Fun thing, I was actually writing the Befana episode because lucky charm part two is in that one where my brain went: wait, do this before because feelings and brain was right. This was fun to do.

On the bright side I have 1/4 of another chapter already done so kudos for that past me.

Enjoy!

Adrien thought this was going to be another school day. Hang out with his friends, fencing practice, do homework and then patrol with Ladybug and try for the umpteenth time to convince her to watch Naruto. The day seemed nice, sunny, calm, no sudden impromptus of akuma attacks. The classes went well, no extra homework and he got a good grade on the latest quiz. So far it seemed like a good day.

At least that's what he thought until he entered the courtyard to see Nino hiding behind some gym material and snooping on…Marinette and Alya?

Oh? Ok this was new. Since when Nino had an interest in…wait, who was he interested in?

"So…what's going on here?" he asked, startling the poor guy who pulled him back to his hideout.

"Dude!" he hissed through his teeth "you almost blew my cover."

"Ok? But what is going on?"

"Can I confess you something dude?" Nino fiddled with one of his colorful bracelets "and you won't get mad?"

"Of course Nino, you can tell me anything."

"I…" he took a deep breath "I think I have feelings for Marinette."

Oh.

Something didn't sit right in Adrien's stomach from hearing that. Well, not that it was wrong, why would it be wrong? After all, Marinette was amazing and he had heard many guys –and a few girls- crushing over her. He was familiar with crushes, having had to politely reject advances from fans mostly, so this wasn't out of the ordinary. So why would he be mad his best bud was suddenly having different feelings towards Marinette? There shouldn't be any reason.

Except that it felt like he had swallowed a sour pill dissolving in his throat.

"Why, why would I get mad?" he asked.

"Well you two seem to be close and I don't know if you two are- "Nino paused, hoping for Adrien to catch up.

"If we are… oh, together? What? No, no, we are just friends" he waved his hands "she's a really good friend."

'And my partner who saves the city every few days and the only one who really knows me a hundred percent' he added in his mind, but he knew he couldn't say that to Nino.

"Oh, then… do you think it's ok if I…ask her out?"

"Well, I don't know if she's crushing on someone right now," Adrien looked towards where Marinette was, giggling at a fashion magazine. He thought about it, but no name crossed his mind. And Nino was his friend, Marinette was his friend, there was nothing wrong with Nino asking Marinette on a date, right? The worst he could get was a no after all.

"I can help you ask her if you're too nervous" he smiled "what's your plan?"

"I have no plan" Nino rubbed his face in frustration "do I go up to her and crack a joke? Shoot her a compliment? Invite her to the zoo? Play it serious?"

"Invite her to the zoo? Are you serious?" Adrien had to bite back a smile. He may not know much about dating but that sounded a little too tacky for a romantic setting.

"Well they have this cool new exhibit there" he rubbed the back of his head. Adrien had to admit, Nino looked serious in wanting to ask Marinette out and hey, there was no harm in asking.

"Then you should invite her to the zoo," he smiled at his friend, might as well go with the tackiness "I'm sure she'll say yes."

Nino smiled at him, and Adrien had to fight back the squishiness in his stomach. He walked along with Nino out of the courtyard so they would 'stumble' on the girls who were most likely going out for lunch.

"I kind of get the vibe of this season but having a color scheme like this you must admit is a risky move-" he heard Marinette speak, no doubt analyzing the fashion magazine. He pulled Nino towards them, smiling when he saw her nose deep in the magazine, eyebrows scrunched as she looked at what had to be a photo of him of one photoshoot.

"But to call it blood orange? It's not even near red more of an autumn v-ah!" she squeaked as she collided into Nino, the magazine falling of her hands. She kneeled to get it, only to clash her head against Adrien's, who had thought of doing the same thing "ow."

"Oh, sorry, about that" he helped her stood up and nudged Nino, who had now frozen on the spot. Oh boy he had it bad "how could we make it up to you?"

Marinette raised an eyebrow at him. Adrien had to sit back a smile or else she would find it suspicious. Then again she was that smart and perceptive there was no doubt in Adrien's mind that Marinette would catch up of what was going on.

"Oh I know, how about we all," he made sure to not sound too obvious "check out the zoo today? Word is they got a new…"

"They've got a new panther," Nino stammered next to him.

"Oh right!" Alya jumped in "my dad mentioned about her during dinner, they are finally allowing her to be for public view."

