Airin: ¡Gracias por tus comentarios! Me alegra que te esté gustando este fic. Tengo bastante planeado para este fic, entonces ya las cosas se están poniendo interesantes. Espero que también te guste este capítulo. :)
Chapter 3
The world screeched to a halt, taking away the din of battle and replacing it with a shrill static that made Nino's teeth ache. He tried to cover his mouth to keep the murmured what the Hell what the Hell from outing him, but his bones had turned to lead.
Chat Noir.
Adrien.
Chat Noir and Adrien.
It all made sickening sense. The battles. Chat Noir leaving with injuries. Adrien showing up to school with the same ones. He'd watched the interviews, for God's sake, and he still didn't make the connection between the hero of Paris and his best friend.
Nino hid himself deeper into the shadows of the overturned furniture and let the dust of the fallen columns settle on his clothes. Somewhere above him, Ladybug's frantic yell mixed in with Radiance's raucous chortle.
Did Ladybug know about Chat Noir?
And just like that Nino's anger surged past the awe. She was Adrien's partner, and he still got hurt. With all her superpowers and all her experience, Adrien kept getting hurt while she managed to escape unscathed. Was he the only one who gave a damn about Adrien?
Behind the fallen column, Adrien stumbled to his feet. He wobbled, his bad leg buckling and sending him to his knees— were his injuries worst out of costume? Nino moved to help but froze when Adrien looked his way.
Gone was Chat Noir's mask and the iridescent, green aura around his eyes. Left was Adrien's pale and stricken expression, the cut along his hairline bleeding freely. Nino settled back on the balls of his feet, readying some kind of explanation, when Adrien whirled around and began to search the ground behind him.
"Where is it?" His voice was pitched high and with a note of hysteria. Adrien shambled around the spot. A piece of ceiling broke off and landed to his right. Adrien jumped back with feline agility and cursed.
Nino continued to watch, slack-jawed and jittery.
Just then Radiance filled the room with light, briefly illuminating his hiding spot, and shot it out in all directions. The wall in front of Nino and Adrien was hit and brought down the last of the crumbling rafters. Adrien tumbled out of the way while Nino cowered further in the refuge of the booths.
A strangled cheer came from the crowd of people not yet akumatized. Nino peeked out and was hit with the barest breeze of Parisian air. Beyond the illuminated haze of dust, he saw the people climbing over pieces of debris and onto the sidewalk outside Club République.
"Let's take this outside!" Radiance followed the people out the door, managing to grab two by their shirt collars and transforming them into more of her backup dancers. That was enough to turn the mad scrambling of the clubgoers into a stampede.
Ladybug scanned the civilians for any sign of Chat Noir before dashing outside.
Adrien stood among the abandoned wreckage, open-mouthed and wiping the blood and sweat from his brow. He took another look at the floor, then grabbed a fistful of his hair and pulled hard in desperation. Nino dared to creep closer, heart hammering in his chest, ear trained on Adrien's distressed mutterings. "Damn it, Agreste! Good job, oh super good job losing the ring. Plagg's not even here this time."
Adrien started when people rushed into him in their mad dash for freedom. He followed the wave of people, keeping a close eye on the ground.
Nino stayed long after Adrien melted into the throng of clubgoers. He picked himself up but resorted to crawling when his knees just buckled underneath him. Hitting the concrete jarred some semblance of coherent thought. Nino balled his fists against the tide of vertigo that overtook him.
That had been real… right?
Chat Noit became Adrien?
Right.
Nino crawled out of the shadows. His infinite loop of questions derailed when his palm stepped on something stuck to the torn cushion of the overturned booth. Nino blinked and picked up a silver ring. He turned it between his fingers, marveling at the lack of scratches.
It was warm, too warm for it to be natural.
"Oh my God." Nino rocketed to his feet and held the ring—the Miraculous—out like a rabid animal. He closed his fist around it and marveled at the warmth, the otherworldly throbbing syncing with his pulse.
