Much to Nino's relief, not only does Alya not blame him for offering her apartment as a meeting place without even bothering to consult her, but she also shows an infectious enthusiasm.
Now all he has to do is tell Adrien about the party.
The timing is perfect, Nino thinks. The anniversary of the defeat of Hawkmoth is approaching, and the risks that his friend may find difficult to face this time of the year are not negligible. For a few days now, Adrien already seems to be in a slightly darker mood than usual. His smiles are more tense, his complexion a little paler, and he sometimes stares at nothing, deep in thought.
Adrien clearly needs to clear his head.
So, the next day, Nino informs him of his idea. As he listens to him, his friend smiles, laughs out loud, and finally agrees.
And barely three days later, both are on their way to Alya's apartment.
Throughout his life, Nino has already participated in countless outings and parties of all kinds.
He's had some fun nights, some depressing, some boring, and some really weird ones. Even one involving a swimming pool, an unlucky Christmas tree and a jar of mustard, which he would rather never remember.
For now, the one he spends at Alya is undoubtedly one of the best he has attended.
Of course, his best friend's presence is likely to bias his judgment. Nino clearly enjoys every second he spends with Adrien. They chat with as much enthusiasm as when they were in school, joke, laugh heartily. And when they're not chatting, Nino never fails to watch how his best friend is doing.
Before him, Adrien goes from group to group, smiles, chats quietly, reconnects with his former classmates. Much to Nino's joy, he seems to be having a great time. Add to that great food, great company and a near-perfect atmosphere, all the ingredients are there to make this party an amazing one.
Yes. In Nino's opinion this evening is a resounding success.
But when Chloé suddenly approaches him to grab him hard by the shoulder, this pleasant moment spent between friends suddenly turns surreal.
Night has fallen for hours now and a soft, cosy atmosphere has slowly settled in the apartment. Alya left only a few lights on, but yet Chloé's polar blue eyes now sparkle with a strange glow.
"Look at that," she hisses at Nino, while putting her phone under his nose.
The young man gives her a surprised glance, then finally looks at the screen that she is desperately trying to make him read.
And immediately, he has the impression that his heart is unhooked from his chest under the effect of the shock.
The stupor is such that for a moment, Nino remains frozen, unable to utter a single word. He had certainly noticed that Adrien seemed to be having a good time, but obviously this evening freed his friend more than he expected.
A long time ago, Ladybug left a few words on the Ladyblog. A message for Chat Noir, a cry of distress, to which Adrien had stubbornly refused to answer. At least until tonight.
Because under Nino's eyes now spreads the poignant response of his friend, who begs his Lady to forgive him and to offer him a chance to see her again one day.
"Why?" Chloé whispers to him, suddenly bringing him back to reality. "Why now? He never wanted to tell us what had happened between them. Unless you had information that you kept to yourself...," she continues in a tone suggesting that it would be better for him that he did not stoop so low.
"I don't know either," Nino immediately defends himself, raising his hands in a soothing gesture. "As soon as we talk about her, he closes up. I don't know if they had an argument, if he left without saying anything, or... or... I don't know. But apparently, he's finally decided to make up with her," he concludes, pointing to Chloé's phone.
Lips pursed in a pout, Chloé lets out an annoyed snort. Her gaze goes from her phone to Adrien and vice versa, and it takes little time for Nino to guess what she has in mind.
But if they need to get explanations from their friend, Chloe is not necessarily the most appropriate person for such a task.
"Wait for me there," he orders her, anticipating the words she is about to say. "I'm going to see Adrien. "
"But ...," protests immediately Chloé.
"We're not alone here", interrupts Nino. "We risk getting others people's attention and excuse me, but you have the voice that carries when you get ang-... when you get enthusiastic about something", he quickly corrects himself. "I'm not sure Adrien wants us to divulge his secret to all of our friends. Please let me do it," he concludes in a voice he hopes will be convincing. "I know how to talk to Adrien. And I'll tell you everything. Promised. "
Chloé's cheeks flushed red during the young man's tirade and her eyes now sparkle with rage. For a moment, Nino is afraid that she will pour on him one of those explosive anger in which she excels.
Chloé clenches her fists, takes a deep breath, then slowly closes her eyelids.
When she finally opens her eyes, her gaze seems to have softened slightly.
"Okay", she lets out in a breath, her body shaking slightly under the effect of a remarkable attempt to control herself. "But you better not hide anything from me."
