleasant shiver, Nino remembers how thin Marinette was then. He remembers her sickly lividity, her feverish gaze, the disturbing way in which she sometimes seemed to disconnect from the world and lose herself in thought.
Overwork, explained Alya.
Too preoccupied himself by Adrien, Nino hardly had the opportunity to dwell on Marinette's moods. Reluctantly, he left it up to Alya to help her best friend through these difficult times. But despite everything he tried to be present as much as possible, and he now remembers that quiet meetings between friends have done wonders for Marinette's morale.
From restaurants to cinemas, from picnics in the park to strolls along the Seine, Marinette seemed to be doing a little better with each new moment spent surrounded by her comrades. Over time, the young woman's cheeks regained that pretty pink that should never have left them, her cheekbones regained delicate curves, and her pale smiles turned into joyful bursts of laughter.
The company of her loved ones has brought a decisive help to Marinette, it is a certainty.
And Nino does not doubt for a moment that it could be the same for Adrien.
The loneliness in which his friend locked himself has given him time to rebuild himself away from harmful intrusions, but it also leaves room for dangerous introspections. Now that Adrien is better, he needs to clear his head. Nino is convinced of it. He knows his friend well enough to know that he tends to ruminate dark thoughts when left too long without distractions.
Adrien has cut himself off from the world too much for his own good and it is time for him to widen his social circle a little more.
"Hey, Alya," he says abruptly. "You're okay with Adrien coming too? I'm sure he'd be happy to see you both again."
His girlfriend reacts with overwhelming enthusiasm which hardly surprises Nino. When they were in middle school or high school, saying the words "Adrien", "Marinette" and "Rendez-vous" in the same sentence has always been one of the best ways to get Alya to react.
And for that, obviously, nothing has changed.
As soon as Nino finishes his sentence, Alya exults, gets carried away. She explains to Nino how happy Marinette will be to see Adrien again, and how much she longs to see him too. She would have liked to visit him as soon as he returned to Paris, she continues in a suddenly more serious tone. But knowing the difficulties he went through, she preferred to stay back until their friend found his feet in their hometown.
Then, just as quickly, she relaunches the subject of their upcoming dinner and describes in great detail the restaurant in which their reunion could take place. Nino listens to her, argues in turn, and very quickly, the two agree on a plan.
"Well, we're good", exclaims Alya in a delighted voice. "I send a message to Marinette right away and I'll let you see you with Chloé and Adrien. Let's say... next saturday? Let me know as soon as you know if it's good for them, I'll call the restaurant to book. Ahh, I feel like this is going to be awesome!" She concludes with such passion that Nino cannot help but smile. "I can't wait to see Adrien! "
This meeting organized with the help of Alya goes beyond Nino's expectations. Adrien is delighted to be reunited with his two former classmates and it's obvious that he's having a great time.
Seeing his friend have fun like this makes Nino want to repeat the experience. Whenever he has the chance, he includes Marinette and Alya at the meetings he plans with Adrien, while for her part, Alya makes it a point of inviting their friend to each of their outings.
Adrien is delighted that Alya and Marinette are back in his life, and for Nino, the benefits of the presence of the two young women are obvious. Now that he's hanging out with people other than the only two human beings he's probably tolerated in recent years, Adrien is opening up more and more. His smiles are franker, his jokes more spontaneous. Admittedly, the young man remains a little too melancholic for Nino's taste, but the progress is undeniable.
"I admit that you had a good intuition", even concedes Chloé one day when they both discuss their friend. "I admit I was a little sceptical at first, but you're right. Adrien cannot continue to hang out with only us. "
"Exactly", Nino approves with a happy little laugh. "It's good for him to see people. It forces him to socialize."
For a few seconds, only silence answers him, and Nino's smile widens even more. He now knows Chloe well enough to guess that she is looking for a criticism to make, something to nitpick, or otherwise for something she could brag about.
But for once, she obviously finds nothing wrong with the situation.
"Fortunately I suggested that we take Adrien out a bit," she finally blurts out. "You did well to offer Marinette and Alya to come, but I remind you that it was originally my idea to drag him out of his room. "
Nino bursts out laughing, amused by the absurd pride shown by his friend. Ignoring the fact that Chloé's first proposals were more about kidnapping attempts than anything else and that her plan to hire people to force Adrien to accompany her to the tourist hot spots of Paris was flirting dangerously with illegality, he nods mechanically.
"It was an excellent idea", he agrees in a conciliatory tone, refusing for once to fight Chloé. "So I suggest that we continue to do so!" He concludes with enthusiasm.
"If you want ...", replies Chloé in a dubious tone. "Just try to not do anything stupid. I have nothing against you, but I care about Adrien. "
"Promised", Nino laughs. "I care about him too, don't worry." "
Encouraged by Chloé's relative approval, the young man decides to push his luck a little more.
Adrien clearly enjoys going out in small groups and Nino believes that hanging out with more people would do him a lot of good.
But he remains aware of his friend's fragility and he doesn't want to force things too much. Adrien must feel surrounded, protected, reassured. He should not be pushed into a crowd full of strangers, but rather be offered a situation in which he can afford to let his guard down for a few hours.
And quickly, Nino finds the ideal solution.
Adrien needs time spent in the company of people he knows and appreciates, with whom he can have fun without the slightest restraint. An evening at Alya's, for example, with all their old friends.
Yes.
It would be perfect.
Now that he has his plan in mind, Nino quickly taps on the screen of his phone to scroll through his list of contacts. Adrien has always been a quiet boy, who only had a small number of relatives when he still lived in Paris. At the time his social circle was limited to his classmates and the events of recent years have done nothing to make thing better.
With a big smile on his face, Nino lists their former classmates. Showing unfailing motivation, he calls everyone Adrien saw when they were students, hastily takes notes on a sheet of paper, compares everyone's schedules.
And suddenly, after a few hours of various phone calls, invitations and countless promises to warn everyone as soon as the date of the party is definitively fixed, Nino freezes.
Carried away by his enthusiasm, he forgot a detail.
A small, tiny detail.
Nino's face twists in a contrite grimace as he presses a final name on his phone.
"Alya?" He says before his girlfriend has time to place even a word. "I hope you won't be mad, but it's vaguely possible that I just invited a dozen people over to come and party at your place."