"Awesome! So after school? 4 o'clock?"

"But wait" she crossed her arms "don't you have fencing today?"

Oh shoot, Adrien had to think fast on that one.

"I think I can skip one class, right?" he smiled at her, his eyes trying to send her a message to play along. He was so lucky she got him because she just rolled her eyes.

"Such a rebel" she smiled "but we'll see you there at four" she waved at the three and walked back to her home for lunch, leaving the two guys and Alya at the stairs.

"So!" Alya clapped her hands, calling the attention of them "that was an unusual way to ask for hanging out between friends" she smiled at them and Adrien panicked, he knew that smile "anything to share boys?"

"Uh…" he turned to Nino "well thing is,"

"Oh my gosh" Alya covered her mouth "Nino, you have a crush on Marinette?"

Wow she was fast.

"I, uh, yes?" Nino stammered, Adrien looking at both his friends, one obviously embarrassed while the other eyeing at him instead of Nino, why was that?

"And you are ok with it?"

Ok, second time he got asked that, this was getting weird.

"Why wouldn't I be ok with it?" Adrien frowned "Marinette is great and Nino can have a crush on her, that's not anyone's fault."

"Not what I meant sunshine," she waved a finger "but true, I must admit I did too at some point but if you say you are ok with it…" and again, strange for them to ask him that "I'm guessing this means we'll leave those two together at the zoo?"

"What?! No" Nino waved his arms "you cannot do that to me, I'll panic and freeze!"

"So what, should we do a rom com spying behind bushes and give you advice through a headset?" she crossed her arms.

"I mean we could…?"

"Adrien come on, we are not in a movie- you really want to do that,"

Few hours later they were just doing that, Alya and Adrien hiding behind some bushes while Nino stayed on a bench waiting for Marinette to arrive.

"This is the stupidest thing and I'm the one running after akuma fights" Alya sighed, fiddling with the ear piece "Marinette is going to see right through this you know?"

"Oh I know, but at least give Nino the chance?" Adrien peered over the bushes, no sign of Marinette yet "he's really nervous about this."

"I'm more impressed you are agreeing to this,"

"And why wouldn't I- "he started to ask, only for both to be caught off by Nino exclaiming Marinette was approaching. It was time to put their plan into action.

Marinette was not dumb, there was something going on, but she was going to play along until she got to the bottom of it. Besides, the zoo did sound fun and it was a nice day, she thought as she found Nino by the entrance.

"Hey Nino!" she waved at him "Alya told me she'll be a little late, is Adrien not here yet?"

"Tell her you'll both be better off without me," Nino heard on his ear, repeating the words in verbatim to Marinette.

Alya and Adrien face palmed from their position. This was going to be harder than they thought.

"Without him, I mean without him" they heard Nino fix himself "we don't need him to hang out at the zoo."

"Right…"

"But we could wait for him to come."

Adrien groaned from his hiding spot.

"Told you," Alya snickered next to him and watching the situation unfolding in front of her "but hey, now they are sitting together to talk."

How was this so easy in movies, Adrien would ask days later Marinette but right now he had to find a way to help Nino out.

"Ok, ok, repeat after me: he is running late but I wanted to take this opportunity to speak to you," Adrien tried again, smiling that Nino didn't mess up this time.

"So I could tell you that I love you Marinette,"

There was a pound in his chest the moment he said that. Oh, was it too strong? Wait, he was just giving Nino words for him to tell Marinette this was not Adrien saying it. But why did his hands start to sweat? And his heart beating faster?

"Tell you that I love a girl but I don't know how to tell her!"

"Uff, that was close" Alya looked back at Adrien "hey you ok sunshine?"

"Yeah, I guess that was a strong approach" he tried to covered himself up, drying his hands on the back of his jeans. He could hear Marinette's excited voice, totally thinking Nino was talking about someone else. Worst of all, Adrien's mind wanted that to be true.

"So who is this lucky girl?"

"Tell her it's you," Adrien said into the ear piece, but his tone wasn't as upbeat as a moment ago, ignoring Alya's stare.

"It's youu-r best friend Alya!"

Adrien turned to look at Alya.

"This is a major train wreck," she said "I know that's a lie."

"In her defense, you two could hit it up quite nice,"

Alya raised an eyebrow at him and Adrien just turned back his attention to Nino and Marinette, but then just their luck, he saw Kim and Max running past them, followed by-

"A panther!?"