"Promised", repeats Nino in a strained voice.
Then, seizing his chance to escape the volcanic young woman, he takes his own phone out of his pocket and walks away to his best friend.
For a few minutes, Nino talks with Adrien. His friend seems moved, almost afraid of the gesture he has just dared, but he obviously does not regret it for a single second. Whatever happened between him and Ladybug, Adrien now seems determined to do everything to find the one who means so much to him.
Throughout their conversation, Nino can feel Chloé's piercing gaze weigh on them. And when he finally leaves Adrien to return to their friend, the young woman seems on the verge of explosion.
"So?" She says in a peremptory tone.
A slight smile immediately appears on Nino's lips.
Adrien launched his message like as a bottle is thrown into the sea, hardly daring to hope that his Lady would beckon him one day. But obviously, he is not the only one longing for the past. While he was talking with Nino, things changed dramatically in just a few seconds.
"Ladybug answered him", finally says Nino. "She sent him a phone number to call her. "
Chloé's eyes widen slightly in surprise, then she regains her composure with remarkable speed.
"I knew she would do that", she replies, proudly raising her chin. "I could have told you before you even went to see Adrien. This is exactly what I would have done and we both think in the same way. "
"I forgot that Ladybug had been your best friend..." Nino murmurs with a weak smile.
"Absolutely", approves Chloé, undaunted.
Nino mechanically bites the inside of his mouth to hold back the mocking remark that comes to his lips. Chloé is now far from the boastful and unscrupulous teenager she once was, but in view of the anxious looks she gives Adrien, she is worried. And worry brings out her worst instincts.
For her, to care about others is to show weakness. So, by reflex, she protects herself behind this shell of pride which is like second nature to her.
Ignoring her friend's unpleasant habits, Nino continues to chat. The two young people talk distractedly while glancing at Adrien. Their friend is now standing with his back to them, making it impossible to read the expressions on his face. But from where they are, Nino and Chloé can clearly see that Adrien is on the phone, and they don't need to ask him to find out who he's in calling with right now.
Without a doubt, Adrien is chatting with Ladybug.
Her former teammate.
The one he has always refused to talk about until now and that he desperately tried to reach just a few minutes ago.
The conversation between Adrien and Ladybug drags on and soon, Chloé and Nino stop focusing on their friend to start chatting calmly with Sabrina and Max.
And suddenly, in the middle of the conversation, Adrien appears.
Nino immediately guesses that something abnormal has just happened. His friend is pale, his gaze feverish, and his fingers are so tight around the phone that he holds in his fist that it is a miracle that he has not already broken it in two.
With a quick gesture, Adrien grabs Nino by the elbow to drag him aside. And there, in a tense, urgent voice, he pronounces the few words which suddenly rock the universe of his friend.
"Nino", he breathes, "Do you think Marinette could be Ladybug? "
For a few seconds, Nino remains paralyzed with surprise. He has the impression of going back to the days when he went to find his friend on the other side of the Atlantic. There, already, Adrien had made him a confession which had blown his mind. And now, under the nervous gaze of his friend, Nino feels a strange sense of déjà vu.
He hears himself stammering a vague answer to Adrien, of which he is unable to remember the exact content.
However, under his skull, his brain is boiling. He has the feeling that somewhere in his head, a lamp has just lit. That it illuminates everything around, suddenly shedding light to areas hitherto lost in shadows. His memories suddenly appear in a whole new way, tiny details take on a meaning he would never have suspected.
Nino is stunned, but the shock certainly would have been harsher if he hadn't already found out that Adrien was none other than Chat Noir.
Now that he thinks about it, the answer to his friend's question is obvious.
Is Marinette Ladybug?
Certainly yes.
That would explain a lot of things.
Marinette's physical resemblance to the famous Paris heroine. The strange "overwork" which struck her in the months following the disappearance of Chat Noir. And there are her strange absences which, now that he thinks about it, always coincided with those of Adrien. Of Chat Noir.
While Nino's thoughts fuse, intermingle and recompose, Adrien visibly loses patience. Without waiting any longer, he pulls away from Nino to head for the hallway where Marinette and Alya disappeared earlier.
Just before Adrien receives a response from Ladybug, Nino suddenly realizes.
And as he rushes after his friend, a second certainty strikes him.
Alya knows about it. Alya knows about of her best friend's secret identity.