When he didn't spontaneously combust, Nino brought it closer to him. Silver— not black with green paw prints— without a single inscription or stone. No wonder he'd never really noticed the only piece of jewelry that Adrien ever wore, despite being the son of France's most famous designer.
"NINO!"
He jumped, blabbered, and waved his arms all at once. Alya wrapped her arms around him and squeezed out the last of his mutterings before she looked him in the eye. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where were you?"
Nino worked his mouth to find his voice. "Just hiding."
Alya swept her eyes over him. What would have been purely concerned turned critical in Nino's new world of paranoia. Alya heard and saw all when she slipped into journalist mode.
Nino fisted his hand around the ring, hoping against all hope she hadn't seen it. Alya took his wrist, searched for his fingers, and when his fist remained closed she pulled him to the akuma-made entrance by the wrist. Nino stumbled on wayward pieces of rubble, his eyes on the street but his mind on the ring burning a hole in his palm.
He shouldn't have it. Nino and Miraculous magic did not mix.
Nino instead envisioned the ring around Adrien's finger. Day in and day out he wore it. It made sense and no sense. The bruises. The lies.
So many lies.
Alya pulled him along to the sidewalk, her phone in her free hand recording the battle ahead. Radiance and her backup dancers dotted the sky while Ladybug perched on a lone street-lamp. Her yo-yo twirled in front of her as a constant shield while her eyes roamed her surroundings.
She was looking for Chat Noir.
They passed Ladybug, and Nino had to bite his tongue to avoid yelling something out.
Alya finally let Nino go a block away. "Go home, Nino, and I'll call you later." She brandished her phone with a tired, but excited smile. "I have a scoop to catch!"
"You're going back?" he cried with what remained of his breath.
Alya gripped the hand without the ring and massaged the back of it with her thumb. "I'll be careful, promise. I'll stick to the edges. Plus," she rolled her eyes in such a carefree way that Nino briefly wondered if they'd really just escaped a rampaging akuma, "the Parisian news crew is already there. I can't let them get all the credit."
She gave him a peck on the cheek before dashing off. Once again Nino was alone with nothing but his thoughts and Adrien's Miraculous. He looked down at it. Still silver. Still ordinary. The crazy urge to put it on crossed his mind.
No. Nino shoved it in his pocket. No thanks. Being akumatized filled him with enough magic for a lifetime.
A cry in the sky, and Nino jerked his head upwards, looking for Alya. Instead he saw Ladybug hit the street in a hastily executed tumble. Two of the backup dancers landed in front of her and aimed to kick her in the head. Ladybug back flipped, turned, and finally took the air with a swing of her yo-yo.
There was no Chat Noir to help her. Seeing only the red of Ladybug's suit was just wrong. She seemed too out in the open, an easy target, without Chat Noir deflecting the worst of hte hits.
Nino began making his way to the battle even as the remaining clubgoers rushed past him. It could have been the Miraculous pulling him along, or the guilt festering within him. Whatever this sensation was, it led him back into the battle he's just escaped.
The street was torn up into deep craters, the sidewalk peeling away to join it as chunks of concrete. Radiance stood in the center, flanked by twelve of her backup dancers while two continuously jumped to hit Ladybug perched up top. She blocked every one of them with her yo-yo, though each attempt brought her into a lower and lower crouch, limiting her arms' range of movement.
As Nino slinked closer he caught the sharp, clipped voice narrating each beat. "Radiance proves her strength not by her attacks but by the minions she controls."
On the other side of the street, nestled underneath the protective canopy of the nearby shops was a reporter and her camera crew of three. The red shine of hair faded in and out as Radiance's dancers moved about the ravaged street. Amid the chaos behind her, the reporter— Nadja because it seemed she was the only one who covered akuma attacks nowadays— kept on reporting, back straight and shoulders squared.
Nino edged himself out onto the side of the street, crouching behind a newspaper stand. Nadja's voice carried despite the distance. "And the question still remains: where is Chat Noir?"
