Later that night, once the EMT's had left and everyone had gone home, Nino was sitting on the roof of his apartment building, listening to his music and staring out across the city. Nearby, the soft cooing of his neighbor's pigeon coup was occasionally drifting in over the beat.

He only knew he wasn't alone when he felt someone tap his shoulder. He turned and looked up to see Alya standing there.

"Hey," she said.

Nino took of his headphones and offered her a small smile. "Hey."

Alya gestured to the spot beside him. "Um, may I sit?"

"Sure," Nino said. He scooted a bit as Alya gently sat down beside him.

They sat beside each other, just an inch from touching. The silence between them broken only by the interjections of the pigeons behind them.

"I keep thinking," Alya said, her eyes on the city. "That I'm just gonna keep going, you know? That things will just keep happening over and over, and that things will always be okay. That you'll be there with me, and that I don't have to worry."

"Well, that's probably because I'm right here?" Nino offered. "I mean, I try to be supportive and stuff."

"You are!" Alya said. "That's the thing, though. I think I've taken that support for granted. I assume you'll just follow, but, you're your own person. I shouldn't just charge ahead and expect you to be behind me. You should, you should be beside me. This should be a joint venture, not just me being focused on me."

"Like, one of the things that attracts me to you is your drive," Nino said. "You're the most focused person I know. You're smart, and you know what you want. It's really cool."

"But that's just it," Alya said. "What I want is you. But I also want a career, and I keep finding myself having to choose."

"Then don't," Nino said.

Alya locked up. "What? What are you saying?"

Nino glanced at her and smiled. "Babe, this whole time, you've been trying to put one thing in front of the other. Why not just have both?"

"Because that would mean you have to give up on something," Alya nearly yelled. Her frustration was bleeding out of her. "And I don't want to! I'm too selfish to give up on either thing, and I… And that's not fair to you."

"I know," Nino said. "I've been thinking about it a lot, actually. I realized that one of four things would have to happen."

"Oh?" Alya asked.

Nino nodded. "One, you go to school where you want and I settle on my career, but then I'd be miserable and while I don't like to think about it, I'd be scared I'd end up blaming you."

Alya nodded. "Okay, that doesn't sound good."

"Two," Nino said. "We do the opposite, but I guarantee you'd end up feeling resentful. Not because you're mean or anything, it's just… You'd be missing out on something you cared about."

Alya didn't agree, but she didn't disagree.

"Three," Nino took a deep breath. "We break up and chase our respective dreams."

"No," Alya said. "No. I'm not… I don't want to give up on you. Ever."

Nino smiled. "Then I guess it's option four."

Alya looked at him. "What's option four?"

Nino leaned back and bit and looked out over the city. "We just call up Max and have him teleport us to each other. Like, seriously. He'd do it in a heartbeat."

Alya stared, shocked.

"That's… That's…"

Nino glanced at her. "Yes?"

"That's brilliant! Oh, my God! Nino! Why didn't you say this before? Ugh! I could smack you upside the head for this! You, you had this in mind all along, didn't you?"

Nino shrugged. "Well, I mean, it really only occurred to me today. I wanted to find something that would make us both happy."

Alya smiled at him. "And you think that'll work? Like, for real?"

"I guess we'll have to see, won't we?" Nino said as he put an arm around Alya. "I want you to chase your dream, and I want you to be there when I realize mine. Who says we can't both have what we want?"

"But," Alya paused as a thought crept in. "This doesn't fix the cause of all this. I mean, it's great that you came up with this but…" Alya thought about it for a moment. "This doesn't change the reason why. I mean, babe. We can't rely on magic to fix our problems going forward. What happens when we're older and we both get job opportunities? What happens when we're forced to sit down and seriously consider what we need to do as a couple, or a family?"

Nino thought about it. "I… Huh. Maybe, I dunno. I have to admit, this is a bit beyond me." He glanced at Alya. "But, maybe we can talk to someone? Like, we're still pretty young. Maybe if we got some outside help from an adult?"

"Like counseling?" Alya sked.

Nino nodded. "Yeah. Or at least just some objective advice. I mean, people are able to do this and be happy. We should be able to, too."

Alya nodded. "I mean, yeah. Okay. But, who would we talk to? I mean, if we're going to bring up everything, then…"

"What about Ms. B?" Nino asked. "She's pretty smart, and she knows about us. We could ask her."

"She's great, but she's not a counselor," Alya pointed out.

"I know," Nino nodded in agreement. "But maybe she could be a place to start?"

"Yeah," Alya agreed. "That's a good point." Alya leaned her head against his shoulder. "A good place to start. And hey, just so you know? No matter what? I love you so damn much."

Nino kissed the top of her head and looked out over the city. "I love you too, babe. I love you, too."

Also, on that same night, another couple was talking.

Much later that evening, Rose and Juleka were lounging side by side in matching chairs on the deck of the barge. The night sky was a bit hazy, but you could still make out some stars through the glare of the city lights.

"Today was insane," Juleka said. She reached out and took Rose's hand. "Thank you so much for helping me."

"Are you kidding me?" Rose said, giggling. "I got to be a hero! We got to be a leather-clad duo and take down a bad guy! I even got to do a superhero speech! Mmmmm! Today was fantastic!"

"It was super fun," Juleka said, smiling.