"Nope, looks like whole zoo is out!" Adrien stood up to run and find a place to transform, only to see Alya, as usual, running head first into danger "h-wha!? How does Marinette handle this?"

"Beats me" Plagg mumbled from his pocket, only to be sucked out as Adrien called out his transformation and caught up with Ladybug, who had stopped a panther from attacking Kim.

"Oh so you were nearby" she quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Ah… should we deal with the akuma first?" he smiled, glad that Ladybug did put responsibility first.

"Hm, his bracelet, it must be where the akuma landed."

"Alright, you hold him, I'll go get it," Chat took a step towards it only to see the escaped animals lining up to chase them.

"On second thought, I don't want to be like Mufasa right now," they took off running away from the animals.

"We have to put them back in their cages!" he exclaimed as they ran.

"Like they won't put up a fight" Ladybug glanced back and sped up, when she saw more animals chasing after Alya and Nino "hang on,"

"What are you- "Chat ran towards a tree to climb onto, avoiding the vicious fangs and claws "LB!"

"Sorry!" he heard her exclaim from the top of a cage "had to make sure Alya and Nino were safe!"

Chat jumped towards her, glad the height gave them safety from the animals.

"You locked them up together?"

"It may work out for Nino to confess his crush on Alya" she shrugged "you should have told me about it before trying this convoluted plan,"

"Right… but akuma first?"

"Well, back to plan A" oh was Chat so thankful Ladybug was better at prioritizing when the time came for it "destroy the bracelet and capture the akuma."

Finding this one became a challenge, especially when they discovered he could shape shift. They looked at the eagle shaped akuma escaping.

"Now we need to find Kim so we can catch up with the akuma,"

"Problem solved" Chat pulled out his baton to show the tracker he had put on Kim as he ran away to safety.

"Good job kitty" Ladybug snickered and scratched his chin, running towards the point of the map. Chat felt his cheeks flush but shook his head fast and ran after her, soon both landing on the top of her balcony.

"Of course he picked my parent's bakery" she huffed "with this shapeshifter akuma he could easily sneak in like a mouse and attack Kim."

"Unless we mask his scent," Chat snapped his fingers "you know, that's an animal trait, they have better sense of smell than us."

"Ohh I like the way you think kitkat" Ladybug jumped down to enter the shop, Chat looking through the window just in case the akuma was nearby. Once they got hold of something that would trick the akuma into following them instead of Kim, it was time for phase two.

"Nice to see you can still slip up" he said once they were out of ear shot "or that they didn't catch up who you are."

"Har, har" she placed the wrist band on the stairs "focus Chat, we still have an akuma to catch, now ocean breeze or lavender?" she pulled out a couple of air fresheners.

"Ocean breeze," he covered his nose as Ladybug sprayed him "now about that cage…"

Capturing this akuma became more and more difficult, especially since none of them wanted to be eaten alive. The only way was to tire it out from transforming, with just a graze of luck sneaking out of the bus to trap it inside.

"I don't think he can bear to listen to that noise,"

"You're almost too much to bear" she poked his nose "now we wait."

"This is going to be hawkward," Chat couldn't help to add.

"Let minnow about that too" Ladybug giggled "but look! It's working!"

The words were spoken too soon when they saw in horror the akuma transforming into a T-Rex. Oh now that was totally unfair! This was not how he wanted to enjoy the Jurassic Park franchise either.

"Lucky charm!" Ladybug called out her power, a car jack falling into her hands.

"Oh, I know! You climb on top of him where he can't get you,"

"Tiny arms, got it" Chat snickered "and you?"

"While you distract him I floor it and catch the bracelet."

"I must say I'm not a fan of this plan," Chat squinted, only to be interrupted by the slam of the T-Rex on the car they used to hide. Chat took off running and jump on top of the T-Rex, feeling like those mechanic ride bulls he had seen on shows before.

Ladybug managed to trick it to the ground, but they were still not done as she pulled him back from getting bitten.

"I know what to do," she grabbed the car jack and ran. And in that moment Chat felt fear of losing her as he saw her literally jump into the dinosaur's mouth.

"NO!" he pulled out his baton "you're so going to pay for this!"