Nino backed up to get the whole view of the battle. Radiance joined in the assault, and it was all Ladybug could do to fend off her attackers with kicks and yo-yo swings. Eventually she was forced off the lamppost and onto the ground. The second she took to readjust her stance was the moment Radiance redirected the streetlamp's light at her. Ladybug tumbled out of the way, only to get punched by a dancer.
Nino averted his eyes. His heart ached for her despite his earlier bout of anger. Yeah she hadn't protected Adrien, but she didn't deserve to get kicked around like a football.
Like a beacon, his eyes landed on a mop of blond hair peeking from the coverage of a parked car. There was Adrien, rigid and with his fists balled at his sides. His eyes darted from Ladybug to the ground, no doubt searching for a ring that wasn't there.
He should give it back. Ladybug was at the end of her rope. She needed Chat Noir.
Adrien started to pace with a noticeable limp.
That ring was the cause of it all. Being Chat Noir gave him that bad leg, the cut that still bled, and the bruises all along his arm. If he gave it back then it would start all over again. Adrien would fight, get hurt. Again and again until something had to break. Taking Adrien's stubbornness into account, it would undoubtedly be him.
Nino bit his lip against the most logical choice. Here he was, with the very thing that could prevent Adrien from killing himself, and he was going to give it back?
Now Nino was the one staring at the ground for an answer that wouldn't come. The battle shook the concrete— nearby windows shattered— but Nino couldn't bring himself to leave the edge of the sidewalk. He glanced at Adrien…
… who ran into the middle of the battle with waving arms and a hearty yell of, "Hey, over here!"
Radiance snapped towards him and glowered enough to light up her neon mask. "How dare you interrupt my dance?"
Adrien stopped, dumbfounded. No words escaped his mouth. Nino pinpointed the exact moment Adrien realized he didn't have any powers.
Radiance aimed her blue bracelet at him and fired. Adrien dodged with a roll, and another, until Ladybug tore Radiance away with a sharp pull of her yo-yo string.
Nino ran towards his suicidal best friend. Even with Radiance catapulted to the other side of the street, Nino knew he was far from safe. He didn't have any special powers or gymnastic routines up his sleeve if Radiance decided to add a DJ to her lineup.
He grabbed Adrien's shirt collar and didn't stop running until Nino slammed Adrien behind the car he'd left.
"What the Hell are you thinking?" His yell came out as a strangled whisper. Nino sucked in air in a vain attempt to stop his heart from bursting from his chest, all the while glaring at a dumbstruck Adrien.
The usual sparkle in his eyes—a distinctly Chat Noir sparkle, now that Nino thought about it—was replaced by a frantic, panicked sheen that swallowed his face. When Nino dug his fingers into Adrien's shoulders he came back to himself. What Nino knew as Agreste stubbornness he could now identify as Chat Noir's unwavering determination. The change was abrupt and somewhat frightening.
"Look," Adrien snapped, "you should leave. It's not safe here with just Ladybug fighting."
Pointedly ignoring the glance Adrien gave to the battle, Nino shook him by the shoulders. "Come with me. Do you want to become the next dancer on her list?
Adrien ripped away from his hands. "But I can't leave yet!"
"And why not?"
Adrien opened his mouth, closed it, and just buried his hands in his hair again.
There were no words. Even without the ring, Adrien stubbornly held on to his secret. His eyes wandered over Nino's shoulder, at the battle he couldn't join, and the desperation in his eyes turned to longing.
Nino shoved his hand into his pocket and grasped the ring. It was still warm and sent the pads of his fingers tingling.
Magic. Pure unbelievable magic raced up his wrist like wildfire. How could anybody stand it?
Dammit dammit dammit.
"Hey, Adrien." When those eyes reluctantly went back to him, Nino took a stuttering breath of his own. He slipped his fist out, tightened his hold to make sure the ring didn't roll away for the second time that night."I, uh, found your ring." Adrien's eyebrows climbed higher. Nino rushed on to say, "I know you said it was your mother's, and it's very important, and I'm sorry I didn't just come right out and say it."
