"Second Chance!"

Aspik let out a sigh. Ladybug blinked. "Is something wrong?"

He tried to give her a comforting smile. It came out strained. "Just a little tired, that's all."

"How many tries has it been?" she asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

"Fifty-four," he told her, and oh how that stung. He'd been hoping to impress her as Adrien, to save the day in such a spectacular, awe-inspiring way that she'd instantly fall for him.

Instead, he'd gotten her captured fifty-four times.

He never thought he'd hate the sound of a trumpet so much.

"Maybe you should take a break," His Lady suggested, frowning. "You must've been at this for hours."

He grimaced. "Probably about three hours, yeah. Some attempts… well… let's just say I was forced to abort early."

She put her hand on his, giving him a smile that made his heart flutter. "All the more reason to rest."

"Are you sure?"

She shrugged. "It's been fifty-four resets already, I don't think one more will hurt."

He nodded, relaxing against the sewer wall. If he couldn't impress her, maybe he could at least spend a little more time with her. "Alright." He hesitated a moment. "I know you can't talk about your life, what with your secret identity, but… would you be okay if I talked about mine?" Normally he couldn't even hint at what he'd been up to, what was going on in his life, for fear of giving away his secret identity. Now? Now he could share with the love of his life freely. She might not know it was her partner, but at least she knew he was Adrien.

"Sure!" She settled in next to him.

"I don't have much experience with friendship," he told her, letting out a sigh. "I- I didn't have a lot of friends growing up - just Chloe. I didn't get to see a lot of kids my age until I started school. I didn't have a second friend until-" until I met you after my first attempt at getting into Francois-Dupont. "Until Nino reached out to me. And I- I think I'm missing something."

She tilted her head to the side. "But you're perfect- I mean, you're perfectly good at making friends! You're not perfect, I mean you're great, I- I mean- ugh!"

He chuckled. "You remind me of Marinette. She sometimes mixes up her words too." His face fell, as he let out a deep sigh. "She's the one I wanted to talk about."

"Huh?" Ladybug asked. She sounded strangely nervous.

"Jagged came to the Couffaine houseboat today, asking for a guitarist. Marinette proposed that I help. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to back up Jagged Stone, he's my favorite rock star! But…" he rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't think I'm the best person for the job, and her boyfriend was right there with his guitar-"

"Boyfriend?!" Ladybug squeaked.

He looked down and off to the side. "Yeah, Luka. The boy I was hiding in the locker room with."

"He's not her boyfriend! He's just a boy who is a friend. She- she likes someone else." she protested.

"But they went on a date before?" he asked. "And when Kagami mentioned that Luka was her boyfriend, she didn't counter it."

"Maybe she was just startled and nervous because her main crush was there?" Ladybug suggested. For some reason, she seemed to be blushing.

He hummed for a second, thinking. Finally he shook his head. "I don't think so. There wasn't anywhere there I think she'd have a crush on, unless… maybe Alya? They're really close. I know she and Nino are a couple, but- but that doesn't stop the heart from wanting." He knew that from experience.

Nino'd told him before how Alya had stood up for Marinette on the first day of class, only minutes after first arriving at the new school, taking the first step in befriending her. It'd been one of the things that'd inspired him to reach out to Adrien so quickly, in fact. And one of the reasons he'd fallen in love with Alya later on (Adrien was well-versed in Alya's stunning qualities. Nino made sure that no one in his friend circle could ever forget them).

"I- I don't think she has a crush on Alya," Ladybug said. Her voice wavered slightly.

Hmm… Come to think of it, Ladybug had always gone out of her way to give Alya more attention than most other journalists or civilians, even giving her the first official Miraculous Wielder interview…

She'd told him before about a boy she loved, but… what if that'd been a ruse? So he didn't suspect that she was in love with a girl instead? Or maybe, she just hadn't come to terms with her feelings for the reporter yet, especially since she was taken. Maybe- maybe she and Marinette were in an unrequited love triangle with Alya, pining away fruitlessly.

Luckily, Adrien knew something about Alya and Nino that Ladybug did not.

"You know," he said slowly. "If you want, I can set up some more meetings between you, Marinette, Alya, and Nino. Nino's talked about potentially being interested in a polycule before, and how his girlfriend has been thinking of inviting someone to join their relationship, if they find someone they both like."

"I- Uh-" her eyes darted to his wrist as it started beeping, her cheeks tinged pink. "Oh look at the time, you'd better reset!"

He glanced at his wrist, grimacing. Only a minute left. Sighing, he nodded, before plastering on a smile. "Alright. Time to give it another go!"

He flicked his wrist, feeling a little more refreshed after the short break. Just a few more attempts, and he'd definitely succeed. Then he could dig into this polycule idea more. Come to think of it, Nino'd mentioned how good Chat's butt looked in black leather before… hmm…

(A/N)

So I had not originally intended for this to be an OT4 promotion fic, but here we go. Screw it, Alya, Nino, Marinette, and Adrien should all date. Honestly in canon, I think Marinette and Alya might have small crushes on each other, but Marinette's more attracted to Luka and Adrien, and Alya's more attracted to Nino, so it hasn't gone anywhere. Like on the Kinsey scale, I think Marinette's a 1.5. Alya, meanwhile, was shocked when she discovered that she was really attracted to Nino, because she always just assumed she was a straight-up lesbian, and hadn't realized that she COULD be attracted to guys before that moment XD