Chat was about to lunge himself at him, when he heard noise coming from inside the dinosaur's mouth, Ladybug coming out unharmed and in one piece, easily retrieving the akuma from the bracelet.

Chat looked at the ladybugs doing their magic and turning things back to normal, but the moment he saw Ladybug offering her fist for their usual bump he dashed for a hug, squeezing her tight.

"You know the sacrificing talk also applies to you," he said in the hug "you scared me."

"I'm sorry Chat" she rubbed his back "there was no time to explain and- "

"I know that part" he pulled away "but now I know how you felt."

"I promise to try and explain fast a plan then" she patted his cheek and pointed at his ring, "see you tonight?"

"Of course," he vaulted away, with her going back home, only to get a phone call from Alya.

"Oh shoot! Wait…I didn't know as Marinette she was at the zoo either way," her eyes lit up "oh and Nino wanted to ask her out!"

"Hey girl" he heard Alya pick up on the other side as Marinette came down the stairs "where are you?"

"Well after the attack of the akuma I ran for safety as we are all supposed to do," she said while opening the door "what about you?" she looked up to see Alya standing right outside of the bakery, smiling at her.

"Ah, was on my way there but you know, have to get the news,"

"Of course," Marinette crossed her arms, surprised to see Nino coming out of the bakery with a bag of fresh made cookies "oh hey Nino,"

"Hey Marinette, want one?" Nino offered from his bag.

"No thanks, but, how did you end up in here too?"

"Ladybug locked us up in the same cage at the zoo all afternoon" Alya said. Marinette fought back pulling a face, it hadn't been the entire afternoon.

"And turns out we've tons in common" Nino added "you know Marinette, the girl I had a crush on…"

Marinette eyed Alya, remembering what Nino said a while ago, oh was she going to hear good or bad news? Alya's face wasn't giving her any clues!

"Actually it was you."

Wait, what?

"Or that's what I thought but after chilling with Alya that whole time,"

Alya nudged him at that moment, leaving Marinette to wonder just what had just happened.

"Funny thing is, Adrien was trying to coach me the whole time," he added.

Ohh, so that's what he was up to.

"Well, I'm glad you two found each other" Marinette smiled at them, happy for her friends "but maybe next time don't run into akuma fights Alya?"

"I can try not to do it so obviously" she smiled, the three soon laughing and sharing some pastries.

Marinette made sure to pack some cookies for that night as she made sure the coast was clear to transform and find Chat, the mentioned blond looking at the moon.

"Penny for your thoughts?" she asked, sitting next to him with the box in her hands.

"We don't handle pennies, do we?" Chat smiled and picked a cookie.

"It's how the expression goes," she smiled back.

They stayed in silence a good while, until Ladybug started to giggle.

"So I found out about the whole zoo trip," she started to say "did you try to set me up on a date with Nino?"

"Ah… well he was just going to tell you how he feels; the rest was up to you" Chat fiddled with the bitten cookie in his fingers "what happened?"

"Well, turns out he and Alya are now dating" she grabbed a cookie and nibbled on it "so me locking them up together wasn't a bad plan after all."

Chat couldn't help but to laugh. He was so going to get the details out of Nino the next day, how on Earth did that even happen? But as they laughed and Ladybug ate her cookie, Chat could feel his insides calming down, the sourness from that morning no longer in his throat.

He looked at his side, where Ladybug was looking at the moon, her blue eyes shining with the moonlight like a couple of shining stars, how her hair shimmered in a beautiful aura that made him wonder how soft it would feel in his fingers, how her smile concealed the joy and hope she emanated and soothed him.

Just then, the flashbacks of today, the previous times with Evililustrator, the way he remembered with fondness their secret jokes, their times alone, the way she relied on him with her fears and hopes, the way she was the only one who truly saw who he was despite the model persona he showed outside to the world compared to his goofy self, how she was kind and caring and strong and resourceful and how his chest beat fast when he thought about how he wanted to be the one there for her, how he was the one that wanted to ask her out to the zoo, the tackiest place for a date, not Nino, not Nathaniel, not even Alya who said had also crushed on his partner.

It was that night that Chat realized one thing that would change everything from now on.

'I'm in love with Ladybug… I'm in love with Marinette.'

Ok I really am between doing Befana because I need Marinette to also realize her feelings...but I could also do that with Dark Cupid because I have big plans for that one.

So most likely I'll do that and then Befana, and after that is pining time everyone.