He shoved the ring into Adrien's chest and backed up before the urge to take it back consumed him. Adrien hurriedly slipped it on.
Nino expected the same green flash from earlier to shine from the heavens and bestow upon Adrien that ridiculous cat suit.
Instead silence stretched between them, suffocating.
Adrien held his right hand against his chest with the ring just under his heart. "I should go home." Adrien turned on his heel and ran faster than Nino had ever seen him, even with that leg of his. Over his shoulder Adrien shot him a desperate look that begged him to go home, too.
Instead Nino crept to the shadows a block away. Here he couldn't catch Radiance's taunts, or Ladybug's retorts. There was only the dull roar of battle that had become commonplace in Paris.
Nino waited with his cap in his hands and his heart lodged in his throat. Should'ves and could'ves collided one after another, each worse than the last. His palm stung from the ring.
Eventually Chat Noir leaped from the roofs to rejoined the battle.
Punches and kicks cracked the air. Nino saw Chat Noir—Adrien!— slammed into a lamppost hard enough to split the metal in two.
Bile tickled the back of his throat. Nino ran and left the battle behind.
Nino opened the door to his apartment and was enveloped in a hug. The force startled him backwards, and he hit the door frame with a thunk. Saliha let him go and held him out at arm's length, hair escaping her headband.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt?"
The Arabic was rapid-fire and frantic, and Nino's brain pushed through his harried thoughts to find his words. Saliha waited with bated breath. Her fingernails dug through the thin fabric of his shirt. Behind her, Faziel waited at the threshold that divided the living room and kitchen.
"Fine," Nino finally responded. Rising from his haze Nino furrowed his eyebrows. Slowly the lie he told his parents fell into place. "Why wouldn't I be fine? I just went to Alya's to…" Saliha's face darkened, and her grip turned painful. Nino clamped his mouth shut. Terror gripped his stomach and twisted it into knots. If only it could shut his mouth. "I heard there was an attack somewhere in Paris, but Ladybug and Chat—"
"Don't lie to me, Nino," Saliha cut in. In one swift movement she closed the door behind him, effectively trapping him with parents that knew too much.
Nino backed up against the door. There was no hiding place here. "I—"
"We know you were there at that night club, where the akuma attacked." Saliha stepped back, gave him a look over that oozed disappointment. It stung worse than whatever Radiance could have thrown at him.
They stared at each other, Nino too afraid to say the wrong thing. Saliha suddenly turned on her heel to storm away. She brushed past Faziel without a glance. No words were needed when it was the same song and dance. In the kitchen, she banged a pan onto the stove.
Faziel stepped up to the plate. His disappointment was stoic and tired, the rumbling of a thunderstorm after the world had been ravaged. "Why would you be so irresponsible? We told you we didn't want you going to those trash-infested places again."
"They're not trash infested," Nino muttered in French from his spot against the door.
He was free to go, technically. Yet Nino knew this was a test. He inched himself onto the plush carpet of the living room, past the sofa, and stood between his father and the hallway that led to the bedrooms. Faziel stared him down in silent disapproval.
Nino finally faced the kitchen where his mother was still shuffling pots and pans into disarray. He shoved his hands into his pockets. Warmth from the Miraculous lingered at the seams and gave him the courage to stay. If he could hold incredible magic in his hands then surely he could withstand the anger of his parents.
"How did you know?" he asked, pitching his voice above the din of his mother's kitchen rearrangement.
"Nino, you're all over the news." Faziel answered instead. He took him by the elbow and led him to the muted television across their coffee table.
Club République flashed past in a series of clips. The side wall had been blown open, and people spilled out and ran to the streets in a series of clips that spanned the wounded and the akumatized. Another clip of Radiance and her backup dancers battling a lone Ladybug flitted by until the clips of the battle looped. Nino caught himself the third time around, right before he and Adrien slipped behind the car.