"Too bad we had to give the miraculous back," Rose sighed. she looked at her hand. "You looked so incredible, Jules! We should totally pay Marinette to make that outfit for you."

"I dunno," Juleka said as she blushed. "I mean, it was pretty awesome, but I just… I don't know if that's me, you know?"

"You made it," Rose said. "So, I'm guessing it's at least a part of you. The cool, confident part."

"What about yours?" Juleka asked. "You, um," she blushed some more. "You looked very different."

Rose giggled. "I had the chance to do something wild and I took it. You don't approve?"

"I, um, I approve."

"Well then," Rose said, satisfied with herself. "Maybe we can commission Marinette to make us two outfits?"

Juleka didn't argue.

They lay back and stared at the stars for a moment, content in each other's company.

It was Rose who finally broke the silence.

"I'm sorry I got so carried away, by the way. You know, when you asked me?"

"Oh," Juleka said.

Rose nodded, her eyes still on the night sky. "I guess, with everything going on, I just… I understand if you don't feel the same way. And, um, that's cool. Because you're worth waiting for, Jules." Rose scrunched down a bit and turned to Juleka. "I mean, if you want to wait for me."

Juleka turned crimson. She sat up and brought her knees to her chest. "So, um, Rena Rouge and Carapace apparently couldn't get through today because, like, even though they cared about one another? They apparently weren't on the same page."

"Oh?" Rose asked.

Juleka nodded. She hugged her knees. "For a couple to get through, they had to be on the exact same wavelength. Like, they both had to love each other the same way, want the same things, you know. Be equal about it and stuff."

"Oh wow. Poor Alya and Nino. Are they okay? Should we call them?"

Juleka shook her head. "I saw Nino leave by himself after everything was done. I think they need to air this out themselves."

Rose nodded, but then her eyes went wide. "But," Rose said, her cheeks pink. "Um, Juleka? I said… I said I wanted to marry you. I mean, I thought you were asking me to, well, you know. And I said all that stuff about our lives and wanting to tour with you and," she glanced at the deck. "Um, other stuff."

Juleka nodded, her cheeks red. "I know."

"But," Rose stammered. "I wasn't, um, I mean I was going a bit nuts, but I was… I was serious, Jules."

Juleka swallowed and nodded again. "I know."

"But…" Rose said. Her brain started to go into overdrive. "But that would mean…"

Juleka cut her off by abruptly standing up. Then she sat down. The she stood up again.

"I'm not sure how to do this," she grumbled and put her hands in her pockets.

Rose shot her a huge smile and stood up in front of her. "Tell you what," she said. "Um, if you wanted to say something? Maybe we can both stand? Would that help?"

Juleka gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks. Um, yeah, this does help. Um," she looked down at Rose and noticed the glow of the lamp lights along the Seine reflecting off her eyes. She swallowed down her fear.

"Um, so, yeah. After today, which was totally awesome, by the way. You looked amazing."

"Totally," Rose giggled.

"I, yeah. I wanted to, um, I feel like I should ask you about something? Something kind of important?"

Rose nodded, her face doing its best to be serious. "I'm glad you said so, because after this afternoon, I did a lot of thinking about us."

"Oh?" Juleka stammered.

Rose nodded. "I was thinking about what you said, and what I wanted."

"Oh?" Juleka stammered again.

Rose looked to Juleka and smiled. "Ask your question."

Juleka nodded. She was shaking so hard she thought she was going to fall over. She clumsily slid something out of her pocket and held it out to Rose.

"Would, um, would you, uh… God, this is hard. I wish I had the miraculous right now. I felt so confident when I was transformed, you know?"

"Hey," Rose said. She cupped Juleka's hands in her own. "You're miraculous with or without those earrings."

Juleka turned dark red. She took a deep breath.

"Would you marry me?"

Rose looked down at the small box in Juleka's hand. Inside was a silver ring, not unlike the one she had been wearing earlier that day. Only this one had a small pink diamond at the base.

"Oh Jules," Rose said, looking up at her. "Hold on."

There was a pause.

"Um," Juleka stammered. "Wha… What?"

Rose grinned and reached into her own pocket. She pulled out a small box and handed it to Juleka. "Open it," she said.

Juleka, confused and more than a little scared, took the box and opened it. Inside was a small silver ring with a large ruby in the center.

"I realized today why I was so hesitant to ask you," Rose said, blushing. "I didn't want to marry you unless you were truly ready to marry me, too. We do this together. Now and forever, we're a team." She grinned. "Partners."

Juleka looked up at her, tears flowing down her cheeks. "You… What?"

"Also? My parents did say one condition was that we officially wait until after University."

"Huh," Juleka said. "My mom just asked me why someone needed to bow to social norms and made me promise to finish school."

They stared at each other.

"Um," Juleka said, her brain catching up to the conversation. "Did we just ask each other to marry, um, each other?"

Rose was emitting a high-pitched sound and nodding.

"So, what do you say?" They both asked.

Juleka grinned and slid the ring on her finger. Rose did the same.

"Of COURSE I'll marry you!" They both cried out at the same time.

Any further words or exchanges, tears of joy or euphoric laughter were unfortunately cut off, as both girls chose that moment to embrace the other.

And while it's not necessarily the focus of this particular story, nor does it really matter…

For sixty-three years, they did not stop.

Notes:

That ends this arc. The next one shifts gears and goes into some more serious territory.