This explains why she abruptly stopped speculating about the disappearance of her favourite heroine, how Ladybug could have left a message for Chat Noir on the Ladyblog, and why the two young women abruptly vanished when Adrien finally answered his teammate.
The situation is so incredible that Nino feels like he has been disconnected from reality. As in a dream, he sees Adrien discussing briefly with Alya then rushing into the office in which Marinette is certainly located.
Nino is now alone in front of his girlfriend, who slowly looks up at him. Alya is clearly in shock. Behind her glasses, her eyes are wide in surprise, and she is as pale as if she had just seen a ghost.
Somehow it certainly is, Nino thinks absent-mindedly. He himself is still struggling to assimilate the extraordinary discovery he has just made.
The two young people study each other for a moment, before approaching each other cautiously.
"Marinette is Ladybug?" Breathes Nino at the very moment when Alya says "Adrien is Chat Noir? ".
They both freeze immediately. A burst of nervous laughter twists Alya's lips, as Nino passes a weary hand over his face.
It's absurd.
So, so, so absurd.
"Yes...," finally answers Alya, in a voice so weak that Nino hardly manages to hear it. "Yes, it was her right from the start. And Adrien ... "
"Chat Noir", confirms Nino with a brief nod.
As if dizzy, Alya leans against the wall of the corridor. As Nino puts a worried hand on her shoulder, she gently shakes her head.
"They were both so close to each other," she lets out with a sigh. "I knew about Marinette, but I would never have guessed that Adrien..."
"What's going on with Adrien?" A shrill voice suddenly intervenes, startling them both.
Nino swivels around on himself, to immediately meet Chloé's gaze. Her friend followed him into the hallway where their little conversation is now taking place and she is clearly determined not to stay away.
Alya pursues her lips, clearly annoyed. She and Chloé get along much better now than they did a few years ago, but Nino is well aware of her fierce loyalty to Marinette. Usually, the chances of her revealing her best friend's secret are almost nil. But tonight, the circumstances are special.
Nino turns to Alya again, a faint smile on his face.
"It's okay," he reassures her, waving his hand lightly to encourage her to continue. "We can kepp talking, she knows about Adrien. "
"Know about what?" Says Chloé immediately, while bypassing Nino to face her two former classmates.
"That Adrien is Chat Noir", replies the young man gently.
Chloé flinches. Suddenly livid, she looks accusingly at Nino. If his eyes were daggers, they would have pierced the young man to the heart.
"I didn't tell her anything, she guessed on her own," protests Nino, glancing at Alya, who approves with a brief nod.
"I realized immediately when Adrien told me about Marinette", confirms Alya. "And when I saw that he was on the phone. It was obvious. "
"I do not understand anything", retorts Chloé, crossing her arms in a defensive gesture. "Once again, what's going on? "
Her eyes go from Alya to Nino, as her foot impatiently taps the ground. After a moment of silence, the young blogger heaves a heavy sigh.
"Marinette", she finally blurts out. "She was Ladybug. And Adrien just found out. "
Briefly, Alya tells Chloé and Nino what she knows. How Marinette entrusted her some time ago to have been the famous heroine of Paris. That her friend confessed that she had lost all contact with Chat Noir and that in a burst of despair, she decided to write a message on the Ladyblog.
Taking care not to speak too loudly, Alya then details the events of the evening. She explains that after seeing Chat Noir's answer, she dragged Marinette into this small room which serves as her office so that she can contact him again in peace. The plan was simple. Her best friend had to send Chat Noir a number so the two could talk to each other on the phone. Meanwhile, Alya would stand guard to make sure Marinette would not be disturbed.
But all these beautiful projects were shattered with the arrival of Adrien. Of Chat Noir.
It didn't take long for Alya to understand that his friend was actually the one Marinette was so desperately looking for. And it only took her a fraction of a second to realize that the best thing to do was let him into her office so he could finally speak face to face with Marinette.
In return, Nino and Chloé share their story. They explain under what circumstances they discovered Adrien's big secret. They tell how much he suffered from his father's betrayal and how he had to struggle to extricate himself from the ocean of despair into which this discovery had plunged him.
Little by little, all three put together the information they have, completing as best they can the gaps that still remain in the history of their friends. They don't know everything yet, but slowly the picture becomes clearer.