Adrien. Chat Noir.
That was still a thing.
"You could have died," Faziel said slowly, as though this was a strange new concept for Nino. "You could have died, and me and your mother wouldn't have known."
The news finally entered another loop, this one of Chat Noir reentering the battle. Nino bit the inside of his cheek. How was any of this fair? He shouldn't be the one getting the third degree after dealing with the whole Adrien fiasco.
"I didn't plan on dying, Dad." The anger launched his mouth on a wild ride. "I didn't plan to get filmed and for you and Mom to worry. Do you think I planned doing all that?"
Faziel took a deep, steadying breath that just set Nino on edge. He just found his best friend was Chat freaking Noir. He should be the one trying to get control of what to say.
The fact burned on his tongue like the hottest sun in the universe. He couldn't betray Adrien's secret, even if it would save him a lecture from his parents.
"But you planned to lie to us, Nino, and that's not acceptable."
"I lied because you guys don't give me another choice. I have to lie about DJIng because you always look down on it like it's going to be the death of me."
His mom jumped on his choice of words. Pot in hand she strode into the living room and all but shouted, "You could have died tonight."
"But I didn't. Akuma attacks happen every, freaking day. Hell I was one." Faziel flinched, and Saliha recoiled. Nino briefly wondered if that had been a low blow—what parent enjoyed seeing their son strung along like a puppet?— but his anger kept on pouring out like a broken faucet. "If I want to take DJing seriously then I need to go to clubs and practice in front of actual people."
His anger morphed into something else, something deeper and decidedly Hawkmoth. A sliver of the unbridled rage he'd felt as the Bubbler teased just under the surface. It wasn't the first time he'd sensed it when his anger got the best of him. Something about the compounding frustration that was Adrien and his parents' unrelenting dislike of his passion was enough to make him feel a part of the anger Hawkmoth encompassed in his akumas.
Nino leaned against the sofa, breathing deeply through his nose. There was no akuma fluttering to him, just like there hadn't been a butterfly the last time it happened.
"Nino?"
This was another thing he couldn't tell his parents, but it was an older lie that he'd actually talked with Alya before, so it was not quite in the same tier as his best friend is masquerading as Paris' superhero.
The anger left Saliha's eyes. Her shoulders sagged, and she fixed Nino with pure exasperation that laid out for him all their past fights about the subject. "DJing is going to leave you on the side of the street."
If she was done with this so was he.
Nino stomped towards his bedroom. "You don't know that," he said without looking back.
A foot away from his door, Faziel's hand landed on his shoulder. Heavy. Mad. Nino sensed it all deep in the pit of his stomach. Saliha was always the most vocal, but it was Faziel that disliked his DJing the most. Nino glanced down at his feet with nothing but the hand anchoring him down.
"Is this what you want, Nino?"
Nino dared to say, "Yes."
And just like that Faziel let him go into his room. Nino locked the door, kicked off his shoes, and buried his face into his pillow. Still the night played in his head until akuma attacks and superheroes were the only things he could see on his eyelids.
Stupid Adrien.
Stupid Nadja.
Nino spent Sunday holed up in his room playing video games and actually completing the homework he'd been assigned. He fielded any texts from Adrien with half-hearted emojis and enough "yeah, dude" to make even him realize that he tended to sound repetitive. He thanked any deity that wasn't a Miraculous Wielder that no on asked him to hang out. There was only enough mental fortitude he could spare between homework and all the eggshells he had to walk on around his parents.
It wasn't until Nino got out of the metro on Monday that he realized that Adrien was still Chat Noir.
Nino's grip on his backpack strap tightened, and he tried to remain cool, calm, and collected.
So Adrien was Chat Noir. No big deal.
Nino kept the mantra in his mind as Jardin des Plantes came into view. Sidewalk was replaced with lush trees that sheltered the visitors in their benches. Nino breathed in the pure, refreshing breeze of Paris's own little corner of nature. He flashed his student card to enter the gate.
Nino calmed his nerves. The buzz of anxiety quieted until he could finally hear the soft chatter of conversations around him. Talk of lunch plans and weather eased him back into the normal routine of school. Right now, him knowing that Adrien was Chat Noir didn't shatter the world. It was just another school trip where he had to take notes, pay attention, and enjoy the fresh air.
The voices became familiar. In front of the New Caledonian Greenhouse the rest of Ms. Bustier's Biology class dawdled. Rose was dragging Juleka by the elbow to show her every colorful flower. Kim and Max were bantering about sports while Chloé and Sabrina mocked them in the background. Alya briefly broke her conversation with Marinette to wave him over. They were a small class— even smaller after Lila abruptly moved away after her first week— and a welcoming sight after a whole day holed up in his room.
Then there was Adrien.
Nino continued walking even as his mind stuttered to a halt. Adrien looked up from his phone and smiled that small, tentative smile that made Nino doubt that he could ever be Chat Noir.
"Nino, hey," Adrien said lightly.
Nino stopped and awkwardly moved his fingers in a half-hearted wave. The anger was still there, but it was a confused, bundled mess that left him fishing for words. He couldn't just talk like a normal person would talk to their best friend. What if he slipped and ended up spilling everything about the ring?
When Nino found his eyes wandering to Adrien's right hand, Nino jerked his head up and muttered, "Hey, yourself."
Adrien's smile dropped. He rocked back and forth on his heels, and Nino felt some of the stewing anger rising. Why was Adrien the one feeling uncomfortable? Nino was the one who found out his best friend was lying through his teeth.
"I have your laptop."
What?
"What?"
Adrien allowed himself to laugh as he shouldered off his backpack and slid out Nino's perfectly-fixed laptop. "I know I shouldn't have gone back, but after Ladybug cast Miraculous Ladybug I just knew it was fixed and that you'd want it back and—" Adrien cut himself off when Nino just opened his mouth but didn't say anything. He offered the laptop with the brightest smile he could muster.
Nino closed his mouth and took it. Hours upon hours of mixing music in his hands. Hours of hard work and hopeful dreams. The laptop was heavy, yet freeing.
Nino ran a hand across the many band stickers. "Why did you go back for it?" The words tumbled from his lips in a jumbled mess. Did someone see Chat Noir? Did he go back as Adrien instead? But the news crew was still there and—
"Because you're my best friend, dude."
Nino stared down at his laptop until the strength finally came to him to look up. Adrien waited, hopeful.
In that moment Nino let go of the anger. It trickled down as runoff that pooled at his feet and seeped into the cracks of the pathway. Whatever happened last night happened. Adrien was Chat Noir. Chat Noir was Adrien.
Chat Noir was Adrien Agreste, his best friend in the whole, wide world that went back for a dumb laptop at the risk of his secret being blown sky-high for the second time that night.
Adrien Agreste was Chat Noir, the superhero that liberated him from Hawkmoth's control when he was too weak to do it himself.
Nino had time to be angry. Now it was his turn to be grateful.
"Thanks, Adrien. Seriously, dude. Like… thanks."
Adrien's flattering smile came back. "Are we cool?"
They were something. "Yeah, we're cool. Don't worry about Saturday. Just know I care, okay?"
Ms. Bustier began to herd them into the beautifully-restored entrance of the tropical rainforest greenhouse. Adrien and Nino shared a glance before the rush of classmates pushed them into the building. Nino hastily put away his laptop and pretended everything was perfectly, absolutely alright.
Humidity descended on them like a wet blanket. Nino sneezed, sniffed, and tried to ignore the stickiness that immediately began to bead on his skin.
Ms. Bustier began talking above the chatter of the students, something about the plants making their home in places like Australia and the Pacific Isles. She gestured every which way: to the plaques in front of plants, to the variety of colors, to the way the sunlight filtered through the colored glass of the greenhouse.