"I don't know what exactly happened between them", admits Nino. "Between Chat Noir and Ladybug, I mean. Adrien refuses to talk about it, he closes as soon as we try to broach the subject. I just figured out that he did something he regretted very much and that he didn't know who Ladybug was. I don't even know if he wasn't talking to her anymore because he didn't want to or if it was because he couldn't," he concluded, shrugging his shoulders in a gesture of helplessness.
"I can tell you," Alya intervenes. "Chat Noir left overnight, without saying anything to Ladybug. He gave up everything after the defeat of Hawkmoth. Powers, teammate ... "
"He had very good reasons!" says Chloé, crossing her arms defensively.
"I'm not saying otherwise", concedes Alya, raising her hands in a soothing gesture. "But how do you expect Marinette to know that? She took it pretty hard. "
"If it's any consolation, Adrien did not really took it well either", sighs Nino.
" 'Consolation' is not the right term", retorts Alya in an ulcerated tone which immediately makes the young man regret his words.
Clearly, Alya hardly appreciates that he can imply that she may have wished Adrien bad luck.
"I was mad at Chat Noir for having put Marinette through all this", continues the young woman more calmly. "But I did not wish him to suffer. No, not after everything he's done for us all these years. And now that I know that Chat Noir was Adrien... that puts a lot of things in perspective. I don't approve of what he did, but I understand. "
As the silence settles, Alya glances briefly at her office. Nino and Chloé do the same, then the three friends exchange a significant look. Words are hardly useful to express what they are all feeling right now.
Behind this door are Chat Noir and Ladybug. Adrien and Marinette.
Their most precious friends, who have finally reunited after years of wandering and suffering.
The three of them do not know what may be going on between the two former heroes, but whatever happens, all fervently hope that the outcome of this reunion will be positive. Marinette and Adrien have given too much to the city of Paris and paid too dearly for their separation for not to deserve all the happiness in the world.
"I hope everything will be okay for them...", finally murmurs Alya.
As the three friends continue to chat while casting worried glances at Alya's office door, Kim suddenly appears.
"So, you're having your own little party here?" He says with a broad smile, while passing an arm familiarly over Chloé's shoulder. "It's not funny, the real party is in the living room!"
"Kim, get out of here, you stink of alcohol," exclaims the young woman, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
"Chloéééé, you're mean!" Kim laments in a whiny voice. "Aouch!" He cries abruptly when Chloé, losing patience, pinches him viciously on the back of his hand. "Okay, okay, I was going to leave, no need to use violence. "
The young man moves away from Chloé, giving her a sad look that demeans the teasing smile that remains firmly attached to his face. But despite this rebuff, he is obviously not decided to leave the three friends alone. He staggers, puts his hand against a wall and walks forward to place himself between Nino and Alya.
"Come on!" He says with a big smile. "It's not fun if you're not here. We can even have another drink contest! "
As Nino opens his mouth to protest, a sudden cry echoes, making him jump so violently that he is sure his heart is skipping a beat.
"IT'S ABOUT TIME!" Alix yells with all her might.
While Kim bursts into laughter, Nino, Chloé and Alya cast a bewildered look in the direction of the young woman. And immediately, they understand what just happened. Alix obviously took advantage of the diversion Kim gave her to sneak behind them and open the office door, interrupting the reunion of Marinette and Adrien.
In the room, they can now see their best friends.
Marinette and Adrien are in each other's arms, cheeks flushed with emotion. Eyes shining with tears, they look at Alix with an expression of surprise almost comical on their faces.
Their dishevelled hair and their lips still parted leave no doubt as to what they were doing before their friend's untimely arrival, and the return to reality clearly seems harsh. But despite Alix's interruption, they still hold onto each other tightly, as if they were going to die if they had to separate for even a fraction of a second.
Chloé is the quickest to react.
"ALIX!" She roars, rushing after the intruder.
She grabs her by the arm and pulls her unceremoniously towards her. Without being gentler, she leads her out of the room and turns to Marinette and Adrien.
"And you!" She says authoritatively to the two stunned former heroes. "You better keep doing what you were doing!"
Then without adding another word, she slams the door violently, almost making the walls shake.
As Kim and Alix walk away laughing, Chloé, Nino and Alya exchange a dazed look. All three have in mind the scene they have just witnessed.
Marinette, Adrien, and that kiss they were clearly sharing before Alix interrupted them.
"Well...", Alya says in a hesitant voice, while a relieved smile slowly emerges on Nino's lips. "I would say we don't have to worry about them. "