Nino tried to pay attention, even got out his tablet for some notetaking. Once he got past the choking humidity there really was something enchanting about the plant life. Plus, they were going to write a report about this, and with a 12 in Biology Nino knew his parents wouldn't approve of another lackluster semester.
Ms. Bustier's words blended and eventually faded completely, however, when Adrien raised his hand to ask a question and his ring caught the light. Nino's eyes zeroed in on it, and he knew he wasn't going to be as nonchalant about this revelation as he'd wanted.
Hawkmoth wanted that ring, was willing to kill for it, and Nino had returned it and repainted Adrien's back with a target.
Goosebumps rose up along his arms. No one's ever met Hawkmoth face to face, but anyone who'd been akumatized knew just how desperate he was for that ring. The desire was all consuming, and Nino could still recall it whenever his anger got the best of him.
Nino stiffly followed behind Adrien. Nino glanced at the plants and feigned interest whenever someone walked by, but his smiles began to hurt his face. His stylus was limp in his fingers.
"Do you think somebody could climb that?" Adrien asked, his arm suddenly around Nino's neck, pulling him away from his thoughts. His Miraculous brushed against his cheek, and Nino's goosebumps multiplied until he was sure he was going to die of a stroke.
Nino stared up at the large rock at the heart of the greenhouse and blurted out, "You." When Adrien quirked an eyebrow, Nino spluttered and corrected, "'Cause of your rock climbing walls. Like, geez, man, it all prepared you for this day."
Adrien chuckled, and Nino's accompanying laugh was nothing short of awkward and long.
Adrien slowly let him go. "You… okay?"
Nino was fine. He was dandy and safe and not wearing Hawkmoth's obsession on his person. Since he couldn't admit to his shortcomings in such an obvious way, Nino nodded his head with a rather convincing rendition of, "Mhmm!" Then he changed the subject with the subtlety of a flying brick. "Is your leg any better?"
Adrien shrugged. "Better than Saturday. My dad knows about some Chinese medicine that's supposedly really good and I guess it worked? I won't be running any marathons, though."
There was more to that story; Adrien's limp was hardly noticeable only two days later. Nino chalked it up as another Miraculous secret.
So the minutes went by in an excruciatingly slow rotation of the Earth. Nino stayed by Adrien's side with a perpetual apology bobbing his Adam's apple. Beautiful plants passed him by with his research paper the furthest thing from his mind.
When Alya pulled him aside, Nino waved Adrien off with a stiff jerk of his wrist. Alya whirled around so fast that his cap fell off his head. "Okay, Lahiffe. Time to talk."
"Talk?" Nino managed to pluck his hat off the ground even as Alya dragged him out the greenhouse. He hastily stored away his tablet and stylus before the ended up crushed under his feet.
Alya snorted, and he knew that she had rolled her eyes. "Yes, that's what couples do when one half is acting weird."
Once outside Nino struggled to take the steps two at a time. He shot off apologetic smiles to the tourists coming in, all the while feeling like his arm was going to be pulled out of its socket. He pulled, but Alya pulled harder, sending him straight into her back.
When she stumbled Nino managed to take his hand out of her grip. "Whoa, babe," he said when she reached for it again. "Why do we need a talk? Did I do something or—?"
"Just verbally attacking your best friend on Saturday."
Passersby shot concerned looks, and Nino grabbed Alya by the hand and finished leaving the entrance of the greenhouse. "I already apologized for that to Adrien. We're cool."
"Really? Because you keep staring at him like he's going to slice your freaking head off."
Subtlety apparently wasn't his strongest suit. Nino gestured at nothing with his free hand. "I mean, we're cool. But not cool cool, you know? Like, yeah, maybe another talk wouldn't be so bad, but we gotta wait for that, right?"
Throughout his ramble Alya's eyebrows arched until, by the end, they disappeared into her hairline. Without saying a word she led him to a bench and sat them down. Shadows masked her expression but not the tightened grip around his fingers.
"Nino," she started slowly once she was sure he wasn't going to run, "is that really all there is to it?"
Not by a long shot, but he couldn't tell the Ladyblog's top (and only) reporter that Adrien was Chat Noir.
Feeling like the worst boyfriend in the world, Nino replied, "Yeah. I mean, I said some pretty awful things to Adrien." Her eyes bore into his, so Nino averted his to his lap, hoping that gave him the necessary courage to lie through his teeth. Instead his words ran out.
Nino procrastinated by taking in the beautiful expanse of Jardin des Plantes. Rows upon rows of flowers— too many to name— lined the sidewalks that led to each building and their exhibits. Tourists marveled at the statues, children tried to climb the gates, and Nino wanted to sink into the nearest flower bed and ignore this entire conversation.
Eventually Alya took his hand again and brought it over to her lap. She stroked his knuckles while she chose her words. "I know you were upset, but yeah, what you said was pretty bad."
Nino closed his eyes. Alya's fingers were warm and brushed away the goosebumps still on his arms. Words solidified on his tongue like honey, thick and sticky. They weren't a total lie. "I kinda feel like Adrien is going to remember every single word and just, I dunno, disown me or something."
Alya gripped his hand with both of hers. "Adrien's not going to do that. He's too nice. Now me, on the other hand." She bumped his shoulder with her own.
Nino squirmed, hardly assured. If Alya knew that he was hiding Chat Noir's identity from her she would throw him off the Eiffel Tower.
Chatter not their own filled the silence. Nino opened his eyes to stare down at his feet and the way the shadows from the tree's canopy played on the sidewalk. A woman dawdled in the shade.
"You're really worried for him, huh?"
Bolstered by the path back to truthfulness, Nino straightened and turned to her. "I don't want him to get hurt again. He freaking collapsed on the floor because of his leg. What if next time it's something in his chest or…" No, he wasn't going to even think of it. Not now where Alya was analyzing him like her latest blogpost.
"Hey, hey, hey." Alya gripped his shoulders and held him firmly in place. "Adrien is a big boy. He can take care of himself. You're going to worry yourself sick if you continue like this."
Numbness spread to the tips of his fingers and toes. Everything was easy until Hawkmoth decided to send in his latest akuma. "But what if he can't take care of himself? What if he ends up so hurt that he can't even get up?"
"Because of fencing?" Alya fixed him with an incredulous look. "I doubt that's going to help him."
And right back to the dark trenches of lying. Nino let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "You never know."
Alya dropped her hands. "Adrien needs to take it easy during practice and you need to stop butting into his business before your friendship takes a hit."
"But I want to help him." Especially after Nino himself gave him that damned ring back.
Alya's expression softened. Her hands settled on his once again. "Sometimes no matter how much we want to help, people can only help themselves."
Nino nodded. Maybe before the attack on Club République she would have a point, but it was different when Adrien was off saving Paris.
Alya pulled him up to his feet. Amazingly, the world still went on without them. There were different people chatting near the entrance of the greenhouse, different pigeons scattering as they went up the steps. The dawdling lady was nowhere to be seen. "Just talk to Adrien like you always do, Nino. All friends have fights, and you've already apologized."
"Can you be his best friend instead of me?" Nino whined, pulling her closer under the shade of some trees. They were right outside the entrance, but he didn't feel like going back to the real world just yet. "You are so much better than me with words."
Alya merely laughed and playfully pushed him away with a hand to his chest. "Marinette would be devastated. So go in there and stop being awkward."
Nino obediently turned on his heel and made his way back to Adrien. The nervousness was back, a reminder that maybe things weren't perfect but they were manageable.
Then the ceiling collapsed.
Aaaaand where going into some action again. The chapter would have been pretty long if I didn't stop here. I'll update this weekend, so hold on tight!
Feel free to comment! I would love to hear what you guys think.